mama and mini Florida trip 2016

Every year since Natalie was born, she and I have made a girls' trip to Florida to spend a week with my parents. The week leading up to the trip had been full of some super fun meltdowns so I was incredibly anxious about how Natalie would do in the airport and on the flight. In typical Natalie fashion, she exceeded my expectations and surprised me in such wonderful ways. She was sweet and funny and easily the best listener she had ever been. I was beaming with pride that entire flight.

Sunday night my mama made her famous chicken curry for dinner and I was in absolute heaven. It was such a nice way to kick off our trip :)  Monday morning we went to Waterside park, one of Nat's favorite playgrounds.  It has easily the most beautiful view of the intracoastal waterway. 

What a difference a year makes!

Then we played it cool in the afternoon and hung out as Ms. (Bi)anca's pool. Natalie instantly took to my parents new neighbors and I am pretty sure she would have moved in with Bianca and Carl had she been given the option... I would have too :) 

my Mama in all of her Grammer glory :)

Tuesday, my parents neighbors, Dave and Carol, took us out on their boat to celebrate my Dad's 68th birthday. We put in the water in Palm Coast and made our way up to the Mantanzas inlet, one of my favorite little beaches. We had a little picnic lunch, played in the water and then head home. It was such a perfect day.

Wednesday we laid low since Natalie had gotten quite a bit of sun on our day on the boat and she needed a bit of downtime. We made up for it on Thursday with a trip to the Daytona Splashpad. It was super cute and had really great shaded picnic tables and an incredible view of the ocean. On our way out of the parking lot, we noticed the nicest covered playground on the other side of the bathrooms. It is definitely something we will be coming back to check out :)

Friday we went out to breakfast at Oceanside Grill and I was honestly surprised at how much Natalie ate. She tends to be a picky eater when we go out to eat, especially in places that she is not really comfortable and/or familiar with. Friday evening my parents had a cocktail party so we could spend time with friends and people could come by and see Natalie. It was so much fun but a late night made for a rough morning requiring a quick stop at Starbucks for a dirty chai (and a kid's hot chocolate) before boarding the plane. 

matching shirts and drinks with my little miss :)

It was tough to say goodbye to my parents, since I don't know when we'll get to see them again, but I am so happy for the visit that we did get to have.

what a three year old taught me about kindness

There has been a lot of hate and anger and nastiness spread across the internet in the last few days in the wake of the incidents in Louisiana, Minnesota and Texas. And while not surprising, it is truly heartbreaking.  It is such a scary world out there for all people, regardless of race, and it is sad to see people being attacked because of the profession they chose or the color of their skin. I have been losing sleep over the safety of my sister, cousins and friends who wear the badge. I have been worried about the world that my biracial nephew will grow up in and how he will be treated because of the color of his skin.

Tim and me, March 2016

This past week I have had more than one person say to me that I have never experienced racism because I am white and, while I will never know what it's like to experience racism as a black woman, I have felt the effects of racism because my nephew is biracial. I haven't openly shared this experience on the blog but I think now is as good a time as any to do so because we can all learn so much from the innocence of a child.

Natalie and B were in New Jersey visiting family and Michelle called to ask if I could watch Tim while she went to a training for the police department. Absolutely. She had been helping me out so much, plus I love getting some 1 on 1 time in with my small friend. And while I mentioned in my post about my day with him how proud I am of the person he is becoming, I didn't go into much detail about it. 

Tim, November 2014

Michelle and I met at the grocery store by my house as I had to pick up some things for Tim and I to have for breakfast.  He happily hopped into the cart, something I relished since Natalie was at the beginning stages of her anti-cart campaign. We walked the aisles of the grocery store, picking up odds and ends and chatting away, happy as could be. He proceeded to sing me a song about dinosaurs or Paw Patrol or whatever it was he was obsessed with at the time. In the middle of his song, a woman standing next to me in the aisle and I made eye contact, I smiled. She looked at him and then back to me and said "I'm so sorry." Without thinking twice I responded "Right? It's a little annoying. I am sure it's only phase and we'll be into superheros or trains or something else soon enough."

"No" she said, looking at Tim one more time and then back to me "I'm sorry about him." And then the light bulb went off and I lost it. "How dare you" I said, louder than I should have. "No. I'm sorry about you. I'm sorry that you are so ignorant that you would miss out on the joy and the happiness that is time with this child because you can't see past the color of his skin. I'm sorry that you are such a racist, ill-raised, ass--" And I was cut off... by Tim.

"Tori. Tori. Tori."

I turned, "what Tim!"

"Mom says we don't talk to people that way." 

And just like that. A three year old reminded me that even though there are people in the world with hate in their hearts, we don't talk to people that way. While I know Tim did not understand why I was so angry with the woman in the store and what she thought about the color of his skin, he knew that anger and hate and being nasty is not the answer. Being nice and being kind will always be the answer. If only we all retained the innocent thinking of children. If only we were all a little more kind.