...Day one on the road to Texas

I must start by saying this was one great road trip. We went on the road knowing we were going to stop often and decided to take in as much as we could. Our first new city was Port St.Joe. We did arrive late but did enjoy the ride there and spent some time exploring the town that morning. We found there wasn't much to explore but it was still beautiful.  

Here is Maddy with the map I made him before leaving on our trip. The map was used so often it was wrinkled and almost unrecognizable by the end of our trip. He loved asking every couple hours where we were and moving the Journey (our car) to where he wished we were at that point in time. 

Window clings were fun for a while although they did end up ripped and lost all over the back seat. 

The eye spy activity was a hit. I simply put  colored rice inside a container and added little nick knacks to them. Both Landon and Maddy loved  looking to see what they could find. 

This was outside a Walmart we stopped by. We let the boys explore the toy aisles to get some energy out. We probably spent about 45 minutes in there and it actually worked out really well. As you can see it got a little chilly in North Florida. The boys are going to be in shock when we arrive in NY in a couple weeks. 

This picture was taken in Port St.Joe. The fishing piers  were fun for the boys to run on and were really beautiful in the early morning sunshine.  

Fishing pier in Port St.Joe. 

Love this wooden swing near the dock. 

On our way to the Naval museum. Landon is one silly boy! 

...to the Homestead Air Show

This past weekend we spent part of the day Saturday and Sunday at the Homestead air show. We have been to air shows in New York before but this one was different in that they had airplanes on the tarmac that you could look at and even go inside. The boys both enjoyed it so much. Landon notices everything in the sky lately and thus was amazed by all the flying planes but never scared or startled even. Maddox loved being able to go into the helicopters and planes and he loved the frozen lemonade too!

Inside one of the cargo planes. 

Maddox being rescued

He looks like a pilot doesn't he?

Landon wouldn't take his eyes off the plane. 

Day #2 in the back of a helicopter.

Sky jumper!

Love the expression on his face!

One of the few pics of me and the boys. I guess that is what happens when you are the main picture taker. This was about 5 minutes before we left on the second day. Thus the tired looks on each of our faces. Maybe one day we will even get a picture of all of us! 

...and Garden

In the month of October we studied gardening in our coop preschool. Each week we broke it down into topics we wanted to teach them about. A couple of the topics were fruits, seeds, flowers, roots, stems, and leaves, pests and pollinators, and soil and compost. 

This was during the roots, stems, and leaves lesson. We first had them examine some of the differences in each of these groups. They cut and ripped them up and also tried some when they felt the urge. Then we gave them toothpicks and they made their own people from all of the parts!  

This was a beehive at a local garden. We were lucky enough to have one of the workers come show the kids the beehive and explain some interesting facts to them. Landon pointing as usual. 

Here is our group with their little bee wings and antennae. 

One of the moms in our group filled little cups with juice and placed them around the butterfly garden area. Then she gave each of the children a straw which they used to drink up the "nectar" they found. 

Here is Lu in his bee wings that I made from a hanger and black stockings and some glitter glue. I love this little face! 

This is from our soil lesson. They places sediment in a bottle filled with water and watched it settle to see the different layers of things in the soil. Landon is in the "put it in" phase so this was a great activity for him. 

They also made mud pies using rock sprinkles as a topping. 

This picture is from our compost lesson. We set up an obstacle course for our little worms to crawl through while collecting pieces of fruits and veggies to bring to the compost pile in their worm hole.

We are having lots of fun with our themes and Maddox is learning so much. The things that he recites surprise me on a daily basis. We have a letter we concentrate on each week and he is picking them up pretty well. Maddox knows how to spell his name but has yet to really write it. He doesn't do too much writing yet he will randomly write individual letters on paper or his chalkboard. This is most likely due to the fact that he is not into activities which require sitting down for more then a couple seconds. It is going to be interesting when he goes to school that is for sure. I can hear the poor teacher now. "Maddox sit, Maddox sit, Maddox sit" all day. I love the energy he has and how much fun he has every day.

...and celebrate Bica's 30th with the girls!

It was my besties 30th birthday this past weekend and I was soooo lucky that her hubby booked her a flight to come down here to Miami. After picking up Bica and Manny (their real identity has been concealed for their safety) we headed to the hotel and out to dinner. Believe it or not it was my first time in South Beach. I guess it is kind of like how most long islanders haven't been to the statue of liberty. Weird I know. Anyway, I won't be going back anytime soon but the company I was with made it so worth the trip. The next morning we headed to the beach, where we got poured on, okay almost poured on, okay well it looked slightly cloudy and I was a bit concerned. Thank goodness Manny got us a big umbrella from the nice young man working there. After taking a shower, together, I mean separate but in the same shower, at different times of course, (note to self NEVER wait to go after Manny! Lets just say I felt dirtier after the shower then I did after swimming in the nasty parasitic ocean!) we headed to the art studio. But first we headed to lunch at a Mozzarella Bar. Yes it was as awesome as it sounds!! I had an amazing artichoke souffle....totally recommend it if your into that kind of thing. Then we headed to the art studio. There was a teacher (and Bica acquired a special tutor halfway through) and empty canvases. He taught us to paint the same picture (well most of us painted the same picture lol) from the first to last brush stroke. It was a great afternoon with great girls! Then I meet up with the girls in the morning for a quick goodbye. I brought the boys along to sing happy birthday and eat cupcakes. Then we snapped some pictures like real tourists. Then the girls headed to the airport to catch their flight. Thanks for the great weekend chicas! I can't wait for us to do it again!

