Thursday, March 3rd – Boca Raton, Florida – Day 24
Genevieve has family all over the United States and Florida was our first chance to visit one - Lois (McLennan Rector) Ronan (Gen’s Dad’s, Keith, cousin). It is always odd meeting family (in my case, family-in-law) that you have never met before. Gen had met Lois a few times before and Mary had met her a fair number more times.
More friendly and gracious hosts we could not have asked for. Matt and Lois were great. We settled down in the backyard of their beautiful house beside a lake fed by a canal. There was a few iguana’s casually sunning themselves on the wall along the water. The kids jumped at the opportunity for a swim in their pool and the water slide was a pretty big hit. The most exciting part of the day for them, besides Matt feeding them a variety of snacks (popcorn, gummy bears), was the availability of a screen to watch Miraculous Ladybug, their favourite show, while the adults talked.
A quick aside, this is the first extended amount of screen time that the kids have gotten on the trip. They occasionally steal a cell phone and get onto youtube during an extended car trip, but that is generally short lived. Before we left, with COVID in the household, the extended learning from home period after the winter break and the cold, the kids were getting more screen time then generally recommended (I will not put a number on it to save myself the embarassment). The greatest part of the trip so far is the absence of screens. So, today was a treat for the kids.
Mary got right into conversation with Lois and re-hashed their relationships and interactions with the McLennan family hierarchy. It’s always interesting to hear about the lives and people of my children’s forebears. The patriarch of the family, John Farquhar McLennan, was mentioned frequently and in glowing terms by everyone involved. This would have been Aisling, Charlotte and John’s great-great-grandfather. We even got to examine (and scan) some fantastic photos of his early life growing up on a farm in Southern Ontario and read letters between him and Lois (his future wife) while he was working in the mines in Kirkland Lake to save up for a ring. The most moving part was the stories of his generosity when as a farmer his family would give money to those in the community with need. Thank you Lois for sharing your knowledge of the history of the McLennan family and sharing your photos with us. Each little bit helps my children better know their history. Thank you Matt for your kindness interacting with my children and diligence keeping them from being bitten. I hope we get another chance to see each other again.
The afternoon went long but we finally exited. It’s always best not to overstay your welcome and I hope we didn’t overstay ours. We drove to the coast to take a look at the Boca Raton beach, we were debating going out for dinner and thought we would drive up the coast and casually look for a restaurant. On the way, we noticed the Gumbo Limbo Nature Centre. During my research I had come across it and noticed the sign off the highway previously. The nature center works with the state to protect the loggerhead, green and leatherback sea turtles. Unfortunately, it was closed but we enjoyed the after hours board walk. We saw a variety of plants and our first mangrove trees of the trip. It was a beautiful sunset walk. We then went to Flanagan’s for dinner, a Boca Raton favourite based on how busy it was.
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