Still here!

Hi there! I hope everyone has had a great weekend! So...back to my bad blogging ways again! Sorry about that! Last week was a busy one! Let's see...here's a little recap for ya:

Monday: BC and I went to a fun bouncy-house place called Pump It Up for some preschool playtime. He loved it! It's been a while since we've been, and I could see BIG changes in him. He jumped and jumped and really got his energy out! Trust me...that is a hard thing to have happen! Funny story while we were there... an older kid, probably 8 or 9, was coming into the bounce house that we were in and he looked right at me, and with a sly grin, he said, "I'm going to take you down, big girl!' What!?!?! I told him, "I don't think so!" and I was right. He happily jumped off, but I couldn't help but be on the lookout for him!

Tuesday: It was my birthday! I'm officially 22!! :) (ok, ok...22+10, but you don't HAVE to do the math if you don't want to) Bear Cub and I met up with Mimi in Tampa and had a nice lunch date and then a fun shopping trip at the mall. My boys later surprised me with a birthday cake and a new IPod! It's my first one and I am loving it! I took it out on my run this a.m. and it was great. I can't wait to get some more music and work on adding some from our CD collection.

Wednesday: Bear Cub played at a friend's house for a couple of hours while I ran some errands. It's great to have a friend like this so we can swap "Mommy Time" with one another and not have to pay a sitter. BC had a fun time and was wiped out once we got home! I think we also went to the pool that afternoon...that's about an every-other-day kind of thing for us, anyway.

Thursday: Hmmmm....nothing TOO exciting, I guess! OH!! Well, pretty exciting news for me...I am going to be a working woman again! I interviewed with a virtual school at the end of May and finally got offered a part-time position. I am so happy! I'll get to work from home, and at first, I will just be grading support for another virtual teacher. My goal is to get into a full-time position (it will still be at home, just a full-load of students and run of the course, etc.) and that should happen within a few months. I go to training in just a few weeks and will get started right away after that! I have been wanting one of these jobs for well over a year now...well, pretty much after my sis-in-law got hired on, so I am thrilled to finally be on board! I'm ready to work again, but not so ready to leave the house and be away from Bear Cub's activities and all. This will be the best of both worlds for me! Yay! :)

Friday: We loaded up and headed to Mimi's once I got a call that my other sis-in-law could get me in for a haircut. I don't pass up on that! We had a great time swimming and playing until it was my hair appt. time and then we spent the night. Always a good time!

Saturday: We got back home and ran to Home Depot with Daddy to buy PAINT!! Today is actually our year anniversary in this "new" house of ours. SO hard to believe a year has gone by! It was a quick one. So, we are currently working on painting our den a very pretty, cheery green color. I'll post pics once it's all done and organized again. We love it though! So, that's pretty much what we're working on today, after a bunch of errands and a trip to the library this morning. Phew! Busy times!

I also have to comment that today is the year anniversary of our dear Grandpa S. (BC's great)'s passing away. I will say that there are not too many days that go by where we don't think of him. He is missed today just as much as he was a year ago on this day. I know he smiles down on us all though! :)

I promise to get pics up soon! Sorry for my bad blogging. Busy times! Have a great day! :)

Last post of trip pics...I think!! :)

Random home pictures...more of our trip coming soon!box

The dynamic duo tackle Mimi's pool

Ready, set....

GO!!!!!!!!!!!

BC pretending to be an elephant with a pool hose

We made a "chubhouse" (aka clubhouse) out of the boxes that our new lamps came in. Bear Cub had a ball with this! He cut out pictures of animals, cars, and even Sandra Bullock's new baby out of my People Magazine to "decorate" the house. Funny!

Look at our beautiful new end tables and lamps!! LOVE THEM!!!! :)

On the couch this afternoon...snoozing away after some serious swim time. Looks comfy, doesn't it?!?! ;)

One evening before dinner...he had had no nap this afternoon and he was SOOOOO tired. He couldn't keep his eyes open! But every time we called out to him to keep him awake, he'd get this cute grin on his face and look like he'd had one too many drinks by the pool. ;) I'll have to post a video I have of him that night at dinner...it was pitiful how tired he was!!

Hello! Hope your weekend is off to a great start! Happy Father's Day to all those daddies out there! Bear Cub has one of the nicest and best Daddies around...he is SO good with him and I love to watch my "boys" together. They are quite a pair! :) I am proud of the father that my husband is -- Bear Cub is one lucky little boy to have him!

