We had some fun over the weekend, showering Rob with our love and attention. I'm linking up at 5 Minutes for Mom for Wordless Wednesday, though this post will be wordFUL. You can link up there and other linkies for a fun blog hop. Join us, won'tcha?
First, a child who is neither Rob nor looks like her father, Sophia. She and, to be fair, her brother and sister are always losing their glasses, so I snapped the picture when hers had actually been found for once. I'm sure they're already lost again... She looks so much older than her eight years here, amiright?
We had coupons for free flatbread pizzas at Chili's, so we went for dinner Friday night. Only, when we got there, we found a line going out the door and a 40-minute wait. We were going to leave, but Jack begged us to go into the restaurant next door: Portofino. We said we would check out the menu and see if it was affordable on our meagre budget - and it was! Here's Jack, lying down on the bench next to me while we waited for our food.
And this is the same child, posing with Yours Truly, who is almost embarrassed to post this picture of me looking so OLD. I don't, normally, swears! It's just that my face is pushed up on his and- oh, never mind.
And finally, there is the daddy in question, along with his mini-me, Chloë. The two of them, man! Since she was born, it's like he's looking in a mirror!
We ordered the Margherita pizza at Portofino, and Sophie stuck her head in when I went to Instagram it. Silliness!
After dinner - which was superb, by the way - we went to walk off our full bellies around the shopping complex where Portofino lives. At the back of the buildings, we found approximately 80,000 itty-bitty toads jumping around the grass. Sophie lovescatching anything that moves, really, so she begged us to let her go catch one. All the kids joined in the fun.
They caught one each, and then two and three each, and everyone was in hysterics. We were quite the merry band of misfits, leaping around trying to catch toadlets. We were up to no good after that, blowing out the torch flames outside a third restaurant, setting toads free (and then catching them) inside a building, and so on. We're such good examples! :\
On Sunday, in the afternoon, we headed over to our community clubhouse pool for the first time. It's 25 bucks to get in, which is a ridiculous racket if you ask me, but we didn't have it on us, so they just let us in. I never would have imagined four years ago that I'd be standing there, posing in my bathing suit for all the world to see!
The kids - and we parents, truth be told - had a blast in the pool. Sophia found a mask and spent the time diving around, looking at everyone and everything underwater. Jack learned to swim, though not well and not for long, but it's a great start. Chloë mostly hung out in the shallow water and by the steps. She's a very timid, delicate little flower, don't you know.
The kids all clung to me at one point, making a "Baby Raft." It was a lot easier to hold three babies at once when they were knee-high to a grasshopper. Little bit more difficult now!
After the pool, we dried off and went to Chili's for those flatbreads. They were good, but I'll leave that alone for now as I want to keep this a positive post! ;) After dinner, we again needed to walk off our full tummies, so Chloë asked to go walk around the neighborhood. We haven't done that in a while, like we use to do on a nightly basis.
At the lake, Sophie stopped short and pointed, sadly. There was a dead duck on the ground. We've been joyously watching the eggs, then the babies, and the parents, and now, this sad end of the the lifecycle. She's got such a tender heart for animals, but sometimes it needs to happen, and we can't always avoid it.
I love this picture of Jack. The way he's standing, his posture - so grown. Not big, of course, but an older stance. He's so proud of being TEN!
After we left the lake, we walked around the rest of the neighborhood, where I took fotos of everything from, as my dad would say, "the ridiculous to the sublime." You'll see.
Sophia, lover of all creatures great and small, was the first to spot this "callapittar." (She still says it before catching herself.) I cautioned her immediately not to touch it, having more than one run-in with a spiky caterpillar in my own day and not wanting her to experience the same discomfort. They heeded (hed?) my warning.
I wish I knew plants. I like flowers, but I never know what they are. I don't like picked, gifted flowers generally, though. I like them in the ground, where (to me) they belong.
A rose is a rose is a rose is a rose...
Believe it or not, when I take these pictures, I usually try to compose them nicely. I took an art class my last semester of college, and I learned about making a composition work so that your eye keeps moving back up and doesn't fall off the bottom of the page. Items in the composition are supposed to lead your eye upward. That's what I was trying to accomplish here, but when I don't think I achieved that in this case. So, a picture of blurry fleurs for nothing.
