Party of Four

We dropped my mom off at the airport on Wednesday morning. In case you missed her visit, you can page back to see those blogs. But, with her on her flight home, we were back down to a party of four. In case you're wondering how Peyton's doing, he sent us some awesome pictures from Oxford, and passed his next class. So, he's doing well across the pond. 

Over here, Asa and I decided to make the most of an early trip into Tampa by swinging by Goody Goody Burger for breakfast. 

I know our days of cool weather and low humidity are numbered, so we're trying to get out there and do a lot while it's more comfortable. We took a stroll along the river walk. If you come to Tampa, I highly recommend a trip along here- or at least part of here. It's about 2 and a half miles, I think. But it goes along the water, and will take you through parks, past places to eat and museums, even the Straz Center, and under bridges. Plus there's all kinds of little monuments along the way. It's a lovely walk, or bike ride if you're so inclined. 

And then we swung by Ikea. I was mostly looking for the plastic bag holder everyone uses to store their vinyl, and after giving up and heading to the checkout, we found a whole bunch of them right there by the registers. I probably should have gotten two, but it's lovely storage! 

Since we were in Ybor, we decided to swing by La Segunda Bakery for some rolls for dinner, and a light lunch. We ended up with a Cuban and a Guava and Cheese pastry. 

We stopped at the train depot in Lutz to eat the sandwich, which is right next to the library. We actually had stopped by the library in downtown Tampa and purchased a couple of books, so we were excited to nose through and see what the Lutz branch had- but it wasn't nearly as big. They do have a fun train carving out front though. 

Not only did I get my vinyl storage at Ikea, I also got some hooks to make something to hang all my Minnie Ears on. So, this is just a thick pool noodle, covered in fabric- with a PVC pipe running though it and some Ikea curtain rod hooks to keep it on the wall. Also, it's awesome, and I came up with it all on my own. Impressive, right? 

I also worked on organizing my vinyl scraps. 

I have all kinds of new crafting materials and tools. My mom's visit was the gift that kept on giving. We ordered some things when she was here, that arrived after she left including all kinds of embellishments for ears and a heat press! That's right, no more guessing at times and temperatures for my vinyl! 

I even got the big 12 by 10 one! In mint, so it matches my Cricut! I promptly got to work on our shirts for our family trip to Universal in June. 

It is getting warmer, and it is April, so that means baby cranes (which I've seen, but have yet to nab a picture of), and some gators out and about. I was going to Publix when I spotted one of the biggest ones I've ever seen around here. Can you spot him? 

How bout now? 

He was huuuuuuge! 

Now, I know you might be wondering how I got such a close up picture. Well, that's because I have a new phone! We were just about to pay mine off, when an offer came up for a free Google Pixel 6 with a new line. So, the downside was I had to change my phone number. The upside is like five people have my number now. 

We've been getting up early-ish on the weekends to catch Soccer Games. I don't know why Asa has determined we're Brentford Bee fans, but we totally are. And, they are kind of exciting. I've watched like four games now, and I don't mind it too much. They even beat Chelsea last week, and that'd be like the Lions beating the Patriots back in the day. Anyway, because of the time difference, the games are on earlier here, so we've been having breakfast tacos with them. Calib was kind enough to get up early and make us guac for them last week. This week, however, he drew the line with a 9 am game. 

Meanwhile, I've been perfecting my pretzel making. We had them for dinner with a charcuterie one night since we had lots of leftovers from when mom was here. 

It was actually for the basketball national championship, which Kansas won. You'd think Asa would have been more excited about it, but he just looked up a few times from his phone, and then tuned back in later. 

We did have a cold snap this weekend (I'll get to that)- but early last week we decided it'd been warm enough days in the row to give the pool a try. The new pavers have been installed, so the heated pool was back open. And, it's actually super pleasant on warm days. It has just enough of a chill to be refreshing, and not so much you don't want to get all the way in. We went like five days in a row. 

We haven't been to Disney in awhile. We had those high cases, and now it's been super crowded with Spring Breakers, and I kind of miss it. So, for dinner one night Asa made us a Flame Tree Barbecue staple: Pulled Pork Mac and Cheese. He even completed it with homemade onion rings. 

