clearwater, greenville & may 9th

Matt had to go to Clearwater for work and Lottie Sue and I tagged along last week. It was AWESOME for us, maybe not so much for Matt since he had to work but Lottie Sue and I sure had fun. I had an absolute blast with Lottie Sue, we had nowhere to be and nothing to do unless we wanted. The weather was perfect, 80 every day and sun sun and more sun. They had terrible storms the afternoon we flew in but by the time we got there they were over. So of course we have a zillion photos (taken with the lesser of the cameras) for you to enjoy so I'll just start going.

This was Lottie Sue's first plane ride and she was very good! We had to make sure she was entertained but we didn't have any problems.

flying the friendly skies

A typical day went like this (for Lottie Sue and myself, poor Matt had to work):

7:00 - Wake up and mess around, fitting breakfast in
9:00 - Lube up and pack for the beach
9:30 - Arrive at the beach and make camp, spend time playing in sand, making friends and splashing in water
11:00 - Make our way back to the casa and hit the pool
12:30 - Head back to the room for lunch and play time
2:00 - Quick bath/shower and then down for a nap
4:30 - Wake up, have snack then head to the park for swinging (Matt is home by now)
6:00 - Dinner time - we enjoyed delicious food every night - SCORE
7:00 - Walk on the beach and watch the sun go night night
8:00 - Lottie Sue goes down and Matt and I play cards while watching tv (I lost every round)

As you can see, we had nothing to complain about. Lottie Sue would not walk in the sand right away but warmed up pretty fast. She also did not want to get in the pool at first but soon fell in love with the shallow parts. She was a social butterfly, it's very cute but forces us to chat with more people than we normally would. She would spot a couple/group on the beach, tell me "bye" and walk on over, making herself at home. She is not shy at all and traded me in a heartbeat for an older couple from New Jersey. I had to run after her a lot and she would get so mad at me for bringing her back. What am I, chopped liver I ask? The New Jersey couple were all over her, they had a hand held radio and once Lottie Sue had that she would walk around with it to her ear just chatting it up with them. They were right next to our spot and I just sat there and watched her work her magic for a while. They would have taken her home I think...

this is the first day on the beach, lubed up with 70 spf
(which worked like a charm)

here is lottie sue that night after dinner

Here are a few shots from the next day at the beach. Lottie Sue is in her one bikini and I think it's too small...

staying hydrated

hands in sand

walking around, looking for friends

she enjoyed rolling around in the sand, she kept posing
funny here but none of those shots turned out

what a cutie pie

Our very good friends from Chicago moved to the Tampa area a few years ago and we went over for dinner. It was great seeing Adrianna and Ron - PLUS meeting their two little boys (Ryan and Reece). As you can see, Lottie Sue had her sights on Ry-Ry here - kisses and cuddles.

making her move, he was mildly interested

We walked pretty far up the beach the next night, here are a few photos of my two favorite people.

awww, too cute

Saturday morning we headed over to the Clearwater Aquarium. It needs some funding people so if you have any extras dollars please help them out. Wow. They had one fish tank that Lottie Sue loved and you were able to see the dolphins pretty close. Those were the two standouts, this was fine for Lottie Sue but if it was just the two of us then it would not have cut it.

lottie sue and matt watch the dolphins swim around

two of the dolphins we saw, they were playing with a hula-hoop

After the aquarium we packed it up and went to beach for the rest of the morning. Matt and Lottie Sue made a sand turtle, they even decorated his shell with shells we picked up.

this was a very good project for lottie sue, she loved decorating him

She also LOVED sitting in the chairs and wanted them to be for her and Matt - not me. She got mad at me for sitting in one and kept telling me to move, that it was "Daddy's" - burn.

laid back (notice the cute swimsuit courtesy of auntie shon)

That night we went off the island for dinner and had a hard time finding a place. We were about to turn into Applebees (ew, I know - but we were STARVING) but Matt took a turn that landed us in a little community with a little diner named the Whistle Stop Grill. Um, it was fabulous - fried green tomatoes with goat cheese and cilantro, then a grilled veggie with black beans and rice meal for me and fish tacos for Matt - followed up with a cinnamon and peach ice cream sundae. Seriously, delicious. We had such a good time and Lottie loved her food as well.

good food, good times

After dinner we went the beach for one last sunset. Here I am with my baby girl.

my bff

So that's our trip! We are going to San Destin next month with the Apples and I can't wait! Lottie Sue will have a playmate with Harlan and she will love that. She lights up when she's around other little ones.

