Audrey's First Day of Soccer

After weeks of anticipation, today was finally the day for Audrey's first soccer practice. With her soccer gear on and her can-do attitude, we drove to Spyglass Fields for the big event. She practically bounced out of the car and onto the field. We were about fifteen minutes early (she didn't want to be late) so Audrey ran around the field, kicking the ball and practicing her dribbling skills until practice started.

Audrey's coach is a former pro footballer from Germany. He is very kid-friendly and works well with the young teams. "Patience of a Saint" was the phrase that kept coming to mind during practice... especially when almost every child was catching the ball or picking it up using their "off limits" hands! :)

This is her first team sport experience and I am really excited that today's practice was a positive one and also that she is enthusiastically looking forward to next week's practice.

Romantic Fishing?

Valentine' s Day is the "Day of Love" is it not? It is supposed to be about celebrating the love you have for the people in your life. While most people do this with chocolates, roses and dinners out in crowded restaurants, we decided to take a different approach to this "Day of Love". Our number one love is our children, Audrey and Claire, and of course each other. One of our next loves is getting out on our boat and onto the wide open ocean. One reason for this is that it is a peaceful isolation from the rest of the world. A time that it is just for our family without any distractions like calls that need to be answered or e-mails that need to be checked - it's great family time!

Our day began at 5:00 (yes, in the morning). We finished the remaining packing of the boat, had a light breakfast and headed to the port (Port Canaveral). We launched the boat just before 7:00. We headed out in a southeastern direction with the Gulf Stream as a target. If you have never seen the Gulf Stream, it is amazing. You can see the ocean change colors right before you eyes... to the deepest, most beautiful shade of ocean blue you have ever seen. Audrey and Claire came up with a song that they love to sing each time we go to the Gulf Stream...

We're going boating, boating, over the ocean blue...
We're headed out to the Gulf Stream to catch a fish or two...

We had been underway about a hour, which put us approximately 20 miles offshore. While we weren't to the Gulf Stream yet, we decided to drop a few lines and troll for a bit anyway. About 15 or 20 minutes later, I had a bite. It was a lot harder to reel in than I had expected so I knew that whatever was on my line was not going to be my usual "pity fish" (you know the ones that are really too small to do anything with but your husband keeps them anyway out of pity because you never catch anything worth keeping!). After what seemed like half an hour but was probably only a few minutes, I had my fish up to the boat. Brock helped me boat the fish and was very excited about my catch. Wahoo!!! Everyone kept saying "Wahoooo! We caught a Wahoo!" It was approx. 35-40 inches long and weighed approx. 24 lbs. I have to say that I was very proud of my first "non-pity" fish! By 10 o'clock we had just arrived at the Gulf Stream. We caught two Mahi-Mahi (dolphinfish) and had three others bite but we lost them before we could get them to the boat.

The girls love going out on the boat. Claire is always lulled to sleep by the sound of the motor and the gentle rocking of the waves.











Audrey likes to watch the action when we catch something. We took Duke on this trip - his first ocean trip. He spent the good part of the day trying to find his sea legs. Eventually he gave up and decided to rest with Claire. Audrey made a great find while we were in the Gulf Stream. A baby flying fish had jumped onto our boat. She saw it and we were able to get it back into the water (after we snapped a few pictures of course). It was so cool to see one up close instead of them just skimming the top of the water next to your boat.

All in all, it was a great day for fishing and for doing what we love best - spending time together as a family... the true meaning of Valentine's Day!

Lunch at the Beach

Not many people have the privilege of enjoying a wonderful picnic lunch at the beach in February... But that is just one more reason why we love our sunny locale!

After stopping by Crispers, one of our favorite places to eat, we headed to Cocoa Beach at 16th Street. Brock set up the umbrella and I threw down a few towels. Then, we sat in the warm sunshine and had a great lunch.

Duke wanted to run free like he does when we go to the island, but at the beach he had to stay on his leash. He didn't like that too much, but when we went for a long walk down the beach he seemed to be much happier.

As we walked along the surf, Audrey and Claire found many sand dollar pieces. We collected them and then went back to our towels to see if we could piece any back together - "like a puzzle", Audrey said. Unfortunately, we didn't have any matching pieces but we had lots of fun finding them and trying to make the matches.


The wind was a bit chilly at times, so our visit was only about two hours, but all in all, it was a great day...

