Mel's Box of Chocolates

After the sun went down we headed down to the docks to try our luck fishing. Well daddy and the kids tried their luck at fishing while I played with my camera.  I got a few pix I liked.   Unfortunately their fishing luck wasn't as good!

The week is flying by as we are packing in as much fun as we can down here in sunny Florida.  Every day has been full of sun with a wonderful ocean breeze to keep things pretty nice.   There has been a lot of fishing happening...  Doesn't everybody fish in a tiara and pj's? Dyl's snook Dave's Snook Dyl waiting for another bite We enjoyed a family  bike ride down Tropical Trail where there are gorgeous houses on one side and river on the other with palm trees lining the road.  Zoe got to take a ride on her cousins paddleboard and she absolutely loved it.  They went up and down the river while daddy kayaked beside them.  Dave tried his luck on the paddleboard, but he didn't fair too well.  He ended up just a little bit wet!! Yesterday the day was spent at Sebastian Inlet where there is an awesome tide pool perfect for waders like us.  We set up camp at a picnic table right under a shady palm and enjoyed the afternoon...

Zoe has become quite the reader in the past few months.  Being a teacher to older students, I'm in awe of those who teach the littlest people.  I don't know how they do it!  I'm very blessed that both of my kids are proving to be quite the little scholars.  Some would say it's because they are a teacher's kid and while I'd love to take the credit, I have to give credit where credit is due and that is totally to my kiddos teachers.  Watching my children learn to read is one of my most treasured moments so far and hats off to the teachers who gave them the gift of reading! Back to the title of this post. My point to that little sideshow is that Zoe has been practicing her new reading skills by reading the billboards as we are driving here, there, and everywhere.  The other day she was busy reading them all when she became frustrated because she couldn't figure out a word. "Mom" she asked. "What is the word m1y?"   I thought I misheard ...

I confess, I'm not very good at playing with my children.  Now activities, crafts, games, events...I can do all that and love it.  But, playing? The other day my daughter had her Barbie camper all set up and all the princesses were off on a camping adventure for Easter {I think little miss has spring vacation on the brain}. I watched how she manipulated the dolls having them cook, watch tv, roast marshmallows, and hang out.  I listened as she pretended they had conversations and changed her voice to match her dolls.  I was totally content just sitting on the couch twittering and facebooking away, listening to her imagination at work.  Then she asked me if I would play with her. I was caught.  What do I do? So I told her I don't know how to play. Which is pretty true. To be honest I never really remember playing when I was little.  I didn't have Barbie's and my Cabbage Patch Doll pretty much just sat next to me while I was busy reading or wr...

I've been in quite the funk as winter just won't bid us goodbye and spring break seems like it's never gonna get here.  Motivation to do anything after work is null and void.  For about a month, I swear I was coming home from work, eating dinner, and crawling straight into bed. Then one of my coworkers started walking/running and was asking me about my running.  She knew that once upon a time I was running and even participating in 5Ks.  Little did she know that my sneakers haven't seen my feet in a.very.long.time.  After talking with her a few days, she inspired me to get out and start walking/running again.  Then we started talking about a local 5K that was coming up to support Delaware Autism.  Somewhere along the line I lost my mind I decided it would be motivating to sign up for the race, which happened to be the same 5K that I ran as my first race ever a couple years ago. Yesterday was race day. I set everything out the night before so I wou...

A couple of years ago out of nowhere I decided I wanted to be a runner.  I was jealous of all the people who effortlessly jogged along the road and desperate wanted to become one of them.  Now, just so you know before that I didn't run.  Anywhere. Ever. After I did some research on how to even start running, I found the Couch 2 5K program and decided to give it a try.  I  downloaded it on my Ipod and started on Week 1, with a new pair of running shoes of course!  At the beginning of every week I thought to myself, "I'm never to going to be able to get to the next week", but by golly I made it.  All. The. Way. On April 26, 2009 I ran my first 5K 6K and wasn't even last .  After that I ran a few more races and felt so exhilarated every time I crossed the finish line. Then I stopped.  My treadmill became a glorified closet holding clothes, my running shoes went to the top of my shoe rack, my Nike+ sat unplugged.  I can't really say wha...