The kids are out of school, all the stress I was feeling about end of year IEP’s and whether or not Meggers was moving on to 5th grade is over. *phew* Not to mention the fragrant smell of BBQ and suntan lotion in the air and the pool is a nice temp for swimming with daddy!
Does anyone else hear the Dirty Dancing soundtrack when you look at this picture?
“Now I’ve… had… the time of my life…”
Oh, and there’s this…
summer crafts have officially exploded all over my dining room table! Not that I’m complaining! I love it when my baby girl gets creative, after all she’s my little treasure!
Which brings me to my new favorite song for the summer so far…
Treasure by Bruno Mars!
Nice Segue!
Thanks!
I’ve always loved anything with a vintage 70’s funk sound and this song will definitely get me twerking shaking my booty!
This is my favorite time of year in Florida, when the sun is shining but it’s still breezy enough for a trip to the beach or a walk around the parks without feeling like you’ll die of heat exhaustion.
This past weekend it was my birthday, so my family and I decided to go on a little trip to Homosassa Springs Wildlife Park. I love this particular park because you can see and learn a lot without all the hustle and bustle of the bigger theme parks. The walkways are set up beautifully and I can stop to take photographs, while Meg runs back and forth between her daddy and I, without the fear of losing her to a crowd.
I think this Homosassa park is one of Florida’s many hidden gems! Their educational programs include a 53-year-old hippopotamus named Lu, a manatee viewing center, alligators and some close up encounters with their reptiles. They also recently added a shore bird aviary exhibit equipt with a nicely sized viewing area. Between the beautiful weather, being with my family, and having my camera in tow it was the perfect way to spend my birthday.
My husband knows how much I enjoy taking pictures so last year he decided to buy me a lovely Cannon Rebel. I’m really enjoying playing with it and learning how to use all its fabulous settings. Over Christmas my sister and her boys let me take their family photos. I think they came out pretty good considering I’m still a fairly novice photographer.
We drove to two locations, but settled on the second as it had a few different areas with lots of colors and textures which made for interesting pictures. I had so much fun, they’re a good-looking bunch and were willing to try anything I asked. Of course we had to do one picture Gangnam Style as my youngest nephew is a fan! I definitely think we might have to head back there again soon as I’ve got a few more great photo ideas.
This past weekend we got the opportunity to meet the guys from Jars Of Clay, the popular Christian rock band from Tennessee, who were performing at the opening of Busch Garden’s Christmas Town.
We’d heard Jars of Clay were performing at 10 o’clock and we’d planned on heading over to see them, the only problem was we were standing in line waiting for Santa!
Seriously!
We were standing in line a really, really long time and while the elves were extremely cute and really good at keep Meghan entertained…
the repetitive “just hear those sleigh bells ring-a-ling ting ting ting-a-ling too…” accompanied with bird whistling was driving me completely bonkers!
To make matters worse, hubby and Meg realised the music was wearing on me and started imitating the whistling so as to drive me completely insane, but I digress…
It was the grand opening of Christmas Town so we fully expected it to take a little while to see the jolly old fella and Meg kept peaking in the windows to see if she could see him.
Finally we were led into Santa’s house where we were met with more elves who led us into the kitchen to meet Mrs. Claus.
After gobbling a few chocolate chip cookies and learning a song with Mrs. Claus we were ushered through some red curtains by another elf into a hall of mirrors.
The elf told us her name was Jingles and this was the getting cleaned up for Santa area!
Jingles asked Meg which mirror was her favorite and then did a secret knock…
the knock was returned from the other side of the mirror and Meg’s face completely lit up when the elf on the other side revealed the mirror was actually a secret door to Santa.
With a big smile on her face Meg quickly told Santa she wanted Olivia’s House (Friends Lego) for Christmas and promised to be good.
While it took a long time to get in to see Santa it was well worth the wait!
Meg was beaming from ear to ear while we stood outside waiting for her cousins to come through.
Hoping to catch the end of Jars of Clay’s performance we high tailed it to the other side of Christmas Town, but sadly we were too late.
Determined to continue our fun and because Meg had never seen snow before we headed over to Snow World where Meg threw her first few snow balls!
I was so proud of Meg for being brave enough to go down the snow slide by herself although I would’ve had a giggle had hubby gone up and done it with her.
While I was taking pictures of Meg going down the ice slide I happened to notice the guys from Jars of Clay just a few feet away chatting and taking pictures with fans.
So I motioned to Hubby and Meg and we headed over to see if they minded taking one with us.
Stephen Mason greeted us with a smile and asked if we’d happened to see their set?
Unable to lie I told him we’d missed it on account of waiting for Santa.
He was really sweet and told Meg not to worry Santa was more important anyway!
*phew*
Stephen was just a really nice guy and we found out, while he was chatting soccer with hubby, he’s an Arsenal fan which makes us like him all the more!
By this time the rest of the band had gathered around for our picture!
They were sincerely a great group of guys and I’m glad we got a chance to meet them!
So today for Music Monday I’m featuring a few of my favorite songs by them.
First up their christmas remake of Paul McCartney’s Wonderful Christmas Time!
Eyes Wide Open
Two Hands
For more information of the band or to check out more music visit their website www.jarsofclay.com
Coffee, Chocolate & Xanax 