Venice Beach

We took a trip up to Venice Beach - about an hour away from us. It was a beautiful day, hot but not too hot or humid. The Superstar and Daddy searched the water/sand for shells and sharks' teeth. The Princess played in the sand. UNTIL, she realized that she was getting dirty! She HATES to be dirty! She asked for a wipey to get clean. Poor girl! I took her down to the water to clean up and she screamed LOUDLY! "NO WATER!!" She screamed, cried, and carried on until it was time to leave. Then, we tried to rinse her off in the showers/rinsers at the end of the boardwalk. She did NOT want anything to do with that! Again, more screaming! And more "no beach!" The Superstar enjoyed himself at least. However, it will be awhile before we go on a family outing to the beach!

Independence Day

We had a great time on the Fourth of July this year! We joined our friends, The Pirate and the Mermaid, for swimming and dinner at their house:

No, she didn't nap! But she did enjoy the Mermaid's bed!

After playing at their house, we went with our friends to our annual "spot" to watch our city's fireworks display. It was fun! We played with bubbles and glow sticks while we waited.

Check out that American Spirit! Go, Mermaid! Show the Princess what it's all about!

Swimming Lessons...fun!

swimming with a kick board
There he goes with a noodle!

Here he comes with a noodle!

More swimming with a kick board.

Doing a back float - his instructor is only holding him with one finger!! Yay!

Happy Blog-iversary!

Today marks one year of keeping this blog! Happy Blog-iversary!

then... now...

A lot has changed and a lot has stayed the same! Both the Superstar and the Princess have grown - and especially the Princess' hair has grown! The Superstar is reading like a champ and the Princess is singing NON-STOP! The Superstar is learning to swim at his lessons which will continue through next week. More fun ahead! Happy Blog-iversary!

Swimming Lessons!

The Superstar had his first group swimming lesson this morning. He was a bit nervous and tried to say he was too sick to go. But, after a lot of encouragement (and a promise of a Target shop afterwards!), he was ready to go. We got to the pool a few minutes before his class was supposed to start. We checked in and I asked how many kids were going to be in his class. The swim instructor said, "he's the only one." Waa-hoo! Private lessons for the YMCA group price - AWESOME! The superstar did GREAT today. He used a kick board and went down a back in the swimming lanes a few times, bobbed under the water once (he said he would go under 3 times tomorrow), and jumped into the pool at the 3 ft. 6 in. area and the 4 ft. area. The Superstar also learned how to use the stairs to get in and out of the pool and tried a little back floating. More fun tomorrow!

Cranes, Bikes, and Ducks

Kasey Krahne is back again and brought along (the Superstar named - ) Tony Krahne! They wanted to eat but we were out of birdseed! The horror! So Daddy went out to refill the birdfeeder and the "Krahnes" stayed close by to get first dibs on the goods. Delicious!

Here they come...

What? No food?

We are SO out of here, Kasey!

Daddy goes out to save the day! Yum yum!

After all the crane-watching, the Princess went out for a bike ride...

There are also two duck families that like to come by for swimming and meals...

There's Mama Duck with her 10 babies out for a swim.

And here's another Mama Duck with her 5 babies for a snack.

That bird feeder is doing a great job this summer!

Introducing...

...Kasey Krahne!!

This is the Florida Sandhill Crane that frequents our backyard and eats the birdseed from our bird feeder. He likes to hang out in our yard. We've named him Kasey Krahne. He likes to pose for pictures as you can see.