Sprinkler Fun

We survived the first week of school!  Today was a bit easier to get out of bed as we are getting our days and nights back on school time!  Anna missed her brothers last week and we were busy shopping for the last few items on our back to school and soccer lists. Also had meet the teacher day at Anna's preschool.  She will be going Tuesdays, Wednesdays and Thursdays from 9:00 to 12:00. We have talked a lot about it all and I keep assuring her she will love learning, crafts, and making friends.  This will be new for her and she tells me she is "a little bit nervous" about it but "sort of" ready to go and try it out!  Please pray for her as she had a rough go of it last year for the preschool setting, so I pulled her out.  This preschool is more structured and Anna likes that sort of thing so I think this will fit her a bit better.  Not letting Anna know, but I am feeling "nervous" too!  I am glad we will still have our Mondays and Fridays together!  Anna is still enjoying the fun of summer as you can tell by these pictures.  She actually wants a big swimming pool so she can start diving like on the olympics!  She has enjoyed watching some of the events in the evenings as we have the TV on, and talks about all her family coming to watch her swim and dive in the olympics!  

Back from the Beach

I have the back from the beach and back to school BLUES.  We had a great summer and the boys were okay with the return of school today...... but it is me.  I miss them. They are both going out for the school soccer team so I won't see them until 6:00 or 6:30 most days.   I love the freedom of summer.....  late nights, taking our time in the mornings, not paying attention to the clock all the time!  With school in, it seems we have time for dinner, homework then bedtime.  No more late night talks and milkshakes, no more swimming by the light of the moon and waking by our body clock vs. the dreaded alarm!  I think too because the talk of college preparations starts this year for (11th grade) Wesley, I am wanting the summer to last forever so I do not have to face the facts of this next phase and letting him go.  Here are some photos of our recent trip back to the beach. What a blessing to be able to use my parent's place during the summers!  It makes it tempting to pack everyone back up and run away from the world!!!  Somebody stop me! 

July 4th and Fireworks

I am a bit late in posting these pics as Anna and I have been down and out with summer colds. Yuck! We have been pretty miserable together, fevers included,  but are still trying to get things ready to head back to the salt air/ocean soon.   Anna went to the Publix grocery store with me to get the supplies for our cook out at home and later fireworks outing.  Note the big flag balloon in the picture.  She marched all through the busy store singing "Hooray for the RED, WHITE, and BLUE"!  As she sang and floated her flag balloon through the store, she even made the grumpy type people smile!  She also picked out the cookie cake we took to help us bide the time for the fireworks to begin later that evening. We will always treasure Anna's Chinese heritage and be forever grateful for all that comes with it for us and for her, but we will also enjoy the fact that this girl is one flag waving, freedom loving, hot dog/apple pie eating American Girl!  May God Bless America!  

On Blueberry Hill

On July 1st,  Anna and I along with lots of friends (about 13 little girls and 3 little boys from China) from our FCC group, went blueberry picking on top of Blueberry Hill bright and early in the morning.   That is the true name of the farm and it is only about 4 miles from our house.  This fine old southern gentleman grows his many rows of blueberry bushes with no pesticides so we could eat as we picked. YUM!  It was fun to see all of the children in their patriotic clothes picking and eating blueberries up and down Blueberry Hill. The weather was perfect,  not too hot which is unusual for July! We all went for a picnic lunch afterwards.  As from the photos you can see Anna and I picked our fair share---7 quarts to be exact!  We ate a bunch, put some in the fridge to make blueberry pancakes, and Anna helped me put the rest in 20 small freezer bags to use later.  This girl is definitely my little worker bee and best helper.  She stuck with me the whole time, only stopping for a moment to play with a ladybug!  

Will and his skimboard ready to catch some waves!

Fishing and Swimming

Scott and the boys along with their friends went deep sea fishing on my Dad's boat "the Hombre"  and caught a boatload.  We took the Red Snapper, Grouper, and MaihiMaihi to a local restaurant and they cooked it for us. They call it "Hook and Cook".  You catch it and they will do the cooking!   It was so delicious as we had plates overflowing with some grilled fish and some fried just the way we like it!  Good eatin guys.....thanks for the great dinner!    

Wesley ready to launch Anna to her Daddy in the pool!

Loving the Summertime!

We had great fun at the beach and plan on all of us going back the end of next week.  Anna is swimming like a fish, make that a MERMAID, as she would correct me on that one!  She will sometimes cross her legs, holding them together to swim with her "mermaid tail"!  I am having to watch her like a hawk because she swims under water so much, sometimes holding her breath almost too long and swallowing water!   I often pick her up from being face down in the water, then look into her purple goggles to tell her to take a break and breath some air!!  As she breathes heavy, she says, "but I swimmin Mommy.........I'm a mermaid"! And oh how she likes to go diving after things!  The only trouble with the goggles is if she sees a bug in the pool.  She will let you know where it is so you can stay away from it or even better........GET IT OUT!  These pics are of Anna on our 11th floor balcony,  in her Tinkerbell bathing suit and then later having her snack under the gazebo that overlooks the beach.