Water Theme

Today we were busier than a Sharknado!

This morning, we had art camp again - Daddy dropped Madison off for another fun day making sea creatures.  Hopefully not any sharks.  And hopefully not any caught up in tornadoes.  Seriously, we'll get to see all the stuff she's been making tomorrow when there's an "art show" at Quinlan at 2:00 in the afternoon.

Daddy went to work for a bit, but did go home to get Mommy, who made a big beautiful breakfast for Daddy in the morning.  But that wasn't the biggest meal of the day - that one was a little later.

After getting Madison from camp, we went to the library afterwards to claim her prize!  Having finished the book reading program, Madison got a free book.  She picked it up, and also got to put her name on the wall of fame there.  Also, she got a certificate too - and a great ovation from the staff there.  She enjoys the library a lot, particularly the "media center" there, which is basically the place over along the side with the computers.

Meanwhile, Daddy looked for more books for Madison to read, including one about manatees, which we'll hopefully be seeing soon enough in person.  We brought a big bag with us this time, because each time we walk away from the library, we wind up getting about 20 books, 4 DVDs and a CD.

After the library, we went to the pool.  Nana and Ye-Ye came over, and we hit the pool and had a lot of fun there as well.  Madison is getting better and better with her swimming, kicking her feet well and using her hands for that doggy paddling too.  It did rain earlier today, and was raining elsewhere, but not while we were at the pool.  Still, it was a bit overcast, and therefore we had the pool pretty much to ourselves.  It was actually a bit chilly getting out of the pool, and here we are in the middle of July.  Crazy, isn't it?  And the rain has been relentless!  Every single day we've had rain.  A recent report informed me that we've gotten more rain in 2013 in just six months, than we did in 2011 and 2012 combined.

We had some new pool toys, which Madison enjoyed a lot.  She's in over her head more often than not, but has a really effective floaty that keeps her above sea level.  She's comfortable right now, swimming about and keeping up with everyone.  It won't be long until she won't need the floaty - we'll see how that goes.  The goal is to get her swimming on her own as soon as possible.  Living near a big lake that draws a lot of tourists, we hear many stories of tragedies about people who can't swim.

When we got back to the house, we inspected our out-of-control butternut squash plants - these things are MONSTERS.  They are so huge, seriously.  And we toured a bit more outside, checking out the blueberry bushes - not long until these guys are ready to harvest!  Another plant we enjoyed watching for a while was in our "butterfly garden."  Lots of big beautiful butterflies hovered around, heading from one flower to the next.  Madison enjoyed watching the colorful butterflies flutter here and there.

Finally, it was dinner time.  Oh boy, was it dinner time!  Mommy got some steaks, and Daddy went out to grill them on the back porch.  These were so good - along with the potatoes and tossed salad that Mommy was preparing.

We didn't have time to watch a full movie, but Madison spent a little bit of time watching a DVD from the library, one that featured the Backyardigans and Dora the Explorer, both encountering mermaids.  That seems to be a recent theme again - in just a few weeks we'll hopefully be seeing some real mermaids in Florida.  We'll see how that goes, as it is all just in the planning stages right now.  Whatever it is, it'll be soon:  we're anxious for a bit of a break away from here.  Even if it is back in Florida again, it'll be a welcome step away.