Tag Archives: family

Writer’s Block, Socks and Sunsets

Posted on July 6, 2011 | 1 comment

Good morning Everyone!

I don’t know how it happened, but I am having a bit of writer’s block today, so help me out and if there are any topics you are interested in hearing about some other time, could you please leave me a comment? 

Kayla in the car (Not sleeping, but you get the idea)

I had the chance to envy my daughter this morning.  While we were driving to work today, she decided to curl up and take herself a little snooze.  I started to wake her up and tell her that she could drive and I would nap, but the last time I tried that, she looked over at me, raised her eyebrows and said firmly, “Not happening Mom!”  Besides, she can’t reach the pedals yet, which would be problematic.  

Mandy and Darwin confer on their sock capers

Socks are appearing in random places throughout the house again, usually one member of a pair dropped in the center of the floor, and the other member chewed and tucked in a corner, so I will have to figure out where Bad Dog and No-no are collecting them from.  Bad Dog managed to snatch a quarter of a bagel off my plate yesterday morning too, when I had to leave the breakfast table to discover what the wails in my daughter’s bedroom were all about.  (The child had the audacity, with her clothes cupboard open and chock full of clothes, to tell me that she was crying because she didn’t have anything to wear.)  Bad Dog wasn’t too upset when I got on to her about the bagel, either. 

Tyra

Tyra managed to muster enough spryness last night to jump on the bed for the first time in a while, which was nice to see.  She also won the gold star for exemplary conduct when Mark’s mother came over to have supper with us.  Darwin and Mandy were over-exuberant in their greeting so got exiled to the patio for a little while, but Tyra waited until a good time and then walked over to be petted without any leaping, or barking or other shenanigans.

Finally, I thought I would share Kayla’s pastel sunset with you.  Kayla is taking art with the same teacher I have for the summer, and this is the third thing she has done, but her first pastel.  I was pretty blown away!

Have a great day everyone!

Nancy

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Magnetic Attraction

Posted on July 5, 2011 | Leave a comment

Good morning!

I hope everyone had a nice Fourth of July.  We had a nice one, a quiet weekend, with a lot of laughter, but not the kind of things you can easily share, except for Kayla’s chiding comment to Mandy that Mandy needed to improve her “altitude.”  While all of us will admit that Mandy is vertically challenged, more altitude is not something she needs.  I saw her leap this weekend greeting someone and when she did, her face was level with this person’s face.  Kayla meant “attitude”, but I am afraid that when dealing with “No-no”, attitude is a lot cause. 

Today, however, I am sitting here eating breakfast, hoping against hope that the (new) shirt I am wearing is not magnetic.  Although magnetic shirts are not a part of most people’s life, I am extraordinarily gifted at picking out shirts that attract food stains.  Other people go blithely throughout life with shirts that never see a stain, but not me.   

Spaghetti sauce is especially attracted to everything that I wear, with the power of the attraction increasing geometrically to the whiteness of the shirt involved.  I have seen the sauce leap a four foot gap just to reach my shirt – without hitting anyone or anything else in the room! 

Most people (except perhaps my husband) encounter trouble with spaghetti sauce somewhere along the line, but my shirts attract much more than just spaghetti sauce.  Any kind of sauce or dressing is a lock to reach my shirt, and I have even gotten stains from food items that should tamely stay either on the plate or in my mouth where they belong, including simple things like apples and carrots. 

I was afraid I was going to find a new source of shirt attraction last year when I started art lessons.  Strangely, although you would think that my shirts’ magnetism would be even stronger when it comes to paints and pastels and charcoal, they are not.  Paints, pastels and charcoal are much more interested in reaching paper than they are in reaching my shirt, although there was the one incident when some oil paint overcame its attraction to the canvas to leap instead onto one of my shirts.  Of course, it took a pure white shirt to accomplish that. 

Is there a solution to this problem?  I am not sure, but I have at least learned one thing:  Shout is definitely my friend!

Have a great day everyone!

Nancy

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In Honor of the Fourth: Kayla’s Turn

Posted on July 1, 2011 | 2 comments

Good morning/afternoon everyone!

One of the things I have thought a lot about lately, as the Fourth approaches and as the news continues to stress differences between us, is how much we Americans have in common that no-one every acknowledges.  Chief among those commonalities is the hope that our children will experience a future far better than the present that we experience.  We may disagree on the method that it will take for us to get there, but I don’t know anyone who wakes up one day and says, “You know, I really hope that the world will be a much more terrible place for my child than it is for me right now.” 

