Wheeeeee!

It was lovely sunny weather this afternoon (after a night of really intense thunderstorms that I slept through but that kept Mami and Daddy awake for quite a while!), so we hung out in the back yard.
I like to pretend that I'm a queen in my castle.

I also got really interested in nature for some reason, I kept examining the trunk.

But then there was sliding, of course. Wheee!

Check out Lela's blog too, she had a blast sliding!

Spring Arts Festival 2009

This weekend was the Spring Arts Festival downtown. We went this morning before lunch, but we didn't realize that it didn't really open until 1pm! But that's ok, because a)we weren't going to buy anything anyway; and b)there were a lot fewer people there than  usual!

I strolled along, 

while Lela rode on Daddy's shoulder.

(This gave her easy access to his cap... Silly Lela!)

We saw all kinds of art, like sculptures...

... and pottery ...
 

... photography ...

 ... paintings ...

... and these cool kid-friendly prints.

Lela liked this booth too, she kept pointing to and naming all the animals she recognized.

"Turtle!"

"Froggy!"

There were some hand carved rocking chairs too, so I took a little break for a snack.

And then we stopped at the beach.

Just kidding, it was a painting of the beach, see?

Lela and I took a little time for a sisterly hug on a bench before heading home.

We had a good time! Next year we'll remember when it opens, so that we can do the fun kid stuff, like get our faces painted.

Raquel's birthday party

Today my friend Raquel celebrated her 4th birthday with an an awesome party at Sun Country. 

When we first got there we played in the general area. I was immediately drawn to this pretend castle - of course so I could be the queen of it!

There was a ball pit too. At first I was a little nervous about getting in, but eventually I got up my courage and jumped in. 

Then I realized howmuch fun it could be!

Even mostly buried, I still thought it was great!

After that we went and did this cool obstacle course with things to crawl and jump and roll on. 

And a big foam pit too! I jumped in and then had the hardest time getting OUT!

Ah, at last, my escape!

I absolutely loved this trampoline!

I was a jumping fiend!

Then we did an activity with a parachute, where we shook it up and down and pretended to make "popcorn." I really got in to that, too.

At last, they asked us to get in a line and follow the leader...

... to the cake! Woohoo!

What a perfect way to end an awesome party!

Happy birthday, Raquel! Thanks for inviting me to your party!

NATURE PARK!

We went to the nature park this morning. It was beautiful weather and we wanted to get some exercise. (Or as Daddy said, get me to use up some energy, whatever he meant by that.) So we headed over to the Alfred A. Ring park and set off on our adventure. 

This is the bridge you have to cross from the parking lot. 

I love it, I always look to see if any trolls live underneath.
  (Little known fact about Daddy: Whenever anyone says "trip trap" - like from the Three Billy Goats Gruff story - he giggles! Yep,every time!)

Then Lela and I took a short break to enjoy the slide - that was great!

After that we went exploring. Lela had a diaper accident so Mami and I were on our own.

It actually got pretty exciting. Towards the end of the trail we saw a whole bunch of black snakes - really big ones, too, probably 4ft or more. At first just one, then another, then it seemed like they were everywhere. We weren't sure if they were just black snakes (some kind of Racer?) or if they were water moccasins, because we were near a creek and those are pretty common in Gainesville... So we decided to let them have the trail and we turned around and headed back to wait for Daddy and Lela. We think that was the right decision!

Mermaid or Leprechaun?

YOU be the judge:

Happy St. Patrick's Day!

Mami's home!

Mami came home! She was at Arizona State University for the Computer Assisted Language Instruction Consortium conference from Wednesday until yesterday afternoon.

Lela and I were excited to see her. We were also excited by the cool outfits she got us. (The ASU bookstore was having a ridiculous clearance sale which made it cheapter to get these than just a T-shirt...)

I got a cheerleader outfit!

Lela got a onesie, but she seemed pretty happy about it too. We both danced and jumped around.
 

And we hugged too. We like hugging each other.
 (And yes, I'm wearing a necklace in my hair...)

Daddy was very concerned that the colors of these garments resembled those of our sworn rivals, the Florida State Seminoles, so he made us wear these notes so nobody would get confused:

Close up here:

Silly Daddy!

Friday Was Pajama Day!

And here I am, relaxing comfortably afterwards, on the way to "Monkey Sub" for dinner.*

*Yes, this is after school.  Daddy forgot to take our pictures this morning, which, it turns out is a good thing, since the camera at home refuses to talk to his computer.  He took this with his phone.  Still, don't I look relaxed?

Technical Difficulties ...

Please stand by while our equipment figures out how to talk to the rest of our equipment.  We have Thursday pictures, we just can't get 'em off the camera and into the cloud for your viewing pleasure.  

Spirit Week - Day 3

Today's Purim theme at school is ROYALTY! (I know, what a chore for me to have to dress up as a princess or queen, right?)
So, I'm dressed today as Snow White. Don't I look regal?

I had a ton of fun twirling and dancing in my costume before leaving for school. There's no telling what kind of day Ms. Jenifer is in for with all of us dressed up like this!

(At this point in the photo shoot, Lela - who was eating breakfast at the time - begged for some attention from the photographer, perhaps asking for her picture to be taken. So the photographer obliged, and was rewarded with a "tank-oo!" from Lela.)

Unfortunately, Lela is still to sick to go to school, but quite frankly, I have the best princess dresses anyway. Tune in tomorrow to see another fun costume opportunity!