Sun Sets on Summer . . . Autumn Approaches

My summer was full of fun and firsts. We took our first long road trip as a family. We stopped in Atlanta to meet my Great Uncle Buzz and Great Aunt Dianne (my mom's aunt and uncle). While we were there, I saw my first beluga whale at the Georgia Aquarium. We traveled farther on to North Carolina (Murphy-area) to visit my Great Grandma Lois and some more of my extended family. I saw my first fireflies (or lightning bugs as mom calls them), and met some of my cousins for the first time. I ended my summer with a little trip to St. Petersburg. Mom and I tagged along with dad while he had to work and we visited Lowry Park Zoo (my favorite thing was the giraffe skull), the beach near where my mom grew up (Redington Shores), and topped of the trip with a Rays game, but not just any Rays game. It was THE Rays game - the first no-hitter in the history of the Rays! I was there with my family and some friends. Here I am with one of those friends (Justin) below.

This year I am still in preschool and I am going 3 days each week. Just before my first day of school (see pics at the left), I got my very first haircut (see below). It was just a trim, but I really enjoyed it. School is a lot of fun and I love my new teacher, Mrs. Scott. This year, mom gets to help out in the classroom about once a month and I like having her in the classroom.

Here I am just dressing up for fun. This is a dress that my Aunt Kimmie and my mom wore when they were little girls.

The approach of the fall also brought an onslaught of birthday parties! Here I am at my friend Grace's birthday party enjoying some dress up time and, Play-doh, and (of course), Dora and Swiper. It was lots of fun.

A good friend of ours had a 40th birthday party at the Swan and Dolphin Hotel near Disney World, so we took the opportunity to stay overnight and enjoy some fun things at the hotel. Here's a picture of our room (I loved the balcony).

I had a great time swinging in the hammock with dad.

I spent a lot of time playing with my ponies. I buried them in the sand, took them on the playground, and taking them swimming in the pools.

The water was definitely cooler than my pool at home, but mom came in and braved the cold with me. I even tried the "big-kid" water slide, but mom and dad couldn't get pictures because one of them had to help me at the top of the slide and the other one had to meet me at the bottom, but TRUST me - I DID it!

I completed my trip to the Swan and Dolphin with a big, sticky, messy, lollipop. Mom was not happy about the fact that dad let me have it in the car (I have a propensity toward wiping sticky, messy things on the car seat), but she wasn't too upset because I had eaten a great, healthy breakfast that morning. In fact, Goofy, Pluto, Chip and Dale also came to breakfast! It was a lot of fun.

After lots and lots of waiting the pumpkins FINALLY arrived! Mom and I took a trip to the pumpkin patch by ourselves. We took some fun pictures and took home some pumpkins, too.









Here are some pictures from another birthday party. However, this was a special birthday party. It was at Green Meadows Farm, which is one of my favorite places!

Mrs. Tammy (the birthday girl's mommy), helped me feed the goats.








I was a little bit afraid to feed the goats myself, but I did like petting them!

The highlight of the trip for mom was watching me kiss this little, tiny baby duck. However, the highlight of the trip for me was when the duck pooped on daddy's shirt. I guess I squeezed the little thing a little too hard. Even my friend Paige got a kick out of that.

I was feeling a bit "sheepish" standing next to this ewe. If you could hear this picture, you'd hear me giggling and making "baaa" sounds.

Paige and I were very amused by the rabbits, but mom was more amused at how similar Paige and I look in this picture.

I got to play around in an antique school room. It had "old-fashioned" desks that mom remembers having in her classroom. Wow, my mom just might be a bit antique herself.

Chugga-chugga Choo! Choo! We took a train ride together and I really liked watching Baby Tyler while we were on the train.

Even mom got into the farm life for a moment and held a chicken.

No trip to Green Meadows would be complete without riding a pony. I stayed very steady on the horse and rode it like a pro! (well, nearly . . . .)

When I came to Green Meadows for my 2nd birthday, I was too scared to milk a cow, but THIS time I did it! I also got to feed Sweet Lips - that's the cow's name.

Here I am with my family. Mom likes this picture because she says you can tell that I look a little like her and a little like my dad. I just think I look cute and totally prepared for a day at the farm.

So, that was my summer and fall. Who knows what the winter will bring!

Daddy and Me in 2010

WHAT'S NEW WITH THE NUGGET IN 2010

It's only February and already I have so many pictures and memories to share. I am in the throws of potty training - although I'm certainly being stubborn about doing all things in the potty. My mom says I have "partial potty power" rather than full "potty power" like the princess in the potty training DVD I like to watch. I'm still going to preschool 2 days per week and I love my teacher, Mrs. Hale. Other things I have done so far in 2010 include picking strawberry's at Pappy's Patch, hanging out at Chick-fil-a for Musical Brunch with Mr. Richard and for Pajama Night, and spending lots of time at Maitland Park and the Maitland Library for their weekly storytime. Just last week, we saw 24 baby ducklings at that park! I like that park a lot because in addition to the ducks and a great playground, we get to see a train pass by nearly every week.

