Swimming lessons

Xander is going to camp for three weeks and will get to go swimming every day, so we decided to sign Jordis up for some swimming lessons. Neither of our kids have had any instruction before, so we had no idea what to expect. We've never even been to the pool here. It was a beautiful morning and Jordis was all smiles sitting on the ledge waiting for class to start.

Then they called her name and she wanted NOTHING to do with it. Jason was quick to grab her before she got too far, but she made a valiant effort to try and drag him out to the parking lot. Unsuccessful, she put her head down as all the other children went around the circle introducing themselves. After the teacher pretended to be interested in her Tinkerbell beach towel Jordis reluctantly went with her as the last child to enter the pool. She still had the scowl on her face for the first 10 minutes or so into class.

She did some more pondering after they moved to deeper water, but eventually participated in some leg kicking and jumping off the side of the pool.

She was excited after she high-fived the teacher and was allowed to exit the pool.

And then of course our Daddy's Girl ran to her favorite guy. She doesn't like him best, he just had her towel. That's what I tell myself. :-)

June no more

Where has the time gone? The first week of July is already over. Here's a quick summary for the end of June.....

The kids made their own kites. Out of coloring book pages and yarn. On a day with absolutely no wind. As Xander would say, we like to be "resourceful" here by using what we have on hand.

We have a garden this year. If you could call it that. It's about a 5' x 5' square Jason tilled for me that I filled with WAY too many plants. I have a LOT of lettuce, so I decided we'd have taco salad one night. There might be other vegetables out there as well, but if so I can't find them.

The kids went to a birthday party for our neighbor, Megan. It was a candy-themed party and the kids were super excited that I let them eat a bunch of yummy junk food. Xander's girlfriend was there AND he won a game. It was a banner day for him.

We've had out the pool.

Jordis hid from the camera, as usual, though getting creative this time in her escape. I thought I had her cornered on my mom and step-dad's porch, and then she just climbed right up on their garden hose reel.

Yep, that about sums up the end of the month. July is super-busy, so stay-tuned.

Pool time

It was so nice out this past week that we spent a lot of time in our pool. I even got in 2 or 3 times myself (yes, this is not a lie, I got in the pool).

We bought the pool at the end of last summer and were pleasantly surprised at how well it fit on our deck. It got a lot of morning sun which made it nice and warm, and putting it up there kept the kids from getting in and out and dragging grass in the water, which is what would have happened had it been in the grass. We got a cover for it and discovered that we can go 3 or 4 days before needing to replace the water. Monday we spent a nice relaxing afternoon outside and ate dinner on the deck.

Jason went out and bought some new squirt guns, so on Tuesday we had pool day again. My job was basically to refill water guns while everyone else emptied them of their water. As you can see it starts getting shady in the pool around 2:30, so that will come in really handy later this summer when the heat is scorching.

Wednesday, you guessed it, pool day. And on Thursday BaDee came over on her day off to swim in the pool, too.

Saturday night I took the kids to Powell Fest to watch the fireworks. I always say I'll never go, but I did this year because I got to park in the police department parking lot which meant no long walk. Then I proceeded to lose Jordis. Unlike Xander does though, she didn't wander off on purpose. I think she took a bridge over the playground to the walkway and couldn't figure out how to return, so decided to walk around the perimeter to get back in. One of Jason's fellow officers found her about the same time I called him to say she was missing, so it worked out well. As well as it could anyway. Never thought I'd say "thank goodness she had on her LSU shirt," but had I described her as the girl wearing an Ohio State shirt that could have been any number of kids. We finally settled in for the fireworks. I had met up with another officer's wife and their three girls, and the girlfriend of another officer who let us all pile in to his truck for a great view with no crowd.

The kids loved the show and were excited to drive by their dad directing traffic on the way home. I was happy that they slept in for a little bit the next morning.