Same here, although I do think this composition is resolved. Eh, whatever. You don't come here to be wowed by my artistry, anyway. (Why do you come here? It's all blither and blather all the time. My husband likes that, but you?)
This hose was striking to me, so I took a picture of it. Even hose need love. Heh. See what I did there?
I love, love, love palm trees. It's what I think of when I think of Miami, and it's the first thing I looked for when we moved down here in March. They fascinate me to no end. Even the "palm carcasses," as I call them, lying around on the ground, entertain me. Such huge leaves sloughed off in an instant - amazing!
Surprisingly, I think it was Jack who spotted this little guy (or gal?) climbing up an apartment wall. The kids crowded around to get a peek, and of course Soap wanted to take him home. We vetoed that idea immediately, and when she asked why, Rob said, "Because he's got important snail stuff to do!" True, but it tickled me just the same.
Hm. When I spotted this gouge in the sidewalk, and when I first took the picture, it looked like an eye crying. Now, I don't see it. Do you see it? I don't see it.
On Instagram, I captioned this one, "It's Electric! Boogie-woogie-woogie," and now I want to go to a wedding, which may be the last place on earth where it's safe to do that dance.
Chloë, my little treehugger, was asking about how pigs and cows, etc., get slaughtered for their meat. Sophie, too, but when I finally broke down and filled her in a little bit, she declared she might join me in vegetarianism. I make no push to get them to do this, but if she so chooses, I'd let her.
I love animal behavior, and really, all behavior is interesting - including that of this flower, all closed up for the night. Still beautiful!
I tried to make a picture of all three kids being, as we are always telling them to be, "nice, kind, sweet and loving." Only, when Sophie's hair fell in Jack's face, he had a conniption about it and the moment was spoiled. I took the picture anyway, because it amuses me greatly.
I don't like to let the kids run on sidewalks and other hard surfaces, because they are klutzy like their mama, and I hate to see a busted-up face. They wanted to race down the length of the sidewalk, and Rob let them, however. Well, I guess this one time won't kill them. I should video the kids running. Maybe next time I will. Sophia takes off like a shot; Jack keeps up fairly well, but Chloë tip-toes along ever so daintily. It's highly entertaining.
After the race - which Sophia won, natch - we were all barefoot, so I stopped to take a picture. I guess you can guess which are mine? We are not big-footed people, but the mutant (Sophie, that is) has the largest feet. At 8, she's already wearing my size 5½ shoes! Meanwhile, I still have to shop for Jack's in the toddler section...
Sophia found this something-or-other-plant and picked it up, declaring that it was her trophy for winning the foot race. She's so much fun, that one!
At that point, Chloë pointed up at the sky and showed us the streams of light from the setting sun. Beautiful. Thanks, God, for that glorious day.
Closer up, that cloud looked somewhat alarming. We headed home.
Another arty one, sorry. This time, I pointed top left, instead of top right. I don't normally do that, so take note, because there will be a quiz at the end!
This one neighbor's apartment was Fern City. I wish I didn't have a black thumb. I love things that grow; I just seem to have a knack for making them stop doing that.
{Oops, this was from outside Chili's, after the pool; it was in the wrong place in my photo line-up. We headed straight there after swimming, without stopping to go home for clothes, and Chloë had nothing to wear except her swimsuit. I rustled through the back of the van and came up with this shirt of mine for the Goodwill bin! She loved it, which was funny, because it's way too big even for me!}
We passed by the mailboxes and saw, as usual, "Mailbox Kitty" there. Before I could stop her, Sophia had scooped her up and given her quite the vigorous snuggle. "Into the tub as soon as we get home!" I decreed. Fine to pet and wash hands, but this was too much. And yeah, she's blind, poor thing.
And then Jack did the same thing! So they both had showers as soon as we got home, because as sweet as she is, she's probably home and habitat to all manner of who-knows-what. I do think my boy-child looks particularly beautiful in this photo.
And then we reached home, shortly after visiting Mailbox Kitty. They're making the Peace sign, if you couldn't tell. Why they look so sad here is anyone's guess. The idea of baths to come, maybe?
Thanks for visiting.
Fin.
- starring Keira Knightly - on Amazon Prime and sat back with my now-tolerable circular needle. By dawn, the movie had ended and the kids were starting to get up for the day.
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