Day at the beach

A few of Paige's friends were going and that is the only thing we needed to hear to pack the cooler and go. The big beach at Clearwater was packed and there was no parking anywhere so we drove down a little and found a spot that was walking distance to the big beach and had parking for all of us. We also had a spot that had steps down to the water and there were hardly any people. Tim found a live hermit crab still in its shell. I have not seen a wild hermit crab before and it was pretty cool. It had barnacles growing and living on it, that was creepy! barnacles look like they are from another planet.


Here are Katie D, Patricia, Alyssa, Paige, Raquel, Phillip and Yasmin having lunch sitting right on the edge of the wall that went down to the water. It was a great view and not as much sand as having lunch right on the beach.


Love the pile of feet in this photo. Tim, Paige, Alyssa, and Andrew all had to pile in so I could get this photo.


Once again Tim. Paige, Alyssa, Andrew and Yasmin floating along side.

Love any day that we spend at the beach. We almost did not go because the forecast said 40% chance of T-storms, but that means 60% chance of a great day, and it was.

Other mother

This is Paige and her new best buddy, they bonded very quickly while we were in Michigan. This is what he told his mom, Heidi while we were there "Momma, your my momma and I love ya, but Paige is my other mother and I love her." So cute, wish we could keep him.

No prompting needed

These two have to be the photographed kids I know. While we were in Michigan We went to the pier at Silver beach. Paige and Scott climed up on this, and with out prompting they did there thing making it easy to have a fun photo of the day. They pretty much grew up together until we moved away and for them it is like second nature being in front of a camera.

Lake Delton ~ Gone in 4 hours

When do you hear of a lake emptying? We we on vacation in Wisconsin when a lake decided to empty and take a few houses with it. I have never heard of such a thing and of course I had to go and see for myself.


Well here are the photos to show that it is in fact empty. I know it was on t.v. but it just seemed unbeleiveable.


Paige, my trusty side kick and I had to explore and walk the edge of the non-lake and I am so glad that we did. To see this in person is a breath taking event. I think she will remember it the rest of her life, I know I will.


A few days of torrential rain sent the 267-acre lake rushing through an embakment that was holding up Highway A'.


Paige and I were standing down in the lake about 15 feet below this dock.


It is hard to see how dry the lake was. It is a little deciving to see the photos they make the mud look like water.


This was all the water left that we saw, and a few unfortunate fish.

Here is a video of it from u-tube it is so unbeliveable.

Dan the fox man

If you are lucky enough to be a cute grey fox, caught in our friend Dans trap, you are a very lucky fox. He is nice enough to let you go. But not until I get a few photos.

Where to begin...

First, a little history...
When we lived in Michigan over 7 years ago, we lived down town over a small flower shop named Blossom Land, it was a great loft apartment. Our neighbors were some of the owners of the shops downtown. One of the shops Green Wellies was our favorite to visit because of the wonderful pond and beautiful plants in the courtyard of the shop during the summer growing season. Over the years of living there we started having "after Hours" in the summer with the shop owner Leisa, Heidi and Ruthie from the travel agency two doors down and it was great weekly tradition. We would take turns bringing wonderful food and drinks after the shop closed and we would sit by the pond and talk about life, what happened that week, share old stories and laugh, laugh, laugh. It was a little break from work, life, the kids and men.

Leisa had mentioned that she would like to have an "after hours" for Heidi on her 40th birthday and the rest is now history. I found a great price on airline tickets and that was all it took.

Leisa and I started cooking for the event on Thursday. We both love to cook and thought an event like Heidi turning 40 required good food.

Here is Heidi enjoying her fresh, homemade food.

The menu included:
Black eye pea salad


Couscous with homemade citrus-ginger dressing goat cheese and garden fresh peas


Cucumbers in sushi vinegar


Fresh greenhouse tomatoes


Salt-top Rye from Bit of swiss


Boursin


Baked Artichoke dip* (*Photo missing, substituted photo of spinach dip from another night)


Olive Focaccia


Cream Cheese Pound Cake with fresh Michigan Strawberries


Assorted drinks in the appropreiate colors


Cake was served, Happy Birthday was poorly sung


GIfts were given


Friends gathered


Fish calmed...


...and Heidi turned 40. Happy birthday Heidi, Just wait until your 50!

I am back!

I am back and going to take a long nap! I will start my updating this evening or tomorrow. See you then.

I am away

I went on a surprise trip to see My friend who turned 40! It was a last minute thing and I did not have time to post before I left and could not give away the surprise by blogging about it. I have not had access to a computer and will not be able to post again until Monday the 23 of June.

I have lots of photos and stories to tell, so I will see you all in a week back here in blog land.

Where am I?

This is a nice view. What body of water is it?



Where are my feet?



I love the beach, what beach is this?



Hello from here!



Kids jump from here?



This flower cart has been here for years, where is it?



Where can I find some Salt top Rye?



Where are these?



Aren't these cute!



Where is this Parked?



Who lives on this street?



Where am I now?

Babies, babies, beautiful babies!

I love babies! Shelley and the twins are doing well. I thought I would share some of the wonderful photos taken by Jennifer Soltren of Soltren Photography.


I am so glad that they decided to get professional photos taken of Jessa and Davis they turned out so nice! Lucky babies to have their first days recorded so beautifully.


Jennifer does both outdoor natural light portrait sessions along with full in home mobile studio sessions. If you live in central Florida your in luck because she works in the entire central Florida area.


I love the beach photos she took of Shelley. You can find out more about Jennifer at soltrenphotography.com and also at her blog . I love to see the updates at her blog it is nice to see her current work as well as her gallery on her website.