So, in honor of that sentiment, today is Kayla’s turn to supply material (that she herself chose, as opposed to that which I reported) for this post.

Monday morning, as I was trying to get ready for work, she got hold of the camera and followed the dogs around for about 45 minutes taking pictures.  I promised her that I would use her pictures in my blog, so today is the day.  I did take the liberty of making up the captions for the pictures, though.

She got some good basic pictures of the dogs, including one with Mark and Mandy sharing a moment together:

Tyra Waiting on the Sofa

Look closely at Mandy’s tail in this one:

Mandy in the bathroom

 And here Mandy and Mark are sharing a moment together before either realizes Kayla and the camera are in the room:

Mandy and Mark in the Morning

Darwin was waiting his turn in the kitchen:

Darwin waits in the kitchen

She also got some fantastic pictures of Mandy in her favorite lookout spot, the sofa in the study area of the great room.  We call it her lair.  

Mandy in her favorite lookout spot

Sometimes Darwin wanders by:

Mandy and Darwin confer

When Mandy is in her lair, it can be easier to get close-ups of her:

Mandy's close-up

Tyra, as head dog, is allowed to claim the leather sofa as hers whenever she wants it.

Tyra holds court on the couch

Kayla also managed to catch Mandy, as Bad Dog, and Darwin, as No-no, in action.  I think I would have preferred her to save the items they were working on, but at least you now have proof that the two dogs, even though they can look so sweet in their pictures, do have alter-egos!

Bad Dog’s Criminal Caper:

In the legal field, we might consider this to be a smoking gun:

The Smoking Gun....

Denials are useless at this point:

But ultimately she remains unrepentant as she plans her next criminal caper with the victims – Kayla’s flip-flops – in plain view.

Sleeping I dreamed, Love, I dreamed, Love, of thee.

No-no’s plan of attack centered around an assumption that he would remain unmolested in the bedroom if every one was out in the other room getting breakfast.   He didn’t count on the People Puppy of the house roaming around with a camera.

No-no caught in the act!

However, he appeared to be oblivious to the meaning behind the words “plausible deniability.”

Who me?

And at first refused to go quietly:

Still, all’s well that ends well, so No-no is ready to go again as soon as the opportunity presents itself.

Have a great weekend and a great Fourth of July everyone!

Nancy

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Smarter Than a Smart Key? Apparently Not!

Posted on June 30, 2011 | 4 comments

Good morning everyone!

My car has a push button start with a smart key.  As long as the key is within a certain distance of the car, I can unlock the car and start it without having to physically put a key in the ignition. 

When we bought the car, I thought that feature was superfluous, until I realized that having a push button start with a smart key meant I would never have to search through my purse for my keys again.  The smart key/push button start will work as long as the purse is close enough to the car with the key in it.  (Not having to search through your purse is not a big deal for most people, but it is for me, since my purse is Fibber McGee’s Closet in miniature and has a talent for ensuring that whatever you are looking for at that particular moment is buried in the deepest darkest part of it.) 

I managed somehow to confuse my car enough on Tuesday, though, so that it refused to start for about five minutes at lunch time.  That night, just to be sure that it was a fluke and not a problem with the car, Mark and I decided to swap cars for a few days.

Yesterday I drove his Escape to Birmingham, where I had a meeting.  When I finished my meeting, I got back into the Escape to leave and was very frustrated when the Escape failed to start as well – until I realized that I was pushing the air conditioning button repeatedly instead of inserting the Escape’s key in its ignition and turning it on. 

Have a great day everyone!

Nancy

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Captain Anderson’s, Panama City, Florida

Posted on June 29, 2011 | 1 comment

Hi Everyone!

Now that I have your attention….

45 minutes to the east of the Sandestin Resort is one of our all-time favorite restaurants:  Captain Anderson’s.  It, like Lambert’s, is one of those restaurants that it is worth taking a drive to visit. 

Captain Anderson’s is a seafood restaurant and has been owned by the Patronis family for over 40 years.  They have a large dining room, divided into several smaller rooms.  The restaurant is right beside a marina, and there are fishing boats moored to the pier behind the big picture windows at the end of the restaurant.  At Captain Anderson’s, you will receive fresh, well-made sea food and excellent service.  We have never had a bad meal or a bad experience there.

