Surf Camp

This summer for 2 different weeks (one in July one in August) Shayna went to "surf camp." It was run by "Skeeter (a professional surfer) and sponsored by Roxy and Quicksilver. It was held at Red Reef Park in Boca every day from 9am-3pm.

Here is Shayna in her Roxy gear: Roxy bathing suit, with matching rash guard top, Roxy backpack, Roxy flip flops and Abercrombie shorts:


we bought all the Roxy stuff before we knew it was sponsored by Roxy.

here are the tents that were thier "base" on the beach:

Shayna waiting for a wave, below. The red splotches behind her are the reef, one of our favorite snorkeling spots.

Shayna surfing:

She really liked the camp. They did some other fun activities, like snorkeling, dodge ball, and tubing behind jet skis.

Chickee Sandwich

Over the summer Skyler started eating sandwiches. He likes when I cut them out with a cookie cutter in different shapes. Connie calls the turkey or ham she feeds to Skye & China "chickee" so of course Skyler calls deli meats "chickee" also.

Also, Skyler eats better when its either Connie or his Aunt Christy that is feeding him. or when motivated by a toy.

Sponge

One of the times we went out fishing, we found this sponge. Skyler liked it:

Turtle Walk

On June 11th we went to the "turtle walk" at Gumbo Limbo Nature Center in Boca. It starts around 9pm, with an educational turtle talk in one of the classrooms. While this is occuring, the turtle experts are riding up and down the 3 miles or so of Boca beaches looking for any mommy turtles that come ashore to lay thier eggs. if they spot any, they radio Gumbo Limbo to let them know and tell them where. then everyone at the talk gets in thier cars and caravans over to the spot. there is not always a turtle sighting. Luckily, on our night there was! It was at Red Reef Park. We had to run from the car after parking to keep up...as everyone wanted to get there quickly to see the turtle before she finishes laying her eggs. You walk along the water line until you get to the turtle. She was closer to the dunes. We got to get up RIGHT next to the turtle! We arrived just in time to see her laying the very last of the eggs. then we watched for maybe another 20-30 minutes as she buried and disguised the nest. Eventually she turned around and made her way back to the ocean and she mysteriously disappeared as she swam away.



This was a loggerhead turtle, the most common type spotted in this region. After she swam away, we saw two more turtles nesting nearby! One was a less common green turtle...you are not allowed to go near them as they nest.

First Day of School

Today was the first day of school for both Shayna and Skyler.

Shayna is in 6th grade at Omni Middle School. http://www.omnimiddle.org/

We went to the open house Thursday night and she got her schedule, bought her gym clothes, and we walked around campus to find all her classes. She has 6 classes located in various buildings all connected with outdoor covered walkways. She took the bus in the morning and I picked her up at the end (they get out at 4:05PM). Her classes all have syllabuses. She has gifted world cultures, gifted science, then lunch, band, gifted math, P.E., and gifted language arts. I contacted the guidance counselor to see about getting her into the algebra 1 honors class...she will be tested later this week. more details about the individual classes in the future...although overall I am extremely impressed with the curriculum. finally-- challenging and enriching course work for shayna. also more details on intramurals/clubs...so far shayna wants to try out for cheerleading but that is not until Nov. or Dec.

Skyler started pre-K at Discovery preschool. he is going full time. he is in the Mickey class in the morning from 9am-1:30pm. In the afternoon is the "VPK" program from 2:30pm-5:30pm, he is in the Donald class. The time from 1:30-2:20 can be free time (centers) or enrichments. Skyler will do karate on Mondays, Computers on Thursdays, and Spanish on Fridays. I am enrolling him in swimming for one of the other days. There is an outdoor pool there and a swim school. They will get him to swim lesson, changed and then back to his VPK class. He will also get the specials in the morning program of spanish once a week, sign language, music, gym, and media. I enrolled him full time but don't intend on having him there until 5:30pm most days. I will pick up Shayna first and then go pick him up...so he will get picked up anywhere from 4:30 to 5pm depending how the car line goes at Shayna's school, traffic, etc. The curriculum there has writing, math, calendar, money, science, reading (learning sight words, word families etc.). His Mickey class is small, about 10 kids, so I asked his teacher to work with him on his reading, as he knows all his letter sounds and is starting to read.

School is closed Tuesday due to Tropical storm Fay which is hitting this area as a rainstorm with high winds.

Snorkeling

We went to Red Reef Park today in Boca around low tide. This is one of our favorite spots to snorkel and look around the rocks/reefs.

Skyler snorkeled today and did so well, unfortunately we did not have the under water camera but use your imagination. He was swimming around on his own and kept his head down in the water for very long periods of time. Since it was low tide there was a large area where he could stand, although at times he would swim out a bit further. He loves looking at all the crabs and colorful fish.

