Changes in Latitudes

We just got back from a trip to Indian Rocks Beach, Florida. It is sort of our halfway point before Craig returns and we deserved a vacation. Indian Rocks Beach is about 40 minutes west of Tampa Bay. The whole trip was a blast! We thoroughly enjoyed the Gulf of Mexico and the fantastic weather. Although there were hardly any waves, the kids enjoyed snorkeling and searching for all the beautiful shells that the tide didn't bring in and I didn't have to be a lifeguard every minute of the day.

Owen and I started the trip by making shadow puppets on our tray tables. These are a goose by Kris, a duck by Owen and a dinosaur by Owen.

Here is the condo I rented. We were in the lower right unit. It took us all of one minute to get to the gorgeous beach. There was a swimming pool as well right before we entered the beach.

We spent most nights walking on the beach enjoying the glorious sunsets and shelling. We were never disappointed with either activity.

King Owen and Queen Mother

Finn with fins

We went to Weeki Wachee to see the famous mermaid show. It was as expected, but a must-see nevertheless. The highlight of Weeki Wachee for us was the reptile show and the resident peacocks & peahens. There were at least seven of them, probably more.

Cane Toad

Ball Python

The Omnipresent Peacock

The day we left, we stopped in St. Petersburg to see the Sunken Gardens and to pay a visit to Great Explorations, a hands-on kids' museum. It was somewhat geared to younger kids, but had a lot of building activities.

Evan is building a race car out of K'nex. The car was good; the racetrack was not working. Total bummer. It was like a bumper car racetrack with metallic pads fitting along a slot, all curvy and angled. We need more money spent on upkeep of science museums or at least funding for good repairmen or women.

Finn and Owen are watching pictures on a disc with a strobe and a fan spinning the disk. Kind of like those flip books. I can't remember what it was called....

The kids at the wishing well in the Sunken Gardens.

Owen (The Lizard Hunter) displaying one of the many lizards he caught on our tour of the Sunken Gardens. I think he caught about six or so. Each one was a little different. Some were black, others had stripes, frills, etc. It was neat to see the variation of basically the same lizard. This one had white dots and stripes with a little bit of bumps along its back.

Well, that's about it. Have a great day!

There's a Tiger in the house!

Owen received his Tiger badge on May 2nd. He was very excited. As part of the badge lore, I pinned it on him upside-down until he did a "good turn" for someone. He helped me with the laundry the next day - from sorting to folding - and completed his "good turn". He is officially a Tiger Cub and now begins his path to earning a Wolf badge.

Musical McCarters

Two items of musical interest:

Finn had his recorder recital on Wednesday, May 16th. They actually sounded great, all keeping time and minor mistakes.
Evan had his Spring Concert April 26th and the band really sounded good!! For those of you who don't know, Evan plays the trumpet. The trumpets were seated in the middle of the orchestra behind the flutes and clarinets so a picture was impossible. Evan also plays piano and his piano recital is in two weeks.

A thing to make you go "Hmmm..."

Human

evolved, enlightened

playing, building, evolving

tools, inventions, fruit, bananas

eating, throwing, swinging

hairy, unelightened

Monkey

Finn's class had a poetry reading party on March 2nd. Here is a Finn original. It's called a diamante poem where you choose two opposing nouns and lead one into the other. Plus, it's diamond-shaped.

Backtracking

I am going back in time for a bit because I don't think Craig has seen some of these photos and besides, everyone needs a trip down memory lane once in a while.










Just days before Craig left, Owen's fantastic scout leader, John Alli, came to the house in March to award his Bobcat badge. It was very nice to have Dad pin it on.










At the end of March it was Craig's **th birthday. We had yummy cake and everyone was happy. Unbelievable! Look, even Evan is smiling.... My trophy husband is a year older. He'll always be older than I am!!











In early March, Owen participated in the Pinewood Derby Race with his Cub Scout Pack 307. He completely made his car on his own (and you could tell) but it consistently came in first or second in EVERY heat. He even made a seat for his beloved Pokemon, Mudkip.








In early February, Finn received his Bear badge. He was one of five boys who received it in the first round this year. Most of the other boys received theirs in May.

That's it for a bit. Stay tuned...

Week Four - Spring has sprung in Maryland

Here are a few shots of our beautiful lawn and gardens. Or maybe that should read "gardens and lawn".

Violets - my favorite weed.

A picture of the azaela that will probably be transplanted when we re-do the kitchen in the fall.

OK, yes, these are pictures of our grass in the front yard. Did I just type "grass" instead of "mud"? Why, yes I did. We now have lush, green grass in our front yard due to the horticultural genius of my husband before he left. Now it is my mission to keep it throughout the summer. Never a fan of lawn watering, I have done a 180 and I water every three days unless it rains, which it has not.

Look, hon, no mud!!!!

Owen and Finn posing as the young entrepreneurs. Owen decided to open a lemonade stand and was so successful in the first hour that Finn helped out and made signage throughout the neighborhood. I think they made about $7 on a lovely Saturday afternoon.

Week Three - Gearing Up for the Auction

I spent the next crazy week getting ready for the kids' elementary school's silent auction of which I was the chairperson. The auction was April 28th and was wildly successful. We had over 300 items (many which were scattered around my house and my neighbor's house), a DJ and face painters for the kids and raised just over $10,000. This was my second time chairing the auction and we fell short by $1,000 from the first shindig. However, we didn't have a live auction, so I think we actually came out better this time around.

We also were having the house painted. They began the day before Craig left, but weather - threatening rain vs. actual rain - slowed progress. The finished product is worth it.

Week Two - Visitors

Gran and Gramps McCarter and Aunt Beth Overholt came to visit us on April 12th for an overnight on their way to PA for Erin Hardy's wedding. The quick visit was great. They definitely brought us some good ole sunshine from Arizona which hasn't left us yet! Then about a week later, Gran and Gramps returned from Pennsylvania for a few days so they could attend Gramps' Johns Hopkins reunion. The weekend was culminated by a Navy-JHU lacrosse game which Hopkins won NARROWLY and after a good fight by Navy. We had an excellent time playing music, chess and talking.

This is for you, Craig:

A burrow owl from the zoo. "I like you, Stewart..."

Our first week solo - and welcome!

Hopefully, this blog will help keep you up to date on our activities. All of the boys, big and small, have new haircuts for the start of our four-month journey. They are a dapper bunch. It was a gorgeous day. After bidding farewell to our adventurous and patriotic fearless leader in Reston, VA on April 3rd, 2007, we headed home. Luckily we had an excellent book on CD (The Golden Compass) because traffic was horrendous. We had a few tears that Dad wasn't home for goodnights, but mostly all was well. It does help to have a Dad that goes on business trips. Unfortunately, the weather was not to last as it turned chilly for Easter and Spring Break. We did Easter at Grandmom and Pop's house where the boys scattered and found the eggs so quickly that Mom didn't get a chance to snap any photos. We also celebrated Grandmom and Uncle Tim's birthdays that day. During Spring Break, we first spent an afternoon in Baltimore walking around and eating at the Lexington Market. Owen was quite the anomaly at the market with his white hair and many women wanted to rub his head for some reason.

Owen is a whittling madman.

We visited Annapolis and the Naval Academy. These are our three points on the compass, north (northwest), west and east.

A happy moment.

We went to the National Zoo with the Traynors at the end of the week. Laura and I were totally outnumbered in terms of the male:female ratio. The weather was FINALLY warmer! We did get into trouble for allowing two of our our children to heely in the park since "rollerskating" is not allowed. Gimme a break, we were at least OUTSIDE.