The Keene Family

After months of staying home, I had a quick work trip to Florida to film a video. My boss and I flew allll the way to Boca Raton to spend one hour in a film studio! We were excited about the trip when we booked it, and then all of Miami was under lockdown and we ended up doing not much of anything! We landed on Wednesday night about bed time. We woke up on Thursday and had a makeup session in our hotel rooms and got (my kids say) "way too much makeup on." We walked about a block in Florida humidity, filmed for an hour, and walked to lunch. Then we walked back to our individual hotel rooms and watched the dark clouds of a storm roll in. And worked all day! But then something exciting happened. There was a GECKO on my hotel room floor. I couldn't tell if it was dead or alive or WHAT, but it totally freaked me out! Fortunately my boss came and saved me with paper cups but I was in the middle of a video call and everyone thought the whole thing was pretty funny. Me too.  We w...

What a fun idea our friend Kristin had to celebrate her birthday this year! We rented kayaks and spent a gorgeous, hot afternoon paddling around the harbor.  Then we had a very yummy dinner at The Tides restaurant, and then ice cream at Ben & Jerry's for dessert! 

 We can't believe JT is 12! We started with breakfast - cinnamon rolls were his choice. He also got gifts from his family and lots of hugs and smooches.  Later that day, we took some photos of the birthday boy with his favorite ladies.  And hosted a group of sixth grade boys for capture the flag, pizza, and cake.  On the weekend, he got to experience one of his gifts: go-kart racing with Jim! Then he came home to his family party. JT had requested chuck wagon wraps for dinner, and he got a unicycle among other fun gifts. We measured him as usual, and he is now five foot two inches. Crazy!

Finally! Summer weather and summer schedule. The kids took the opportunity to do some things they have been wanting to do. Like making cupcakes! And going to Wild Cat lake for swimming and kayaking. And taking long walks alone (okay, that was me).  And later start days with snuggles on the deck... And finally trying the new donut shop nearby. And finally, fixing things that need mending.  And cuddling by a fire. A good start to the season. 

We started July 4th by taking Maverick to a new beach to get as much energy spent as possible, so he would relax during our barbecue and maybe during the fireworks. It was his first time in the back of the truck, and he loved that!  Then we returned home and got decorated and welcomed people to our backyard - with food and corn hole and laughter and fun.  When it got dark, we made our way to the neighborhood cul-de-sac for fireworks. Aren't we cute?  The kids just loved all the lights, and Maverick did pretty well until the big booms happened... and then Jim took him home and put him in his crate for the night.