Picnic at the park

It was a beautiful day yesterday so we packed up a picnic and headed to one of our favorite nature parks, where they have trails and ponds and all kinds of fun stuff.

True to form, we had to take time out for some vogue-ing.

 

It must have been the weather, because both Resli and Lela were pretty well behaved and even enjoyed each other's company for the day!

Oh, and Harvey and I were there too. We should really teach the girls to use a camera at some point.... 

After some running and exploring 

 we were all tired out and ready for a rest.

Even though I miss real winter, it sure is nice to have beautiful 70-degree days in late November!

Learning with Grandma

Resli has a great book of kindergarten skills that she likes to practice at home. Grandma is a great help.

It's a unique sense of fashion....

But Lela can pull it off!

Happy Thanksgiving, y'all!

Happy black Friday, everyone! I write this post from the comfort of my own living room, ridiculously happy to report that none of the Lord-Ward clan are out shopping today! Good luck to all of you who are...

We had a lovely Thanksgiving holiday yesterday. We started off watching the Macy's parade, which the girls both liked. Resli especially got into the cheerleaders, dancing along with them. (I hope this doesn't mean we have to start taking her to cheerleading lessons... ugh.)

We decided to try a fried turkey this year. Our kitchen is so small though that our poor turkeys had to take their pre-fry bath in the bath tub...

This is the fryer, with the turkey cooking away in it. 

And here's the finished product. It's hard to look elegant with a big metal hook sticking out of you, but it was delicious! (We dressed him up a little more for the final presentation, of course.)

While the menfolk were out doing that, the girls and I set our table. And a kids' table too.

And then it was just a question of waiting for everyone to arrive and all the food to cook.

And then a merry feast was enjoyed by all. 

Like most holidays in our house (ok, most days), the afternoon involved dressing up and dancing.

 

And the most exciting part for the girls is that they weren't allowed to think, sing, talk or imagine anything Christmas-related until after Thanksgiving. So we're currently listening to Christmas songs. . . A bit early for me, but we're listening right now to Bruce Springsteen's "Santa Claus is Coming to Town," my all time favorite, so it seems ok for now. 

A(nother) day on campus

The day before Thanksgiving public schools are closed, but the University isn't. So Resli came to campus with me. We hung out in my office for a while while I tired to do some work.

But when Resli realized that Ms. Sue was out of the office, she decided to fill in as office manager. She did a heck of a job, too.

Then we walked down to a restaurant near campus and met Daddy for lunch.

Even though it wasn't my most productive day in the office, we had fun together.

Daisy Scout camping trip

This weekend was the Daisy Scout troop's camping trip! Resli and I went with 12 other girls and their parents. Here's a little summary of what we did on the just-over-a-day-that-seemed-like-a-lot-longer!

When we got there we set up our stuff and practiced sitting around the campfire, even though we hadn't built the fire yet. 

Then we had lunch, because we knew we'd need our energy for the adventures ahead of us. 

Resli's friend Katrina went too, and they were each other's 'buddies' for the trip. 

The next thing on the list was a panning trip where we looked for sharks' teeth and shells. Resli and Katrina had some moderate luck, 

but the best find was surely the squishy mud that Resli couldn't get enough of!

After that fun adventure we took a little break back at the campsite to get a group picture of all the girls and the two leaders. 

Then we took a break for some creative work. The girls made field journals to prepare for our upcoming nature walk.  

We saw lots of great things on our "hike," and Resli noted each of them in her journal with a drawing and a label. 

Under duress Resli agreed to pause for a quick Mami-Resli shot. 

Then came snack time! Resli bonded with Ms. Kristen, one of the leaders who is also her Sunday school teacher. (Read: she wouldn't leave the poor woman alone!) 

After regaining our strength, we rallied for a few games of "What Time Is It, Mr. Fox?" and "Red Rover." 

That was all great fun. Then the sun set. 

And it got COLD. Resli and I didn't prepare well enough, and she ended up wearing one of my long-sleeved T-shirts to add another layer. 

Ms. Kristen started a dance party to kill time until dinner and keep everyone warm. Here they are learning the Electric Slide. 

After dinner we sat by our wonderful bonfire. By this point Resli was cold enough to agree willingly to some cuddle time with Mami. 

Her favorite part, though, was the sharing time around the campfire. Guess what she sang for everyone? (Refer back to the post from Adam and Amy's wedding if you need a hint!)

Then, at long last, it was time to go to bed. (I thought that hour would never come!) Resli and Katrina got into their pjs and were super psyched to be sharing a tent. (Not so much that I was in there too, just that they were together.)

It was a pretty chilly night - I checked the temperature when we got up, about an hour after the sun had come up, and it was only 38 degrees!

We gathered for a quick closing ceremony with our friends,

and took a parting picture underneath the Girl Scout Law sign.

And then we headed home!

By the morning Resli was cold and tired and uncomfortable and kept whining about wanting to go home. But by later today she had already begun to alter her historical memory a bit and thinks it was just about the best 28 hours of her little life. I'm ok with that.

Lela's school picture (2010)

I kind of could do without the fluorescent pink background they added, and I wish she were smiling a bit more naturally, but she's a cutie nonetheless.

Besides, if wishes were horses, beggars would ride, wouldn't they?

Animal Extravaganza

Yesterday we went on an adventure in Trenton, FL - we went to an "Animal Extravaganza" show. It was held in a rodeo arena about 45 minutes from Gainesville, and they had all kinds of things to do.

    

They did two different shows, one on a pirate ship with cats and dogs, 

    

and another with exotic animals, like this white Bengal tiger!

There were also activities, food, games, etc. 

 

The best part by far was the bounce house. Both girls loved it (after a little initial trepidation on Lela's part) and would have stayed for hours.

It wasn't exactly what I expected, a bit more amateur than I thought, but the girls really seemed to enjoy themselves. And this morning they spent quite a while getting out all kinds of stuffed animals and creating a stage and various 'shows' in which they introduced the animals and talked about them and basically reenacted all of yesterday. So I'd say it goes in the success column!

Lela's sidelong glances

Lela has a very funny facial expression, which is notoriously difficult to capture on camera, that can best be described as a sidelong glance. She does it when you say something that she thinks is silly or disagreeable and it's hysterical to see - she kind of narrows her eyes a little and looks at you sideways. These pictures aren't good liknesses of it, but they give you a rough idea, maybe:


Until yesterday, we had NO idea where she got such an expression from. Then we captured this on film:


And now we know!