a little list

About three weeks ago, I made this little list of things about Little Buddy ... things I might forget if I don't record them.

1) He often investigates things with his pointer finger first.

2) He likes twisting his tongue sideways. He can nearly turn it over!

3) His most frequently used crawl technique is quite unique ... his left leg is tucked up by his body and he uses his right leg to push along. Look carefully and you'll see! I think it's cute :)




4. He has what we've been calling a "hungry laugh" ... a distinct ha ha ha he'll utter when he wants to eat. If his needs are not met promptly, then he will probably start crying out like he's dying of starvation.

a little tourist trap

Last ... and yes, perhaps least ... Key West. On Tuesday the 16th, we took a little day trip and drove the ninety-some miles through the Keys down to Key West. There are over 400 keys and about 30 of them are inhabited. The drive itself was scenic and beautiful ... we went over many bridges, including the Seven Mile Bridge. There were lots of homes for sale and we dreamed ~ very briefly ~ of owning a cute little cottage by the sea.

Key West itself, however, was a dud. It was extremely CROWDED when we were there due to a LARGE cruise ship that was docked for the day. Upon arriving, we nearly considered heading back to Key Largo because it seemed like we weren't going to find a legal parking spot. Eventually, we drove a ways from the heart of the hubbub and parked on a residential street. It was interesting to view some of the houses there ... small and crammed together ... without garages or driveways ... and a bike or two often resting on the front stoop. After we parked and walked a short distance, we noticed signs stating that a permit was required for parking. So ... as a couple was just exiting their tiny home, I asked them if we were okay being parked where we were. They said we'd be fine ... so I took their word for it ...

Our first order of business was lunch ... which is a story in itself ... but I think I'll skip over that because I just feel like it. Anyway, then we strolled around here and there ... wading through the masses ... hoping not to lose each other in the crowds ... and trying to distract our older children from the blatant debauchery. We went to check out an aquarium and while Jeff was looking at the prices ... I was chatting with a nearby shopkeeper gal. She told me it was a rip-off and not great ... so we decided not to visit the aquarium. Wouldn't you? We looked at some kiosks with junk ... your name engraved on a shell for $8 ... costly purses and sunglasses ... sponges ... not sure what my husband is doing with them here ... scrubbing his ears perhaps???

As you probably already know, Key West is the southernmost point in the United States ... so there's all this southernmost stuff. The southernmost house, the southernmost cafe, the southernmost dock, the southernmost landmark, the southernmost hotel ... oh and the southernmost southernmost house. You get the idea. So ... there is this landmark where everyone gets their picture taken ... but the waiting line for photos was rather long and our patience was ... rather short. So ... I quickly snuck a picture of the landmark while one group was just finishing and walking away ... and another group was about to get into position. Unfortunately, a lady was already in front of the "s". But here it is ... ta da ;)

Then, I had the three older kids line up on the other side for a photo ... for posterity or something ... because I doubt we'll ever be going back again.

a little beaching

... and what else did we there???
A picnic at the beach by our condo ...
Followed by playing in the water ...
This was a different day at the same beach ... catching crabs ... and finding some unique purplish shells ...The following pictures are from the Harry Harris beach ... This was our first day of vacation and we walked over to check it out. {Buddy and Foofie scootered.} It was almost exactly one mile from our parking lot. There is a large swimming area and beach that is sectioned off with a semi-circle of coral ... pretty neat! And there is a pathway all around the coral wall ... see?On Buddy's birthday, we came back to Harry Harris to hang out at the beach ... which also happened to be one of our hottest days in Key Largo.
Buddy loves to snorkel :) He used to ~ years ago, that is ~ call it shnerkel.We gathered shells for a bit ... until the kids decided catching crabs was more exciting ...Foofie was ready for bed ... but she woke up to eat supper so she wouldn't miss out on cake and ice cream!
Happy Birthday, Buddy!!! It was a good day :)

a little family time

... and what else did we there??? Played games ... several nights of Mexican Train dominoes ... The Lord just might have given Foofie a double helping of facial expressions :)
a little Go Fish ... they both look pretty excited ... but Foofie was ahead ...
Little Dude was working on his grip ;)
We set up an ice cream parlor back at the condo ... and watched the Olympics ...
a little reading ...
five large papayas were consumed ... in the past, I've always cut them lengthwise ... but I started cutting them the short way ... and behold, a star was revealed!
Little Buddy did a lot of this ... just not for long ... many "catnaps".
Here is Baby at exactly nine months ... at suppertime ... although he still didn't really eat anything at this point. Daddy joked that fifteen Rice Krispies would fill Baby up.
Daddy and the kiddos on our little balcony ...

a little tennis

What else did we there??? Many enjoyable hours were spent hitting tennis balls :)

When I was at Target picking up some new tennis balls to take along, I happened to notice these large foam learner balls. They were a hit!

