The Waterstraut Waterspout: Happy Anniversary, Florida!

Nearing the end of the month, means I have some blog catching up to do.

Of course, back a couple of weeks ago, we celebrated Pi Day with pie from Sprouts,

and pizza pie from BJ's Brewhouse (they had their mini-pizzas for just $3.14 on Pi Day!)

Peyton had earned some money for all his troubles, and he spent it at the outlet mall getting a model to put together.

It was quite extensive, and took awhile to put together.

But when they were done, they were pretty proud of themselves.

Of course March means it's time for March Madness, and Calib is always pretty excited to fill out brackets (and forcefully bugs you to complete yours as well until you finally do one). The winner gets to pick somewhere to go out to eat.

Hayden's winner, as of publication time, is still in the tournament. We're to the final four now, and while nobody picked number 11 seed Loyola --because that's crazy-- or Michigan, Hayden picked Villanova and Asa picked Kansas.

Peyton was out at the elite eight when Purdue and Gonzaga lost.

Calib was basically out in the first round, when a number 16 seed UMBC beat Virginia. It was the first time a 16 seed had ever beaten a one, and Calib was less than thrilled about it.

Like I said, Asa is still in this thing. Basically, it all comes down to tonight- if Villanova wins, Hayden is our winner. If Kansas beats Villanova, Asa is our winner.

I was out at the elite 8 as well. Thanks a lot, Purdue.

This picture is Calib in my room, at near midnight complaining about March Madness, very, very loudly.

The first rounds are always the most exciting, and usually Asa misses them because he's at work. But, well, that's still not a thing. Any day now though. He had some interviews this week that went well. Fingers crossed.

We're making the most of our time though. We had a popcorn and punch party one night. Allison sent her popcorn maker with us when we were in Toledo, and my mom took grandma's big punch bowl. She didn't know what to do with hers then (I mean, a girl only needs one punch bowl, right?) I passed on it, but it turns out Asa was very excited about the prospect of a punch bowl (who saw that coming?) So, the punch bowl came back with us. And now we're the type of people who watch Survivor and have a punch and popcorn party.

It took a few days to get all unpacked from the truck. I nabbed two new bookshelves at Costco when they went on sale, or discount, or whatever it is when they get rid of all of their 'New Year' Furniture section to make room for summer. Anyway, it held all my books I brought back and then some.

I also got two end tables from grandmas house, I plan on refinishing them someday, but for now, I'm using them as they are. We also took the opportunity of having the truck for a week to finally buy a foundation for our bed. Costco had it on sale, and we had the truck to use- so it made sense. Also, our bed had been on the floor since we moved. I used points to get some rails for free on Amazon, and then we ordered a headboard from Wayfair. The whole thing came together for about $250, which for a king sized bed, I call a win!

I cleaned out Home School Central, too, because I was really on a getting rid of clutter kick. Plus, I needed somewhere to put the giant books Peyton wanted from my dads library. I mean, he couldn't live without that Atlas of the Civil War, people!

Oh, and we did finally get rid of that stupid ugly chandelier in the living room too. We're hoping the new ceiling fan keeps the front room much cooler in the summer.

I also went through all the old newspapers I brought back, or at least one bin of them- I still have two bins to go (I'm waiting to do one bin per recyclables pick up!) and I found some fun presidential papers, but I also found some Fremont goodies.

Oh, and I brought back my dad's pond pump with the turtle that cycles it back in. I wasn't sure it would work, so we filled a baby pool (you might also know them as a pillow pool!) and discovered it was in perfectly working order. The pond was a go!

I also brought back all kinds of planters from my moms house and from my grandma's, and the front porch is all decked out now.

Complete with windchimes!

We've spent some time at the lodge. You know, it's 'free' fun, which is always nice. It should be getting about time to be warm enough for the pool soon too. Now that Hayden is 12, he's been going up there a lot by himself. It's a quick walk, and he loves going up there and hanging out with other kids.

Besides spending time at the lodge, we've been trying to do some other no and low-cost events.