Duke Goes to School

Today was Duke's first day of "Puppy-Garten" (also known as obedience training) at Barkingham Palace. The class has twelve dogs of varying breeds (amazingly none of the same), however there were three dogs named "Jack" so that made it a bit more challenging for the instructor. This week started with the basic Sit and Stay commands, with which Duke did great! Of course we knew he would... he's such a good puppy! I sometimes wonder if he even needs professional obedience training. Oh, I'm sorry! There I go again... I was acting like a new mom whose child can do no wrong wasn't I? :) Anyway, the training class is a six-week program and we hope it will help mold Duke into an even better dog. Because honestly, he really is a good dog already. I will post more about our adventures in training soon (our next class is February 21st).

Our Little Weekend Project

Ok... According to Brock, I have wanted to replace the carpet in our family room since we moved in. While that may be true, I didn't feel so strongly about it until the major coffee spill a few weeks ago. I guess you could say that was the last straw and we were now both tired of the carpet. So we made a surprisingly quick decision to replace the carpet with wood flooring. After our trip to Lowe's where we selected a beautiful "Handscraped Hickory", we got started on our weekend project. I have to say that watching Brock carry a roll of the cut carpet out of the house was a great feeling... Even better was seeing the first pieces of wood go down. We started with the two hallways that come off of the family room. These areas proved to be the most difficult due to their size and odd shapes.

Here are some "step-by-step" photos of the transformation of one of the hallways...

and the family room...

Amazingly, the floors were finished at the end of Day 2 (albeit 1:00 in the morning, but they were complete!) The room was officially ready on Day 3 with freshly painted baseboards and furniture back in its place. As an ending note, this "weekend project" involved a lot of hard manual labor and I am very thankful that I have a husband who is so talented.

Here is a shot of the finished project...

Island Sundays

One of the great things about living in Florida is the wonderful weather that we have year round. After a week of cooler temperatures, we welcomed our normal 70s and 80s. Another great thing about Florida living is being able to spend an "Island Sunday" on the water with friends in January! We take our boat to one of the many islands on the Indian and Banana Rivers, unload our chairs, relax and enjoy the warm sunshine with a cold drink in hand. Audrey and Claire love to run around the island with Duke and search for shells and other cool finds.

This Sunday, we went to an island on the Banana River with our friends, Ed & Tammy and Gary & Paula. The girls and Duke were running all over the island. Then another group set up on the far end of the island. "Boat people" are an interesting group. There is an unspoken bond that you seem to share - it is a lot like meeting other groups while tailgating outside the stadium on a football Saturday - everyone is friends with everyone! This group brought their dog, Berkley - another Boxer! Duke had such a great time playing with her. She is full grown so it was humorous at times to see how Duke, who is only 5 months, responded to her.

After hours of fun in the sun, we loaded up the boats and rode down the river to Captain Katanna's - a bar and grill on the water - for some good food and drinks.

We docked the boats, sat out on the deck around the tiki bar and enjoyed some great live music. Audrey and Claire danced to their hearts content and even got the guy to sing "The Itsy Bitsy Spider" which was even funnier when the whole crowd joined in too.

We had a great time and look forward to the weekends
when we get to enjoy our
"Island Sundays"!

Good Citizen

Today, Audrey received the "Good Citizen" award from her school. She was selected by her teacher to receive the special award based on her demonstration of good life skills and character development, including hard work, respect and integrity. Not every child is chosen so it is an honor to be selected. We are so very proud of Audrey and the choices she makes each day that reflect the person that she is.

At the award ceremony, Brock, Claire and I enjoyed a lovely lunch from the school cafeteria with Audrey. Then, the awards were presented to the children from each grade by the principal, Mrs. Johnson. Audrey received a certificate, ribbon and pin. As an additional treat, the school allowed all of the good citizens to check out early from school when the ceremony was over. While Brock had to get back to work, Audrey, Claire and I went to the movies and saw "Bedtime Stories", which was really cute. Audrey said she wished that my stories came to life the next day! :)

For me, it was a great day! To see our child honored in such a special way reminds me how important it is to set a good example for her to follow. It is often the little things - those things that you sometimes don't even realize that your child notices - that can make a big difference - from the way you choose to handle an innocent mishap at a store to the words and tone you use when talking to those that mean the world to you and even those who don't. Every day presents an opportunity for you to teach your children something and by doing that they usually teach you something in return.