Great Explorations

Here we are at the Great Explorations Childrens Museum in St. Pete's. We have a fun week ahead, including a visit to the Tampa Zoo, the Glazer Childrens Museum in Tampa, and to Animal Kingdom Lodge in Orlando!

Bizarre

We were visited by an Egret the other day. S/he just hung out on our porch railing, staring at us as we stared at it....

Great Grandparents

We enjoyed a visit with Andrew's Great Grandparents (my dad's parents). He warmed up to them immediately, and we all had a lot of fun.

Big Boy Bed

The time has come! Andrew climbed out of his pack n play this morning. No injuries, he's been too big for it for a while now, but hadn't figured out he was big enough to get out. Until today. As we are on vacation in a rental house, we figured out a makeshift solution. There's an extra cot, so we smushed it between the wall and a couch, putting his pack n play mattress on the floor incase he takes a tumble.

He resisted at first, he probably had no idea why his crib was gone, nor what he was supposed to do with the new bed thing. But once he stopped crying, he laid down and went right to sleep. You can see that he never even tried to get out, as the blanket is still on him.

Nana

I'm so grateful that Andrew has the opportunity to have a grandmother. That kind of love is so special!

Outside Voice

We have a house rule: inside voice quiet, outside voice loud. Essentially we promise Andrew that he can scream nonsense as long as he doesn't do it in a confined space. Here's the result.

Sick

Thanks to Dada & Pop Pop for carrying Andrew while Mama was feeling under the weather. I'm now medicated and feel much better (bronchitis).

Dining Al Fresco

We're enjoying our visit with Nana and Pop Pop - which includes using the grill and eating dinner outside on our deck.

Wall Springs Park

There are so many great parks around here! The highlight of Wall Springs Park was its boardwalk and big pond with fish. We had fun feeding them some crumbs of bread. Just had to be sure not to get pooped on by the birds!

Clearwater Beach

We took our 2nd beach trip yesterday morning. This time to Pier 60 at Clearwater Beach which is only about 10 minutes away. Despite it only being 60 degrees when we got there, the sun was so strong that it felt more like 70. Andrew loved it. They even had a playground ON the beach, brilliant idea. He enjoyed wading in the freezing water. We also partook in some ice cream (note to self, Andrew gets vanilla next time.) When we were leaving we found another area of the beach with open air restaurants, so we'll just have to go back when we have visitors in town and take them there!

Out and About

We've been doing ALOT of walking around here. The pier, main street, to the library etc. I realize how that even in the nicer weather at home, we don't seem to fit this into our schedule. Part of my goal for this trip is to figure out how we can bring some of this R&R back home with us and integrate into real life. Maybe we can use the bike/walking path on the Hudson between Menands and Albany and bring the dog along? Of course what makes the walking fun is eating a snack when we come home :) Andrew has his Mama's appetite.

Just For Fun

Train Ride

At one of our local parks, once a month a volunteer group provides free train rides! The train itself is a mini version of the real deal. You even go through tunnels. A volunteer group meticulously maintains the trains and rails. Generally I've been really impressed by all the playgrounds down here. They are well kept, with a variety of equipment. I guess when you use them all year round, that's what you come to expect. Here's a self-portrait of us on a train and the other is of the train right after we got off.

Too Hot!

Its Too Hot! Or so Andrew says. Its only about 72 degrees in the house, but I guess he's used to our 67 back in Troy? He hands me back the blanket before bedtime, and loves being sprayed with cold water in the tub. Not a terrible problem to have, I know :)

In other news, my smart little boy now knows all the lowercase letters of the alphabet. I worked with him on the uppercase ones about 6 months ago, but was unaware that Shawn had taught him lowercase recently. Also there are a few words he can recognize by sight. I won't call it reading since he doesn't know the sounds the letters make, its just memorization. Still, I'm pretty impressed!

The Aquarium

On this rainy morning (we've had blue skies up until today) we ventured over to the Tampa Aquarium. Sadly, Andrew was more interested in riding the escalators than seeing the animals, but a few exhibits caught his eye. He liked the HUGE tank that he could walk along, as well as any fish that looked like Nemo.

If you didn't sign in to say hello at my last blog entry, just a reminder that I'm trying to figure out who reads this blog, so please do leave a short comment! Originally the blog was created so that far away friends and family could keep track of our new arrival. Now that he's no longer new, it's turned into much more. It's a way for nearby friends to entertain their children who love seeing their little buddy Andrew on the computer screen. It's a means of keeping a new mother awake in the wee hours of the morning as she nurses her new daughter when everyone else is sleeping. Most importantly it's of Andrew and for Andrew. With my Mom gone, I'm so glad to have her writings and photos from my childhood. One day Big A may feel the same way about this blog.

Botanical Gardens

On this beautiful morning, after a trip to the fruit stand down the street, Andrew and I went to the Florida Botanical Gardens for a stroll. Shawn stayed behind to do some work. No worries, just an hour or two as a favor to a friend:)

Time passes so differently here - so quickly as there's lots to do, especially outdoors. At home it felt more like a waiting game all day. Waiting for Shawn to get home, waiting for it to warm up enough to go outside, waiting for naptime so I could get a cranky Andrew into bed. Its lovely, and I'm so excited that we're going to have 2 months of this! Plus another 6 when we're back home of Shawn being home with us!

