Why is this the first time?

Point Clear. Why is this the first time I've been to Point Clear? Its a great place to celebrate Memorial Day and my birthday. It was right up our alley--watching evening sunsets paired with wine and cheese boards and great conversation and by day swimming at the little sand beach, boating, water skiing. Solid family fun. When we needed a break from all the activity we headed into Fairhope where one could hardly take their eyes off their stunning, perfectly structured flower beds to go inside a boutique and shop. Fortunately for their stores, they might have the most lovely sales people around because we walked out bags in hands. The kids also had a blast at the classic toy stores. It was a great way to start out my 34th year! Thank you Buss\Liebschutz family for having us, we promise to be back!

our little wet dancers - they couldnt say out of the water. 

We could have lived on the dock. 

Water skiing

the sunsets

Not your typical tourist spot

Far from the the typical summer tourist spot is the Pearl River. Home to "Caireskill" our Caire family river camp and also home to crystal-clear waters, cypress knees taller than a grown man, and the musical melody of summer sounds. Here we found reprieve from the fast-paced end of year schedules and had a magical time. We all we're kids again when we tried to catch lightening bugs and went swimming every day. There was also the experience that couldnt be recreated by Disney as we canoed through canopies of moss draped cypress trees while trying to spot the yellow headed Prothonotary Warbler after listening to its call. And then we can't forget the true sense of urgency and adventure as we to paddled in on the canoe with lighting bolts from the summer-spur-of-the-moment thunderstorm shooting down in the river. It all worked out: we made it to the screen porch moments after the rain started, but most importantly the camera was fetched and safely settled inside our bag before the first rain drop landed down atop our head.

New Orleans. A quick 24-hour visit to say hi to family was jammed packed with insects, food and more food. We started with an inspiring trip to the Insectarium, which I'll admit made me more jumppy than I ever imagined, but gave us a renewed respect to the little creatures that make this planet a good place to live---their hand in decomposition, pollination and more is critical to our livelihoods. Next stop was magazine street for a sweet treat a succre a favorite sweet spot and off to aunt Tyra's where we enjoyed a classic southern meal of fried pork chop. The next day included a two hour walk in uptown and along St Charles. With of course dining and shopping at favorites such as Fat Hen.

Tucker is 2

It feels like only yesterday when Cory and I were walking out of Dr. Willis's office with a sonogram in hand that showed we were expecting a healthy little boy. "A boy?" We thought, "What are we going to do with a boy." We love having a girl -- and Cory really thought we were going to have another girl. We could have never expected how this little boy would melt our hearts or never could have imagined how sweet and loveable he would be with all his hugs, kisses and sharing with his big sister, or the laughs we could get from his "songs" and peak a boos. And, now that he's really talking and "playing" the piano, well, lets just say we probably wont have a quiet house again until the kids are in college. We're looking forward to all the years ahead, but holding on to all the sweet memories.

Peep Show

The table was covered with peeps as for the 3rd year in a row we prepared our annual peep k bobs. Yum!

Happy 89th Birthday

Happy 89th Birthday to Grandadday {aka William Philip Shattuck - the one Tucker was named after}. We took a road trip to Asheville to celebrate the big day. If Tucker turns out anywhere near as great as grandaddy we will be happy parents. A handful of reasons I'm proud: 1) He takes care and adores his wonderful wife after years and years of marriage 2) He still finds lots of reasons to laugh 3) He's a decorated veteran and protected the County he believes in 4) He was a wonderful doctor who is still amazed in the miracle of how our bodies work 5)He's still learning and talking about new things at his age and 6) Hes a great story teller.