Enjoy these pictures from the last week here at home. We went to Mimi's on Monday to pick Zoe up, so we had fun swimming in the pool and having lunch with her and my Aunt Sharon. Although we had such fun on our trip, it did feel good to get back into our usual home routine... and to get all that laundry done and put away! :) Have a happy weekend!

More pictures...Are you tired of our trip yet??

Bear Cub helping his cuz out...he would stack the buckets up in a tower, let Mr. O knock them down, and then cheer and clap for him. It was pretty darn cute!

Our Mesa Verde campsite

Climbing up one of a few ladders during the cliff dwellings tour

Ahhh...another self-portrait

Once he was all clean at night, he got a little "show" time of his own in the tent. It was a good way for him to wind down, stay clean...and give US a break before bedtime. Modern camping, at its best!

Horned toads!

Cute, cute family!

Checking out the inside of one of the train cars at the museum in Durango

More trip pics! (still have more to come!)

Hanging out at our camp site in Mesa Verde

Cliff dwellings from above...amazing!

Off on another bug search here, I'm sure.

We did lots of climbing!

Lovin' his friend the lizard!

More of Utah...

Ancient cliff dwellings at Mesa Verde, CO. It is amazing how well-preserved these little communities are...from thousands of years ago! I seriously doubt our house today will be around that far into the future!

View from the top of the mesa

Desert flower

Happy Mr. O in his backpack carrier! He would kick those little legs whenever his Daddy stopped moving...giddy-up!

Trip Pictures (details of trip in the post below!)

Enjoy! More pictures to come in the next few days! These are all of Utah and a few of Durango, CO.

Proof that we were all there together!

Grilled pizza...one of our yummy meals!

Rock climbing 101

Wedgie??

Beautiful arches...at Arches!

View from a lookout at Canyon Lands Park and Mr. O with his Mama & Daddy

See the lake way out there? Nope, it's not a mirage, it's really there!

All smiles while checking out a real steam locomotive at the train museum in Durango, CO.

Walking along the trout fish hatchery...

We pulled over to watch the Durango-Silverton train pass by. If we'd been there another day, we would've done the tour for sure!

Here comes the train!

Family Adventure!!

Hello out there! Well, we had a fantastic trip out West! Like I mentioned before, this was my first time camping and it was quite an adventure! But I'm happy to say that I'd do it again...although maybe in a few more years when Bear Cub is a bit older.

We flew to New Mexico, where we met up with my GA cousins and visited with my sis and 2 of her kids for the night. It was great to be able to see them, too! The next morning, we were all up and at 'em and ready to hit the grocery store and get on the road for our adventure! We rented 2 cars, which was a good thing, with our BC and their 10-month-old, Mr. O. We headed first to Mesa Verde National Park, in southern Colorado. It was an interesting drive out of New Mexico...SOOOOO different than our Florida landscape! It's very dry, dusty and somewhat interestingly desolate. If that makes any sense... Pretty much as soon as we were in CO, the landscape greened up and I was happy to see some trees and grass once again! You can tell I'm a Florida gal and not so much the desert type. BUT...it is gorgeous in its own right!

Mesa Verde...home of some pretty ancient cliff dwellings, which was totally cool to tour. We camped for 2 nights there...in our little tent with the air mattress. I'm telling ya, this was ALL new to me! I was a bit nervous when I saw the camp site, but as soon as our stuff was out, it sort of felt like "home." And I was happy when I discovered the bathrooms (with real flushing toilets!) very close to the site. We hiked around and Bear Cub IMMEDIATELY found some prized horned toads (which are actually lizards) so he was good to go! He spent most of those 2 days wandering around with his bug net, hoping desperately to find something interesting. He found a few things! He was the dirtiest I've ever seen him and he loved every second of it! The sleeping was ok...but pretty chilly at night! I knew it would cool off, but I wasn't thinking of that chill creeping UP through the bottom of our tent. We were all snuggled in, for sure! Bear Cub was so excited each night going to bed, saying, "Let's go camping!" Kind of like, sleeping in the tent made the "camping" part come true for him. We did let him watch some dvds at night in the tent...it kept him clean before bedtime AND gave the adults some peace and a few moments to enjoy some relaxation. We did roast marshmallows and make S'Mores on the campfire. We did all of our own cooking and had a pretty good assortment of food. Our cars were packed FULL, so again, it was a good thing we had our own vehicles. LOTS of stuff to bring!

