8 posts tagged “photos”

Saturday morning, we headed up to Seminole to pick up Stepdaughter2. Then I went grocery shopping. Thrilling, isn't it? We had steak with shrimp scampee over angel hair pasta and a bottle of pinot noir. Even with five children, we had plenty of leftovers. Afterwards, the children watched Surf's Up:

Surf's Up (Full Screen Special Edition)

Today, we went to North Jetty in Venice. The waves were considerably calmer, temperature considerably warmer and beach considerably more crowded. The kids still had an outstanding time. Tommy now loves the water and won't let his rest for a moment on the shore. Then we grabbed a table and had some hamburgers and chips.

We met Stepdaughter2's mom in Ellenton so she could go home and picked up some fried chicken and sides from Publix for dinner. Writing it out, it really doesn't seem like we did all that much, but I sure am tired!

Christmas 2007 - mistletoe

The batteries in my camera are toast so I have very little photos to share of this year's Christmas decorating and the ones that I have taken suck. Better pictures will come soon. The above picture is of the ball of mistletoe that's dangerously suspended from the entry light.

Tomorrow is a busy day with picking my daughter up in south Punta Gorda at 8, then beating traffic back up to North Port for Mass at 9, then baking and wrapping before lunch at 1 (which is back in Punta Gorda), then Stepdaughter2's birthday party afterwards back here in North Port. As far as I'm concerned, we can put the cake in the carrier, pack up the van, put on our swimsuits and head back out to North Jetty Beach for her party.

Nothing says Christmas Season like chilling on the beach.

I've been enjoying Netflix's Watch Instantly feature, which is included in the monthly membership fee. There aren't a lot of selections that appeal to me, but there's enough good stuff. I've finally been able to watch The Comedians of Comedy and a few other shows I've been wanting to see but haven't [since I have no cable].

The children watched Elf this evening. This is our only Christmas movie on DVD, I think. We might have The Santa Clause and A Christmas Story on VHS out in the garage.

Elf (Infinifilm Edition)

EDIT: A few more pictures

Today, we went to North Jetty Beach in Venice, Florida. I like North Jetty Beach because it's less crowded than any other beach I've been to but is absolutely gorgeous. The yellow flags were out, signaling a "medium hazard with moderate surf and currents" which made the beach even less populated. The wind was lovely and the water had to have been around 65-70°. It was really the perfect beach day for me. The kids also enjoyed the beach. Tommy finally decided to check out the big blue wet thing and had a good experience, even with the waves knocking him down.

After showers and dinner, the kids settled down to watch The Dark Crystal, an old Jim Hensen movie that I grew up with that mimicks the idea of The Fellowship of the Ring, but is still enjoyable in its own right. With my kids growing up with CGI, it's hard to spectulate how they'll take to something that relies on muppets and Frank Oz's limited voice talent. Oh, Oz, how I do love how Yoda sounds like Grover sounds like Chamberlain. For my time, when I was a kid, it was really something special to watch.

The Dark Crystal [Region 2]

For the first time in my life, I ate Thanksgiving Dinner at a restaurant. Hosted by my in-laws, we ate at the wonderful restaurant, The Family Table in North Port. We all still enjoyed Turkey, stuffing, cranberry sauce and potatoes, with none of the cooking or clean-up. Many thanks to T.L. and Georgia for providing for a good holiday dinner.

Then we went to pick up Stepdaughter2 from her home in Seminole (up by Largo). Going to Seminole involves crossing the Skyway Bridge. The surprising rainy day in Pinellas County gave way to a few moments of peeking sunshine to snap off a couple of photos while crossing the bridge southbound on the way back home.

In the evening, we settled down. For reading time before bed, I read Bailey's copy of Fairyopolis to Stepdaughter2 while the boys were supposed to be reading their own "Ology" books. Naturally, I ended up with three pairs of eyes prying over into the Fairyopolis book. I enjoyed how much she got into the book and how willing she was to read along, reading the sight-words that she's learned in Kindergarten, as well as starting to sound out words! I made it absolutely clear to Stepdaughter2 that the book is make-believe and the fairies that they talk about in the book don't really exist; that it's all about imagination and even the lady who's written the journal is make-believe. Hopefully, that will resolve any concerns from her mother if she returns home excited over the book. I greatly support the Ologies series. The key about Fairyopolis is that it's extraordinarily educational about butterlies and moths while it stimulates the child's imagination about such magical ideas like fairies in England back in the 1920's.

