Whirlwind Day

We were scheduled for a campus tour and Caelan had an audition for the choir director--but we might have set this up in Florida? because the times all switched when we got home. This meant that her audition and campus tour were scheduled for the same time. She realized this at about 10:30 the night before and subsequently emailed the choir director. But we of course wouldn't get a response until the morning indicating if he wanted to meet earlier than the tour, as originally planned . . . and the campus tour was scheduled for 9 a.m. I set my alarm for 7:45 and told Caelan if she heard back earlier to wake me up. Well, she heard back earlier. We left the house, circled back for music, found a short cut, and somehow made it on campus in less than 30 minutes from when she woke me up. We only made one wrong turn finding the choir director's office, and I did forget my mask, but had a backup in my purse.

It was a good interview. The idea that Caelan was a third degree black belt, "Made my day!" according to the director who hadn't thought of her beyond his first appearance of "a nice, sweet girl." That's always a surprise for people, I think :) They discussed the variety of choir options available, highlighting the fact that choir credits are all fully funded with automatic scholarship money (above and beyond the price of the credit!). She's going to do concert choir and show choir, which has always been something she's been interested in--and instead of competitions, they perform for nursing homes and high schools, community service events. She loves that!

For her audition, she got to play the baby grand in the choir room--and loved it, too! This might be the piano she gets to use for the jazz band pianist audition she has tomorrow (although the choir director talked to the band director and he already approved her registration for his class and awarded the scholarship money to cover that one too!!) He liked her vocal tone and her ability to recognize and replicate notes, then quickly explained (because we were running out of time) that all the show choir clothing and shoes, music, and all the stuff is covered at no extra fee. Pretty great!

With minutes to spare, we jumped back in the car and drove to the opposite side of campus and walked into the welcome center---where six people were staring at us and smiling behind their masks. It was pretty funny! Caelan knew one guy from the after work hangouts Brennen has been inviting her to (is required to take her to :) who  also works at the college desk. An older gentleman said that he was taking us on the tour, but first, "I built you a fall schedule, let me show you what it looks like." Did not expect that development! He was the admissions advisor for all incoming students and personally spent well over an hour with us, actually almost two! He answered every question we could come up with, rearranged classes, added in all the music stuff, gave us step-by-step instructions for several other things like parking passes and financial aid . . . basically we had a one-on-one version of what we'd signed up to do for three hours in a big group tomorrow. Super awesome! He also said she could get her student i.d. if she promised to complete her registration at home (she only had to hit "enter") and walked us over to complete that process. Everyone was impressed that she's memorized her student i.d. number--apparently only 2% of students do that. Ha!

During all this, Buck was getting ready to go into work early. Gabby took the boys to learn pickleball (as a break from lifting, but with the same instructor/mentor guy from church), but they swapped phones, so I had to text the boys' phone to get information from Gabby who was home, because we didn't bring any of Caelan's notes and plans because we had no idea we were registering or picking classes that day!

Caelan has seen most of the buildings on campus from other things like her welding class last summer, ACT last weekend, CLEP testing, her first academic advisor meeting, etc. But we got some inside tips like, "Your student i.d. gets you into all fine arts and sporting events for free," and, "If you need any work done on your car, our automotive classes will do that for the cost of parts; including oil changes," and "The culinary students prepare all the meals in the cafeteria, so the food is really good!"

As we were walking back to the main building, the advisor/tour guide said, "I don't often advertise this, but if you're interested in working at the welcome center and doing campus tours yourself, you should check under your financial aid page for work study." He later emailed her and said, "You don't qualify for work study," (because the useless FAFSA said we, her parents, could contribute massive amounts of money, which we cannot--forehead slap), "but I talked to my boss and he said he'd hire you as a regular college employee. Just write my name in the recommendation spot." What?! That's crazy! He also said she could get more hours if she wanted to start this summer; they could give her 10 hours in the fall once school starts. Not a lot, but such a great scenario for her to meet and interact with college leadership and also new people.