On another note, I'm trying to figure out who my blog readers are - so if you wouldn't mind, leave a comment after this entry to say hello.

Honeymoon Island

Only a few miles from our house is Honeymoon Island State Park, so we decided to go to check out the sunset. It is one of the few beaches around here to have a designated pet area so Bos came along. We'll go another day to check out the real deal - the beaches on the island that received national awards. It was a beautiful evening, and Andrew loved it!

R&R

So what are we actually doing here, you may wonder. A whole lot of relaxing! We don't set alarms to wake up, and oftentimes lounge in our pjs for a few hours after breakfast. Andrew is getting double-parented 24/7 which has been great for all of us. Shawn and I get frequent breaks to pursue our own interests, and Andrew seems as happy as ever to have us around all the time. Personally I use my time to take long runs outside in this beautiful weather....or just a walk to the local ice cream parlor :) We tend to spend most mornings outdoors, whether that be a playground, park, marina, or strolling the neighborhood. There's also a fantastic library around the corner. Now that we're settled in, we'll leave our little town and explore the bigger cities including their zoos, aquariums, museums and beaches. Lunch is leisurely - we're going to try eating on our deck today, the weather has finally warmed up enough. Andrew naps from 2-3:30 or so, which is when Shawn and I catch up on some reading. Each afternoon we decide our dinner menu and stop at either the local fish market, produce stand or natural foods store to pick out ingredients. I think today we'll pair that up with a stop at Honeymoon Island to check out the sunset. So as you can see, its quite a nice life, lots of R&R, family time, and fun in the sun.

The Marina

Where Dunedin's Main Street meets the water is the Marina. At the Marina you also can find a playground, public (clean!) restrooms, picnic tables, a fresh fish market/restaurant, and a pier. We spent a little time roaming around, watching the boats sail and visiting with a pelican.

The Little Explorer

We spent a good part of this beautiful 70 degree morning exploring our front yard. Its so different from our yard in Troy. Andrew loves chasing around the lizards, collecting seeds and shells and digging in the dirt. He's so interested in nature - not a genetic inheritance from me, I assure you. I've had alot of fun learning about the outdoors along with him. Here are some pics of him having some yard fun, and also a new birds-eye view to show off his brand new head of strawberry blond curly hair!

Farmers Market

We really enjoyed the local Farmers Market this morning which is on both Friday AND Saturday mornings! So much fresh produce, baked goods and all sorts of specialty items. Its dog-friendly, and right downtown, so we'll bring Bos when we go again tomorrow.

So Far So Good

Slept in, had breakfast that included local citrus, played outside, went shopping, had lunch, took a 2 mile walk down the Pinellas Trail (sunny and 65 degrees today!) and now making a grocery list for our week of Rick Bayless dinner recipes. At night Shawn and I are tackling the X Files, we're about halfway through all 9 seasons. So far so good! If you plan on visiting us, speak up, our calendar is already getting full.

Here are a few pics of the guys getting some R&R. Shawn cuddles up with Bos to catch up on his favorite websites and Andrew (still left handed as far a we can tell, and very curly thanks to the humidity) has figured out how to access his two iPad apps.

We're Here!

Its been a long few days, but finally we're settled into our new home in Dunedin. Sunday was an exhausting day between entertaining Andrew on the long, early morning flight (thank god for playdough, see pic); getting the luggage, renting a car, finding the house and unpacking. In the midst of all this he skipped his much needed nap so needless to say we both were a little nutso by evening time. I plopped him on the couch for the rest of the night to watch a movie (see pic.)

Monday went much smoother, we took a walk around our new neighborhood and found the Blue Jays spring training stadium only a block away from our place! Next to that is the local library, which we've visited every day since. We also found a lovely playground at the marina where you can play and watch the boats and have a picnic lunch (see pic.)

Tuesday was a cold spell (55 degrees, these people have no idea what cold really is!) so we visited the Clearwater Marine Aquarium, which is a rescue facility. For me the coolest part was watching the vets remove a tumor from a sea turtle - they had windows into the OR. Andrew enjoyed chatting it up with a sting ray (see pic).

Shawn finally arrived Tuesday night after (2) 11-hr days of driving from NY. Its so nice to have another adult around, and our stuff, and Bosley! Bos has already claimed himself a comfy recliner to hang out on. He seems to like the warm weather and new smells very much.

The house is a great fit for us. We're in a community of small bungalows, sidewalks everywhere. We can walk to Main Street which has eateries and shops. In fact today we enjoyed visiting the town's ice cream parlor :) Hopefully we'll find a babysitter and have a weekly date night to try out the restaurants.

Our agenda for this sabbatical includes alot of lounging, cooking, eating, playing, long walks, watching movies, enjoying drinks in our backyard tiki hut (seriously, see pic); hosting visitors and visiting others; and of course we'll hit the beaches! Google "Honeymoon Island State Park" - we live only a few miles away.

I'm pretty sure these may be the best 2 months of my life. The skies are a beautiful clear blue, I can see a palm tree in any direction I turn and I'm here with my favorite two guys. So happy :)