Easter

The girls were thrilled this morning to find that the Easter Bunny had hidden eggs around the house and left them both a basket crammed with all sorts of their favourite things. What they didn't expect was the gifts from their Grandparents, they were the biggest hit because my kids, just like me, are chocolate snobs and love English chocky. Hah, hope they hide it because their Grands didn't send any for me ....cough cough.

A very unflattering photo of a girl and her loot

ditto

Things might be a little different around here this year but we still have traditions that we stick to like glue. One of my absolute favourite traditions of the whole year is spending time on Easter morning with our friends the K's for brunch and an Easter egg hunt. We have been doing it since we both became parents and I wouldn't miss it for the world. Ed always makes the same dishes and his bacon is heavenly. We all ate like pigs. Hah, I crack me up...bacon, ate like pigs.

The courtyard at the condo where Ed single handedly hid well over 100 eggs.

Off they go

Good job Ed is popular where he lives cos we trample the flower beds but not the plants!

Annual shot! 2013

Now my favourite part of Easter, looking back at how they have grown.

2012

2010 (2011 found the courtyard under construction so we had to cancel...sad sad sad)

2009

2008.  Evan kills me here, it's the hat. I loved that hat.

Lifes simple pleasures

Have you seen my girls? Sometimes I just can't believe they are mine.

Just look at them, do they not make you just get warm and fuzzy?

Today we took a quick drive to Key Biscayne and went to Bill Baggs State park. We have been there countless times before but today we went with the sole purpose of seeing the lighthouse and taking the tour.

The beautiful walkway leading to the lighthouse

Quite spectacular. It was renovated in 1996....and that is all the history we learnt. We had the option of a guided tour or just being able to climb the lighthouse steps, we opted for the second.

Some of the 109 steps 

We made it to the top

Amazing

We were even allowed to walk around the outside which I was surprised about since anything today which could possibly be hazardous is usually prohibited. The scenery was breathtaking.

Looking straight down

I took this from the Lighthouse Keepers garden.

Once the girls were finally finished investigating every single inch of the lighthouse we toured the lighthouse keepers house. I would love, LOVE, to live in that house. It is a bit tiny and doesn't have any indoor plumbing but the architecture is right up my alley. Both girls loved it too.

Windows must have been expensive

Look at the floors, just gorgeous

Hmmm, the crib wouldn't pass many safety tests any more.

The girls loved all the open railings. 

The rooms were all so tiny but it had 3 bedrooms and 2 rooms downstairs. And a lovely little outhouse! 

I steered clear of the beach as much as possible as Lily cannot get her cast wet and getting it filled with sand isn't going to feel very nice but we ventured on to it for a little bit.

I think they were debating whether to just run in.

lily wrote this in the sand and nobody would walk on it, everyone walked around it.

When we left the beach we headed back towards the entrance and decided to hike a nature trail. Rosie got scared and decided we were going to get eaten by bears??? It was so beautiful and we saw so much that normally in our hurried lives, we would miss.  I cut it short as Rosie was not having a very good time so we headed to the car. As we got closer to the main entrance we knew there was a another trail that we wanted to walk so we parked the car for the last time and headed off on foot. We had been in this area before when we went camping (hey I still say it was camping) so we knew what to expect on the trail.

The marina. As we pulled in we saw a police helicopter, the coast guard, FDLE, Parks and recreation, Metro and every other conceivable law enforcement agency. There must have been a boating mishap, nothing to serious with regard to injury but something else must have been a concern. It didn''t faze us and we went about our adventure. 

Poor old tree didn't survive a storm

It was windy today so I was surprised this sailboat wasn't sailing

Ding dong child felt safer crawling the sea wall as opposed to,walking it.

Lily was in heaven all day today. She loves being away from civilisation. 

As we drove back on to the Key traffic was gridlocked. Talk about a reality check. The Sony Ericsson Open Tennis Tournament is being played there and it is one road on and one road off. So we sat, and we sat. It didn't dampen our spirits at all and I knew that once we were passed the bridges we would be free and clear and we were, even rush hour traffic wasn't to awful today.