Other people know about Captain Anderson’s also.  This means that if you go at peak hours on Friday and Saturday, you can expect a wait, and of course, the bigger the party, the longer the wait you will have.  However, we have found that the restaurant has a system that ferries parties in and out expeditiously, all without your ever feeling rushed during your meal.  In addition, we try to arrive somewhere between 4 and 5 in the afternoon, preferably on Monday through  Thursday.  Each time we do that, we are able to get a seat right away.  

For those who do have a wait, however, the waiting room has interesting artifacts scattered throughout to keep you entertained.  By a family vote of 2 to 1, and the camera’s vote of 1 -1, (I had a new camera I was trying to use and was having some difficulties) my picture-taking of the waiting room was limited, but here the pictures I was able to take. 

This gizmo is in the corner of a hallway.  I have no earthly idea what it does (Mark did, but I can’t remember what he said), but it certainly looks interesting!

Air tank?

These cannons are also worth a look:

In addition to lots of things to look at while you wait, Captain Anderson’s now has a newspaper-like menu, with a description of its history and Panama City’s history in it.  We picked one up, and Kayla kept reading it even when we reached our table.

It made the rounds between all three of us during the short wait for our food, which not only included the appetizer of fried cheese we ordered, and our entrees, but salad (or in Mark’s case, soup) and a basket full of fresh bread and various crackers. 

Diving Helmet

On the bar across from our table, there was a brass diving helmet, something you don’t see everyday!

We don’t get dessert every time we go out, but at Captain Anderson’s it is just too hard to say no.  (Although I would have made Kayla get something else had I known what she was going to use the hurricane glass for later!)  FN.

I got the wonderful brownie concoction you saw at the beginning of this post, Kayla went with a hurricane glass full of pudding, and Mark ate his favorite, Key Lime pie. 

As we were rolling ourselves out of the restaurant, Mark offered to take Kayla and my picture besides one of the two or three large, old-fashioned diving suits that decorate the restaurant. 

A close-upA better view of the diving suit

(Panama City is home to the Navy’s diving school, which is why many of the decorations at Captain Anderson’s have a diving motif). 

If you get the chance, Captain Anderson’s is a wonderful restaurant, family friendly and worth trying.  (Remember though that it is closed on Sundays.)

Oh, and they also have a gift shop along the side that is fun to wander through; we didn’t get there this trip, but we have on others.  At least one item in the gift shop is a cookbook with some of the Patronis’ family’s favorite recipes in it.  I bought it years ago.  I haven’t used it, but I bought it!

Have a great day everyone!

Nancy

FN.  Just when I thought I could retire the list….

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The Rest of the Story….

Posted on June 28, 2011 | 6 comments

Hi Everyone!

Last week, when I picked Kayla up from art, her art teacher told me that she wished she could have written down half of the things Kayla said while she was teaching her because they were so funny.  I laughed and told her that now she knew why I had started a blog; the material I have available is just too good to waste. 

Two days later, as I was trying to coordinate day camp’s free swim time with my need to pick Kayla up early for the orthodontist, Kayla told me that at day camp, “The weather doesn’t stop them from doing anything.”  (There was a chance of thunderstorms in the afternoon.)  I thought that was kind of funny, so I shared it with the day camp counselors who laughed and then said, “She’s so funny all the time anyhow.”  I told Mark about both of those comments and wondered whether I have a budding comedienne, a chatterbox, a genius, or a combination of all three on my hands. 

Then came our little escapade with the hurricane glass and her elbow.  (Just when I thought I could retire the list….).  While the story itself was too good to add anything else to it, there was an aftermath.  After I got the glass off, Kayla kind of sniffled and cried through the rest of her bath.  I went in to check on her and she said, woefully and through her sniffs, “I should try out for the part of Moaning Myrtle.”  (FN)  I asked why, and she said, “Because all I do is moan, moan, moan.”  I did the only thing a rational parent could do in that situation, which is answer, “Oh!” and start to walk out of the room before I cracked a smile. 

As I was leaving, she looked up at me and said forcefully, “Yes!”  I turned around and said, “What?”  She said, “Yes, you can tell Daddy I said that.”  I told her that I was planning on it and then she said (still sniffling), “That works out then.”  At that moment any effort on my part to keep a straight face was completely lost.  I high-tailed it out of her bathroom into our bedroom laughing.  Mark asked me why, I told him about it, and then he looked at me, grinned and asked, “And you wonder why people tell you she’s funny?” 

Have a great day everyone!

Nancy

FN.  For those who don’t follow the Harry Potter books or movies, Moaning Myrtle is a girl ghost who floats around sighing and moaning most of the time.

