Pictures From Around The House

Just a few pictures that were taken in the last couple of weeks around the house. Below is my Bird Of Paradise. It does not bloom often, so I had to take a picture. Not nearly as interesting as your pictures, though, Rosie.

This wood stork wandered up to our back porch on a Saturday, about two weeks ago. He was eyeing Mike's ribs on the smoker. We walked outside and the silly bird came up to us! Just out of curiosity, I put out my hand and he came up to me. I guess this guy has had some free handouts! He hung out for a while, before he figured he was not getting any ribs.

Summer vacation makes for some bored little girls. Here they are dressing up like "super heroes." I thought they looked like ballerinas, but was informed otherwise.

This little bunny was hopping around the back yard one evening, recently. Since these pictures were taken, we have seen a bunny around on a regular basis. Maybe it is living in the shrubs in my flowerbeds. I found a baby rabbit in the flowerbed a few years ago, so it must be a good place to hide.

Horse Camp

I am going a little out of order here. I got behind with some pictures and ended up posting pics from our trip home to Alabama before I posted the pictures from Allison's horse camp. Allison was in horse camp the week of June 15th-June19th from 8:30am-12:30pm. She got to have lots of hands on horse stuff, including cleaning out the stalls! She really seemed to enjoy it and is willing to do just about anything to get to ride a horse. Friday was the "show" where the parents came and the campers rode their horses in the ring without assistance. Allison did great, and she was so excited that she completed the course without any mistakes.

The only bad thing about the camp was that it was held at the barn where Rachel does her horseback riding during the school year. The first day I took Allison and dropped her off, Rachel did not know what to do. As I was putting her back in the car, she started saying stop. As I pulled away from the barn, she started yelling stop! She did that for a couple of minutes. Fortunately, she realized quickly that this was going to be Allison's week and didn't mind not getting to ride the rest of the week.

The kids got to paint their horses for the show. Allison's horse had pink hoofs too. Here Allison enters the ring. I could tell she was nervous, but she did great.

One last picture of Allison and Soda Pop before the show.

Sweet Home Alabama

Just got home last night about 10:00pm from a trip home to Dad's. My sister and her girls went with us so it was two mommies and five kids. Lots of fun, but we are really tired today!!! It was nice, but HOT. Did I say it was HOT.......well, I cannot emphasize how HOT it was. Makes for some long days when the girls are bored and want to go out and play. We were out in the heat every day! On Saturday, we had a family reunion with my mom's family. I saw family I had not seen in twenty years. The rest of the week was spent hanging out at Daddy's house. The girls found the lawn mowers were fun to drive, and they nearly rode the wheels off of them. I told Dad that next year to just wait until we get there and let the girls cut the grass....should put an end to the "fun" really quick. There were a few run-ins with the fence and a few trees, but I think everyone and everything survived. The last day we were there we took the girls on a tour of the town. It was fun to show the girls where we used to live and go to school and where we used to play. They said that we knew something about every place there........easy to do when it is so small. The kids kept saying how bored they were, but they still seemed to enjoy the sightseeing. It was good to get visit in Alabama, but I think it was even better to get back home last night after a twelve hour car ride!!! I slept like a log last night! We are going to take it easy today!

The long summer days have given the girls lots of time in the pool. Here Leah shows of her newest trick. It is amazing that she can do that. I am not sure if you can tell in the video, but she is doing sort of a corkscrew into the water.

Rachel is continuing to improve her swimming skills. She still makes me nervous just hanging out in the middle of the pool, but she seems to enjoy it (That is, until a wave slaps her in the face and she chokes). I am always telling her to swim back over to the side. She is really enjoying following the big girls around the pool this summer and trying to do what they are doing. Allison and Leah have tried to talk Rachel into attempting a dive, but without much luck. I guess the following only goes so far!

This is our last week of being bums. We were actually supposed to take Rachel over to her speech therapist in Orlando, today, but the therapist had a change of plans at the last minute. They said we could still come and see another therapist, but I really prefer to see Beckman because she is the therapist who created the oral motor protocol. If I am driving an hour and a half, I am going to see the her. Anyway, that was postponed until next Tuesday-great for us today, but we will be hating it come Tuesday.

Allison will be attending horse camp next week. That will run Monday thru Friday from 8:30am-12:30pm. It is going to be hot..........I hope she enjoys it. On Friday, immediately after Allison finishes her horse camp, we will be loading up in the car with Jane and her girls to make the 13 hour long drive to dad's in Alabama. This is always a hoot and a half ;-) Saturday the 20th is a family reunion with my mom's side of the family. Sunday will be father's day, so it will be nice to get to spend it with Dad. We will stay in Alabama until Thursday I believe, then it will be back in the car for another 13 hour trip, wooohooo! Nice to be home for a visit, but I so hate the drive.

Sooo, we are just trying to enjoy this week hanging out around the house before we have to get busy again. Hope everyone is having a great summer so far too.

Down Time

We have been so lazy this past weeek. I did go get my haircut on Wednesday, and Allison and Leah got their haircut on Thursday. The girls just got a trim. I asked the stylist to make mine a little shorter than it had been, and I walked out with a haircut shorter than I wanted. Oh well.....it will grow out soon. I did not get Rachel's haircut. It is all one length and she can go longer between cuts. She had a short bob in the fall, because I could not get her to stop chewing on her hair. She seems to be out of that phase now, so I am going to let it grow out a little.....until it is too difficult to brush through, anyway.

The first of the week we had a friend visiting from Wisconsin for two nights. She recently moved from here and needed to come back and take care of some paperwork to rent her house that she cannot sell-not a good time to have to do that! We also had Grandpa here for one night. He came down and dropped off his kitty with us and spent the night, before Mike took him to the airport at 6:00am Tuesday morning to catch his plane to Wisconsin. Weird, isn't it that we had two house guests and both of them flew to Wisconsin on Tuesday!

The rest of the week just went by in blur of the girls swimming in the pool, complaining because it was raining, slip-n-sliding, and begging for a sleepover. The slip-n-slide was funny, because Rachel does not have the coordination to run and slide, so I just "tossed" her down the slide like a bowling ball. She loved that......no really, she did! The girls had a neighbor over to spend the night on Friday. Other than being incredibly silly at times, that was not too bad. The girls were asleep by 10:30pm.

Today, we are stuck in the house and the girls are starting to get tired of each other. It has rained off and on all week, but it started early today (about 2:00pm) and it is still raining. The girls have gone upstairs to make a "movie" with the video camera. Right now, It sounds like the A-list actress and the director are having a difference of opinion.

Turtles, Turtles Everywhere!

Remember this little guy? This is the soft shell turtle that Allison found in the yard a few weeks ago. Isn't he cute?
Here is the soft shell turtle I picked up from the side of the road in our neighborhood on Sunday. He was in the middle of all of the construction, so I brought him home and released him in the pond behind the house.

He was pretty easy going, so we had a chance to get really up close. They are neat animals.
He is not as "cute" as the little guy, but he was really cool. It is like looking at an alien when you get to really check them out. Doesn't he look happy?!