mothers day, our way

I love spending Mothers Day with the girls doing things that we all love doing together. Nothing fancy, no posh restaurants, no fancy spas but rather being away from the crowds in a kayak. So that is where you could find us.

We decided, rather last minute, to take a long kayak ride, twice as long as we have ever done before and it was really great. Not quite sure how we got so lucky but we awoke to temps in the upper 60's which for the first week ok May is unheard of. It put the kabosh on any snorkelling though cos it was just too chilly for that. As much as I detest hot weather I do love warm water.

We got up and on the road quite early yesterday and were down in the keys  early so by the time we had finished kayaking the day was still young so I decided to head further south and we went down to Islamorada which seemed like a great idea at the time but coming home was pretty bad with the traffic. live and learn! We had a fabulous day and we are lucky to have the keys on our doorstep ( but we would rather have mountains)  Once we got to Islamorada we went to Robbies at mile marker 77.5 to feed the tarpon. It's just a silly fun thing you can do there. For $1 you buy a bucket of fish and fed these ginormous tarpon but and this is a big BUT you have to get the little fishies past the pelicans and that takes some skill or trickery.

Rosie is really quite capable now and loves to paddle whereas Lily loves to navigate and probably paddled for five minutes total 

hola

hmmm, an unplanned matching rashie occurance.

 Not sure why she is wearing goggles, she only got wet up to her knees!!!???

silly goose

such a happy girl

hmm what big glasses you have. There's some irony here. (i trod on my glasses this weekend sob sob) 

Mr. Pelican you look so sweet and innocent

but look ..... there are so many of you

these fish will BITE. But it's so much fun to feed them

if you can get past the cute pelicans

It was so loud with all the poeple and the birds. 

This made me smile. Not cos it is cocky but because it is true. women just do so much.

Well Im not sure why this is down here but oh well, Look at my smiley girl.

My girls really surprised me. We had gone on a bicycle ride a few months ago and seen a trail but I couldn't go on it as I don't have a helmet ( yes I know, no lectures please, I don't like head wear) and then when we were in Boston Jakie had liked my scarf so I gave it to her as we packed to leave. so for Mothers day the girls replaced my scarf and gave me a bike helmet so we can ride the trail together, they truly blew me away. Rosie also wrote a magasine cover in school which was very sweet but the teacher make it a homework assignment so I knew about it??? But it's cute. Thank you to my children for making me the person that I am. I hope I reach, meet and exceed your expectations of whom a mother should be. I love you ridiculously much. xx

mothers day

I really don't understand why we don't honour our children on their own special day as without them we wouldn't have Mothers or Fathers day. I always want to spend Mothers day with the girls doing something that they love. It's not about me it is about them.

This year Cousin Delilah was here so she made the day especially fabulous. I asked her if she fancied a day at Pennekamp and her answer was a resounding yes. I thought we would kayak but we had a unanimous decision in favour of snorkeling. At first the little Pickle was concerned about sharks, alligators ( i organised her brain on alligators and the ocean) cuda's etc. But once we talked it through she was ready to go


There was a very strange lady taking information and money for the tour and she would only talk to my boobs or Cousin Annies Boobs. At no time did she make eye contact when she was doing intake but once she was done she looked us both in the eye and gave us a bone chilling freakish smile! Creepy. She also thought that Rosie would drown as they were calling for strong swimmers only etc etc. I know she doesn't look like she is strong but she is an ox.
After our snorkeling tour out to the reef we were nowhere near ready to head home so we found a quite little corner of the beach and hung out.

A little sustenance before the boat ride.

Not a bad view

Such a beautiful day

Rosie has a motto, similar to the scouts. Always be prepared

It is strange but somehow the photos that end up being my all time faves always include Cousin Georgette

Love this 

Because sometimes you have to fall asleep sitting up.

Poor little Pickle was exhausted from swimming with sharks. LOL

After the snorkeling we were not ready to leave so we found a corner of paradise to call our own. 

The crazy pickle and 'Her" cousin decided to swim back to shore after we found a funky little sandbar

We miss Andie a lot, a whole lot in fact. Rumour has it she is going to come back. YAY. Thank you Annie for making the day so special.

my heart

Most peoples hearts are made up of 4 chambers, the 2 atrium's and the 2 ventricles,  but mine is much more simplistic and is made up of two. It has the Lily chamber and the Rosie chamber. It used to be just a big ole heart with a gaping hole in it but the hole was filled with love when I met Lily and then sealed when I met Rosie.

Mothers Day was an ugly day. It was a day that I would pretend didn't really exist. Since my mum lived a trillion billion miles away and I didn't even get to see her, it was just an ugly reminder that I had not fulfilled my biggest dream. Mothers Day just made my heart hurt.

HAH, not anymore.

Now I love it. Not because it is a day for elaborate celebrations but because I am entitled to partake in those celebrations in any which way I chose. I chose to celebrate my girls on Mothers Day for without them it would be that ugly day again. I love to do things with them that they want to do and enjoy doing. I don't want to get dressed up and go out to an overcrowded restaurant for brunch because that is what you are supposed to do, I want to hear how they want to spend the day.

This morning they were going to make me breakfast in bed until I pointed out that I don't eat breakfast but if they wanted to eat in bed we could. They didn't. But they thought they had to do this. Silly silly society. We actually all slept very late and when we came downstairs they both gave me cards they had made. Rosie made hers in class at school and wrote her own note inside:

Mom,  your (you're) the best because you take care of me and take me wayer (where) I want to go.
Love Rosie
It was bright orange and had a teapot on it and a tea bag taped to the inside.

Lily made hers at home and wrote me a poem. Lily is not a mushy child at all and when I read her poem it made me cry. I won't write it here but suffice to say, it was very very touching.
She also cut out lots and lots of hearts and when I opened it they showered me.

We decided that we wanted to spend the day at PenneKamp and go kayaking again. so we did. We  were feeling a little braver today and headed out onto a course that had us in the open ocean for a little while. Sheesh we must be mad it was really rough and quite a tough paddle but a lot of fun. However there are not many photos and the ones I did take have my thumb in....duh.

We had a great time, we always do in the Keys. We had a picnic lunch, messed around in the ocean, which is now quite warm and generally relaxed and had good fun. The girls finished off the afternoon with an ice cream and then we drove home.

These are the days that I treasure. The days when we are all together doing things we love and having fun. It's nice spending time with friends but we have a great time just the 3 of us, and for that I am so grateful, so very very grateful. My little family.

We stopped at ShellWorld in Key Largo

Note, paddling in unison ( please ignore thumb)

keep ignoring thumb, I have no idea how I managed it. look at the paddles?? It's a wonder we went anywhere. LOL

a selfie. take photos I said!! 

I love going under this bridge with the exception of the shallow water.

happy girls

She finally loves it. 

not her best photo ever.

Not sure if this movie will work but if it does it's hilarious, she talks the whole time she's under water.

Copenahgen might have the Mermaid but my hearts got this wet drippy kidlet. I win.

We have been talking a lot about summer camps because this year they are going to have to be a reality. gulp. As we were leaving Rosie said, can I go to camp here please. I said, this isn't a camp. Soooo, she said , so why does it have CAMP in it's name then, that's dumb! hah, good question kiddo. Oh and 48 miles each way might make for some pretty early mornings to get you there on time.

 I hope your Mothers Day finds you in a good place.