Strawberry Pickin'

We went to Valley Home Farm to pick fresh strawberries in May. We were extremely hot and tired after about 30 minutes! But the strawberries were totally worth it.

Patience

This water slide that sister is doing looks fun.

Hmm, yes, I can see why she might think this is fun.

Sitting here is nice. I like the water. Is that a butterfly? I wonder where Daisy is? I need a snack. Where's my cup? 10 minutes later.....

Claire is getting impatient!!!

Such a good sister this Claire is.

Summer Vacation 2010

We were welcomed to Florida with beautiful water!

First morning: Greased with sunscreen and ready to hit the beach!

Loving the pool.

Kate wasn't so sure about the ocean, but she gave it a try.

Sam found a Ruffle in the shape of FL.

Checking out the view from our bedroom

Pretty girl!

Eating at Reggae J's

Kate loved the lazy river.

These sting rays (or manta rays??) were everywhere and so fun to watch!

Eating outside at Sharky's. So fun after our menus quit flying away and Sam quit freaking out about it.

Kate was in a posing mood, so we took advantage!

Getting Daddy's nose.

After our dinner we went down to catch the sunset. Claire pondered the ocean :-)

The kids took turns taking our picture.

Hmmm, still not sure about that ocean. It was a love/hate affair.

One more look at the ocean before we had to leave!

Kate was so ready to go! Everytime we went back to the condo she started crying as soon as we hit the door. I guess she thought we were going to magically be at home. She had fun, but she was a kinda cranky all week. It didn't help that she busted her head open the first day (blood and all) and then fell several times on the tile. So this picture sums up her thoughts...."Let's hit the road!"

XOXO

A great deal of my relationship with my Daddy took place on paper. As I grew up in small town Bell Buckle, he was hundreds and sometimes thousands of miles away from me. Of course, there was no e-mail, no skyping, no picking up the cell phone for a quick chat (turns out long distance to the Philippines is really expensive). The brief calls we did have were difficult to relay little more than what I had been up to in the previous weeks. But we wrote to each other. I have a stack of letters full of ordinary happenings of daily life, exciting announcements of re-marriage and two baby sisters, and the questions about what was going on in my world. And always they were signed with love and XOXO. I remember asking my Granny what they meant the first time I saw them next to his name. Hugs and Kisses. Like a secret code shared between only us, at least in my mind. I'm loving and missing my Daddy today, thankful for the great memories we made while we were together and also for my stack of letters.

Flood Fun

The historic flooding in the Nashville area on Sunday left us with high water also. But by Wednesday it looked like a lovely babbling brook in our backyard. The kids had so much fun in our redneck swimming pool.

Not so sure about this...

Oh, okay, this is supposed to be fun!

Everything's more fun with a sister.

Whoa!

The water started out clear, but soon looked like this.

Show off

Just too cute!

Sam finally quit griping and came to join us.

After the creek adventures the kids moved on to the water slide in the back yard, so this is fresh water on her head....not dirty creek water! I know what you all were thinking.

Peek-A-Boo

When I was cooking dinner the other night I asked Claire to entertain Kate for a few minutes. I heard lots of giggling outside and found the girls playing a cute game of peek-a-boo around the tree.

Guess

What is this darling little (grumpy) girl screaming for first thing in the morning?
The first person with the correct answer wins the exclusive opportunity to babysit this beautiful (demanding) baby.