Small celebration.

We ate our first fall garden cucumber for dinner last night!  It's amazing how much better fresh-grown and picked veggies taste than store-bought.  I'm not an expert when it comes to gardening, but I do truly enjoy it.  I love the miracle of planting a tiny seed and watching it grow into something magnificent.  




   

A Great Day at Sea World

I had a great outing with the little man at Sea World!  It was so nice because it wasn't stifling hot and there weren't very many people there so we were able to do some fun things and see the animals up-close. October is a great month for Sea World.

 Azul Show

 We went "trick-or-treating" and saw some neat sea creature costumes.  Jax just stared at the peeps and I ate the candy.  score.   

 We got to see the dolphins up close.  Yay!

 Shark feeding time. 

What a great day at Sea World!

10 months

HI (not as in "hi" and wave) but HI....as in Hawaii!!!

...and THIS kind of wave

Booyah.  You can't really see me surfing in the picture because the splashing water is in the way but I'm totally riding it.  {Reality check: Okay--that might have been more than a slight exaggeration}. 

My mom, the little man, and myself took a "humanitarian project" trip to paradise to help out my sister who was having surgery.  Luckily, her surgery went well and she felt well enough to do some fun touristy things with us too.  We were glad to help her out and have some girl awesomeness time together too.  My mom is a very hard worker and she cleaned Kimi's house about 10 times in the short few days she was there.  I don't know if I was as much help but it IS great to have a good role-model.  :)

The highlights of the trip for us were:
Cousin time.  Jax particularly seemed to enjoy Austin's driving cars down his face, over his lap, and crashing onto the couch from up high.  It was also great to see Cole and Jax interact a bit.  So funny! 

Eating the best burgers and shrimp you can imagine.(Plus a "restaurant quality" meal made by ourselves on Sunday)

Taking Lucy to the BOOK FAIR.  
Flash-back to being in 2nd Grade again doing flips on the bars at the park.  Side story:  this park was right by the beach, which was fantastic because after playing so hard, we threw rocks and did some R&R ocean style.  One thing about Kimi--she's like my mom in this way--she gets her mind set on something and is determined to make it happen.  Great quality.  More things about Kimi--she's creative and loves to decorate.  When you put that all together, she found some "crafting material" up in a coconut tree that she "needed."  So I risked my life and good name on a PRIVATE PROPERTY fence to help her out in the name of crafting and cuteness. (See bottom right picture.  Although you may find it rather attractive, it's not just a picture of my behind.  There was actually a story to go along with it :)  

 

Bonus Picture: Do you see Kimi in the background with her "I'm looking for crafting materials in the trees" face?  Good thing her kids weren't running out into the deep blue.  Kidding, sister, o creative one, I had to give you a hard time! ;) 

 

Playing Winning (like 5x in a row) that crazy State card game.   (Kimi--what was the name of that game again?)

{these pics don't match the above statement but I HAD to throw in a few extras randomly}

Seeing Lucy do the HULA at some fancy hotels on the beach while sipping pina coladas.  Lu is a good little dancer!  Who needs the PCC when you can see this doll do some serious shakin'??? Her buddy LuLu seemed to really enjoy the fries that we had at our table, so we saw a lot of her too. 

Mom and Kimi's permi-smiles when they beat me for the first time in a basketball shooting contest. (I don't even know why I'm actually admitting to this on the www).  They were probably happier after those moments than if they had won $10,000.  :)   
Getting a "golden" haircut and scoring on some great makeup.

We saw The Lorax for the first time.  I'd give it 2 stars.  
FRO-YO  treat! 
Teaching some neat-o tricks to the nieces (writing "Lucy" in cursive and gymnastics on the bars).

Ross shopping.  It's tradition.  Need I say more? 

Beach time.
First taste of a "real" snow cone.

Our favorite tender, Uncle Geo. Thank you soooo much!  Jax spent several hours with Uncle Geo and the boys so that the girls could shop.
Girl chatting time.  This is always one of my favorite things.  We could talk about nothing for hours and when we're together, we do.      

