Beautiful!

It has been a long time since I've seen snow covered mountains. I had forgotten how amazingly beautiful they are.



This was Miss G's first experience with skiing. She loved it. Her favorite part was "going fast." She kept telling me, "Go faster, Mommy. Go faster!"




The chairlift was another favorite. She seemed fearless and wanted more asking to go higher up the mountain.

Riding the lift with her was a moment in time that I'll always remember. Her joy was overflowing. Her giggling was contagious as she waved and called down to the people below us. She told me knock-knock jokes that made absolutely no sense and we laughed and hugged and I tried to imprint that memory deep into my mind.



She would tell me she needed to rest which was really a big excuse to gather up snow for a snowball.




The only thing that would have made this trip better was if we could have shared it with Mr. Reserved. Unfortunately, he had to work as this time of the year is a busy one for him. We really missed him.

Fish Tails

Don't you sometimes wonder what animals are thinking?

These three were eye-ballin' this cute, little innocent gull. Of course, we know that it's innocent because it's cute and little.

They were actually jockeying for position to catch the fish remains after the guides had filleted the fish.

It looks like the little one can hold his own.




And now he's had his say.

All this posturing was because my dad and my husband had limited out on almost every fish you can catch in the gulf and there were tons of fish tails to fight over.

I also caught three big redfish of my own...22", 24" and 26". They put up quite the fight and were really fun to catch. They are now in my freezer and heading for my frying pan.






The sunsets were amazing over the water.




It was a wonderful holiday.

Sea Joy

Sea Joy

When I go down by the sandy shore
I can think of nothing I want more
Than to live by the booming blue sea
As the seagulls flutter round about me

I can run about - when the tide is out
With the wind and the sand and the sea all about
And the seagulls are swirling and diving for fish
Oh - to live by the sea is my only wish.


Jacqueline Bouvier

We went to the sea this past weekend.



It was glorious.



The sun and the wind and the bright blue sky warmed us from inside-out. Miss G couldn't resist and jumped in clothes and all.



We loved hearing the peaceful sounds of the water breaking on the beach, the call of the seagulls and the wind pushing past the palm trees .



Those feelings, smells and sounds were so foreign to us.




What a joy it was to awaken those remembrances once again.

Sea World

We had a great day at Sea World. Miss G was amazed by all the animals, especially the playful dolphins. They swam curiously close to us. I think they were checking us out just as much as we were checking them out.



This guy obliged and stopped by for a photo op.



Miss G didn't want to touch them but she was fascinated by them. She went to see them twice.






We also went to the aquarium. It was full of sharks and other exotic wildlife.



These are poison dart frogs. They are tiny.





The sea lions at the next show were so funny. I was amazed at their speed in the water and how quickly they could jump from the water to the stage.



One of the trainers kicked back and let the sea lion swim in circles.



After the sea lion show Miss G ventured on her first roller coaster ride. She has pronounced that it will be her last. Mr. Reserved said that she never even looked up.



We also went to the water skiing show. Personally, I am in awe of anyone who can water ski. I like to think of myself as pretty athletic, but I could never water ski. I couldn't get up out of the water and on to the skis. Needless to say I was amazed by these performers.



Before the performance they asked all the kids to come down and play on the beach. Miss G ran down and quickly made a friend. She didn't want the playtime to end but the show soon started with some amazing tricks.








One of the last things we did before heading to their water park was to see the big man himself. The great Shamu and associates gave a great performance. In your mind, you know that these are big killer whales. I just didn't realize how BIG they truly are.



By the way, the title "Splash Zone" is a little misleading. Those tails can displace more water than a Sumo wrestler doing a canonball. Thank goodness we sat above that zone. The people below us were completly soaked.

Gaining Confidence

We are safely home from our vacation. It was our first family vacation together and we had a wonderful time. It's not often that Miss G and I get Mr. Reserved all to ourselves for such an extended time. We reveled in the experience. Miss G especially enjoyed her Daddy and I know that Mr. Reserved's arms are sore from so much carrying and catching of our little diva.

The two made quite a pair. Watching them interact, Mr. Reserved always patient and instructive, Miss G completely inexperienced and unsure, was one of the highlights of my trip. The following sequence of pictures shows how the complete trust of a little girl in her Daddy's love can within one day transform her from a scared, teary-eyed, stand on the ladder holding up the line shrieker into a confident, self assured, cutting in line bulldozer.




This frog's mouth was her first attempt at a water slide. She actually stood up and went back down the ladder. After watching other kids on the slide and a lot of coaching from her Daddy, she finally made the leap straight into her Daddy's arms.




This was another slide with another petrified look.




After several times down the frog slide, Daddy convinced her to slide with him on the big blue slide. The water depth in this pool was 2' 6" so she was able to stand up, head above water, for any slide going into this pool.



I think she had her eyes closed the whole time.



Daddy made sure she didn't go under water.




Although we had tears, after a few minutes she was ready to go again.

She continued to go down the slides and Daddy continued to catch her. Her confidence grew all day long and by the end of the day she didn't want us to catch her. We were relegated to the grown-up chairs at the edge of the pool not even near her. I realized watching her from so far away that we had made a fundamental switch that day. Our little baby was not a baby anymore. She was big enough to catch herself.




I know as parents it is our goal and responsibility to grow our children to become independent.




I just didn't realize that it could happen so fast.




What a wonder it is to watch them bloom.