School Days

School has now been going strong for two weeks and my two are still loving it just as much as the first day.

Mandy actually cried on Sunday because she thought it was a school day and she wanted to go to school!!!!

Dallin is loving his teacher.  I think she forever won his heart because she doesn’t mind being a little silly – like telling them they had ants in their pants because they weren’t sitting still :)

Based on what these last two weeks have been like, I think we are going to have a great school year!

Happy Birthday!

To the bestest Mama Doris is the whole world!

Can you believe she is 91?

She looks wonderful doesn’t she?   She still reads story books like a pro!

We love you Mama Doris!  We hope you have the best 91st birthday ever!

 

P.S.  To see a few photos I took of a family vacationing at the beach go here or here.

Life after vacation

Now that I just relived all of our vacation and have been back in the “real world” for almost two weeks now, I wish I could take a few minutes and do just what I did that week:

Put my feet up,

Grab a good book,

Feel a little chill in the wind,

As I watch a storm blow in from the gulf.

But life rolls on.  Now I have to get out of bed early to get kids fed and ready for school.  Take one to school, wait 30 minutes and take another to school.  Keep the one that is left at home alone entertained for a couple of hours, while simultaneously trying to complete work.  Then jump back in the car and pick up my little pre-k queen.  Convince my baby that he needs to take a nap.  Do more work while he sleeps.  Then head out the door again to meet my favorite 2nd grader.  Come home, help with homework, do laundry, clean-up messes, cook dinner, tuck children into bed – and then start all over again the next day.  Honestly though, I wouldn’t have it any other way – I love these little ones and the exhaustion by the end of the day is absolutely worth it.

Day 8 – Last Day of Vacation

On our last full day of vacation, we spent the day just bumming around Cedar Key.  We had lunch at the Picked Pelican (and no they don’t serve Pelican, I checked the menu!).  Our appetizer of fried green tomatoes and fried pickles was extra yummy!  Then we walked around the shops a little bit.  Mandy picked out this shirt for Nathan.  I can’t imagine why he didn’t want to buy it!

Then we enjoyed a little ice cream at Kona Joe’s water front shack.

While Layton was napping, Nathan took Dallin and Mandy to the Cedar Key “Museum”.  Which was very tiny,  but fun.  They each got a little chip of cedar as a souvenir.

And of course, we did what we did EVERYDAY during our whole vacation.  We swam in the pool!

One very important milestone was reached during this week of vacation.  Dallin learned to swim without a life vest!  He is now a little fish!  He can swim anywhere, anytime!

We sure loved our vacation!   We were sad to leave.  But even good things have to come to an end sometime.

Day 7 – Homosassa Springs

Day 7 of our vacation found us traveling to Homosassa Springs.  Home of the Manatees!

This is a favorite park of my childhood.  I had a Great-Aunt and Uncle that lived down in Sarasota.  We went to visit them almost every summer.  On the drive down there, we would often stop off at this park to see the Manatees and other natural Florida wildlife.

 

On our way there, we were a little afraid that we were going to be rained out.  But surprisingly just before we arrived the rain stopped and the sun came out.  What is crazy is that just minutes after we left that day, it started pouring.  It was like the sun shone only for us :)

We had a great time seeing all the animals, including these jumping mullet everywhere.

Layton even had a close encounter of the squirrel kind.

Our little family of manatees:

It was a great day!

Day 6 - A Rainy Day

Afternoon showers were a regular thing on our vacation, but one of the days we had a bit more than just the plain ole’ afternoon showers.  We had just a little while of sunshine that morning, which we spent walking around the town a little bit.

 

But then the skies opened and it poured and poured and poured.

So we had a movie marathon!  We watched all of the Spiderman movies and then all of the X-Men movies.  Can you sense a theme here?  It was good times.  Even rainy days can be fun while on vacation!

Day 5 – Manatee Springs

We woke up that morning  to this view:

Then we headed out the door for a short drive up to Manatee Springs.  Where we saw not manatee, but deer.  Lots of them.  And they were completely unconcerned with lots of people being around.

Like so many springs in Florida, this one flows right up from a huge series of underground caves.   The water is clear, cold and beautiful.

 

It fed right into the Suwannee River, which was just a short little walk from the head of the springs.

We saw a tiny little alligator there in the Suwannee.  He was about as cute as an alligator is capable of being.

Some of us were brave enough to get into the freezing cold water.  

Layton and Mandy pretty much refused to get more than their feet wet.  I was right there with them.  Waist deep was as far as I could make myself go!  Layton actually cried because he thought it was too cold.

All and all another great little state park.


P.S.  If you haven't already seen them, you can look at a few wedding photos I did here and here.