Spring Concert

One of things that's so cool about 4th grade is that the kids start to "officially" play an instrument. Devin chose (after some tense moments of pondering the violin) the trumpet. He did really well with private lessons last summer and continued to do well this year. We decided to never harp on practicing and let this become something he WANTED to do. And, there are times he pulls the trumpet out to "practice" for us. My heart sings!!

Well, we finally hit the parental rite of passge known as "the first concert". An occasion that is marked with purchasing dress clothes your child doesn't own and stuffing yourself and all your extended family into a boiling hot auditorium. And at the end of it all, you are beaming with pride over how amazing your kid was. Because you just KNOW that was HIS trumpet that sounded so beautiful in the middle of the 50 kid band.

I think he was a little nervous, but he did very well keeping that in check. And look how handsome he is in his dress up clothes!!

All Growed Up

It's not too often that we whip out the fine china and get the dining room all prettied up (ok, truth is it's not often that the dining room table can be SEEN underneath the clutter). But, a fine occasion deserves fine dining. We were finally having our friends the Colvin's over for dinner and wanted to kick it up a notch. After all, how many people do you know that would willingly give up a day the week before X-Mas to help you haul wet, disgusting stuff out of your Grandmother's basement? Enough said.

We had a ball, as we always do with them. Good stuff!

Summer in April

So, another example of a day in late April that was better than most days in June. We went for brunch at Mom and Tommy's. It was HOT. They had a new umbrella for the patio and it was great to have it (did I mention it was HOT?). So she also found these cool squirt gun things that are made out of the pool noodle material (I believe it's called styrofoam - ha ha). The kids had a ball squirting each other, us, the trees, the house. Poor Rita (Tommy's sister, who I adore) got the brunt of the adult soaking.

Tommy showed us all that he's great with the little ladies. After raising 3 daughters, he knows just how to make things all better. See him taking Julia by the hand after her brother gave her a face full of water? Oh yes, Oompa to the rescue!

Too bad they only had to wait 2 & 1/2 more months for weather good enough to do this again!!!

Girls

Remember back in April when it was like summer? Well, I guess April and June decided to switch this year. Ugh, so sick of rain. This post is funny though, because these were taken in the last week of April.

Julia and the "F" girls from two doors down. They have been constant companions this spring. It's really cute how much they enjoy each other. Don't you love how girls will just get together and read??

Water Conservation Skit from Blue and Gold Dinner

Devin does the intro. The concept was that they conserve water by sharing it to brush their teeth. They were very proud of their comedic impact.

Blue and Gold Dinner 2009

I'm not typically a fan of the chaos that is usually the Cub Scout Blue and Gold dinner. It's the annual awards dinner for the Scouts where the whole family gets to join. We usually have it in the cafeteria of the local junior high. The kids LOVE it.

This year was a lot of fun though, I have to admit. Despite the kid chaos, there were some great families there and the food was awesome! I have to admit, I'm a convert now. Sad to think we only have one more of these though!

Some cute moments were the Webelos I skit where they did "Water Conservation" by pretending to share toothbrushing water. And Julia and Mr. N were playing the "trust game" with each other in the back. I guess they decided that they trust each other because they spent the rest of the time sitting in each other's laps! Too cute!

Last Night at Ocean Grill

We spent the night before we left at Ocean Grill with the whole family for dinner. Gaga and Aunt Bet joined us too! Julia had a chocolate ice cream "martini" for dessert (they gave it to her in a martini glass) and she shared with Papa. That's love!

We got a great family shot too. Funniest picture is of Gaga and the kids doing their "Fire Power" motion from "Night at the Museum II". So glad we caught that on film.

"Hey, check out the gun show over here...boom, boom - FIRE POWER!!"

I let my firstborn do what?????

Ok, so the most heart-stopping event on our vacation was when Papa asked to taake us flying. My response? There aren't enough drugs in the world to get me on that plane.

So, he settled for taking Neil and the kids. Again, I balked. If that plane went down, my reason to keep on living would be what....? So, Neil and Devin volunteered and Julia was more than happy to go with me to get our nails done and hit the pool.

We have great video of this too (and some not so great when Neil taped his knee for about 10 minutes). Devin seemed a little nervous about it at the last minute and Neil had to assure him it was fine. Of course, this was while Neil was also nervous and holding his Dad's door closed for the whole trip.

But it was a cool experience for them. They got to see the beach, Jupiter Light and the site of Tiger's new house on Jupiter Island. But what was really fun was that Neil texted me the whole time to tell me where they were and Julia and I saw them fly overhead while we were at the pool! By the time I got my phone to take the picture they were just a speck in the sky, but they could see us at the pool.

Very happy to report they all made it safe and sound!

Florida Oceanographic Coastal Center

Dad Hartzog spent a bunch of time this year planning all kinds of cool stuff for us to do while we'd be there on vacation. One thing was to go feed the stingrays! He felt bad that Devin had missed out on that when he was sick on our cruise, so he found this place on Hutchinson Island. We drove up, had lunch at Conchy Joe's and then headed to the center.

It wasn't a huge place on the inside, but it was very well run and had some cool learning and fun activities. After watching the stingray demo the kids both got to feed and pet them in the tank. Then we played with some of the kid activities and walked around the "game fish lagoon". That was my favorite part!