4 year old check up

Skyler had his 4 year old check up today. here are his stats:

Height= 41" (75%)

Weight= 40.2 lbs. (80%)

His speech seems to have caught up and the Dr. said he was talking at his age level and in complete sentences.

Happy 4th Birthday Skyler

We had a small celebration for Skyler's actual 4th birthday today. His friend Luke came over (and his baby sister Lila and mom Jen), and Jami and Connie (Jami's mom) came over too. His birthday party will be on August 17th at Splash Adventure Water Park.


Here is a video of Skyler going down the slide into the pool in our back yard. This was the first time this summer and the first time without being caught by a float or swim aids:
http://www.youtube.com/watch?v=IALLTpBxkKA



This is his cake. He wanted a Mickey Mouse cake:



Blowing out the candles:

Opening presents:

Reading his Wall-E book while "walking" his puppy:

Goodbye Sippy Cup

About 2 weeks ago Skyler decided he only wanted to drink from a regular cup and not the sippy cup.

on a side note, I know I am 3 or so months behind on this blog, life has been insanely busy (even too busy for blogging oh my)...and will really try and catch up on our excitingly busy lives and what we have been up to the last few months.

Conch

Look what we found in the lake bottom!


That is a real live conch. There were hundreds of them in the lake bottom. Skyler thought they were so neat!

Note: Lake Boca is not a true lake, it is just called lake Boca but leads right out into the ocean and is part of the intracoastal.

Low tide

In early June we went out on the 26' bowrider. It was extremely low tide which meant that both Skyler and Shayna could stand in Lake Boca! We also got to try out our new toys:

Backyard Beach

The canal was moved behind our house, adding more land onto our side. This created a little Keys style beach. You can spot various bird and animal tracks in the sand.

Shayna and Skyler had fun playing with the sand.



If you click on some of these photos to enlarge them you may see some of the tracks.

Beach and Boating

Over Memorial Day weekend Skyler had fun with Miranda.

they got to play on the beach:



and enjoyed a fun boat ride to Lake Boca. We joined the yacht club, and this day we were out on the 28' boat that has an inside and a generator for AC.

when Skyler and Miranda are together thye are always having fun and laughing:

Dan Zanes

In May we had to fly back to Philadelphia at short notice so I could go to a meeting. While there we went to the Kimmel Center to see Dan Zanes in concert. dan Zanes videos are played on the Disney channel on Playhouse Disney. Skyler did his first ever rush up to the front at a concert. Here he is after starting a circle dancing with some kids:



Check out his website for more info. on Dan Zanes:
http://www.danzanes.com

FCAT results!

Your Student's 2008 FCAT Reading Score

Level 5=2059 - 2713
Shayna scored 2103

On grade level=1510

Level 4=1762 - 2058

Level 3=1510 - 1761

Level 2=1342 - 1509

Level 1=474 - 1341

Your student's FCAT Score is 2103, which is in achievement Level 5 for Reading.


The FCAT Score shows your student's achievement on the day he or she was tested. If your student were to take this same test again, it is likely that his or her Spring 2008 FCAT Reading Score would be between 1974 and 2232.


Your Student's 2008 FCAT Mathematics Score

Level 5=1957 - 2456
Shayna scored:2225

On grade level=1632

Level 4=1769 - 1956

Level 3=1632 - 1768

Level 2=1452 - 1631

Level 1=569 - 1451

Your student's FCAT Score is 2225, which is in achievement Level 5 for Mathematics.

The FCAT Score shows your student's achievement on the day he or she was tested. If your student were to take this same test again, it is likely that his or her Spring 2008 FCAT Mathematics Score would be between 2093 and 2357.

Level 5 is the highest level, and what is required if she wants to get into Algebra 1 Honors in 6th grade, if she takes this class in 7th grade she needs level 5 FCATS again. Shayna can take the algebra test (needs 95% or higher) and try to get in for 6th grade (typically only 1-2 6th graders do this) but as of now she is planning to try to take it in 7th grade. Its a high school credit class.

They also got the NRT FCAT scores, which compares them to other children nationally. Shayna got a 98 reading and 99 math (99 being the highest possible.) Her stanine scores were 9 (highest). This basically means she is in the top 1% in the nation compared with other 5th graders.

Mothers Day Show

The Wed. before mothers day, all the moms from Skyler's Elmo class were invited to see the mothers day show and then enjoy a delicious brunch. It was the cutest thing! as you can see, they did a beach theme, and we were told to bring beach towels to sit on. at the end of the show we were given gorgeous gifts they had made...I'll have to photograph it at a later time.




Some videos of the show. They were all sooo cute, it was the sweetest thing!! This will melt your heart.

