Happy Mother's Day!

Pictures by Little Miss

Happy Mother's Day to Nanny, Grandma & Muori! We love you very much, and miss you all! Thank You for being such wonderful godly examples to us all.

She speaks with wisdom,
and faithful instruction is on her tongue.
She watches over the affairs of her household
and does not eat the bread of idleness.
Her children arise and call her blessed;
her husband also, and he praises her:
"Many women do noble things,
but you surpass them all."
Prov. 31: 26-29

Hugs and Kisses,

The Mothership Crew

Time For Inland Adventures/Sisämaaseikkailut

Yesterday it was time to say good-bye to the beach, for now. After our last beautiful morning walk to the beach, we packed up our crew, and made the journey inland, a little sad, but ready for the next part of our Florida adventure. On our way we stopped to bring the Mothership back to Camping World for some TLC (water pump & air conditioners), and arrived inland pretty late. Our rental house was lit up with pretty lights, and it felt like coming home.




Even though these last two days have been quite hectic, I can feel the craziness and busyness melt away as I look out the windows and see our very picturesque and serene surroundings. There are cattle and horses, birds of all kinds, palm trees and grand oaks with Spanish moss hanging from them. We are going to enjoy this gorgeous ranch and our beautiful walks here, too.



Just need to be careful where to step.

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Kääks, olen täysin unohtanut lisätä pienet suomenkieliset tekstit postausten loppuun! Pahoitteluni! Takana on kaksi todella hektistä päivää... Lähdimme keskiviikkona rannalta sisämaahan, on vielä epävarmaa kauanko asustelemme täällä, mutta olettaisin että vähintään viikon verran. Vuokratalomme on pienen järven rannalla idyllisellä karjatilalla. Hevoset ja lehmät saavat vapaasti liikkua karjatilan alueella, tosin 'meidän' talomme ympärillä on aitaus. Kaunis ja mukava paikka tämäkin!

Strolling Through Don CeSar

Our family really enjoys historic hotels, their character and the stories they tell, and we try to visit them as often as we can. We've been admiring this pink hotel at St. Pete Beach, and talking about checking it out (the Captain actually had dinner there once last year). Sunday night we strolled through the Don CeSar and stopped at their delish ice cream shop.



The Don CeSar opened its doors in January 1928 and this Pink Lady was a popular vacation spot with the rich and famous even through the Great Depression. During World War II it was a military hospital, and in 1944 it was turned into a U.S. Air Force Air Force convalescent center for a little over a year, until it became a Veterans Administration Regional Office for over twenty years.






Don CeSar became a hotel once again in 1973, and was added to the National Registry of Historic Places in 1975. Today it is a gorgeous resort and spa, and a popular wedding location.




We took a walk to the beach, watched the sunset, saw two wedding couples being photographed and their beach ceremony locations. Gorgeous!!

Monkey In The Middle

After a very hot day (how hot does it get in Florida, again??) we finally made it to the beach today after dinner. We had pretty much spent the day in an air-conditioned car driving around the surrounding areas (to get a look around) and inside stores (amazing how quickly we go through supplies!!!), except for venturing out to visit a fort in Fort De Soto Park (forgot the camera, and cell phone died, but we'll go back another time and blog about this fabulous park), but it was just so hot we decided we needed to wait for the cooler evening temps (cool upper 80's) before spending anymore time outside.

Monkey In The Middle-game was perfect was letting out steam before bedtime! Five mothershippers also took a refreshing evening swim before a spectacular sunset. We could never tire of the beach and sunsets here...

Dolphins And Stingrays

We have been told this is stingray season, and to shuffle our feet in the water. Which we have faithfully done. Imagine my surprise when swimming with Little Miss yesterday - and I saw a stingray (or manta ray?) jump up to the surface close to us!! Very cool to see, yet that ended our swimming for that day :) I didn't even know they jump up like that, but google search confirmed my story. (What did we all do before google searches??)



We had another fantastic beach walk this morning. The beach was nearly deserted, and I picked up a really beautiful conch shell. Little later on our walk we realized there were dolphins in the water, very close to us! They weren't in any hurry, and slowly swam back and forth, coming to the surface every once in a while. Beautiful to watch! There's a short video of one of the dolphins at the end of the post.





*****

Tänään aamukävelyllä dolfiinit uivat lähellä rantaa, ja sain otettua (kännykkäkamerallani!) kuvan ja videon yhdestä dolfiinista. Niitä oli ihana katsella!

Eilen kun olin uimassa pikkuisen kanssa, stingray-otus (mikäköhän suomeksi?) hyppäsi pinnalle aika lähellä meitä. Upea nähdä, mutta siihen päättyi meidän uintireissumme, nämä otukset saattavat pistää pyrstöllään jos kokevat olonsa uhatuksi. Onneksi ei kuitenkaan tullut niin lähelle!

Best Classroom Ever/Paras luokkahuone!

This is how I discovered Missy doing school today. Taking a Language Arts test on the balcony, looking at the glimmering ocean and an occasional dolphin swimming by. (Mr. D woke up early this morning and finished school by 9 am!) School doesn't get much better than this!

We are using SOS homeschooling program this year and it truly has opened the world to us as a classroom - now I scratch my head and wonder why I fought so hard against homeschooling last year.. It has been one of the best decisions we have ever made as a family!

