Frozen in Florida

Not as catchy as Sleepless in Seattle, but it does have a certain alliterative allure, no?

Anyway, we took the kids to Florida at the beginning of January. Daddy-J had a conference for a few days, and we decided to make a week out of it. First, a few days on Sanibel Island staying with some friends. Then a few days on Sand Key in Clearwater for the conference.

Well, as you can guess from our title, it was NOT a warm, sunny, Florida vacation. First, we waited too long to buy our tickets, so we had the Southwest two-hopper flights. The girls were star travelers, and 12 hours after we left our house, we arrived in Florida, only to face a three-hour drive to our destination. The girls melted down a little on the way to Sanibel (it was close to midnight, their ears were hurting after three take-offs and three landings). Anyway, we finally made it.

Our first day there was probably the best one, up to almost 60 degrees on Sanibel. After a fantastic pancake breakfast (thank you Harry!), we took the girls to the beach. We stayed for hours. Everybody got wet. I photographed some cool shore birds. The girls and Daddy-J made a huge sand-moat. We hunted and gathered sea shells. It was a blast! A late-afternoon lunch at a great seafood place capped off a terrific day.















Then it got a little rainy, a little windy, a little chilly. The next day's highlight was picking oranges off our friends' tree and making fresh-squeezed orange juice. Harry was very handy for this, being at least 6'6" tall. The girls got on his shoulders and went to town!

All-in-all, we had a great time with our friends. Lynda, Harry, Daddy-J and Mama-V stayed up way too late, played cards, drank (just a little ;-) and even got to go out for dinner one night thanks to a hastily arranged babysitter. Thank you Lynda and Harry for a fantastic visit!

Our Post-Holiday Deer!

On the morning of December 27th, this gorgeous buck came to visit us. He was right outside our kitchen window. He came to investigate the birdseed that had fallen to the ground from one of our birdfeeders. But every time he lifted his head, his antlers tangled with the bird feeder and more birdseed fell to the ground. This magnificent fellow must have thought he'd hit the motherlode... "every time I lift my head, food falls from the sky!"

2009 Entry in World's Funkiest Gingerbread House Contest

Every year, G'ma Libby undertakes to make a gingerbread house with the girls (or whatever random assortment of children we have underfood on the given day!). This year was no exception, and the funkiness of these gingerbread houses just cannot be underestimated!

(Here's a flashback to last year's creation... The Ramshackle Gingerbread House).

And here are the scenes of this years' mayhem construction:












And the final product!