Videos:
http://www.youtube.com/watch?v=yvZLTm7oiEA

http://www.youtube.com/watch?v=97WZMlJ5YRw

Mango's South Beach - Video

Click here to see a really cute video of Skyler and Miranda dancing at Mango's in South Beach. The singer of the band cane down and joined them! Note, this was during the late afternoon hence no one else on the dance floor.

http://www.youtube.com/watch?v=Vb1EwR7WWl8

Passover

We went to the family seder at Temple Beth El in East Boca on April 20th. It was in the "Enchanted" theme (ie the movie). It was a really nice gourmet catered dinner. while very fun it still did all the traditions just in a more fun and colorful way. They also had the kids act out and participate in the passover exodus story...ie they used red cellophane and had the kids literally cross the red sea.



Lots of fun props on the table. Skyler wore the crown and the mask is for the "frogs" plague. he liked the matzoh!

South Beach, Miami

After the Britto event we went over to South Beach for the rest of the day/evening.

First we had lunch at an outdoor cafe right on Ocean Drive:



This is a moment right out of alice in wonderland- Skyler and Miranda in Mangoes:

There was a band right to thier left, and just after this photo was taken they had a blast dancing. we only stayed for one song.

after walking for a while, we found this cute little "coffee" shop. I thought the decor was sooo cool. I love finding places like this you would never know about unless you stumble into it.

Our last stop on the south beach "tour" was the Delano. A really cool chic place. there were other kids romping around on the grass by the giant chessboard and hammocks. The pool area going towards the beach has giant "beds" to lounge on...I guess the ultimate in luxury?

Isn't it pretty? see the private cabanas across the pool- they are stocked including flat screen TVs.

We took a taxi back from here to where the car was parked...Skyler and Miranda thought that was so much fun. They were giggling the entire time. It was Skyler's first taxi ride.

Britto's Painting Party

On April 19th, we went to Britto's Childrens Painting Party in downtown Miami, with Skyler's "girlfriend" Miranda and her mom, Pia. Skyler met Miranda at the fountains in Mizner Park in Boca.

Here they are holding hands:



This is the Britto statue that was unveiled:

They got to make a mini replica of the statue to take home:

Britto was supposed to interact with the kids during the art (they had them go in groups) but as you would expect with a celebrity, we only saw him from afar and then he disappeared while they were in the art tent. They were nice to everyone, providing free water and parking (stamped voucher), the art project/souvenir, and free Britto T-shirts.

http://www.britto.com/

Carnival

Sometime in April, there was a little carnival in West Boca. We met Luke and his mom and baby sister at TGI Fridays which was next to the carnival. as usual boca style, even TGI Fridays breaks thier red and white awning rule (even in London it had the awning- typical Fridays design). Instead, a spanish style single building...I took the pic to show the nice scenery and caught Luke pouting, he didn't want to sit:



Skyler and Luke on the roller coaster, look how happy they are:

another ride:

Moorhen Babies

In early April, the Moorhens that live in the canal behind our house had babies:


Shortly after I began observing them and taking photos, a hawk began to stalk them, but was unsuccessful as the mom and dad defended the babies. It was quite a loud scene.

Note: these photos/events occured before they moved the canal...but the Moorhens are still living in the canal.

Bahamas - Activities

View from our room:


Skyler & the balcony:

Infinity pool and swim up bar:

We got to explore this deserted little island and go snorkeling:

Part of the marketplace which was across the street on the bay. This was an authentic Italian place with fresh pasta and seafood. Shayna and Skyler had fun playing in this British/London phone booth, then after dinner Skyler had a blast dancing on stage in the square to live reggae/caribbean music.

Shayna and Manny also got to go jet skiing.

Bahamas - the Beach

The sand was sooo soft...and the water was clearer and prettier than in South Florida:

The coolest thing - there was a giant trampoline right there in the ocean!

Note: this was on spring break in April at Our Lucaya resort- the Westin - on Grand Bahama Island.

Beach Party

Sunday evening we went to a beach party at Spanish River Park. It was hosted by Ms. Root, Shayna's math teacher at Del Prado.

Every one met up inside the park by the playground, hung out there for a little while, and then went through the tunnel and onto the beach.

We picked up Shayna's friend Janna (from math class) on the way there. Both Shayna and Skyler had a lot of fun. Just about all the 5th graders ran into the ocean immediately. So there were maybe 10-20 girls a bit further out in the ocean then the maybe 10-20 boys (not sure why although Shayna said they were trying to get away and the boys were throwing seaweed at them).

Skyler joined a group of maybe 5-10 boys playing on the beach (various ages) and you would think he knew them for a long time. They also had fun playing with Ms. Root's dog.

Ms. Root lives on A1A across from the beach. She is the same teacher who did the Del Prado nature trail and she also does yoga with the kids.

The next day in class she asked the kids to raise their hands if they "were miserable" from the sea lice.