Monday, March 18, 2024

Flowers And Fun In Fort Lauderdale

I'm back at work today after a week and a half off, but I'm going to be reminiscing about our amazing trip for awhile! We left for our March Break trip a couple of days early as we booked a cruise, and the one we liked best left on the Friday our break officially started. We wanted to get to our embarkation port a few days early, so late Wednesday night, we flew into Fort Lauderdale, Florida, and Thursday we had all day to explore.

We had only one thing booked this day, as well as a few things we hoped to check out, so we started off by walking to a main area in Fort Lauderdale, Las Olas Boulevard. It took us a little over an hour to walk to our first destination and we enjoyed not only stretching our legs but also enjoying the warmth and seeing the sights.
I had read about Ann's Florist & Coffee Bar online and I absolutely wanted to check it out. On one side is a florist shop and on the other is a cafe/bar. We ate lunch here and it was so beautiful. We had a counter spot looking into the florist shop. The empanadas were really good and the pastries were delicious! This was a stop solely for me and I loved it so much!!!
There was a store on we passed on Las Olas Boulevard which had huge statues. We briefly considered buying this Hulk one as it had been reduced in price to only $60,000! Hahaha! We enjoyed looking around this store.
The only thing we had booked for this day was a tour of the Fort Lauderdale waterways. We took a Carrie B Cruise and really enjoyed it. We got to see many expensive homes right on the water and even got attacked by pirates! It was supposed to be somewhat rainy this day but one of the only times we got wet was waiting to board this boat!
We cruised past the port we were sailing out of the next day and Rachel realized one of her classmates was on the ship we passed on our tour! She SnapChatted him and he sent her a picture of his view from the boat. It was pretty hilarious! Also, the house in the middle is based on Harry Pottter's house from the movies, cost $28 million, and was a wedding present for someone's niece. Let's just say our wedding gifts were not quite so elaborate!!!
See, I told you we got chased by pirates! Hahaha!!!
We enjoyed trying to spot gekkos, or iguanas, or whatever it was we saw running all over the place in Fort Lauderdale. Sam was the best at spotting them.
We made it to the ocean!!! Since we were staying in a hotel, we had no towels, and we knew we were getting other beach days, so we didn't plan on swimming. We enjoyed walking along the shoreline though.
So happy to be at the ocean and not at work or school!!!
A picture of Sam and I strolling the beach to show Sam was there too! He doesn't love being in pictures anymore which I think is pretty typical for teenagers. And no, he is NOT taller than me (yet). We measure almost every day because he's very close.
A playful ray which was swimming along beside us for awhile. We enjoyed walking in the water until we saw him and then we gave him some extra space! You can see his tail coming out of the waves in the middle photo so he was pretty close.
 
After about an hour at the ocean, it started raining and we had to wait quite awhile for an Uber back to our hotel. We'd hoped to eat a nice dinner on the beach but we were all exhausted after a long day of walking and exploring so we headed back to our hotel and ate at the McDonald's across the street. Not quite the nice seafood, ocean view dinner I'd hoped for. Hahaha!
 
That night I was asleep by 7pm, Dave was asleep by about 7:45, and we have no idea when the kids fell asleep. But we'd had a great day exploring Fort Lauderdale.

Friday, March 15, 2024

Friday Favourite Moments #11

If you don't follow me on Instagram, you may not know that we were on a Disney cruise this past week!!! It was so fun and I have so many favourite moments but, for this post, I'm going to just pick one from each day. Many, many more stories to come next week but here's a small taste :)

1) Lunch with a view (Fort Lauderdale, Thursday)

This was our first day of vacation and one of the things I found to do in Fort Lauderdale was to go to Ann's Florist & Coffee Bar. We had a delicious lunch sitting at a counter with a view into the flower shop. There was an opening (as opposed to a window) so I ate lunch while smelling the flowers. It was so amazing! And then we shared a raspberry tart and a key lime pie for dessert. I would be here at least once a week if we had something similar locally!

