Our Day on Amelia Island

We went to Amelia Island today, which is north of Jacksonville, but still in FL. It's a little over an hour from our house. On the island is a state park called Fort Clinch State Park, because, yes, it has a fort named Clinch. But first, we went on a guided nature walk. It was over an hour, and the kids did so well. They were actually listening to our guide most of the time. We learned about the plants and wildlife. It was very interesting and fun. We even got to see an alligator, although it was only the very top of his head and eyes poking out of the water, and about 20 feet away. We went with our good friends who have two little girls. One is a year older than Glenn and the other is a year younger than Glenn. So, he gets along great with both of them. Here are some pictures of our nature walk:

Glenn with our friend


Monkeys on a tree



This speaks for itself


After our nature walk, we had a picnic lunch, which conveniently was right next to a playground. So, the kids could play while we relaxed a bit. We then went to Fort Clinch. It is by far the best fort I've been to. They had so many artifacts on display. And there were volunteers dressed in Union garb (next weekend they will be wearing Confederate garb). The volunteers were very knowledgeable and engaging. They shot off a cannon and the kids didn't like that very much. Glenn and his friend stayed far away with me because they were scared of the noise it was going to make. Alexander, Bob and our friends were up closer to the cannon. Poor Alexander clung to his Daddy and cried until he could get to me. Then he wouldn't let me put him down for quite some time after that. We got some great pictures at the fort:

"We need to unlock this door!"


Checking out the cannon


The kids loved going through the tunnels


Glenn and his friend leaned out that window for quite some time just chatting


Exploring


It was very windy at the top of the fort (look at Alexander's hair)


Now we know where my little monkey gets his monkey genes


Leaving the fort over the draw bridge

The Tiny Terror Strikes Again

Instead of napping, Alexander decided to pull out the drawers of his dresser, climb to the top, dump out the basket of things I didn't want him to get into that was on top of the dresser, which included a tube of Butt Paste. He is now waterproof, and so is some of the carpet!

Glenn is loving school, although he's not as excited about going to school in the mornings as he was last year. Kindergarten is hard work! We love his teacher, and he's doing very well.

Here's some pictures from the end of August:
Alexander likes to play with his trains or cars on the couch. He'll just move them back and forth for a long time.


I found the folded clothes dumped out and the boys sitting in the basket watching tv together.


Alexander watching Big Bird, kicking his legs


Bob gave Glenn his old iPod. Here he's chilling, listening to kid music.

We went to CT this past weekend for my brother's wedding. We first went to the Connecticut Science Center, which is a really nice museum. We went with my parents and my sister, Lisa.










The wedding was held at Julie's parents' house on a pond. The weather was really perfect. We had a great time, and the bride and groom were beaming!




Green Acres Pose


Daddy eats worms


Lisa and Alexander examining a worm

First Day of Kindergarten

Today was Glenn's first day of kindergarten, and as promised, I have pictures below. He was a little nervous last night, and went between excited and nervous this morning. But when we got to school, he said in his most excited voice, "I'm going to have so much fun today!" He had a wonderful day. I got a lot of stories from him about his day, which is more than I got all year last year. He's really progressed with his speech. He told me how they went to the cafeteria to pretend to eat lunch. I don't think they wanted to overwhelm them on the first day, so they just practiced, then ate in their classroom. They had half go today, and the other half go tomorrow, so he'll go back on Wednesday. He can't wait to go back. Tomorrow, we're going to get some stuff to dip in chocolate; probably strawberries and pretzels. He'll enjoy doing that.

A Wonderful Summer

We really had a wonderful summer. We went to the beach almost once a week. We had Bob's parents and three of our nephews visit for a week. We went to the beach with them. Bob took them to see his office near St. Petersburg and they visited with family out there. We really enjoyed their visit. We went to the FL Museum of Natural History and really enjoyed the Butterfly Garden. I started teaching a public health class for Kaplan University. It's been a lot of work, but I'm enjoying it. It just doesn't leave me much time for myself because I'm working when I normally would have time to do whatever I want to do (when the boys are in bed).

We went to Nebraska to visit my grandmother and uncles. My Uncle Gale, who lives in WA, flew out to meet us there and my other Uncle Byron lives in NE just down the road from my grandmother. We always enjoy the visit. Bob couldn't go because he's busy with work, but my parents traveled with the boys and I. I got my grandmother's famous recipe for Danish pastry. I tried making some this weekend. It was fun and tasty. I enjoyed discussing how to make it with my grandmother. She enjoyed it, too.

While in NE, we went to Cody park, which has a diesel engine and steam engine and cars. I got some great photos on the trains.














This was at Cody park.


There's shack behind my grandmother's house. I got some cute pics of the boys on the steps. They are holding some dandelions.








We also went walking around the farm and found some sunflowers. We picked some for Grammy (what the boys call my grandmother).






And now we are back home. We went to the pool a couple times this week and Glenn is finally starting to swim underwater by himself. Next year we'll put him back in swim lessons. Alexander will, too. He loves the water. We did all our school shopping and Glenn got to meet his teacher and see his new classroom on Friday. He didn't want to leave the classroom. I finally convinced him to leave by saying he'll get to spend all day there on Monday. I'll have more pictures of that this week. And the other news is Alexander is very interested in potty training. I'm not ready, but he is, so wish us luck.