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Just when I thought I could retire the list….

Posted on June 27, 2011 | 10 comments

Good morning everyone!

A few months ago, I wrote a post called “Rules I Never Thought I’d Need” listing some rules that I never expected to have to use as a parent.  I was hoping that soon I could retire the list permanently, but after Friday, we now have a new one to add.

Do not ram your elbow into the top of a plastic hurricane glass. 

Now let me explain.

As you know, last week we went to Destin.  While we were there, we drove over to Captain Anderson’s, a wonderful restaurant I will write about another day, for dinner.  For dessert, Kayla chose a pudding concoction that Captain Anderson’s serves in the plastic glass pictured above.  She got to keep the glass. 

Fast forward to Friday evening.  When she and I were driving home, she mentioned that she had a small (I looked at it, and I would categorize it as vanishingly small) scratch on her right elbow.  I didn’t think any more of it, but shipped her off to take a bath as usual.  About 10 minutes later, she started screaming in terror in the bathroom.  I came tearing into the bathroom to see what was wrong, only to find that my daughter had stuck her entire elbow into the hurricane glass to the point that the glass was stuck.  I started to laugh,  (for some reason, that didn’t seem to calm her down!) but managed to get her into the kitchen where I used the spray nozzle to change the temperature of the glass where I could break the suction and pull it off.  She has a perfectly round bruise about three inches across on her elbow but otherwise is recovering nicely.

When we got to the point we were capable of coherent conversation (ie., she had stopped screaming and I had stopped laughing) I asked her how it happened that her elbow and the glass came together, and she told me that she had slipped it over her elbow tightly so that her elbow wouldn’t sting due to the vanishingly small scratch she had pointed out early while she took her bath.   She only got scared when she couldn’t pull it off again.

For the record, her father thought it was funny, too.

Have a great day everyone!

Nancy

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A Room With A View

Posted on June 23, 2011 | 4 comments

Good morning everyone!

A View Across Choctawhatchee Bay to the Right

When we went to Destin for my meeting last week, we, as in Mark, Kayla and I,  had the opportunity to stay at the Sandestin Beach Resort, Sandestin for short.  The dogs, alas, were not allowed to come with us; they got to go to their favorite kennel, the Cutie Patootie Grooming Salon and Kennel.  We have never had a kennel before where the dogs walk in happy and not scared.  The owner, Chas, is a favorite with them, but I think the prize attraction is the opportunity to run free in the building, and in the outside runs during the day with other dogs.  Darwin loves this, as he gets to play as long as he wants with whoever he wants; Mandy enjoys it, as she gets a break as Darwin’s continual playmate, and Tyra finds it restful, since she gets a break from both of them.  (If you have followed this blog for very long, it will not surprise you to learn that while occasionally Mandy and Darwin get put in “time out” – ie., back in the run by themselves for a minute – because they get too rambunctious, Tyra is allowed to roam free from sun-up to sundown.)  However, I digress. 

Sunset over the Gulf

To return to our hotel:  Sandestin is a huge complex with all kinds of places (and prices.)  It has two halves:  the Bayside and the Beach Side.  This year, we stayed at the Bayside Inn and were fortunate enough to be placed on the sixth floor, with a view of Choctawhatchee Bay.  (Yes, I had to look the spelling up!)   All three of us were captivated by the view, and spent time sitting on our balcony just looking at the bay.

This was the view straight across from the room:

This is a second view straight across:

The view straight down gives you an idea of how shallow the bay really is:

I thought the palm trees were interesting, too.

The views across the bay to our left were also spectacular:

As you can see from these pictures, and the one below, the portion of the bay that Sandestin surrounds is very shallow.  One of the things we like to do, although we didn’t get to this time, is to go over to the marina and use a canoe or a kayak to paddle around the bay for a while.  (You get one or two hours a day free use of a canoe or kayak as part of staying at the resort.)

Wonderful views, aren’t they?  I hope you get the chance to go there some day soon.  Leave your comments, if you can, and let me know which beach places are your favorite places to go, too.  (Ocean beach or lake beach, either one counts!)  My family is always open for new beach experiences!

Have a great day everyone!

Nancy

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Of Sloths and Moths, Zero-Pack Abs and Other Items

Posted on June 22, 2011 | 2 comments

Good morning everyone!

