Dude!

Here I go again trying to make cards...this is actually for the CAARDVARKS challenge. I have been slacking on these lately, but, better late than never!

Pink and Rock and Roll?

Not exactly two words you usually think of together. I know this first one is an older photo of Andrew, but I just love how both of these show two completely different sides of him. He is at that age right now where he is trying to find out where he fits in...ya know, that perfect look for him. I think he is perfect the way he is but it sure is fun recording all of these fun memories until he figures it out!

A girl is to never give her age...

so almost 40 could be anything! In fact, you are only as old as you feel, right?!?

I have been productive...

Yeah I know, those of of you who know me are most likely thinking...How could this be, but ha ha, I have been somewhat busy scrapping. I think I finally figured it out, stop worrying so much about how others are gonna view your work, after all they are your memories and there is no right or wrong when it comes to your visions. I just love this layout of Alyson. I was able to capture her enjoying life and enjoying being a little girl. She was off in her own little world singing and dancing one night on the beach. Everyone was fishing and there was Alyson...Dancing with herself!
Here is one of Andrew. This was from the "secret" photo shoot we did in the backyard so that none of his friends would see his mom taking his picture. It was his first day of school as an eighth grader.
I love these photos of Alyson. They show how grown up she is getting but still shows the childhood innocence that she still has.

Candy girl...

Typical Florida weather, major down pour of rain, out of nowhere. That is what happened about halfway through the day at Disney's Hollywood Studios. Just our luck we could only find shelter in a candy store. While we were in there Alyson got picked to go behind the candy counter where they make the candy and make her own. She thought that was the neatest thing!

Life's a beach...

And I mean that very literally here in Florida! Every where you go, there is a beach of some sort. We had so much fun "beach hopping". It was so neat because each beach had a little something different to offer than other.

Florida also has it's share of interesting creatures and I so gave away my secret of being a tourist when I tried to get a picture of each and everyone I saw! For the Floridians these buggers are normal and an every day sighting, but to me a native Windy City girl I wanted to capture it all...

I could have been in alot of trouble if I had picked this guy up. At first I thought it was a sand dollar and was so excited because it was one of my goals to find one. Thank goodness I looked a little closer before reaching down to pick it up because this was a jellyfish. The waves were so big these guys just kept washing up on shore.

These guys are no stranger to the beach either. It was so neat to watch them fly around and then swoop in on their prey. I thought this site was really neat, they were all over the beaches. They are sea turtle nests. They mark them off with stakes and tape with a stake marked with all of the dates for them. Too bad we won't be there to see them hatch.

We also got to see a little glimpse of the manatee also known as the "gentle giant". We saw better views of them but for being so big they were really fast. We saw several of them and they were really playful. We were told they were so playful because it was mating season for them.

Walking through the shallows of the water you never know what you will find and leave it to Theresa to find anything and everything. This snail was really neat, it really was alot bigger in person. I could not get a picture of him totally out of his shell, every time I tried he would "spit" at us. The waves were so big this day everyone had fun "riding" the waves. Not me, I had fun taking pictures of them being taken out by the waves.

The wind was also a factor due to the recent hurricane activity Florida was having. Andrew decided to be funny and show just how windy it was...."Look Ma, no hands!" Alyson is like her mother, once she got a taste of the salt water in her mouth and the sting in her eyes, she was done with the water. She is much more content sitting on the beach making sand castles.
Andrew on the other hand, just loved being in the water and riding the waves. Here he is taking a little break from "hanging 10"

Back from a little R&R...

Well, I think I am almost settled and back into the groove of reality again. Two wonderful weeks in sunny Florida makes you forget all about the hustle and bustle of everyday life. We had so much fun and got to do and see alot of wonderful things. Last year when we went it rained EVERY day for two weeks, this year it rained twice (no thanks to Hanah and Gustov those not so wonderful hurricanes) and it did not get below 90 degrees the whole time we were there. I have SOOOO many photos so I am gonna share them a little at a time...day by day...
These are when we went to John's Pass. It was this really neat boardwalk along the Gulf with such fun shops and views. The kids got to get their picture taken with "Captain Morgan". I am sure they do not know who he is but it made a cute picture! Just some silly pictures of us in the jaws of the megaldoon shark(I think that is how you spell it)
We were gonna eat at Bubba Gump's but alas, the prices were a little high. We did get to take some funny photos though...

Here we all are. These photos turned out really well which is surprising since it is really rare to get a photo of EVERYONE looking at the camera or without someone with their eyes closed, mouth open or silly grin. What is even more surprising is that we got lucky TWICE!