The beautiful birthday girl! Hey did you pay to sit there?

Can I get any whiter? Well I guess that is what happens when you sit next to a bunch of brownies. hehe 

Lunch. <3 this pic!

Bica! Love you!

Sunitha! Gorgeous pic girly!

Almost done....serious artists in action!

Oh Manny you were definitely blond in another life. 

With the artist himself! He is a lucky guy. 

My boys got to come along to wish Bica a happy birthday too!

Kissing cousins! hehe Love you girls...just not that much. 

...and join us for preschool

Maddox turned 3 in May and while most kids his age started preschool in September I decided to keep him home. Well kind of. We are so lucky to have meet two wonderful families that were looking for an alternative to formal preschool too. We have based our "lessons" on play. After all, that is how three-year-olds learn best! We started in September with an around the house theme. We did activities based on laundry, mail, and recycling. I don't have many pictures from this first month but here are a couple. After sorting different type of recyclables we asked the kids if they could come up with something to make with them. They had been putting a large tin and box on their heads earlier and were acting like robots thus it was only to obvious that they choose to make robots. How cute are these?!

Later that week Maddox and I pressed old supermarket fliers, added watered-down glue into these cookie cutters to make  decorations.

...to visit Mike and Lisa in Naples

This past Sunday we got into the car at 8 am and headed towards Naples. It was a beautiful drive! It was our first time actually driving through the Everglades. We had the top down and enjoyed all the sounds and views nature had for us there. Harold and I saw alligator road kill which was a little different from a raccoon we may have seen in NY. We also saw what I called a wolf, but found out it was a coyote, on the side of the road. Definitely not the types of animals I'm used to seeing. When we finally arrived in Naples we meet my brother Mike and his girlfriend Lisa at her nieces house. The boys started playing with the girls after about 1 minute of acting shy. We made a stop for breakfast before heading to the Children's museum. It is a new museum and has so many interesting features as you will see in the pictures.  

Maddox just loves Sophia (kneeling) and Stephanie! 

He wouldn't make a very good newscaster and he kept putting the pic on his lips! Oh the germs! 

They have a whole section on seasons. In the winter season is this igloo that has a sheet of ice on the backside of it. Here you can see Maddox is cold. 

They had a section from the orchard to the supermarket. I think he was trying to work out his muscles because he loved cranking the belt to push the food to the cashier. 

Landon slept for the first half of the museum but when he woke up he was pointing at everything and really seemed to have a good time.

We stayed at the museum until it was almost closed. All the kids had such a great time. Afterwards we got in our cars and grabbed some dinner and headed for the beach. The kids played soccer for a little bit before heading to beach. 

Love this group pic!

Landon enjoyed tasting the shells that he found. At this point he was so tired as he only napped a third of what he normally does. The water was so warm he just sat and enjoyed the water running up around him.

Mike buried Sophia and Maddox tried to rescue his buddy! He stuck to her like glue the entire day.

After the beach we went back to the house and got cleaned up and played for a little bit before having to say goodbye. We love you Uncle Mike, Lisa, Sophia, and Stephanie!!! Thanks for making it a great weekend!! 

I'm back!

I know I know it has been wayyyyyyy too long (3 months to be exact). SO much has changed since I last posted. Landon has since turned one and has changed in too many ways to list right now. I will be sure to include those things slowly so we can look back and see what an amazing boy he is! I now have a goal to post once a week. I had been trying to do one a day but with everything going on if I promise once a week I may actually be able to keep up. So where have I been you ask....Harold had been studying for the CPA and I was worn out from being a single parent for the past 10 months. I am so proud to say he has now returned to us and things are slowly returning to normal. For the past few weekends since he received his test results we have kept busy busy busy. I wanted to share pictures from this past weekend and figured this is the perfect opportunity to start posting again. :o)
To start Saturday morning Maddox had his second soccer game of the season. The first in their adorable little uniforms. He is so excited to play, sometimes even too excited that he takes the ball away from his own teammates. While other kids sit on the bench and tell the coach they are too tired to go in he raises his hand and says "coach I'm ready". Yet somehow he can still manage to run to the car after the game. His energy is never ending!!

He is the most popular player, at least with the coaches, for both good and bad reasons.  Here he is leading the stretches.

Maddox and his buddy Uma. She is so cute and  seems to like him too. 

How cute are they!! Two minutes after we snapped this picture the coach came over and told them to sit on the bench . This was during the game...hehe....they are so silly!

Later that afternoon we headed for the "kite" park. We took the top down on the car and headed about 45 minutes north to enjoy the most amazing weather!! It was BEAUTIFUL!!!! This afternoon of nothing but pure family time was time well spent and enjoyed by all. 

I love how in the new new car their seats are so close they can hold hands as they often do. <3

 Brothers! How awesome is that blue sky?!

 My boys! <3

 Maddox says "like Woody". If you have ever seen Toy Story 3 you should understand.

 Love the running space!

 Landon is so much more aware of everything going on around him. He now points and makes noises so that you will look too.

 This is what he looks like the entire time we are driving in the car with the top down! I love how amused he is and always pointing!!

 Playing peak a boo with mommy!