Life in the Slow lane, or slow for us

With all the hubbub that was March, I was REALLY ready for a quiet uneventful April.  I didn't get it, but I was ready for it!  

Right out of the gate was Easter!  I really think there should be some law against having Easter in March OR the first two weeks of April.  I also think Thanksgiving should be moved to September, but I am sure no one cares. 

Anyway the city of Pembroke Pines puts on an "Egg Hunt" the day before Easter.  Last year, Jim wanted nothing to do with it, but this year Daddy is gone!  So we gathered our baskets and a group of friends and headed off! The term "hunt" implies a search.  Instead this should have been billed as an Egg "pick up off the ground" DASH.  We were told not to be late.  The Hunt started at 9:00 and would be over at 9:05.  Not an exaggeration.  Jamestown had a similar take on their "hunt" but they dispensed with the plastic eggs and just threw candy on the ground. Pembroke Pines went the extra step and filled what seemed like a million eggs full of stickers and toys.  Didn't matter to the kids - they LOVED it!!

The Crew before tackling the field

This is just a glimpse - there were 3 other fields just like this one!

The next morning the Easter Bunny showed up!  He filled the baskets not only with the traditional candy of the season, but also some books and a few other nontraditional things like lacrosse sticks!  I tried to give the kids their own Karaoke microphone so they can sing through their kindles via the computer - but that did not work out so the microphones ended up going back. Lilly really wants a karaoke machine so maybe that is the best solution.    

This year it was just me manning both the still camera and video camera for our personal egg hunt so we don't have as many pictures and none of them are very good - sorry!  Just like last year, we left a basket of plastic eggs out and a note for the Easter Bunny to hide them and leave our real eggs in the fridge. He ended up hiding well over 100 eggs!  

I was able to get the kids dressed and we actually made it to church!  The kids were able to have another egg hunt and even more candy - AWESOME!

Of course we had our annual Easter Dinner with the Monclovas!!  I don't want to think about how sad our holidays will be next year without them.  After dinner we had the new tradition of egg konking.  The kids love to have an excuse to whack each other over the head with eggs!

Even Oscar was getting into the spirit of things!

Moving right along, next up is "take your kid to work day".  Last year the girls went to "take your kid to 1/2 a day of work" with their Daddy (planned activities ended at noon), but this year Daddy is in AZ so that isn't going to happen.  I decided to take matters into my own hands.  The county requires you to fill out a Field Trip form in order to participate in this activity so why not go on an actual field trip!  I conned Christine and her kids into going with us and we set off!  First up was Safari Edventures.  This little gem is located about an half hour south of Pembroke Pines in the middle of nowhere.  Christine was dubious about this place on the drive down.  HA!  She has no idea that her day of driving in rural South Florida is just beginning.  Sorry, I got side tracked, back to Safari Edventures.  I was told about this place as an alternative to the zoo.  Yelp confirm that is was an actual place and even had current rave reviews AND there are animal encounters galore.  SCORE!  Of course it is located in a not-so-great section of town but I have seen worse.  Once we arrived, the kids were all excited to get started while Christine and I were paying and asking if there was a map of the property.  Our first clue should have been when the lady laughed and said "just walk straight, you can't miss it" 

We were greeted with small cage after small cage of animals that were apparently once pets and somehow had the misfortune of ending up here. Seriously how was this place not swarming with Pet Humanitarians picketing for its immediate closure?  None of the animals looked neglected but those cages/enclosures needed to be expanded tenfold!  

Once thing is for sure, there were LOTS of animal encounters!  We held or had the opportunity to hold/touch tarantulas, pythons, opossums, sloths, sugar gliders, crocodiles, wolves, wallabies and kangaroos just to name a few.  All for $10.00 a person.  It is crazy!! Personally we think they should up the price to make improvements ACROSS THE BOARD at this place.  Kids of course enjoyed themselves immensely!  Off to the next attraction!   

Since we were close (and the Monclovas had never been) I decided we HAD to go to "Robert is Here."  Robert is Here is a world renowned (really? - maybe not) Fruit and Vegetable market that Jim stumbled upon on one of our first FFFT's (Forced Family Fun Trips).  We have been many times since and since it was such a hot day we all needed a fruit milkshake to help cool us off!  The shakes were delicious although Christine may never go on another day trip with me ever again.  

Well, Lilly got her wish about the Karaoke machine.  She bought it with one of her Amazon gift cards she got for her birthday so I really can't complain.  It is a huge hit!  I wish I had kept one of the extra microphones cause this thing has an extra connection.  Shoot!  We are now having discussions about what songs have inappropriate lyrics.  It is one thing when they are singing a clean version of a song and quite another when they have the lyrics pulled up on youtube karaoke videos that may or may not be radio edited.  

April is just flying by people, FLYING!  We are edging closer and closer to the end of the month and closer to Daddy coming home.  But in the meantime, there are still a few activities to attend.  
The girls and I attended the Mother Daughter Tea sponsored by the Girl Scouts. We enjoyed having a reason to dress up and dance our cares away!

Looks like TROUBLE to me!

Our last activity is a doozy.  Ben's Tiger Scouts had one last camping opportunity, the Cub-o-ree.  Luckily this one was local - like 15 minutes down the road. Unluckily, Jim is still gone and the kids really want to go.  UGH. I get roped into going by my FRIEND!  MY FRIEND!  Why would she do this to me? So I strike a deal, we will only spend Saturday night in the tent.  Friday we will set up the campsite but go home to sleep in our comfy, air conditioned house.  The forecast was for rain on Saturday night, so I was hedging my bets that a storm would send us home before nightfall.
  
This particular camping event was billed as THE BEST!  The scouts and siblings would be engaged all day with activities and games.  Perfect!  Ok, well that did not exactly happen.  First off, it is HHHHOOOOTTTT!  Who thought it would be fun to camp in the middle of an open field in April in South Florida?  We need to talk!  Second, the field was full of biting ants.  Third, there is no pool/lake access.  I think what made it worse is there was a pool/lake, we just weren't allowed in it.  Fourth, the organization left quite a bit to be desired.  So this was the set-up for the tent.  I put the shelter over the tent because the rain was forecasted to be a thunderstorm.  I was pretty sure the tent would leak.  I shouldn't have bothered.  It rained ALL AROUND US but not a drop fell on my shelter. 

Girls entertained themselves by finding tadpoles

Back to the Cub-o-ree, The wheels came off pretty early with our troop and instead of going around and doing the different activities and games in order to win points, the kids found a garden hose and created an unauthorized game of squirt each other with water until you get a big muddy mess.  No points were awarded for that.  So at the closing ceremony while the other troops were getting ribbon after ribbon for participating we were getting NOTHING.  Until the Spirit award was given out.  The Spirit award is given to the Troop that shows the most Spirit.  And by Spirit I mean who is the loudest.  I forgot to mention that the whole time the kids had been running around with megaphones, whistles and screaming and clapping.  So much so that there is now a ban on airhorns and whistles at this event.  Guess who took home the Spirit award? Troop 492! 

Very Proud of his LOUD self

 We I made it!!!  Daddy is home!!  Within about 10 minutes of his arrival the kids were fighting and complaining.  I told him I wanted to make sure his homecoming was special.  Ha Ha Ha

One last thing, it hailed on the last day of the month.  Good Omen?