Florida - last day

Our last day in Florida was the only chance we had to get to the pool. I love going to the pool in Florida in November because I always seem to get a great tan, quickly, with no burning. We were out there only 3 hours wearing SPF 45 (not Jason, of course) and had a really decent tan. Jordis still has strap marks from her bathing suit. They formed an "X" which Xander thought was awesome. Had I known how much fun we were going to have I might have tried to fit in a pool visit early in the week before it got cold on us.

My bathing beauty!


We spent a LONG time in the lazy river.




Xander even got adventurous and went by himself.


He even asked Jason to help him swim.



Jordis loved the little kids pool area. She even made a little friend who was younger than her and practically swimming already. The benefits of living in Florida and having a mom who used to be a lifeguard I guess. I liked the little kids pool area because it was gated.



Erma's sister and brother-in-law drove a few hours to visit us from their permanent Florida home. We went back to Downtown Disney and attempted to have dinner together at the Rainforest Cafe.





Jordis wanted only Uncle "Twoy" to hold her up to see the birds.


Shortly after this picture was taken....

...Jason and I took the kids and high-tailed it out of there. We were having a lack of cooperation and didn't want to spend that much money to eat only to not enjoy it. So, we walked all the way to the other end of the complex where at that point we all had calm bodies and could try another restaurant. Being the perfect parents that we are (ha,ha) we let the kids eat sweet potato fries and corn bread at the House of Blues. It was our last night there and we wanted to enjoy ourselves. That ended up being a quick meal as well but we got to eat all of our food, so that was good enough for us.

A little more shopping for last minute souvenirs and it was time to go back for bed.


Had Jordis been a better traveler the ride home would have been pretty good. She whines and cries the whole time which makes overnight traveling still the best option for us. But what a beautiful trip it was. In Tennessee the leaves were just gorgeous. We weren't quite at the Great Smoky Mountains but close enough that it was stunning. I've never seen such magnificent foliage. I tried to take pictures in the car but they don't do justice to the beauty of it.


We could barely get Xander to have his picture taken the whole week but when we stopped for lunch at Subway he requested to pose for this picture.

Jordis finally took a nap when we got to Columbus.


I think traveling with kids is like having a baby. The whole time you're doing it you swear it will be a while, if ever, before it happens again. But soon after you forget about how bad it really was. I'm already working on Jason for 2009. For a trip, not a baby.

Thanks Dad and Erma for taking us on vacation. We had a great time!

Florida Day 2

Monday in Florida was pretty uneventful. The weather was beautiful though, and had we known what the next two days were to bring we probably would have gone to the pool. But I digress. Our goal for that day was to take the kids to The Peabody Hotel
to see the march of the ducks.

Each of three Peabody Hotels keeps five mallard ducks in the penthouse. Every morning at 11 a.m. they ride down the elevator, walk the red carpet to the atrium, ascend the stairs and jump into a fountain. They swim around in there all day until 5 p.m. where the process takes place in reverse.


We thought the kids would really like this so drove over there to check it out. We were there a little early and had a nice table by the red carpet. The kids had some snacks and we watched a hotel employee vacuum the red carpet. We were anxiously awaiting the royal fanfare, John Philip Sousa's King Cotton March, when all of the ducks came running by before I could even get any video or pictures of it. Apparently, the duck master stated that someone forgot to turn the music on.





So, we kind of missed it. But what we saw was still neat. We also found out that you can call in advance and have someone in your party be the master of ceremonies. Something to keep in mind if we ever decide to travel to Orlando, Memphis or Little Rock. On the way back to our car we saw this and to stop and watch its gracefulness.

And my favorite building in Orlando, purposely built to look like it's upside down.

After treating ourselves the kids to the pizza buffet we went back to our room and had some dessert on the balcony.

This is the little girl I see every day, not the scowling and frowning one everyone sees in pictures.

We took a little walk around the resort to find the pool....

...then my dad and step-mom took us out for a belated birthday dinner.

It was a nice and relaxing day.