Fiesta Walk

Last week for Aunt Erika's birthday we took a "fiesta walk" to
nearby Fiesta Time Amigos! for a fun birthday dinner. Caleb
and Ava enjoyed the wagon ride, and we all enjoyed the perfect,
spring weather.

Caleb, in true Caleb fashion, flirted with all the staff until

the hostess picked him up and took him back to the

kitchen. She showed him around and he just loved all

the attention.

Until Next Year...

Fearless

Open Mouth

Every single time Caleb jumps into the pool he does so with his
mouth wide open, usually tongue half way out. He was so
excited and loved every second of it.

Swimming makes him hungry. He loved snack time

poolside.

Pretty Cool, PeePaw!

http://news14.com/charlotte-news-104-content/624604/high-point-hospital-shows-off-robotic-surgical-system

Caleb sure is proud of his PeePaw!

Uncle Drew

Uncle Drew just went to Junior Prom. Wow- it isn't right that he is
that old! That makes me feel really old! And what's even funnier
is to think that Creed was my junior prom date!








I know that brothers are supposed to be protective with their
sisters, but since I am so much older than my brothers, I feel
very protective of them. Luke took a girl to his school dance
this weekend (They even had dinner before!), I'm seeing
these pictures from Drew's prom, and I don't even want to
know what Matt was up to this past weekend. Craziness!

Mote Aquarium

When we woke up to rain one day over break, we decided to
check out the Mote Aquarium, which is just past Siesta Key
as you're heading to Longboat Key. (Longboat Key is where
we got married!) After all getting in FREE with my Louisville
Zoo pass, (I just happened to remember that I had it with me)
we got to learn a lot about the salt water creatures. The Mote
Aquarium is very low frills- much different than Newport- but
still super cool.


So serious as he observes the fish ("shishees").


Watching what Daddy called the "bait fish" swim around and
around. As you can see from the picture, some of the exhibits
were outdoors, but under a roof. Very cool.


Watching the sharks.

Hopefully he won't ever be this close again!

The hands on exhibits where you could touch the sting rays

were outside. We chickened out.

Caleb was the most interested in the sea turtles.

Did you know that manatees are that big?

Showing how he could escape from the turtle trap.

Watching the dolphins was my favorite!

More Beach

This boy loved the beach!

He fell face first into the big hole. Sand went everywhere- eyes,

nose, mouth, etc. On the way to the hose to wash him off you

could hear him chewing the sand. Yuck! Amazingly though, it

didn't seem to bother him.

Totally Worth It

Caleb decided that spending hours at the outlet mall was
totally worth it since he got to empty my purse of all coins
(except quarters!) at the fountain.

Jealous

Marshma and Papa's place is in Venice, a small little town south of
Sarasota, about 1 1/2 hours south of Tampa. While Daddy & PeePaw
were fishing, Caleb and I checked out the nearby parks with Marshma
and Papa. Actually, there are TWO parks, both less than a mile from
their place. And the parks are awesome! We are so jealous! I mean,
all these Florida people get the beach and pools...isn't that enough? :)

Strike a Pose

I had Caleb stand behind this palm tree for a cute picture. He
thought he was such hot stuff that he continued to walk behind
the tree and pose.







He had PeePaw get in on the action, too.

Visiting Momo

While in Florida, we all got to visit with Momo Charlotte, Caleb's
great-great grandmother. (How cool is it that Caleb has 3 great-
greats...he is one lucky little boy!) Momo Charlotte is Papa's mom,
and Caleb was excited to see her again.

FIVE generations!

Momo got one of Caleb's rare hugs.

Caleb and one of his very favorite people!

***

I teased Momo that when she turns 100, I'll be sending her

picture to the Today Show. She laughed it off. I was totally

serious!

Comparing Aprils

April 2009



April 2010

DVDs

Caleb's morning routine involves a cup of milk and one of

his favorite dvds. (He LOVES his movies so much that we

have to limit it to one in the morning and one in the evening,

usually while I make dinner at home.) While on vacation,

we had to keep up with this routine. I guess it's his version

of a cup of coffee.

**Speaking of the dvds, I cannot recommend the PreSchool

Prep DVD series enough. It is a set of dvds that focus on

shapes, colors, numbers, letters, and 3 sight word videos.

Caleb talks along with it, repeating words back. He even

shocks us by pointing out letters correctly in books. The

other day we went to Target and he pointed to the Target

sign (you know, the big red circle with a dot in the middle) and

said "O." Just wanted to recommend a good birthday or

Christmas present.

Eating Out

While in Florida, we ate out quite a few times and ate at Marshma
and Papa's a few nights as well. Eating out isn't something that we
usually do with Caleb- we just prefer take-out. Anyways, we ate at
Marker 4 our first night, and were told there would be about a 40
minute wait. We can handle 40 minutes. One hour and 30 minutes
later, we were seated. Thankfully, all the waiting, and the eating for
that matter, was done outside.

So, what did Caleb do for an hour and 30 minutes??

He chased a really big white bird (Crane maybe??).

And chased it some more.

Looked super cute in his hat. (Kenny Chesney look-a-like?)

Talked to the parrot with Papa.

Got some lovin' from his Aunt "Nayna."

And this is our boy at 8pm (his normal bedtime) as we were

finally seated at the table. Happy as could be! Vacation

really agreed with him! :)

1st Beach Trip

Even though Caleb was having a blast in the pool, I was so
excited to take him to the beach. These pictures are from our
first trip.

So happy walking with Daddy.

Running toward the water

He jumped right in! And if you've seen the news lately at all,

then you know that FL has had record low temperatures this

winter. The ocean was FREEZING, but it didn't bother this

beach baby!

Throwing handfuls of sand.

He was just trying to figure all the sand out.

Priceless. Marshma and Papa used to keep Caleb on

Wednesdays while I work, but they have been in FL since

the beginning of January. When they finally got to the

beach we told Caleb and he looked to find them. As soon

as he saw them he squealed and started running toward

them. It was one of the most precious things I have ever

seen.