It was calling our name to run around

Jayne and Tom

Springtime in North Florida is one of the many reasons we live here. The crisp, chilly mornings, crystal-clear blue skies and the smell of daffodils make every day even more memorable. Today, as we wound down the sleep back roads of Monticello, the small sign on Highway 90 was the only hint that we were near HoneyLake Plantation and about to arrive at the celebration for Jayne and Tom's rehearsal dinner. Though once you turn on their fence-linef, Spanish-moss draped lane, you know you are in a taste of the good ol' south and this only continued to get better once we arrived to the friendly hugs of Jayne and Tom's family and friends and then settled down for a great southern shrimp boil. Caroline was quite the perfect flower girl hanging on to every word of direction from the wedding planner and Jayne. Tucker on the other hand was more fascinated with the piano and water fountain. Let's hope tomorrow the front of the chapel will be more appealing to little T. One thing is for certain, its going to be another fabulous day tomorrow for the wedding uniting this meant-for-each other couple.

Cheers to the smiles of tomorrow!

A Wild Ride

Its been a wild ride these past few months, with the culmination yesteday with Cory finally buying his first N-E-W car. I must admit it is a beauty and I'm so proud that his months of research paid off and now he's the happy owner of a new 2012 BMW m6. As he was purchasing, I was in City Hall convincing City Commissioners on why they need to trust our volunteer team to build a Discovery & Adventure Garden in our upcoming Cascades Park, which I know will be Tallahassee's new hot spot. Our team's garden idea was unaminiously approved! Now to planning the Community Planting & Build Day -- Cant wait for October 6, 2012.
We've been great. Lots of travel and fun at home. Here is a snapshot from the whirlwind of the past few months. I'm looking forward to lots of rest in the next few weeks and our "staycation" in Tallahassee for Spring Break 2012!

March...

 Using items from around the house {pencils, a cleaned-out spaghetti jar, glue gun and flowers and finger paint} we created a sweet good bye "Thank You to Ms. Ashley," Tucker's speech therapist, who did miracles and took him from being -5 months in speech, to being ahead of his age group and saying sounds that 3 year olds say. He went from mute to a chatterbox in 6 quick weeks. We love her and Mary Pelagrino and Associates. We will miss her!

DECEMBER 2011....

 Some hiking with Uncle Ed when he was in town!

 Meeting our sweet cousin "baby Audrey." We enjoy Facetime so we can stay in touch and watch her grow. It was a wonderful Christmas season with family.

 Visiting our land out Sunray Road where I grew up, and stopping in our neighbor's christmas tree farm for some running around.

 A afternoon of bubbles.

 Hello. Who's there!

JANUARY....Turks & Caicos! We love our New Year's trips -- always a great way to start the year.

B-L-I-S-S! Some of the the best 10 days I've had. Absolute bliss.

 We did a lot of this...playing in the sand and water.

 More smiles than we could count, even poor Caroline who was suffering from a double ear infection had some fun -- we had to wait to get home for her to get quality medical care.  Nothing like flying home with a child who is passed out with a 103.7 fever. Nervewracking.

Oh, the conch shell. Hours of entertainment this trip with "blowing the conch shell" but it ended up getting dropped on Tucker's big toe, which = blood, crying and 9 weeks later his big black toenail falling off. Yikes!

 Our view.

HAPPY 4th BIRTHDAY....

 Our family celebration...with her horse-themed cake.

 The actual birth DAY wake up surprise -- Happy Birthday spelled out and lots of her favorite colors.

And her birthday party with her friends. Caroline loves snow skiing so when she requested this for her birthday party, I had to come up with a Florida-style themed ski party. It started with "ski pass" invitations inviting everyone to a party at Couch Mountain. Here friends enjoyed hot chocolate, "snow" and snowcones {it is Florida}. They also created their own snow-covered trees, made ski trail mix, went home with smores and had a great time!

 being goofy in the photo area.

 making a snow covered mountain

 Couch Mountain "Snowy Conditions"

 Snowcones- "yummers"

Everyone loves a great birthday cake

And today's weather forecast calls for snow {time to get out the toilet paper}...

FEBRUARY

And then the REAL SNOW -- Deer Valley Utah Ski Trip

And in what seems like a blink of an eye, its March 2012!