Local businesses have resorted to setting up automated payment boxes and usually charge 24/7. Our church does not, but 2-3 times a year, they block it off and sell spaces for a fee. These special funds go to youth programming.
Your time for service goes your youth trip fees directly into your account. (For example, we got money off of Mercer's Road Rules trip last summer because he worked at several parking lot fundraisers.)
After the excitement of "working" -- collecting money... she was too tired to walk around the square. Oh well. her loss.
Here's a photo-dump....Chalk-tober did not disappoint!
My favorite ones are the 3D ones. You stand in one spot at the end of the drawing & it looks like it "pops up" out of the street.
I try to take the long side shots too -- to see that this thing looks like it's 6' tall, but it's really 15' - 30' long.
Our church had a tent set up -- passing out information. And they sponsored an artist to draw a square.
This one is local AND timely!
The weekend AFTER Chalk-tober fest (2 weekends ago) included a wedding that Isabella and I went to down to in Florida. Mercer was supposed to have a Wahoo's travel-ball baseball tournament -- which his team did have... but he pulled a hamstring earlier in the week at his high school baseball conditioning and was ineligible to play because of his injury. In hindsight the whole family could have gone to the wedding, but no dog-sitter had been lined up in advance, so, it would have been a ton of juggling. Mercer was the "bat boy" and cheered on his team -- which is technically what injured players are supposed to do.
Kaitlin - the bride - was a volleyball player and when I told her she totally understood saying - yes - he was supposed to be there with his team, regardless. I guess sports people have a code?! :) We had only RSVP'ed for 2 people anyways and the room that we were in was only for 2 total, so it all worked out. We originally were going to have 1 night that we had to find a nearby hotel / rent something of our own and one night at the block of hotel rooms that Michelle (my step-sister) & Doug -- Kaitlin's mom & dad -- had booked. (We had a little patio and a great view out the back!)
There were wedding guests who lived where the bride and groom were from (Tampa) that were not able to come due to hurricane damage at their homes or complications because of the storm. As it turned out, we were able to stay in the same hotel / same room the whole weekend. What a gift not to have to move mid-weekend and what a gift to to have to pay for a room?!
The front of the hotel boasts a sign for Historic Hotels - but honestly - it was built in the 60's, so not really historic in my eyes! (I was wondering if - originally - it was built on the site of an old mission. Naah. It was built on the site of a historic 1917 golf course (originally called Chain-o-lakes) and 60,000 acre citrus farm. In the 1960s, someone else bought the golf course + 500 acres of the land, created another golf course (there are 2 at this resort) and built the mission-style hotel and event-space buildings.
I had wanted to rent a car for the drive, but it was cancelled last minute and I called and called and called multiple offices. Finally, someone told me that there were no cars because of the hurricane. They haven't had cars in over a week and were not sure why they were still on the website for rental. So I said a little prayer and we headed down in my car! Along the way in south Georgia (Valdosta area) and in northern Florida -- there were trees down all over the sides of the road. They were already cleaning up along the Florida highway. We saw hundreds and hundreds of big pine trees down plus dozens of clean-up sites on either side of the highway. At some point in Florida, though, it had stopped as it appeared the destruction was mostly in the northern parts and the southern parts of the state.We made it there to the hotel during the end of the rehearsal dinner. We hung out for awhile there as it was wrapping up and then settled in to our room. The next day, we went into town for breakfast and to look for a bathing suit (because she forgot to pack hers) - but none were of her liking, so she understood that she couldn't swim. Probably just as well. It takes a long time to do her hair!
Instead, when we returned back, we just explored the property -- looking for lizards along the way. The property had some trees down from the hurricane that had just passed through, however, it didn't look too bad.
After exploring, Isabella and I played a little bit of pool in the game room and ordered / ate lunch out in the plaza between the game room & the restaurant before we had to get ready for the wedding.
She found a white frog that she played with too -- which was more interesting to her than the dozens of lizards she played with while there.
The wedding was off-site. We had to take a trolley to get to the venue which was about a 30 minute drive to a neighboring town. (This is a picture of the wedding party taking the early trolley to the venue.)The wedding was in a pavilion on the water.
Isabella walking to the pavilion - notice she's wearing a "grown-up" dress... she picked out women's XS because none of girl's XL dresses did not meet her fancy. She said they looked too kid-dish (sigh).
This was a floating party tiki hut going by as we were walking up to the pavilion! ha!