But wait, there's more! She applied, at the recommendation of my NGF, for a floral department and has been waiting, waiting for a job to open. She decided to take the bull by the horns and presented her resume in person, rather than waiting for a job alert to come open. She introduced herself to the manager, mentioned that my NGF (who worked there for years and years) pointed her in this direction, and was told to come back for an interview--same day as all this other craziness, ha! SO, she and Gabby went to mail a big knitting order, Gabby shopped for cake decorating supplies, and Caelan interviewed with a lady who was clearly well-studied on her application and resume, and hired her within 15 minutes.

Quite a big day for Caelan! My head is swimming with how quickly and efficiently (and unexpectedly) everything dropped into place. When God is involved and leading, things just go so smoothly at times. Oh, she also has her own key to the church, because she's leading youth worship on her own and might need to set up early sometimes. So much growing up, and she's not even graduated yet (although her announcements and pictures are shipped and should be here any day!)

It's interesting that all of this is unfolding, because she recently had been interviewing with the CEO of an online mother-wear company. The CEO was one of our high school ministry students back in CA. It was a full time job at almost double what she makes teaching karate. She thought she might wait to start school until the spring, and by then be making enough (from home) she could pay for school fully. I think she had four or five different contacts/interviews. It took them longer than expected to make the decision, and it turns out Caelan was the runner-up for the position! She was amazed to be considered after being in a group Zoom interview, and hearing the responses of other candidates and seeing their levels of age and experience. Pretty amazing learning opportunity overall, and the CEO said to please apply again if anything comes open. Clearly, that is not her path for now, but she felt relieved to have an answer. Also clearly, she is now going at her original plans full speed ahead. She's going to be a busy young lady in the months to come (and she's already a busy young lady!)

Jazz band pianist audition tomorrow, and a meeting with the third academic advisor so far :)

Chicken Friends

My friend N is the youth director for Sunday morning children's programming at church. Her youngest is Buck's biggest fan (he's three). Buck gets baby hugs at work, we get videos of the baby talking about him, and his favorite pet chicken is named "Bok." Not to be outdone, he has a back-up stuffed animal named "Jess." I have video of him saying, "It's my Jess, MY Jess!" 

N has decided she only shops where my family works (jokingly of course), but has started sending me selfies of my people at their workplaces with her :) I said, "Why don't you come over here and do a selfie with me at my job," so she did! She brought her chicken-loving children over for a field trip, a good mom catch-up time, and her oldest (Brennen's Zoom Battleship buddy) got pulled into some backyard football coaching :)

I was impressed at how well her littlest fit into the coop! He was the perfect size for the little door! Brennen didn't get eggs yesterday, so little E had plenty to find--18 I think. The first he threw into the egg basket, and it did crack a bit. But once he was reminded of the delicate composition of the egg, he was super careful and gentle with the rest. In fact, he didn't want to let the gathered eggs out of his sight, and insisted he needed to go in the house and check on them!

It was good to have these friends over again, because N's husband is a first responder and has had to be very careful about covid for the past year. They got their vaccinations, so they are feeling more adventurous. We actually heard the sirens from my backyard when her hubby went out on a call during our visit. N invited us to his fireman's graduation ceremony next week, which would have been a very cool experience, but we have choir concert that evening. Just too may cool things to do! :)

Muriel was so worn out from all the running around with little kiddos and (ahem) chasing chickens, that she snuggled up to Chauncey--and he let her!! I had to take a picture, because this never happens!

Today, the sky is blue and I'm hoping warmer temperatures are here to stay. I'm ready for spring and more outdoor visits and graduation parties (I think we have five so far, plus Caelan's) and fun times with friends!

Segway Segue to Naples

Ahhhhh, this felt like Florida! We ordered our breakfast in Spanish, but the lady handing out the (actually well-cooked and recognizable) hotel breakfast was very cheerful. She laughed when Graysen's French toast stick request was "Muchos, por favor!" We ate by the pool as the sunshine crept up the sides of the hotel, and wondered what we were going to do that day. One day to see the Gulf of Mexico from a Floridian angle, along stretches of white, sandy beaches.

Buck really wanted to look into Segway tours (there was a coupon in the hotel lobby). I loved my Segway tour for my birthday celebration in San Diego, and all our kids are old enough now to qualify to operate . . . but it's expensive, and we'd done some expensive things so far on our adventure. The kids gladly offered to chip in half, so we packed the van, bid one of the best hotels ever farewell, and drove to the old, wealthy section of Naples for our tour. We got a little lost and arrived after the rest of the tour group had already watched the safety video, had gathered their gear, and were heading outside to learn the machines. The tour leader said, "Show them the short version." So we sat in chairs, and the second guy turned on the t.v., we saw a glimpse of people riding Segways up a hill, and then he turned it off. "That concludes your safety video, please follow me to get your helmets and ear-packs, and take those masks off--you're in Florida now!"

