Sunday, February 27, 2011

Happy Birthday Grandpa

Grandpa is celebrating a big birthday this year. And since we won't be in Florida to celebrate with him we had an early birthday bash for him.
And no birthday celebration is complete without cupcakes decorated by Lola!
Decorated with love and lots of sugar!
Getting ready to sing.
Happy birthday is one of my favourite songs to sing.
The best part of the cupcakes were the peanut M&M's on top.
Happy Birthday Grandpa! We hope that you have a wonderful birthday.

Thursday, February 24, 2011

Florida - part 3

On one day of our vacation we ventured out of the pool to see the ocean.
I was pretty excited to walk along the sandy beach and have the ocean wash over my toes.
I collected a pocket full of shells to bring home for my dollies.
A nice family shot.
The pier in Naples is pretty cool. Apparently there are a lot of fish around there; it is full of people and pelicans looking for fish.
We saw a few people catch things and the pelicans were busy flying in and out of the water catching things too.


Another picture perfect day in Florida!

Tuesday, February 22, 2011

Florida - Bathing beauties

This is really what we did the majority of our time in Florida. We spent as much time as possible outside in the pool.
Lola has become a fairly accomplished floater.



We miss the pool so much already!

Florida - part 2

One morning it wasn't quite pool weather, so we decided to head to the park to play until the sun decided to come out and join us.
Dad and Grandpa were originally going to play tennis while Mom and I played at the park, but there was a pickleball tournament happening, so they had no choice but to join in on the park fun.
And look at this cool park. And that palm tree that looks like it should totally be fake, it isn't. And this picture is only half of the park, there is a whole other side too. The best part about the park was it was totally empty, we had everything to ourselves.
Mom did a gator check when we got to the park to make sure that there weren't any gators waiting for tasty unsuspecting little girls.
Fun times!
Me pushing Mom on the swing.
Mom pushing me on the swing.
Dad pushing Mom and I on the swings.
Grandpa pushing me on the swing.
I had forgotten how much fun parks were when they aren't buried under snow and ice!

Oma's Nail Salon

On Friday evenings in Naples Oma's nail salon is open for business.
Oma's nail salon offers the ladies a friendly environment, good snacks, laughter, fun times and of course great nails.
Lola opted for the upgraded toe polish with gems.

Just another very happy customer.

Florida - part 1

This year for our family vacation we headed to Florida to take advantage of Grandpa and Oma's hospitality, again.
Almost as soon as we landed their relaxing, zen, idyllic vacation home was filled with hoots of laughter, the infectious giggling of a little girl and lots of splashing pool. I don't think that they minded one bit.
Lola and Dad did a lot of swimming.
The weather this year was amazing and the only way that we could get Lola out of the pool was to bribe her with cheezies. As a parent I'm not really proud of that, but hey it was vacation.
And Pool side lunches with a glass of wine are so much nicer then eating a cold sandwich in a dank poorly lit office.
On one day we were able to convince Lola to get out of the pool long enough to head to the zoo. She was pretty excited to see the zebras. Mostly because they looked just like the guy from Madagascar.
Naples has the perfect vacation zoo. It takes about 2 hours to walk the whole zoo and you get to see some pretty fun stuff. We saw a lion pee through the fence and on the back of the zoo keeper from about ten feet and Ocelot catch and eat a mouse in two bites.
Check out the other things that the Naples zoo has to offer. Cut outs of tigers
and stone camels that you can climb on. It was a perfect warm, sunny day to visit all the animals and we managed to make it home in time for a swim and nap before cocktail time.

Monday, February 21, 2011

Four years

Four years is a long time.
In four years you can start a family, prosper at a new career, graduate from University, join the army, completely reinvent yourself; but four years isn't long enough to stop missing your mom.
Some days I miss her more then others.
I like to think that she would be proud of us. She has missed so much.

motionball - The Gala

This year the motionball Gala took place at the Carlu. It is a beautiful venue and if anyone was thinking of getting married sometime soon, they should totally check it out (hint, hint). The event was great and we looked even better. Unfortunately, I didn't take any photos, again. I really meant to, but well was too distracted by looking amazing. Maybe next year!

Snow Day

We don't get a lot of snow around here, so when 'snowmageddon' was poised to hit the city we were pretty excited. So excited that I got up super early to check on the weather status and was too excited to go back to sleep when the good news was released that schools were closed.

Since we didn't have to go to work or day care that day we decided to do pull out the sled and go and have breakfast.
Baby bear joined in on the sledding fun.
The 'snowmageddon' part hit later in the day (this doesn't really look all that impressive); there was more snow then this I swear.
And no snow day is complete without a little baking. We pulled out our new favourite cookbook and Lola picked brownies.
They were super delicious and contributed to a pretty sweet snow day.
I'm keeping my fingers crossed for one more before the season ends!