VALENTINES DAY

I had a great Valentine's Day celebration in my classroom. I decorated an empty cube-shaped tissue box to collect all my valentines in and, as you can imagine, I was mostly interested in the cards that included something sweet! I also made some special handprint valentines for my grandma and grandpa this year.

MOM'S BIRTHDAY

Mom turned 33 this year and I celebrated her birthday by getting a cold. It lasted until nearly Valentines Day! Even though I got a cold, we still managed to go out for a nice breakfast, played at Lake Eola park, and enjoyed a quiet night at home.

BALLET

In 2010, I have started ballet classes on Monday mornings at Miss Morgan's studio called Tutus on Broadway. It is so much fun and even though I am the youngest and the littlest in my class, I will still get to participate in a recital in May! Miss Morgan says that I am very good at tap and that my shuffle-step is very good!

NEW YEAR = NEW SILLINESS

No matter how busy I am with school, ballet and running errands with mom, I always find time to tap into my inner "silly".

A VISIT TO TAMPA

Dad had to work at a conference in Tampa in January, so we tagged along to visit some friends and see the sights.

Here I am at the Tampa Aquarium. Out of all of the neat things to see there, my favorite thing was the coral; specifically, Brain Coral.

Maybe if I crawl inside this giant snail shell mom will stop chasing me with that camera.

For some reason, this "spitting" fish really made me laugh. Mom said it was a fountain, but to me it was still spitting - fountain or not.

Princess Ariel ain't got nuthin' on me! :) Check me out in my "mermaid nest" as I called it.

While dad was at his conference at work, mom and I ventured out to Westshore Mall and spent a lot of time in their soft, indoor playground. Or, as mom's friend likes to call it - the "petri dish" - full of kid germs and, it WAS. Thankfully, I didn't get sick.

We shopped around a bit, but mostly I just tried some things on - like these crazy glasses. I also made my shoplifting debut on this trip when I stashed a tiny Yankee Candle into mom's diaper bag while she wasn't looking. That was funny, but having to take it back to the sales person in the store and explain what happened was NOT.

BREVARD ZOO

We closed out 2009 with a fun day trip to the Brevard Zoo with my cousins, mom and dad, and Aunt Kimmie. We got to feed giraffes, feed birds (that was so much fun and quite a laugh), and spent lots of time at the petting zoo. Only in Florida will armadillos be found in a petting zoo. It was a blast!

I just love hanging out with my cousins! Dad, you look really excited in this picture.

STRAWBERRY PICKING - PAPPY'S PATCH

While Aunt Kimmie and my cousins had time off from school during the holidays, we took advantage of the break to do some fun things like picking strawberries at Pappy's Patch. It was cold, but that didn't stop us from filling our baskets with yummy, ripe strawberries!








Audrey showed me how to find the ripe ones - and leave the green ones alone!

The strawberries smelled so good and looked so yummy that it was hard to wait until we got home to eat them.

WINTER TIME AND CHRISTMAS

Even though December brought out some of the colder weather we've had in a long time, that didn't keep daddy and me from taking a trip to the Winter Park Farmer's Market to see the tree in the park all decorated for Christmas. I liked the decorations, but I didn't like that the tree was closed off for Christmas time (couldn't walk underneath it like usual).

We also enjoyed our traditional kettle corn by the fountain together. That's a special treat for daddy and me - he always gets the BIG bag so we can share! (That's a piece of kettle corn in my fingers)

Just before Christmas time, we visited a winter carnival in our local Waterford Lakes area. Sadly, I was too small to ride most of the rides, but I did get to ride on a double decker carousel and, more importantly, daddy helped me win this little black stuffed dog. I named her "Kaia" because that's my Aunt Janet's dog's name.

This year we hit an exciting milestone by going to see Santa Claus at the mall. I dressed up with a flower in my hair and set off to sit in his lap. I asked him for a "Swim to Me Puppy" and he brought it! Mom has been especially impressed with the excellent craftsmanship of this toy, which stopped working almost 24 hours after it arrived. It was kind of fun, but I had even more fun interacting with the winter displays in all the department stores. I really liked the "snow".

Here I am pretending to be a reindeer! The lady working inside this card shop did not appreciate my giving these antlers a test run. Mom quick got a picture and then made like Dasher out of the shop.

I had a great Christmas at my house this year. This was the first time I had spent Christmas at our house. Grandma, Grandpa, Aunt Janet and Cousin Kaia came to stay with us. We made gingerbread, toasted marshmallows in our fireplace, and, of course, opened a few presents. One of my favorite presents this year was a doll house. We also celebrated Aunt Janet's 30th birthday while she was visiting.

I TURNED 3!

In December, I turned 3 years old! This was such a fun birthday, too. On my actual birthday I went to school and while I was there mom and dad stopped by to bring my classmates and me a birthday treat! The class sang "Happy Birthday" and I was very excited about that! The next morning, I had my first real birthday party with friends -it was at Sliderz, which is an indoor bounce house kind of place. I got to sit in a birthday girl throne (see the picture) and the theme was Backyardigans. It was a lot of fun!