The Force Comes to Jacksonville . . .

. . . in the form of Blaine, Laurel, Baby James, and an encounter with Pottery Barn. Their marketing plan for overpriced Millennium Falcon Quilts? Get your picture taken with a Jedi and a Storm Trooper! Never mind that the Jedi looked like Al from Home Improvement - he had the outfit, and that's what counts. For bonus points, he left out the mullet. And the unbelievably strained and hokey dialogue.

You have never seen a prouder papa than Blaine holding his son holding a plastic lightsaber. You could almost feel the - what are they called, mitoclorians? Mitochondria? Anyway, you could almost feel them flowing.

Besides appearing at our own mini fan convention, we slummed around St. Augustine, the oldest city in the U.S.

We walked around the tourist trap village for a few minutes, then headed to the old Spanish fort for a cannon demonstration by volunteers in period dress. One of those cannon balls could be shot up to three miles.

For this week, our hope is that you will be just as relaxed as Papa Blaine is in this photo. A sunny day, a hammock, a straw hat, and . . . a cigar and a video camera? (And someone else in charge of the baby, we presume.)

Pretzel Day

A few snapshots from Sophie and Daniel's field trip to Auntie Annie's pretzel stand, where they got to shape their own pretzels, choose their toppings, and sip lemonade while waiting for their pretzels to bake:


Sophie alternately ate hers and fed crumbs to the ducks and turtles.



Daniel wrestled with his for quite a while. He had a pained expression on his face the whole time. Imagine how he'd feel about wrestling with a NY bagel.

armadillos and other roadkill

Sorry I am so far behind on our blog. I'll be posting a few quick pics that have been in the queue, and then will hopefully catch up on the rest soon.

When we first moved to Jacksonville, I started an armadillo roadkill count. I soon gave up. There's just too many of them. (We also have quite a few raccoons and squirrels.) One week, in Marsha and Craig's subdivision, a dead one lay on someone's lawn for three or four days while a flock of vultures took care of it. It was a weirdly Western scene, despite taking place on manicured grass. All we needed was a few tumbleweeds and a wagon train.


This particular one, one of the few live models we've seen, was snuffling about just outside our porch. Sophie followed it out onto the golf course. They are funny, prehistoric-looking creatures. I think Sandra Boynton captures them perfectly in her board books. They always look slightly wigged-out. Must be all that traffic dodging.


At long last, we broke down and bought some furniture. (I don't recommend buying used futon mattresses, by the way - you may think the smell will come out, but it won't.) We found an old bunk bed with a full-sized futon frame on the bottom on Craig's list. Ryan and the kids sanded and painted it in "Summer Splash," a classic Atlantic blue. They've been sleeping happily in it ever since.

Toofless

Sophie lost not one, not two, but three teeth this week. Well, maybe lost isn't quite the right word, since what happened is that I reached into her mouth with a tissue, stuck a finger between each tooth and the surrounding gum area, and yanked those suckers out.

People, it was time. They'd been loose for months, and she had a little row of teeth growing in behind them just like a shark. And those silly teeth. Just. Would. Not. Fall. Out.

So now she has a little broken picket fence smile. It's quite endearing.

* * * * *

We may have settled into a church for the time being. We've started attending Beaches Vineyard pretty regularly. The vibe is a little bit surfer, a little bit aging hippie, in part thanks to its location in a converted movie theater by the beach. (Finally! Enough stalls in the women's bathroom!) It's a little strange sitting at barstools and tables instead of pews, but it's very nice to be able to sip coffee during the service. We like the no-frills, earnest worship and laid-back, very Scriptural preaching, and we've just started attending a Tuesday night class on spiritual gifts. Daniel is head over heels with his Sunday School teacher, Gus, and Sophie appreciates being able to earn candy with reward tickets.

* * * * *

About a year ago, I asked Daniel if he wanted Jesus to live in his heart, and his answer was, "No, I want Jesus to live in my tummy."

Or another time: "Daniel, do you love Jesus?"

Answer (nonchalantly): "No, I like ducks."

Whoever said "All theologies are heresies" definitely had our boy in mind.

