And, yesterday was Preston's 12th Birthday. Oh, my gosh, how time flies. It certainly was only yesterday that he was born and became my 'sakasugar' Something tells me he may not want his friends to know that he is still my sakasugar.
I have found a window of time here this morning at 8:45 to sit down here. I have not one, but two loads of clothes going at the laundry. I just put them in, so, there is a little time before transfer to the dryer and before the little girls come up while Walt goes to a showing at Big Pine.
The sky is fat with clouds and moisture this morning. It makes you wonder just how much moisture the clouds can hold before it starts to drip down as rain.
After several days of extreme humidity (the temps were in the high 70's but the humidity was for sure that extreme that you could use the 'feels like a sauna out here' with certainty, a cool front came in late yesterday afternoon. We were allowed to turn the a/c off and open up the camper again which is really nice. Jim even heard the a/c making funny noises. We are both attuned to 'funny noises' and we noticed this irregular beat of the a/c hum right away. Fortunately, as I said, the cool front was coming in and he simply turned the a/c off. This was late yesterday afternoon and we still haven't needed the a/c. In fact, Jim just came back in the camper from outside saying "it's cool out there!"
After Gabby and Lily left yesterday, before noon, I was pretty well spent. Afternoon found me getting a shower, putting on my pajamas and reading/watching t.v. in bed. Which, of course, led me to bedtime and a solid, hard night of sleep, waking up this morning feeling all strong again.
The sleepover was a success to my mind.
As soon as Hillary dropped the girls off, it was time to go to the Thursday Night Dinner. Jerry and Char hosted this weeks dinner and had posted "Greek chicken kabobs" as the main entree. I had made Potato Salad earlier in the day as my "dish to pass" and I was sure there would be other foods there that the girls would enjoy.
Once we got to the clubhouse, Char suggested we go ahead and fix the girls plates. No one else was being served yet, and maybe this would be a good thing!
By the time we got to the end of the table with all the food spread out, the line did start to form.
Gabby is a terrific eater. She wanted to see what each dish was that was being served and saw corn pudding (that she thought was macaroni), white rice with vegetables, and brown beans and rice that she wanted on her plate. And, of course, a chicken kabob.
Although Lily sat on my lap while she was eating, I can't remember what she got because Jim was helping her.
At the end of the line, I discovered that we had not gotten our forks/spoons. Fortunately, for us, Charlie was standing on the opposite side of the table and I asked him to retrieve those utensils for me. Thus avoiding taking the little girls back through the deep lineup of people serving themselves. Just tiny little things like that make things so much simply, don't you think? And, I was sure to thank Charlie again on Friday for helping us out. He just grinned and said "sure, looked like you had your hands full."
After sitting down, Jim to my left, Lily on my lap and Gabby to my right, Chuck happened to be the unfortunate one sitting directly behind us. Although I apologized to Chuck for the girls knocking his chair, bumping him on the shoulder, dear Chuck just smiled all the while and said he would be disappointed if the girls didn't bump into him. As you can tell, everyone at the dinner seemed to enjoy the girls.
Earlier, in the day on Thursday, Char suggested that she give me some money back because 'those little girls' will not eat that much. The dinner charge (for the purchase of the chicken was $2.00 per person) and I assured Char that most likely Gabby would certainly enjoy her $2.00 worth and maybe more. Well, I was more than right.
Gabby ate her rice with vegetables, her brown rice with beans, and once discovering the corn pudding was not macaroni, she grinned and said "Amme, this is not what I thought it was, but it is good." Gabby also ate her skewered chicken, taking the onion off for me to eat, then, asked if she could get another. Jim went back with her to get the second kabob. By the third and fourth kabob, we were allowing Gabby to just go get it herself.
After dinner, we dragged Gabby to Jerry and Char who were still standing by the outside grill, thanking them for the delicious dinner. Gabby was really embarrassed to do this, although once the thanks to them was exchanged, Gabby peeked out from behind me and said "I ate four." Laughs all around and Char spent some time telling Gabby how wonderful it was to have someone enjoy a meal that she had prepared, even explaining that sometimes people spend all day preparing a meal and just hope that someone will enjoy it, and once the meal is enjoyed, it makes the cook so very happy.
After dinner, the Lazy Lakes Trash Band, consisting of campers playing their various instruments were going to jam together. The girls and I came back to the trailer and Jim joined us as well, helping with the decompress period.
To aid in this calming time, the four of us took a walk around our end of the camp, looking at the pretty lights (looked like Christmas the girls said) different campers have on outside in their respective yards. The girls really like dad'n dad'n's little palm tree and there is another palm tree just down the street from us. The walkabout was a tremendous success until Lily tripped and bumped her knee. Fortunately, we were right behind our camper at the time, so, we just called it a night.
Gabby went with me to the bathhouse for my shower. She was very cautious about showering in that place. When I assured her we were camping, and while camping, we did things a little different than if we were in our homes. She watched carefully, as I hung my towel on the hook, my bag that holds the soap, etc. (she had already wanted to know what the bag was for.) Well, this was just too much, and although Gabby was going to watch me take the shower, she suddenly asked if she could take one too! I was pleased that she overcame her doubtfulness about going into a strange building to take a shower!
Once we got back to the camper, Jim and Lily already had Lady and the Tramp movie in and starting to watch the movie. Immediately, the girls laid out their sleeping bags in the middle of the floor, ready for their sleepover. Lily asked me to help her with her pajamas, and told me "my daddy says the tag always goes in the back."
