Things beginning with P

Seeing the pelican on the pier in Naples get hooked by the fisherman and then un-hooked and released gave us a wonderful idea for when we returned home and had a free day.

 When Jacob was just a nipper growing up his father owned a yacht club  which coincidentally was called Pelican Harbour Yacht Club. Where the yacht club once stood is now a seabird station and a rescue centre for injured birds, mainly pelicans, aptly named Pelican Harbor. On Monday afternoon we drove the girls to North Miami and took them there. For years injured pelicans have naturally taken themselves there for help. It relies one hundred percent on donations and is an awesome organisation.

We were able to wander around and see various birds in various states of convalescing. Even after the birds are well and are released from the massive cages many of them never leave they stay in the area and in some cases they stay right there and take up residence. Some are never able to leave again as their injuries leave them maimed for life and they won't survive in the wild again so Pelican Harbour has a few permanent residents.

Most of the injuries are caused by fishing hooks and one of the doctors showed the girls some of the hooks that they have removed from the birds and then showed them some x-rays showing fishing hooks inside the birds. It's so sad. The other big injury is to their pouches, again usually by hooks. BAD FISHERMEN! (that's for my dad and cousin Richie Rich).

We only stayed a little while cos it was, in Rosie's words, "a bit stinky" but the girls got to see how important it is to be responsible with your garbage and fishing tackle and how when you aren't it impacts our wildlife in unimaginable ways. We were able to see how, with a little TLC, all these birds can recuperate from the wounds and be released back into nature and they were able to donate some money to help this programme keep going and stop the brown pelican from ever going extinct again. All these birds are free to leave, all once again healthy, but they choose to stay

This guy looks a little bashful

This one was trying to look small and discrete

I saw this guy as we walked back to the car, I think he was just visiting but I am not sure he may have been a former patient.

Once we left here we plugged "parks" into the GPS and headed to one that it chose. The girls loved it, I just hope we remember which one it was. Lily posing for a picture. I think these days are coming to an end

Hanging about

On top of the world

RoRo in a rocketship

It took Ro ages to walk across this balance beam. Her balance is rubbish, i couldn't stop laughing at how bad she was at it. Practice needed for sure.

Another fun day.

Party Like A Rock Star.

This evening, well actually according to the clock it was actually last night cos it is past midnight, we went to our first holiday party and I am sure I don't need to mention that the girls were very excited about it. In fact from the moment she woke up this morning Rosie kept asking if it was time to go to Hollis' house. It really didn't matter to her that we were going to a Hanukkah party what mattered to her was seeing Hollis, Grace and the girls.

This is an annual event and is a family only party but we have now encroached so much into the life of Hollis that we are now considered her family and we feel the same way about her. Oh, what fun we had. The girls didn't even notice that there were 20+ people floating around because they just did what they always do and played and played. We ate a wonderful meal and then it was time for the kidlets to open their gifts. That got their attention and pure bedlam ensued as lots of little people let out lots of big shrieks as they received some much wished for toys.

Once the Menorah was lit Rosie stood in front of it and sang Happy Birthday to Rosie and tried at least 10 times to blow out the candles even though we told her at least 100 times that it was not her birthday. Oy!

The highlight of the evening is the grab bag. Each guest takes a wrapped gift, and each person is allotted a number. The lowest number gets to pick the gift of their choice and on it goes in numerical order. The first person gets what they get but the second person can trade gifts with the one below them and so on and so on. The gifts are all quite odd and lots of them were for the kids but that didn't mean the kids picked theirs so lots of trading took place. Lily picked a set of measuring spoons and Rosie got some mens slippers but with all the trades that happened both girls ended up with really terrific gifts. Lily couldn't stop laughing the whole time and Hollis and I were dieing we laughed so hard. It really is a fun game. Me, well obviously I traded away until I got stuff for the girls and I ended up with an ice cream scoop in the shape of a pig! Why I found it all so funny is beyond me but it just tickled my funnybone.

We didn't leave until a few minute before 11pm which is ridiculously late for a 2 yr old to be out but quite honestly we just hadn't realised it was so late. Before I dash upstairs and go to bed so that I can get some sleep before I have to get the kids all gussied up for another Hanukkah party tomorrow I will leave you with a few photos from this evening.