I didn't have a clear view of the bride & groom for a photo, but had a clear view of the right-side of the nuptials (which was in the center of the spiraling stair).
There was a harpist and a violinist playing (which Isabella talked to afterwards!)
Michelle's son, Kyle and his youngest child were a part of the wedding party. The last time we went to Florida for a wedding was for HIS wedding 10 - 11 years ago.
Here are lots of pictures from the wedding and the reception - which was upstairs in the pavilion.
There was a trolley ride back to the hotel and an after-party (that we did not go to). But, I got to see some of the family the next morning while going to the restaurant to get breakfast and while checking out. Then we hit the road to come back home. (it was a week later that the check-engine light came on in my car... this after a month prior re-doing the rotors and brakes on the back side of the car because of shaking and a weird noise) ugh. Gratefully, we made it home safe & sound!
While we were gone, Todd and Mercer went up to the neighborhood art festival that we always go to -- (of course they had to work around the baseball games that weekend). Todd took Saffy up with him on a 2nd trip to the art festival. He said the neighbors loved her! She may have been wearing her surgical "suit" (to protect her sutures) AND the cone-of-shame! So I'm sure she drew quite a bit of attention! Hated to miss one of our favorite neighborhood events, but glad we went to the wedding!!
_____
The weekend after that (last weekend), Mercer had his last baseball tournament. He was cleared to do some light jogging, so he determined that he could play and just not run that hard!
Unfortunately, Isabella and I were not able to go see him play because of something that Hip-Hop discovered in our back yard earlier in the week: a mama cat + kittens! Isabella kept going back and checking on them all week but we kept telling her we couldn't do anything about it 'til the weekend. So -- on Saturday, she kept checking on them & when the momma cat was away hunting -- she grabbed the babies! I found a box and then was like... OK now what?!
We took the babies away from their food source! yikes! So... when Todd got back home from Mercer's early-morning games, he & Isabella went to PetCo to get kitten formula. They weighed them (8 - 10 ounces each). He fed in the early evening & before going to bed at 11. I took the 3:30 AM feeding. (At which Isabella asked "can we SKIP this feeding?!" um... NOPE!) Todd did the morning feeding. I did the noon feeding. And - we were SO OVER IT!
This was in the middle of the night!
Isabella had named all of the kittens: Bean, Raven, Storm, Cow and Coco.
I called the shelter on Sunday as soon as they opened - they had a trap! We put the towel the kittens were on in the trap with wet food. Hours later, we caught her!
(we were on our way back to PetCo to meet up with someone who worked there that wanted to meet them and adopt one. They took the biggest gray one and went inside the store for formula! Good luck to them! (Yay - the guy texted later and said his mom was SO HAPPY as she's been wanting a baby baby kitten to take care of!)
(she saw these pictures while I'm blogging and says she looks tired. Yes she does!)
We took the 4 kittens - still in the box + the mom in the trap to the shelter... they were reunited!
Isabella was so sad that we left them... but she was also tired! She asked the volunteer if we could get pictures of the kittens sometimes.
She honored that by sending us a photo once they were all together in a "feral" box (a small box that makes feral cats feel secure / help to calm them down).
Several days later, she also sent a video! The plan moving forward: a woman on our street (who I was put in touch with) does this as her passion. She asked for "intake" numbers... so she could track the kittens at the shelter and then get them once their weaned + the momma. She will take them to a non-profit where she volunteers and will get the momma spayed / bring her back and re-release her back into our neighborhood. The kittens will be spayed /neutered when they're old enough and will be adopted out.
It was a CRAZY 24 - 28 hours of work! (this is the first time that we've had kittens in our yard in the 20 years we've lived here... our next door neighbor had some kittens earlier this year in her yard, but didn't do anything (according to the woman on our street who helps feral cats - said that our neighbor specifically said she didn't want them trapped) :( -- I was wondering if this mama cat is one from that litter? She's tiny!
Unfortunately - we missed everything that weekend: the trunk-or-treat at our church... Mercer's Sunday game... and we did not carve a jack-o-lantern as we had planned to do. (She didn't ask about it -- whew!) Oh well! But - I guess it was a good thing as we're helping to break the cycle of wild cats in our neighborhood!
THIS PAST WEEK & WEEKEND:
- Halloween was on Thursday. Isabella dropped a bomb on Todd that morning -- said she wanted to go to a party. What?! We had to figure everything out and meet the family. He took her there / the family drove the kids up to the hospital (within walking distance of our house)... and the kids walked down the street -- the ones with the big houses on it -- racking up a ton of candy! (one of our friends lives on that street.
