So Much Fun Stuff....

This has been a fantastic day so far. And last night was really fun too. Every Monday we have family night. It was Trav's idea and it's something that everybody looks forward to. I usually try to make something fun for dinner and then Chloe reads a Bible story and then we play a game or something like that. Well, last night everybody got salad (mean mommy) and then we took a walk. Even miss Amanda walked with us. For one night a week she's a captive to family things. You'll understand when you have teenagers. The weather has been perfect for the last few days (high 60's) and we had such a great time. Then we played Super Monkey Ball. Last week Travis bought a used game cube. No, it's not a Wii but we don't have the money for that so we're not buying it. The only downside is that sometimes I get motion sickness from that game. Seriously. There's just too much going on at some points, so I had to hide in the bedroom while Travis and Chloe finished playing.

Today is a super-special day for Chloe because it's field trip day! She's been so excited about it. I wish I could have gone but for some reason this school only allows 1 (!) chaperone to go with the class. Last year I think we had about 6 chaperones. Anyway, she picked out her outfit last night and asked if she could wear a skirt. Sure, no problem. Then I saw that it was a pink and black plaid skirt. My initial reaction was to say (OK, I actually did say) no way, that doesn't match. Then she begged and I relented. Then she asked if she could wear the striped tights. I was initially horrified and then I said, "sure, why not"? Know why? Because she is a beautiful, thoughful, creative soul and it just comes out everywhere. When we get to FL, no matter what school she goes to she's going to have to wear a uniform. I personally am neither pro nor con on the uniform issue. But I think that she'll feel stifled by it- a lot. So for today my sweet little butterfly will be wearing a plaid skirt and striped leggings. And I'm OK with it. I think it's really cute.

And this morning I took Halle for a walk. We pretty much always walk the same place because I don't have to drive anywhere to do it. It's beautiful and they have a pond with fish and turtles and geese. We all love going there. When we went last night we forgot to take bread with us and the fish were really disappointed. So today I made sure to take some with us. I always feel sorry for the turtles because they just aren't fast enough to get to the little bits of bread that we drop. So I figured out that the secret is to drop *big* chunks of bread because the smaller fish can't drag the whole thing down. Does anybody know what kind of fish those are? I can name a ridiculous amount of salt water fish because I spent so much time doing that as a kid but I'm kind of clueless as to what these are. They are kind of blue so I'm going to guess that they're bluegills. Animal names are usually descriptive like that.

We also fed the fish on Saturday and for the first time ever we saw a really big carp. Trav thinks he's about 3 1/2 feet long.

I tried really hard to get some pics of him and I was pleasantly surprised. I can't wait to show these to Trav tonight. I just love these guys. I love wildlife and being outside- especially when the weather is perfect like this. This is a great day.

A Walk

This morning I went for a walk. Yep, I was surprised too. I dropped Chloe off at school and came home and wanted to go back to sleep. I thought I could read my Bible and pray...and drift off to sleep, because that is surely what would happen. Or I could take 45 minutes to myself and have a nice walk. It was 37 degrees but it was that cold that you know won't hang around. And it was crazy-foggy outside. So I headed off and noticed how very many dogs we have in our neighborhood; they're a noisy bunch. And I headed off to the picture-perfect-disney-esque neighborhood across the street.

White picket fences and all... I really love the style of homes they have there and I daydream of living in something like it one day. But they only have tiny little side yards and well, I want the kids to have room to play and I like to grow stuff so it would have to be something else that looks like this.

The forsythia is in full bloom. I don't know if this stuff grows in Florida. I love it.

And as I walked around their "lake" I noticed a few perfectly formed spider webs that had caught plenty of dew.

I really tried to catch the steam of the fog and dew being burned off by the sun. It was so nice and relaxing. The birds were singing again (I forget that we miss that all winter) and it was just wonderful. I'm thinking of doing it again tomorrow.