I'd also like to blame Cort for Asa's new Fish Fry Obsession. After finally getting to go to one in Ohio, he wanted to go to the one at the church by our library (the church we went to midnight mass at Christmas time). I obliged, because I'm just that nice, despite the fact I don't love fish.

Hayden was the only kid who wanted to go to the Fish Fry, mostly because of the all-you-can-eat mac & cheese. After that we went over to the Ice Center to see the French national pair team (who train at our ice center) do their routine before they went to the World Championship. Fun fact: They finished third. (I think they were 5th at the Olympics- so not too shabby!) I'd never seen figure skaters in person like that before, it was pretty impressive.

We also went to Plant City for a couple of farms. Peyton bowed out of this one, which since he had just been on the long trip, I didn't mind so much. We went to the 'Land of Delight' Farm, and got to pet some animals.

(I wanted to take the pigs home with me!)

And while the U-Pick section was not as great as advertised, and we didn't pick anything, we had a nice time with the animals.

After that we finally went to the Parksdale Farm Market to try out their 'World Famous Strawberry Shortcake'. It was Saint Patricks Day, too, so our whipped cream had a slight green tint. Calib and Hayden opted for the milkshakes, which they really enjoyed.

There's a whole farmers market there, with produce, jams, jellies, hot sauce- and everything strawberry, along with lots of plants for sale. We nosed around for a bit, and Asa ended up with two new plants.

We highly recommend this one, we'll totally go again.

For lunch we went to Fazolis! The new one in Plant City opened a couple of weeks ago. Before that the closest one was the one at the Georgia line, that Peyton and Asa stopped at on their way back.

The 18th of March was our Florida Anniversary. On March 18, 2006 we arrived in Florida complete with a moving truck, two dogs, three kids, and a beta fish in a jar which Peyton took into every rest stop along the way, because he was afraid the water would freeze (He was three, and he didn't believe me when I said it would be fine for a few minutes).

Every year we celebrate our Florida anniversary by doing something we couldn't/wouldn't do in Ohio/Michigan in March. This year we found a putt putt course by our house. This course is tucked away inside a subdivision on Collier Parkway, but it's totally affordable, welt kept- and for a Sunday it was pretty empty. Now, it's also along side a driving range and a golf course, and that was packed.

Peyton was pretty funny- he was narrating the whole thing, like a golf announcer.

Oh, and I totally won. Suck it, boys!

After putt putt we went to Dairy Queen and ate our ice cream outside.

Then the boys played around in the backyard. When we had the truck we bought the foundation, and a bin for the backyard to keep outside toys in. This has been super helpful, because not only is there a lot more room in the garage, but the toys mostly sat there, since it wasn't super convenient to go to the garage to get something from the backyard. Now it's all right there!

We've also been playing a bunch of jackbox games together. Jake introduced Asa to it when we were in Ohio. It's a fun game we can all play together.

For Florida anniversary dinner we cooked out.

Etta did pretty good being out and around all the food too.

We also celebrated our first day of Spring with some dirt for dessert.

And we took part in some of the activities at the lodge when it was Pasco country's Spring Break.

Hayden did the tie die shirts, where the only fee was to bring your own white shirt.

It turned out pretty great!

And he went down for intramural sports day too.

On the dog front: Etta has been extra snuggly since we got back. She really missed us.

Porkchop is still separate on a daily basis, but you can pick him up and he'll sit happily on your lap in the same room as all the other dogs. We're still working on free-roaming him with Phenom, but it's not going terribly. So, there's that.

Most days Porkchop stays in my room. For the most part, he's fine being in there alone as long as the door is open, so we have a board in front of it, but we leave it open.

But the other three are getting along really well. Etta is even doing really well with the cats, but she is confused on which one is which. Dipper will happily come up and sniff Etta's nose, and rub up against her. Maybel, not so much. Etta doesn't seem to know the difference though.

We had a small incident with Etta and Ellie, but it was an accident, when Etta was going a little bananas, and Ellie was just kind of in the way. They seem to be doing fine since then though.