There was sometime that we watched the movie and then, "I'm hungry" chorused through the camper. Lily opted for a jam and peanut butter sandwich and Gabby wanted some cheese crackers. Then, we settled back in on the floor, Amme laying in the middle, for the remainder of the movie. I hesitated, big time, before saying out load that I wanted pictures of this. You see, once the little ones are down and quiet, I was loathe to stir them up again. But, it was an opportunity I just could not pass up. Another lull in the movie while we had our picture op and then, believe it or not, we enjoyed the rest of the movie. Something was wrong, either with the DVD or our DVD player and there were frequent blank screen outtakes of the movie. Only complaint from the girls was "I wish I could have seen that, it was one of my favorite parts."
After the movie, Dad'n Dad'n suggested the girls and I sleep on the bed. I was glad he made that decision, because the floor of the camper was really getting to me.
Gabby's concern was how are four people going to sleep in that bed. Dad'n Dad'n assured her that he would be fine sleeping on the couch.
Faces washed, hands washed and little feet washed, no tooth brushing, just a jump in the bed.
We started out with putting the t.v. channel on channel 50 (Gabby said so.) After about 5 minutes, Gabby said we aren't going to watch that are we? So, a little channel surfing, a lot of Gabby talk, provoking Lily to tell Gabby "to please be quiet, she wants to go to sleep." Well, Gabby talks and talks. She wants to know that if she does go to sleep will it be about one minute, and she will wake up and it will be morning? I assured Gabby that this would be exactly the way the nighttime would speed by. Then Gabby throws her left leg over my mid body and asks "Is this the way my momma slept with you?" And, don't you know, when she did that, I remembered right away, Hillary as a little girl sleeping with her leg over me, and so I told Gabby that "yes, you are exactly right, that was exactly your mother used to do."
Lily was the first to go to sleep, and finally, finally, Gabby got herself into the comfortable spot, let herself go and she was out.
Where is Jim during all this, you might ask?
When we first went to bed, Jim was back and forth to the bedroom, adjusting the a/c. It was super hot in that bed and each of us three girls had stripped down to only our pajama tops.
After the a/c was adjusted, the camper got quiet, the front of the camper was dark, and I casually wondered, to myself, if Jim had already gone to sleep himself, although just casually as I did not dare stir in the bed or get up to check. I was just hoping for stillness and quiet in the bed so the girls could go to sleep without any fretfulness. And, that, in fact, did happen.
An uneventful night until about 5:00. I feel Gabby stirring, then Lily. Gabby wants to know what time it is, I tell her we can't see the bedside clock in the dark, she says "well, turn the light on" The clock time is actually about 4:30. Gabby needs to go to the bathroom, Lily says "me to" then I usher them both back to bed. Gabby wants to know when we can get up.
The remainder of the early morning is Gabby wanting to check the clock, getting out of bed and peering through the bedroom blinds. I had told Gabby there was no point in our getting up yet because it was still dark outside and there was nothing for us to do, so, let's just rest and wait for the daylight. That is what provoked the peering from the blinds. Checking outside and checking often.
Finally, the first tiny light of day. The girls wasted no time in getting their clothes on and wanting to get outside for a walkabout. I barely got in a minute to pour my coffee (Jim was up and had the coffee perked.) I also hardly remember our leaving the camper, although we did and I do remember a couple of other early risers greeting us as they met us on the road. A good walkabout in the early morning is just the thing to get you started! And, as always, with little people, their eyes much closer to the ground, there are many treasures to be found.
One treasure, that I cringe to even type here was a snake skin that Gabby found floating in the water. She had started another cup of Witches Brew and a snake skin is one more perfect ingredient. She was delighted with this find.
Early morning walkabouts are also great for working up a powerful appetite.
Getting back to the camper, Jim hooked up the electric skillet, got it set up on the picnic table outside for outside camp cooking of bacon and eggs.
Jim got the bacon started, Lily helped with taking the butter, jelly, plates and silverware outside and Gabby set the table. Also, importantly, Lily got to take the package of bacon outside because the night before when she asked what she could do for bacon and eggs, I had told her she could get the bacon out of the fridge and take it outside. A very big deal, and a chore I wanted to remember that would be Lily's chore.
Jim started cooking the bacon and asked for me to take over while he came in to fix the grits.
Gabby, as always, (and, it is a good thing) had lots of questions, now in regard to frying bacon. As the bacon was on slow cook, Gabby was able to finish off the bacon frying and she did a great job.
Before you knew it, all four of us were sitting around the picnic table, under the trees, here at Lazy Lakes enjoying a camping breakfast.
Cleanup was quick and easy as the girls helped carry things back into the camper and Jim and I made fast work of the dish washing.
We all then loaded in the car for the short drive up to the fishing bridge. We walked from one end of the bridge to the other, an enjoyable walk, peering down into the waters looking for anything that may move. It was only Lily's little legs that got a little tired so Jim and I took turns carrying this sweet little four year old.
At the far end of the bridge were three of the Lazy Lake Campers, John and Sandy and Larry. John and Sandy showed us their catch, a nice group of Mangrove Snapper. Larry had not caught anything - yet!
The walk back down the bridge to where we had parked the car was greeted with a call from Hillary. She was at the campground waiting on our return and to take the little girls back home. Gabby had a play date later in the day and she had already told me she wanted to fish.
So, now, I am back to the beginning of this story and it was about this time that I crashed. I only hope we made some memories for the girls.
Jim at one of his many caulking projects.
Little wider view of Jim with his caulking project. And, yes, you are right, he is standing on the "this is not a step" and further "do not go beyond this point" on his ladder.
Sleepover - Gabby and Amme
Sleepover - Lily and Amme
The Three Amigos - Gabby, Amme and Lily. Gabby had Jim take this picture as the first picture of the three of us did not have her showing the 'v' with her fingers.
Gabby frying bacon for our camping breakfast
The fishing bridge walkabout - That is the KOA Campground in the background. Lazy Lakes is just through the mangroves, down the road about one block from KOA.
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