Beach Fun

Riley's beach lair

 Looking for sand fleas

"surfboard" and beach truck

 Taylor loves to build "tastles"

Blake loves to destroy castles  

 sweet girl!!!

Like Father like Daughter

Pete has loved surfing since he was in high school. There has hardly been a day that has gone by since that he has not checked the St. Augustine surf report. Being able to surf the East Coast again was one of the many things Pete was looking forward to doing when we made our move. Little did we know that our little Tay would share her daddy's love for surfing and enjoy it as much as he does. Pete took her out a couple of weeks ago, and she was hooked form the first wave. Every single ride she has pure joy plastered across her face. Blake has been out too, he does not yet share his sister's enthusiasm, but we will continue to give him the opportunity to appreciate the sport.

Everybody getting ready

On their way out for Taylor's first surfing experience  

 Blake watching Taylor and Daddy

Blake found a piece of wood and made his own Blake-sized surf board

 Taylor putting Blake's board by Daddy's

 Taylor standing up for the first time

 Blake's Turn

 

Little Riley Roo

Riley is finally starting to level out on her crying and is such a precious addition to our family. We are still shocked by her  blue eyes and we love hearing Tay say "hi blue eyes". She has the reddest lips, and the softest cheeks. She is very strong willed already and is calm and observant when she is not crying. At her four month appointment she was in the 50th particle in both height and weight. She LOVES to be held, kissed, tickled and talked to. She is cooing and laughing and is such a joy.

 

Sweet Baby Blake

Blake gets more precious every day and just yesterday got his first "big boy" hair cut. He makes all kinds of funny sounds and has mastered shaking his head yes instead of no. He LOVES eating (everything except veggies), trucks, cars, blocks, anything tiny, putting things in his mouth, Winnie the Pooh, his two sisters, chasing Taylor, copying Taylor, kissing Riley, snuggling with mom and dad, bugs, hiding under the covers, squeaky shoes, smashing towers and sandcastles, and his mom and dad.

 

This is half way through, as you can see, the poor little thing had wings!

Precious Taylor Grace

Taylor is growing up so quick and makes us laugh all the time with the funny and clever things that she says. She LOVES pink, big dresses, pretty shoes, cupcakes(which she gets everyday after her nap, usually pink), her babies, her brother and sister, the beach, swimming, ice cream, movies, singing, planting a beautiful garden at the park, doing puzzles, making pretend or real cakes, her new friends at church, building towers with her blocks, her grandparents, coloring, and her mom and dad.

Amelia Island

With a fast and furious move, that could not have been accomplished if Pete were not so organized and hard working and if the Lord were not so good, we made it to the island. We decided to rent an apartment while we decide where exactly we would like to live. Although the space limitations, no yard, and no washer/dryer have been a little challenging, over all it has been a huge blessing. The Lord has opened our eyes to so many of our blessings and has helped us prioritize.  Pete takes the kids to the park almost every day, we go to the beach and downtown for walks and frozen yogurt  a couple of times a week, and we just bought our Fort Clinch State Park year pass, which has allowed us to take family hikes. We have just started attending Grace Covenant Presbyterian, in a little town to the west called Hilliard and are so very excited about what the Lord is doing out there and the friends that we are looking forward to making. Our children continue to be our greatest joys and blessing and we are having so much fun being closer to each other (literally) and spending such good quality time together.

 sisters

 

 Fort Clinch

 

 Down town

 



Moving on up

For several years we have wanted to make a move. After several pro and con lists, lots and lots of research, weather comparison charts and hours and hours of prayers we finally decided that Amelia Island Florida would be the next place in this wonderful adventure called life. This summer on our summer vacation I got a call from the principal of Yulee Primary school offering me a first grade position. With thanksgiving and anxiety, we accepted, came home and started the preparations for our move. We had to pack our house and prepare it for renting. We made two trips to Homestead to store some furniture, one more trip to Amelia Island to find a home, one huge yard sale, two rental interviews, some tearful good byes, and we were on our way.

Uncle Clay came up to help us move and have our yard sale. He was such a huge help and we all loved spending time with him. Thanks so much Clay!!!