Brody's First Free Cone Day

(M): Brody and I decided we wanted to go to Free Cone Day at Ben and Jerry's on the way home from work. After meeting up with mom to switch over his car seat, we were off. He really enjoyed the ice cream, although he seems to lick the cone more than anything else. Apparently sugar doesn't effect him, because he slowly went from wide awake, to fast asleep.

The Jew Sisters Finally Spend Money

Two weeks ago, was Melanie's Spring Break, which luckily was Ohio's Spring Break as well. We decided to have our friend Jeff, who we met in Haiti, come down and spend the week with us. Welcome to the longest blog post ever :)

Friday:

I took Jeff for a really cool nature hike throughout the morning (Mellie and David still had class). We packed bagels & coffee for the trail..which turned out to be the "off the beaten path" type. We enjoyed relaxing and eating our picnic on a sandy little beach area..but the highlight of the day was when two men..one of which had a pontyail and guitar walked by..clearly looking for some alone time..haha..

Saturday:

This cool snake came all the way from Ohio. We named him Jeff.

1 Day at the Zoo = $11

1 Tank of Gas = $30

Watching Phil push all the kids out of the way to get this picture = Priceless

Quasi also decided to join us at the zoo.

The three lovely ladies

Sunday:

We left for our camping trip at St. Augustine beach. The boys cooked us dinner.

We had a race to see who could set up their tent fastest...

"Winning isn't always finishing first. Sometimes winning is just finishing."

Monday:

Day at the beach

Beach sunset

Right before we headed off for Jeff's first time with Five Guys ;)

Enjoying the fire the boys built

Tuesday:

During breakfast, we noticed a few rain drops. In a mad dash we packed up camp and hit the road. In our pajamas. We made the necessary Dairy Queen stop on the way home. We also swung by UF to check for Alligators.

After a much needed shower, we headed to Chick-Fil-A, which was also a new experience for Jeff. We had a bit of spare time, so Heather and I drug the reluctant boys to Indigo. They sat outside and clocked us to make sure we didn't go over our 10 minute limit. Next we watched Cop Out...which was the worst movie ever made. We then did the usual hang out in Heather's room and watched Comedy Central.

Wednesday:

Cedar Key

We braved the cold 50° water to get to enjoy playing on the Jet Skis.

Thursday:

David, Jeff, and I met for breakfast at Perkins. Poor Mellie had to work. After a delicious meal, Jeff and I hit the road for Orlando. Thankfully, Jeff drove in what can only be described as hurricane force rain. Those who know me best will tell you, that was a good thing for more reasons then we can go into here. We did a little shopping while we were there..and Jeff was such a patient shopping buddy :) After successful stops in Victoria's Secret and Coach, we were off again. We ate dinner at Zaxby's..which they do not have in Ohio. Unbelievable, I know. We arrived at the airport to find out that his flight was delayed for a few hours due to the weather. So we were able to do one of my favorite things: people watch :) All too quickly it was time to say goodbye..which is my least favorite thing to do. Luckily, we are already looking forward to another summer visit.

Friday:

We were so sad Jeff left we decided to treat ourselves to our favorite kind of therapy...shopping. For this occasion, we called up Melanie's best friend from PK, Brittany. After purchasing shoes, Lucky bracelets, and Coach clutches, we called it a day, and went home with pizza to watch with the Kendra show. After David got off work, he joined us for our typical Friday night hang out.

On the usual Icee run, which took stopping at 2 different gas stations, Davie convinced us to buy our first Lotto tickets. Little did we know, it's because he always wins.

Saturday:

We spent the day with our oldest friend Ellie, who we met in Elementary school. We relaxed for a bit, and then had a Moes and Margaritas party.

Coach - A Girl's Best Friend

(M) - Just a quick update about my day yesterday. After class, David and I headed to Publix to pick up lunch supplies, but surprisingly ran into my Nana and Heather. As only grandparents can do, my nana gave us money to go get Subway instead, insisting we didn't need to cook at home. In true Davie/Mellie fashion, we hung out in Heather's room all day. Normally this wouldn't be surprising, but yesterday Heather wasn't home. Somehow her room just has turned into "the" place to hang out, be it a Friday night, or a rainy Thursday afternoon.

