9 Months

I can't believe Isaac turns 9 months today! It's also the last day of May - this year has been going by so fast!

We went out on the boat today with The Ferguson's which turned out to be a lovely day! It was HOT - and when I say HOT - I mean it is uncomfortable to stop the boat and be outside. However, with a breeze it's not too bad. Our usual routine on the boat includes bringing brats & dogs and stopping for a BBQ on the calm waters of Swimming Pen Creek (aka Alligator Alley!). Well the stop this time turned out to be not so enjoyable. We were all dripping with sweat (more me than anyone else) and could not go in for a dip (because of aforementioned Alligator Alley). Isaac was miserable and the poor kids have to wear those darn life jackets which are a good thing when in the water but mostly just a pain in the butt when it's so hot!

After said miserable BBQ - we headed into the main part of Doctor's Lake and went tubing. The first go-around was Jessica, I and the girls. It was OK. The girls were a little nervous so that didn't last too long before we asked Lyndon to stop and let the girls back in the boat but Jessica and I were ready for more fun! Well our fun turned out to be not so fun and Lyndon *accidentally* tipped the tube and my worst fear came true - I was swimming in alligator infested waters. I was freaked out - screamed - and swam like hell to the swim ladder. Luckily I still have all my appendages and toes. It was an adventure!

We're all worn out from the sun and are ready for a good night's sleep! Tomorrow we are heading to Disney at 5:30 in the morning to return on Tuesday afternoon. An update then!!!

Isaac the Ballerina???

It's begun - Sydney has started playing dress up with Isaac. Poor guy! I think I'll have to hang on to these pictures to show future girlfriends!!!

Tampa Trip

This weekend we had a fabulous time in Tampa! We left Saturday at noon time. Tampa is about a 3.5 hour drive from our house and we checked into our hotel in time to hit the pool. Our hotel had a really fun kiddie pool and we had a great time playing and relaxing. Sunday we hit Busch Gardens Africa. It was awesome! Then on Monday we visited Adventure Island - Tampa's huge water park. It was a hot day and we just took turns going on the slides with Sydney. It had a great water play area for the little ones so we made that our home base and just ventured out from there. It was so incredibly crowded as it was open to Tampa school's but we got there early and left just after 1pm.

This weekend Isaac definitely mastered crawling! He's all over the place and he's so fun to watch! He's such a happy guy and is a huge flirt!

Sometimes I feel like my life is just one fun adventure after another these days. I really feel so blessed to be in the situation I'm in right now - able to stay home with my kids and watch them grow! When we're out doing such fun things as a family, it just warms my heart to see the perma-smile on Sydney's face. It's amazing how during these times she is so well behaved too - just happy to listen to mom and dad because I think she just knows it makes all our lives so much more enjoyable - so why ruin a good thing?!?!

Shore Duty Shmore Duty

Another Saturday morning and Lyndon's at work - again. I just have to rant a little because one big reason we took these orders in Jacksonville was that they were shore duty (compared to sea duty where you're leaving on deployments). Most shore duties are a total cake walk - work at 8 - home at 2. Well, this shore duty is NOT at all your typical one. Lyndon leaves at 5am and is home about 5pm - five days a week. This is the second Saturday in a row he has had to work. It's crap!!! Of course I would rather have this schedule then him having to leave 6 months out of the year but come on!!! What keeps me sane is knowing we have only 270 days (we actually have a ticker on our computer) until he's out - yes OUT!!! I can't WAIT!!! This stuff is for the birds!!!

Dora Umbrella

Yesterday the kids and I biked down to the shopping center about 5 miles down the road. We did some shopping and met Jessica, Lydia and Miles for lunch. While we were at Target I found a great buy on a Dora umbrella - one of the things I had on her Christmas list but never could find - so I gave it to her for behaving so well yesterday (kind of a stretch). Anyway, she's never been so happy and appreciative of a gift I've bought her. So much so in fact, she uses it everywhere....we'll see how long this lasts!

Night out!

We had so much fun out last night with our Florida BFF's Robert & Jessica! We had a babysitter for the first time and it went really well!

We started our evening at La Napolera - a great local Mexican restaurant here, then headed to Whitey's Fish Camp. Whitey's is about one mile from our house. It's a total southern dive with everything from alligator to catfish on the menu. We just had beer and fried pickles - they're delish!! We sat out on the dock where there was a nice breeze. Nothing like a fun night out with friends!!

NY Times Op-Ed

I thought this opinion by Thomas Friedman was definitely blog worthy. Thanks Mom!