It takes about five minutes to feel comfortable operating a Segway, and after 15 minutes you feel like you've been riding them all your life. This time, my feet were falling asleep from standing still so long--Buck and Graysen had similar issues. But when you get comfortable enough to shift your weight around while still flying down the street with your peeps, it hardly becomes noticeable--especially while gawking at billion dollar mansions, stunning landscaping, rows of swaying palm trees, and bursts of colorful flowers blooming all around!

To our surprise, halfway through the tour, we rolled right up to Naples Pier. This historic destination was on our to do list for the day, but parking near a pier is crazy and we weren't sure when to fit it in--then viola! We were there, wandering the planks, soaking in the clear, clear waters, and watching a dolphin play around the pilings!

No one wanted our tour to end, but all good things, right? So we went in search of more good things, this time for lunch. We landed at a hole-in-the-wall Mexican restaurant which was good, as Buck knew it would be :) Then we made our way to Clam Pass Park--a public beach, set on the grounds of an exclusive hotel. We waited a long while for a tram to pick us up to drive us down the half mile wooden boardwalk to the beach drop-off point. Then we walked past all the resort umbrellas and chairs until we found a place to sit with our Key Largo towels.

The sun was warm, the water was crystal clear, the sand was soft, and the shells were plentiful (Brennen found one with a slimy inhabitant who requested to be returned to the sea :) Buck and Caelan caught some rays, while Brennen found a bored kid who wanted to play catch with a baseball. Someday, we're going to book rooms at a fancy beach resort hotel where we can wander back and forth to the water as many times a day as we want. One afternoon was just a taste of how nice resort living could be for a few days. The gulf side of Florida is really beautiful!

We had a super early flight to catch at one of the busiest airports in the nation (because everybody is going to Florida right now). So, we packed into the rental van, drove the three hours to Orlando, Buck got gas near the hotel (which was near the airport and Disney) and it was $6/gallon!!! Thankfully, he only had to top off what we'd recently filled, in order to return the rental car. Insane prices, either way. So we settled into our fifth hotel of the vacation in order to reorganize our luggage and get some quick sleep. 

Originally I thought our flight left at 8 a.m., but sometimes things are squirrelly with time changes and reservations. It's not helpful when they translate to your current location without your permission. The flight actually left at 9, so we didn't have to be up at 5 to get to the airport two hours early. We we were still a little bleary-eyed and for sure hungry when we hit our final destination. Buck asked me for the van keys, so he could go get our car out of long term parking and I was like, "Oh. Right. Keys. Ummm, I didn't think about that. They are packed in the luggage." So then we had an anxious minute or two hoping our luggage (which has been lost before at this airport) actually arrived--even if it was just the one bag with the key, which was in an outside pocket, so I was super hoping it didn't get crushed and that that pocket was zipped tightly!! All was well, it all arrived, and we walked into the freezing weather to wait for a bus to take us to the parking lot.

As soon as we could, we stopped for breakfast, and boy did we find a winner! Brennen ordered the "Three Car Pile up" for $18 and completely eradicated it. The waitress said, "I've never seen anybody finish that before!" I guess he got his (our) money's worth, ha!

We are thankful to have this opportunity to rest and explore and "brain wipe" as my Cali girl friends put it. We just needed a break from all the stress Buck experiences at work and from the cold and the gloom of early spring. Buck was told he was a different person when he got back to the office and was asked to compare arm skin tones with several people who sport his current color, genetically :) I think they were ready to run away to Florida, too. 

I could go back; we all could go back. We all should go back! Let's go back!! :)

Adventuring in the Everglades

Sorry for the long pause between videos and post . . . things got a little busy around here!

