Perks of Being a Wildflower: March 2014

Although from the looks of this blog (save for the short entry in January), it looks as though I've fallen off the face of the earth. Or the blogger bandwagon as I call it.
But here I am, back and ready to write.
I will be honest with you. Part (okay most) of the reason I don't write as much as I should is because I'm kinda lackadaisical when it comes to blogging. I have all these great paragraphs coming together in my cabeza, but I never take the time to sit down and turns those ingenious thoughts (that's what they are in my head anyway...I'm sure the chief editor of the Chicago Tribune would think otherwise) into a blog entry. Another factor that plays a part in my sparse blogging habits is the fact that I'm staying pretty busy here on Sanibel. Besides having lots of visitors, classes, homework and chores, I've also started ballet, jazz, hip-hop, piano, flute, a part time job and occasional babysitting. Plus, blogging is pretty time consuming. It is for me, anyway. I realize, though, that all of those things still aren't adequate excuses for not to blogging at least once or twice a month.
I also realize that hardly anyone reads my blog, and even if people did, they probably wouldn't find it very interesting. But, honestly, I'm not writing for other people. I'm writing for me and my family. So we can remember all the good times we've shared together. I love reading and rereading my posts a while later. It's a trip down memory lane. Like reliving those days for a few moments.
There is one last thing that sometimes discourages me from writing. I feel I'm not very good at it. I know practice makes perfect and the more I write the better I'll be. But still, I read my friend's blogs (two in particular) and they often leave me in wonder at the level at which they compose their entries and how they can beautifully articulate their thoughts or skillfully present their point. But they are two of my best friends, so I just tell myself that I should be proud to know such competent writers... and I may or may not take some metal notes of what it was that I particularly liked about their writing style or technique and attempt to incorporate it into my own writing. That's legal, right? Just as long as I'm not copy and pasting?

So now that I've spend several paragraphs attempting to excuse my bail out on the blogger bandwagon, I will now get down to business. I have a lot cover and loads of news to write about. I will try to be concise, because I don't really like writing extensive posts. At the same time, though, I like details and adjectives. I will just aim to land somewhere in the middle of the two. Hopefully I'll meet that mark. And, as always, I'll end with some pictures.

Not including my post about the Daniel Fast, I haven't written since the beginning of October. I'm not going to attempt to write about every event that has taken place since then, I'm just going to write about what's been going since we migrated to Sanibel...

We left Bear Creek on January 9 and began our 1, 275 mile trip to Sanibel Island. This was our first year all driving together. We had the suburban with a rooftop carrier jam packed, and the RV.
We spent one night in NC and then drove onto Jacksonville where we spent the weekend with the Dellenback, who are, in my opinion, some of the greatest people in the world. They actually bought our RV from us. I wasn't super happy at first because we've made so many awesome memories in that thing and I didn't want to sell it, I wanted to go on more trips. It's been across the US twice, down to florida, up to Canada, and so much more. But if we had to sell it, the Dellies are the best candidates. And who knows, maybe we will get another RV and we can take trips together!

After finishing up a super fun weekend in Jax (I went to a indoor trampoline park for the first time!)
we drove the last six hours to Sani. After that, it all just kinda blends together.

We settled pretty quickly in a new routine. It was nice not having company right away. We actually could just live like normal people. Last year, our first guest arrived the day after we got there, I think we had like 10 days when we didn't have any visitors. And don't get me wrong, I love company, just ask my mom. But at the same time, it was kinda nice having a slower pace for a while.

Anna and three of her friends came down for spring break. It overlapped with our spring break which was nice. We had a great time hanging out, swimming, wave running, and going out for a girl's spa day.
During that same time the Hasenbalg's came too. They stayed for two weeks. But they fit right in and aren't really considered company. Cole is a awesome friend to Nathan. And both being the brothers of three sisters, I'm sure they were happy to have a guy to play with.

The Dellenbacks came lasts week over their spring break. We all agreed that it was nice not having school while Anna was here, but probably would've rather had off with the Dellies.
They stayed at the condo. We had two sleepovers there and the kids stayed at our house one night. We definitely ODed on the sugar. From lucky charms to sticky buns, "spring break" cake to bubble room cake, going out for ice cream to whatever else we ate. But hey, we probably burned it all off playing basketball in the pool. If it can even be called that. Basically none of the sport's real rules are followed. Instead we go by our set of rules: No biting, no pinching, no punching in the face, no holding for more then three seconds, so suffocating, and no drowning. Anything else pretty much goes.
Something else we love to play, especially with the Dellies, is Bodies Bodies. If you've never played, you're missing out. We had to go to Naples one night with them for a conference. And while the adults were at dinner, the kids played it in the hotel room. I can only imagine what was going through the guy's head when he came to pick up our room service tray, only to open the door and see a bunch of "dead" bodies sprawled all over the room.
It's always a sad day when our families part ways, but it just makes us that much more excited for next time!

Another highlight of Sanibel for me is dance. The studio is literally a one minute drive or five minute bike from our house. Katie and I have jazz and ballet on Monday and I have hip hop on Tuesday. I also do Pilates on Thursdays, which I love. And my instructors are great. Miss Debbie is grown up, but Miss Stephanie is actually a sophomore in high school. It's kinda funny that my dance instructor is younger then me, but I don't mind.

We started playing soccer on saturday's at the Sanibel School. It's not official, just pick-up. But its still so much fun. I'm competitive, but not as much as Mariah. Last week her team lost and she was in a bad mood for the rest of the night. And talked about it the whole stinkin drive to Naples. Or felt like that anyway. You might say I was in a good mood since it was my team that one, but I can honestly say that I really think I would've been able to shake it off. I guess were just different like that.

Mariah and I have started music lessons. Piano for her, piano and flute for me. I love it. Her, not so much. She had (still is) been teaching herself the Fur Elise before lessons started and after our first lesson she marches out to the car and states, "I play the Fur Elise! Not Mary had a Little Lamb!" but she's handling it well. She's got natural talent, she just doesn't like reading music. She plays better by ear and has composed some really pretty songs on her own.
I have a recital on the 12th. I'm excited. I'm probably going to be the oldest student playing the simplest song, but who cares, it'll be fun. I'm playing When the Saints Go Marching In and A Whole New World.

The part time job I mentioned is with the Sea School. I'm their brochure distributor. That just means I have to go around the island to all the different businesses and refill or make sure they have enough pamphlets. I have about twenty more places to go out of about the seventy-five on the list. When I've been to all of them, I'll start over again.

Some other random facts/thoughts:
Mom's visitng Emily this week in Rwanda. My Dad's roommate from college is visiting. We are going to see God's Not Dead tomorrow with some friends. I gave up soda for lent. I can't believe our time here is already half over. It's actually starting to feel like home. I really can't believe I'm turing 18 next week. I guess this will be my last post as a seventeen year old. When Calls the Heart is my new favorite TV show. And I decided I'm marrying a Canadian mountie.

Well I think that's about it. There's always something I leave out, but I think that's a pretty good summary of what been happening around here. And now for some pictures...