We arrived in the Keys on Saturday without too much incident. The trip was long as always but spread over 2 days, it seemed like more than forever. I think we’d just rather have drove through the night and gotten it over with. And why couldn’t Georgia have something worthwhile to look at along the highway? We didn’t get into Florida on schedule due to road construction and the kids needing to pee at inopportune times. We had also planned to eat picnic-style for lunch but the weather would threaten with rain and thunder.

We got into Gainesville late in the evening and stopped for the night at a Days Inn. After a [good] night’s sleep (it was as good as it was going to get, frankly), we headed back on the road onto the turnpike. There was some traffic congestion when we first got onto US-1 but we did get to Steve’s before sunset. We even had time to relax in the pool before bed.

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[No you can't see me back-posting this!]

Ben had a wonderful party this past weekend. My now little 7 year old’s chosen theme was all about pirates. We got very piratety decorations, put out the piratety toys, and I baked a piratey cake – a treasure chest no doubt! This one took a bit of time but it didn’t come out half bad! Tasted great too. Another treasure chest was present in the form of a piñata. The kids really enjoyed the booty they got from it. Eye patches and candy galore! As far as presents went, it was the day of the pokémon. Pokiemans everywhere. They’re still everywhere. I think they’re multiplying.

How is he one year old already? Who let this happen? Mandy says she blames me and she might as well should. I keep letting these kids grow older and older. Nicky’s birthday party was last Saturday and a good time was had by the birthday boy. I swear as soon as everyone left, he conked out and fell asleep. The party went well and everyone had a good time although I’m sure not as much as Nicky did. As far as his first bite of cake, he wasn’t too sure what to make of it. Nick kind of just looked at it and tried to fling it off of his fingers. He did like it sans frosting (that’s my boy!) though. I’m also pretty sure that he loved each and every one of his presents. Among them were some cute outfits, an Elmo, a firetruck, a Mickey Mouse, and a walker.

Speaking of walking, he actually took a step! It was an accidental step as he was going for something on the coffee table, but a step nonetheless! I know he can do it if he’d just let go of the furniture. I’m sure it’s just that he knows that I will expect him to walk all of the time if he starts doing it now. Oh well, in due time, I suppose. Lots of pictures of his party in the photo album.