Smoothies

I have always fed my kids really healthy food.  I made all their baby food. I'm a puree'ing professional!  I'm a firm believer in "you are what you eat".... organic as much as possible, fruits, vegetables, no packaged garbage, very little sugar, etc.  It's been hard at times when they got picky, but the one saving grace has always been SMOOTHIES.  The deception is genius!  You can seriously hide anything in them.  I've been known to put spinach, kale, pumpkin, butternut squash, etc, in my smoothies.  They have no idea.  Heh heh heh... (that is my evil laugh) ;-)  My kids have a smoothie every single day.  They come running and yelling "Yey!" when I serve them.  Seriously.  :)  Today's mixture: kiwi, cantaloupe, banana, watermelon, frozen strawberries, avocado, almonds, ground flax seed, yogurt, probiotics, and orange juice.  YUM!  It feels SO good to know that my children are eating such good, healthy food everyday.  The leftovers get made into ice pops, and Mommy gets the rest! :)  Win win!  Here's my cutie-pie drinking his smoothie while enjoying a little Sesame Street this morning.  (Check out his hair!!!)

Hair cut

Today I got my baby's long hair/curls cut!  This is a big deal. :)  It's not like he hasn't had haircuts before, but they were trims.  This was a CUT!  I have had a very close attachment to those ringlets/curls. Maybe I'm nuts, but they represent his babyhood....that fleeting time that is leaving so quickly...  But it was time.  His hair was out of control!

He was SO well behaved sitting in the hairdresser's chair!  I couldn't help myself - I just kept snapping pictures.  The hair stylist thinks I'm crazy! ;-)  Boy, my baby looks so grown up now and so handsome!  And to quote him (my very wise child), these are the words he said to me today: "I'll always be your baby, Mama."  This is true.  I'm breaking all the rules by posting more than one photo a day.  So, sue me.

Fingerpainting

My son painted me a masterpiece this afternoon.  :)  He is such a cute little artist.  He really concentrates... I love to watch his chubby little fingers painting away.  He couldn't wait to put his finished painting on our refrigerator after it dried.  We have quite the collection of his art piling up around the house.  :)

Key Deer

One of the most unique things about living on our island is the endangered Key Deer, a sub-species of the Virginia White-tailed Deer.  It's believed that Key Deer were stranded here after the Wisconsin Glacier melted thousands of years ago and formed the islands after the sea level rose.  They are small - only about 3ft tall - and, sadly, many of them are not afraid of humans at all.  Here's a picture of one that walked right up to me and the kids this morning.

If you see deer, please don't feed them!  This makes them lose their fear of humans, which makes them way more susceptible to getting hit by cars, attacked by dogs, and transmitting or catching diseases.  If they come around human subdivisions more, then they are more likely to do annoying things like rummage in trashcans and eat all our plants!  While it is irritating to have to drive slow on the roads and cage every plant and tree in my yard so they don't eat or rub their antlers on them, it is really neat to have these gentle, beautiful creatures walking around everywhere I look!  Besides.....they were here first.

Trampoline Fun

Have you spent much time jumping on a trampoline lately? I highly recommend it!  It is hilariously, seriously SO much fun (and great exercise)!  As kids, we had one in our yard in Jupiter, Florida.  I remember so many hysterical times with my sister and my friends on that thing!  We used to catapult each other - a heavier person jumps at the same time as a lighter person and makes the light one go FLYING.  It's a wonder we didn't break our necks....  One time, I catapulted my sister (accidentally, of course ;-)....) OFF the trampoline into the nearby starfruit tree!  She landed like a crab sprawled IN the tree and miraculously did NOT get hurt.  We have never laughed harder.  I have no idea how my mom didn't have a heart attack holding her breath waiting for one of us to hurt ourselves on that thing! 

These days, we have a big safety net surrounding the one for our kids.  WAAAAY safer.  Phew.  But it still SO MUCH FUN!  The kids and I chase each other 'round and 'round and jump until one of us collapses from dizziness or exhaustion.  It is a blast.  I love to watch their little smiling faces or hear their hearty laughs on that thing.  Just great fun.  Here's a picture of one of my monkeys jumping this evening right before Daddy called us up for our bq dinner. :)

Family adventures

We had quite the fun family day today.  This morning, we went hiking through the hammock/wooded trail near the beach.  The weather was gorgeous - 65 degrees for a high, light breeze, slightly overcast in the morning.  We all were "explorers" in the woods and then came out onto the beach to search through the tide pools and dead seagrass piles for treasure....horseshoe crabs, hermit crabs, sea urchins, dead trunkfish, soft coral skeletons, driftwood, crabs.....anything we could find!  What a blast. I managed to catch a few pictures of one of my budding scientists sitting in a tree. 

Then, this afternoon, we all went for a ~5 mile bike ride through some of the fire roads here on the island.  I had my youngest son on the back of my bike in the bike seat.  He kept squealing with happiness because of all the bumps and puddles!  He called it the "bumpy bike ride".  :)  It was awesome!  But, now I'm sore....he's 40lbs and that makes the back of my bike BOUNCE - I need shocks.  Ha ha!  Too much disc compression for me today.  It's all good....very good.  Another day to be so grateful for....

Minigolf with the family

We went to play minigolf and have dinner at a local restaurant tonight for my birthday.  What fun!!!  I am so lucky to have such an amazing family...  Erich and I had such a blast sharing a "bucket of beer", competing (I'm not at ALL competitive....lol!),  and watching the kiddos play golf!  We only had to fish 2 balls out of the water! That's impressive!  What a great way to celebrate my birthday!   Here's a picture of our baby doing his stuff.... hee hee.