Scooter fun

 Back when I was so busy with my dad's situation we didn't have a birthday party for M.  This was the beginning of the "no birthday parties for anyone" phase of our life.  So I got her a very nice scooter with 8 inch wheels.  It was prized and coveted.  Now 3 years later after many conflicts over the scooter, and flattened wheels by negligent siblings, I decided to get the wheels fixed, and another scooter.  The new scooter was to be lP's since she never got a 10th birthday either.  I had put the scooter away but today it was left on the porch again.  M said lP did it and lP's response was "It's your scooter."  So after some deliberation I decided the new scooter won't be lP's.  It will be mine.  It will be our Family's big scooter.  M will have hers and everyone else, who is willing to take care of it, can use the new one.

I'm trying to teach the children to be responsible and respectful.  They are children.

Beautiful park we don't go to often enough

G had a match today for Academic Bowl so I took the 3 peas to the park.  We don't go often and they are a great group.  They stick together and play well.  I just loved how the climbed this tree together.  I hope to get a picture of the whole family with this glorious crepe myrtle.  It looks like several trees, but they unite at the base. 

It's so nice having everyone old enough to not fall in the water!  We have survived 16 years of parenting and never had anyone fall in the water.

They collected leaf samples and explored this woods.  The floor of the woods is covered in pine needles.  It was so different from our back yard woods.  It felt like we were transported to California or something.

 Our quest for leaves took us to the skate park where they got to run around.  They had so much fun and I loved spending this time with them.

Spring is beautiful

 Tonight I sat on the back porch, on my fancy $20 adirondack chair and listened to the RS Devotional.  It was a tiny bit on the cold side but that's ok.  I'd rather have cold instead of moist or hot!  It is so incredibly beautiful on our back porch.  I've painted half of the deck and I feel like we're reclaiming something precious by using that space and not letting it go to rot.  The back yard is so beautiful with the birds and sunlight flitting through the leaves.

Wrong is wrong

 There is a movement right now to hold police to reasonable standards of behavior.  This movement also seeks to have equal levels of force used regardless of race.  In May 2020 George Floyd was buying something and gave the cashier a fake $20.  The cashier called the police and Mr. Floyd died after a police officer knelt on his neck for 9 minutes.  The police told a version of events that was later contradicted by a video taken by a teenager on site.  The police officer who knelt on Mr. Floyd's neck was convicted of 2nd degree murder and manslaughter.

A friend of mine suggested he died from drug use, and a bad heart.  I have a friend who has MS and if someone knelt on her and she died, I would consider it the fault of the kneeling, not the MS.

Police have an incredibly difficult and stressful job of enforcing the law in a heavily armed population.  So they treat every situation as though it could be lethal.  This creates fear in the population, particularly the black and brown population, who have experienced lethal force from police.  When a black person is pulled over, they fear for their lives because so many black people have been shot by police and not been held accountable.  So a black person, afraid for their life, might run, and the police shoot and kill them.  A black person, afraid for their life, might not stop until they are in a safe place, and the police threaten and pepper spray them.  

Time and time again, police are shooting people who are not shooting at them.  I pray the conviction of the officer who knelt on Mr. Floyd's neck will make officers slow down and de-escalate their interactions with the public.

There are 2 men on trial for chasing Ahmaud Arbery, who was running in their neighborhood, in their trucks.  They cornered him and jumped out of the truck with a gun.  Mr. Arbery felt threatened because they were threatening him.  Mr. Arbery tried to grab the gun he was being threatened with, and was shot.  Mr. Arbery died because these men chased him and threatened him with a gun.  I pray these men are charged with murder.  They caused the death of Mr. Arbery.

A few years ago a black teenager was walking home and a man thought he was a thief.  The man, George Zimmerman, called the police who told him to stay home.  Mr. Zimmerman took a gun and stalked the teen through the neighborhood.  The teen, Travon Martin felt threatened and hid, then jumped out at Mr. Zimmerman.  Mr. Zimmerman, who chose to stalk the teen felt threatened so he shot Travon.  The court said Mr. Zimmerman was innocent of murder because Florida has a "stand your ground" law that allows people to shoot if they feel threatened.  I completely disagree with the verdict.  Travon was not doing anything wrong, and citizens should not be going out to enforce the law.  Again in this case, if Mr. Zimmerman had stayed home, or not brought a gun, Travon would not have been killed. 

soap carving

 

P teaches the kids cubscout lessons 4 days a week during our P Pack.  This week he taught them about knives and they carved dial soap into ducks.  G carved his into a nintendo switch controller.  We gave them to aunts E and L when they visited on Saturday.

We go to the beach less often than M would like, but more often than the other 4 would prefer.  This day was windy and kind of cold, but everyone did get in.  We have to drive south of Spyglass to get a parking spot because it's still Spring Break season.  I feel so sad for the people who come here during this season.  The weather is so unpredictable and cold!  But some days are incredibly beautiful.

I have sewn several hundred masks for church, family, community and the Auntie Sewing Squad.  When someone in the group made patches I got one.  I am not a super auntie, but I have enjoyed doing 2 pledges for them.

