Little Wonders Nature Class

Skyler went to the nature class for 3-4 year olds at Gumbo Limbo Nature Center in Boca Raton today, taught by Julia Gonzalez. It was a great class and Skyler really enjoyed it, unfortunately it was the last one (although 1st for Skyler, this class is held twice monthly/same class) because Ms. Gonzalez is moving to Canada. Hopefully they find a new teacher and the class can resume eventually.

Here is Skyler touching a snake:



Looking at a Sea Star (starfish is actually a misnomer):


Video of the sea star demo and Skyler touching it:
http://www.youtube.com/watch?v=XIEbbFVrGpU



Video of the sea urchin demonstration and Skyler getting to hold it:
http://www.youtube.com/watch?v=VBUC7jeo6SM





For more information on Gumbo Limbo, go to thier website:
http://gumbolimbo.org/

Picnic

Skyler and I (and sometimes Shayna and Manny join us) have picnics outside in the backyard a lot now that the weather is not too hot anymore. We look for any wildlife or birds and have the binoculars and bird book ready. Its our own little outdoor cafe.

Mizner Park Tree Lighting Event

I took Shayna and Skyler to the tree lighting holiday event at Mizner Park, which was held in the big ampitheater near the art museum. The event was from 5-8pm with the lighting at 6pm. Since everyone else was tired (Manny, Grandma and Grandpa) they all napped while we went to the event, and they met us there later, around 8pm. Here are a few of the things they did:

They got to decorate cupcakes:


Showing off the cupcakes they decorated. We sat by Shayna's favorite spot so they could eat, the big teacup statue and fountains in front of the art museum (not pictured but you can see this spot in the earlier post when we went to the art museum). We went back to this same spot later with Grandma and Grandpa so they could eat ice cream from the ice cream truck.

We got to see a fabulous show on the big main stage! It was a huge professional production, lots of music, dancing, songs, characters like Elmo and more, nutcrackers on stilts, a magician performing to Harry Potter music, and Santa at the end. Skyler had such a blast dancing during the show. It reminded me of being at the Beaches resort and seeing a live outdoor show (it was that good and lively). Oh, they also had REAL snow falling over you as you watched the show.

Over on the side of the ampitheater in the grassy area there was a free train ride and huge slide. The slide line was too long but we did get to go on the train:

Skyler likes to be the conductor in the front:

There was a giant gecko:

Skyler thought it was funny to try and pull the gecko's tail:

Later when everyone else showed up, the event had ended but we enjoyed walking around Mizner park looking in the shops and enjoying the lights:

This is the middle part, there are streets on either side and the covered stone area where the shops and restaurants are. This is the only shopping place I have ever been to that has a covered outdoor sidewalk, with the covering made of stone. So no umbrellas needed.

Boating

We went out on the boat today, a 15 minute scenic cruise through the intracoastal past Deerfield Island Park (park you can only get to by boat), past gorgeous mansions and condos, to Lake Boca, where we anchored and did fishing and crabbing.

Below is Skyler during the brief time he was still awake, Manny cutting bait (squid), Shayna, and Grandpa fishing:


Manny, Shayna and Grandpa all caught fish! Here is Grandpa with the mutton snapper he had just caught:

The only mishap was when Shayna accidentally dropped her rod into the water, and then Grandma caught it about 2 hours later with the crab trap (she got the fishing line, which manny then was able to pull and get the rod out). we did not catch any crabs with the trap today, but did catch some fish in the trap.

We also saw the following birds/wildlife: Osprey, pelicans, cormorant, black vultures, and Iguanas. An Osprey is very similar to an Eagle.

Thanksgiving

We had our first visitors since moving to Florida, Grandma and Grandpa. They arrived late Wed. afternoon. we gave them a mini tour of some spots along A1A: red reef park on the beach, red reef park's oceanfront golf course, and the intracoastal side of red reef park, all duirng sunset so the beach view had a pink hue in the sky and the clouds looked like pink cotton candy. Then we went into Delray Beach to walk on Atlantic Ave. where all the shops and restaurants are. we got to look in a nice art gallery and window shop, then ate dinner at Oyster City.

