Anyone for camping?

We got a great tent for Christmas! (Thanks!) Now we don't really have an excuse to not go camping....
We've heard Key Largo is nice and Koreshan State Park in Estero. Anyone?

Another Florida attempt at snow--

Jared took an hour long study break and we had a snowball fight at the Naples snow fest. It is an annual tradition here on the first Saturday of December. The morning thunderstorms melted most of the snow but left enough to freeze our hands.


The "sledding" was run by lifeguards! Then we took the school bus "shuttle" back to our car. Yea for study breaks with dad! and Yea for our local parks and recreation department!

Ave Maria Town and Santa

What a great Santa!! Looks like these kids made it on the "nice list."

At the beginning of the month we went to a winter festival at Ave Maria Town- Our law school's namesake. The boys got to take a ride on a horse. Jordan really enjoyed it and told the girl leading his horse that he is an "incredible cowboy." The central landmark of Ave Maria town is the beautiful Cathedral "Oratory". You can see part of it behind Michael.

When Michael's away... (at school)

Jordan will play!

I love how Jordan is so creative and independent. and He loves to build. He will build with anything.
After we drop Michael off at school we usually go home to eat some lunch and I work on a few things. When I come into the room where Jordan is playing, I love finding some neat creation that he has built.
Notice the engineer hat he is wearing in the train picture. He insists on wearing it a certain way with the flap down by his ears. Jordan always has some kind of fettish-- a year ago I remember it was really hard for him to let go of a Lightning Mcqueen toy in one hand and Buzz Lightyear in the other.
His latest thing is wearing spiderman shoes, watch and backpack all day long. When the backpack gets too heavy I convince him to take a few toys out and put them in a "special place." He already burns enough calories without a carrying that big load!


Our "Law Partners" organization planned a great trip to the fire department while our husbands were taking finals.
The fire chief went all out and let the kids use the "remote" to put the ladder up and then he even climbed to the top!




We took a ride in the old fire truck!
What a beautiful December Day!!

Fun Outing!

Here we are at the Botanical Garden with some sweet friends-
Colorful ceramic tile at the Brazilian Garden









The kids had a blast watering plants at the little cottage and other interactive gardens.

Here was Tessa during the events of the day-





the gorgeous girls we were with-






On the way to the birding tower we saw an alligator and a nearby bird he was scoping out. The alligator is half in the water --tail and back legs on the bank in the bottom left and the bird is the speck in the middle right... oh well it was neat to see... (This was wild not captive.)


It was so enjoyable to spend a day in the beauty of nature with such nice weather. I am very grateful that we are blessed with things to enjoy in this life (as well challenges to grow from).

I am grateful for and trying to take advantage of the second summer I get this year. I'm trying to become more active and get into better shape right now-- and it has never been so easy to go for a walk outside on the 1st of December. Hooray for Florida!!
--Hopefully my quips won't wear you down. Sometimes I am bragging about our nice climate and sometimes I'm not... :P

and more....

I am about to give up on trying to keep up with scrapbooking... Has anyone found an inexpensive way to print/download blogs? This is about all the journaling/scrapbooking I may do for a while and I would love to feel better about it by making it last. Any suggestions?

Michael's school had a really neat "International Fall Festival" a few weekends ago. The "science man" came and did a fun presentation on photosynthesis, etc....



We found another fun spot with this cute group. Thanks Elayna!

zoo day

Well, I' m not keeping up with projects or the laundry... but we have been on a few fun outings lately.
This is a cute friend and her two girls with us on "zoo day!"




Beautiful animals!



Goofy picture but I had to put it in cause it's me...