Op-Ed Columnist: Who Will Tell the People?

Nap Time

Nap time just took an interesting turn for us. Things have been going really well. It took a long time to get Isaac to go down without a fight and for a LONG time we rocked him to bed - but now he's standing up in his crib and this new found milestone is making it a challenge to get through our nap times!!

Cuteness!

My conversation with Sydney this morning:

Syd (as she came to me with her fake crying): Mom, I'm really really scared
Mom: Why? What are you scared of?
Syd: I scared of monsters
Mom: Don't worry, I will always protect you from the monsters
Syd: I really really need some chocolate milk to make it all better.......

Ahhhhh the drama has begun already! She knows the phrases that make me a softie!

Mother's Day

Just a quick shout out to wish all you mom's & mom's-to-be a Happy Mother's Day!

Although it's hard not being around my mom, I still had a wonderful day with my family and friends. We went to the Ferguson's for brunch. I made a Shrimp, Spinach & Feta Fritatta, Jessica made a delicious fruit salad and we had some pastries to round it all out. Afterwards, Jessica and I went shopping and had some great mommy time out - it was perfect! Lyndon and Sydney made a delicious dinner tonight and let me put my feet up. It was fantastic!

Of course Mother's Day wouldn't be complete without mention of the wonderful role model I've had. My mom means the world to me. I could not ask for a more supportive and loving mother and friend. Mom, you have truly taught me so many things throughout my life and are always there to listen and to offer me advice when I need it. I am looking forward to spending my next Mother's Day with you again. Thank you for all that you have done and for all that you do. I love you!!!

Sweet Sweet Sydney

I just had to share this picture I took of Sydney this morning. I had left Sydney eating her cereal while I jumped in the shower. I came out to see how she was doing and she was in the pantry.....stuffing marshmallows in her mouth.

Neptune Beach

Yesterday we headed out early to the beach with the Ferguson's. We usually go to Mickler's Landing which is in Ponte Vedra - however the TPC is there right now so we thought it would be best to avoid the chaos. Neptune Beach is just north of Jacksonville Beach (which can be kinda ghetto) and we ended up with a great find! The beach was perfect - hardly any rocks and a nice gradual slope into the water. We all had so much fun! We are finally getting the hang of getting all our stuff down to the beach. As long as Jessica and I both remember to bring our baby carriers, we're good! We seriously pack so much stuff though - it's insane!!

Isaac is now starting to crawl and he's started pulling himself up! He's got this massive legs with tons of power so that's no surprise....but he's even started doing some cruising.

Weekend Visit

This weekend, we were so happy to have my aunt Kathie fly down for a visit. She arrived Friday afternoon and stayed through Sunday evening. It was her first visit since we moved to Jacksonville and it was so fun to see her. When we lived in Maine, we got to see Kathie and Jan (hubby) more frequently as they live in NYC. Jan is in South Carolina doing an opera so he couldn't make it.

We just sorta chilled and tried to get out and see some sights. We had hoped on Saturday to hit the shrimp festival but we drastically underestimated the travel time and additionally got stuck in the ferry line for a bit so we didn't make it to the festival but were able to see some beautiful sights on the way. Sunday we took the boat out on the lake and went up Swimming Pen Creek. This was an exciting trip as it was my FIRST sighting of an alligator in it's natural habitat. I've only ever seen them at the zoo....or Disney.... it was COOL! We had anchored to BBQ our lunch and kept seeing something disturb the top of the water. It was close.... then finally the big guy surfaced, showed us his entire huge body and just kinda stayed in that spot the rest of the time. He (or she) kept coming up for air every once in awhile but you could see it under the water. So fun!!!

We returned home after just a few hours - it was a hot day - and watched Sydney play out back.

Pictures

One thing that's been on my "to-do" list is to go through all the pictures on our computer, upload them to kodak and order them so we can have some actual pictures in our home rather than being all on our computer. Well I've spent the last two days doing just that. I sorted the pictures by year and finally have my order in. In total, we ordered 1109 pictures - dating back to 2004. Maybe some day I'll get them in albums but just having them in a box is step one for me! Maybe now I can start getting Sydney's baby book really looking good!

I thought I would share just a few pictures from the last few years!

It's been so much fun to go through all of our pictures again! It seems so long ago Sydney had no hair but that lasted for two years....

Aunt Kathie arrives from NYC this afternoon for a short weekend visit. We are really looking forward to spending time with her!!