Satchels and Sweetwater

The weather warmed up to the 60s today.  We went to the boys' favorite pizza (and salad) place for lunch, and then took a walk around Sweetwater Park. At the first pavilion, there was a boy with a Rubix cube, so Daniel started a conversation with him and they ended up spending the next hour chatting and cubing together -- and only toward the end of the afternoon did they realize that his grandmother is a friend of my mom's!  Gainesville is a small world.  

On the wildlife map when we came in, someone had made a note about an "angry alligator." Then another man filled in that it was a mama gator and nine babies. We made it around to where they were -- the babies are cute in their own way. :)  And we saw plenty of birds as well!

 

Escape to La Chua

We tried out a new escape room place.  They're a family-run business and they had a holiday-themed escape room (we had to restore power to the North Pole). We wore our Christmas hats for the occasion. :)  The rooms were a bit of a tight squeeze with all of us, but we had a good time solving the puzzles -- and we did escape in time!  

Afterwards the weather was so nice that we decided to go for a nature walk, and we ended up at La Chua trail, which was a lot of fun.  Isaac was excited to see a snail kite, which used to only be found south of here.

 

Xmas

 Merry Christmas!!

We flew down to Gainesville FL on Thursday, the day before the big blizzard hit Buffalo.  ( I really wish the blizzard had waited 2 weeks so I could have been there to thrill in the novelty and winds and snow.)

The airplane to GNV is small, but at least we don't have to walk outside on the tarmac to get to the plane.

It cooled down quite a bit in GNV shortly after we arrived. Matthew wanted to jump in the water at least once while the temps were in the 50s.  Friday and Saturday night the temps have dropped to the mid-20s.  And it only warmed up to the upper 30s during the day. 

Friday night we went to see Christmas lights at The Duck Pond, which is really a pond on the grounds of the North Florida Regional medical center.  

Solo Fly

Matthew had his first swim meet of the modified (middle school) season. It was a lot of fun!  As before, each kid swims in three events. Matthew did the breaststroke leg of the relay and an individual breaststroke. He also did the butterfly -- as a solo!  The other team was a little smaller and in general there were a lot more girls than boys, so he had the pool to himself. :)  He did a great job, too -- good form and it looked pretty fast to us!  

 

Winter Concert

James had his winter chorus concert this week. (Matthew isn't doing chorus this year.) It was just four songs, short and sweet, but very nice.  You can easily spot James in the pictures since he's the only one with a mask!  (His choice, he still likes wearing it to school as well.)