The Canal and New Lense

Tropical Storm Andrea brought a lot of rain, filling up our canal a little more.  

Evan and Seth found large palm fronds to race in our now flowing canal!  

This gave me the perfect opportunity to use the new wide angle lens Jed bought!  

The Kentuckians Visit

My sister, Becky, and London came down for a quick visit!  

Aunt Becky and her only niece!  

A little, girl cousin, bonding! 

Ford and London were like two peas in a pod.   

Except when Ford called London "Bay-bay" then London would tell him indignantly, "I not a baby!" To which Ford would say, "Ok bay bay."    

Then they wrestled it out on the trampoline. 

 Ford was delighted to have someone his own size to wrestle for a change, he could not stop laughing.  

Later we hung out at the hotel they were staying in.  We spent a little time at the pool until a huge rainstorm rolled in.  Then we were forced to chill in the room, fortunately they had a three bedroom, presidential suite! 

A selfie with London! 

Becky and London meet Oakley! 

London wasn't sure what to think about her mom holding a baby.

"I know you're in there Bay-bay!"

When London climbed into Oakley's stroller,it cemented her baby status. 

Our last day together we went to the zoo.

Little ladies!  

Right after this, while Becky and I were chatting, London tried to pick Isla up by her head.  

London: "Your mom's really uptight about her baby doll." 

Ford: "Yeah, she's always telling me, 'she is not a toy', I don't get it." 

We found the Easter Bunny! 

All seven cousins! 

Hello Mr. Otter. 

Becky, London and Becky's boyfriend, David. 

Best friends! 

When we got to the zoo, Ford grabbed London's hand and led her down the path towards the entrance.  There was a kettle corn vendor along the way and as I was trying to dig out my phone to get a picture of the cuteness, Ford tried to grab a bag of popcorn for the two of them to share. Little trouble makers! 

Sweet little Oakley. 

I miss this! 

Grandma

We went to Target the other day, after I made Ford try on this hat and sit for a picture we went to the women's section.  I was browsing clearance items when Seth called to me and said, "Mom, look at this grandma shirt!"  

 I guess to Seth my mom is glitzier than me. 

Speaking of my mom, I was in the kitchen glazing a turkey when Kane came in, sat down and started a odd conversation,

Kane: "Mom, can you tell me your secret ingredient now?"

Me: "What are you talking about?"

Kane: "You know the secret ingredient in your recipe."

After peppering him with questions to try to figure out what he might be thinking of and getting nowhere I decided to roll with it. 

Me: "You know Kane if I tell you the secret ingredient then it wont be a secret anymore."

Kane: "Ohhh, I get it! (I thought we were done but then he throws this out there.)  You don't want grandma to know so she can't cook like you!"  

 Me: "Why would you think that?" 

Kane: "Hahaha, nevermind." (Said like I was an idiot that never gets anything.)

Boots and Elves

I splurged and bought myself a pair of new boots.  I don't usually buy things like this because my life is just more flip flop than boot friendly.  However I really liked these and I found them for less than $40!  

When they arrived in the mail I pulled them out of the box and went into our closet to try them on.   I saw/heard the boys standing in my bedroom spying on me.  

While I was zipping them up I overheard this, 

 "Mom really looks like an elf now!" "Yeah maybe she is one, ask." "You ask." *giggling* 

Um, so I "really look like and elf now" implies that I looked some what like an elf pre-boots. Sweet.

Oh well, I'm happy with my purchase! 

Vacay!!

The boys go back to school later this week!  

Ahh summer flew by but we're getting in one final hurrah before reality hits!  

The kids and I are staying at the resort where my, very adorably pregnant, sister works.  Its the same one we stayed at two years ago.  

Jed is working through the week and even has a last minute, unexpected business trip to Minnesota (someone gets to fly first class, jerk).  

We'll be home for the first day of school and then back to the resort for the weekend.  

Last night after we got settled into our room, we headed down to the kiddie pool.  The boys had a blast splashing around until it started thundering and lightening.  The rest of the night was spent enjoying cable TV! I'm not sure which the boys enjoyed more.  

Playing at one of the pools.

Our room!

Dinner! 

Smoothies!  Yum!

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"Paper Slide"

First of all thank you to anonymous for taking a  guess! Car wash was a great guess but not quite right!  

Instead we made our own slip and slide or "paper slide" as Kane calls it.  

See we've bought a lot of outdoor water toys over the years and have found that they aren't very durable.  With little boys, durable is imperative!  

So when I was out buying yet another plastic toddler pool this year an older man stopped me and gave me the best advice, "Make sure you put the pool on a tarp so it doesn't pop as easily!"  Why didn't I think of that?! 

Then it dawned on me, why even buy another pool?!  I put it back and went in search of a tarp but couldn't find one, instead I found plastic sheeting in the paint section.  

Here's hoping for sliding fun all summer long!  

New Ride

Yesterday I took Seth out on a date for frozen yogurt.  On our way home we passed a garage sale and both happen to notice a bike that looked about his size.  He's been begging for a bike for his birthday so he of course wanted to stop.  Thankfully we did, the bike was in decent condition and they only wanted $1.50 for it!  It doesn't have training wheels but apparently he doesn't need them because as of this morning he was zipping up and down the sidewalk!  

 

His new ride! 

 The crew! 

 A little push start from dad and...

 he's off!

 Quite the riding face, isn't it?! You'd never know he's loving it! 

 

 Ford is enjoying his hand-me-down bike! 

This is the bike Evan got for his birthday, Jed found it in a neighbor's trash pile.  He painted it, replaced the chain and filled the tires with air.  

Our boys are living out the saying, "One man's trash is another man's treasure."   

Beach!!

My sister, Becky, and my niece are visiting us for a couple days. Since they live in a landlocked state, we of course had to take them to the beach, which is just fine with us!  

My poor sister wanted to get as much sun as possible and didn't apply quite as much sun screen as necessary.  I haven't seen a burn this bad in a long time!  So thankful for aloe vera with lidocaine!

Other than that we're having a great time together! 

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A Tree

Jed: "The campground had one of Florida's oldest Live Oaks, it was huge."  

Me: "Did it have a fence around it?" 

Jed: "No."

Me: "The city of Fruitland Park must not have too many meth heads that'll light their trees on fire so they can see their drugs." 

Jed: "Apparently not." 

I might stilll be a little bit bitter about The Senator being torched.  Sad day for central Florida.  At least we can still visit this monster when we go camping!