Hoggetown Creek

Hunting for Sharks Teeth

Nestled behind a neighborhood in the center of Gainesville is a sleepy little creek. It has several different arms wiggling its way through an area full of trees.

We brought buckets, sifters, and shovels to help us dig for sharks teeth. Jack is a pro shoveler and quickly filled up his bucket with sand.

We always have to much fun with Jolene! They play really well together.

This is the last shot of both of them completely dry. Soon after this they both fell in, getting soaked from head to toe. The first time was an accident, every other time after that was for pure fun.

Cedar Key Visit

I had heard about this little beach from a few of my friends. It is exactly how they describe it, small, not crowded, and incredibly relaxing. Just an hours drive from our house!

Jack digs into some oranges as we take a break from walking in the water.
Such a brave boy, walking in deep water all by himself! He wanted to hold hands at first but then decided he was a big boy and had to do it alone.

The view from the beach. There's a rope blocking off any kayaks or boats from coming into the swim zone.

Jack and I walking towards the rope, he wanted to touch the "beach balls". The water was so warm and the sand was squishy.

There was an amazing playground there too! After we spent a bunch of time in the water Jack put his shoes on and tackled the big kids playground. Huge slides, a fish ladder, and fun swings kept us busy.

Flowers & New Tree

The red maple Gail gave us is doing very well. It's exciting to see how much it has grown since we planted it.
One of the sunflowers that sprang up this year. None of the seeds I planted did well due to the drought, but the ones that had fallen from rain fall last year are doing great!

More of the sunflowers that just popped out in the middle of our yard.

Wild flowers, so unique.

The only seeds that sprouted this year were the wildflowers. Orange petals with mini yellow flowers in the middle.

New Pool

We decided to splurge and buy Jack this deluxe pool for him to play in this summer. It has a slide, basketball hoop and ring posts for him to throw at. Thank goodness we have the compressor to make blowing up this pool an easy job. The slide had tie downs for it to stay in place and Jack quickly found a fun way to crawl onto the slide to go down. He likes sliding down on his belly, landing face first into the water. My main goal, other than having tons of fun, was to keep Jack comfortable playing in water so that when we start swim lessons in the fall, he will be raring to go.

Fractions are Hard (and I hate them!)

Did you know research has shown that fractions are one of the most difficult concepts for us to understand? My online course is currently focused on fractions. I spent a total of 4 hours trying to figure this out so I can post this picture to my course instructor. Bleh!

Dinosaurs Love Underpants!

In January as we were preparing to start potty training I came upon a book about dinosaurs and underpants. Being a teacher I know how powerful a book can be to teach a new concept to someone. So I snatched it up and read it to Jack. In summary, it details that dinosaurs love of underpants was ultimately the reason they became extinct since they fought so much over each other's underwear.

Spontaneously the other day Jack spies his dinosaur that Chuck bought him and cries out, "Dinosaur needs underwear!" Jack ran to his room and picked out a pair of his new Lightning McQueen underwear to share with the dinosaur.
We did not cut a hole for the dinosaur's tail but might alter a pair of Jack's underwear that he is too big for now if Jack keeps insisting the dinosaur wear his underpants.
This dinosaur is now one of the chosen few animals that sleep on Jack's bed every night.

Such a cutie!!

Fun Weekend

While I have no pictures to show you, I still wanted to tell you about our fun weekend. Our camera is MIA and we didn't think to use our phones or camcorder to take pictures (sorry!)

On Saturday Jack and visited Grandma and Grandpa Johnson inSatellite Beach. After our arrival we quickly donned our swimsuits and jumped into the pool. Grandpa joined us a short time after that and began to teach Jack the art of splashing in the pool. This worked out good because Jack was terrified of the guitar float I bought for him.

After a yummy lunch we met up with our friends Chuck, Dee, and Madison for a visit to the beach. Jack and Maddie quickly got down and dirty with the sand and began building and destroying sand castles. After a little while they both felt courageous enough to jump the waves and play in the water. This went on forever! I had to take some Advil the next day because my arms were so sore from pulling Jack up to jump to waves! It was so much fun though!

After several showers (one at the beach and then one again at home) we traveled to Pizza Hut in Indiatlantic for dinner. Jack however had other plans and quickly fell asleep, and stayed asleep until we came back to the house to pack up. He ate his personal pan pepperoni pizza and donned his jammies for the car ride home.

Monday held an exciting adventure as we visited a state trooper friend of Kevin's. Rick and his wife own about 100 acres just north of Gainesville. Jack enjoyed playing in their pool (along with their 5 dogs), riding a pony named Taz, and getting to drive a tractor around Rick's yard (with Rick of course!). So much fun for a little boy, with 2 very tuckered out parents.