Visiting Naples, Florida

Ok, so before I begin re-telling our adventures, let me preface this blog by saying that I do not in any way favor one child over the other. However, when taking pictures this trip, one child, to remain nameless, preferred to cooperate- smiling, looking cute, standing still, etc- while the other child, who will also remain nameless, either made silly faces, ran from the camera, or threw a fit. So, when viewing the blog, please keep this in mind when there are very few pics of the nameless 3-year-old, not because his mother doesn't love him, but because...well...ummmm.. he's 3!

This last week we headed down to Naples, Florida to visit my grandmother and a few other family members. The kids had a wonderful time playing with my cousins (who are all their age) and swimming in Great-Grandma's pool, well the "hot pool"- aka jacuzzi .

Harbin wasn't a huge fan of the pool- he liked to be in the "hot pool" (which was the same temp as the regular pool) because he could touch, but he could have cared less about the big pool. Catherine enjoyed being in the water, but was hesitant about the swimmies. She liked to hold onto one of the kickboards and splash.

We went to the beach one day during our trip and the kids really seemed to enjoy it. Harbin loves to dig in the sand and does much better going into the water when it's on his own terms. He and Scott swam across Clam Pass and were proud to make it safely back.

Catherine hasn't really experienced the beach much since she is walking and wasn't too sure about the sand on her feet. She liked to try to wipe it off and often got frusterated when that just put sand on her hands too. It was funny to watch her start walking and then one foot would sink in the sand, and while trying to get that foot out, the other would sink, so on and so forth. She definitely enjoyed just hanging out in the beach chair!

One evening we went out to dinner at the Waterside shops in my grandmother's neighborhood. The kids like throwing money into the fountain, although Catherine never seemed to catch on to the idea that you have to let it go. We were able to capture a few cute pics of the kids, including Harbin shring his ice cream cone with Catherine.

All-in-all we had a wonderful trip, and we wish that we could have stayed longer. The drive back was uneventful, although I feel like we are still recovering from traveling through the night.

Check out the link to the right for all of our pics from the trip!

The mom.

Xterra Triathlon

Scott competed this morning in his first off-road triathlon. We traveled down to Florida to visit my grandmother and other family and for Scott to compete in the Caloosahatchee Xterra Off-Road Triathlon. This event was slightly different in that the bike was a moutain bike trail (well, more like a sand trail in Florida) and the run was off-road. The distances were similar to previous triathlons he has competed in- 0.5 mile swim, 13 mile bike, 4 mile run.

Yesterday, Scott traveled out to attempt the bike course and he crashed after the second mile. The sand was quite an adjustment for him and learning to compensate took a bit of practice. The pics are of his leg today after the race- you can almost see where the handlebar went into the side of his leg- OUCH!!

Scott completed the race in 2 hours and 29 minutes finishing 8th in his age division and 57th overall. He did awesome on the swim and took the bike ride a bit more cautiously today. The run was more difficult than he thought, but mostly because his leg was swelling and he forgot his water during the bike ride.

The kids had a good time digging in the dirt and hanging out with Great-Grandma Sue, who helped us cheer Daddy on. After Scott finished, the kids wanted more than anything to tell him congrats!!!!

Each competitor received a cool coconut head trophy which I think made it worth the racing (well for us anyhow!!). Scott met some great people during the race and seemed to have an alright time, although he has said he definitely prefers the traditional ON-ROAD races.

The mom.

Catherine is 15 months old!

Just a quick post about Catherine's development!! Last Tuesday she had her 15 month check up. She is growing and getting bigger everyday. She weighed in at 20 pounds 10 ounces (17th percentile) and measured 28.5 inches long (6th percentile). Her head circumference was normal and everything looked ok with the exception of her ears. Her right ear had some fluid in it and we are hoping that is is residual fluid from an ear infection she had a month ago. Because of this fluid, she failed the hearing test in her right ear. We will be going back on June 5th to recheck the ear and the hearing in it. With any hope, the fluid will be gone and no further visits will be needed. Should the fluid remain, we may be sent to see an ENT doc to have her evaluated.

The mom.
(Check out the bottom of the blog- I have new pregnancy countdown ticker!!)

Strawberry Picking...or eating!

The kids and I joined some friends and went strawberry picking today. The weather was absolutely gorgeous. It was supposed to storm later today, so it was slightly overcast and breezy all morning.

The kids seemed to have an ok time. Harbin couldn't quite grasp the idea of picking the biggest, RED strawberries. He kept telling me he liked the green ones or the baby ones the best . Needless to say, if it wasn't for my friend Joanie, we wouldn't have ended up with many salvagable strawberries at all!

Catherine on the other hand, thought any and every strawberry was excellent. She proved this to us by putting anyone and everyone in her mouth. I ended up carrying her most of the time since she couldn't keep her hands from picking more to eat. She ended up messy and red with strawberry juice, but I think all-in-all she had a good time.

The pictures show some of our day. You can see Harbin supervising Catherine's picking in a few of the pictures and you can see him guarding the strawberries with his hands in the others.

For those of you who are local and have never been, visit www.washingtonfarms.net , if you are interested in going. They also have blueberry and blackberry picking as well as a pumpkin farm in the fall.

Check out the links on the right for the rest of the pictures!

The ever-trying-to-get-strawberry-out-of-white-clothes mom.