Birthdays, Boring weeks

Thomas and I celebrated our birthdays in July. They were fairly uneventful. I was still in a class, so I had to work all day on my birthday. Thomas and Kara made me an awesome chocolate cake with chocolate buttercream. Thomas didn't want a cake on his birthday, but he did want to go to Universal and do a water ride challenge. We hadn't ridden the two big water rides at Islands of Adventure because you get soaked and we don't usually feel like walking around wet. But, we decided to just do it. We browsed some stores and had an early dinner at Thomas' favorite Universal restaurant and then did the three water rides: Jurassic Park River Adventure (you don't get too wet on this one); Ripsaw Falls (soaked); and Bluto's Barges (soaked). From there, we headed to Forbidden Journey and then rode Hagrids. It was amazing. We waited 9 minutes. Literally 9 minutes! They are doing a new virtual pass system and it definitely worked well for us. Thomas got to sit in the front row, which he had never done before. Then, we took the Hogwart's Express to Universal. It was a little cloudy when we got on and pouring when we got off. We killed some time in the train station and then made our way to Mummy, but it was closed. So, we hung out in the Jimmy Fallon lobby and waited out the rain. It was an awesome place to just sit and watch show clips in dry comfort. After that we did Mummy and Men in Black and then took the train back to IOA to ride Hagrid's again. When we got off, we only had time for one ride and choose the Seuss Trolley, which is pretty at night. The girls opted to do Hulk instead. When we got off, it was 10pm and the park was closed. We had gotten there around 3:30 and felt like we accomplished a lot. 

That was about two weeks ago. There hasn't been much going on. The older kids have been keeping Luke occupied while we work. We went out for ice cream one night. I had to go into work for a bunch of meetings, but it was productive so I didn't mind. The kids did ice skating lessons. We took Luke to the park to work on his baseball skills. We watched some of the Olympics. We did back to school shopping. Thomas had a lot of dental work done. The past few nights, Anna and I went for a walk and then jumped in the pool (Luke joined us for the pool part); that has been really fun.

The only other big thing is we hosted a clam boil on Sunday. Clam boils are a New England tradition. Similar to a clam bake, but a little different. It was one of my favorite meals growing up and we would occasionally have them after we moved to Florida, but it is definitely way more prevalent in Massachusetts. Any time I visit there, I try and get in my clam fix. But, Jack is allergic and Thomas doesn't eat shellfish, and I knew Luke and Anna likely wouldn't be interested, so I never attempted to make one myself. However, it is something I had mentioned to Thomas and he wanted to do one for me and my family. 

In short, in went pretty well. Kara liked it a little bit, Anna tried one clam and wasn't a fan and Luke cried (literally) because we were killing the clams. Finding the clams was difficult. We wanted the traditional "steamers" and ordered them from New York. Then, they got delayed in shipping and therefore would be unsafe to eat. Fortunately, we found a place nearby that had them in stock. But, it was kind of stressful. 

It tasted delicious and reminded me of my childhood. My dad and I ate a ton of clams, as per our tradition. I didn't waste time with many of the other ingredients (hotdogs, chourico, sausage links, potatoes, corn on the cob, onions and bread) to ensure I had plenty of room for the clams. JD tried one, but didn't like it, but Kevin, Kim and Dave enjoyed the dinner. Maggie tried a few, but I don't think she was a fan either.  In other words, everyone who had a childhood in Massachusetts liked the meal, everyone who didn't, didn't. So, maybe it is something you have to grow up with to appreciate? Obviously, that is very anecdotal, but it held mostly true for our party of 13 (Kara is on the fence). The others enjoyed Dominos pizza. Kim's family brought dessert. It was a nice visit and I was happy we got to do it. I didn't take any pictures, but this is pretty much what the food looks like:

Now, we are on our last week before school starts. Covid numbers are at a record high in Florida. I feel like I have said that more than once, which is unfortunate. We keep hoping it is behind us, but I am starting to fear life will never return to what it once was. But, I try not to worry about things beyond my control and I don't feel like doing another political post. So, I will end with the few pictures I did take:

Marta came up to practice hair styles with the girls for Elizabeth's wedding. She is super talented!

I took pictures of the ice cream treats to show Thomas. Jack had a choco taco.

Beya is Luke's ice cream buddy

Thomas took this picture at a practice skate session. Luke (in blue sweatshirt) was talking to him when they announced the snow and Luke turned around saw it and squealed and ran (on his skates) over to the center. Thomas was said it was a very sweet, innocent moment he wanted to remember.