Friday, April 26, 2013

Flashback Friday

These were taken 4 years ago this month.

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I’m always a sentimental sap, but these pictures make me extra emotional.

The days when my baby climbed a soccer net and the days when Jackson flew a kite.  {The days when we had to wear sweaters and jackets in April!}

We measured the boys this week and each of them has grown at least an inch since December!

Thursday, April 25, 2013

A Night in Color

This year the boys school has a new art teacher and they seem to really enjoy the art classes each week. I’m not surprised at all since I loved going to art class when I was in school and I stuffed in extra art classes every chance I could get while in college.

Last week the boys’ school hosted an art show to display some of their work.  It was amazing.  It was called “A Night in Color” and it lived up to its name.

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Miller’s class made sun catchers.  He named his “Green Zombie Bob”.  {It’s blue}  They made it by adding glass beads and glue with a whole pile of glitter.  Can’t wait to hang all 3 pounds of it up!

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This is his “new” smile!

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Jackson’s class made prints from materials that were found.  His print is lovely.  It reminds me of some of the prints we saw being made at Bahama Hand Prints.  We’re looking forward to hanging it up at home as well.

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I thought this would be a good chance to have the boys take a nice picture with their teachers.

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The best of the best!NIK_1415

Jackson has the posing part down pat.  We’re going to work on his expressions.

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The venue for the art show was the farm of the art teacher’s family.  It is lovely and really added to the atmosphere.

They had food, drinks and music

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Not to mention lots of animals!  Miller got a kick out of feeding their pony.

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A Night in Color!

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Wednesday, April 24, 2013

What the Heck Wednesday? Dump Fires

I do try to keep it light here on the old blog, but this week’s What the Heck? Wednesday is something that we have been dealing with since we moved here and are currently dealing with now.

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This is our third Spring in the Bahamas.  Each Spring that we have lived here the landfill has “accidentally” caught on fire.  From what we have been told there is a long history of the dump catching on fire.  In the Spring of 2010 it was on fire for some six weeks.

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The smoke from the fires is without a doubt toxic and makes being outside really miserable.  On other islands they are making changes so that they can use the energy from SAFELY burning the garbage to power the wastewater treatment pants.  I think that idea is brilliant.

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Hopefully the Powers that be here in the Bahamas will see the wisdom of investing in their island.

Tuesday, April 23, 2013

Visiting Grandparents

 

Allen’s parents were our most recent visitors.  The boys really look forward to their Grandparents visits.  You can see why.

Joe exercises every day and the boys try to keep up with him!

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He is always teaching them something.

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Hopefully they will appreciate the thoughtful instruction he has given them.

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I was not a witness to this, but it looks like Nana  got a spin on the Rip Rider.

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She was also challenged to a Cannonball contest.  She stepped up to the plate.

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Miller and Jackson made sure that they stayed as wet as possible as much as possible!

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They are already looking forward to the next visit with their grandparents.

Monday, April 22, 2013

FARTress

We had the first Saturday (since I don't know when) where we didn’t have a soccer game to attend.  The boys lounged around and I made them a fort.  Jackson called it a “fortress” and Miller calls it a “fartress”.  He is one of a kind.

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Have you ever been in a fartress?  It’s really sweet!NIK_1428

They noticed and appreciated the solar system sheet that I used to make the roof.

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Jackson wanted me to think he was sleeping.  I almost fell for it.  NOT!NIK_1448

They decided that it was so awesome they should sleep in it that night.  I couldn’t think of a single reason why not, so they did.

7:30 p.m.

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10:30 p.m.

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Then at about 10:45 Jackson had a bad dream and they both woke up and we put them in their beds.

P.S. How many different Pottery Barn Kids bedding patterns can you spot in these photos?

Friday, April 19, 2013

Curious

Jackson is my nature boy.  He loves to catch, watch and observe crabs, lizards, bugs and anything else he can get his hands on. 

He sat, {in the full blazing sun} for quite some time ,watching these hermit crabs.  I wonder what he is thinking?

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Last week we were on a bike ride and stopped at a park for the boys to play.  While there, he caught a lizard.  That lizard knew what a special soul Jackson has and it just hung out on his arm and shoulder.

When it was time for us to get going, the lizard just hung out on his shoulder.  He rode his bike to the beach before the lizard disappeared. 

I wonder what that lizard thought when he ended up on a sunny, sandy beach when he had started out in a grassy park with coconut trees for shade?

When we are at the beach, he is always searching for hermit crabs.  Last week he found this one in a brown shell and named him “Coat-y”  Pronounced like the name “Cody”. {As far as Jackson is concerned, all animals have to be named according to their physical characteristics}. We put Coaty in the bucket with our other treasures and by the time we got home, Coaty had switched to another shell that was black and white.

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Later that evening, Coaty was placed on the kitchen counter and was not there when Jackson returned.  I think Coaty is living quite happily under our fridge.  Heavens knows we have enough crumbs under there to feed an entire army of hermit crabs!

A few days later we went back to the beach and guess what???  Jackson found Coaty!  He was hanging out on the beach (of all places) and had switched back into his brown shell.  He even walked the 12 or so miles from our house to that beach.

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Jackson still hasn’t realized that Coaty’s original brown shell is still upstairs where he left it.

This makes me kind of sad that we don’t have a goldfish.  I could replace dead goldfish for years on end and as long as they were all fish he’d believe it was the same one.  “Look my goldfish turned into a Beta fish, COOL!”

Thursday, April 18, 2013

Bifecta

Is Bifecta a real word?  In horse racing when you pick the top 3 finishers of a race in the correct order it is a trifecta.  Since I am prone to making up my own words, today it is “Bifecta”

Recently, Allen was out on the dock with the boys when he sent jackson in to get me to come out and see a sting ray in the canal.  I grabbed my camera {that I L.O.V.E} and ran out there.

By the time I got there, the ray had already gone under.  As we stood there watching the shadow,

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something else popped up.

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A sea turtle.DSC_1207

The stingray and the turtle must have been playing peek-a-booDSC_1208DSC_1209DSC_1210

The stingray totally left the slow turtle in his dust!DSC_1211DSC_1212DSC_1214DSC_1216DSC_1217DSC_1218

And that, folks, is what I am calling a bifecta!

We so hope that they boys will be able to retain these amazing memories!