our house is a home

Our new house is slowly becoming our "home".  Here are some pictures, for the majority of those of you that follow us have not been here yet.  We are thoroughly enjoying this house, it is just right for us where we are in life right now as a family.  There are many many young families in this neighborhood, there are beautiful homes, shaded winding streets with live oaks and almost vine like trees that criss cross to make canopies of shade which help with the heat of Florida.  Our neighborhood hugs the intrercoastal water way and less than a quarter of a mile on the other side of our neighborhood is the Atlantic ocean so we get an amazing breeze most of the time.  We get a deeded intercoastal and beach access by virtue of living in this neighborhood and the neighborhood is gated, all things we have always wanted. 

Jon and I sat out and enjoyed our new patio furniture just the two of us for the first time last night and after many days of stagnant heat and humidity from the storm kicking up out there, we had the most amazing tropical breeze and Florida air smells oh so good and fresh at night, a hint of citrus blossoms in the air from the orange groves which our county is globally so well known for and a mix of salt and sand..........life is good, finally!!  I told Jon ten or more years ago when we first began to explore Vero that one day if we lived here we would own a home on this barrier island that is known as Orchid Island and now, against ALL odds in this crazy real estate world and lending world, WE DO, and we still own our other house too!! Our home is less than an easy 8 minute amble down A1A to my office which is also something I always wanted, work and home to be close.  It feels really good to accomplish a goal and a hard fought one at that.  Here are some pictures of our new home!  If you want to see more you will just have to come and see us for yourself:)  We're all going to work very hard this week at work (and at summer camp) as this is our last full week home before our trip to OHIO next week for the 4th of July.  It's going to be a busy week (especially for me, trying to work ahead and finish things for clients) but we will get through it!

swimmer!

We have a full fledged swimmer at our house...his name is Jackson!  See that orange floatie he has on in the pictures from the boat trip last weekend, that's the last time you will see that on him!  I hired a local swim instructor to come to the house and provide private lessons for him two weeks straight and in JUST TWO LESSONS, he is swimming like a fish, underwater, from one wall to the other in the pool and PROUD AS CAN BE!  He was squealing with delight last night showing us what a big boy he is and that he can swim.  I got it on tape and will try to see if Jon can post the video.

 When I called the swim instructor I told her I thought he was very close and just needed some guidance and a nudge from someone that was not a parent and I was right!  At the rate he is going, I think he will be doing fancy strokes by the end of next week and I was hoping he would just be where he is now at the end of the session and we're only at the beginning and he is there.  Sissy of course cannot STAND not to do what he is doing, Miss Ann has to hold her back from the french doors during his lessons or she stands and bangs on the windows............we'll try with her next summer. I've heard you can teach very young children to swim and down here, learning earlier rather than later is the best and I think it will be easier to teach her as she always wants to do as her brother does anyways.  She really puts on the tears now ANYTIME he goes somewhere and she does not go, oh boy!!  In other news Jack has easily transitioned to his new "school' for the summer with half day camps.  This week is Kids in the Kitchen, he gets dropped off at 8:45 and picked up again around 12:45, he then comes home, naps for a bit, and then has his swim lessons.  He told me last night "mom, I really like these camps" right out of the blue so I guess we made a good decision for him.  A change of pace for all is good it seems.

boat trip

Today we decided to take advantage of temps that were a little cooler than normal (low 80's) instead of nearly 90 and a nice breeze, less humidity to go boating with friends.  We each took our own boats and went for a nice ride to an island in the intercoastal waterway with a nice sandy beach and sand bottom for swimming.  We brought sorts of stuff including a tent for shade, a baby swing, a pack and play, etc. it was like all three families went camping but just for the day!  We had a great time, swam, got sun, played and had a picnic lunch.  Here are some pictures from our day!  Tomorrow we will spend father's day at home as a family, we may venture out for church and brunch but other than that, we're just going to be home continuing to settle in.  Happy Father's day to all of the dads out there:)

twelve month well check

SB had her twelve month well check this morning and she and I had a blast hanging out together for just a few extra hours before I had to dive into yet another busy week.  She checked out weighing just over 17 lbs, was about 28 or so inches and her head was 17 or 17.5, she is PETITE, we call her the bird here!  She is barely on the charts at the 5th percentile but the doctor was not concerned as she has meat on her bones, she is just tiny everywhere.  She eats two eggs each morning for breakfst, loves cheese, especially the gross rubbery kraft cheese squares, and she loves yogurt too so she is definitely getting plenty of dairy and fat but it does not stick to her...lucky girl I guess!!  The Dr. said she can have whatever she wants since she is so small.  She has been off the bottle now for over a month, she has no trouble with the sippy cup but is NOT a fan of the whole milk so we'll see.  If she continues to refuse it we will have to put her on something like pedia sure or carnation instant breakfast or something so we'll see about that.  Jack never really was a big milk drinker either.

Here are some pictures of them playing with SB's new kitchen which she got as a birthday present from mommy and daddy. 

After the Dr. appointment we came home to Miss Ann who was doing an excellent job with the dishwasher and laundry and was grateful to have had a leisurely morning with a late start.  No need to sit at our house from 8am on when I told her SB and I would not be home until 10:30 or so!!  Jack started tennis camp today and loved it.  They even got to have a water balloon fight at one point in the day and he told me the coach with the 'green shirt" (he could not remember his name) was his "buddy" so I would say he made the transition from school to camp well and with little anxiety.  He says "I love going tennising"...........he likes to play with us in the driveway so this is good and he has been introduced to yet another sport.

weekend pictures

We had our first quiet weekend in a LONG time this weekend and it was really nice.  We unpacked some framed photos and hung some pictures on the walls so our house is starting to feel like a home and we are now about 99% unpacked, not bad since we moved just two weeks ago, I keep forgetting that!!

We had some friends for dinner Saturday night, and today we went to church, out to brunch, and just spent the rest of the day working around the house and relaxing in our backyard.  Jackson is officially on "summer break" from school and starts tennis camp for this coming week at The Moorings.  He is so lucky, tennis, swimming, and arts and crafts and lunch is included.  We will drop him off tomorrow at 9 and Ann will pick him up at 2.  After this week he has a series of other camps, and he is taking swim lessons in our backyard pool for a half hour every day for the next two weeks to really learn to swim well.  NO MORE FLOATIES is the goal!!  Lucky boy tennis camp, private swim lessons in his own back yard...can I trade places and he can go be the lawyer!!??

In SB's world, she is really starting to walk.  She will walk across rooms now, but still is not 100% walking all the time.  She goes from crawling, to standing to walking, to bear crawling and then to walking again.  I will post a video of her walking soon, she has the new walker weelbe wobble legs, so cute and before we know it this phase will be gone so I have to capture it.

Here are some pictures of the kids this morning while we were getting ready for church, thanks Grandma and Grandpa for the cute outfits!!