Ice Cream

Road Trip...girls only!

Rachael invited me to go to Florida with her for spring break. By the time we found a hotel and bought groceries it was already late afternoon. It was a wee bit chilly by then. We had enough time to go down to the ocean and wade. We were reminded right away that it was spring break the moment we stepped out on our balcony. The beach was covered with teenage kids playing beer pong and other drinking games. They had a stage with loud music and bootie contest right under our balcony. We got very little sleep that first night. If it wasn't the drunk kids coming in at 3-5 am yelling about their favorite football teams, it was the gate that slammed loudly each time someone went in or out.

The second day there started out as a pleasant day. The sun was bright and hot but a cool breeze was also blowing. It was the kind of day that you could have stayed out all day and then later regret it. Ask Rachael. She stayed at the beach and sunned while me and the kids went back to the room to get a snack and take a nap.Well, at least we tried to get a nap but it was kinda hard with the music going on outside.

Maddie ended up getting a late nap and woke up clinging to her mommy. It made it very hard to take their beach photos. We finally gave up on taking pictures once everyone started turning blue from the chill of the ocean. Brrr...



( I love this head band. She did not buy them together but actually found it while we were in FL. It matches perfectly. Is she not too cute in her little polka dot bikini with her little headband on?

William encouraged us to stay an extra night so we did. We found a way to sleep at night so we got a good nights sleep and enjoyed another day at the beach sunning, watching the dolphins go up and down the beach, and building sand castles. Lydia and Maddie even tried out the heated pool.
We were sitting on the balcony when we spied Capt. Jack Sparrow moving towards us. I grabbed my camera to take his picture as he went by.
He saw me and stopped to talk to us! haha

Our last day and we stopped at Goofy Golf. We can't go to PCB without going to goofy golf.I have pictures of all my kids taken here.We had to get Maddie's picture in the big fish.
Time to head home so we make a quick stop in Dunkin Doughnuts for the ride home.
We make one last stop to get one final look at the beach before heading home. It's always hard to leave.
Thank you so much Rachael for asking your mom to go with you. Thank you Lydia for being such a BIG help with Maddie. I don't know how we would have made it without you. Thank you William and kids for allowing your mom to go. I had fun but I think I will stick to my calm, end of the year beach trips when everything has calmed down a bit. It's a little more family friendly. :-)
Just a quick mention that I am not complaining about our room. We were upgraded to a kitchenette so I could have a room by the elevator and easy access to the beach for no extra cost. It was a real blessing and the music usually stopped by 7 pm. and then the beach was quiet. We only had 2 really noisy neighbors and we survived them. I really did have good time. We even rode down the strip acting goofy. When in Rome.......

Mothers Day wish list

Milk Maid Butter Dish:
I found this in an old magazine and it is no longer available online. But if any of my children happen to run across one of these adorable butter dishes, I would LOVE to have one. It was originally sold by Anthropologie. PS.. I want the red one.
Black and White Ironing Board Cover:
The second thing on my list is this ironing board cover. You can find it on Ebay. Make sure you pay careful attention to the picture because they have several different patterns to choose from that are very similiar.

Two things I would love to have.
Love,
Mom

By the Fence

Flower Girl

Spirited Art

I saw this painting on the Spirited Art website and I knew Lydia would enjoy taking the class. This was her first class at SA and she LOVED it! She is looking forward to the next one.

Nathan

St. Patrick's Day

Lydia made everyone a cute badge to wear to wear to the parade. This is the one she wore.
St. Patrick waving his blessing to the crowd.
Bagpipers.
Maddie. She really is a happy girl even though her natural expression makes her look like she is sad.
We went to Big Spring Park after lunch hoping to catch a glimpse of the green water. It was such a beautiful day to spend at the park. It's days like this that I am glad that William is self-employed. We love spending the day with him.

Circus

We enjoyed the acts on the floor before the circus began.
Everyone's excited waiting on the circus to begin.
Maddie enjoyed her first circus. I think she enjoyed the refreshments most of all!

This is one of my favorite acts.
Even though this years circus was a repeat of last year, I still enjoyed it. It was fun just watching Maddie enjoy it!

Elephants on Parade

The circus rolled into town on Monday and we went out to the depot to watch the circus parade. It was a fun thing to do once. But after sitting for 45 minutes to only see six elephants was a little disappointing. It would have been nice to see some of the other acts dressed in costume or some of the other animals. William met us there and took us all to El Palacio's for lunch afterward.



here they come!


Maddie was so excited!! That made it even better.


and there they go. It was over as quickly as it started. We are going to see them again tonight at the circus! We can't wait!

weather blooper

I took this picture of my desktop a couple of weeks ago when we were still having cold weather. I think someone made a small mistake with the current temperature. At that time we were wishing it to be true!