April 2017

Unlike March April was a very busy month and we were able to do lots of fun stuff.  We started the first weekend in April with Shalomfest. CJ wanted to help with the bouncy houses for the first shift.  What she did not know was that she did such a great job that Ms. Kym had her do it all day.  CJ did not really want to do it all day she wanted to bounce some as well.  I told her she was getting older and they needed her help this year.  It was fun seeing her bounce all day to running the bouncy houses all day.  She did stop and have to sing in the Choir for two shows.  CJ always does a great job and this year the Choir did some fun music.   The food was not as good as it has been in the past.  I do not know if they changed their brisket recipe but it was difference.  I did think the kugel was good and the pastries were really good.  In past years the matzah brittle has been stale but this year it was good and did not taste stale. CJ also did the Mock Seder.  Two of her friends from Hebrew school were suppose to do it with her but they did not show up, so it was just CJ to do the 4 questions for the youngest child. CJ was very nervous about doing it by herself and was very quiet.  Our friends Martina come from Williamston to see CJ and me.  We loved that.

   The next week went fast because we were excited for spring break coming.  CJ had her Principal's academic award ceremony.  She received it  for the 3rd 9 weeks as well.  I am so proud of her grades this year.  She has been working so hard.

Friday we came home cleaned house and picked up the car.  We got up early Saturday morning and headed to my friends Julie's place in Florida.  The drive was about 10 hours with having to stop for gas, potty, and to eat.  I had packed a picnic lunch so we stopped at a rest area to eat.  I got a little confused with the detour in Atlanta but other than that it was a very smooth trip.  I did get tired a couple of times and there was nothing on the radio to listen to.  I think next time I am going to rent a book on CD to listen to for a trip like this.  I did have CJ read to be for a bit to help me stay awake and I called my sisters to have them help me from getting tired.  I had told Julie that we would not get there until around 5:00 but we showed up around 3.  Julie laugh and told me that she know that I would be their early because I am always early. The first thing that CJ did was get in the pool with the rest of the kids.  They played in the pool for a couple of hours and then got out so that we could go to "Frenchy" restaurant by the beach.  Julie said that they have the best sea food and being able to watch the sunset by the beach was the best. When we got to Frenchy's it was so busy that there was a 2 hour wait.  We decided that that was way to long with 3 hungry children.  It was only a 10 minute wait if we got it to go.  So we got our food to go and went and sat on the beach to watch the sunset.  I think that it was just as fun to sit on the beach with the kids.  It was more messy and you had to be very careful to not spill our food. The sunset was beautiful and the beach was so pretty.  I had octopus for the first time and CJ had fried shrimp.  The octopus was wonderful.  Julie was right it was a great restaurant. CJ loved her shrimp, she tried by octopus but did not like it.  After we eat the kids played until it just got to cold and we had to go home.

    The next morning I got up and sat on the porch for a long time.  The weather was so nice it felt so good to get outside and just sit for a while.  I had forget to change my password on my work computer so I was not even able to do any school work.  All I could do was play on the computer.  It was great. After everyone got up Julie went and got the kids donuts and CJ and I bagels with loxs and cream cheese.  It was the best breakfast.  I had not had loxs with bagels in a long time.   CJ then played in the pool some more and then we all got ready.  January's friend had a birthday party so we all went to the party for dinner and cake.  We then left and went to Sponge Decks.  This is was a Greek town where the people dive for sponges to sell.  They have many shops so we walked around and went shopping.  CJ got 3 new dresses and a new sponge.  You can not go to Sponge Decks and not get a sponge.  We ended our trip with a stop at the Greek bakery.  Julie and I had Baklava cheese cake that was so good and rich.  CJ had a pourakia which looked and tasted like a large Swiss roll.

The next day Julie, January, and Cole had to go to work and School.  So CJ and I went to Clearwater Aquarium.  This is were the movie Dolphin Tale and Dolphin Tale 2 took place and the home of Winter and Hope from the movies.  CJ loves the movies and has always wanted to see Winter and Hope.  I bought some of the extras so we got to see the aquarium, take a boat ride, and get a back stage tour of the aquarium.  This was the best day.  We found out that the real story of Winter and Hope were not quit as the movie portrait. It was really neat seeing all the great work that the Aquarium did to recuse animals rehabilitate them and try to release them back into the wild.  Seeing Winter and Hope was amazing as well.  Hope scared me. We had been watching them for a while.  Hope is very active and Winter is very timid.  Hope pushes Winter to come out and see the people. After a while I started to look at the map of the aquarium to see were we should go next.  The next thing I know CJ is saying mom Hope, mom, Hope.  I looked up to see Hope right at the window staring at me.  I jumped.  I did not think that she was that close.  We got to see her do some tricks with the trainer later in the day.  During our boat ride we got to see a dolphin the the wild out by the Aquarium jumping and swimming.  We learning about the waters/estuary and the wild life their at Clearwater.  They took us to a small island (so small you could yell across it to the person standing on the other side) to collect shells.  For the back stage tour we learned the read story of winter, Hope, and the Aquarium itself.  It was fun to see the hospital part and learn about all the good things that Aquarium does to rescue injured animals. It was a great day.

 

 

 When we got back to Julie's house everyone was coming home.  Julie had asked if I could make Matzo Ball Soup because it had been so long since she had had some.  I had Jay send me the recipe that I use and it turned out great.  The next day CJ and I got up really early and drove home. We got home just in time for the Seder dinner at Temple so CJ could sing in the Choir.  It was a very long day driving.

CJ and I stayed home for the next two day, rested, and get the house in order.  On Friday Jay took the day off and we went up to Virginia.  On the way we stopped in Charlotte at the American Girl Doll Store.  CJ had been saving her money to get some outfits for her Welly Wisher doll.  We let her walk around the story by herself and get what she liked.  She had worked hard to save her money.  She got two outfits and of course I bought her a book.

After we left the store we drove up to Mt. Airy.  That is the born place of Andy Griffith.  CJ loves the Andy Griffith show so we had to take her.  The Andy Griffith museum was a disappointment.  There was not much to see.  They said that it was because they were under construction so everything was closed.  I just think that they did not have much, which surprised me because the show was so popular. After we left the museum we walked around town and everything seemed to be closed.  We stopped to eat at one of the Main street cafes and the food was not very good.  We then got in the car and went down to Wally's Gas station.  That was great.  They had the office/ Jail all set up and you could sit in Andy's desk.  We enjoyed that and Jay got to see the police car from the show.

We then headed to Virginia.  We saw Jay's brother and went up to her new property on the mountain.  We walked around the property and tried to help him find a spring that he thought may be on the property.

When we got home it was back to school.  CJ had gotten a part in the 8th grade play.  It was a small part and she only had one line, but she was happy to be in the play as a 6th grader.