On the four lane and at Patriot Point

You may remember my post from a few days ago, Hometown Heroes:  The 214th Comes Home.  If you do, you will be happy to know that the remaining 57 members of the 214th came home this past Saturday, to the same rousing reception the first group received.  The flags, signs and ribbons were still in place, and I’m sure the people were, too.

Six Pack of Abs - Not for 9 year olds!

Kayla and I stopped at the grocery store on the way home yesterday, and in the checkout line she managed to entertain the (male) cashier, bagboy, and the three adults waiting in line behind us.  It started when I told her not to lift the dog food, it was too heavy.  In a bright, conversational tone, she informed me that everyone in her class said she was “skinny as a rail.”  A trifle indignant on her behalf, I told her that wasn’t true, she was the perfect size for her.  She nodded in agreement, and said, “I know.”  Then she held her arm up in the classic bicep flexing pose to announce to me and the world that, “I’m strong, even if I have a zero-pack of abs!”   That’s when the observers were no longer able to keep a straight face.  I told her she was nine, and didn’t need anything more than a zero pack!

This weekend, just goofing around, I combed my hair completely over my face so that I looked like “Cousin Itt” from the Munsters.  I asked Kayla what she thought of it.  She told me I looked like a moth.  Then she said, “No, not a moth, but it is an animal that sounds like moth.”  It took me three days of rolling it around in the back of my mind before I realized she meant a sloth!  And I have to admit, there was a resemblance.

Sloth: Public Domain Photo by Dave Pape

Have a great day everyone!

Nancy

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Dolphin Cruise

Posted on June 21, 2011 | 4 comments

Hi Everyone!

Although yesterday I had no pictures to share from the beach, today I have a plethora of pictures from our Friday evening dolphin cruise. 

We have taken the dolphin cruise before in Destin (we always go on the Southern Star) but still enjoy it each time we go.  We took the sunset cruise this time, which lasts from 6:00 to 8:00 p.m.  We had to arrive at the dock by 5:15 to pick up (and pay for) our tickets, and then we waited on the pier for the boat’s gates to open.

The Southern Star (at least the front half!)

 

Kayla and Mark waiting for the boat

 
Mark and Kayla wanted me to lean over the water like I was about to fall in, but visions of a waterlogged me being hauled out of Destin Harbor due to an unfortunate lack of balance required me to nix that idea.  This is the closest I would come:
 
 
Once the ship’s gates were opened, we found seats on the top deck of the boat so we would have a good view.  The first place the boat always travels is around Destin Harbor.
 
 

One view of Destin's Harbor

Another view of Destin's Harbor

The Fishing Fleet

Where the Southern Star berths: Destin Harbor and the Emerald Grande

The entrance to the harbor is guarded both by sand bars and a stone jetty.

Destin Harbor's dunes

The Stone Jetty: The Entrance to the Gulf of Mexico

 Once we entered the Gulf of Mexico, the boat turned right (I know the nautical terms are port and starboard, but I have enough trouble with left and right) and headed up towards Fort Walton Beach.  Halfway between Destin and Fort Walton Beach, we came across two dolphin pods, which totaled about 12 to 18 dolphins, and they decided to hang around the boat for a while.  It was fantastic to see all of them, but the special treat was the opportunity to view a mother dolphin with her calf.  The calf wanted to come closer to the boat, but Mom wasn’t having any of that; ever time the calf managed to get on the side closest to the boat, Mom had him/her jostled back out of position by the time they surfaced again. 

I did not take any pictures of the dolphins – by the time I knew where they had surfaced, they were on their way under again.  Also, pictures of the dolphins from the boat never do justice to the impact their presence has on you in person.  The picture just looks like a piece of gray amid the blue-green waters of the Gulf, but when you are seeing them it is breath-taking. 

However, I did take pictures of Kayla driving the boat.  Every cruise, after the Captain has found dolphins, he takes the boat away to somewhere harmless and lets the kids get their pictures taken holding the wheel of the boat.  At the moment each child is holding the wheel, he or she is driving the boat!  I know this because he pointed out a slight course correction to Kayla as she sat there.  She would have sat there the rest of the cruise, but he nicely told her that just wasn’t possible. 

Finally, it was time to head back to the harbor.  Along the way I also got some pictures of the Destin shore and sunset.

Destin's Shore

Bridge over the Destin Pass

Sunset over the Gulf of Mexico

(Yes, the sand is really that white.) 

The dolphin cruise was, as always, a memorable experience.  The only problem is that looking at the pictures makes me wish I could go back soon!

Have a great day everyone!

Nancy

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