When we got home we sat down and read, The Lighthouse Keepers Daughter . Other than the fact that it was written in Maine and takes place during a harsh winter storm, the girls were able to relate to it more today than ever before. It's such a fabulous book and was a gift from their cousin Joan, in Maine.

Days like today really shouldn't end. Spring break is winding down and we really haven't done much at all. That ginormous cast put a damper on things so we are making up for lost time.
Life is good when you take the slower quieter route.

4 down, how many more to go?

Lilipop went back to the ortho today for the results of her MRI and a new cast.

Her scaphoid bone is not broken. Yee Haw.

She only has to spend 6 weeks in a cast. Yee Haw.

She got a new short cast today. Yee Haw.

She got to pick the colour. Yee Haw.

She didn't get a waterprrof one.  :(

Once the old cast was removed I was given a few minutes to wash her arm. It obviously felt a bit dry and rough because it has been void of life for 8 days straight. I however thought it felt really gross and funky, it was not just the typical dryness associated with casts but what do I know.

When Dr. M came in to see her and re-cast it he told her the results, chatted for a couple of minutes and then said she could have a waterproof cast. She was so happy. He explained she could only kick, or swim with one arm, no left arm involvement at all and then he picked up her arm to look at it and his whole demeanour changed.

Kidlets arm has developed a reaction to the cast. It is almost like a dermatitis and she is raw, in some places to the point of almost bleeding. He thinks it might be from the cotton sleeve as that is where it is worse. He wouldn't put on the waterproof cast. He is worried that when the water sits in it for hours it will just make things much much worse. It really is nasty.

Tonight I gently washed the newly exposed skin and massaged Sudacrem into it and even that stung. I don't see how it is going to get better in a week as  the same thing has been put on it that was on it before and for the same amount of time. TIme will tell.

Lilipop is as happy as a clam to have on a short cast and have the freedom of her elbow joint and thumb.  I think it is amazing that if I sleep in the same position for a few hours I can't move when I wake up. She has had her arm in the same postion for 8 days and she had no trouble moving it at all, the very second it was set free! Ahh, to be young again.

Enough with the pictures Mummy. 

pretty blue nails and matching cast.

I wast aking a photo of Rosie swimming when Lily suddenly photobombed it. I love this shot cos her arms are out straight. yay.

Happy girl again

Can't do it

I can't do it, I can't be private, it isn't who I am. So everything is back the way it was. If the nosey bloody person that started all the brew ha ha reads and stirs up trouble I will just block her.

I had shut a lot of faithful readers out. Not sure if the invitations landed in their spam boxes or what but they couldn't read and that wasn't right. I received tonnes of emails from people saying they couldn't get in.

Would you rather

There is a kids game called, Would You Rather, it offers you hypothetical situations and you have to decide which you would rather deal with.

I have one for you:

Would you rather wear the same undies for 2 days in a row or take your kids to the Dade County Youth Fair?

Yeah, it's a tough one isn't it? Really freaking tough. I am a complete clean freak and let me tell you I am tempted next year to go for the second option, no kidding. I hate the youth fair with a passion and today I spent 5 hours with my little darlings. Oh and if the crowds, noise, 3 armed toothless carnies, over priced rides and disgusting food weren't enough, it was 89 degrees. Yucko.

Every single year when I was a little girl my dad used to take me to the local fair, I wonder if he hated it as much as I do now? He always rode the rides with me, won me a goldfish, and we ended the night with a candy apple or candy floss. How I loved it. It was a minuscule event and compared to what I dealt with today could be covered in about thirty minutes and that was if you rode every ride. Every single year without fail we would go.