2) Flying the Millennium Falcon with Dave (Boarding the ship, Friday)

I mean, this was "boarding the ship" day so there are so many memorable moments but one of my favourites was flying in the Millennium Falcon from Star Wars with Dave! This was in one of the kids' clubs and they had an open house. No one else in my family wanted to check it out so I went on my own. And then texted Dave a picture of R2D2 and said, "You HAVE to come see this!!!" It was so fun!!!

 

3) Midship Detective Agency (Marvel Day at Sea, Saturday)

We were on a new ship this time around and one of the features was the Midship Detective Agency. You visited the office (at the middle of the ship, thus the name), and got a card and chose a case (there were three options). Then you had a map and went to visit certain pieces of art. The card interacted with the art and you gathered clues as you visited the art. The interactive card allowed you to unscrew a crate, burn through ropes, pop balloons, or other fun things. Eventually, you put the clues together and solved the case. The picture below is of Rachel completing her first case! I ended up doing four different cases -- two with Rachel, one with Sam, and one that Dave and I did.

 

4) Rachel participated in the flash mob on Pirate Night (Cozumel, Mexico, Sunday)

Although we had a port stop in Cozumel, Mexico this day, we also celebrated Pirate Night that evening. Rachel had a few practices for the Flash Mob which consisted of tweens and teens from the clubs and happened after the Pirate Night party. Dave and I joked that we couldn't get away from Rachel's dance schedule, even on a cruise! But Rachel had such a fun time doing this and the Flash Mob was so fun to see!!! (Rachel was in the back row; she's wearing the bandana on her head in this picture.)


5) Traditional time change celebratory ice cream (Day at Sea, Monday)

We have a tradition of celebrating the Spring time change by getting ice cream. As Mexico doesn't mark the time change, the ship didn't mark it until Sunday night, so on Monday, we got a car ice cream sundae from Vanellope's Sweets 'N Treats. It was a super special, spring time change, ice cream! (For reference, you can see other time change ice cream celebrations here and here.) 


6) Rachel, Dave, and I earned our Castaway Cay 5K medals! (Castaway Cay, Tuesday)

One of the things you can do on Castaway Cay (Disney's private island) is run/walk the 5K and get a medal. You used to have to get up early, get off the ship. and run it as a group. Since Covid, it's done on an honour system. So Dave, Rachel, and I walked it and earned our medals. I am so proud of us!!! 


7) Rachel and the alligator (Travel Day, Wednesday)

Disembarkation day, and travel home day, is always depressing and hard. We had 12 hours between getting off the ship and our flight home so we'd rented a car and went to explore the Everglades. We did an airboat tour (where we saw four alligators in the wild), ate at their outdoor grill (Dave had an alligator taco, the rest of us ate more traditional food), and Rachel got to have an alligator on her shoulder, which made her day! 

 

8) At home day, Thursday

Sleeping in my own bed after returning from a vacation is always the best!

So those are just a few memorable moments from the last week. Next week, I'll have more posts about our vacation. Until then, I'm catching up on laundry, grocery shopping, and remembering how to cook. Hahahaha!!!

Monday, March 11, 2024

Share Our Lives: 5 Things I Can't Live Without

It's the second Monday of the month so it's time to "share our lives" with Sarah, Dara, Joanne, Adrienne, and Jen. (Click on each name to go their blogs.) This month we're sharing "5 items we can't live without." Since I'm not trying to be an influencer here, I'm not linking to anything specific, and I'm also interpreting "items" as fairly expansive! These could also be called "5 things which make Natasha really happy!" Hahaha!!!

1) Something to read

Whether this is defined as an actual physical book or my Kobo, I am not happy if I don't have something to read. I read a lot and I usually have at least two or three books on the go. I have a book at work to read on my lunch break, I have a couple of books (plus my Kobo) on my nightstand, and I have a stack of books on my dresser as well. I get about 95% of my books from the library so I'm constantly juggling my library account!

My current TBR

2) My laundry line (and my clothespin apron!)

