Mom's visit

Although I think it was supposed to be kept secret for longer - I found out Mom was coming to visit during her Thanksgiving break, in September. Sam has never been very good at keeping things secret.. I am kidding Sam. Its not secrets, its surprises that you are bad at. I love to tell everyone the story about Christmas - which I will not share here because I have no idea who reads this. Anyways, one night facetiming with Sam, Chase and Mom the beans were spilled. Not to be picky about visitors, but in all reality the only better time for Mom to make the trip would have been Christmas. That is my selfish side talking. There are far to many traditions at Christmas time she is needed for, an example is Christmas cookie making. I am proud to say I know that Chase and Evelyn did a fantastic job decorating Christmas cookies at her house. Also, I think some people's stomachs would not be the same if mom didn't hand out yummy homemade cinnamon rolls and chicken tetrazzini.

Prior to mom's visit Rick and I made a trip off "the rock" to the mainland to see Kurt and Kim. It is the first time we had left the island since we moved down here in August. I am not sure but I think I heard a choir singing when we made it to mainland USA. Now this is the time most of you will laugh, but I kinda had a mental breakdown on this trip. First, Rick's truck had only been up to 55 mph a handful of times since moving. I have mentioned previously but I will repeat, the max speed limit here is 35 mph- When we were barreling down the Florida turnpike at a whopping 80 surrounded by crazy lunatics also going this fast and weaving in and out of traffic, I thought... "when did I turn into such a pussy"? Island life has turned me a little soft...I was even chilled the other day when it was low humidity and 70. Second, we made our way to a mall... A MALL... it was the Tuesday before Thanksgiving and it was really really crowded. This mall made Jordan Creek look like Ames. There were so many stores and very expensive stores that I will probably never be able to afford. I really can not believe the amount of people who were out on a Tuesday at 12 shopping. The number of people as well as the loud blaring Christmas music had me looking like a deer seeing Steve Neff in a plaid scarf - I was utterly confused. Why was I having such a reaction to a place that I loved ?? Needless to say Rick was not that sympathetic- he told me to suck it up:)

To back track a little.. I stated we had gone to mainland to visit Kurt and Kim since they had just arrived in Florida for their wintering. We spent a lovely day with them hanging on the boat and they indulged my need for civilization - aka a mall. Looking back on it I should have just gone to Target....just typing it makes me want to get in the car and drive until I get to one. Mom I blame you for my love of Target.  We didn't get to spend much time with Kurt and Kim because of work and the fact that Mom was arriving on Wednesday! Good thing they came to visit us a few weeks after Thanksgiving:)

True to form I waited until Wednesday morning to get groceries for our house and I was late picking Mom up from the airport. In my defense she landed early, had she landed when she was scheduled I would have been on time. Mom looked like Christmas morning standing at the airport. I was very excited to see her. Wednesday, we took a bike ride to Duval- mom said she felt naked without her helmet on riding a bike. It took a little while but she finally got the hang of the non-handle bar brakes.. she only almost fell a couple of times. Wednesday we spent walking around Duval - mom asked every place we stopped whether or not they would have black Friday shopping events. Some people enjoyed the questions - others may have thought she was crazy :) In fact most places in Key West were open on Thanksgiving.. and not because of any sale - but because we are a multinational tourist town and you can't close down stores and lose out on that business. After our assault on Duval we headed home to have delicious Mr. Z's pizza. Mom had been up since 2 AM the night before and was at the airport by 4 so she didn't miss her 6 AM flight - I only mention this because we were all in bed Wednesday night by 8 PM and it was awesome.

Thursday made me very happy because we spent the duration of the morning drinking coffee on our screened in porch. We then headed on a little island tour to show off some lovely homes up the keys and finally landed on the navy base for Thanksgiving at Dave and Annette's house. Annette had made a beautiful table and the turkey smelled so good. Annette already knows this but she made this yummy yummy appetizer with cream cheese and candied walnuts or something- it doesn't even matter it was amazing! Thanksgiving we were surrounded by so much food that by the end of I swear it didn't even look like we put a dent in it. Post meal comas set in around 7 and after making our final arrangements for BF we headed home to again, be in bed by 8:30.

Friday Cher and Annette picked us up bright and early (7:30) and we headed to the Navy exchange. Yes we could have gone to Kmart or Sears but why not have a really different BF experience. Mom has already done the Sears thing.. she's been interviewed at Target and who knows what else over the years... She has never been to the Navy exchange. It was exciting.. they had coffee and donuts for the shoppers and the place was... EMPTY. There were some pretty good deals but to ship it home - it would be better to just wait for cyber Monday. After the Navy exchange we headed to our mapped out Duval assault. Ultimately it was a nice day of shopping and relaxation. The only regret I have about this day is that we didn't dress up in something crazy or at least pirates :)

Saturday was Mom's last day here in KW. We took her to Sunset Key for breakfast prior to her flight home. I laughed at Mom, many times because she was cold for the majority of the time she was here. I will admit that there was decreased humidity and it was pretty windy the entire time she was on the island.. but it wasn't that cold.

Thank you Mom, and Dad for buying the ticket to KW- I know we did take a few images I will add them to this post once I download them from my camera- I miss you every single day..

xoxo
Rick and McKenzie