We Must Love Florida

To date, we have spent nearly half the month of June in Florida. I can't really think of a better place to be this sweltering hot summer. Between the beach and being the home to the majority of our family, we truly do love that state.

Our most recent visit was nothing short of eventful. First airplane rides, hurricane gust winds for family beach pictures, a day in the sun and sand, skinny dipping, toys, toys, and more toys, lots of creatures, hard naps, and a little family lovin'.

It's getting harder and harder for Jack to leave and I can totally relate to him. I hated leaving my Grandma and Grandpa's house as a kid. Sweet little Jack woke up Sunday morning with tiny tears streaming down his face as he told me he "wasn't ready to go home" and he "was going to be sad all the day". {I told you...we really do love Florida.} The good news is we had a late afternoon flight and so that gave him a full day to continue his vacation, not to mention he really wasn't sad "all the day". The proof is in the pictures.

Maggie took her first flight. She was such a trooper. Sometimes wiggly {okay, often wiggly} and very flirtatious, but a great travel companion, none the less.

After professional family beach pictures Friday night, we hit the beach Saturday for some free play. I went to get my camera and came back to find Daddy, Jack and Maggie out to sea. I even walked up to my waist in the water to get this picture...they were wayyyy out there.

Jack was in sea and sand heaven with his cousins Whit and Larkin there to play with. Larkin was schooling Jack on various sea creatures throughout the afternoon. Not sure what they had captured here.

Maybe this?

Whit even caught a fish for Jack. A Speckled Tarpon or something? Now, that was "cool". Especially considering his big cousin caught it.

Maggie mainly ignored the sea life and dug in the sand instead. Yes, she finally gave that ol' gritty sand a chance and it wasn't so bad after all.

But better than sand was Grammy's baby doll and stroller. That was Maggie's prized toy all weekend. She even spotted one at Jack's school this afternoon in an abandoned classroom--it was all I could do to keep her from strolling that baby home. Hmmm...Birthday present idea?

Jack was busy playing airplanes, but decided that stroller didn't look so bad {correction girly} after all. He convinced Maggie to give him a turn.

And this is what it looked like...push the baby as hard and as fast as you can and then let it go. All boy and all girl around here. Lord, help me.

Jack and his lovely Grammy. I didn't even have to ask him twice to take a picture with her.

Then we tried to add Maggie and you can see how well that went. 1) Mommy wasn't holding her anymore and 2) Jack was 'entertaining' her. Maybe one day we will get a picture of Maggie with someone other than me or Daddy.

Jack spent countless moments in the hot tub, which was more like a mini-pool to him. He even found more creatures to play with. After tormenting this poor frog...

...this is where it ended up. I was very happy I had pants on.

I figured Jack was pretty "pictured" out. So I decided to spice things up a bit. I told him to make his funniest faces. First, I got this.

Then, I got this.

And finally, I got this. Now, if this doesn't put a smile on your face, I don't know what will. [it was obviously slightly edited for publishing purposes, but you get the just}

You Would Think...

You would think we didn't have much going on around here due to my lack of blogging lately. Actually, it's just the contrary.

Jack is camping crazy this month. We did Spanish camp and now he is in the midst of Animal camp. I almost felt a tinge of guilt having him so booked up for the month of June, but it was truly a necessity. Not for my sanity, although I could possibly blame it on that, but for Maggie. And he is lovin' it!

Maggie is on the 4th week of her ISR swim training. Such a commitment, but so worth it. Her lesson falls smack dab in the middle of the day, so it leaves us little room to go anywhere fun. Knowing this would be the case, I thought it would be best to have Jack camping while Mags was swimming. Really hoping to put a close to this early July. Mags is doing great. We thought she was a swimmer, but as soon as that girl learned to float she pushed swimming to the side. This was always the challenge with Jack-always a floater until this year-finally! We will see where it goes. But, as long as she can float I know she is safe.

Other than that, we are headed to Florida, yet again. This time for some family time. We are really looking forward to it. I'll have lots of pictures on our return. I've started a Love and Logic parenting course along with a few Mommy friends. Love the program--I'm hoping it is my answer to, well, you know. And I've been meeting with architects and contractors galore, trying to figure out if and/or what we should do to our sweet little cottage. And lastly, we celebrated my birthday...Mommy style. I wouldn't have asked for it any other way though.

So, since no post is complete without a picture, I'll leave you with a little Happy Birthday to Me snap shot...

Happy summer to all! Be back soon with something a little more eventful!

Father's Day

Happy Father's Day to a Daddy who has very big shoes to fill...

Have I ever mentioned--Maggie loves shoes?

Beach Week 20ELEVEN

'Where have the Cibula's been?', you may be wondering. It has been almost 2 weeks since I last posted on this blog. So, I am hoping you are a little curious. Just a tiny bit? We have actually just returned from a very action packed and fabulous beach week at Rosemary Beach.

Our annual beach vacation has come and gone....and I am still recuperating from it {i.e. sleep, laundry, groceries}. But, as always it was well worth it. A few bumps in the week {ahem...Jack's new found terrible 4's} didn't stop us from a week of fun in the sun. Okay, a little exaggeration, but there were certainly some moments. Though nothing to out weigh the beautiful surf and sand, and of course, how much we adore our first born.

A little change of pace this year...new house and new family. The Zimmerman's joined us for the first time and it was such a pleasure to spend a week in their sweet families company. And with the diligent planning of Cristina, we had a perfect house to rest all of our tired beach bodies in. Jack couldn't get enough of the Micca girls and Maggie was smitten with the "bays" {babies}. Toddler Mags was not the baby this year and she didn't mind a bit. That made 7 kids, 6 parents, and 1 nanny. Green Eggs and Ham was a full house {love that beach house name...so clever!}.

So when you look at the pictures and you think, 'Maggie doesn't look like she loves the beach'...you are right. She loved the little chair under the umbrella or the swimming pool, just not the beach/sand itself. And then when you look at the pictures of Jack and think, 'He looks like he is having a great time, what is Paula talking about?'...you are right again. As long as he was jumping waves, playing in the sand, or swimming in the pool. It was the other stuff that got in his way. For example, going to dinner, putting his shoes on, walking too far, etc. You know the kind of things that can damper a four year old's day.

And now, on to the show. If you can make it through the entire thing I am super impressed {and very flattered}. It's a long one. I just kept hoping for that perfect picture and I wouldn't give up. But, in true kid fashion, Jack and Maggie were too busy to pose for my camera. It turned out to not be too big of a problem, it made for some good action shots and sweet memories.

And one more thing...yes, I promise we do cake Maggie in sunscreen and keep her in the shade 90% of the time. That beach baby tan is a mystery to me {gotta be genetic and definitely not from me}. But I sure do love my brown baby {and am slightly envious}.