Park in the Morning

This last Friday, Cole and I went to the park since his swimming lesson was cancelled for the day. It was a nice, cool, breezy day thankfully. I always like to get to the park early because after like 9:30 it is HOT. Cole really enjoyed the park this time, too. He confidently played on and explored the available jungle gyms. A few other kids his age showed up and he shared and played appropriately with the other kids. He saw one kid his age go down the slide by himself and Cole then wanted to go down the slide, too. Then Cole saw some squirrels which he chased for quite some time. Buddy doesn't chase squirrels, so I know he came up with this behavior all by himself:) It was a great day at the park.

The Full Treatment

For my birthday Melanie pampered the ol' mama "Melanie Style." Chris dropped me off on our way home from the Keys friday night and I stayed at her house and slept in her luscious guest bed. She offered a bath in her freshly cleaned bathtub, but I settled on a shower to hurry up to get to bed:) It was so nice to sleep in in the dark cool room and nest of a bed - I can't even tell you how comfy it was. To start the next day, she made me a breakfast consisting of fresh fruit, deviled eggs, fresh squeezed fruit juice and an english muffin with cinnamon cream cheese and walnuts. Yes, she made the deviled eggs, the cinnamon walnut cream cheese, and juice herself. Then she bought me a bathing suit so we could swim around in the salt pools at the PGA spa where she was also treating me to a massage and pedicure. While at the pools we enjoyed a light lunch also compliments of Melanie and fam. After spa - which was heavenly - it was time for an early dinner. Melanie went big again and treated me to a gourmet mexican dinner at Cantina Laredo where we enjoyed the best mexican food I have ever had. We were sure to top it off with a sizzling brownie and 2 servings of icecream. But did the day end there??? If you know Melanie, you know the answer to that is a sure "no!" After she attempted to take me to a place called The Princess House - a beautiful boutique type store for little girls as I am currently with baby girl - we headed back to her house and she showed me the chocolate cake she made for me...can you believe it?!?!? I know I couldn't. Melanie and fam then drove me home Saturday night. I didn't know what to say and "thank you" certainly didn't seem like enough.

Oh yeah, and did I mention she was caring for and nursing 9 month old baby Noah while doing all of this for me?!?! Chris and her husband TO were very gracious and had the babies while we were out lunching, spa and dining. Thank you, TO and Chris, we could only have that great of a day with your help!!! And the timing was perfect for some much needed R&R.

Big Pine Key

This last week, we packed up the family and headed to Chris parents house on Big Pine Key. They sold their old house there and built a gorgeous new house on the water. It is a very spacious 3 story house with lots of views for their breathtaking sunsets. However, we spent most of our time on the boat, in the water and on the deck at the house. Oh yeah, and we also caught a game of putt putt in which case I got a hole in one! Chris parents were there and his Nana and Uncle Steve joined us for a few days as well. It was really fun although next time I will be bringing some baby gates so mommy can relax some, too:)

Swimming

Cole is currently taking swimming lessons through ISR (Infant Swim Resource). It's a survival swim program where the kids typically learn their skills in 6 weeks. We have been out of town at least 7 weeks since he started, so he will be on the calendar until he has had his full 6 weeks of teaching. He is almost there with about 2 weeks left. Here are a couple of pictures I got. Hopefully, I can figure out how to post a video so I can show video of the lessons.

the float....


right here he was in a swim and she is prompting him to roll to float....

Din Din with the Stocktons

Kim and Tim Stockton had us over for dinner a couple of weeks ago. We had yummy steak, chicken, salad, rice and peas, watermelon and brownies for desert. Cole did ok considering I forgot the tray that goes to his high chair. It was just a little more cumbersome this way and also messy messy. After dinner, we hung around the kids area and watched them play. Cole was slow to warm but eventually did some interacting when Bebe had something of interest to him (a colorful ball). When Cole tried to take it from her, she didn't let him. Smart girl.