Spring Break Camping

Devin caught a toad fish; my friend Julie with her son Chris; Ashley,Dalton, & Chris found a load of starfish, the kids playing at the swimming hole, Smores time


Kicking off our Spring Break week with some camping is just what we all needed. A good break away from schooling. We booked a camp site at the Sebastian Inlet State Park for the last weekend of March. It was a time of camping with my closest friend Julie and her two boys, Alex and Christopher. Needless to say the kids were so excited to be camping with their friends. This was also Julie and her boys first time camping.

Mike, was so sweet, he hooked up the camper and towed it up to Sebastian and set up every thing for us and then returned four days later to pack it all up and tow it home. I am sure he was excited about his break at home too.

The weather was a little rough, very windy. We did not even attempt to go to the beach because of all the rip currents. But,that did not damper our vacation at all. There were plenty of things to do in the state park. The kids swam, there was a playground, and we did plenty of fishing. We also got our fill of wildlife. There was a pod of dolphins that lingered all weekend by the parks fishing dock. They were so beautiful and fun to watch. The sea turtles were plentiful, seeing their little heads popping up for air every so often. On our last day, the kids and I had a manatee come right up to the rocks where we were fishing.

This was an excellent spring break trip that was very inexpensive for both Julie and I. Sharing the expense and getting away from home to have fun with the kids. We could not have asked for a better time.


One of the dolphins passing by, the kids taking a break during our walk, Dalton found a crab claw, Me and the kids right before Mike came back to pick us up, Ashley fishing

Traveling down memory lane...

I was born in W.P.B. and lived there till I was 10 years old when we moved down to Coconut Creek, Ft. Lauderdale. I loved my childhood neighborhood; I have so many awesome memories. We lived on a tiny street with about 10 houses but loads of kids. We played constantly in the streets; kickball, baseball, tag, superheros, hot wheels cars, etc. This is something my kids don't get because there are no kids in our neighborhood at the present time, and I wish they had it my way. We have the perfect cul-de-sac to do all those games.

Well anyways, on Monday, Devin had a check up at his Neurologist for the E-coli episode. We decided to make a day of it. My mom, sister and me with the kids drove down for lunch and the doctors visit. While there we took a trip down memory lane. We drove by my Grandfathers house in Palm Beach, and drove by the bike trail paths that my parents took us on, "Oh so many times". We went to the end of the road to see the inter coastal of Palm Beach and told the kids about the witches cave and drove by honking our horn to hear her scream. (just a little thing our parents would do to us, of course it is not true...)

Finally we went over into West Palm Beach to see the house that I grew up in. We lived in Belvedere Homes, which is not far from the Dog Track. Our road was called Pine Rd. and I was so excited to be able to visit the area. Well, it is not the same. It is not a great area to be in, very run down.

It is so funny how when you are little you think the things around you are so big. That is what I thought about our house on Pine Rd. but boy was it tiny. Everything was tiny, even the road that we use to play ball in and walk around the block thousands of times.

Even though it is so different now and not the same as it was when I was little, I still have all my precious memories of a glamorous childhood. I would not change one bit of it. Here are some photos from our day.


Mom, Ashley, and Monica at Duffy's in West Palm Beach


Devin, Me, and Dalton at lunch


Dalton, Ashley, and Devin by one of the beautiful Banyan trees in Palm Beach by the water near the bike trails. This is just a couple of blocks from where my grandparents lived.


This was the witches cave, in the wall on the right, about halfway through there is a drainage pipe that is behind bars and that is where my parents would tease us that a witch lived in there and we believed them. Well, my kids did not fall for it.


My house that I grew up in. Now keep in mind, it was not yellow and there were no trees in the front yard and no fence around the front yard. It was a nice clean beautiful house and yard. Our driveway,as my child mind remembered, was huge and all the neighborhood kids use to meet in our driveway to do roller skating. I have photos, I think I will search for them and post.

Surviving the Storm

Well, we made it through this minor Tropical Storm named Fay. She ended up being a little tougher than expected and lingered for a very long time. No pictures to share of this event, but I am sure everyone has seen enough on the news. Even though Fay is still just North of us; today is the actual first day of a little sun peeking through the clouds. We are being promised more rain to come and I am not sure how some parts of the county can take any more of it. I am venturing out East today with Monica, to go to the mall to get tires on her car and I am sure we will see all that flooding. Hopefully we will not float away. I hope the mall is still there! I will see if I can't get some cool shots to share.

Even though we got minimal water damage in our office on the front of our house from the wind and rain we do have a major catastrophe in our life right now. I need lots of prayer from all who read this...It has been about a week now and I don't know if I can take it much longer. Every morning around 5:00 a.m. I am awoken and am unable to go back to sleep. We have guest staying in our attic and they seem to be partying it up till day break. Don't know who they are yet, but we left some welcoming mats out last night and we are hoping to meet them soon. I AM SO TIRED!!!