June is upon us, and with that there is a very busy weekend schedule for the Waterstrauts. We kicked that off on the first with Calib's 19th birthday. We're just two years away from legal drinking age! Whoo!
He worked the night before, so I thought he'd sleep in, but he was up and ready to go and I had one gift to give him before we headed out to our days activities. A bonus gift if you will.. that had been sitting in my closet for over a month.
Calib decided for his birthday he wanted to go to Five Guys for lunch, out to the beach and sprayground (and get snow cones if the truck was there), and then have dinner and cupcakes at home. He always wanted everyone to go, and Peyton didn't even complain about it (that much).
So Calib's gift up there? It was the huge island float. It took forever to pump up though. We either need a second pump or a stronger one next time around.
While Asa and I worked on that, everyone else went down to the beach at Honeymoon Island. Peyton stayed under an umbrella and somehow still managed to get slightly sunburnt. Less, however, than his brothers who apparently without me there to nag them didn't put sunscreen on for the first hour we were there. They payed for it later.
The island is pretty cool though. I do think we need to take it somewhere a little less wavy next time though. Hayden, mom and I all had to get off when we got a little sea sick.
But, a fun day at the beach for Calib's birthday (and check out that braces free smile! He has the straightest teeth ever!)
After the beach we headed to the Sprayground. When the boys were little we almost exclusively went to the Honeymoon Island beach so that we could rinse off at the Sprayground in Dunedin afterwards. We hadn't been here in years, but it was just as refreshing as ever.
If you go on a weekend there is usually a snowcone truck too. Calib was hoping it would still be there, and it was.
I appreciate the fact Calib wanted to spend his 19th birthday at the sprayground getting snow cones. I mean, I feel like he's staying a kid at heart, and that's kind of what you need to survive adulthood sometimes, you know?
I mean, look at Asa. He's having himself an awesome day.
On the way to the sprayground we noticed a pond shop. Like, the whole thing was just for ponds! My mom has been wanting to buy my lily pads for my pond for forever, but we just couldn't find any. I didn't want to stop on Calib's birthday, but he said he didn't mind, so we stopped. And they did in fact have lilypads! Unforseen issue though, this morning I had a bunch of frog eggs that got laid in my pond. I think that was made possible by my new lilypads. Were just going to see how it all plays out. Maybe I'll have like 100 backyard frogs!
They also had a whole huge basket of blue gnarlies! Ok, so I don't know what they're actually called, but my brothers and I had one just like this as kids, and we called it the blue gnarly. We used to play a game with it, basically keep away with it, and it got pretty intense at times. I remember the blue gnarly once being dropped out my parent's bedroom window. Anyway, my mom was like "Blue Gnarlys! Do you want one?" Of course I did! It now resides on my front porch.
For dinner Calib wanted a homemade version of the Friar's Nook Chili Mac & Cheese Tots they have in the Magic Kingdom. Asa made homemade chili, and I made the Mac & Cheese from Tennessee day (It's creamier than Nancy Reagan Mac & Cheese and more similar to what the Friar's Nook serves. I made tater tots and then got out a bunch of toppings for people to make theirs accordingly. We had a ton of leftovers, but that was part of Calib's present. He HATES when there isn't enough Mac & Cheese.
Later that evening we had presents.
Calib mostly asked for clothes. But he also got him tickets to a Bucs game in the fall. It's the one where they do the 5K in the morning too, so it's like a 2fer ticket. But, we also got him the giant Twizzlers he'd been eyeing at 5 below and was so made that nobody would go halvsies with him. (Because $4 for Twizzlers is crazy, but $2 would be totally acceptable.)
He also requests cupcakes from this place in South Tampa. I had to go pick them up on Thursday because it's quite a trek. But, everyone gets to pick their own flavor, so that's kind of nice.
Overall, a nice birthday for Calib. Plus he works now, so he can appreciate having a day off for his birthday.
