Campus House Leadership Training

One of the best parts for me about living in Gainesville is being able to still be involved in some way with the Campus House. This year, I was a part of their fall leadership training. As one of the activities, the groups had to assemble camping tents while all but one of their team members were blindfolded. All of the groups completed their tent, albeit some more quickly than others!
The first team to complete the task.
Two of the teams had to put together 12-person tents, which may take awhile for four people who weren't blindfolded but both teams got them done. And I guess I snapped this picture while Bob was saying the pledge of allegiance.
The second 12-person tent team.
The final team to complete the tent. Mission accomplished!

Two new looks for the beach

A few weeks ago, Jonathan, Rosemary, and I traveled to New Smyrna Beach for a long weekend with my parents. It was great to get away for a weekend before Jonathan started back to school.

The Tuesday before we left, I had 11 inches of my hair cut off and while there, Jonathan shaved his beard. We looked like a completely different couple!
Rosemary was none to happy here. She wanted to be in the ocean, not posing for a picture.
I just really liked this picture of the two of them.
A close up of Jonathan's facial hair-less look. This was taken three weeks ago and if you were to see him now, his mustache and goatee are back.
Rosemary got a little shower before heading back to the condo and to bed.
And here's the 11+ inches that I was able to donate to Locks of Love. I'm glad I made it to the 10 inch minimum, but I doubt I'll ever be able to wait that long again to have short hair!

Baby Sebastian

Our friends, Paul and Cristina, came to Gainesville this weekend and we had the great pleasure of meeting their new baby Sebastian for the first time. (You can check out Paul and Cristina's blog here). He's such a handsome boy!

Sebastian (3 months) and Rosemary (18 months). Sebastian will likely be much taller than Rosemary someday, but right now, she looks gigantic! How fast they get big.

My daughter the multi-tasker

Last week, Rosemary and I had a tea party one afternoon. She helped me set the table then sat down in one of the chairs and folded her hands to pray. We prayed over our pretend meal (which was interesting since we usually say "bless this food to our bodies") then went about eating our 'cookies' and 'tea.' Rosemary is an excellent hostess.

While we were having our party, I got a phone call and when I was done I set the phone near the table. She went and picked it up and pretended to talk.

Then she decided that while on the phone, she needed to top off our drinks. She's such a little lady, she can already do two things at once!

Mom, hold on a sec, I gotta take this call!

The backpack, the cob, and the kitchen

When I changed jobs, I think I anticipated feeling like I have more time than I actually do. We have managed to stay very busy and I don't remember the last weekend that we had completely free. Time is flying by!

So it's already August and the fall semester is about to begin. Soon we'll have to start planning our outings around local traffic and Gator games again! But it has been a wonderful summer.

Below are a few pics from the end of July.

Rosemary and I went garage sailing a few weeks ago and stumbled upon this barely used hiking backpack. Jonathan adjusted the straps and put her in it and off they went on a 'hike' around the house. Jonathan's ready to go camping again.

One of Rosemary's favorite new foods is corn on the cob. When it's corn off the cob she could really care less, but when she gets her own ear, she goes to town.

I brought in Rosemary's kitchen from the garage last week where we had been keeping it until she was big enough to play with it. She turned 18 months last week and it seems like it was perfect timing. When she got up in the morning I brought her to the living room and she went straight for it, exploring what was in each of the doors.

Finding the sugar bowl.

Mmm...this is great tea.

Sarasota Anniversary Trip

Jonathan and I will celebrate our fourth anniversary on Thursday so we traveled down south to Sarasota for a few days while Rosemary stayed with Grandma and Grandpa Peine. We chose Sarasota so that we could go to the Ca d'Zan and the Ringling Museum of Art--two places that we've wanted to go for awhile.

On Sunday, we spent a few hours on Siesta Key. It was insanely warm and incredibly crowded. I think that I am an east coast girl. I missed the waves of the Atlantic.

For dinner that night, we ate at Marina Jack. Boats could pull up right beside the restaurant and everyone on board could grab a bite downstairs. We ate upstairs in the Dining Room and had a beautiful view of the bay just before sunset.
After dinner, we walked over to Bayside Park.

At the Ringling estate on Monday, we walked in the shade of huge banyan trees. It made such a difference to be in the shade and out of the sun. It rained later in the day--apparently the first rain that they'd had in the last six weeks!

Mabel's Rose Garden

This is from the second floor of Ca d'Zan looking down. It's one of the few houses that you can go through that actually has many of its original furnishings since Ringling left the house to the state of Florida upon his death.

The front exterior of the house.
Here we are on the back terrace, by the bay.

The bay.
The back exterior.

Our last stop of the day was the art museum. Ringling brought each of the columns that you can see in the colonnade from Europe, although they didn't all come from the same place. If you look at the bases, you can see that they are at different heights so that it will work.

Shoes and Family Fun

Rosemary loves shoes. "Shoes" is even one of her newest words.


This is her favorite pair of my shoes. She sets them down, holds onto something as she puts each of her little feet in, and off she goes.

She's so stylish!

Jonathan came with us to the gym on Friday night for Family Fun Night and got to see Rosemary climb up the cargo night, jump on the trampoline, and hang on to the bars. She loved showing her daddy all of the things that she does in the mornings.

On the landing with her dad.

Coming down the slide.

Jonathan's teaching Rosemary to stay hydrated.

Cargo Nets

She may be small, but this girl is strong.

A few weeks ago, Rosemary started climbing this cargo net that leads into a 3-story playland, complete with twisty slides and plenty to climb on. I thought she might make it 3-4 feet up and then want me to pick her up and set her back on the ground. I was wrong. She climbed the entire way up the cargo net, which at the top of the picture has a small landing and then goes up again. I'll take a pic next week to show how far it actually is. So since she really can't go up alone, I got to climb up behind her. We get down via the slide, which is kind of steep for Rosemary to tackle alone so she sits in my lap as we head down.

The Beach

Before they headed back home, Jonathan, Rosemary and I went to visit Jason, Nikki, Charles, Schuyler, and Emma at the beach.

Rosemary enjoyed playing in the sand.

Here I think they were trying to salvage a hole that they had dug. As the tide came up all remnants of the hole disappeared.

We wanted to get a picture of all of the kids walking, but Rosemary was more interested in chasing the waves.

And here they are from the front.

Rosemary would run towards the waves this time. Every other time she's been to the beach (all 2 times, that is) she has not been a fan of the ocean. That was not the case this time and her little legs move faster than one would expect.

Rosemary actually let Jason hold her for a bit. He should feel honored. She's been fairly picky recently about who she will let touch her.

After a delicious dinner at Saltwater Cowboys we headed out the car. Jonathan walked with all the girls.

And here's a picture of all four cousins together. They're a cute bunch.

Father's Day and Downtown Disney

For Father's Day this year we went to church and then came home to some home cooked lasagna.

Here's Jonathan with his girl on Father's Day.

Mmm...brownies make the best snack!

My brother and his family headed down to Florida for vacation and we all went out to Downtown Disney for a day. Rosemary got to sit next to her cousin Schuyler on the way there.

Rosemary as Pluto.

The kids played in the water fountain area for a bit while we were there. I had forgotten Rosemary's swimsuit so she just played in her diaper. I guess that's one of the benefits of being a baby.

She loved the water.