Baby Fish

A few weeks ago, Shayna was cleaning out the tank (a rare occasion) and noticed a baby fish! We started out with 3 fish and now we have 4 fish in the tank. These are the fish we got from the canal. They turned out to be very hardy and adaptive. They eat the same food as the turtle.

Christmas Homer

This is our favorite christmas decoration, in front of a neighbors house that we pass coming and going from our house:

Christmas Eve

here is our Floridian holiday tree. yes, they do sell real trees here in Florida, and they are easy to find for sale, same as up north, in parking lots and along roadsides. I like the way the tree looks at night with all the lights out, all pretty and sparkling. its a bit different this year since it is not bringing life into a desolate winter, since we have life here year round. so its more for the tradition. its nice going through the ornaments and bringing back all the memories. here it is in our living room:


another view looking back into the house...you can see the "office" to the right and behind the wall with bookcases is the kitchen. I really like the wide open house floor plan.

Tidal Wave

We went out on the boat tonight to look at Christmas lights on the houses along the intracoastal. It was very pretty and a very different way to enjoy the holiday lights, which we have seen by car but never by boat.

On the return trip, I was driving the boat (I need to learn how to run the boat in case of an emergency). A really big boat went by goig VERY fast. this was just an inconsiderate boater, as it was not only nighttime and dark but it was obvious there was a small boat in its path. I did what manny said and went through its wake at 45 degrees, but the wake was too huge and a HUGE wave came up over the bow of the boat. The wave completely soaked poor Skyler and almost completely soaked Shayna and Manny. They were all wearing long pants and hoodies, but still had to go the rest of the trip soaking wet.

It also soaked my beachbag, which was sitting on the front seat open, as we were eating munchies from the bag. when we got home I tried to salvage all the electronics that were in the bag. My cellphone: needed to dry out but battery was fine the next day. the binoculars: needed to dry out, now it is fine. Digital camera: next day was christmas eve day and the camera repair shop had no tech's working, so had to wait until the day after christmas (wed.). By them the salt had corroded the inside and it was ruined. memory SD card: dried it out for one day and it was fine.

Future boating: use water proof bag, keep bag away from front of boat, keep bag zipped shut, and use waterproof camera preferably. also when going over a wake you need to speed up.

Holiday Show and Party at Skyler's School

Today we went to the holiday show and party for the Elmo class at Skyler's preschool (Discovery Preschool) here in Boca Raton. First was the show, which was in the gym.

here is Skyler with his classmates on the stage:




They were presents! It was soooo cute! here is Skyler dancing around. isn't he the best present ever?

After the show, we went to his Elmo classroom for their holiday party. They had sandwich platters for the parents. all the food was brought in by the parents, as you know we did the cupcakes.


Click on these links to see 3 short videos of the show:


1. this is the beginning when Skyler was walking, or rather JUMPING in. what a grand entrance!!

http://www.youtube.com/watch?v=Fozv_C6aUE0





2. This is the second video, it is when they were singing "Jingle Bells" with bells:

http://www.youtube.com/watch?v=F-tr_jAKIO0





3. Third video, they were dancing to the Madonna celebrate song:
http://www.youtube.com/watch?v=ylKElRrfyIA

Memories

Shayna got this poster from the Morikami Museum in Boca when we first moved here. I thought it would make a good place to put the various stickers she gets as a memento. I suggested she also glue on things like ticket stubs, but those she has placed on the wall above her desk. The stickers all tell a story. There is the Radio Disney and Miami Heat, which we got at an event in Miami, the Vote for Carissa- when Carissa was running for President in Del Prado 5th grade, the Science Expo stickers, the 100 foot christmas tree in Delray, and the fish she made from the boat show fishing clinic:

Skyler has his own version of a sticker memory collection as well. I had him put them on his bureau, as it is very old. In fact, its MY old bureau from when I was a child, and I used to put stickers on it. Skyler tends to rip them off or rearrange them, so a few have been lost/ruined/torn apart. His collection is slightly different, and he has the uber cool "Britto" stickers from the Britto gallery in South Beach, Miami.

Shayna's Photography

There were west winds on Monday, so Shayna and Manny went out boating on the ocean. West winds make for perfect boating conditions when coupled with low windspeed. When you get these conditions the ocean and intercoastal are really flat and calm. It doesn't occur very often, so boaters like to go out whenever they happen. Shayna was using the digital camera I usually use, and practicing her photography skills. I think she did pretty good! I chose what I thought were the best out of the 50 or so she took.

The first is out on the ocean, looking back towards the coastline of Boca Raton with the sun starting to set:


This was along the intracoastal:

pretty pink clouds:

Intracoastal heading south during sunset:

Sugar Sand Park Playground

I took Skyler to the big playground at Sugar Sand Park in the late afternoon/early evening hours while Shayna and Manny went out on the boat. For the first time, they had the water play area running. Skyler had a blast playing there:

Behind him to the left you can see part of the "aquarium." after the water play I took him to one of the sections of this huge playground, that I call the barn. Skyler rode in the baby swing (he still fits in) and then played the bells. I thought it would close at dusk, as it usually does, but it didn't today, so the only way I could get him to leave was to tell him I'd take him to McDonalds. He said we will get "chicken nuggets, shake, fries, and coffee."