As always, we ran out of time to do EVERYTHING we absolutely wanted to.  Those last hours just whiz by.  It was a wonderful trip!  Thanks for getting sick, Kimi so that we could come and be with you!   We miss and love you all. 

 

One Word

I asked Mark, "How would you describe me in one word?" 
He said, "Flamboyant." 

It surprised me and was funny all at the same time!  I've never even heard him use that word.  According to dictionary.com.....

flam·boy·ant

 [flam-boi-uhnt] adjective

1.strikingly bold or brilliant; showy: flamboyant colors.

2.conspicuously dashing and colorful: the flamboyant idol of international society.

3.florid; ornate; elaborately styled: flamboyant speeches.

4.Architecture .

     a.having the form of an ogee, as a bar of tracery.

     b.noting or pertaining to French Gothic architecture of the late 15th and early and middle 16th centuries, characterized by the use of flamboyant tracery, intricacy of detailing, virtuosity of workmanship, attenuation of parts, and frequent complication of interior space.

 

 

I already shared this with my sis and my mom but I thought it was funny and I wanted to remember it.  On the blog it goes.  :)   

Jax: 9 months

Weight: 20 lbs. 4 oz (43%)

Height: 28.2 in (45%)

Oh boy!  This little kid is getting into everything these days!  The TP roll has officially been found!  He has an obsession with the dishwasher.  Anytime I open it, he races over as fast as he can get those cute chubby legs and arms to go.  Then he climbs to standing holding on to the side and unloads as much as he can as fast as he can.  Good times.  He is wiggle-worm crawling really fast all around the house.  He feels like such a big boy and acts so proud of himself as he pulls to standing and cruises along the couch, coffee table, chairs, or anything else he can reach.  One of his favorite times of the day is when daddy gets home from work.  He gets so excited, grins ear to ear, pats him on the face, and laughs over and over.  It is absolutely adorable.  We ADORE this active, curious, happy little baby!  He's growing up so fast. 

Getting Settled in SA the Incredible Way

Moving (and everything that goes along with it) is sort of bitter sweet.  It's sad to say goodbye to people that you love but it's also fun to explore somewhere new and meet new friends. We purchased a house and have been unpacking and attempting to get settled.  Unpacking isn't as fun as "moving."  It's a lot of work and it has helped us realize how much junk we have.  I guess I should be more positive......We are having Christmas in July/August!  We've been unwrapping gifts to ourselves all wrapped the exact same-- in brown boxes with packing tape!  Ha!  Honestly, it IS kind of exciting to see what's in the next box and then think to yourself "Oh good!  Here's our whatever!" (or if you're me..."Oh I love this decoration!  Wonder where it should go...")    Everything has been out of a box for a little while but there are still things just sitting on the floor without an official home in the house.  I can't quite figure out why it takes so long to get things in a good place.  But we're getting there. 

Maybe I relate to Elastigirl from Incredibles when she calls Mr. Incredible at work and says "We're offically moved in!"  And he asks, "and the last two years don't count because.....?" 

She replies, "Because I just unpacked the last box."  :) 

 I guess I'm not the only one.  

 There I am on the far left....Sweet.  I would say Mark makes a good Mr. Incredible since he IS incredible at fixing things around the house and unpacking.  Violet and Dash don't really fit in our family but Little Jax makes a good Jack-Jack just because of his name.

Here's a taste of our "unpacking experience." 

  

And what was "Jack-Jack" doing while we were unpacking?  Well...

 

The before and after of tasting a big dirt-clod.  Nice.  

 

This is Mr. Incredible doing one of many projects.  He's cutting off the curly-cues from the door.  :)  

He also painted Jax's room, sprayed for ants about 50 times so far, and continues to work on the sprinklers.

 In this case, Elastigirl's pointer and thumb "L" does NOT stand for LOSER.  

It means "LAST BOX!"  

In it......a picture frame.  

WHHHHEEWWW!  We did it!