Home From Florida

Key and Robbie paddling around in the Gulf
Beach bums (no, for the thousandth time, they are NOT twins!)
Cutie Pie
The whole fam damily
Sunset in Venice looking out over the south jetty

Andy ducking to avoid the wrath of the flamingo (or as Natalie calls them with her Southern twang "Mangoes").

Gator wrestling at Sarasota Jungle Gardens

Andy with a conure

Key the diving man
Happy 3rd birthday Miss Natalie!!!!!!!!! She had two parties at different friends houses. I wanted her to have a cake so that is what she had at Wendy's house. She only wanted 'roni pizza so Bonnie got her one at her first party. Thanks Bonnie!
Andy helped eat the cake at the party. Thanks Andy, you are a trooper!
A flamingo and Natalie collide. A split second later and they had gone their seperate ways.
Hanging out under the hibiscus.

Pretty in pink polka dots
Natalie with her very own Little Mermaid....ahhh ahhh ahhhh AHHHH AHHH AHHHHHH
Andy Man - the diving king
All we caught on this boat trip was a picture of a dragonfly
There were really cool red dragonflies at the Van Dykes house



Key and John, trying to figure out how to get this crazy gar off the line
The three muskateers at Ken Thompson Park. I helped get this park from paper to reality when I worked for the City.
Sitting on a big shell at Mote Marine
Having a blast in the Children's Fountain at Bayfront Park.

We made it home from Florida late Sunday evening. I can't believe we were there for a whole month. It flew by. We had a great time catching up with our bestest friends, love ya FL people! :) (If housing prices keep dropping we might be tempted to come back!) The kids spent most of the time in the pool. We now have three very good swimmers! Yay! The first week Andy sat on the steps. The last week Andy was diving for dive sticks, which previous to the trip were called drown sticks. Key even managed to snorkel some in the Gulf. He claims to have seen an underwater lizard but I'm pretty sure it was some type of fish. Natalie IS a fish. She was our first swimmer, still remembering from last year. The retirees at the condo would gather in the evenings to watch her swim.

We visited Sarasota Jungle Gardens and the kids held birds and an alligator. Andy was attacked by a flamingo.

We also went to Mote Marine Aquarium and saw the rehabbing sea turtles, dolphins and whales. There was also a huge manatee to watch and marvel over.

Our last outing was the G.WIZ children's museum in Sarasota. Great place to learn and have fun. The boys especially loved it.

Natalie now has dark brown skin and platinum blonde (white) hair.

The boys borrowed Good Burger from a friend (thanks Rose!) and can quote most of the lines. I am currently the high bidder on eBay for our very own copy. Natalie fell asleep every night watching The Little Mermaid, her new favorite movie.

Key apparently didn't remember mosquitos being so large in FL from when we used to live there. He saw a big one flying near him and exclaimed, "Dad, that mosquito is carrying a stick!"

He also declared that Natalie's screaming in the car was causing him to get an ear infection. Natalie was very upset about having to leave Gina's house and Gina's dolls and Gina's stroller, etc. (Thanks for being such a good friend to Nat, Gina.)

Another time Natalie came crying to me and announced that the chair had tipped her over and poured her out.

I forget what Andy was so excited about but he screamed, "HOLY MERCY!"

Robbie went diving with friends and brought back some cool sand dollars. He hit his favorite fishing holes too. Caught 12 snook walking out to Stump Pass in Englewood. And the lucky duck saw a manta ray jump out of the water. Well, he says he did. He might be saying that to make me jealous!

The Goodsons are BUSY

So sorry if you've been checking in on us. It is certainly not that we don't have lots going on to report. We just don't have time to stop and actually report it! Life has been a whirlwind since Key got out to school. Andy had swim lessons for two weeks and then we went to visit relatives in Hartsville and Camden. Key celebrated his 6th birthday on Saturday with a big Spiderman party. And now we are getting packed for our month long visit to Venice! We'll see you soon Florida friends. :) As soon as we return from Florida (assuming we survive the heat) the boys will be in Zoo Camp for a week and then Key will have Art Camp the following week. That will give us one week to get ready for school to start. Key is looking forward to being a 1st grader and Andy is excited to be a Furman boy. Oh, and we will celebrate Natalie's THIRD birthday in FL. She does NOT want a cake, only 'roni pizza.

The Dentist

Natalie had her teeth cleaned for the first time today. She did really well! I was impressed at how calm she remained. I think she was younger than either of the boys when they went for the first time. The boys had thiers cleaned today too. After we left the dentist office we hit the Party Store for birthday supplies. Key is having a Spiderman party and Natalie decided on a Princess party, no surprises there! Then we had lunch at GattiTown. You can ride the merry-go-round for free on Tuesdays!

Have a strawberry or two!

Today was strawberry picking day at Beechwood Farms. The Mother's Morning Out group hit the field at 10am and by 10:15 most of them were covered in strawberry juice! They sure were good. Andy and Natalie had a great time picking their own carton full. I bought a gallon in addition to their cartons so we'll be having lots of strawberry shortcake over the next few days.

Have a great weekend everyone!

Now That's Funny

Coming home from soccer on Thursday (where, by the way, Key scored his first goal EVER!) Key and I had the following conversation:

Key: Where are they hiding?
Me: Who?
Key: Those people.
Me: What people?
Key: Those people that change the lights from green to red. I never see them.

Sitting in line at the Checkers Drive Thru
Andy calls Key a bad name. Robbie asks him to stop doing that. I ask Andy, "Where did you hear that name anyway?" Andy says, "Nowhere. I just thunk it up in my head and said it out my mouth."

A new friend that I've met this year at Key's school asked her daughter, who is also in K5, if she knew Key. She said, "Everybody knows Key Goodson!" Yep, I just bet he has talked the ear off every K5er at Gateway!

Bread!

BREAD! I made bread. I have been wanting a KitchenAid stand mixer for a long time and I finally took the plunge. I think what finally convinced me was that so many breads have high fructose corn syrup in them, even the ones labelled 'healthy'. So, I took a few months to really do a gut check and decide if I would really and truly make our own bread. I've decided I can do it. :) It didn't hurt that there is a special on KA mixers right now and they'll throw in a free ice cream maker attachement. I can't wait to get that in the mail. Anyway, back to the bread. It wasn't all that hard to do, seeing as it was my first attempt. The house smells wonderful and the bread isn't half bad. For a first try I am thrilled. I can't wait to try different recipes! Happy baking everyone.

Lizards, Lizards, Lizards!

Andy has just brought in lizards number 7 and 8. I don't know how he catches these things! I am concerned that lizard number 7 will attack lizard number 8. Lizard 7 is a lot bigger. Last week I was prying the jaws of a large lizard off the neck of a smaller one. So far, we still have two unattached lizards. Andy is outside looking for more lizards. I am babysitting these for him, under strict orders not to let Natalie touch them!

Yesterday, when he caught lizard number 6, he made the mistake of letting Key hold it. As Key tried to put lizard 6 in the carrier he escaped. I have NEVER seen Andy so mad in my life! He was shaking like a leaf and redder than a beet! He sat up in the garden until we made him come in for bathtime. I told him that those lizards were on high alert and were in hiding. I promised that if he'd wait til today, he'd have much better luck. Looks like I was right!

Why does this kid love lizards so much and how does he catch them so easily?