All the kids just enjoying being together


Some of the family


Waiting for the gifts


Tearing into the first round with gusto.


A girl and her loot...it's a wonderful thing.

Big Shoes.

I took these 2 photos this weekend when we were all outside doing some tidying up. Both the girls were helping their Daddy and Rosie was wearing Jacob's shoes! I love seeing her in Jacob's shoes because it reminds me of when I was little and how I used to love to wear my fathers shoes and also how he has some really big shoes to fill.

Is it just me or does there seem to big a huge change in Lily lately? Isn't she getting big? Her face also seems to have changed. I have always thought she was pretty but now something different is happening to her and she is even more gorgeous. Please don't tell me she is growing up cos she is only 7 and I am not ready for "growing up". I first noticed it about 3 weeks ago in a couple of pictures but then it became really obvious in the photo from halloween. She looks so very serene.

The Adventurer.

Lily is a thrill seeker. She doesn't shy away from anything. I thought after the accident this summer that she was going to have a healthy respect for adventure and she did for all of about five minutes! The weather has been glorious for the past few days and it is all being caused by a hurricane that is bouncing around in the Atlantic but thankfully not offering to come anywhere close to this part of Florida. The winds have been crazy, which I love and the temperatures, much lower than normal so we spent the whole weekend outside just making the most of it.

We went to a fundraiser/clothing drive for the homeless at the riding stables yesterday and Lily wasted no time scaling this beautiful Banyan tree.

Look Mummy there are steps on this side that I could have used, who knew?


Lily is such a funny girl because she hates to wear trousers. She is such a girly girl. Even wearing shorts is a chore for her and when she does they have to be very feminine. Dresses and skirts are her trademark yet she is such a Tomboy in many ways. I'm glad she is just the way she is and I wouldn't change an ounce of her well maybe an ounce...the ounce that makes her try the things that scare the hell out of me.

More Phun

Little Miss Lily had yet another fun filled day at Jacob's company picnic. She, as always, wanted to do everything and participated in all the kids games.

About 10 minutes before we arrived home she zonked out in the car and didn't even wake up when I carried her in the house. This is really unusual as Lily has not taken naps for over 2 years. I had to get her undressed as her clothes were soaked due to the water games and she mumbled something and promptly went back to sleep. After an hour I really started to "wake her up" but she still wanted no part of it. I was actually starting to worry that at some point she must have banged her head cos it is so out of character for her. She finally got up long enough for a bath and dinner but it is now nearly 7am and she is still sleeping.

Scaling the rock wall.

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Dad attempts it to.

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Another pony ride.

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Her favourite thing was all the games. In one of them they passed a plate of whipped cream around and if you were holding it when the music stopped it was smushed in your face! This one is for Michelle who says Lily is always smiling. She usually is but not this time!


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Rock star relay race.

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ZZZzzzzz

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Phun.

When you have as much fun as we have been having it must become a four letter word hence the new spelling, Phun.

I had a really lovely spa day the other day and it was all courtesy of Lily. First she gave me a massage and I have to say that the nightly massages that she gets are finally paying off because the child is good at it. After the massage she wanted to do my hair so I obliged her. Not really sure I should post the photos but I am anyway. As I have proved countless times I have no standards. She even took the photo.


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This weekend we spent with lots of her friends at the house and it was wonderful. On Saturday her friend Mia came over and Mia has just recieved her referral for her Mei Mei and Lily was so disappointed that she didn't bring her. I have told her at least a billion times that the baby is still in China but she just cannot grasp that idea.
On Sunday we had 3 other friends over for the day and it was bliss. Chaotic bliss if that makes sense. If you want to have oodles and oodles of phun, just add kids. I bought each of them, Jacob included, a can of silly string and left them to it. I think the shrieks of delight could be heard in the next state.


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Every single toy that Lily owns, and that is quite a few, was removed from it's home and scattered willy nilly throughout the house. I loved it. The 4 of them got along famously the whole time which in my eyes is miraculous.