After 2 days in Mesa Verde, it was on to Utah. What a gorgeous drive that was!! Lots of farmland (beans) with the backdrop of mountains. I swear, it looked fake half the time! Like a backdrop just dropping from the sky. Beautiful! We made it to Arches National Park and it was H-O-T out. It had been hot in CO, but with the cool nights and mornings, it was pretty pleasant. But, wow...Utah was like an oven. And unlike Florida, you don't sweat in that heat...it's so dry. We all drank tons of water and Gatorade...it was a constant in our hands! You'll see how amazing Arches was and the camp site was great. Lots to explore right there - rock climbing, discovering more arches in the rocks, lizards, and TONS of red/orange sand. That was everywhere too! (I found sand everywhere in our suitcase once we were home!) Unfortunately, the gnats were awful at Arches and we all got bit up. Including poor Mr. O, so much that he looked like he had a case of chicken pox! We hiked around and did some good exploring, but instead of camping 2 nights, we only did the one. It was on to a hotel the next night...and I can't tell you how AWESOME it felt to take a real shower and sleep in a bed. :)

On day 5 of our trip, we split from our cousins (who are still out there...) and headed back to CO. We spent the night in Durango and fell in love with the town! Lot of interesting eateries, people, and awesome mountain views all around. I'd love a house right up on the mountain...just need to win the lottery first! Ha! Our little family then headed back to Santa Fe, where we were able to spend some more time with Aunt J and then it was on home the next day.

Bear Cub had a blast and says he can't wait to go camping again. I enjoyed it too -- but it was a lot of work with some hard, tiring moments for (and with!) Bear Cub. He did awesome with all of the driving, but it was sometimes stressful just keeping track of Mr. Explorer and making sure he wasn't going to fall off the edge of a cliff or anything! He and Mr. O played some together, but at times, it was just too tempting for BC to not kick a little sand around baby or just be a bit pesty. What do you expect from an almost-4-year-old, I guess?? It was a fun family vacation...our first real adventure together...and I do look forward to more in the future! But for now, I'm happy to be home, have the clothes all washed and clean, and be able to take a hot shower each day! Lots of great memories made...for us all! :)

Home, sweet home!

Hello! We are back from our adventure...a little tired, sandy, and bug-bitten. :) We had a really fun time and saw some AMAZING sights! I will post pictures real soon...they are slowly being uploaded now, so I'll be sure to share within the next day or two! More to come soon...just thought I'd let you know that we made it safely back to The Sunshine State!

Headin' to the wild, wild west...

Howdy folks!! Well, our packing is in FULL force around here and we've got piles of stuff everywhere! You'd seriously think we were going to be gone for weeks, not just the ONE week. Oh well! We're all excited about the trip...Bear Cub can hardly wait to see what "interesting creatures" he may find out there. We keep telling him...REMEMBER...NO SNAKES and NO SCORPIONS!! We do have a first-aid kit packed...just in case you were wondering. ;)

So I will be on a blogging hiatus for just over a week. We'll have the chance to spend a night with Aunt J out in New Mexico, before we caravan on into Colorado and Utah with some of our favorite people and their cutie-pie, Mr. O! It looks like the weather is going to be HOT, but with no rain, so my fears of being soggy and drenched all week are dissipating. PHEW! That would not be a good thing.

I'm charging the camera up and will be sure to take lots of photos of our big adventure. Bear Cub and my first CAMPING EXPERIENCE! Woo-hoo! Yee-haw! So, I'll see ya'll in a little over a week...have a great one & think of us...sleeping in tents and roasting marshmallows...and oh yes, looking for every cool critter out there in the wild, wild west! :)

Weekend pics

Balloon animals and swords at the party!

Bear Cub in the mix as Lil Miss opened her gifts

The birthday girl! Happy 3 Lil Miss!

Birthday girl's Mama and her Lil Bro

Move those hips, boy! :)

The ultimate sack racer! Bear Cub won! (Does it matter that he started about 5 seconds ahead of everyone else?? :) )

Showing off his vampire teeth from the goody bag. Wow, that's a mouthful!

An interesting shot of Mama & Daddy Bear...