But last week at lunch, when I asked him again if he wanted Jesus to live in his heart and forgive his sins, he said "yes." So we prayed together and were very happy. We found out later that Darcy accepted Jesus at the same age! It is of course beyond fine with us if Daniel continues to grow up just like his Uncle.

* * * * *

On a slightly less exalted note, Daniel introduced a new funny face into his repertoire. He calls it his "Butterfly Fart" face.


I didn't know those could be so uncomfortable.

* * * * *

We're now in our third week of homeschooling and we're having fun! I don't know if Sophie is learning much, but I sure am. I'd never heard of the Syrian Druzes before. Had you? (Makes me think of Lemony Snicket. Or the Mystery of Edwin Drood.) There have been a few awkward moments, such as, "Mom, this book says Adam and Eve were born in 5000 BC, and this book says the first civilization was around 10,000 BC. But weren't Adam and Eve the first humans?"

Darn those critical thinking skills, anyway. Thank goodness Ryan's been to seminary!

Finally Got Around to Changing the Title of our Blog

Not an inspired change, but an appropriate one, as our island adventures are, alas, over for now. I also switched our honu picture for one of the kids in Astoria Park that Amanda Becker took it for us last spring. Just in case that picture of sibling-bliss makes you wonder, our kids do love each other that much all the time. Especially when bribed with Skittles.

The kids and I made playdough yesterday, and added food coloring and scent. Daniel mixed vanilla and lemon extract and his batch smelled exactly like Hawaiian sweet bread! Mmm. We had cookie cutters of graduated sizes, and Sophie used them to make layer "cakes" that she very sweetly offered to me: "Master, how many layers would you like?" Daniel, by contrast, kept barking, "Servant! I made you a cookie!"


We now have the all-important favorite coffee shop, in the Springfield section of town. It's a neighborhood in transition, close to downtown, with lots of beautiful broken down Victorians that are slowly being rennovated. The Three Layers Coffee Shop is a comfy, funky spot with lots of leather sofas, a Zen garden, homemade pastries, and local artists' wares on display and for sale. We spent a few hours there last week with some of Ryan's childhood friends; it turns out half of West Palm Beach now lives in Jacksonville. Sophie and Daniel played with the adorable Noah, the daughter of Heather, whom Ryan used to babysit.

Why anyone would leave their kid with a teenage Ryan is a mystery.


Church hunting continues. We've visited at least 10 churches in various denominations in the last two months, including a house church plant, but haven't found anywhere yet we'd like to settle in. We're afraid that David Ellis and Darcy Caires have spoiled us for any other pastors! This past weekend, Ryan attended a gathering for church planters, and continues to pray about whether church planting is an option for him, or whether he should pursue work in an established church or a local nonprofit.

We officially have the perfect kids for a small apartment. Even though they are sleeping on what is technically a king-sized bed (two twins pushed together) and have plenty of room to spread out, they prefer to sleep like this:

Ways to Amuse Yourself in Florida

Last week, we moved out of Craig and Marsha's house and are finally living in Grandma Ardie's condo. After the apartment upstairs was gutted (someone told us it looked like a landfill up there) and bug bombed, we were able to start bringing in our stuff. We still have quite a few bugs migrating down from upstairs, but they're usually so dazed from the poison (which is good) and large (which is very, very, very bad) that they are relatively easy targets. Daniel and Sophie have become quite the experts at cleaning up the carcasses with a little bit of toilet paper and a good flush.

We are still low on furniture and toys here: perfect for our 1 bedroom pad. We sleep on air mattresses and a futon in the living room; Ryan's high school friend James gave us a nice antique white dresser; and my Brooklyn Ikea splurge helps us keep our closet and toys organized. The kids are using their imaginations to entertain themselves. Two days ago they invented the game "Chicken Farmer." Sophie plays the Farmer and collects the eggs. Daniel plays the chicken. He lays the eggs.

In "Skydiving," Sophie and Daniel take turns strapping on a pair swimming goggles, pulling a stretchy purse over their heads, holding up a shopping bag, and jumping off a chair. My favorite part? When they get this confused look on their faces and say, "Mom, why are you laughing?"

New York, New York

For the Fourth of July weekend we drove up from Jacksonville to New York for a traditional Myers / Caires bbq. Where else would we be?

