{This Moment}

Photo taken by Callie

Not taken this week, but definitely a moment I don't want to forget.  Callie took this at the beach one evening.  She worked really hard to get just the right pose and get Kate to stop giggling.

Visit Soulemama for more sweet moments.

The Last Busy Days of Summer

Ever since we got back from our vacation, we have just been busy with one thing after another! All good, but I haven't had time to write or post pictures about anything.

I had a few more from vacation that I wanted to share. One day we went to a butterfly garden and there was a pond and ducks. It was all very pretty and the girls got to hold some butterflies and release them. We took the path to the pond to see the ducks and we passed by this bench. I know I should have said something about how naughty someone was to spray paint this bench, but all I could do was crack up laughing! I'm not skinny so I can laugh if I want to. :)

When we got home from Florida it was time to get busy sewing a dress for Callie to wear to the Scottish Ball.  What is the Scottish Ball?  It is a dance that our church has had every year for the last four years.  What?  A church holding a dance? LOL  It is an old fashioned type of dance with a caller and partners that most likely include a five year old and their Daddy.  It is for the whole family and they dance the Virginia Reel, the Broom Dance, things like that.  It is a whole lot of fun and the kids and adults both have a grand time.  I have no pictures of the finished dress yet.  That night it was raining when we left and we were running late.  I told Callie we will have to recreate the moment and get some pictures.  She and Kate looked lovely.  Trust me.

Later in the week went went to work with Cameron (which means we rode around in the car for a couple of hours, saw an old courthouse and then rode back home) and then went apple picking and had pizza at the park.  It was great day!  Callie did the rest of her schoolwork in the car, I read and knitted and Kate played and slept.  We got 20 lbs. of apples which we plan to make into apple butter soon.  Oh, and the required cup of frozen cider.  Mmmm.

The next weekend it was our annual Carmichael, Cox, Hall, Sparks Camping trip.  I have not one picture!  It was very rainy and even though we did have a good time, I was just never motivated to get out the camera.  We went to Brown County State Park which I'm sure is nice, but we will have to go again to really know.  Oh, and when the reservation map says it's 200 yards to the nearest bath house, don't even think about reserving that spot.  Fortunately it was cold and rainy and we all got nice, warm, civilized showers when we got home.  Now I know that "vault toilet" is just a nice way of saying "outhouse".

Now I have gotten all of this posted and out of my head! 

Happy Fall!!

Toe Shoes and Tutus

We are officially "back to school" now that ballet has begun.  We've made our annual trip to Kinney Dance Wear - two trips actually - and the jumps and twirling have begun.  Not that they ever really stop around here. :)

I don't know why this one is fuzzy, but Callie got such a neat shot of Kate's and her teachers feet, I had to include it.

My apologies to the girl in the background.  I don't know how to edit her out. :)

Callie waiting to try on her point shoes

If you need us we'll be at Lebanon Ballet School. :)

{This Moment}

{this moment} - A Friday ritual. A single photo - no words - capturing a moment from the week. A simple, special, extraordinary moment. A moment I want to pause, savor and remember.

If you're inspired to do the same, leave a link to your 'moment' in the comments at SouleMama for all to find and see.

Pensacola

Every year when we go to FL, we drive through Pensacola to get to my brother in law's and then always head East to Ft. Walton and Destin for eating and sight seeing.  This year we decided to do some things in Pensacola. 

This mural was on the outside of the museum.  It looks so real!

First we went to the Pensacola  Museum of Art.  It was very small, but the building was really neat.  It was once a jail and they had left the iron doors on some of the rooms and the steel staircase.  It was pretty cool.  The best part though, was that they had a borrowed exhibit from the Kohl Children's Museum of Chicago.  The artist, Chagall, was not one that I was familiar with and I would say his paintings are not a style that is my favorite, but this exhibit was so cool!  It was specifically for children!  All the paintings were down low and there was a hands on activity for each one of them.  There were a lot too!  The girls (and their parents) had a great time.  They had also recently received a collection of very old Chinese festival type hats.  They had no information posted about them yet, but they were beautiful. 

From there we walked to the Flordia State Museum.  It was amazing that most of the items there were from one man's collection. There were also some interesting displays that local students had made.  The third floor was a room made especially for children to play in.  There was  a pretend fort, mercantile, ship, etc.  Kate really enjoyed it and we had an interesting encounter with a three or four year old who had long hair but was dressed like a boy.  He or she kept yelling at us to get out and was "shooting" at us.  It was quite funny.  It was also very cool to see Kate's reaction.  Last year, she would have refused to play and probably would have insisted on being held and would have been truly scared.  Instead of being upset, she just laughed at him with us.  She has come such a long way!  Most days, she's like a totally different child. 

After the museum, we headed down to the pier to see this ship.  Kate was dying to go on it and just couldn't understand why we couldn't ask the men to let us on.  Notice the skies....this is when the weather started to change and tropical storm Lee began to make it's appearance.

After seeing the ship we took Poppy's recommendation and ate at Wintzel's Oyster House.  It was very good.  the original intent was for Callie to have crab legs, but all they had was a pricey "all you can eat deal".  She wasn't feeling well, so she chose a bowl of crab soup instead that was absolutely delicious!  Kate had ordered fish and cheese grits and was so in love with the cheese grits that she wanted my cheese grits and she gave me her fish.  When I asked the girls today what they would like to eat next week, Kate said "cheese grits."

We took a quick walk on the beach, knowing that it was quite possible that it would be our last chance.  Thankfully, it didn't rain for a couple of more days, but I've never seen skies look like this and not actually rain.  There was one red flag, so the beach wasn't closed, but the only people in the water were a few surfers.  They were fun to watch even if I do think they are nuts! ;)

Thank You Uncle Chris!

We have just returned from our annual trip to visit Uncle Chris in Florida.  He just happens to live 5 minutes from the ocean. :)  As always, he gives up his bed, his privacy and his quiet home to us for a week and shows us all the great places to eat.  We always say we aren't going to eat out as much, but we should probably just start saving our breath!  With a Thai resturant on practically every corner and shrimp and catfish on every other corner, what's a person to do?

We didn't leave Indy until Sunday evening, so we stopped in Franklin, TN to spend the night.  Our next destination was Granny and Poppy's in Mississippi.  We spent the night there and visited for a while and then headed on to Florida.

My next few posts may be compared to watching slides of the neighbors family vacation in the 70's.  Here goes!

Have dolls, will travel.

The traditional front porch picture with Granny and Poppy

Callie asked me why I love the beach so much.  It's certainly not the swimming part.  I am not a good swimmer and am a pretty big chicken!  It's more about the sound of the waves, the smell of the salt and the view of endless waves and water.  I could sit there all day.  My family will tell you, I am never ready to leave.  I think it's also about the memories.  I don't know if this was my first trip to a beach, but my first memory of going to the beach was with my grandparents when I was in grade school, I think.  I was staying with them in TN and one day Granddaddy came in and told my Grandmother and I "Get packed, we're going to the beach."  And we did.  We drove to Myrtle Beach in their camper.  I remember more about riding and sleeping in the camper than I actually do the beach itself, but we had a ball.  Of all the different times I have visited "the beach" over the years, I have not one bad memory.  Even the times when the weather was colder than expected or there was too much seaweed or whatever, I can't think of the beach without smiling.