We spent Thanksgiving at our house. We enjoyed the backyard, sitting on the lounge chairs and patio set. Grandma and Grandpa got to try fishing on the canal right in our backyard. here is Grandpa fishing:


Shayna taught Grandma how to cast:

we showed them all the life on the canal and used the binoculars. Grandpa saw the turtles with thier heads sticking out of the water, and we showed them some of the birds that hang out on the canal (common moorhen, muscovy ducks, doves). The iguanas were not present today (they are usually around) but there were plenty of geckos and small lizards. The highlight was seeing a hawk in the tree across the canal, we could see it very well with the binoculars! we looked it up in our bird watching guide to identify it.

I then gave them a tour of central and west Boca....Shayna's school, Skylers school, the general scenery, the mall, etc.

we had dinner in the dining room, which is facing the backyard. we opened up these french doors so it was like dining al fresco:

we used this ledge to serve the food:

Shayna liked the sweet potatoes...which makes me happy as I am trying to get her to eat more veggies. she likes them with the marshmallows on top.

Fishing with Daddy

Skyler and Manny did some fishing in the canal in our backyard today.

Beach tunnel

Shayna and I went to Spanish River Park* today to roller blade. There is a cool tunnel to the beach, where you walk under the street. Above Shayna in the photos is where the path is where we went roller blading. Its now our favorite spot for roller blading and biking (you can also bike, walk, jog). Its a nice smooth path, and there are some spots with trees/landscaping between the path and the road, and also here in a few spots you can see the ocean as you exercise (it looks so pretty especially at dusk, when the sky turns pink). also a plus there are benches and water fountains scattered through out. The exercise path goes pretty much all through Boca on A1A and further (although how far I don't know as I never paid attention).

Shayna's flip flop broke in the middle of the tunnel, and she hopped on one until I said why don't you just walk barefoot?

On the way out we saw 4 raccoons and Shayna used the binoculars to see them up close, one was licking sap or water from a tree.

*Spanish River Park is the northernmost beach park of the 3 parks on A1A in Boca, we have parking access to all three with our parking pass.

South Beach Miami fountain tour- Lincoln Road

After shayna's audition* we went to Lincoln Road to walk around. This was right by the building the casting agency was in, also on Lincoln Road. This is one of the main spots to go to in South Beach, the others being Ocean Drive, Espanola Way, Collins Ave. Last time I was here was in 1996 (to Lincoln Rd.) and it is 100% different now and WOW is it awesome! LOVE this place. I would describe it as a shopping, dining, and entertainment area that is oozing with artsy trendy coolness and class. You may find street artists or performers, people hanging out, cool art to look at, pretty scenery, the best shops- mix of boutiques, art, tourist, no tacky shops, lots of outdoor cafes, and 200% full of life. you will see families with strollers as well as people going out or the singles scene, and fashionistas. Great people watching. I like the way it is set up, with the stores/restaurants aligned where the streets go perpendicular, so where the shops go for 1-2 blocks there are no cars in the middle, more of a plaza feel, which makes it feel very European. In fact, a lot of the restaurants have the food displayed out front- something you see a lot in Europe.

There are also a LOT of fountains here, which skyler loved. here is where we started:



Skyler liked the plastic sofas:

This was inside a big tourist/beach type shop (a nice one not too cheesy at all)...a free cell phone charger machine...never saw this before:

another nice fountain, with a cool looking fairytale like tree behind (you may be able to see if you click on photo to enlarge). we ate at the outdoor restaurant behind where they are sitting and slightly up to the left, called Le Bon, a belguim restaurant (hence the French). I had a really good spinach salad with goat cheese, and they have belguim fries that are really good (I am not a fries person and these were good). I have not been up on researching the restaurant scene, so we stumbled upon this (just checking out menus as we walked by) but it turns out they specialize in mussels- so will have to go that route next time. They had an awesome recipe for the snapper I ordered, it was in a coconut milk sauce and coated with some kind of nuts.

