Get ready for a post full of celebration and appreciation because Mema is 95!!!!!!!!!!

Finn and I were so fortunate to be able to travel down to Florida to be there on her big day. 95 – what a phenomenal milestone!

I picked Finn up from school last Wednesday and we headed straight to the airport to catch a 3p flight that would have us in Florida in time for a birthday dinner.

When I say that Finn flew into Mema’s arms when we arrived, I mean he FLEW! They haven’t seen each other since Christmas and that’s a long time for these two to be apart.

We arrived with flowers and a giant checked duffle bag full of snacks from Trader Joe’s. Some of you might remember that my grandmother uses her oven as a second pantry so we did a “stock the oven” haul. They don’t have a Trader Joe’s in their area so from time-to-time I’ll bring the goods!

We kept dinner simple on our first night since my dad had to grab us from the airport. My grandmother (and Finn) love burgers so we had burgers, roasted potatoes and salad.

Happy, happy, happy heart to be in our special place for Mema’s birthday.

Finn was over the moon because my cousin’s wife was there with her three kids. My grandmother had another set of visitors (my dad’s sister and her fam) before we arrived but this crew decided to extend their stay a few days and it was THE BEST! We don’t get to see this family in Georgia very often and Finn loves spending time with his cousins.

COUSIN TIME 

All of the kiddos with Mema.

Beach fun. We had the best weather for this trip. High 60s/low 70s, low humidity, abundant sunshine.

Three of us cousins had boys within nine months of each other back in 2017-2018 so it’s always fun when they can get together.

Monkeys.

He learned how to play “categories” on this trip. Remember that pool game?

Gathered around the table for Mema’s “official” birthday dinner/early Easter dinner the day after her birthday. Dying over Beau joining in the photo opp.

Supervising my dad cutting his homemade brownies.

Easter egg hunt for the kiddos. My cousin’s wife is the most amazing mom and always plans  fun activities for the kids. Last time we were with them she bought supplies for all of us to go crabbing together one night.

Mema watching the egg hunt from her balcony.

QT WITH FINN + MEMA 

Our cousins departed on Saturday morning and we had a couple more days to spend with Mema and my parents. One thing I love so much about my grandmother is how she finds ways to play with Finn even though she’s mostly confined to her chair. She was a first grade teacher and is just so natural with kids. All of the great grands adore her. They played a lot of rounds of Guess Who? on this trip!

Finn absolutely conked out every night after playing hard all day – as it should be at the beach! Also, 9/10 we share the same pillow. Anyone else have a level 10 snuggle bug on their hands?

A visit to the Gulfarium with my mom. We have annual passes and go pretty much every time we visit. We sat in the splash zone for the dolphin show for the first time but didn’t get wet! They had a new dolphin show on this visit and it was so good! We clapped and awwwwed all the way through.

Post-show ice cream. The Gulfarium does some really important work for local marine life. They have a sea turtle program, C.A.R.E., that rehabilitates sea turtles and sends over 100 back into the wild every year. They also just launched a manatee program where they house manatees between their time in critical care and being released back into the wild. We got to see the manatees for the first time on this visit! What cool creatures they are!

Of course we puzzled!

This 1,000 piece puzzle was beautiful but really freaking hard! I probably worked on it 8-10 hours total during my visit in a team effort with my cousin’s wife, her daughter and Mema.

Our other gift for Mema was a photo album from the last seven years of time we’ve spent together in Florida. So sweet to look back at all the special memories we’ve shared.

THE FOOD

Birthday/early Easter dinner made by my dad.

• Julia Child braised then baked ham
• NYT Southern Mac and Cheese
• The best kale greens – I need to get with my dad to do a tutorial. I’m not kidding when I say this was a crowd favorite part of dinner. Quite a few of us went back for seconds (including kids! – not mine lol)
• Buttermilk biscuits

My grandmother requested a pound cake for her birthday cake.

Dinner the next night was grilled chicken thighs, homemade baked beans (also need to get this recipe bc OMG), roasted veggies and leftover mac and cheese. I also had some peel and eat shrimp with cocktail sauce that my cousin’s wife had brought for us.

My dad’s homemade pizza the next night.

And on our last night we went to Finn’s favorite restaurant – Stewby’s. I had fried grouper tacos, fried okra, green beans and lots of hush puppies.

The way my child loves hush puppies, haha.

THE END 

While my heart is full of gratitude for the time that we spend, it is never, ever easy to leave. We’re planning to spend a lot of time in Florida this summer and I am counting down the days.

I think I hit the jackpot with the Mema and the kiddo that I have. <3

Until next time. <3