When Heather got home, we ran to go pick up Little Caesars for dinner (yummy!). At the start of dinner, David handed me a clue, telling me I had a scavenger hunt to do tonight. I am not a patient person - especially when it comes to surprises. But, I managed to stay through dinner. Afterwards, I finally was able to start. One very funny clue led to the next, each of which had us roaring with laughter. The final clue led me to his car out front, which had a Coach dust bag hanging from his rearview mirror. A very excited me opened it up to find a hot pink valet Coach keychain. I have been wanting one SO badly ever since he got Heather one for Christmas. Even with an early class this morning, I was excited to pull out my keys just to see them on the pretty new keychain, thanks David!

All of this is to say I believe I have been very blessed to have so many amazing people in my life. From my Nana, to Heather, Philip, and David, I realize I am very fortunate that even when my parents are gone that I have other people to depend on :)

My Papa

(H) Missing someone gets easier every day because even though it's one day further from the last time you saw each other, it's one day closer to the next time you will.

-- George S. Paterson

Time is an interesting thing. I don't think I will ever understand the way a broken heart can heal with time. Despite the overwhelming belief that you will never be happy again..you eventually are. By and by the times you remember and cry become the times you remember and smile. While days like today inevitably occur, they are rare. Which leaves much needed room for happy memories to dwell. Some of my very favorite memories of my Papa:

✒ Christmas socks ✒ Root Beer Floats (Black Cows) ✒ Hankies ✒ Teaching me how to play poker ✒ Popcorn ✒ The Price Is Right ✒Your smell (a mixture of peppermints & warming muscle rub) ✒ Birds ✒ Watching Cops together (even though I wasn’t allowed to at home..because I was terrified) ✒You calling the neighbors..”If that dog ever runs over my grandaughters again”.. ✒ Vanilla Wafers ✒ Golf ✒ Olive Garden (your favorite restaurant..and you always ordered black olives for Melanie and I) ✒ Weeki Wachee ✒ Suspenders ✒ Breakfast at The Plantation Hotel (you filling up baggies of mints for the ride home) ✒ Visiting Santa Clause (hearing you say “Ho Ho Ho, Merrrry Christmas” every time we asked you to..which was ALOT) ✒ Bunko (“Papa needs a new pair of shoes”) ✒ The Swan Man ✒ You wearing sweaters to take us to the pool ✒ Easter ✒ You taking Mellie & I to school at the Rock..and how excited we were whenever you did :) ✒ Wendy’s Frosties ✒ You & Philip sitting on benches while us girls shopped ✒ Blue lazy boy recliner ✒ Aquafresh toothpaste ✒ The way you loved Nana ✒ Earl Grey Tea

Thank you for being the best Papa a girl could ask for. You loved your family with all you had..and we are the better for it. There have been so many times when Mom & I talked about you being the “glue” for us. We’ve made it..sometimes by the skin of our teeth..but we are still very much loving each other. There is never a time when us kids & Nana get together that your name is not mentioned. Usually involving “Your Papa was so proud of his babies.” I can’t wait to see you again..and fill you in on everything Dad & Mom have accomplished..somehow I don’t think you will be surprised. We all miss you..and cannot wait until we see you again. Until then..

Operation: Priceless

(H&M)

Julie from Mission Possible has created an extremely cool opportunity: it's called Operation Priceless. This was created for the children enrolled at various MP schools who do not have a sponsor. When the other kids receive letters from their sponsors, these children receive nothing.

Julie is a genius. Her idea was to create a compilation of Creole phrases that come with English translations. You then create a letter using those phrases, which are then mailed to the MP schools for the non-sponsored children. With it, you can include small gifts, such as hair ribbons, stickers, coloring pages, crayons, etc.

This is an awesome idea for families or groups to do together. Once they're ready to go, you send them to: Mission Possible, PO Box 1026, Findlay, OH 45839-1026.

Let us know if you do this..so we know we have readers :) Haha, although we have heard Kevin Featherston(e) reads everyday..and Hailey will read within ten minutes.