Since we now know that the CCAA matched through the 30th of November it means there are only 63 LID's ahead of us. Doesn't sound like much but considering they have been doing 5 days worth a month it could take a long time but I am remaining optimistic that since we have finally said good riddance to the big months that we should see Chopsticks little face in approximately 7 more months. That's my story and I am sticking to it.

Getting Our Heads In The Game

Yesterday we, along with some friends, went to see High School Music*l on ice. Suffice to say that the kiddiewinkles had a great time. I have been singing, "gotta, gotta, gotta get your head in the game", like some crazed teenage sports jock ever since.

I really thought I had a few more years before Lily was got into this stuff but yet again it has been proved that I know nothing! She loves all the big kid stuff already. We don't even let her watch that much television but she just finds out about them anyway. Just 2 minutes ago Elmo ruled her world but now he is so passe.

At the end of the first act that we were all getting up and heading off to the bathrooms when Lily shrieked with delight and was shouting, "look, look", we turned around expecting to see one of the cast members back on the ice but instead we saw the Zamboni. Lily always gets really excited when she sees the Zamboni, I have no idea why. So we had to wait until he was done polishing the ice and then we were able to leave our seats.

Here are a few shots from the afternoon.
Lily's favourite bit!


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Lily was spellbound during most of the show and kept on nudging us if the skaters did any amazing moves and would say, "did you see that?"

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Lily and Co

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Scared Of Nothing. Happy B-day Andie

This child of ours is always up for fun. It doesn't matter what it is she will love it. A few weeks ago she asked if we could go to the Go-Karts again because she had so much fun. Since it is our job to cater to her every whim we went yesterday.

Those are her racing goggles.

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My Turn. I think because I don't weigh as much Jacob that the Go kart went faster with me and Lily loved it cos we kept passing people. A person raced by us and she poked her tongue out at them so I had to interrupt the racing fun for a little heart to heart. I have never seen her do this before and it was very hard not to laugh.Her little tongue is just so flipping cute.

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The crazed boat operator had us spinning all over the place.

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Today is my cousins birthday. Happy Birthday Andie or as Lily insists on calling you, Cousin Andie. We cannot wait until you come out again....November better hurry up and get here.

Lots of you have been having problems viewing the videos of late. I send my thanks to the wonderful folks at Dropshots for their new and improved video sharing (NOT).
Stacey said that if you hit play and then hit pause immediately to let it load then it works. I hope so cos until Dropshots unimproves it's service this is all I got. Seriously Dropshots people, it wasn't broken why did you fix it?

It's Raining, It's Pouring.

Yesterday we had hoped to spend the day at the beach and then head to Monty Trainers for a meal before going home HOWEVER the weather had different ideas cos it poured, cats and dogs all flipping day. We did head to the restaurant which is right on the water and you can just pull your boat up and you are there. It rained when we got there and before we left it was like a monsoon. We had to keep switching tables cos we were getting soaked but damn it we refused to leave cos this was the plan. We were drenched but still laughing. The good thing about Miami is it doesn't get cold when it rains.
I decided to play hooky this morning and we headed off to the beach in hopes of re-writing yesterday. We had a great time. We were almost there when Jacob pointed out a strange looking ship in Government Cut. It was a Pirate Ship much to Lilys delight and the pirates were all standing in the rigging. ( I thought they looked like birthday candles from far away which nearly caused hubby to drive the car straight into the ocean as he laughed so hard.) He sped up and drove towards the cut further down where we would be able to get out and Lily would really get a good look. There were photographers there so we asked what it was and they told us it was from Pirates Of The Carribean. All I can say is if I thought Johnny Depp was there I would have thrown myself into the ocean and pretended to drown.
The Birthday Candle Boat


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The music is coming from the boat....pretty cool me thinks.


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After this excitement we headed down to South Beach and went for a swim and generally frolicked about on the sand.


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Lily and Jacob found this tiny crab...of course Lily wanted to keep it for a pet. We really do need to get this child something soft and furry.


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We had water fights in the ocean with buckets. Silly fun.


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But now it is early evening and I have to go to work to make up for all that fun. We leave for the UK in a couple of weeks and before that we are heading away for along weekend so I really have no excuse for playing hooky other than I am a lazy bum who loves have fun with my family.
Hope you had a great Monday too.