I know, I know, you all think I'm nuts but honestly, if one of the things you take away from reading my blog is that "Natasha loves to hang out her laundry," I'm good with that! There is not much which makes me happier than a baseball game in the background and a load of laundry to hang out. I've hung laundry in Mexico and Kenya, as well as here at home and at my parents' house. My laundry lines (both the indoor and outdoor ones) make me sooooo happy!!!

My aunt also made me a clothespin apron one year for Christmas, and I used it so much, I wore it out. So she made me another one. I LOVE it!!!

Outside hanging laundry (left) and my original clothespin apron (right)

3) Flowers

Whether it's tulips in the winter, pansies in the spring, my pots of annuals in the summer, or my mums in the fall, my year revolves around flowers of some sort. They just make me so happy! And I don't need other people to buy them for me (although that's pretty awesome too), I just get so much joy from flowers!

4) My travel mug

I've always had a travel mug or two for taking coffee-hot chocolate (or sometimes, tea) to work. I received a Starbucks one as a gift when I left a school I'd worked at for a few months, and I just replaced it about a month ago. It lasted me three years. It has been the best travel mug, keeps my coffee-hot chocolate hot for about four hours (which is as long as it takes me to drink it), and is the perfect size. Whether I'm carrying it to work or church, I really love my travel mug.

5) My FitBit One

I know you all love your Apple Watches but I am perfectly happy tracking my steps and distance with my FitBit One. I bought it in July 2015 and it has been my trusty companion ever since. I am already dreading when it dies because FitBit doesn't make the One anymore and I have no idea what I'll replace it with. I hate wearing anything on my wrist so an Apple Watch does not appeal. My FitBit and I have walked a lot of kilometres together!

So those are 5 items I can't live without! Since we're currently on a cruise, with no access to Wifi, I will link up with the Share Our Lives bloggers when I'm back on the internet. And I'll read the rest of the posts in the link up when I return home. I look forward to reading about what other people can't live without!

Friday, March 08, 2024

Friday Favourite Moments #10

I'm writing this post on Tuesday night right before we leave on our March Break trip. I'm not taking my computer along, and I don't know how to post from my phone, so this week's post is short and sweet (and only goes up until Tuesday)!

1) Favourite Spirit Day EVER!!!

We had a spirit day at school last week and it was "staff dress like students, students dress like staff." It was so much fun! I borrowed a pair of sweatpants from a Phys Ed teacher, borrowed Rachel's crocs, and wore my Taylor Swift sweatshirt. My favourite story was when a teacher called out another teacher for being in the halls during Nutrition Breaks because he thought she was a student! Hahahahaha! It was chaos at work, but in the best kind of way :)

Do I look like a middle school student?!?!?

2) Sam and Rachel's weekend

I'm so thankful that during Covid lockdowns, Sam and Rachel got along so well and rarely fought. It made our family life so much better. But after being stuck to each other's side for basically a year and a half, they clearly needed a break from each other. Plus, you know, they're teenagers (or almost teenagers) and hanging out with your sibling isn't as much fun anymore. But this past weekend, they spent a lot of time together and actually had a sleepover in the basement. I loved seeing them spend some quality time together this past weekend.

3) Birthday cake success!

It was a big birthday for my mother-in-law this past weekend and we had a family party. Rachel and I were in charge of the cake. My mother-in-law's favourite colours are yellow and orange so Rachel and I tried a watercolour effect with the icing. I was pretty pleased with how it turned out!

And those are my favourite moments for this week (up until Tuesday, that is)! Come back next week, when I'm sure I'll have a whole list of favourites from our vacation!!! Have a great weekend!!!

Thursday, March 07, 2024

The Rest Of My February Reading

My 2024 reading is still going strong and I read some really great books, and some really fun books, these last few weeks!

 

This is the second book I've read by this author duo and I really enjoyed it. I loved hearing about the friendship between Mary McLeod Bethune and Eleanor Roosevelt. I highly recommend this book as it is so well written and sheds light on a period I really haven't read much about.