When I looked at a map and saw that we'd be driving 45 minutes north for our fan boat adventure through Everglades National Park (and we needed to go north anyway to get to the airport), I made a last minute decision to cut out of Florida City a night early. I'm SOOOO glad I did! Okay, I'll get back to that. Chronology is less confusing :)

I didn't know exactly what to expect from the Everglades. My NGF called it the "Australia of America." That made me a little nervous, because I equate snakes and spiders with Australia--big ones. I was pleasantly surprised to find really big fan boats (they provided ear protection for *free* but we had to buy bug spray, which we should have bought earlier for the kayak trip :) Right, pleasantly surprised to find fan boats and what looked like prairie grass set on water. You couldn't actually see the water until you were drifting around corners in the big fan boat (that was SUPER fun!!). There were no low-hanging, jungle trees to drop miscellaneous awful things to drop on my head--it was great! We spotted a gator or two along the way, and that was fun (Buck said his vacation would not be complete with seeing an alligator, thankfully we took care of that with the double whammy of backyard gators at C and K's house on Easter). 

Later, we saw SO many alligators that it was crazy--plus alligator babies and alligators in irrigation ditches and fishing canals alongside the road as we drove trough Big Cypress National Preserve. We also saw wild boar and babies!! And peacocks?? No panthers despite the panther crossing signs on the freeways, but we couldn't expect to see EVERYTHING! :)

Above is more like how I pictured the Everglades, ha! It was a boardwalk to the wild animal show (a guy in a cage with sleepy live alligators that liked to eat raw chicken). Without fail, someone in our family would start humming the Jurassic Park theme song any time we were on a path like this. And we weren't the only ones who got this feeling, because there were Jurassic themed t-shirts in the gift shop :)

Below is at one of the northern visitor centers at the Everglades park. Graysen was working on a Junior Ranger badge and I think this helped him get the bingo on the bingo page! The water puddle behind the kids is an alligator nest. There is an alligator in the nest. Caelan was VERY nervous about taking this picture. She kind of looks like she's ready to push Graysen into Gabby into the pond if that thing moves, lol! (Probably not really though . . . ;) She asked Buck to keep an eye on the gator while I took the picture, just in case. Our fan boat guide said alligators are very shy and would rather hide than hurt people. They can move about 15 mph if inspired, and we were pretty sure we could run 15.5 mph if similarly inspired, ha! Gators need to sun heat their bodies to 65 degrees to digest food, so we figured if they were just laying around on the banks of the water, they were probably already full and weren't going to come chasing us. We also learned that only 30 people have died in gator attacks in the past 75 years, and you are four times more likely to finish life by getting gonked on the head by a falling coconut than you are nibbled by a gator. Helmets on beaches, people! It's the new fashion trend!

Next is your eye-spy challenge . . . can you spot the friendly gator (okay, probably not friendly :)?

Taa-daa! Zoom in of the last picture :)

Itty bitty baby gator! And Buck with two big gators!

Well, we missed the Everglades sign at the visitor center we visited, so I saw that along our path there was another visitor center perched on the gulf side of the 'glades just five minutes off our path to Naples, Florida (along the road which took us through Big Cypress, although we didn't stop at that visitor center either). It turned out to be a good stop, because although the gift shops were closed, they still had Junior Ranger badges available. The other ranger station was out and then we'd have had to send in Graysen's completed booklet and wait for them to mail it back, etc. etc. We arrived just as the rangers were closing up their outdoor shop, got the badge, popped into a gas station and got snacks, and were ready to finish our journey west.

Our hotel in Naples was SO much better than that dive in Florida City. We were welcomed with a provided supper--hot pizza (Digiorno :) and free drinks at the restaurant bar. There was a nice pool and a basketball court, although the putt putt only had one hole. Our room had two separate bedrooms, two bathrooms with two showers, and a full kitchen attached to the living room. It was like a small apartment, and it was awesome! The hotel also had four functioning washing machines and four functioning dryers--we were wearing the very last of what we'd packed. While the kids hung out outside by the pool, Buck and I got all that laundry rolling. You can see the result (we had to borrow clean trash bags because we didn't have any laundry baskets with us :) Insane amount of vacation laundry!

It had been a pretty full day, but we had one more Kristin-recommended stop on our to do list . . . Jeremiah's Ice. It's kind of a layered combo of ice cream in a ton of flavors with slushy in a ton of flavors. Very unique dessert experience, but when in Florida--go outside and eat slushy ice cream :)