Bob the stroller comes in handy. I noticed a lot of upscale strollers here- Bugaboo and Maclerans.

one of the shops we stoped in, a surf/skate shop...thought this surfboard bench was cool:

There was what appeared to be a roman/greek statue that skyler and I walked by twice, and we were fooled as later we found it was a lady posing as a statue.

we discovered a wonderful artist we did not know about, Romero Britto, when we went into his art gallery. His art is in the pop art cubism style, and he is world famous. the art is so gorgeous, all we could do was oooh and aaah and think, wow is this beautiful!!! He has a huge list of celebrities that own his art, and a huge list of places his art is displayed, including in the white house in DC. If you are not familiar with him already, please take a quick look at his web site:

http://www.britto.com/

Some other pertinent links:

To see the Belguim restaurant we ate at:

http://www.lebonrestaurant.com/

Lincoln Road Miami Beach web site:

http://www.lincolnroadmiamibeach.com/

*Shayna's audition went well. if she gets chosen, callbacks are next friday 11/23. she did not wear the outfit she has on in the above photos, but wore a long sleeved white shirt, long jeans, boots, scarf and gloves (thankfully borrowed from Carissa.)

Thanksgiving Feast - Skyler's Preschool

Skyler went to his Thanksgiving Feast at his school today. and a FEAST it was! here is his teacher, Miss Teresa, cutting the turkey, it smelled soooo good! there was also carrots, corn, mashed potatoes, stuffing, fresh fruit with watermelon, cookies, cupcakes (that we brought), and dutch apple pie.




Skyler in his indian costume and hat holding the placemat he made: a handprint turkey. Highlight of my day, I will cherish this forever...it says "I am thankful for.... Thank you mommy."

I took Shayna out of school early so she could go too:

Skyler enjoying his cupcake. you can see his costume a bit in this photo:

Audition

Shayna has her first audition in Florida tomorrow. Its for Royal Caribbean, and if she gets it she will be on the cruise from 12/2 to 12/8 and be paid $400 per day. She has to ice skate.

The audition is in Miami Beach at Universal Casting. If she makes it she will go to the callbacks on 11/23.

Since it is in south beach, we will hang out in south beach afterwards, as we have not made it there since we moved down here and it is one of my all time favorite places (along with places like Carmel, CA and the French Riviera, etc.). Manny and Skyler will meet up with us as they are going into Miami also to get Manny's master boat captains license.

also, she is to go dressed as an ice skater....very ironic as I have no idea what I did with the bag of hats/gloves/scarves and not even sure if I packed it as I did not think we would need them.

Turkey Cupcakes

we made these turkey cupcakes to bring in to Skyler's preschool Thanksgiving feast tomorrow:

Gobble gobble!

New Agency

Shayna and I met with and signed with Boca Talent & Model Agency today. Shayna had an agency in Philadelphia but we had to find her a new one here in Florida.

The casting agencies are mainly in Miami, so if/when she gets auditions that is where we will go.

The agent we met with named Tammy, said that it gets very busy right after Thanksgiving.

We will post as the auditions happen.

Homework poolside

It was a beautiful day today, but the pool is now too cold to go in and do our after school swims anymore, so we sat outside by the pool enjoying the fresh Florida breezes and life on the canal. Today was a typical day where we saw a few species of birds and a big Iguana. Shayna did her homework outside and Skyler colored, I did some business calls/work and then read the Boca Magazine for a bit, and turtle swam in the pool.



Shayna does her math homework while Skyler colors...

close up of Shayna's homework page. this is 6th grade middle school math. click on it and you can see it in greater detail.

after finishing math, Shayna read the book she is doing a book report on. later shayna and I went roller blading along A1A by the beach after viewing the gorgeous sunset on the intracoastal (the place we roller blade from is the intracoastal side of red reef park, and where you can go and fish, grill, and where the golf course is), and Skyler went to football practice.

Carnival

Last night we went to a carnival at the local church near our house, and it was close enough that we walked there.

Skyler for the first time was really into the rides (last attempt at a carnival in May he cried when on a ride) and really had a great time. He kept asking to go back to the carnival today. he also went on his first roller coaster. he sat with me (too short to go with shayna) and he laughed the entire time. the carnival was so pretty with all the colorful lights at night, and all the music and happy sounds make you feel so alive. it was packed with teens and families from Boca, and we ran into someone we had met a few weeks ago and Shayna went on a ride with her daughter and friends.