Our friends say they usually get over 1000 kids -- they keep track with a little hand-held counter!) This is the first year that Todd was at home for trick-or-treating as he's usually taking Isabella out. I'd estimate that we had at least 2-300 kids. I'd say we saw less of our own n'hood kids this year than normal. I usually love the little girls in frilly dresses, but there weren't really any of them this year. We had a group of pre-teens all in inflatables. Their mom had to actually reach in (and pick out all of the Reese's!) because they couldn't see out of their costumes. In fact, one kid tripped over the curb & almost fell. They're funny costumes, but in the long run - maybe not the best idea!
- Isabella went in a Steampunk outfit that we borrowed from a friend.
Steampunk - a genre of science fiction that has a historical setting and typically features steam-powered machinery rather than advanced technology. : : a style of design and fashion that combines historical elements with anachronistic technological features inspired by science fiction: "the essence of steampunk is homage to vintage fashion with a modern, sassy twist"
(She got the idea from the Escape Room -- more on that below). Mercer went to a friend's house again but did not dress up. He took the Sta Puff Marshmallow costume in his backpack. But if you want to see him - look up last year's Halloween blog post. He looks the same! He said this year they didn't go trick-or-treating, rather, they helped to pass out candy. One of the pre-teen trick or treaters on our street said Mercer did dress up and he was dancing up at the top of the street! When I asked him about it he said "this is how you get the crowds!" and that there were about 45 people standing in line to get candy there. (They're closer to the street with the big houses).
So, it was a little different this year... as it will continue to be probably!
The next day (Friday the 1st) was Isabella's birthday party. We had it early because of a package we bid on at a silent auction & won... the company was going out of business / their last day of business was the 1st. So we booked an escape room even though it was about 2 weeks before her actual birthday.
The adventure was a kid-friendly production at nearby business called the Escapery. Here is the description off of their site:
It all started when she was denied admission to The Academy of Arts and Sciences. Gillian Grace was never one to take “no” for an answer. She used her vast intellect to expand our knowledge of space and time but then… she disappeared.A strange letter addressed to Marie Curie has been uncovered in the Archives. The search for the truth begins and, with your help, we may just crack this Curious Case.
The Curious Case of Gillian Grace is a challenging but fun, steampunk time-travel adventure for up to 8 participants and is suitable for families. This adventure begins in the dark.
It was SO MUCH FUN. Two of the girls got scared because it was dark inside. We spent probably 15 - 20 minutes to figure out how to turn the lights on using the clues and the black-lights that were provided.
The "professor" (our host for the room) was so kind and said they could hang out with her. It was probably a ton of fun on their end -- seeing what it's like in the control room/ watching the cameras. There were also drawers and hidden doors on that side of the room along the wall that they got to put stuff in and open / close. There was even a message board that looked like a mirror and one of them wrote a message to Isabella on it! We thought that when we finally got the lights on that the 2 girls would come back into the escape room, but they wanted to stay "behind the curtain!"
We had to get a lot of clues, but we did solve the clues and built a time-travel machine to save Gillian Grace who acted out (pre-recorded scenes) on the mirror that could also turn into a tv screen. The 2 girls and the professor came into the room as we solved it... and she also played the recorded message for *IF* we couldn't solve the time travel clues.
It was a great escape room -- really sad that this was the last day that anyone would go through it!
We started and ended in the party room -- the girls decorating bags and journals with stickers and playing with brain-teaser puzzles, eating pizza and cupcakes.
Then after the escape room opening gifts and saying their good-byes. A couple of the moms replied back to me afterwards and said their daughters had such a great time.
It was a good party. And - I was so glad that it was over at the same time~. Friday night and all day Saturday, Todd and I just absolutely crashed! (well, after kid's activities of course!)
There was a little bit more stuff going on: Mercer had his annual baseball "batter-up" breakfast.
Todd had a job (they ask for 1 parent to volunteer too). Isabella and I met them up there for breakfast -- then we headed up to her horse show.
She did "Ok" - getting 2nd place. She forgot one of the required activities during the routine that all of the riders in her group had to remember in order to lead the horse around. But -she was happy overall.
We worked in a hike too -- Saffy's 1st. She did pretty good (she did bark at one person and a couple of dogs, but overall - she was easy to control. Hip-Hop was good too.
It was a beautiful day, so we're glad we got out.
whew. what a weekend!
what a month of weekends!!
.jpg)