Good Saturday

 Today our aunts E and L visited.  We had a back porch visit through the glass.  We played a few rounds of Scattergories and gave them our soap carvings.  It was so nice of them to visit.  I hope we can visit them in Orlando someday.

We also went out to Gtowne to work on Grandma L's driveway some more.  Our new pressure washer is much more effective and we made a lot of progress. G also mowed her lawn where she wanted it mowed.  P and M rode 15 miles into town and we met them with a pizza.  Gandma treated the kids to popcicles which they never get at home.

We stopped by Grandpa's house and got another popcicle!  He invited everyone to share a neat story.  Great question.  The kids enjoyed chasing the marsh rabbit that has been eating his plants.

We drove home by way of sam's club, checkers (for fries) the market P likes to get a soda from, and the park with a bathroom.  The children enjoyed watching Rio on the way home.

Dinner: Dub-dubs and Cheesy Cauliflower

 Tonight I made dub dubs: sausage and cheese stuffed yeast dough cooked on a waffle iron.  I made cheesy cauliflower by cutting the head into 8 wedges and steaming it until it could crumble.  I drained the cauliflower, and put it back in the pan with 4 T butter and broke up the cauliflower with a wooden spoon.  Then I added 4oz white cheddar (because that's what I had), 1/4 c of flour and 3 slices of american cheese (to make it a little yellow).  Yum!

Previous dinners this week always included a large salad.  Spaghetti and huge salad.  Baked potatoes with chicken and a huge salad.  P likes to eat the left over salad for a snack. 

be a Pollyanna

 Today there was a testimony given that referenced being a Pollyanna.  The person referencing this story suggested most kids haven't seen it but ours have.  After the zoom stream disconnected and we had our sacrament, I led the kids in a testimony meeting where I tearfully recounted the events of the movie.  I told them that what you send out into the world comes back to you and that Pollyanna was an orphan.  She gave out gladness because of what she had been taught by her parents.  And when she (in the movie) falls and breaks her legs, the townspeople bring that gladness back to her.  In her time of despair, joy is returned by those it was given to.

"Despite the current common use of the term to mean 'excessively cheerful', Pollyanna and her father played the glad game as a method of coping with the real difficulties and sorrows that, along with luck and joy, shape every life."

 So we're going to honor this by creating a Pollyanna (5/5) day and watching the movie each year and having a cake.  We do this with 40:1 day, which is coming up.  Oh no!  Did we miss it?  Well, we better celebrate it today.

Painting Doors

 Our home has solid wood doors.  These beautiful sound canceling doors are stained dark brown and the previous owners dogs scratched them up quite a bit.  The current owners children have vandalized them disgracefully over the last 10 years.  About 2 years ago I resolved to paint them white and only got through 1 door before taking a hiatus from that plan.  I recently took up the job again and have finished 2 more doors.  This week with P off work I am trying to do the door to his office and to our bedroom.  I have taken over the garage to have both doors getting painted at the same time.  This is exhausting but satisfying work.  I sand the doors then do 2 layers of primer and 2 layers of paint.    Each time I put on the first layer of primer I think "Uh this looks awful."  Little by little, each layer looks better.  It makes such a huge difference.  I'll have to take some before and after pictures.

Salt Springs

 Today we took a family outing to Salt Springs.  The girls and I had camped there in November 2020 and were hoping to take the whole family someday.  It has a combination of great elements that make it a nice place to visit.  It is only 1 hour away.  The parking lot is less than a walmart walk from the actual springs.  It's not crowded.  The bathrooms are close by!  The water is so clear and there are interesting things to look at in the caldera; blue crabs, fish and deep bottomless crevices!

We brought things to cook hotdogs and smores on the fire.  We never do this away from home.  It was a big deal to have cooked food and messy treats instead of dub dubs, cookies and apples; our standard for family outings fare.  We brought intertubes and boogie boards (that lP, age 10, delights to call biggie boards).  We had goggles for everyone and snorkels to share.  Everyone had water shoes. 

P has the week off and when we found out that G had no school on Monday, we decided this would be the perfect opportunity to take this trip.  It was not quite warm enough to keep it from being cold.  L needed to get out twice.  LP had a zoom book club at 4 so we got packed up and let her do that on the drive home.  It was a good outing.  L wants to go back, but I think it's more of an annual event.

Compared to Itchetucknee, that is far, expensive, crowded, lots of lines, no bathroom access for hours, this is a nice relaxing outing.  I'll have to suggest it to the P family.  Something in the middle we can all enjoy.

Vaccine

 I got my first corona virus shot on Wednesday and will get the second one later this month.  The county facility where it was done is staffed by fire and rescue personnel.  They have things running so smoothly, I was in and out in 20 minutes, including the 15 minute waiting period after the shot is administered.

G will get his shot today!  I meant to call and get him scheduled the last 2 days that was possible but kept forgetting  Then when I called today around noon, they had some cancellations and were able to get him in today at 4:30.