oh Arcadia

Taking the trip over to Arcadia always gives us a wonderful feeling of simplicity. We love the history of the old town, the beauty of its landscapes, and of course our great friends who live there! And when its time to go home we leave with a longing in our hearts!

The kids had an awesome water fight that o course ended in tears but it was so much fun to watch. I almost wanted to join in!


This cutie is Bernadette, the McManus's new baby. She is so adorable! In this picture she was desperately trying to eat the lense of my camera. And look at those short little legs, the perky little tail, and those floppy little ears!

kaiden's chair

The other night Kaiden and Randy said "goodbye" to one of our good, but crazy, friends. He's moving far away to pursue his dreams... Good luck Ryan! We'll miss your crazy antics - fish, bleach, and all!
Yesterday:

We took a leisurely walk through the "ghetto" while waiting for Big Red's oil change. We found some neat stores and picked up these treasures...

A striking painting done on a piece of plywood.

A green chair that has so much character I couldn't possibly pass it up.

This is a very old bird feeder that needs a little TLC. I love the chipped paint and the missing roof.
From the moment we walked into the store Kaiden insisted that this red chair was "his chair. He wouldn't leave without it and plopped his little but down until we agreed that the chair suited him and it could come home with us. He usually could care less about such things but this chair must be pretty darn special!

The second we got home he carried it into his room and put it in just the right spot. He sat down and said thoughtfully: "I remember this chair. It might be mine, but they made a different chair out of it."

Kaiden reunited with his chair.

meet our newest family members

::: Superman :::

We have 2 hermit crabs but the other, Wild Boy, wasn't being cooperative during his photo shoot. They were gifts from Nanny and Dah (Crystal's mom and sister) as a thank you for watching all of their critters while they were on vacation.

We're learning lots about them...regeneration, scavengers, tidal pool dwellers. And we're becoming very found of the little guys. At first we were really nervous to hold them fearing that their big purple pinchers would take hold and not let go but they are actually very gently - but quick! The two love to explore, run, push, and climb... sounds like another little one in the house.

::: Ungo :::

Ungo is one of two mice we got recently. The other is Jack who also wasn't up for having his picture taken today. We got them on a whim and didn't research much before the big purchase - BIG mistake. The man that sold him to us wasn't very educated on mice either.

We bought 2 male mice and one cage, thinking this was OK since the man at the pet store sold them to us this way. But it is one of the BIGGEST mistakes you can make. We learned the hard way that male mice in the U.S. are VERY territorial. Our guy Jack tore little Ungo to pieces! We had to take Ungo to the exotic vet for infection of his cuts, a broken leg, and tail. Ungo was prescribed antibiotics and vitamins for his wounds.

Ungo was recovering beautifully when one day Kaiden ran to us, looking pale, shaking, and on the verge of tears, and said "Ungo's skin is coming off - I didn't do it!!!". We take a closer look and sure enough, under Ungo's fur was a scab and the scab, slightly larger than a quarter (which is big for such a small critter) had completely flipped over. You could see his spine, and everything inside his body was yellow. A bit of panic set in for us but we soon figured out what needed to be done.

Ungo is now back to his old self again, has his own cage, and gets LOTS of love and plenty of treats. I think Jack is still in the doghouse in Kaiden's eyes but Randy and I are good at spreading the love around.

Hopefully next time I can get a picture of Jack and Wild Boy for you all to see.

lego thursday

My mom and sister brought Kaiden a skimboard back from their vacation on the beach yesterday. Kaiden wakes me up at 7:00 this morning, swimsuit on, towel over his shoulder, skimboard under his arm and says "Get up Mom! We're going to the beach!".

Much later, around 10am, we're finally packed up and ready to head to the beach to try out the new skimboard. I went to start the car and there is already a key in the ignition and the battery is dead! Those of you who know us well know that we have ISSUES with keys. Two nights ago I took a sleeping Kaiden from the car to his bed. I forgot about the car being ON and just went to bed!!! So who knows how long the car actually ran, and if it's out of gas or what. Just add this incident to the never ending list of key dramas!

So instead of the beach we're having Lego day. We've created some pretty neat things today including this space ship.

We've also done some texture rubbings on the road, tree, leaves, grass, car....notice Kaiden's 2 different kinds of shoes. He insisted it was "two different kinds of shoe basketball day". One was even on the wrong foot. I love when he comes up with this stuff!