The way I ended up with this book was so random. It arrived in inter-office mail at work and my principal knew it was for a teacher who was gone on vacation. She said, "You read fast. Take it!" It looked interesting so I said, "Yes!" And I am so glad I did. I don't love short stories, but that is basically what this was -- a group of short stories tied together, all centred around one novel. You should absolutely read this book. It's so good and well worth it.

I know other people have found this novella sad. While I agree it was sad, it didn't tear my heart strings out. Maybe I am cold and unfeeling but it left me feeling a little "meh."

This series just gets better and better. This is another book I read in one sitting. If you haven't started The Inheritance Games series, in my opinion, you are missing out! Even though it's aimed more at a Young Adult readership, I am really enjoying it.

This book is probably aimed more at parents of young children, but I still felt convicted to get my kids off screens and outside more. I don't know how successful I will be at it, but I just know we need to spend more time outside. I would recommend this book, even if you don't have younger kids (or any kids) because I think we probably all spend too much time indoors.

I did not love this book. I think it's because I really didn't love Charles Lindbergh as portrayed in the book. While this is historical fiction, it just turns out that, in my opinion, Charles Lindbergh was not a nice man. And his character really coloured this whole novel, even though it was written from Anne Lindbergh's point of view. Ugh.

  

This is a funny, sexy, smart trilogy. Even though each book is a stand alone novel, I really enjoyed reading them one after the other. I thought these books were all sooooo good and if you're looking for a lighter read, which is a bit more meaty, than read these books.

So that wraps up my February reading.

February total: 16

2024, thus far: 36 (For interest's sake, 2023, at this time: 33).

Wednesday, March 06, 2024

Currently: March 2024

It's the first Wednesday of March so it's time for "Currently" with Jennifer at Overflowing With Thankfulness. You can find Jennifer here. As you will see below, this is an extra special edition of "Currently" because, for us, March Break starts TONIGHT!!! Yes, we are headed out on our vacation a couple of days early and I am beyond excited!!!!!!!!!

[loving]

I am "loving" that the principal at my school is reading the A Court of Thorn and Roses series and almost every morning we start the day with a mini book discussion. This is such a great series and each book gets better and better. I just love that she is reading them and excited to discuss them with me!

I am also "loving" our spring like weather -- the warmth! The lack of ice! The longer days! It all makes me so happy!!!

And I am "loving" that we are headed out on vacation tonight!!! Whooo hooo!!!

[looking forward to]

I'm "looking forward to" our March Break vacation. We leave for the airport at 5:00 this afternoon and I can't wait!!! I just have to get through one last day of work. Hahaha! We're headed somewhere warm and extra fun so I'm also looking forward to some sunshine! It hasn't been all that cold this past winter, but it sure has been grey.

[planning]

All my "planning" energy has gone into getting ready for our trip so I'm done with planning for the next little bit! For the next week, I'm "planning" on relaxing and enjoying time with my family!

Once we return, I'm "planning" on catching up on all the posts in this link up so I'll hopefully get to them soon.

[wearing]

 For the next week, I'm going to be wearing shorts, t-shirts, skirts, swimsuits, and shoes without socks. I am "planning" (which fits with the above prompt) on wearing capris and shoes without socks to the airport. I'm hoping I won't be too cold as our weather isn't all that warm yet. After our trip, I'll debut some of the new things I got for this vacation.

AQUAROSE ARUBA Smocked Sides One-piece Swimsuit Blue tropical leaves 70400098 - View1

On Monday night, I randomly decided I needed another swimsuit and picked up this one. I hope I like it when I actually have to wear it for a few hours. I'll report back after vacation!

[eating]

Our "eating" the past couple of days hasn't been all that great as we've been trying to use up food before we leave. We've had grilled cheese & tomato soup, leftovers, and I mixed up an old package of matzoh ball soup. We're kind of scraping the bottom of the barrel around here.

See how empty our fridge is! 

So that's us "currently" -- ready for vacation and counting down the hours! Happy March!!!