Aquarium Visit

Donald had a meeting to attend in Atlanta this week, so the girls and I decided to spend a little quality time at the Aquarium while he spent some quality time in the boardroom (bored room?).  Either way, we got the best end of the deal.  We had a great time visiting all the exhibits and even got to see otter feeding time, which included lots of funny tricks.  Donald finished up with his meeting just in time to pick us up at the curb and drive us home to make pizza for dinner.  Lucky guy!

First thing they wanted to visit were the touch tanks.



I love her scrunchy face in this picture!

Couldn't resist taking a picture of the typo on the piranha sign.  How sad am I?  But don't they have spellcheck somewhere?

Meet Sergeant Lucky Boots!

On Memorial Day, a tiny kitten wandered across Mimi and Papa's yard. It has now taken up what seems to be a permanent resident at their house. Meet Sergeant Lucky Boots! His name is an amalgamation of several things: apparently Abby once read a book about a girl with a kitten named Sergeant Boots and Papa calls him Lucky because he's lucky that Papa hasn't...well...relocated him. He's the laziest kitten I've ever met and seems to spend all of his time flat on his back in someone's lap. Pretty soon he has to go to the vet to get "nurtured," as Emily calls it but other than that and a runny eye, which we're doctoring with Neosporin, he seems to be growing up quite nicely!

Look out, Esther Williams!

Emily has started synchronized swimming this summer!  She is having a great time and told me this week that she can't wait until next Monday when she can go back to class.  This is a HUGE improvement over last summer, if any of you will recall!  I took her to the pool today and was simply amazed at how she flips and swims like a fish everywhere.  I only have this one picture of her entire swim group which was taken by her amazing teacher, Miss Betsie, because parents don't attend synchronized practices.  The swim show is supposed to be a big surprise for all of us.  Emily loves the idea of keeping secrets about her performance.  I think this picture of her with her swim friends is just precious.  She's the one in purple, by the way - they all become kind of anonymous in their swim caps and goggles!

Serenbe Market Day

Today we spent the morning exploring the Serenbe Farmers Market and visiting with the animals at the farm.  We came away with some delicious pepper jelly and a fantastic caricature of Emily.  Being a budding artist herself,  she was really excited about having Vincent Wolf draw her portrait.  Love the way it came out and can't wait to frame it for her room!

She has been wearing this sweater for three straight days.  It was Abby's favorite sweater and was passed down to Emily.  I think she's going to start sleeping with it soon.

He even got her sweet "beauty mark" on her chin!  She didn't love this and I had to convince her that all the glamorous ladies used to paint them on if they didn't have one.

Callaway Circus

Another favorite summertime tradition is a trip to see the FSU Circus at Callaway Gardens.  So much fun - and free, which is always great!  Aunt Liz got to go with us, which just added to the excitement factor.  The girls always enjoy seeing the performers' new acts and then trying out some moves at home.  This frightens me a bit because we had the added bonus of watching a gymnastics competition the following afternoon.  No telling what kinds of antics Emily's going to try!  May all your days be Circus days!

She loves to get pictures with her favorite performers.

Bad Papa was encouraging her to climb up on the trapeze net.

Rare full family photograph - Thanks, Auntie Yam!

Summer Reading

I took the girls to the Central Library for their first visit of the summer and to sign up for the summer reading program.  Always a favorite summertime activity!  They each came home with a bag of books and spent the afternoon tucked away on the couch reading, reading, reading.  Their setup was pretty funny and warranted a picture post.  They've always enjoyed taking the cushions off our couches and using them to make forts of some kind.  Now they can make a reading nest!  Hope you are dreaming big with summer reading!