It was brought to our attention yesterday that Kaiden and I made it in the Sarasota Herald Tribune! This is a picture from the Harry Potter party at Books-A-Million where we're making magic wands. Click HERE to see more pictures that weren't in the paper.

today's adventure

MOSI

Kaiden has been really into pirates recently so we took a trek over to MOSI yesterday afternoon to check out the new sunken ship and pirate exhibit. He really took the pirate theme to heart, dressing up in an awesome costume. Randy and I dressed up to - I was Kaiden's first mate and daddy was his fair lady! Kaiden's only goal while visiting was to see pirate bones and weapons - mission accomplished!!!

MOSI also had a new floor dedicated to natural disasters which Kaiden has also been asking a lot about. Here we got to experience what it might feel like to be in an earthquake, tornado, hurricane, and even a brush fire. When I went in the wind tunnel the wind went up to 80 mph and things got sucked out of my purse so I had receipts flying violently all over the tunnel!

We saw this magical site on our way home.

fun with the fam

Kaiden, Randy, Melissa, and Mike went to Marina Jacks yesterday afternoon.
They cooled off in the fountains,

relaxed in the shade,
and looked at the boats.

This is such a wonderful spot in Sarasota and every time we go it makes realize we are pretty darn lucky to live in such a gorgeous place

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I started my new job at Books-a-Million last night and what a crazy first night it was!!! It was the release of the last Harry Potter book and I've never seen such an ordeal, but it was really neat to be a part of all the excitement!



We had a Harry Potter party which included....

wand making, the sorting hat, movies, a costume contest, face painting, tattoos, glow in the dark bracelets, fortune telling, video games, lots and lots of muggles, and of course the release of Harry Potter at 12:01 AM!!!!



I don't think I could describe the madness if I tried - you just had to experience it.



Kaiden meeting Harry.
The sorting hat placed Kaiden in Slytheryn!


The winner of the costume contest reading Kaiden's palm.

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This morning we went to Siesta Key with Mike and Melissa. The water was warm but there was just enough breeze in the air to cool the skin. We mostly walked the beach and explored little hidden treasures....

Things that were found:

sea turtle nests, rock caves for fairies,

sand fleas, shells with holes to make lovely necklaces,

a dead jelly fish, sand dollars that "pee" on you,
and what trip to Siesta would be complete without spotting the lovely old man who walks around with nothing but a tiny sac covering his private part!

walking,
balancing,
climbing,
posing,
searching,

glowing.

so far today...

we've had Princess of Thieves movie - the story of Robin hood and Maid Marrian's daughter.
Mama clean-cleanin.
Randy enjoying the clean sheets on the bed.

Randy's sister, her husband, and their little bun in the oven, arrived late last night. Don't know what they have planned yet so it's a wait and see kind of thing.



An exciting trip to Wally World and horse rides, followed by lunch at the sub shop, Jersey Mikes.

A small debate about who's cuter - Randy or Kaiden. I say they're tied.
Lots of wrestling and role playing between the two of them.



A candy pirate.

Kaiden created a wooden block scene: "A dormant volcano, water that leads to the land far far away, and a machine that takes people to the top of the volcano so they can look into it". His creation is pretty detailed but the pictures we took weren't doing it any justice.

Tonight is my first night working at the bookstore and I'm in for an exciting time. At midnight the last Harry Potter book gets released and they're having a big party with games, costume contests, face painting, arts and crafts, and crazy people who actually come out that late at night for a book! Its all in good fun and I'm sure I'll have a good time. I'm getting ready to take a nap soon so I can stay up until 2am!

July 19th

Today we've had painting painting painting!!! Randy and Kaiden were both busy artists getting ready for the big art show coming up. Randy seems to have found a nice groove and is really going with it. His newest work has a different feel but is still very colorful and full of energy. We can't wait to share with you all!

:::The show will be on August 11Th, 4-6pm, here in Sarasota. The art gallery fell through but one of Randy's biggest fans, Robin Jensen, is hosting the show at her house. We'll be sending out invitations soon!:::

We've also had a little cook in the kitchen today. Kaiden has discovered that cooking can be pretty fun - especially when you make a big old mess! He started out helping me make spaghetti and sauce.

Adding spices here and there, olive oil, a bit of cheese, garlic, stirring, tasting...and then his mind got to work. He soon realizes that we have all the ingredients to make pizza!



We used soft tortillas for the crust and Kaiden personalized each of our pizzas with toppings - olives, onions, tomatoes...He was very thoughtful when deciding who got what toppings!

And to make things even funner this evening - Kaiden got a letter in the mail from our friend Jenn, and inside was a sheet of paper containing coupons to color and cut out just for mom. He hid in a corner being super secretive not letting me know what he was up to. A bit later he hands me a coupon, cut and colored all by himself, entitling me to not have to do the dishes for a whole week!!!!

