Summer Stuff

Now that September is half over, I can finally breathe a sigh of relief that we've successfully survived another Florida summer. Generally I consider summers here our "season of hibernation", but this time around I think we managed to get out a bit more and had a lot of fun. Staying in and around water makes a big difference.

We spent many days enjoying the wading pool at the zoo. Aubree doesn't even care to see the animals anymore. Maybe once it's cooler...

Cheyenne, Aubree, & Olivia (playing Little Mermaid)

Bryce giving his friend Josie the "I'm going to bite you" look

We enjoyed another slip-'n-sliding adventure at the Dokos' home. I think they have the only sloped backyard in all of Titusville, and it makes for great fun.

Aubree wasn't too fond of the slide

A couple weekends ago our friends invited us to go wake-boarding with them. I'd never been before, but was excited to at least try. Amazingly enough, I managed to get up! Granted, once I got up I mainly just managed to wipe-out in dramatic ways (as evidenced by the inability to use my muscles for the following three days), but it was a TON of fun! Thanks Hawkins, Millers, & Cliff!

While I was busy crashing, Mark took care of Aubree and Bryce. The noise of the boat immediately lulled Bryce into dreamland, but Aubree spent the whole outing covering her ears (the boat was "too noisy") and expressing her desire to get back to "swimming." In talking to her later, I realized I hadn't prepared her well enough for what she would see because she admitted, "every time you fell, I felt sooo scared!" Her time on the boat was short, and though she later told her grandpa, "we spent the whole day rowing and rowing," she really spent most of the day swimming in a sectioned-off part of the lake. And don't worry, the lifeguards assured us that the alligators only come out after dark.

Here's another first we attempted this summer: canning peaches. When I was a kid, I spent countless hours every summer canning every sort of food. I wish I'd paid better attention, because now I feel like such a know-nothing! I can't remember how many times I had to call Mom to ask questions. I think this first batch turned out pretty well, though.
Oh yeah, our second butterfly emerged from it's chrysalis! This one was a male and much smaller and less impressive than his sister. We put him out in this tree to let his wings finish drying, then he flew off!