new summer running shoes

Ode to David's running shoes:
You've been down the road and back again so many times. You're well worn and swift. Thank you for carrying my husband safely and supporting him so well. Brooks "8," welcome to our home. You'll like it here. And to versions "7," "6," "5" and "no-name 4," well, it's time for you to go.

summertime

We live in the land of eternal summer, so it always feels like summertime to me! Although, I am starting to notice subtle changes in the "seasons". For instance, these crepe mytrle trees are only in bloom in the summertime. I think they're so pretty. A perfect summer day is a lazy one--lounging by the pool, taking a nap, making a fruit shake and eating grilled food. Ahhh...I'm still awaiting my perfect summer day this summer, but I feel it coming soon.





Quick update: our carpet and walls are now dry! The last Turbo Sahara fan was removed yesterday. Tomorrow we'll get the baseboards replaced and drywall patched up. We're still waiting to see about the carpet.

unexpected surprise

After a late night out last night, we were looking forward to a lazy Saturday morning. Nothing was on the schedule until a dinner with some International students tonight. We slept in a bit, and David kindly got up with M who was up around 8am-ish this morning. But, as soon as they hit the bottom of the stairs, M noticed a problem: wet carpet. The strange thing? The bathroom floor, adjacent to the wet carpet was dry. We walked a bit further. Dry, dry though the dining area, then wet again, REALLY wet in the family room. Soaking wet coming through the wall by our bookcases.

Those footprints? Yeah, that's water.

We stepped outside and noticed that water was dripping off of our neighbor's awning from the second floor. He lives in the town home next door to us. Not good. Not good AT all. Our neighbor is away on business and not home, but our neighbor next door to him came out and was experiencing similar problems in his kitchen.

Several boxes later, our family room is now stored safely in the garage.


Turbo Dryer Sahara 1, you are my friend!


We are now awaiting the plumber. Why? Well, when Dean, our wonderful Service Master removed the baseboard in our bathroom to get to the pooling water our from under our staircase, he heard a strange hissing sound that resembled leaking water. The cause? Most likely a nail had been nailed through a water pipe while mounting the baseboard. Brilliant. So now we are without water...but with water. Ah, the irony of life!

dye my hair?

I've never been the type of girl to dye my hair, I mean the punk-Asian look just doesn't suit my personality. And, I never though I could pull it off...until last night.

What do you think? Like it?



Ok, ok, I didn't really dye my hair. We played a game with our summer interns last night at Downtown Disney. We (staff) disguised ourselves and the studnents had to find us and acquire our signatures. It was quite fun, espeically when they walked right by me without noticiing who I was! I felt so "Alias" style cool! Oh, and my hair? Just a really cool wig!

jellyfish??

When we were at the beach a few weekends ago, M found these clear jellyfish-looking creatures all over the beach. Despite my warnings not touch them she did (because everyone else was too), and clearly (pun intended) did not get stung. Anyone know what they are? Their tentacles were separated from their bodies, so perhaps that's why they weren't a threat. M is such a creature-lover, that she was content hunting for these all afternoon.

air boat scenery

Here's some of the beautiful scenery we saw along the way from the airboat ride.

air boat ride

We had a fun evening with our summer interns by taking an air boat ride together. I mean, I think this is Central Florida at it's best--the culture that existed before theme park days. It was slow, down-homey, and fun.


My car's all loaded up!


Aren't the sound-protective headphones so cute?


Just me being goofey.


Not that I like alligators, but I did feel a little bad for this caged guy.


In the middle of the tour, our guide stopped the boat to point out some baby alligators for us. Can you find it in the photo? His nose is directly above the "P" in my watermark. He was only about 6 inches long. It takes a few years for gators to grow to 2 feet in length, at which point they are no longer preyed upon. Until that point, they are fair game for most birds, particularly, the blue heron, who is 4 feet tall at maturity. I learned so much on our tour!

date night

While Mom and Dad were here last week, we had an extended date night. It was great to get away during this busy, busy month. We headed to the Virgin Mega store in Downtown Disney where our friend, Tim, was playing in his band, The Oaks. They're really good, by the way, if you want to check 'em out--they're sort of an indie/alternative/folk-ish band. The Mega store was pretty cool too, and it was fun to be kid-less for a few hours. Thanks, Mom and Dad. We're so glad you came to visit!


Oh, and we snapped this outside the Cirque de Soleil building. I thought the background colors were pretty fun, but as it turns out, I think I've cropped most of the background out anyway! Ha, ha.

friendship

These two could be best friends if they were a little closer in age, I think. Little A just loves this girl so much. It's so fun to watch them together. I'm pretty sure the feeling is mutual. Despite their 5 year age gap, they seem to have decent conversaions, and definitely have very similar temperments--calm and quiet.

ballet fever

The girls just had their Spring recital, La Stravaganza, an original ballet choreographed by their ballet teacher, Miss Lenora, to Vivaldi's Spring. Though it was only their second recital ever, they both took very naturally to the stage and to dance. Stage photography, however, is not so natural for me. Whew! Talk about impossible. The combo of dim light, no flash photography, excited girls and spotlights provided quite a challenge for me. It was really only my first try, so I'll just have to keep practicing!




First three photos taken backstage. The vintage is a combo of Pinoneer Womean's "Vintage" and "Lovely and Ethereal" (and a bit of my own processing too).



The girls were awarded medals and flowers after their performance to congratulate them on a great year. Thanks, Miss Lenora, for a great year!

preschool grad

It's official. M has now graduated from preschool. The ceremony was complete with caps, gowns and diplomas. Why? I have no earthly idea, but I guess that's what "they" do these days. Most of my pics of the actual ceremony were pretty awful due to my inexperience with using external flash at full strength. It was cave-like inside. So, after the ceremony, we headed out to the beautiful light for a quick snap to document preschool "graduation."

lotus blooms

We went to China over the weekend. Well, ok, it wasn't really China, it was Epcot, but they sure do a good job of making you feel like you've visited China. It happened to be the last day of the Flower Festival, so I though it was apropos to take some flower pictures.