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En tiedä miksi taistelin niin kovin kotikoulua vastaan viime vuonna, se on ollut yksi meidän perheen parhaimmista ratkaisuista. Tänään Missy teki englannin kielen kokeen parveekkeella ja yksi veljistä heräsi aikaisin ja sai koulutehtävät tehtyä ennen klo 9:00. Voiko koulunkäynti olla parempaa kuin tämä??

Happy Days/Onnenpäiviä

Blogger is giving me a hard time here, so I'm giving up before any little seed of frustration tries to make my wonderful day into one not so wonderful. We are so happy here, enjoying our beach days. I've snapped hundreds of photos that may need to wait editing until some cold dreary New England winter day. And I know I will wish to be back right here.

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Onnenpäiviä, me olemme saaneet viettää onnenpäiviä täällä rannalla. Olen ottanut satoja valokuvia, jotka jäävät odottamaan editoimista jollekin kylmälle talvipäivälle Uuteen Englantiin, jolloin haikeana katselen kuvia lämpöä ja iloa ja toivon, että olisin juuri täällä.

Icy Precipitation Alert

Rain / Snow Showers
High: 40°F
Low: 34°F


Chance of Precipitation 60%
Wind W 16 mph
Humidity 70%

Yup, that's the email notification I received for our hometown in New England today. Glad to be in Florida today ;-)

After The Storm/Myrskyn jälkeen

We didn't get tornadoes here in St. Pete, but it sure was windy and stormy last night! Thunder and lightning, heavy rain and 60-65 mph wind made our condo rattle and shake, as well as some of our condo's residents. We were very curious to go on our morning walk to assess the damage. Which, surprisingly, wasn't all that bad. New England ice and wind storms seem to do way more damage than last night's craziness outside. On the beach the sand had blown up towards the dunes and the roads were littered with palm branches.




It stayed windy all day, but in the afternoon some of us ventured out to the beach to play in the sand and waves. We didn't stay too long, and came back to the condo to wash all the sand off of our ears and hair and bathing suits. (Yay for outdoor shower, and washer & dryer!)





Last night we missed our evening walk due to the storm and drenching rain, but tonight the sunset was gorgeous! Captain & I walked a long way on the beach and just enjoyed. The beautiful colors, each others' company and time to chill and relax. Heavenly!

*****

Usassa on ollut viikonloppuna pyörremyrskyjä ja kovia tuhoja. Täällä Floridassa ei onneksi niitä ollut, mutta viime yön myrsky oli kyllä hurja! Laitoin kuvia myrskyn jäljistä, sekä kauniista auringonlaskusta rannalta.

Beach Goes Pops

On our evening walk yesterday we wandered back to an outdoor concert (same as the night before): Beach Goes Pops - apparently the 20th Anniversary concert of this fabulous event. Good thing we were walking as the roads and parking spots were full! What a fun event!






An evening walk is becoming a part of our routine here. Hopefully we walk enough to burn off all the calories we are consuming at the newly found ice cream shop...!

*****

Eilen illalla kävelyllä päädyimme ulkoilmakonserttiin Beach Goes Pops rannalla. Hetken aikaa istumme jätskien kanssa kuuntelemassa kaunista musiikkia, ihastelimme auringonlaskua, ja jatkoimme taas kävelyä. Iltakävelyistä on tulossa yksi lempparirutiineistani täällä! Ja pakko onkin kävellä paljon että saa käydä taas jätskillä :)

Fun First Day/Hauska eka päivä!

I'm not sure if we enjoyed the morning or the evening most here at St. Pete. The Captain & I walked around the block this morning and enjoyed the beauty and (almost) deserted beach & streets. Some of us went out to enjoy the sunset and an evening concert at the beach - fantastic! Even the afternoon with mundane errands, work and school was fun here in paradise!




Yes, we think we may have found paradise. Not sure if even the Mothership can draw us away from here...!

*****

Terkkuja paratiisista! Hiljainen aamukävely rannalla ja autioilla kaduilla oli yhtä ihana kuin auringonlasku ja konsertti rannalla illalla. Jopa arkitouhut iltapäivällä olivat mukavia kun ne sai tehdä täällä paratiisissa. Voi olla ettei edes Mothership-asuntoauto saa houkuteltua meitä täältä pois :)

Made It To St. Pete!

This is what school looked like today for us. I had my teacher's version up on my laptop on the kitchen table, and the kids were working on their Dells each at their own pace. I think Mr. T was actually doing school outside at the picnic table.



After school and packing we took a quick last swim at the campground pool. Our boys were having a meeting here at one end of the pool :)



Before dropping the Mothership off we made sure she was all sparkly and clean. After driving off (and being about half an hour away) I remembered I forgot the milk in the fridge. Oops!!!



We arrived to St. Pete at sunset. Aaahhh.......!!!!! We are renting a great little condo here, just a stone's throw away from the beach. After putting the kids to bed, the Captain & I came out to sit on the balcony (from where the kids saw dolphins earlier!) to chill and relax. Love listening to the waves, the rustle of palm tree branches (and an occasional car driving by :).

Life Is Good! God Is Good...!!!! So very good...