So here are a few photos from our trip to Greenville for Easter. I will need to steal photos from Melinda's facebook page since we have none from Easter day. We had a wonderful time, Lottie Sue fell in love with Claire and Jane - at night time she cried and wanted to hug them over and over again.

the three amigos at dinner with everyone on saturday night

Here are photos from the egg dyeing session. Lottie Sue was a total mess but she loved doing it.

it went really well and this egg is lottie's masterpiece

And you know that the Easter Bunny came (he acutally came two additional times but Lottie Sue was not complaining one bit). Everyone was so generous!

checking out these basket things

the bunny gave her a cow, she likes cows

the girls going through the baskets

this is cute and calm lottie sue before the peep incident*

we didn't think she'd get an easter egg hunt but boy did she - she was all over it

Let me end the Easter section with Harlan's Easter Bunny photo - he cracks me up. The Apples and the Gilmores were in this past weekend but we missed them because we were gone - poo poo poo. Becce left an outfit for baby boy and I am totally taking a photo of it to show you - it is so sweet. Oh yeah, back to Harlan...

what a cute little man

I also wanted to show you a few photos of Mandy and Jeff, Jeff is Matt's cousin on his mom's side (please notice the blondness - they all look like this!) and we saw them last summer in Little Rock. They are adopting a little boy and it is such a blessing! Aunt Jan sent these photos and they made me cry because I could feel the joy they have for little James. Everything is in motion and he comes home with them on May 9th. What a lucky kid!

mandy and james bonding

happy happy happy

jeff and james, life is good

OK, that wraps up my post here. I hope everyone is well - I leave you with a few randoms...

• Here is an interview with Junot Diaz on life after Oscar Waor and all things pop. If you don't remember, Diaz wrote what might be my favorite book of all time, The Brief Wondrous Life of Oscar Wao.
• Netflix is now going to stream tv shows from Comedy Central and Nickelodeon, the future is NOW.
• Hulu for my iphone??? Please, make it so!
• For those of you looking forward to The Hobbit (I AM), it looks like it will span two movies.

OK, bye now!

*We let Lottie Sue have ONE peep on Easter morning (before milk or food) and she went berserk - I mean CRAZY. She's never had anything full sugar like that and she didn't know how to handle the rush I guess. Matt and I agree - sugar is BAD.

at the zoo, lottie sue gets pitiful & cera had cool glasses in high school (not)

Matt and I took Lottie Sue to the zoo on Friday afternoon. We made it through almost half of the zoo, then ended up getting rained out. We still had fun though! Here are a million photos for your enjoyment, it will be like you were there.

lottie sue was peeking through the grate to
spy a big pig, she oinked a few times as well

Then we went to the goat and sheep petting area, they give little ones a brush to use of the animals - they love it. One little fella was smitten with Lottie.

they never looked better after this styling

This little guy is Guava, he was all over Lottie Sue. She liked him even though he knocked her down. She recovered fast.

all better

Alrighty, here are a few more photos...

matt and lottie sue check out the rhinos

these red pandas are the cutest things ever

Here is a photo of an owl, they are so gorgeous.

if i wasn't a muggle i'd pick this owl

here we have lottie sue observing a butterfly
in the butterfly tent thingy

Lottie Sue was VERY excited to pet this bunny rabbit. She kept hopping up and down saying "hop hop hop" - adorable.

nice bunny

lottie sue directing daddy around

here's an elephant coming out to play

large and in charge

lottie sue also really likes the zebras, she calls
them "orses" and kept saying "eigh! eigh!"

That's all we saw before the downpour came. We did not have an umbrella. We got very wet.

Here are a few random photos of the past week or so, life with Lottie Sue.

unrolling the toilet paper for her toilet play

this is after matt shared a fudgesicle with her

These two are of Lottie Sue pouting after she was put in time out for slapping me. She does this a lot and when you put tell her it's not ok she closes her eyes and can hardly keep from smiling. If she can't see you then you can't see her I suppose. After the "time out" she went into the kitchen and laid down, looking all pitiful. Talk about laying it on thick.

so sad, she says

We went up the lake over the weekend to see BB and GranDaddy. It was rainy and kinda chilly but Lottie Sue had to put her toes in the pool.

splish splash

And this is a video I took of them enjoying the water.

it's the little things

And now I have a few photos I scanned in this afternoon, Daddy found these and I thought I would share with you as well.

i painted this in 1983, WAY before we even had ernie and kevin - spooky
(i love how i drew an arrow from my name to the kitty kat)

becce in kindergarten (the dress was red with
white polka dots, i remember it well)

cera in high school i think, cool glasses (not)

cera looking very happy to be at the dixie stampede

becce looking cute and me looking a little
too grown up in my underoos (yikes)

becce with the side pony

becce posing for photos in the backyard at littlebrook subdivision

this is a button i scanned in of cera when she cheered

becce in high school dressed to the nines

Those were good and not too embarassing, embarrassing ones are my favorite. Oh well...

We also had an ultrasound last week, here's a face shot and then on of his ding-ding again.

hi buddy!

More information for your brain:

• Mad Men! Mad Men! Mad Men!
• Dolly or Bust - I LOVE her! Please read this article, it's great.
  
• A piece of Antarctica ice has broken off, it's the size of New York. The state.
• I want this job.
• Here's a list of someone's top 19 most loved episodes of "This American Life" - I downloaded all of the ones I haven't heard this afternoon. Excitement!

OK, have a great week - post to ya later!