Shayna and Skyler on the boat ride:


The man in the above photo was in charge of the boats, and as the kids were such bad drivers every so often all the boats would get clustered together in the middle, and he would yell "everybody turn!"

Skyler was actually the one controlling the boat with his steering wheel:

Shayna went on a ride called the Fire Ball, a pretty hard core ride that spins around, goes upside down, etc. she and the girls she was with on the ride were the youngest, the other kids were all teens. here are some stock photos of what the fire ball looks like:

Briny Breezes

we went to the beach at Briny Breezes today, a little "old Florida" oceanfront town just North of Delray, North of Boca. Briny Breezes is known for being the town consisting of a mobile home community, pop. 488, that was offered 510 Million as a buyout by a developer, this would make all the mobile home owners millionaires (a big jump considering most paid less than 100G and most make ave. 35G/year). The buyout deal is still in the works and the mobile homes are all still there untouched (but at some point will be gone for condos as about 80-90% agreed to sell). we went to Gulf Stream park, which is just south of where all the mobile homes are. Briny Breezes is also the place where the reef (natural reef) is closest to the beach...only feet away!

we had been wanting to go here for a while (because of the reef, to snorkel), only never did until now for various reasons (illness, rough ocean, other plans, etc.). The ocean was not bathtub warm anymore, although you could still go in, we decided not to...so will go back again around May or so when it gets warmer again.

we were entertained briefly by an airshow, that is a daredevil airplane overhead:



shayna and skyler actually using thier chairs:

shayna and skyler concentrated on digging tunnels today. skyler wore his cool sunglasses:

we went for a nice beach walk, wading in the ocean waves. we talked with some locals and found out that due to the recent beach erosion (after storm Noel), some things were exposed for the first time in 20-30 years, like the area of rocks in the lapping waves or part of a beach staircase that was completely submerged before. I had been to our local beach a few days prior and there were some tidepools formed, but none here today.

Clay Art

Shayna and Skyler had fun creating with clay using a kit I got for them. It was a nice day to sit outside. what a pretty view:

Great view of the canal from the picnic table:

here are the things they made. I helped Skyler make the train, star, and frog:

Boca Raton Museum of Art

We went to the Boca Raton Museum of Art this afternoon. The art museum is located in Mizner Park, the "downtown" of Boca, near the beach- a beautiful area with shops, restaurants (and outdoor dining), and a huge outdoor ampitheater where there are concerts, plays, and events.

This is the entrance, there is a neat statue behind Shayna and Skyler:


Outdoor courtyard:

we were very impressed with the museum. There is always a special changing exhibit, and we happened to luckily get there for the very last day of Guillermo Trujillo. There is a section in the front that explains how to look at art, with art for each as an example. Within the permanent collections were some impressive famous artists such as Picasso, Miro, Ernst, Matisse, Warhol, Seurat, Toulouse-Lautrec, Alexander Calder, and Degas. No Van Gogh or Munch.

South Florida Parenting Holiday Show

It was a fun filled day at the South Florida Parenting (free parenting paper) Holiday Show. The kids got in free with thier fun pass. The event was at Dolphin Stadium in Miami:





Skyler got to ride around in a toy Jeep:

Tumble around on my gym cushions:

This igloo was pretty cool, and it had a fishing game inside:

Its snowing in Florida!!!

We got to put a bird on our arm at the Jungle Island booth:

Skyler with the bird on his shoulder:

Skyler got to go on his first pony ride:

They also got to go in a jumping house for a long time, go down a giant Kong slide, into a blow up airplane obstacle course, and Shayna got to ride a mechanical bull and do a joust. There was a foam pit (filled with bubbling foam) which looked crazy, laser tag inside an alien blow up thing, a Miami Dolphins Jr. training area which the kids did on the field, and a lame version of snow tubing (most families in Boca go to places like Colorado for this), and an inside area with more things to do and crafts.



Skyler with his giant balloon and various loot: