Babymoon with the fam. Day 1 of Ft. Lauderdale

Last summer we took the kids to the Orlando Temple. I considered doing the same on Wednesday of Spring Break but wasn't feeling up for it and didn't find somebody to do something fun with the kids while I went inside. And I knew we could all go inside if we really made it to the new Ft. Lauderdale Temple.

We did! Steven took care of everything for us. He took a day off of work so we could take advantage of Spring Break. We did some temple crafts like a mobile and a baptismal font.

We left Friday morning. Isaac made it a true road trip by getting car sick. Poor guy. He thought he was just feeling tired and quit doing his craft and took a part of a nap.

We made it all the way to Davie which is the actual city where the temple is. The temple was not open until the next day. We ate lunch at a place we saw on the TV show The Gatorboys. One of the Gatorboys opened up a BBQ place called Jimmy Riffle's Old Florida BBQ. The Yelp reviews were a bit mixed. 

We saw a Gatorboys truck and hoped to see Jimmy himself!

The truck is probably permanently parked there. The Gatorboys are in New York 'til next month. 

Some locals were there but it had its share of toutists too. It is a brilliant idea to use the show to promote it. Everything was delicious, the waitress was helpful and quick with the refills, and there were enough pictures to satisfy our curiosity. I left a good Yelp review that it was all around better than expected. We finished everything except Isaac finished the last half of his sandwich before bed that night. 

I would go back. 

Steven said he had a surprise stop for us. The Crystal Cave. The boys were SO excited even though they had assumed we were going for ice cream. 

We could touch most sparkly displays with our eyes only.

One employee was impressed with Dylan's knowledge of the first rock he pointed out, iron pyrite.

Although before we got there, we told the kids that we were not going to buy anything, we let them pick out some rocks for their collections. 

It took a long time to pick just the right ones. Isaac went for quantity and got 6 from the grab bin. Dylan picked two items. A peacock stone and a half of a geode. Dylan's high point of the trip! 

Next stop: FUNDERDOME! 

Tyler fell asleep on the way so I stayed in the car and took a short nap too. I knew we were in no rush since we could not check into the hotel for a while. I took the sleeper in so I could see our cuties play.  

Too much pressure on my tummy so I slid him down for a perfect fit. 

Dylan is in the red shirt at the top of the rock wall!

The kids were brave enough to do everything! A laser maze, a ball airgun area, climbing area, and a ropes course. Isaac got an escort for that and it was scary enough to be his low of the trip.

He was at first too nervous to let go and push back from the rock wall and tried climbing back down, but letting go and gliding down ended up being his high.

Tyler woke up so I paid for him and we stayed awhile. There was a toddler area for him. 

Next stop, our hotel. The Marriott.

The kids, especially Tyler, were anxious for the beach. But we wanted dinner first and ate at LuLu's. We had really good wings there last time. (The mannequins are not there anymore.) We walked from our hotel. It was windy! It is not cold there though so it was fine.

We got seated right away in a good spot with a view.

Tyler likes pushing in the buttons on disposable lids. Who doesn't?!

We ordered 20 wings, nachos, and fish spread. Lots of food!

Dylan ate but did not like the wings because they are spicy even though some were mild. He did not really like the nachos and we were not given enough crackers for the fish spread. It is not as good on chips. That meal was his low of the trip. We did not eat everything. Isaac liked it all!

Their ice waters got them cold so they wanted their jackets... Until we got to the beach sidewalk! 

I'm huge! This will be my motivation to work out in a couple of months!

Tyler found a shovel! 

The boys played with a football they brought and a kid who was there. Love Dylan's crash. When he runs too fast in the back yard, he rolls and gets back up, both fun to watch. 

I love this picture of Tyler and everything blurry but his face. 

We ran back to the hotel and got in the heated pool. 

Tyler was so happy. It was his first time of the season to go off of the steps in the pool. 

Tyler did not want to go to sleep. On the car ride home when we asked his least favorite part of the vacation, he said going to sleep. He went potty then to sleep between the boys.

What a day!

Spring break day 1, rain day

I was not happy to hear that today and tomorrow are supposed to rain. The days that all 6 kids are together. They have to be cooped up inside spoiling our park plans. Tyler woke up optimistically and put on his pool gear. He has gone in the pool the last two days.

Altazara came over and we did puzzles. We also memorized John 14:15 since Uncle JT said that would be a good one for them last night when I asked him over email. I had the kids write it out too to work on handwriting. Then it was back to chaos for a bit. Don called and asked if he could take Dylan for a special day out. I asked if he could take Isaac today since Isaac feels left out on all 6 kids days. Don had planned on taking the other kid the next day. He said he gets lots of time with just Tyler but wanted bonding time with the other two. He is the best. 

Persistent Tyler kept asking if he could go in the pool. It had not rained all morning so I consented to the kids playing in or by the pool but not in the grassy or muddy areas on the other side of the white picket fence. They all chose to go in the pool. Noah jumped right in, no hesitation.

Then they all had lunchables and the Crews had what they brought for lunch too. Then Don came to get excited Isaac. Don took Isaac to a car museum! And to Uncle Andre's work too. Isaac proudly showed off Andre's business card souvenir when he got back and was proud to show off the photos Don had texted me. 

The 5 kids played a little then they needed to settle down. So I turned on a recorded 3 Ninjas movie and after a bit put Ivy, Tyler, and myself to nap. Nice. I woke up before Isaac got back, running in from Granddad's truck. It was pouring outside! Enough TV. Tyler and Ivy woke up when we were getting the board games out. Who knew Sorry could be so stressful! I was happy to get the text from Darren saying he was on the way. We did not get that far into the game. 

I should have cooked dinner but nothing sounded delicious so Steven suggested we meet at Moe's. Yay. The kids did pushups and jumping jacks since I was not in the mood to take 6 kids in the rain to Tae Kwon Do tonight but being inside all afternoon was not healthy. Then they started homework while Tyler insisted that he needed to mow the lawn in the rain. 

He came in saying "I'm soaking." He got a warm bath before dinner. 

We played two games of less stressful Sorry, then b/c I was done and we said no to starting a movie, Isaac got out the chess board. There was plenty of whining but they said they could figure it out on their own. 

Tyler asked why there were boats in the water then went over to investigate. Had he just now discovered my painting my Grandpa Rebeck painted for me? I do believe I was his favorite. Ha.

I finally called the chess game a draw. The kids were serious about cheating accusations and did not like that I was taking pictures of their "nuh uh, you took your hand off's." They realized the trivialness of it all (I hope). 

I hope they are good for Corrie tomorrow! By "they," I mean all 6 of them. I love them all but wish (and pray) that I can plan and help them think clearly. I of course need to think clearly myself. They each have SUCH potential! I love them!