Snow Play

One dark and chilly night this family decided to enjoy this magical thing called snow. Now, don't get me wrong I am severely allergic to the snow. Once exposed, I break out in whines and cries all over. It's a terrible sight. But, for some reason, this one particularly snowy night was different. It was a little warmer for this time of year, which means it was like 32, and it was snowing really hard. I couldn't resist bringing Amar'e and Damien out to play in these huge flakes falling from the sky. Anderson must have inherited my allergy to the snow because he was less then thrilled at being bundled up and taken outside. Every time a flake would touch his face he would tense up and scream. He hated it….and I don't blame him. Damien and Amar'e loved it. Amar'e hadn't had much snow exposure because of my allergy but watching her, you would have never been able to tell. She took  to it without hesitation or resistance. It was so much fun watching Andrew, Amar'e and Damien play around in the snow. I wish I would have been able to take some pictures of us outside….but Anderson wouldn't allow it.

This is what it looked like the next morning after our night of snow play

Happy New Year!

Christmas

Christmas was a great time of family, friends, and food. We had a switch up of events this year due to work schedules. We usually go to our memere's house on Christmas Eve and to the folk's house on Christmas Day but this year we went to memere's house on the day after Christmas. On Christmas morning we had pink Christmas pancakes (Amar'e requested pink) and opened our gifts before getting ready to go to the folk's house for more family, food and fun.  Love these moments:

Out of focus but I couldn't resist showing off this face! 

Christmas lights bokeh! 

Yah, I just realized I didn't make it into any of the Christmas photos. I guess that's the price you pay for being the photographer.

Blueberry Picking

Over labor day weekend (yes, I am a bit behind on my blogging) my mother-in-law, Damien, Amar'e and I went Blueberry picking. I've never been Blueberry picking in a Blueberry orchard before this (or would it be called a Blueberry grove or Blueberry field?). In the past it has always been us pulling off to the side of the road to randomly pick some blueberries on a whim. Going to a Blueberry orchard/grove/field was much more efficient and fun, especially if you want a good amount of blueberries for cakes, pies, pancakes, or just to eat. These Blueberries were organically grown, a huge plus! As you can see in the last picture, these bushes were so high we didn't even have to bend in half to pick the berries. This was such a relief for this 31 week pregnant mama. We made Blueberry pancakes, and my mother-in-law and Damien made Blueberry cake. It was amazing. We still have a full Zip-loc bag in the freezer.

This Is What Weekends Were Made For

My pregnancy hormones are kicking into high gear and affecting my brain function. I am forgetting things, thinking I already took care of something and I didn't, sorting pictures to add to a post and never adding them. For the most part, I am usually on top of things.....not so much lately.  Anyway, here is a look at our weekend. We had a picnic, which was brought to an end because the bugs were so bad we couldn't take it and it started to rain (funny, I didn't notice any bugs in Florida ruining our outings). We had a day out and went to the children't museum and played for a bit, tried to pick strawberries but they were closed, ended up getting the picnic basket I wanted for the day before and played at the park for a bit. Overall, this is what weekends are for:

         

What did you do last weekend?

A Love For Florida~A Family Vacation

I cannot put into words how much this family enjoyed our visit to Florida. It is unbelievable what eight days away from home will do for your soul. We really enjoyed seeing everyone and spending time with family. The only regret I have is not being at see my cousin more. I understand that life happens, and I do not expect anyone to stop living because of us.  I also regret not bringing my DSLR. I would have been able to handle taking it everywhere without a problem. What is the sense of having a great camera if I don't bring it everywhere, especially if I want to be a photographer. I need to have more confidence in myself and taking my camera along. I'm just worried something will happen to it, because if that were to happen we have no room in the budget to replace or repair it. Overall, this make me extra careful with it. I do bring it along 80% of the time, just not to places I don't think it will be needed.

I wasn't sure how everyone was going to handle the heat, but to my surprise it didn't bother any of us. We truly enjoyed being in 90+ degree weather. At times, it did zap some of my energy but we all agreed that we would rather have it 90+ for a good portion of the year rather than it be below zero. This family if meant to live in a warm climate without a doubt. One day this will happen.

So I can go on and on about how much we love being in Florida but I would rather just show you the pictures of our lovely trip.

 Horrible picture quality. I truly regret not bringing my DSLR. At this point Andrew had been awake for 30 or more hours. 

 On the plane. I've aimed to get the back row four separate times and I've been successful every single time. Being in the back of the plane is ideal to me having a toddler because it is really close to the bathrooms and flight attendants. It worked out lovely for a needy family. Andrew didn't fare so well at the end of our flight to Florida because we had to circle the runway because a turtle was on the runway.  I will admit that this made me a little queasy. 

Picture with my gram.

Her hair is getting lighter

So silly

 This family loves the beach! We spent an entire day at Cocoa Beach and it was amazing. I wish we lived closer to a beach that you can actually go swimming at. Our closest beach we go to in Maine is a two hour drive away and  the water is freezing! Not even worth the trip!

 Beach bums

 More beach bums. I didn't get a picture of Damien at the beach because I could hardly get him out of the water long enough to put more sunscreen on him. 

 Beach aftermath

 The crew at Disney Hollywood Studios

 Hot and sweaty at Hollywood Studios

 Waiting for the bus to take us to Epcot.

 Iced green tea from Japan. Yes please!

 This is the answer I got after asking them if they had fun at Disney.

 Second time in a row that this kid sleeps on the Safari Ride at Animal Kingdom.

 It almost looks like she is in with the tiger. I promise she isn't, its just the way the picture came out. 

Love this picture of Amar'e 

He sure is goofy! :)

 Amar'e got the princess treatment at the bibidi bobbidi boutique A.K.A-I did her hair in my aunt's bathroom. A real princess treatment at Disney would cost more than $100...I'm sure. 

Just missing a tiny princess tiara 

 We also painted her little toes as part of her princess treatment. 

 Can this kid of ours get any cuter.....I don't thinks that's possible. 

My face during a T-storm. The thunder was so loud. It made the Sheriff sitting in his car in front of us nearly jump out of his skin. Yikes! I guess the storms down here are nothing to mess with. I've been through a few bad ones in my past...but I tend to forget what they were like. I can say that this storm was a reminder of how strong they can be.

A few confessions:

I'm officially in love with Disney World. I have been there many,many, many times in my life, but I have to say that this time I had a whole different appreciation for it. 

The Disney princesses are growing on me.  I was never really fond of them in the past. Maybe I thought they were oversexulized, but during this trip I realized that they weren't oversexulized at all. I am not entirely sure where that feeling came from, but they are surely growing on. I've even stared watching the Disney princess movies with Amar'e. I've seen most of them, but like I said, I am seeing them differently now. Princess Tiana is my favorite and I am anxious to watch the movie. (I'm a bit kid and always will be)

I want to move to Florida!