How Florida Categorizes Hurricanes

As a nearly-native Floridian, we generally view hurricanes a little differently than most. I assume it’s rather like the northerners who laugh when the south shuts down over a sprinkling of snow. Here’s my personal view:

 

Category 1- Hmmm, it’s raining a little more than usual this afternoon.

 

Category 2- While grocery shopping, add a couple cases of water to the cart. I also add some snacks that are designated ‘hurricane supplies’, but who are we kidding? Those get eaten long before the rain starts.

Category 3- Buy extra batteries for the flashlights. The kids proceed to burn through all the batteries while playing hide and seek with the flashlights. *My* kids also break the flashlights pretending they’re light sabers and having an epic battle.

 

 

Category 4- Stock up on ice, drinks, and steaks. Spend the time grilling out and toasting the hurricane for giving us time off work.

 

 

Category 5- Realize we may not have power for a week and panic about how to entertain the kids. Haha, just kidding..kinda. But if your husband is a first responder and will be gone the entire hurricane (pre, during, and post), he will insist you evacuate. And you have to take the kids.

Next time I’ll relate my Hurricane Irma evacuation experience. We ended up heading to Atlanta, along with half the population of Florida. Cayden still talks about it. Although he confuses Orlando and Atlanta, and refers to both as Atlando.  

With Love,

Susanne

Sea Monsters in the Keys

When you think of the Keys, you typically think of Key West, the very last island in the chain. We didn’t make it that far this trip, but I’m still totally in love. Such a beautiful, fun place. While mingling with the Gheenoe guys one night, they mentioned feeding huge tarpons. Now I know tarpons are pretty big, but they’re still just a fish, right? So I talked Chase into driving to Robbie’s in Islamorada to check it out.

They have an impressive set up. Walking in from the parking lot is an assortment of little tiki hut shops with all the random beachy touristy trinkets. From metal art to painted hermit crabs, these shops have it all. Then you move on to the official Robbie’s souvenir store, complete with branded shirts and clothing. Full disclosure, we bought a super tacky, 3 feet tall wooden wind chime, topped by a tropical fish.

If you navigate through all the way to the water, you’ll reach the tarpon feeding. Chase decided to record me feeding these tarpon since he thought it would be more amusing than throwing fish to, well, other fish. I was handed a bucket with four fish the length of my hand. At that point, I began to wonder just how large these tarpon could be.

Big. They’re Big. Would calling them sea monster size be an exaggeration? Maybe, but when you’re on the dock leaning over to toss out a fish, they seem able to swallow you whole. The first fish I threw was quickly devoured by the greedy pelicans that fight with the school of nearly 100 tarpon. Yep, that’s how many of these babies show up every day looking for a handout.

Determined to succeed, I recklessly crouched down and extended my arm and body over the water, trying to avoid the snappy pelicans. Suddenly, a mammoth tarpon jumps OUT of the water and snatches the fish right out of my hand! Its rough scales actually cut my finger- that’s how close I came to being eaten alive! 

Unfortunately, no one else seemed to grasp my fear. Everyone on the dock and nearby restaurant were laughing. 

I’d had enough of fish for the day. We moved on to the Hungry Tarpon restaurant, which was absolutely delicious. I don’t like Bloody Mary’s, but the amount of items they put on that drink was impressive. 

Our waitress was a very nice lady who commuted daily from Miami because her home was destroyed in Hurricane Irma. Imagine the money she must make to drive two hours each way for a serving job. Then again, the view alone is almost worth it. Plus, she gets to see silly tourists scream in terror over feeding a fish.

Made from scratch biscuits with my own custom omelet. Heavenly

With Love,

Susanne

Kids Say the Funniest Things...and I Love It

We hit up a free Braves baseball game

Last year the boys and I evacuated for the hurricane. We ended up in Atlanta and had a great time of exploring the aquarium, zoo, parks, and especially the 'ho-in-tel', as Cayden pronounced our hotel. I love the words kids come up with when learning to speak. One of my favorites developed after that Atlanta trip. We go home to visit my family outside Orlando and Cayden has managed to combine both big cities together into one awesome name. Just ask him. He'll tell you his favorite place is Atlando.

My little Chewiebacca- down to the crocs

When Micah was younger he loved going to Chick-Fil-A, aka Chicken Away. How could you say no to that? And the  adorable way he told me his ears hurt. "Mommy, there's bumblebees in my ear." I didn't have the heart to correct him for a long time...then my teacher sister took it upon herself to 'help' him learn to speak the 'right' way. (Notice the quotation marks- I still disagree and it's still a sore subject.) He learned that lunchbiddles were really lunchables, woo-woos  must be called firetrucks, and Chewiebacca actually had the much more boring name of Chewbacca. That was a devastating time for me- I hate that they have to grow up.

Fortunately, Cayden came along and has a whole new world of fun words for me to enjoy. Plus, my sister is four hours away and can't ruin it. He loves playing outside, but when the bugs get bad, he comes running back to escape the spagheettos. And this year for Easter, he got a basket full of goodies from the Oyster Bunny. Where that one came from, I have no clue.

Two of my men

I'm still waiting for Ez to talk enough for me to find some new gems. Right now, he likes ruff-ruffs (dogs), and shrieking 'MAAAAAAA' at the top of his lungs when I'm a full two feet away instead of holding him.

So in conclusion, go visit the scenic Atlando. While you're there, take your ruff-ruff for a walk to Chicken Away, then head to bed wearing your jammy-jams and make sure your mama gives you night-night snuggles.

Best buddies

With Love,
Susanne

The Memory Filled Beaches of New Smyrna, FL

Obviously striking my diva pose.

If you know me, you know that I am not a fan of change. I like familiarity, stability, routine. I come by it honestly- my dad is the exact same way. As a kid growing up, the one family vacation my siblings and I could count on was going to the beach condo for the week of July 4^th. Every year. Same week. And even though we’ve all grown up, my parents still go. Every year. Same week. One of more of us usually crash there for a few days with them, but since I’ve got three kids now, it gets crowded.

And it’s the one week during the year my dad gets to do everything his way. He fries fish for almost every dinner (mom made him give that up at home years ago.) He goes down to the ocean in the morning and late afternoon, announces the tide schedule to the room at large as if that will make a difference in his routine, and puts up the same beach umbrella he’s had since before I was born. And I love it all. There’s something to comforting in routine and in knowing that no matter what has been going in in life, that week at the beach remains unchanged. My family will always be there. They will always have pizza the first night, and they will always watch from the balcony as the sky fills with fireworks on the 4^th of July.

Johnny may kill me for this picture.

The condo building they rent from every year is filled with people of the same mindset as dad. They’ve been coming for years and it’s rare to have a vacancy- especially on a holiday week. I’ve been on a waiting list for three years and finally this summer, we’ll have our own condo. A one bedroom condo for five people, but it’s still a victory. I know mom and dad are glad they’ll have a place to send the boys when they’ve had enough chaos. So this summer, we’ll begin to establish our own summer beach memories with the boys. We’ll stay up late playing in the pool when the lifeguard is gone and won’t take away our pool noodles. We’ll get up early to comb the beach for shells then walk to Mon Delice for a French pastry. We’ll play tennis….well, my sister will attempt to teach us the finer points while I hit balls over the fence and the boys use the racquets as swords. And it will be wonderful!

With Love,

Susanne