Florida

In a very odd occurrence, we went back to the same vacation spot for the 3rd time in a row.. that just shows how much we love Florida. 

 The kids did a morning at Sea school together learning about dolphins

 Rosette Spoonbills... it was so exciting to see them finally. 

 and we came up with a new family fun activity. Capture the feather. Jeff and Greta caught a few of the spoonbills feathers that were floating in the water. Such an awesome find. 

 Fieldin with his new love. A manatee he named nacho....

 GiGi came with us this trip and enjoyed Sanibel with us. 

 I am pretty sure the kids fly across the U.S. just for butterbeers from Bailey's. Say that fast three times..

 Driving in on the causeway

 Sorting her daily finds

 and more sorting... 

 little man loves running on the beach if he isn't in the water

 riding bikes..

Some serious beach combing 

 Greta spent another day at Sea school learning about sea turtles

 lil' man swimming in his mask in the ocean

 us trying to walk out to the sand bars

 finds that we loved but were still alive and were put back. 

 making shell creatures below. He loves it. 

 Fieldin waited for this crab pot to wash ashore for quite awhile. Jeff brought it in and the kids found a baby shark inside so it was put back.... they were proud of saving it. 

 hurrican harvey hit the golf coast and we got lots of rain and some flooding

 Tampa Ringling museum 

Cousin Time

 A couple of the kids cousins came to stay with us this summer. We had fun at OMSI going through the Pompei exhibit. 

 A baseball game..

 And of course frozen yogurt..

 Night time games on the porch 

 And some hiking. A good time for these kids to have extra bonding time. 

Summer Around Here

 Around here in the summer we pick 120 lbs of blueberries, EVERY year! 

Around here there was eclipse excitement. The kids made wax and tye dye t-shirts. 

Summer around here was about relaxing when we had a chance 

Our summer hibiscus

Around here, Greta and her friends spent every other Friday collecting bottles for DC money..

Around here, We love our summer music.. AC/DC cover band. 

Around here, summer means lots of fresh produce

Around here, it is ice cream and art mess season...

Around here, summer means this one gets more time for science

Around here, there is end of summer berry picking and organizing school supplies

Around here, it is vacation bible school time where I get to put my teaching skills to work

Around here, this summer plant makes me happy. 

In Memory Of Chompers

 We added another memorial rose to our back yard today. This one is for dear Chompers cat that passed away in the Fall. With all the busyness, his rose was not planted yet. I planted the rose in a pot over the place he was buried so the kids can add stones like the one above when ever they would like. They still miss Chomps so very much! I do too. 

Yard Hard Labor Phase 1

 NO MORE GRASS. That was the goal. No more mowing, no more watering, just easy peasy maintenance in the front yard. 

 It was alot of work but in 1 1/2 days the grass was gone and river rock and bark was happily in its place. 

 Except in some places.. more rock is coming for phase II. We had a much bigger yard then we remember and we also realized older muscles and river rock are not the best fit :) The sidewalk strips are done and the majority of the yard. Not much more to go!