Tuesday Asa had a longer lunch, so we took a bike ride and went to have a picnic on the docks. 

And on the way, we found a big gator in one of the tiny ponds. 

Seriously, what was he doing here!?

And not too far from there, we also came across a giant snapping turtle. 

This weekend, Asa and I went to Brooksville to check out the monthly market at Beasley Farms. So not only do they have things to eat, little pop up shops and such- but they also have animals to pet and feed and a produce barn. 

Admission, parking, and even animal feed are free! 

SO you know that's right up my alley. And you guys it was cold enough I got to wear my sweatpant overalls. Ok, so when my mom was here, we found these sweat pant overalls on the clearance rack, and I knew I had to have them. Mom wasn't a big fan. But, I was like, "they're SWEAT PANT. OVERALLS." That's an AMAZING combo. So now, whenever we have a cold day I talk about how it's a sweatpant overall day. And, I got to wear them to a farm. Amazing. 

Also Amazing: the horse Katie. I loved her. 

We fed the chickens.. 

And some goats.. 

And even a cow! 

You guys, I took the best cow nose pictures. My new camera is the best. 

We split a bbq sandwich for lunch and found a picnic table around the animals to sit and eat. 

Then we nosed around the pop up shops, including one selling chickens, ducks, and english lop bunnies. Asa let me pet them all, but he wouldn't let me get any of them. 

The ducks were only 3 days old. Well, the small ones. The bigger ones were 8 days old. 

And then we found another section of goats to feed! 

After that, we swung by the produce barn. I'd been enticed to head up that way for the $10 produce boxes they always post on Facebook, so I was interested to see what they were like. I was not disappointed. 

There's also lots of other fruit, veggies, and plants. But, I enjoyed the little stories behind some of the produce. 

And they had some "slightly damaged" boxes for just $4. When I noticed the one on the left, I knew I had to have it. It was just full of peppers. I love cooked peppers, so some a little past their prime is no big deal. If you're cooking them, they freeze fine. And peppers have gotten more expensive lately. 

We also got one of the $10 boxes. An excellent deal! 

On the way home, we stopped by Racetrac for some free All You Can Swirls thanks to reward points (All you can swirl ALSO went up in price- by a whole dollar. Now they're $3.49! I was happy to get it for free though). 

And when we got home, I cut up all the peppers to freeze them. Twenty in all! 

For "dinner" we watched Hoodwinked and had snacks- including some more homemade pretzels. 

Hoodwinked holds up pretty good. The animation is a little off, but the story is still great. It's hard to find streaming anywhere though. When I suggested the movie, Asa couldn't find it on anything- and then remembered we might have the Blu Ray somewhere. Indeed we did. 

Obviously Saturday was sweatpant overall weather. But, it dipped down into the 40s at night, making it also a Sweater Nooms night. Probably the last one of the season. It might have been the last cold front too. Because we are in the 80s for the foreseeable future now. 

For the most part, it's been warm though. The garden loves it. Look, we're even getting limes! 

Last night for dinner, we had all kinds of stuff from our produce box and made Chud Salads. Of course, that also came with some Chud Spuds, or at least as much as we can make them at home. Rumor has it we're going to Ohio in August for the first time in three years, maybe we'll get some then. 

We finished up our weekend with some basketball. (I won horse!) 

Peyton seems to text everyone stuff almost every day. Mostly video game/movie releated. Sometimes some school stuff for Asa. So, I've been sending him pictures of things he's missing he might like, including kettle corn, and Delano. Delano was actually a proof of life picture, because Asa has put him in the Spinach box in the garden twice now- and forgotten about him. 

Of course, I have a couple of cute Ellie pictures. 

And to round out my blog, I've got Asa all cuddled up on the couch with the dogs. They are such Florida dogs, they do not enjoy the cold. 

And that's it, after an hour or so, I've gotten my blog all caught up. 

Up Next: Asa is taking a few days off this week- because, believe it or not, he's in a "use it or lose it" scenerio once again with his vacation time. And, Asa will never be a guy who voluntarily gives up vacation time. It's a far cry from the days when we once had to countdown to the beginning of the year when he'd get it all back again! Anyway, so we're going to make the best of a few days off!