Haircut, Bioluminescence Kayak Tour, Comb Jellies, Florida, New Job, Christmas Program

Things haven’t slowed down for us.  Here’s what we have been up to since Thanksgiving.  Noah has been trying to grow out his hair.  He didn’t know what he would want the end product to look like so he wouldn’t let me trim it at all.  He finally mentioned that he would like it trimmed so I scheduled an appointment for him.  He found a picture of what he wanted his hair to look like and showed the stylist.  This was the end product--and NOT what Noah wanted.  The stylist cut off way more hair than what Noah wanted, however, I think it looks great:

Noah kept sending me side eye while she was cutting his hair to let me know he did not approve of how much hair she was cutting off.  At that point there was nothing either of us could do, but just let her finish the haircut.  He has decided to try to grow out his hair again, though.

Aaron had a 6 day business trip to Orlando, Florida two weeks ago.  I found some super cheap airfare and decided to join him part way through the week.  Although the Convention he was attending was in Orlando, he got a hotel on the beach and just commuted the 90 minutes each way every day.  He left on a Sunday and I joined him the following Tuesday night.  It was dark by the time my plane got in.  When we got to the hotel here’s the view of the nighttime beach from the hotel parking lot:

The next morning I got up and had breakfast with Aaron before he left for the convention.  After that I headed out to walk around on the beach.  It ended up being quite cold that day which I did not expect.  The high that day only got up to 51 degrees.  However, that made for a pretty empty beach.  For the most part I was the only one crazy enough to be out there when it was so cold.  I didn’t have access to a car so I just walked around on the beach.  This was a quite different vacation than I am used to.  My vacation motto is to see all the things and keep every second planned out so I can make the most of whatever location I am at.  I had to rethink that strategy here since I didn’t have a car.  I actually HAD to relax this time--haha! 

Again there were very few people out walking on the beach.

I spent a lot of day just walking around.  When it started getting cooler in the afternoon I read my book on the balcony of our hotel room until Aaron got back to the hotel later that night.  The convention was for training, simulation and modeling technologies.  It was held at the Orlando Convention Center which is HUGE.  Aaron was there all week long and still didn’t get to see all of the booths that were there.  It was crazy!  He did get to try out a bunch of simulation set ups, though.  Here is just one he got a picture of:

The next morning I was awake early and was able to watch the sunrise from the balcony.  It was beautiful!

I woke Aaron up so he could see it, too.  He wasn’t as thrilled being woken up, though.

I had breakfast with Aaron before he left for the convention.  I then hung out walking around the area just looking around for the first part of the day.  Then I spent the second half reading my book by the pool right next to the beach.  Thankfully it was a lot warmer that day.  I did remember to put on sunscreen everywhere, but the tops of my feet.  DOH!  They are still peeling.  Anyway, when Aaron got back from the convention late that afternoon we headed over to check out The Casements.  It was once the winter home of John D. Rockefeller and has been fully restored.  It unfortunately was closed by the time we got there so we just walked around the gardens and along the river to look around. It was really pretty.

We then stopped by a fish market with a restaurant attached to it for some fresh seafood.  We got some clam chowder.  YUM!! We both tried out the catch of the day and it was really good.  You can’t get good fresh seafood in Utah so this was nice.

I did get to a huge crane up close while I was walking around that day.  It was pretty cool!

After dinner Aaron and I wandered up and down the beach then we hung out in the outdoor hot tub on the right off the beach at the hotel.

We did drive around to check out the Daytona International Speedway because we were so close.  That place was HUGE!  It was lit up with Christmas lights.

The next day I went with Aaron to the convention in Orlando.  I hung out in the area while he finished everything up there.  Afterward we drove over to look at the Orlando temple.  It was pretty.  It was over 80 degrees that day, but they still had the nativity out.  It was crazy to see the nativity surrounded by palm trees and citrus trees!

Just for fun I checked the weather app and here’s what we were at versus what the kids back in Utah were at--haha!

We texted them a screen shot of the weather and Josh texted us a picture of him walking around on campus while it was snowing.  He was not amused.