A satisfied grin after a good swing ...
Baby is wearing Foofie's sunhat here ... as I mentioned in "a little wet", his white hat was too tight! Lots of fun things to discover in the tennis bag ...


There was a park right next to the courts which was quite handy! The kids could swing ...
or climb trees while Mommy and Daddy played some tennis :)

a little delivery

I went to pick up Foofie this morning from Sunday School ...
"Foo-fie," I called. I didn't see her.
"Is Foofie still here?" I asked.
"She's having a baby," answered the male teacher in the room with almost ~ but not quite ~ a straight face ... as he motioned to the area behind the two plastic play kitchens lined up side by side. "Pretty creative," he commented.
Sure enough ... I walked over there and peeked around a kitchen ... and there was Foofie! She was lying on the carpet and one of her friends was pulling a dolly out from under her dress.
Isn't Sunday School fun?!?!?

a little wet

What did we there??? Several afternoons were spent at the pool ...

Okay ... What am I doing in this thing??? Little Buddy wonders ...

Can you see how much fun she is having??? She loves it!On this day, I tried rubbing sun lotion onto Baby's head in lieu of the too-small white hat ... which resulted in a rather unique hairstyle for him ...
Here is Foofie ... aka Little Fish :)The guys are dipping their legs in the hot tub. My kids all enjoyed toting a book down to the pool. Reading is fun ... but reading by the pool is extra super fun :)

a little grown-up ~ plus a Buddy story!

I'm not exactly sure what's been going on in Foofie's head recently ... but she sure has been saying some funny things. Lately, she seems to think she is "big kid" material ... on equal footing with her older siblings. More and more I see her trying to keep up with them ... unless, of course, she doesn't want to. For example, she decided she wanted to swim ... really swim ... while we were down in Florida. So ... she flung her float vest over to the side of the pool and starting swimming! A dog crawl of sorts ... but suspended in the water and moving about nonetheless. Then yesterday ... since Foofie is reading quite well now ... Foofie started working on her verse for Awana Cubbies ~ plus the four weeks of verses that she missed ~ all by herself! {Just like she's seen Halo and Buddy do.} Perhaps getting to drive down to Florida with Daddy, Halo, and Buddy ... while Mommy and Baby flew ... encouraged her new grown-up-ness a bit more.

Unfortunately ... yesterday morning ... Buddy was antagonizing Foofie. {I know ... it's probably hard to imagine. Foofie, by the way, is easily riled up by him.} "Buddy is blah, blah, blah {I can't recall what she said he was doing...} and I'm not happy about it and I'm VERY NOT IMPRESSED!" {"very not impressed" is her favorite phrase these days ...}

Then ... as we were plowing through our mound of February mail this afternoon ... Foofie was quite excited to receive an envelope addressed to her! It was an invitation to a party! Hooray! When I looked at it more carefully, however, I saw that the party had already happened. Bummer! So ... when Daddy got home ...Foofie told him about it. "I got invited to a party but it's already done. So it was very not interesting!"

This evening, as we were driving to Chipotle for supper ... Buddy said, "I want us to get a pool that's deeper than one foot." "Well ... that would very embarrassing if we got eaten up by a shark or a whale," Foofie said in all seriousness. {Daddy and I struggled to control our laughter so we could hear what else she was going to say.}
"I said a pool ... not an ocean," Buddy replied. "You can't build an ocean."
Not one to back down ... "Yes, you can," Foofie disagreed.

Finally ~ and this last anecdote is about Buddy ~ as we were still driving to Chipotle ... Buddy was saying that he was sooo excited to see a particular friend at Sparks the next night. Not a minute later ... Daddy glanced over at the minivan next to us and said, "Hey! Is that Sharon?" It was! {She is the mother of the friend Buddy was looking forward to seeing! And Buddy's friend? He was in the car too!} What happened next ~ in our vehicle and in theirs too, I think ~ was a gaggle of laughing, waving, and rejoicing! As our vans went separate ways ... and Buddy was still reveling in the excitement of viewing his friend on highway 61 ... Buddy declared, "HE'S GOT SOME WAVE!!!"