The Ducklings of Spring/Summer 2013

Regis, arrived in our neighborhood sometime last summer and due to his size the ducks stopped frequenting our pond and subsequently our backyard.  

 When Reg was removed the ducks slowly and cautiously reappeared.

A couple weeks later, this paraded through our yard! 

Mama and TEN ducklings! 

So cute! 

The boys love feeding them and are on constant duckling watch!  

On afternoon while the boys were napping I found mom and babies hanging out on our neighbors porch.  

They let me hand feed them! 

Squee! 

And now as long as we feed them, they let us do this! 

The boys are in heaven! 

Who needs to live on a farm when farm animals come to you?!! 

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!  

Science Center

My mom gave the kids a generous gift card for Christmas this year so we used it to buy a membership to the Orlando Science Center!  

Our first visit was overwhelming.  There was so much to do and see, we went into the first room and the boys couldn't focus on what was in front of them because they felt compelled to run off and see the next!  It was hilarious.  

Eventually they calmed down and we were able to really enjoy some of the exhibits! 

Boat racing! 

Exploring tunnels! 

Fun!

The boys watched a movie with Jed while Isla and I made friends.  

The next Amelia Earhart! 

She found a mirror, thought it was another baby and proceeded to give it kisses for 5 minutes! 

Then we were joined by the boys and we found a car to work on! 

We only made it to 2 floors!  I can't wait to go back and see the rest! 

Catch up!

Wow, it's already been almost 2 weeks since the boys got out of school!  We've been keeping ourselves busy so time is flying!  

So I should probably back up to the end of school! 

The boys school put on a program! 

This was at rehearsal, we are more distracting than helpful at things like this. :) 

I heard the program was great!  I missed most of it because Isla was her usual screeching self.  I did see the part of the play that Evan was in and when Seth's class sang!  They did a fantastic job and were so cute! 

My view for the rest of it. :) 

A friend joined us for a little while.  Isla was smitten! 

The next morning, which was the last day of school, Isla woke up with a fever and a nasty diaper rash that seemed to appear over night.  I called and made an appointment with her pediatrician. 

After dropping the boys at school, we hightailed it across town to find out that Isla had Strep!

 Poor girl handled it so well! 

 After picking up her prescription, I ran back home, dropped off the kids with Joy and went to the school for big end of the year cleaning.  

Phew! 

We made it through another year!  

So proud of my boys! 

Isla's First Birthday

Where has the year gone?!  

Here she is on her last day as an infant! 

Of course we had to go shopping! We checked out the toy aisle, party supplies and finally we picked up food for her birthday dinner! 

Then we picked up the cake! 

Plans changed at the last minute and daddy had to work late so I took the kids to Chick fil a for dinner instead!  

Just before bed daddy came home and we had cake!  

She loves her daddy but she doesn't share dessert with anyone!!  

Kane was very amused watching his little sister pig out on her doughnut! 

The following Saturday we had a birthday dinner with the extended family. 

I baked 3 cakes.  I had planned for 2 but had left over batter so I made a third.  The boys had no problem taking out the extra cake.  

Cousin Oakley came over to celebrate.  Isla greeted him with one of her new found skills, kisses! 

All the littles enjoyed doting on their youngest cousin. 

On to the main attraction, baby + cake! 

 

Yummy and Hilarious! 

Happy Birthday Isla!! 

Goodbye Regis

So animal control ended up in our backyard.  

One of our neighbors who doesn't live on the pond called because she was afraid for her dog. -__-  

I have mixed emotions about the whole thing.  

We enjoyed watching Reeg, live life in the pond. 

Unlike what some people imagine, alligators don't prowl around on land looking for people or dogs, to attack.  They're pretty afraid of us.  

Eventually though I probably would have felt he was too big.  My neighbor just felt that way much, much sooner than I did.  

So adios Reeg!

The trapper used a special fishing pole with extra large hooks to snag the gator. She said she hooked Regis' lower leg.  

I missed the actual capture while I was picking Evan up at school.  So I don't know what happened after she reeled him in.  I wish I had seen it though! 

I asked if we could get a look at him in her truck before she took of with him. She had a second, smaller gator she had captured in another neighborhood.   

She pulled him out and gave the boys a closer look.  

Pretty cool. 

First Beach Day 2013

I hope its the first of many for the year! 

We're in this amazing phase where all 5 of our children really enjoy it!  We haven't had all of our kids on good terms with the beach since "all of our kids" included just, Evan and Seth! 

The waves weren't big but powerful, which Evan and Seth loved.  Kane tried to keep up with his older brothers and did really well, even after being taken under a couple of times.  

Ford was a little more timid, running from the waves as they came in and only allowing the water up to his knees at most.  

Isla spent most of her time crawling around, consuming sand and the occasional stick or sea shell.  

All and all a great day!