We did see that they actually had a Portillo’s restaurant, a Chicago chain, there so that’s where we had lunch.  It was just as good as it was in Chicago.  It was pretty humid so I had to pull my hair back the whole time we were there since it was so frizzy.  Even being pulled back it still was a bit frizzy.

Aaron got a cake shake and we split a Chicago dog and ate outside on the patio because how often can you do that in December?!

Afterward we headed down to Cape Canaveral to look around. I made Aaron stop by the Manatee Sanctuary, but there weren’t any manatees to be seen while we were there.  It had a nice walking trail, though.

We then headed over to Cocoa Beach and walked around there for a bit.

Next thing we did was my absolute favorite--I signed us up to do a sunset bioluminescence kayak tour on Merritt Island.  The tour was split in to two parts--the sunset tour where you got to see wild dolphins and manatees around the brackish water of the river.  Then you took a break.  After the break when it was dark you headed back out in the kayak to see and catch the Comb Jellies. The cool thing about them is they lit up (bioluminescence) when they were disturbed such as with the paddle from the kayak or by being caught in a small fishing net.  Anyway, Aaron and I got to ride/paddle together (tandem) on the same kayak.  There were some disagreements on how we should paddle together, but we managed to work together for the most part and stay married--haha!

The first part we saw a bunch of dolphins that were close by which was pretty cool:

We didn’t see much of any manatees, though.  We had a really small kayak group--5 people--and we were all pretty decent kayakers.  That meant we had enough time to kayak out to a bird refuge island to see the migratory birds.  They even had wild flamingos there which never happens.  The island is a refuge and so we just paddled around the island and didn’t stop.  Aaron was probably glad because there were tons of birds there which he really does not like.  Here’s the flamingos and a dolphin that we got to see:

This isn’t a very good picture, but you can see there were birds everywhere on the island.  There were a bunch of white pelicans on the beach, Cormorants and Turkey vultures flying around.

We then paddled back to shore and took a 20 minute break.  We then headed back out to see the comb jellies.  It was pretty dark by then so my camera didn’t get a good picture of what they looked like.  This is  a picture I found on the online of what they looked like when you caught them.  They aren’t true jelly fish so they don’t sting you when you touch them.  They were just clear, slimy blobs.

We got two bucketfuls of them.  Here’s what one bucket looked like:

It was neat because when you gently stirred the bucket around it lit up bright blue.  The light only lasts not even a second, but you can definitely see it.  Again my camera didn’t catch the light well so I found this picture online of what it looked like when it did light up:

We didn’t get to see as many manatees as the guides usually do so after catching and releasing the bioluminescence comb jellies we went on a very dark trip through a narrow waterway to different place to hopefully see some manatees.  There was no moon out so it was extremely dark.  They only way we could figure where we were going was to follow the flashing red light on our guide’s life jacket.  We did get to see the back of a manatee, but not much else, unfortunately.  However, the dark kayak trip was really cool, though.  There was NO ONE else around at all.  I was a bit nervous since I like to listen to true crime podcasts and this was reminding me of some of the stories I have heard.  Don’t worry we made it back in one piece, though!  Here’s what we had to follow through the dark water:

I really enjoyed it!

I was nervous about going on a kayak tour since my last one I went on in Sand Diego did not turn out well.  For me it ended up being a ka-YACK-ing tour since I got so motion sick and lost my lunch multiple times over. YUCK!  Thankfully, this kayak tour was great.  It was on a river so there were not huge waves to get me sick. Have I mentioned that I LOVED it?!

The next morning it was time to fly back home.  We did walk along the beach that morning before we left.  We found a Florida snowman made of sand--haha!

It was a relaxing 4 days for me--not so much for Aaron since he was still working, but what can you do?!  We still had fun together sans kids.  Alas, it was back to reality later that day.  When we got out of the Salt Lake Airport it was snowing quite a bit.  Too bad we were both still wearing sandals, DOH--haha!

