Tick Tick Tick... South Florida time is running out

May started out pretty quickly right from the start.  No time to ease into it with the move looming just four weeks away we had some items to check off!!  

It is May so that means it is Honor Roll time!!! Once again the girls made Silver Honor Roll.  Sooooo close to Gold ladies! Keep up the Great work!!

 

Lucy and the rest of the Chapel Trail Elementary School Chorus were slated to sing the National Anthem at the Marlins game on May the 1st!  That is how you start a jam packed month people!!  They did awesome and the Marlins won the game in the bottom of the ninth!  And there were fireworks!  What more can you ask?

Just a short two days later I had my last soccer game(s) here in Pembroke Pines.  The Soccer Bowl!  Last year we won after playing three grueling games back to back with two being decided by penatly kicks!!  Well this season, my team couldn't quite get our act together and we lost a few more games then we won.  This ended up working to our favor because we found ourselves in the final game having played one less game then our opponents...and we won!!  It was hard-fought, but it helped that we only had to play two games in the ninety degree heat/humidity ... and we actually played pretty well!  What a way to leave a league!  I really bonded with my teammates and am sad my time playing with them has ended.

Last year I got a personal cooler on wheels as my "trophey" and this year I got a cool chair to go with it.  Yeah me!

 

Without so much as a breath, the next event was the SOUTHCOM awards banquet. Jim had arranged for a room in a swanky hotel so it was up to me to farm out the kids so we could have a night out in town!  Roger that!  The event was nice, I was able to put some names with some faces but by fair the best part was going out afterward with all the cool South Beach hipsters.  We actually got the once-over by a "bouncer" at a hotel bar to make sure we were dressed appropriately before they admitted us.  WHAT?! I am too old for that!
 

 

We collected the kids the next morning and hustled off to a baptism onboard the U.S.S. WASP the next afternoon.  Jim served on the WASP several years prior for one of his deployments and he wanted to show the family around.  The kids LOVED it!!

In addition to touring Navy Warships and attending art classes and trying to organize for the move we had to continue to live and that means birthdays to celebrate!  Jim's birthday is in May, and he really wanted to celebrate it at a "ding ding ding" restaurant.  For those of you not in the know, that stands for a Japanese Steak House!  Easy Peasy.. 

 

Suddenly it is Mother's Day!  How can it be already almost half way through the month?  Time.must.slow.down.  Still too many things to do!  We decided to combine some activities for Mother's Day.  We hit the horseracing track!  The kids love to watch triple crown horse races on TV so we knew they would be excited to see it "live."  Guess what?  We were right!  A few of our friends were game so off we went.  Gulfstream Park has to be the nicest racetrack on the planet!!  Since it was Mother's day, it wasn't overly crowded and the kids really enjoyed cheering on their picks.  Some of them even got "lucky" and picked a winner or two.  They also scored a couple of Jumbotron appearances AND even got to watch a race inside the winner's circle!

Suddenly it is Mother's Day!  How can it be already almost half way through the month?  Time.must.slow.down.  Still too many things to do!  We decided to combine some activities for Mother's Day.  We hit the horseracing track!  The kids love to watch triple crown horse races on TV so we knew they would be excited to see it "live."  Guess what?  We were right!  A few of our friends were game so off we went.  Gulfstream Park has to be the nicest racetrack on the planet!!  Since it was Mother's day, it wasn't overly crowded and the kids really enjoyed cheering on their picks.  Some of them even got "lucky" and picked a winner or two.  They also scored a couple of Jumbotron appearances AND even got to watch a race inside the winner's circle!

 

 

The next weekend finds us celebrating a First Communion and our final Girl Scout meeting with our beloved troop.  The girls decorated the tea cup favors from our Mother/Daughter tea and Lucy had the bright idea that these cups could replace the ones she and Ben broke last year at Nanny's house.  Looks good on paper, let's see if Mommy can remember to keep the packers from boxing them up!  The girls also released some butterflies!  I am sure there is some symbolism going on there, but all the girls really got out of it was a butterfly on their arm for about a 1/2 second!