On the way up and down, we stopped for the night in North Carolina and spent some time with Liz and Tarik, and finally got to meet their little girl, Isabel. Isabel is bright-eyed and talkative, and enchanted with her Weeble Wobbles. Sophie spent a lot of time playing with her, and cooing, "I just love babies!" Daniel, on the other hand, nearly took Isabel's head off with a hurled empty plastic soda bottle. In his defense, he was aiming for Sophie.



When we got to New York, the Wades welcomed us into their home and we spent some time with them before they, too, went on vacation, and left us the house for the long weekend. Sophie and Violet immediately went into dress-up mode. Daniel was more interested in Brad's drum set. This made his Daddy very happy, as Daniel has often declared his desire to have his toenails painted purple, just like Sophie's. Very metrosexual of him, I suppose, but unlikely to go over very well in the South.


Saturday night and Sunday were all bbq, all the time. Well, we did go to church on Sunday. Sophie reunited with her old friend, Elena. In their newfound maturity, neither of them wore their tiaras to church. Many of our ACC friends joined us for meat, meat, more meat, a little beer (see incriminating evidence of underage drinking below), and an impromptu speaker war with our neighbors, who wanted to listen to Michael Jackson instead of Ryan and Janellie's eighties playlist. Out of deference, we let the Great Gloved One win.

Darcy in his rightful spot as Grill Master

Fernando, Greg, and Lara Sweatin' to the Eighties

Alejandra, Baby James ("Quattro") Hicklin, Ryan. Alejandra used to babysit Sophie and Daniel, and will soon be watching James. James is wearing his Brasil onesie and coordinating plug.

Ryan and Eddie, Alejandra's husband

The former Book Study girls.
Top row: Jin and Annie; Bottom row: Sylvie, Sophie, Carrie

Laurel, Sophie and Daniel relaxing on the hammock. Laurel is Baby James' mother, and aunt to Sophie's family of yarn Octopuses. One of them used to be a girl, but underwent a sex change so he could change his name to James and marry the other (female) octopus, Trolley, and they could have a baby together. Confused? So are we. But probably not nearly as confused as the Octopuses.

Aunty Cris and Daniel, in his Brasil shirt. Aunty Cris dresses all the kids.

Carrie and Lucinda

Janellie channeling Beyonce: "Put a ring on it!" Janellie almost got to bookend our blog today, to make up for the fact that she was our longest visitor in Hawaii, but didn't get a photo on our last Hawaii blog. But the final photo honor goes to Baby James and Papa Blaine, for reasons that I believe are obvious.


And that, folks, is how to have a party.

Five Cousins

Here's a photo of all of the cousins together in Grandma and Grandpa's backyard for Emma's birthday party - she turned 4!

From left: Sophie, Cailey, Daniel, Emma and Lauren.

(When I titled the blog post, I was thinking of Louisa May Alcott's Eight Cousins. Except with five instead of eight, more girls than boys, a lot less Existentialism, and definitely less marriage between cousins. Just so you know.)

Aloha 'Oe Hawaii

Just as we were surprised on Easter Sunday by a gaggle of guests from NY (DT and Heidi Slouffman and Brennan Mahoney and his wife and his daughter, Grace, plus Tara and John), we spent our last few weeks in Hawaii with many unexpected visitors from The Big Apple. First came Janellie - her trip was the only one planned far ahead of time, and she stayed with us for almost two weeks. Next Donna and her daughter Sumia arrived; they were in town for a last-minute business trip. They overlapped for a night with Cynthia, who threw together her vacation plans as soon as she heard that we were moving. And after Cynthia left the Moltz family stayed with us until just two days before we left Hawaii for good.

Donna, Sumia and Daniel at the airport.

Kristin, Steven and Josiah Moltz (1 year-old Aaron is asleep in the car); Cynthia and Sophie

It was great to have so many visitors to share our last days in Oahu. We repeated many of our favorite experiences: many days at the beach; lunch at Kua Aina Burgers in Haliewa (Obama eats there!), fresh shrimp drenched in butter and garlic at the Giovanni's shrimp truck in Kahuku; the scenic drive around the Windward side of the island, with familiar sights such as the Makapuu'u lighthouse and Chinaman's Hat island.