Sarah and Daniel had a youth council activity they got to help with last week.  Our city puts on a Blitzen Bash party for all the residents.  You can come and see live reindeer, get hot chocolate and do a bunch of different activities.  Sarah and Daniel helped man some different booths.  Interestingly enough, Matthew’s group home came to visit and ended up running into Sarah and Daniel.  Matthew was so excited.  That was an unexpected surprise.  Matthew had a great time there.  Here’s a few pictures his house manager sent us of that event:

Matthew LOVES cooking and trying new recipes.  He sends us pictures of the different things he makes.  They look pretty good, too!

Josh got a new job as a phlebotomist.  He is still in the training part of his job so he hasn’t had the chance to stick anybody, yet.  The company does provide scrubs for their employees, however, they had to special order Josh’s scrubs since he is so tall--haha!  Here he is in his new scrubs:

Josh has finals this week so hopefully things will go okay.  Sarah, Daniel and Noah’s semester ends before Christmas break as well so hopefully they can do well, too.

We had our Ward Christmas party this past Friday.  After dinner there was a program put on by the Youth and the primary children.  Daniel, who played the part of a Wise Man even though the ’wise part' didn’t apply (haha), introduced the program:

They read the nativity and in between each character introduction we sang a coordinating song.  Sarah got to lead the music for everyone:

Noah got to play the part of Joseph.  He also got to play the piano prelude Christmas music before the dinner started.  He was supposed to play the postlude as well, but ran off to hang out with friends instead.  What can you do?!

The whole program was great.  I am glad we were able to go. 

Josh couldn’t make it that night because he had to work and then had a date.  Matthew had other activities as well so it was just five of of our family that night.

We did get some exciting news--Matthew has finally started the actual application process for a job!!  He has been so excited!  He will be working at a local high school in the cafeteria.  Seriously he is beyond excited and has called me so much this week to talk about it.  I am happy for him.  So, hopefully, by January he will be a working man.

Yesterday was my niece, Annika’s, mission homecoming.  She served in the Baton Rouge, Louisiana mission.  Her talk was amazing and afterward we had a get together at my sister Johanna’s house.  She had a soup bar and one of the soups was Gumbo.  Aaron knew he had to try some of that.  It was a good day.

Thanksgiving, Grandbaby Sophie, Orem Temple Openhouse, Preference Ask

Here’s what my family has been up to the last two weeks.  Thanksgiving morning Josh and Daniel went and ran the 5k Turkey trot race by our house.  Josh even won a prize from the raffle drawing.  That was pretty cool!  He won a gift basket full of cake mixes and treats.  He was pretty excited about it.  A few days before the race Josh tried to talk me and Aaron in to running the race with him.  After we finished laughing (we are so out of shape that wouldn’t have been fun for anyone) we politely declined, but said we would cheer him and Daniel on, though.  After the race we had Thanksgiving at our house last Thursday afternoon. We had 19 people over for dinner--G&G T, my brother Bryan and his family and my sister Johanna and her family.  We were only missing my other sister Jennifer and her family.  It was awesome to visit and eat together.  We rearranged all the furniture to fit everybody at the same line of tables.  It was great.  Thanksgiving leftovers are the best, but our leftovers didn’t last very long, though.  The kids made short work of them.  It was good while it lasted--haha!

We had a pretty laid back Thanksgiving break, but we did make it to the Orem Temple open house on Saturday morning.  Everyone was a bit cantankerous getting out the door, but we made it.  We parked in the parking lot to catch and ride the shuttle over to the temple.  Let me just say while we were waiting for the shuttle to pick us up it was so cold!!  It definitely is fall weather now! Noah had his suit on, but was freezing so he put on the only sweatshirt I had in the back of the van which happened to be a bright purple Weber State sweatshirt.  I think it paired well with his suit--haha!  Here we are waiting for the shuttle:

The Orem temple was beautiful.  It had a cherry blossom theme throughout.  I am glad we made it down there this weekend.  

Afterward we took everyone out to eat pizza at the Costco food court.  Fine dining at its best, right?!  Haha!  Where else can you feed a big family for $20?

Matthew stayed the Thanksgiving break with us at our house from Wednesday night to Sunday night.  He was going a bit stir crazy at the end.  He is one that can’t sit still for too long and we didn’t have a whole lot planned for the break.  Sophie, our dog, definitely got walked by Matthew quite a few times whether she wanted to go or not.  Don’t worry, though, she has turned back into a lump, sunning and resting herself from her 3 1/2 days of strenuous exercise--haha!

