Vero Beach

We ventured down to Vero Beach this weekend to celebrate Jonathan's mom's birthday. Once there, we met up with Janice, Richard, Tim, Michelle, Matthew, Olivia, Breanna, Sarah, and Zach at the Disney Vero Beach Resort. We spent the weekend eating, swimming, on the beach, running through the rain, and just having a great time all together.

Saturday night after dinner, we headed to the campfire for s'mores and singing, with a quick stop on the deck (above). We made it through "My Bonnie Lies Over the Ocean" and then the deluge began. We gathered everything and everyone up then high-tailed it back to the room.
Sunday, though initially quite dreary, turned out to be beautiful. The guys took advantage of the sun and played a little bocce. Matthew looks quite determined.
Although sunny, it was exceptionally windy. Check out Zach's hair.

Me and my girl.

I think this looks like a magazine picture. She's all serious.
She's still got her tiny feet.

Too cute.

The lobby had a small room to the side where old Disney cartoons were shown on a loop. The kids loved sitting in here and watching the shows, even if they'd seen them just a few hours before when they were last in the lobby.
The family at Shutters before we all headed home. That's Breanna on the front left and she wasn't hiding from the camera. She was actually sound asleep!

Birthdays and Big Girl Beds

Our good friends, Becky and Steve, invited us down last weekend to celebrate their daughter's first birthday. We hadn't seen Abby since she was about 6 months old and she's gotten so big! It was great seeing them, seeing how much Abby has grown, and celebrating such a big day. Unfortunately, the Pate's don't have a blog, so I can't link you to it...but they should get one!! :-) (Just kidding, Becky!)
This weekend, we took the drop rail off of Rosemary's crib and converted it to a toddler bed. So far she's taken two naps and gone to bed 3 nights in it. The only time she's gotten out when we've put her down is at naptime. The first time I think she was up about 14 times. Thank goodness we did it on a weekend and Jonathan could help with putting her back in. Eventually, she did fall asleep in her bed. That night, she didn't get out at all, just went right down. When I got her up in the morning though she'd gotten out of bed and was sitting quietly in the glider. The next day for naptime she only got up once then went back in and fell asleep.
And yes, that's a latex glove in her hand. She likes to put them on whichever appendage is easiest to reach. The other day at church she had one on her foot for a good half hour.

Disney 2007

In September, we traveled with my parents to Disney for a getaway at Coronado Springs at Walt Disney World. It was hotter (or at least more humid) this year than last; but that didn't keep us from having a great time.

Getting ready to load up and head to Animal Kingdom. Rosemary's mouse ears now fit her. While we were getting ready, Rosemary seemed to know something exciting was going on. She gets a little bit more rambunctious, but not in a bad way, when she realizes she's in for something fun.

Riding on daddy's shoulders into the park.

When I was little, my mom and dad would get me a Mickey Mouse ice cream dipped in chocolate. The tradition continues with Rosemary. She ate hers while we were waiting for Finding Nemo to start. She sat and watched most of the 45 minute show.

Rosemary's checking out the gorillas.

If we look a bit tired here, it's probably because we were but we wanted to make sure we did all that we wanted to do.

Do you notice anything missing in this picture? This was one of the PhotoPass pictures taken by one of Disney's "professional" photographers. Four out of the six he took cut Rosemary out of the shot. :-)

Shockingly, Rosemary stayed awake the entire time on Small World this year. She would move her hands in time to the music.

Rosemary's first carousel ride.

In this picture you can kind of see the pin I'm wearing (the one above the Beat Tennessee pin--which we did!). We got that at the Animal Kingdom as we were leaving from one of the cast members. While we were there, my dad and Rosemary were given a pair of Dream FastPasses that gave you the ability to ride the most popular rides in the park without waiting in lines and without picking up individual fastpasses. Dad gave them to me and Jonathan but we ended up not using any of them because we had either ridden the rides that we would have needed them for or the lines weren't too bad in the first place. Since we had some left, Jonathan suggested that we give them to someone else as we left the park. We were trying to find some fellow Gators, but didn't see any on our way out so instead we found another pair of people and passed on the passes. A cast member saw this and gave us a set of lanyard pins that you can only get from cast members. There was one to keep and one to pass on so that we could continue to "spread the magic."

The first teacup ride.

After an exceptionally long day, she's still smiling.

The next day, we spent a good amount of time at the pool. There was a great kiddie sized pool that Rosemary enjoyed and a big kid slide that Jonathan, my dad, and I enjoyed.

She flies!

Before dinner, we walked over to the lobby of the hotel to check out the gift shop.

A view across the lake to the lobby and convention center.

Our little Minnie.

We celebrated my parent's anniversary and Jonathan's birthday at Rainforest Cafe.

It was a good place to go with Rosemary. Lots to look at, pretty loud, and good food.

They definitely give you plenty to eat.


And a volcano for dessert.

Hoses, Shoes, Tutus, Rainbows, and Friends

Rosemary is not a great lettuce eater. So last week, while Jonathan and I had chicken caesar wraps for dinner, I made Rosemary some ravioli. Whenever she has something particularly messy, we strip her down to her diaper then put her right into the bath after dinner. This night though, it was really bad. Jonathan had made some banana pudding for me to have after my procedure so not only was Rosemary covered in red sauce, she was also getting sticky from the pudding. Jonathan suggested just hosing her off outside before the bath. It worked.


Most of Rosemary's shoes are outgrown before they wear out. These shoes are the exception. I cleaned out Rosemary's dresser and closet this weekend to put away the clothes that she's too big for now and came across these shoes that she wore practically every day to daycare. She started wearing them before she could walk so the toes are pretty tattered too.
After baths, Rosemary likes to run around the house is just her hooded towel. This time, she wanted her hooded towel and her tutu.
On the way to work on Tuesday we saw a pretty spectacular rainbow, one where we could see the entire arch.
This is Rosemary with her friend, Dynah. We see Dynah quite a bit at church so when we get there, Rosemary will ask, "Where's Dynah?"

Labor day at the park

On Labor Day, we spent the day at a nearby park with family and friends.

Rosemary's a pretty good climber and she seemed to really enjoy this playground equipment.

Zach, Sara, Josh, and Krystle may look like they're just staring off at something in the distance. They are, in fact, playing bocce.

Go Gators

Rosemary is a Gator--there's no way around it. Jonathan and I are both UF grads, she was born in Gainesville, even her first hair accessory was a Gator bow. So despite the efforts of our Bama-fan minister, she's going to be a Gator.

This was especially evident this weekend. She's starting to say "Gator" whenever she sees the Gator head logo and occassionally does the Gator chomp (though we're still working on doing it on cue). However, yesterday during the first football game of the season, she really started to show her orange and blue blood when she actually watched the game. Now, Rosemary could really care less about television, but when the game was on she crawled up on the couch and sat down beside me with her eyes glued to the set. When someone would get tackled she'd say, "Whoa!" (a la Joey Lawrence on Blossom) and point. Alas, the rain delay completely ended her interest in the game, but her earlier actions confirmed what we already knew: she's definitely a Gator.

Our little Gator fan.

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!