Sophie and Daniel at Ala Moana Beach Park

We picnicked with Uncle Rick and Allison, Daniel's Bible Study Buddy

Waiting for shrimp. Daniel in dreamland.

We also got to do a few new things: swimming with sea turtles at Lanikea Beach and snorkeling at Hanauma Bay, where you are literally exploring the inside of a volanic crater, amidst coral reefs populated with brilliantly-colored, and very friendly fish. And Ryan was introduced to the best poke on the island, at the Suprette in Kahuku, where we also saw, in the parking lot, our first wild boar, lying in a truck bed surrounded by the poi dogs that had hunted it. (poi dog=mutt). We also attended a luau at the Polynesian Cultural Center, which featured music and dance from seven Pacific Island cultures. The PCC is run by The Church of Latter Day Saints. This may explain why the female Polynesian dancers were so unusually . . . clothed.

Cynthia and the boys at the Polynesian Cultural Center

We are glad to report that Sophie was similarly sartorially inclined when she performed a hula with her 2nd grade class from Noelani Elementary. She danced using four smooth, polished stones called 'ili 'ili - she clicked them together to accompany the song she sang.

Saturday, we had a cleaning party at our house with friends from our fellowship group. They contributed the elbow grease - the real grease was all ours. We fueled up with take-out from Bangkok Thai and mango malasadas from Leonard's. (I was reading Pidgin to Da' Max in the airport and the official definition of malasadas is as follows: Potagee donut. No hole.) That night, we had a family dinner at Aunty Debbie and Uncle Karl's house, and Sophie made the observation, "Wow, I never knew I would get so many presents when I moved!"

Sunday, the night before we left, we had our last day at City Church, and said goodbye to our friends there. Afterwards, the kids got to go to a science-themed birthday party for Irina Quinn, and we had a group over for bbq. That evening, we had dinner with DeShannon and Rocky at Ninnikuya, a garlic restaurant. Garlic, as you know, is the perfect ingredient in which to indulge when you're going to spend 14 hours the next day on planes, squeezed into small, enclosed, poorly ventilated places with hundreds of people.

Monday morning we finished packing our bags, did a walk-through with the realtor to prove that we'd actually cleaned, fixed the disposal that broke at the last minute, and headed to the airport. After stopovers in Seattle and Atlanta, we arrived in Jacksonville Tuesday morning, where Ryan's dad picked us up and whisked us to the International House of Pancakes for breakfast . . . or whatever meal we were supposed to be eating.

So far, we are staying with Ryan's parents and grandmother at their home on the Southside of Jacksonville. We are planning to move into Grandma Ardie's 1 bedroom condo - just as soon as the bugs move out. Seems roach infestations aren't limited to New York City and Hawaii. Either that, or they've been following us.

(We also have just as many lizards here in Jax as we did in Hawaii. One showed up in our toilet, to the kids' delight. I was just glad it wasn't an aligator. More about those later.)

Uncle Blaine and the kids at the Disney Resort

This past week we drove down to Orlando for the day to meet our friends Darcy and Blaine, who were in town for the big PCA General Assembly taking place at Disney's Coronado Resort. Blaine was desperate to get out of Disney territory, where they charge $7.50 for a small, limp egg roll and only sell Coca Cola products (hence, no Mountain Dew, Blaine's elixir of life). So he took us to Gator Land, where we endured the 97 degree weather to watch a guy wrassle a gator, although not the thousand pound one, and see rare white gators: blue-eyed, white and uncanny as ghosts, but with a wickeder sense of humor.

Everything is bigger on the mainland.

Ryan has been busy meeting just about everybody in Jacksonville, it seems, thanks to many, many family contacts, especially from his mom. Please pray for wisdom for him as he discerns what church position to pursue next, and for God to provide the opportunity.

Thank you for all your prayers as we moved here from Hawaii! We are enjoying the time with Ryan's family, although we miss all of our friends and family in other parts of the country. As soon as we get settled, y'all are invited to come stay with us down South. (Like my Southern dialect? Don't it just sound so natural like?) We'll enjoy the sun, swim in the pool, and then you can join Daniel for a nap in the glorious central AC. Hopefully with more clothes on. (Modest attire, or its lack, has become a real theme in this post.)