After Thanksgiving we got out all the Christmas decorations.  We are so glad to have Josh home for this Christmas season.  The last two he has been on his mission and decorating has been more difficult.  Now that he is home we don’t have to get out the ladder to reach things.  Just give Josh a chair and he can reach the top of the tree and the outside garage lights to hang things.  It is great!  Here he is putting the top on of the 9’ tree with NO ladder!

Speaking of Josh he was able to go to a ‘Friendsgiving' this past week with a bunch of missionary friends.  He had a great time.  

He also got to be the mediator/question asker of a Question and Answer fireside in his YSA ward last night.  They had a panel of people that consisted of the Stake President and his wife, the YSA Relief Society President, YSA Elder’s Quorum President and a couple that had met and married from that ward a few years ago.  They all took turns answering the YSA ward member submitted questions.  Josh said he enjoyed being the mediator and asking the panel all the questions.  He also will be starting a new job in a few weeks.  He will be making a bit more money than the job he has now so that will be a good thing.  He got hired on as a phlebotomist.  He has never drawn blood before so this will be a whole new learning curve for him, but he is excited to get started.

The day before Thanksgiving we had been cleaning all day and didn’t want to mess up the kitchen to cook dinner for the kids that night.  On our way home from picking Matthew up from his group home to spend the Thanksgiving break with us, we stopped by Little Caesar’s to get some pizza from our favorite employee and use his discount code.  It pays to know someone in the pizza business--haha!  Here’s Aaron ordering and picking up the pizza from Daniel:

Daniel is in a Child Development class this semester.  He got to bring home the infamous ‘baby' last weekend.  It is an interactive baby doll that is supposed to simulate what having a real newborn would be like and Daniel was supposed to take care of it for the weekend. The baby has a wristband that the carer has to wear at all times and it can’t be transferred--which meant Aaron and I didn’t have to babysit despite being new grandparents--haha! The baby had a sensor in its neck that if you didn’t support its head when you picked it up, it would alarm and effect his grade. This baby is so much more high tech than the bag of flour the students had to carry around back when I was in highschool--haha!  Anyway, another thing was that if the baby was left to cry longer than 2 minutes it would mark it as neglect and effect Daniel’s grade, too.  That meant Daniel had to care for this baby all weekend long without any help.  It was so funny to watch.  That baby cried so much.  Daniel complained that it just never stopped crying even after feeding it and changing its diaper.  Her name was Sophie (he didn’t get to name her).  As soon as Daniel got involved in something like playing video games or talking on the phone Sophie would start crying.  Josh didn’t want to share a room with Daniel and his crying baby so Daniel spent the majority of the weekend upstairs on the spare bed--haha!  He had to bring the carrier and baby wherever he went that whole weekend.  By the end of the weekend he was more than ready to turn the baby back in to his teacher.  

He did get a few hour break Saturday afternoon when the baby was strangely quite for a few hours. As soon as Daniel laid down on the couch he promptly fell asleep for a nap.  He was really tired because the baby had woken him up every few hours throughout the previous night.  I still laugh looking at this picture.  Being a new parent is so exhausting.  I think it was great that he gets a taste of what it really is like having a newborn to care for even if it is only for a weekend.

Here he is rocking the baby after feeding and burping it and changing its diaper:

It was actually fun to watch and chime in, “That is really what having a newborn baby is like!!”  Good thing Daniel only had Sophie from Friday afternoon to Monday morning.  He was tired and done being a dad at that point.

In other things Katie, Daniel’s girlfriend, asked him to the Preference Dance last week.  She put out a bunch of hot dogs on sticks all over in our yard.  Then made this sign that said, “Don’t be a Weiner and go to Preference with me?"

Pretty creative!

He is now trying to think of a witty way to answer her back soon.

This past weekend all the kids went to see the new movie The Ballad of Songbirds and Snakes.  They all went together, but Aaron and I stayed home and watched 20/20.  We are so lame, but I love doing that.  Anyway, they had fun together.  I still can’t believe it is almost December.  This year has gone by pretty fast!!