UNCLE RAY, THE HUMAN JUNGLE GYM

Dear Sisters,

It is again soccer season for lil Miss Mar and she seems to be enjoying herself.  I think she has a lot of potential, but the poor thing is still a little timid when she plays.    You see, she is so scared of the ball hitting her face that she practically lets the other player take the ball from her! Geeezzzz, I have to help her get over her fear cuz she's just letting the other players fly right by her.  I think I'll do some dodge ball sessions in the backyard to show her the ball doesn't hurt that much, plus I think it would be lots of fun throwing a ball @ my child ;0)

Ray has gone to a couple of games w/ me and the kids. He's been really patient w/ them and I just don't know how he does it because you guys KNOW how loud and obnoxious they can get! When he's home, the kids tend to swarm around him and I always tell them to let their uncle breath but he always says it's okay. Anyway, here are some pics from her first game, including pics of the kids smothering their uncle ......

Here's my super star player in the making posing in her soccer dress.

These are the Jaguars ladies and gents.......

I told Ray to put them down for God's sake, but he never listens to me!

This has got to be one of my most fav. pics of my lil pumpkin :0)

And of course the boy had to have his turn, too.......

My gosh, patience can only go so far and I just don't know how he does it!  I can only imagine what is going through his head when the kids are attacking him. I hope you enjoyed the pics..... I  just had to share them w/ you guys because they are just so ridiculous!

Love you lots,

Joy :0)

HAPPY BIRTHDAY TO MY LIL PUMPKIN!

Dear Sisters,

It's been a while since my last post and I guess I've  just been plain ole' lazy.  Well, the weather for the past 3 weeks has been INCREDIBLE.  It's been mid 80 during the day and 68 @ night. The kids and I actually went to the beach after church and it was soooo gorgeous out.  No Diana, I did not take any pics today cuz all of my beach pics look the same ;0) The gulf was nice and calm and the kids spent their whole afternoon in the water.  Ohhhhhh that water......... the water was a nice greenish aquamarine color today..... so gorgeous! I just don't think I'll ever get over how nice the beaches are down here :0)

Anyways, I can't believe my lil pumpkin is already 3 :0(  THANK YOU SO MUCH EVERYBODY FOR ALL OF THE NEW CLOTHES! She has a whole new wardrobe for the cooler season and I REALLY appreciate it, foreals! I don't even know what Floridians call this season. It's not Autumn or Fall.  Maybe they just call it the "cooler season". If a fellow Floridian happens to read this, could you please tell me what this season is called :0) 

So, for my lil pumpkins birthday, we went to Chuck E. Cheese and just had cake and pizza @ home... nuttin' too fancy.  Well, WE had pizza, but the celebrant had pizza crust because of you know what and she was content w/ that.

Here's my big girl wearing Lola Evie's outfit.

She really loved the rides!

Yay!!!!!! Tickets!!!! That is what Chuck E. Cheese is all about!

Oh my!  My lil pumpkin rode on this virtual roller coaster ride 4 times in a row.... she couldn't get enough of it!

Here's the strawberry Littlest Petshop cake I made for her.  It was really ugly until I added candy hearts to it :0)

My big girl w/ daddy blowing out the candles.  She is too freakin' cute, man.

So yeah, we had a fun day, BUT it wasn't the same because the cousins were missing :0( Birthdays were always fun back @ home.  Man, I really do miss you guys!!!!

Miss and love you lots,

Joy :0)

PERDIDO KEY

Dear Sisters,

I think the best part about living down here are the beaches.  My goal for the summer was to visit different beaches that are within an hour drive from me. I've been to all of them on the map below except for Fort Pickens, as the roads to that beach were never repaired from Ivan back in 2005.  If you actually click on the map, you can see where we live (Myrtle Grove) and how far the beaches are from us. I think a lot of people think we live minutes away from the beach, but actually it is the same distance as driving to Nantasket Beach back home. 

The kids and I usually go to Casino Beach but for the past couple of weekends we've been going to Johnson's Beach in Perdido Key.  

I'm not quite sure if Perdido Key is actually part of Pensacola, but it is so beautiful over there or shall I say,  "the grass is greener on the other side" if you know what I mean ;0) It actually feels like I'm on vacation when I'm over there because they have all these different pastel color houses and picture perfect palm trees (which I don't have pics of) when you first enter this little town.  I wish there were picture perfect palm trees all over Pensacola.  Before coming down here, I used to think that the whole state of Florida was all tropical with palm trees all over the place and I'm assuming a lot of northerners think the same, BUT here in good ol' P'cola I've only seen them in:

1. Fancy neighborhoods

2. In front of hospitals and 

3. In front of banks

Anyways, here are a bunch of pics of the kiddos in the "public" part of Johnson's beach.....

Most of buildings on this beach are condos....... I think I will retire here :0)

I think for the next beach season, I will buy 3 bathing suits for each child because I just realized that most of my beach pics I have taken look like they were all from the same day.

I love this "Bay Watch" running pic.

Here's my lil pumpkin enjoying my bag of Munchos......

Mmmmmmmm, soooooooo goooooooood!!!

I think there are only 4 to 5 more weeks of beach weather in this part of Florida :0(  I am going to try to make the most of it and try to go 3 more times.  I am REALLY going to miss my exotic tanned skin and I'm not looking forward to turning back to my original pasty beige color :0(

Miss you guys sooooooooooo much,

Joy

P.S- You can actually click on all the pics to take a better look if they are too small.

ED'S VISIT PART II

Dear Sisters, 

I can't believe it is already September!  Hurricane Gustav has already arrived and fortunately all we are getting in this part of the gulf region are spurts of heavy rains.  

I REALLY need to get used to tropical storms and hurricane warnings, as the season runs until mid October.  I was a bit worried when tropical storm Fay was making it's way to our area last weekend because the news was flashing flood warnings on TV.  Thank goodness all Fay did was make big waves for the surfers @ the beach that day the guys went fishing @ the Pensacola Beach Pier.

This is the pier the guys went fishing @ last Sunday.

The boy caught his very first fish!

Hey, you know if they were fishing @ Wollaston Beach, they would've caught a tampon instead ;0)

I think Ed was a lil sad that I got there too late w/ the camera to take a pic of the 22" fish he caught (which he had to set free cuz it was too small).

Ray was happy to be there :0)

That day they went fishing, Fay was making the waves really big and there were signs posted to stay out of the gulf.  Here's a pic of the beach on a good day.......

Here's a pic of how ruff the water was last Sunday.

A beautiful day on Pensacola Beach (Casino Beach) ........

Ruff waves that would've carried the kids off to sea........

There's a beach right across the street that faces inland called Quietwater Beach. That beach has zero waves and is great for the lil ones to swim in. I could've brought the kiddos over there that day, but it's not gorgeous like Casino Beach, which faces the gulf. It's okay though.... instead of swimming in the beautiful gulf, we went seashell hunting ;0)  Well, I hope everyone had a wonderful long weekend.

Miss you lots,

Joy :0)