In other news, my mom is here visiting. She got here the night before Calib's birthday and even though it was his birthday he gave up his room for the mega bed made on the floor of Peyton and Hayden's room.
Since mom was here we were in for a Costco run. She always goes to get food for while she's here and treats us all. I had mentioned how much I wanted a collapsible wagon, and she said she would get me one for an early birthday present. Then we came across a Beach cart (complete with a built in cooler!) that was also cool, and I had a decision to make.
I decided to go with the wagon though. I wanted it for carrying food various places, and I've really wanted to cook out at any of the various parks around my house. But, they're strictly walking parks, and there isn't any parking so taking stuff down there for a cookout would be difficult. I also thought when we vacation places like hotels, it'd be great for carrying food around, and it collapses so small it's perfect for travel. So, ultimately I decided to keep with the wagon.
Hayden meanwhile got 72 Eggo Waffles. I also might have gotten a new sunhat and flip flops for my 'early birthday'.
Did anyone else do the international day at McDonalds? I guess they are having some things on their menu from various McDonalds menus around the world. I was interested once I found out on one specific day between 2 and 5 pm they were giving the food away basically for free. Ok, not exactly for free. But, if you brought in ANY foreign money, you could get one item off the international menu. So, I gathered up some Canadian coins and Asa, mom, Calib and I went out to try some stuff (Hayden was at a library thing, and not super interested, and Peyton's, well, Peyton.)
Since there was four of us, we got to try all four of the items.
The sandwiches were Grand McExtreme Bacon Burger from Spain and the Tomato Mozzarella Chicken Sandwich from Canada. The Canada chicken was better, but neither of these were all that exciting, and the sauce was the same on both of them.
But I was more excited about the Stroopwafel McFlurry from the Netherlands and the Cheesy Bacon Fries from Australia, anyway. Both were good. I mean, I probably won't be going back to pay full price for them, not that we really do McDonald's outside of bike rides, and even then we've now discovered a local place, 'Moody Judy's' that we can also bike to, so it's been months since we've been to McDonalds. They are building something right next door. I was hoping something fun was coming in, but Asa claims it's just another dentist office. Boo.
Also, speaking of having some treats out and about, has anyone else heard- All You Can Swirl is back for the summer at RaceTrac! We went one night after picking up Peyton and Hayden from Anime Club.
We were also on our way to Top Golf for Half Price Tuesdays. Since Mom isn't going to be here for Peyton's birthday she wanted to treat him too, so she took us all out to celebrate early.
Peyton loves Top Golf, but they got rid of his favorite foods: the mushi and bacon mac and cheese spring rolls, so he had to settle for cheese fries, pretzel bites, and (not pictured) spicy cauliflower.
But, it was a fun trip anyway. Plus you have to love Half Price Tuesdays- you can go for the same price at night as early in the morning.
We've been down at the pool a few days this week too. We even convinced mom to ride bikes down there.
We haven't quite hit afternoon thunderstorm time yet, but we desperately need it. The ponds are so low they're disappearing and the swampy areas are no longer swamps, instead they are bone dry. It rained yesterday evening for the first time in what seems like at least a month. I'm hoping we're finally hitting rainy season because I've never seen the ponds so low.
The plants are also tricky to keep happy in this heat without rain. We've watered them in the morning and at night and they still droop. The tomatoes in the shade seem to be doing alright though. Asa picked 9 of them the other day. Mom was so excited about it, she ate one like it was an apple.
Since mom is here, she's also teaching Peyton some math. He's not super excited about it, but he doesn't protest too much. He's been getting ahead in his computer class, because his Biology class starts soon.
I don't really have Waterstraut dog pictures to show you, but we were on watching Huck and Murphy duty for the neighbors for a couple days. Hayden and I would go over there to do his school work. It was nice and quiet and he got rewarded with puppy snuggles when he was done.
That's it from here.
Next Up: Some time at Universal!
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