May - Lake Trip

We've been going out a lot lately with our friends on their boat. This time we were out of Lake Santa Fe. We usually pack lunch and spent the day cruising. The water warmed up quickly so we decided to do some tubing. Avery was terrified of the water (as you can see in the pics below). We decided this is the summer that she needs to learn to be comfortable in the water and the next week we signed her up for swim lessons all summer long. It really is a shame we don't have space on our property for a pool.

This was my first time tubing in a loooong time. Loved it!


Scott and Avery tubing.


They just flipped over. She decided at that point she was done with the tube.




A forced smile for sure.

May - Avery gets into make-up

I knew this day was eventually coming...

Avery had the leftover make-up from her Disney princess makeover somewhere hidden in her room. I completely forgotten about it until she came out one day and told me she did her make-up. I guess I should be happy mascara didn't come in the kit.

Check out the blush application.






Right down the the sparkle lips.

May - End of School Program

At the end of each school year the class put on a parent appreciation program. This year they did the Tikki Tikki Tembo. It was a classic Chinese children's story about a boy with long name. It was cute. Avery can be shy at times, but she really does a great job singing in front of a group. She takes it very seriously.


The Program - Avery is on the front left.


Waiting before the show.


Avery played the part of a flower. Her little flower hat was hanging in her face the first part of the show.


Avery with her teacher of the past two years, Ms. Christina.

May - Flowers around the Yard

More beautiful blooms in May.

Cardoon in bloom.


Can you smell those orange blossoms? :-)


My go to flowers for pics.

Late April - Disney Trip

We wanted to do another trip to Disney - more as an adult weekend, so we brought our sitter and stayed out in Epcot and had a few nice dinners/evenings out. The weather was gorgeous again and our hotel was right on the back entrance to Epcot, so we could walk right in. During the day we went for a few hours to a park, but then we splashed in the pool and hung out at the cabana at our hotel - the Dolphin. W.O.N.D.E.R.F.U.L!

I took a lot of pictures, but the only one worth posting was of Avery's face paint on Sunday morning before we left. We always get her face painted and this time she wanted to be the unicorn.

April - School Birthday Party

Avery's friend from her class had a birthday party at a local kids play place. We seem to miss most of the class birthday parties, so when we were in town for this one, we made a point to go play with her friends for the afternoon.

The party started off with a treasure hunt. They found things like you would find in a treasure chest.



Avery hunting - she is in the light blue shirt on the left side.



Carrying all her jewels.



After the treasure hunt the kids moved down to climb the cheese wall. That's when I looked over and Avery had burst into tears. She was terrified. She would not do it at all.



Here they are waiting to do the obstacle course. She was so worked up over the wall that she didn't want to do this either! I had to ask the instructor to please talk her into it. I knew she wanted to, but she was scared - maybe because it was all of her classmates. (?)



Here she is very gingerly doing the course.



And the balance beam.



After this party, we decided that we needed to get Avery into some type of group sports so she could get over that fear. We have since joined another type of kids club and are now taking swimming and gymnastics (pics to follow). Her self-esteem had gotten so much better and she is really enjoying these types of outings now. However, she still has the fear of the bounce house. :-)

April - Impromptu Beach Trip

One late Sunday afternoon we decided to head to the beach to have dinner and spash in the waves for a couple hours. It was a blast - as are most impromptu trip we take.

Avery playing right beside our table at The SB Grill.


Thumb Wrestling

There was one of those great little low tide pools that was perfect for skimming with the boogie board.


Youssouf pulling Avery.





Mr. Starfish

April - Around the Yard

After a long, cold winter April was a really spectacular month around the yard. We spent a ton of time in the yard enjoying few weeks of spring weather. It seemed we went from winter to summer in a matter of weeks. Ah, well, the joys of living in Florida.

Avery on an early spring morning out in the yard with her Daddy. She is playing in the lettuce rows. The lettuce was great this year, but those first few weeks of baby lettuce goes quickly and we end up with lots of leggy lettuce. Next year we need to harvest early and share the love.


What a silly girl! This was my attempt to get some portraits with the plants around the yard. Did turn out all that well. :-)


The peanut mulch pile is a great place to play.


Tung tree flower.


Avery has a rose outside her window that looks really pitiful (IMO), but the flowers it produces are gorgeous.


Daisies


This is Fergus aka Fergie, Furgerburger, Furliner. I love this little guy. I am totally surprised both our little orange furry friends are still around. They're always in the road and have no fear of dogs. I am trying not to get too attached, but this little guy has gotten to me. Avery likes the other one, Linus aka Liney-o-miney, Linferger. He is her little bud and they play together all the time.

April - Easter

My mom came to visit and help with Avery around Easter time. Avery's spring break was that week and I had to go to work, so it was great that mom was able to come and help out. Much to everyone's surprise Mom didn't even get sick when she was here. In the past she has picked up every little bug we were carrying.


Mom brought daffodils from her yard.


Strange expression, but she was loving the egg coloring this year.


The eggs in the background are white eggs and we also used our brown chicken eggs to experiment and make our own crazy colors. I think we had some called, eggplant, green olive and beet. Fun stuff!


I believe this was the one we called "beet".


The Easter Bunny brought her these silly glasses.


On the egg hunt.

April - Trip to Disney

We went down for a day trip and met my friend Katie and her family at Magic Kingdom. We had plans for the girls to do the Bibbity Bobbity Boutique after lunch. That was a lot of fun and they loved being Princesses for the day. The lines weren't terrible and the weather was quite nice. We managed to ride a lot of rides and generally wore ourselves out the way we always do at Disney. We ended the day with dinner at England in Epcot - which I thought was quite yummy and the British accents are always and added bonus. The girls were in that pre-exhausted giggly stage. Too cute!


Warning -- all pics were taken with my point and shoot.


The girls posing of the castle.


We did many character pics on this trip, but I think this was my favorite.


Getting ready to ride the tea cups.


It looks wilder than it really was. We didn't allow any spinning. :-)


Avery getting her hair done at the Boutique.


She was so happy being a Princess.


It wouldn't be a complete Disney trip without a carousel ride.


Sleeping Beauty on the way home - about 5 minutes into our trip home.