Counting Coins, Comets and more!

 Click here to keep updated! 

Who knew counting coins could be so stinking fun!?!?  How in the world did we get to this point?  Well, here's the story.... We have a friend who was about to take her jar of coins to a change counting machine.  As far as I knew, some change machines charge a processing fee of anywhere from 10% to almost 13%!  

Naturally I also knew how fun and challenging it would be to count all of her coins, so I volunteered to count her coins for her!  Eli loves a challenge and he was all in!

The absolute look of concentration on Eli's face confirmed we made the right decision to count the coins and that the challenge was ON!  

It took us a some time but we started with the big and obvious quarters before we tackled the rest of the coins as they appeared.  It was a lot.  We all guessed there was somewhere between $30-$45 dollars in her jar.  In the end, she had over $70 of coins in the jar!

The neat part was finding some old wheat coins in the collection.  The oldest from 1929.  This was the first one we found, made in 1942.

Remember the comet that was supposed to be visible in October?  Well, we tried to look for it.  We decided to head to a spot we thought would be clear of trees and provide us with the best possibility of seeing the Comet C/2023 A3 (Tsuchinshan-ATLAS)

The coolest place around was the Fernandina Beach Municipal Airport.  That little airport is so stinking cool. Did we see the comet?  Ummmm, nope.  We did see Venus.  She was shining bright in the sky.  Still tons of fun.

Later that week we got to celebrate Grandma Roberta's birthday!  This year they took a really neat trip up the peninsula to golf and we were fortunate enough to be one of the stops!  They stayed at a really cute bed and breakfast called the Schoolhouse Inn.  

It was a really fun night hanging out by the beach and catching up.  And yes, as you can see from what we were wearing, it was also chilly 🥶. At least for us in Florida it was chilly!  😆

Keeping with the "Birthday Golf" themed vacation, the following day we made it to Island Golf Adventure and played a round.  Naturally, Grandma Roberta won.  AND surprisingly, not one golf ball went into the water!

There's Eli, focused and calm under pressure.  There was a hush that fell upon the crowd and Eli eyed the hole.  Would he make a hole in one?  Birdie? Par? No pressure, right?  

He did have a bet with Grandma Roberta regarding who would get the lowest score.  Would he be the one to make this shot?  He shoots, and he scores? 

True to her skills, Grandma Roberta snagged the lead from the beginning and stayed in front winning the green jacket (well, she won the bet, no jacket 😆😆)

Grandma Roberta, Grandpa Tito and Eli all had their own putters during this little family tournament.  I grabbed a rental.  Can I use that as an excuse for being DEAD LAST in my score?  

The following day - yes, the schedule was a bit full and something we normally do not do on purpose, but when you want to see family, you say yes to everything, right?  

So we did the Jail Break 5K.  Eli LOVES staying in a hotel.  In fact, I think he would prefer to live in a hotel the rest of his life.  I have to admit, the elevators at the Renaissance Hotel at World Golf Village make the hotel way cooler!  

We picked up Nonna who joined in on the fun and off we went, MINIONS ready to do what MINIONS do!  

According to Google: the "Despicable Me" universe, the purpose of a minion's life is to serve and find a villainous master to work for; they are biologically driven to seek out and serve evil bosses, becoming depressed when they don't have a leader to follow.

I think our outfits nailed it for the JAIL BREAK 5K!

Would you believe Enzo wore his entire outfit for almost the entire 5K!  I was sweating a little as we went over the Vilano Bridge where I was ready to react with lightning speed reflexes to grab his hat or goggles before he could have thrown them over the side of the bridge and into the water - BUT HE DID IT!  ENZO kept it all on!!

As you can see, even Nonna was ready!  

Oh and YES, that bridge was a doozy!  Enzo is about 75 pounds, his wheelchair weighs about 25 pounds and the bridge is high enough to let big sailboats proceed safely underneath - basically, this is not a drawbridge, it's a HIGH bridge!  This is why I go to the gym!  😆😅😆

 In the end, Enzo tossed his hat and googles at the 3 mile marker, 1/10th of a mile from the finish line.  I don't blame him.  The sun was beaming bright through the cloudless sky.  The cold front had already begun to dissipate and the heat and humidity was returning!

We had a lot of people taking photos of us and this one guy from France asked, in French, if he could take our picture.  Bien sûr!  Of course!  Naturally the French lessons that we have been learning during homeschool totally escaped my mind and that was pretty much it for our "conversation!"  

However, I did thank him - MERCI! And got him to take our photo!  He liked us cutting up!  Or at least I think he did.  He said something French and I just smiled.  👀😀. Guess I need more French in our homeschooling!

The family that dresses up together, laughs together!  It was truly a fun fun fun day!  

But wait....there's more!

Later that day was the Jacksonville Air Show at NAS JAX.  Fortunately we had friends of ours that warned us that the traffic was going to be crazy and that entrance was going to be shut down once max capacity had been reached.  

Max capacity was reached!  Not to worry, we had Plan B!  Yep, the parking lot of the Bolles Country Club was a good spot to see a couple of the cool jets.  We didn't see but a few and then decided to continue on home for more fun.

Cold front = Cold pool! 🥶 Fortunately and thanks to Cousin Leigh Ann, Eli had a wetsuit!  

These kiddos were CRAZY to get into that cold pool but you know how kids are, CRAZY FUN!  Everyone got to try on the wetsuit and reap the benefits while the others realized just how much fun it is to have a wetsuit available!

I have more to say about October, but I'll leave it here with these cuties in the pool, trying not to turn blue.  😅