Hurricanes. A fact of life for Floridians. The way we behave toward them depends on which part of the state you are talking about. 

​I live on the east coast. In Palm Beach county. And we have been blessed geographically with the Bahamas off our coast. They typically act as a barrier, protecting our county from the direct path of a monster storm*. 

In fact, it has been nearly 11 years since the last direct hit to my town. I will forever remember that late October day... My husband proposed the night before he was deployed for hurricane relief. Good times. 

On Sunday, we tried a new (to us) Italian restaurant in Jupiter. Bravo!- in Harbourside. 

We loved it. 

Sunday was supposed to be a big morning for Stu, so I went on the hunt for an excellent spot to eat. We usually get stuck in our Sunday lunch rut of Chilis or Ale House, but this was an important morning. Both of our parents came up to our church for the morning. Most of the "fancy" food spots in Tequesta and Jupiter are not open for lunch.

Plus, I always look at the children's menu online. My son has an allergy to eggs, and because of that, there are only so many things he will actually eat. Truthfully, I don't know if the pickiness is allergy or age related. Either way, the spots with no kids menus were immediately crossed off the list. 

I like Chilis as much as the next person. And the Ale House is ok. But if I have to eat at either one, I'm going to scream. And don't even get me started on the crap food we have had at Outback lately. 

I suppose we are in the worst food rut ever. My kids are obsessed with the three restaurants mentioned above. And because of that, we frequent those establishments. Momma needs a break. 

Our kids go to karate several times each week. They study Mixed Martial Arts at their dojo. And I absolutely LOVE it. I love that my kids are learning to defend themselves against different attacks. I love watching them learn and practice. 

Stu was a police officer, so defense is something he takes seriously. He wants the kids to be prepared for anything. It's important to me too, but for reasons I don't want to discuss now. 

The kids view karate as "fun." They both like going. They love their instructors. They like learning. They both love that they can see the progress they make when they work hard. And yes, they know they are learning to fight. Yes, they know these moves can be used to fight off an attacker. It doesn't scare them. It doesn't bother them. I don't know if it's because they were Law Enforcement kids for so  long (the idea of "bad guys" is very real in a LEO house) or if it just the blunt way Stu and I deal with that stuff. The reason doesn't matter. 

Even though I spend a lot of time at the dojo, when I hear the term "self defense" I think "guns." 

The plan for this past Saturday morning had been for me to take the kids to karate. Stu and my family (sisters, their spouses and my dad) were going to go to the gun range. But Rea wanted to go to the range too... and honestly, so did I. So the kids and I crashed their outing. 

The kids were awesome. All things considered. It was hot and loud in the range. It was our first time (me and the kids) to a gun range. It took a few minutes to get our bearings. The kids had wide eyes. I thought Buddy might start crying right off the bat. But they just sat back against the wall and waited and watched. 

Rea was excited to try. She shot off a few rounds with Stu. Then Buddy wanted to. He was not going to let his big sister show him up. 

We had a great time. Both kids liked Aunt Steph's rifle. And Rea said we really need to go there more often... like at least once a year. 

Thinking about going? Check out their website. 

Palm Beach Shooting Center 

There's been a lot of chatter lately about Millenials - you know, the generation of "I deserve it all even though I have done nothing to earn it" and "The hurts my feelings, I don't feel safe anymore." I have even helped spread the chatter on Facebook by sharing funny videos about the worst generation ever (I can say that because I recently found out I am on the older end of that group. Ugh). 

Well, this week, I indulged in Millenial behavior. Yup. I sure did. And it was awesome. 

My girlfriends and I have been in a few friendly (I use that word lightly) fitness/weight loss competitions lately. It started out as one month-long challenge to see who could burn the most calories. We are all connected on a few Apps, so we can see what the other chicks are doing. It's like an obnoxious form of peer pressure. 

Anyway, what began as one challenge, eventually turned into 3 challenges. And 2 of those were happening simultaneously. Here's the basic breakdown: 

1. One month to burn the most calories
2. One month to run the most number of miles
3. One month to workout the most amount of time

The first two are over. We are in the middle of our May Mayhem 3rd challenge, I am laughably behind in this one. I didn't finish last in the first two, but my rank was not impressive either. 

The 5 of us like to have a good time. We are social people. And if we are going to do this much work, there should be a reward, right? We decided that a dinner out would be the perfect thing. Picking the venue was the easy part. Trying to find a night when 5 Mommies could get away proved difficult. But we managed. 

When I was getting ready to go out, Stu asked why I was going. I gave him a blank stare for a minute and incredulously replied, "Duh, it's girls' night." 

He said, "No, I mean why are you going? You lost all the challenges." 

Ouch, man. "Well, I am going to celebrate my participation and mediocrity."

We ate dinner at Echo, a restaurant owned by the Breakers. It was AMAZING. I didn't want to tell Stu, but it's probably the best sushi in our area. For a bunch of ladies involved in a weight loss competition, we killed the menu. The chicken lettuce wraps were so good - perfectly spicy. The two sushi rolls I ordered were divine (the Palm Beach roll and the Hurricane roll). For dessert, we ordered 2 of the samplers... and came pretty close to licking the plate clean. Yum. Yum. 

After dinner, we shuttled over to HMF at the Breakers. It's a cool place. The people watching is worth the drive. And the ambience is wonderful. That hotel is so amazing. If you have never been, you need to check it out. I love the feeling I get when I walk in. It's incredibly grand and feels to me like the roaring 20s come to life. I love it.