 

 

Yes, you read correctly earlier,  I did say birthdays.  Lucy's is not a Gemini, her birthday is in July (she is a CLASSIC crab)!  However since this is not only a "party year" but also a move year, that means we have to celebrate her birthday a tad early.  Originally she wanted to have a sleepover.  Seriously?!  That is NOT GOING TO HAPPEN.  I then threw out the idea of going to a local water park.  SCORE!  So the plan is set, we will have it on a Thursday afternoon after school.  Pray for good weather.  I came across a cool idea for her cupcakes and it seemed to be super easy to pull off.  What do you think?

 

Thankfully, I only made one of these beforehand.  I decided to go ahead and put the white "clouds" on and it would take no time to do the rainbow while at the park. I entrusted my oldest child to bring in the bag that held the cupcakes - that proved to be a mistake.  As I was unloading the car, she was spinning(SPINNING People!!) the bag around her helicopter style.  Awesome.  I am sure those cupcakes look lovely now.

 

Oh well, as hot as it was they may have looked that way by the time I served them anyway.  No biggie.  I got my perfect picture.  Since we were only doing cake and no real food, I decided to do some blue Jell-O cups with a gummy life preserver ring and gummy bear floating on top!  Sigh, they also did not stand up to the heat or the helicopter treatment, but they kids devoured them nonetheless. 

 

The party was on a Thursday afternoon from 3-5.  I know, I know - a Thursday!  I had no choice!  The waterpark would have been crazy on a weekend and Friday was already booked with a field trip AND another birthday party.  This was the only day it could have happened!!  Of course the weather didn't cooperate!  The clouds started rolling in about an hour after we got there.  The thunder eventually shut us down, but the park gave me credit for all the entrance passes I purchased so I just gave them out to everyone who attended and they can come back on a different day and enjoy the water park!  The kids had fun while it lasted.


 

Ok, so we now have less then three weeks left in town and I decide it is the perfect time to build a pallet table/bench.  Because, I mean why not!  Katrina scored me a pallet in April and I was just itching to do it especially since Jim was out of town and could not dismiss the idea (not that he would ever do that). 

Well, it turned out almost as I had envisioned.  I got it to a point the movers can move it without fear of tearing it apart.  It will look nice outside with the Adirondack chairs or I can put it in the garage for the kids to store their school gear on a la mudroom style.  It is a work in progress - don't judge!
 

The rest of the month is basically all about Ben!  He worked hard as a Tiger Scout all year and finally crossed over to be a Wolf!!  Boy were he and his fellow scouts PROUD!!!  Troop 492 set the bar pretty high as far as I am concerned.  We spent A LOT of time on camp outs and other functions so hopefully there is a troop for us to join once we get to Yuma.

 

First grade awards day really snuck up on me.  The school had to have it on the Friday before the other grades the following week.  What a way to end the year for Ben!  He got multiple awards but the one he was most proud of was his 1st place AR trophy.  Last year he won with 171 points and this year he topped out with 320.9!!!  That has got to be a record!!  He really enjoyed his year in the Dual Language program and we are sorry to be leaving the area.  Hopefully he will continue to practice his Spanish while we are in AZ.

 

Daddy had the honor to speak at a Memorial Day Celebration this year and so we put on our red, white and blue finest and showed our support.  Daddy did a wonderful job and I am sure this will not be our last time listening. 

Ben trying on Daddy's gear

They're here!!  Oh no! How did that happen?  We should still have at least another week before the movers get here!  Ugh.  I hate moving. I will say, these packers are FAST!!!  In all the moves (and there have been MANY, many many many) I have never had my house packed up in two days!  I just hope it makes it to AZ in one piece.   

 

Don't let the movers put me in a box Mama!

It is over.  All our stuff is gone and we have taken over Christine's house.  Sure we have a hotel room, but no one wants to stay there.  Well maybe Christine's husband wants us to stay there but he is outvoted!!  Bye South Florida, bye awesome public school, bye all my awesome friends.  Bye Christine, damn the Marine Corps for tearing us apart.  It was a blast and I thank each and everyone one of you for all the good times!!  Looking forward to my first visit not to mention all the visitors we will have in AZ!!  Grand Canyon is only five hours away!!