Kaiden was so proud to be helping out tonight in such a fun way! And even though a nice mess was made I was happy to oblige!

Angel's watching over us

::Kaiden was attacked by a pygmy rattlesnake!::

::But he's ok, and he didn't get bitten::

-Kaiden's angels were protecting him today! We went outside to talk with a Verizon telephone man who had just pulled up into our yard, when Kaiden stepped off the porch and onto the sidewalk. I look down and see a snake attacking him!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!! It lunged at him 5 times!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!

Angel protection #1:

Right before Kaiden walked out the door he decided to put on his big army rain boots. The snake was attacking the boots and didn't actually get Kaiden.

Angel protection #2:

I yelled that there was a snake and was yelling for Kaiden to move when the Verizon man ran up like a pro (think crocodile hunter) and pinned the snake with a stick and then picked it up!!!!

-If Kaiden wouldn't have been wearing those boots and that wonderful man hadn't have picked that snake up our child would have been bitten more than 5 times by a rattlesnake.

-What are the odds that when you walk out your front door a rattlesnake is waiting there to bite your ankles and you just happen to have the perfect protection against snake bites on your feet and a man in your yard that knows just what to do?

:::::THANK YOU GOD!!!!:::::

an amazing friend

Let me just tell you about her...

She's as cute as can be, loves to giggle, super sarcastic, debbie downer, but oh so hilarious (especially when she's not trying to be). My dear Karla, I love you.

I needed her today. I had a job interview and had no one to watch Kaiden for me (Randy's at work). Karla cancelled her doctors appointment just so she could be here on time so I wouldn't be late for my interview! Plus, I left my keys in Randy's car again so I had no vehicle to drive myself to the interview so sweet Karla let me use her car (which I almost wrecked due to a horrendous storm and flooding).

Oh, I'm not done...My folks went out of town for the week and I'm in charge of watching all their critters. And since I have no car I can't leave to let their dogs go to the bathroom so Karla was so wonderful and drove me there (twice) to let them go out.

PLUS!!!!! Karla even drove me all the way to North Port to pick up my keys!!!! All the while listening to the sound of children (whining, squealing, fighting, laughing, yelling, really really loud) and being an awesome friend.

I can't thank you enough for your help today Karla! Did I include the detail that Karla lives in Arcadia? 45 minutes away??? You rock girl.

By the way, I got the job. I'm going to be working part time at a book store.

And I believe Randy is busy fighting brush fires so keep him in your thoughts tonight!

swamp monsters

Once upon a time....there were swamp monsters. They lived in an ooey gooey swamp where alligators live. The swamp monsters attacked the alligators because they were scared of them. They're not scared of them anymore because they're all ate up! - Kaiden 4 yrs old


This is goopey goop - a concoction of corn starch, water, and food coloring. We've learned from experience that goopey goop should be played in the bathtub because our spirited boy has to make this a full body experience! Playing with it in the tub allows for more creative freedom without mom having to constantly be after him not to get it on the furniture, clothes, floor, dogs..... you get the idea.

happy brithday ran!!!

Wow! 25 years old, a quarter of a century.....
Ran was feeling the love on his big day! Family, friends, toys, movies, good food, cookie cake, pictures, putt putt, lots of laughs, and memories. What a day!!!

Our good friends Jenn and Vee came for the afternoon and saw the new Harry Potter movie with us. We enjoyed a good lunch and an awesome fire truck cookie cake!

After lunch Jill and Jeorge came for a visit. We played a good game of putt putt, ate some pizza, and laughed hard over crazy pictures and the good old days.

My sister, Samantha, brought Ran a really cool cake made completely out of candy-how sweet! She spent the evening listening and laughing at all our crazy stories and once everyone left we cozied up on the brown couch to enjoy a movie. Its wonderful to have such good friends to share your special day with. Thank you guys!
Miss Mag-Pie wishing her daddy a happy birthday too.

p.s. Ran had such an awesome day he was so sad to have to go to work today!

messing around at the staion

We were missing Ran pretty bad today so we stopped by the station for a visit. Kaiden is getting more and more comfortable at the fire station and had a blast messing with EVERYTHING!!!!

He loves to set off the sirens, climb on the trucks, push buttons, talk on the head phones, make new firefighter friends, put on Ran's air tank and fire gear, check out whats in the fridge, and cabinets, and bathrooms, and closets...and the best part - seeing the HUGE ladder go up, and up, and up, and up!

I've know I've been going a bit crazy with the photo blogs but I can't help it! We really love to share what we're up to with you guys and pictures seem to be the easiest way. Check out Flickr for more!