the 3rd week of summer….

It's the 3rd week of summer. 

The first two weeks were very busy, and mostly really fun. 

We tended 7 month old cousin Harrison for 6 days.

We went to the water park.

We went on an over night camping trip.

We put on a party for the twins soccer team. 

We had a dinner and get together at our house with old friends and their many children.

I went to a live show of The Long Island Medium with some dear friends. 

It was all very fun and wonderful but I was looking forward to a slow down.

This is the 3rd week.  We don't have as much scheduled. 

I've crashed.

I'm partially sane. I'm not being as patient and mature with my kids as I would like to be. 

It's loud and overwhelming and messy and I can't handle it.

I'm not sure what I'm going to do yet but  things can't stay like this or there will be nothing left of me. 

Today I'm not allowing my house to be over run with children. It's raining outside and I don't care if the kids watch TV allllllllllllllllllllll blooming day. 

To save my sanity I'm posting these pictures of our trip to Florida. 

Nate and I went clear back in March. I'm posting them anyway because I never did post pictures of our trip to Cancun and then our hard drive died and we lost a ton of pictures, including those from Cancun.  So, here you go. I'm sitting here on this cool rainy June day, eating black licorice till my stomach hurts and posting pictures of the vacation Nate and I took in March. 

Here I am, the first day. My body was on the beach but my head was in Utah wondering if my kids were going to be OK while we were gone and hoping I made all the preparations I needed to. 

I've never been to Miami, nor have I ever really wanted to go. We went for CLE classes Nate has to take as an attorney.  This trip turned out to be a nice surprise because I had no expectations and was pleasantly surprised by the culture, food, beauty and fun of Miami.

 We ate a lot. 

We took taxi's into South Beach and walked around.

It was cool and interesting and scary. Some parts of town there were  a lot of drunk and sketchy people who looked unpredictable, like they might pull out a gun or throw a punch or steal my purse. 

It was wonderful to have hours on the beach alone. 

I swam and played in the waves and tried not to laugh too loud and look like a crazy lady playing in the ocean by herself. 

It was hard to do since I love the ocean waves and warm water with all my heart. 

There is a large and thriving community of Jewish people in Miami. I didn't know this. I loved seeing them dressed in their traditional clothes and hats and hair. We ate at a Jewish restaurant. Very tasty and interesting. 

I have Jewish ancestry two generations back so I would have loved to have spent more time in this part of town. I would love to learn more about Jewish religion and tradition since I feel like I don't know anything about anything. 

Every cab driver we had was from a different country. It was very interesting to talk to them. 

It made me love America more and value the opportunity and work America provides us. 

The most touristy thing we did was ride around South Beach on Segway's on a guided tour.

Wow was it fun!

 nerdy tourists smiling happily

Versace Mansion behind us. 

Botanical Gardens

Our favorite part of town was Espanola Way.

Wonderful restaurants and ambiance. 

I want to buy a Segway.

We also met up with some wonderful friends from the law school days.

Abram and Julie Smith.

They live in Miami.

They bought us breakfast and brought all SEVEN of their well behaved and beautiful children. 

It was wonderful to catch up with them and reminisce.

They recommended we check out the Vizcaya Mansion that was just a few minutes away. 

We loved it.

The mansion was so fun and beautiful and had such a happy feeling about it.

The gardens were amazing too.

The best part of the whole trip was the concert.

The first day on the beach Nate was looking online to see what was going on around Miami. 

He asked me if I'd want to go see Sting and Paul Simon in concert together.

This was on the first day when my body was on the beach but my head was in Utah.

 I wasn't thinking clearly.

He asked me this golden question and I actually hesitated. I actually didn't really know if I cared to go….?

What?!

I loved Sting and Paul Simon in high school and college. I had all their CD's and knew all their songs. 

I worried that maybe the tickets were too expensive but thank goodness Nate was thinking straight and bought the tickets. 

It was the highlight of the trip. 

You know when you go to a really really good concert and the music is so good it's a spiritual experience and you have chills all over your body and cry tears of joy? !

Well that's how this was for me. 

Sting was so hot. 

Hot as in incredibly handsome.

He is 60 for goodness sake and I could see his toned abs through his his t-shirt on the jumbo tron.

His voice was so STING! 

To see the real friendship and admiration Sting and Paul Simon had for each other was something.

They harmonized and played songs together like it was meant to be.

I have fallen in love with all their music all over again. 

I also have been google-ing information on Sting to try and figure out how he looks and seems so young and strong at 60.

He is on  a macro-biotic diet.

Anyone heard of it? 

He doesn't eat your basic American diet of processed, msg, aspartame laden foods. 

Paul Simon is 70.

70!

He was as talented and wonderful as he has always been.

I hope I age well.

I'm 40.

I want to do things I love at 60 and through my 70's…..but then I'm OK to die in my 80's

I don't want to be stuck in this mortal life too long. I think it can be so hard. So hard that I dream of leaving . That sounds morbid but its true. I want to learn how to do Transcendental Meditation. Ever heard of that? Supposedly you can meditate your self away to bliss and joy anytime you want. 

Sign me up! Can I transcend while my kids are all here trashing my house and making endless requests of me? Can I transcend when I'm freaking out over how to protect my kids from the pollution on the Internet or in our food or air or government? 

Help. 

Well, there you go. 

I feel better. 

I'm going to take a hot bath since  I went running in the rain this morning.

RUNNING.

I don't run.

This is a new thing since summer started and I've had pent up panic and frustration energy coursing through me. 

Running on a dirt road in my foothills is great therapy!

 I guess lots of people know that already and I'm just finding out.