 I didn't think for a moment that Lily would be able to ride any rides because of her cast but the fine folk at guest services assured her that she could. Every now and again a particularly astute ride commando would turn her away but for the most part she had free reign. Her doctor told her on Thursday that her arm is protected and safe inside her cast so she is free to have fun. He mentioned it after I mentioned that she fell down the stairs the other day. KLUTZ She hasn't fallen down the stairs since she was 4 but she did the other day and came flying down with her arm in the air yeling, arghhhhhh.

I took my camera with me today but didn't feel the slightest bit compelled to remove it from my purse. All I could think was, keep smiling, keep smiling, don't let them see you sweat, if they see your weak side they will kill you.

We were in a fabulously cold air conditioned hall and I remembered my camera

Rosie adored this ride and wanted to ride over and over again

Yes, it is blurred. Lily shot off the side at the bottom!

Next year somehow I am leaving town or living in a bunker underground, anything so that we don't have to attend. Mustthinkofanexcusenow

everyone stopped for tea.

Months ago my friend Kelly asked me if I wanted to take the girls to the American Girl bistro for tea. I said sure, it would be nice. She then said the earliest possible reservation was at the end of March, I think it was in December when she asked.

We have had lunch at the AG store in Boston and I have to say it was really good, surprisingly so for a doll shop. Tea was just as lovely and well presented and sharing the occasion with friends made it even more enjoyable. One of our friends has 3 boys and never has the opportunity to venture in so Kelly invited her along too, she needs to get her girl on every now and again.

It's so very pink in there

the gang

the girls all brought their dolls, Julia brought 3

cuties

Gah....dolls everywhere

tea, all the food was based on the dolls. Those orange slices on the top, filled with Jello were disgusting.

cheeeeeese.

She is so photogenic.

After tea Lily did a little shopping as she still had some money left over from Christmas. Rosie was kicking herself for spending hers all at once. Live and learn little one, live and learn.

No news is good news

Yesterday was so chaotic that when I finally stopped running around at 11.45 last night I took one look at the computer and poked my tongue out at it. I just didn't have it in me to update on Lily's appointment.

She had her MRI done at some ungodly hour and it was marked very clearly STAT so that the results would be sent to the ortho in time for her afternoon appointment but the radiologist was not in yesterday so it might just have well been marked SQUAT cos the results were not sent.

Never mind!

She saw her ortho anyway and he took yet more x-rays. The man who wouldn't even discuss waterproof casts and swimming with her on Monday, after seeing the newest x-rays, told her that barring anything funky showing up on her MRI, she can get back in the pool next week. Her bones are back together and looking good now they just need to heal. AMAZING. Even Dr M was a little surprised. We all know that kids heal fast but this is one week and the radius was in 2 pieces and now it is in one piece again. Lots of rest, a healthy diet and exercise, hmmm must be something to it.

He was given no choice than to put another enormous cast back on and await the MRI results. I can ring the office and find out the results but it won't make any difference she won't get a smaller cast until Thursday so I'll wait and if the news is bad, well I'd rather not be the one to tell her.

I had to laugh yesterday at how many 10 year old girls were in the office with broken hands, fingers, wrists and arms. And not one boy, nope, not one! Of course only one had a cast from her shoulder to her thumb all the others had dainty little things barely passing their wrists. 10 appears to be the magical age for breaking things.

Getting the cast cut off, she looks a little scared

zipped right through it

Since her whole day was comprised of running from one appointment to the next and her cast was removed at 8am and she wasn't re-cast until 2pm I chose to let her skip school. It was the last day before Easter break. We spent a really fun day together and after the MRI we went to a lovely French bakery and I let her choose herself a treat. I had to laugh at her misfortune when she tried to eat it. She had the Tiramisu in one hand, the good one, and she plucked a chocolate decoration out with the other but couldn't get it into her mouth.

All is well here.

insert evil laugh !

As with most things she has taken in all into her stride and the idea of being back in the pool next week has jostled her along. Not sure what we are going to do next week for Spring Break...no bikes, no beach, no sand in the cast.... no no that would be awful. Ummm. suggestions would be handy.