Fairyopolis

Bailey's Birthday: Table setting

Bailey's birthday party went very well this Saturday. She asked for a Hello Kitty party. I picked up some decorations that had Hello Kitty on them, then supplemented the theme with pink and white. The table confetti was purple hearts and clear circles. The cupcakes were chocolate with white whipped frosting, sprayed pink with white sprinkles and homemade candy hearts (in white and pink) added to the top of each one. I plan to duplicate this, except with white "funfetti" cake, for Bailey's CCD class on Wednesday night. My shoulder and neck were in such pain that I wasn't able to hang the streamers like I usually do for the kids' parties, but I did get the pink and white balloons inflated and placed. Bailey wore her nice dress, covered in buttons that proclaimed it her birthday, and Tom took her and her older brothers out to see Bee Movie while I decorated the house, baked cupcakes, and wrapped presents. Tom said the movie reminded him of a Seinfeld routine so I assume that means there's a lot of observational humour and awkward situational comedy. The children really enjoyed it. When they returned, the party began.

After the singing, the wishes, the candles and the devouring of cupcakes, Bailey opened her presents. She had a good loot this year, from a Doodlebear, to a Fairyopolis book, to Hello Kitty products, to a guitar. Her brothers insisted on getting her a Bionicle, which is a robotic-type toy that can be disassembled and reassembled at will. They've said that she constantly borrows theirs and they wanted her to have her own so she would quit. She was very happy to receive the gift. She also received a mosaic stone kit. Her older brothers had made one at their natural father's home in Chicago a number of years ago and, for who knows why, I had to drive the thing all the way back to Florida; so, we've had it. It usually gets used as home plate in the backyard. I'd like Bailey to make her own so she has her own. Maybe it can be first base.

On Wednesday, which is the actual day of her birthday, she will get to bring little loot bags to her classmates at school. In the evening, we'll bring in cupcakes for her classmates at CCD. I expect that she will want to wear her buttons again on Wednesday and I'm fine with that for as long as her teacher doesn't mind. I picked up a butterfly jewel iron-on from Walmart today that I'd like to fashion onto the back of her denim jacket. Now that we're in cooler weather, she'll start wearing her jacket. I'd also gotten her a black t-shirt with a jeweled butterfly design weeks ago for her birthday and I'd forgotten about it. That can be something she receives on Wednesday as a special extra gift on her birthday day. There's been no contribution from her natural father for any of these events, but I suspect that there will be some kind of party, even if Bailey has to share one with his wife's daughter, sometime this month.

My baby girl will be six years old in the morning hours of Wednesday. To read Bailey's Birth Story, click here.

The pumpkins are carved and the children are almost ready for Halloween! We have a few more projects left, the most delicious being the candy!

I focused a lot on planning waymarks today. There's a lot that should be waymarked in Punta Gorda. Then there's continuing the firehouse series of waymarks that we'd been doing for the area. I'm not doing bogus "Burger King Restaurants" waymarks. I'm talking about legitimate historical markers, mural masterpieces and the relics of our history.

We did a little geocaching after we picked up Bailey. We stopped by the Charlotte County Motor Speedway and took pictures of the old Punta Gorda Fire Department ladder truck that's parked out front. Tom used to work on this ladder truck. It's a shame to see it subjected to the elements and rapidly deteriorating. The Engine that's no longer in service is now located at Steve's Auto Shoppe and is very well cared for.

Bailey's dad has asked to have her for a week. He has no job, he needs to be searching for a job, he claims he's just sitting on Short-term Disability, he isn't paying any child support nor does he think he needs to pay any child support, and he wants me to extend visitation and have her in that delusional house of crackpot reality for longer? I don't think so. Anna's mom let Anna stay with us for a week while Tom was home on Short-Term Disability because he was recovering from a full hip replacement and child support was paid.

That's right, folks, we fork out $1100 every month for two children while getting $0 in return for three!

Tomorrow has more phone calls, more arrangements, more dealing with stress. Tom has all of his things to do.

I cleaned up a bit.

We took Bailey to the drop-off for her visitation. Tommy threw a fit seeing his sister go away.

Then we ate at Golden Corral with Tom's dad and had a good time with that. Tommy threw a fit whenever anyone would walk away from the table.

After that, we went geocaching. We found:

• Scramblers First (GC147E8) - a regular cache in a cul-de-sac center garden, very nice find.
• Gilchrist Park (GCNKMQ) - Tom found this one. He's getting the knack of the JJmac hides. I took pictures of Charlotte Harbor.

We DNF'd:

• Shreve Park (GCNH5J) - Tom tried to look for that JJmac hide and the darkness won. I took pictures of Fisherman's Village from the Yacht Club docks.