RAINY SUNDAY AFTERNOON ATTIRE

Our house slippers, a blanket and a movie.

Rainy Sunday afternoon.

JOEY'S JACK O' LATERN

Joey helped Mommy carve the pumpkin this year.

She picked out the picture, she "supervised" all my work, she helped scrap the inside of the pumpkin, and picked up the stray flying seeds.

Joey understands that Halloween is about 3 things:

Scaring people, eating candy and dressing in costume.

Right now, Halloween is beginning edge out Christmas as her favorite holiday.

Pretty neat, huh?!

JUST KEEP SWIMMING, JUST KEEP SWIMMING...

Joey is just a swimming fool. She has her maintenance lessons, twice a week, (Thank you Grandma!) and then any body's house she visits she wants to swim there too. (This is Florida, practically everyone she knows has a pool.)

 Below, is Mom-mom watching Joey & Mark swim in her pool. 

We didn't even have a bathing suit with us that day, but in she went anyways.

It's too cold for me now. But she doesn't mind. 

I fully intend to have her snorkeling with a mask and fin next summer.

TOMATO COKE

Mark had a case of V8 cans in the back of her truck.
Joey noticed it, climbing in the truck when being picked up from school.
Joey: "Can I have a coke?"
Mark: "No, that's tomato juice."
Joey: "Can I have a tomato coke?"


Mark decided to let her. And boy was she excited. It was coke, cause' it was in a can, but it was smaller, so that it made it Joey size, and she loves tomatoes.


She did not, however, love "tomato coke" she discovered.

BEACHIN' WITH GRANDMA

Grandma, Joey and I went to the Raccoon Beach over Labor Day weekend. 

(Pics taken on Mark's waterproof camera and then forgotten about)

"Racoon Beach" is actually "Billy Baggs State Park". I called it Raccoon Beach growing up cause', well, obviously, cause' of all the raccoons that were there. (Saw one there this time too, but too quick for my camera.)

 You have to be 8 or older to climb to the top of the lighthouse so I only have the pic of Joey looking out the bottom window. But we did tour the keeper's house and the rest of the historic display. 

 Joey really loves to build sandcastles. More then being in the water, by far. (She totally ignores Grandma's engineering directions though, and I took pleasure out of watching that.)

 You know, it's a shame how infrequently we come to the beach, given we live in Miami.

I think we'll start coming more often. 

PLAYING THE ELEPHANT

Mark put on some Jazz music one evening to listen to while going about the kitchen.


Joey: Who's that?
Mark: Duke Ellington. (already smiling, pleased that she seem to be taking a liking a jazz)
Joey: He's playing the elephant!
Mark: (pausing for a moment) Huh?
Joey: Yeah, the man, he plays the elephant!
Mark:  (after thinking on it) Oh,  oh, oh! You mean the saxophone!


Please recall to your mind the DISNEY movies TARZAN & DUMBO. In TARZAN, during the trashing the camp sequence, TANTOR uses a funnel and makes music. (he sounds like a whole range of horns, from Tubas to trumpets, depending on how he scrunches up his trunk.) In DUMBO, during the pink elephants sequence, there is a part where their trunks also turn into trumpets. 


When Joey hears any part of the horn section, she sees elephants.
She wants to play the elephant too!

FLAMINGO POINT BOAT RIDE

The boat ride, on the bay side, from the Keys house to Flamingo Point is a very beautiful ride.

You have to know where you are going, as it is not marked with traditional channel markers except for a few points.

But it is a very smooth ride, due to how very shallow it is most of the way. You can see the drag marks just a little bit to either side of the channel, where drunker before you swayed from the path and got stuck.

 It never fails. A long boat ride will lull and child to sleep.

Such beautiful scenery.

The clouds, a thousand islands in the sky, to match the thousand islands below.

We found out that the boat lift has been closed since Hurricane Wilma, several years ago.

So we had a nice picnic lunch, bought some funny lookin' (but very useful) hats, and headed back the way we came.

(We had thought to make a whole day trip of it, going through the inter-coastal to Naples and then back around the coast, but that will have to be another day.)

Someone was more rested and alert on the return trip.

Flamingo Point boat ride

JOEY'S 1ST JEPOARDY QUESTION

We watching Jepoardy last night with Grandma & Grandpa.
The catergory was something to the effect of "Songs about girls."

The answer was something like this: "In the movie RIO, a song refers to a girl from this location."

I started to sing "The girl from Imponema" the way that the George Lopez does in the movie.

Joey: "Ooh, Mommy, that is the song from Rio!"

I count that as Joey getting her first Jeopardy question right.

THE LITTLE FARM

The LITTLE FARM is in Homestead.

I think it's about once a month, for $8.00 a pop, you can come in and visit.

They have a petting zoo, little horse rides, milking and feeding goats, a butterfly garden...

It really is great!

Above, Joey was practicing for the real thing, below.

Joey REALLY wants her own chick.

Besides the little pig (it was his first day) all the animals are super friendly and let the little ones grab all over them.

Joey didn't want to milk the goat. (She still talks about milking cows, thanks to her visit to the M&B PRODUCTS farm in March, but the goat just wasn't the same thing.)

Feeding the baby goats was probably her favorite part.

 Inside the butterfly garden.

(I need to go back and by some of the right plants so that butterflies will come to our house.

Jungle Island blow up slide

JUNGLE ISLAND

Jungle Island is too expensive for us locals. 

It is $30 an adult. That is why we had never been before.

However, this past Labor Day, they had a NABOR day special (pronounce it NEIGHBOR).

Tickets were $10 for residents, and for another $10, you could upgrade to an annual pass.

So we took Joey.

I don't have more pictures then this, however, because though Joey held and took pictures with birds, snakes, crocodiles, skunks and rabbits, you can't use your camera, and it is $50 bucks for a CD of all the pics they took for you.

Sorry, too expensive. 

I got the elephant, because it was $15 for all 3 of us to ride, and came with the pic.

It is, a beautiful place, has great shows and some neat animals that the zoo doesn't even have. So I can see why tourists would pay $30.

JOEY'S 1ST DAY

Little late in posting this, but this was Joey's first day at her new pre-school.

I'M GONNA TELL MADDIE'S DADDY

The other day, Joey was using my IPhone, because she had told me she had to go pee-pee and did it.
But it was time to leave and I asked for my phone back and she was not acting bratty, putting the phone behind her head and not wanting to give it back. After retrieving the phone, I went to pop her hand and she moved it and I brushed her side. She look up at me, so indignantly:


Joey: "I'm telling Maddie's Daddy."
Mommy: (one long blink of comprehension) "What?"
Joey" "I'm telling Maddie's Daddy that you hit me."
Mommy: (Laughter) "Baby, you go right on ahead. Mommy and Daddy are allowed to pop you when you're being a bad girl. It's you that can't hit anybody."


Doyle, AKA "Maddie's Daddy", has had to send Joey to look at the wall for popping Maddie.
Maddie had snatched Joey's crayon out of her hand, or something to that nature. So Joey calmly picked up her hand and popped it and told her no. (Maddie is 8 months older then Joey.) She didn't wack at her, like a hitting style, she was very purposefully popping her hand.


So Doyle is probably the one that is telling her not to hit the most, so he is the authority figure that sprang to mind.


She's never tried anything like this at school.One time, last year, she was apparently laying into one of the offending boys with her tongue, though, just reprimanding away:


"No! You can not do that! You're a bad boy! You wait your turn!" (imagine the hardness in her voice and the emphasis on certain syllables, like a parent who is trying to sound hard without actually raising their voice. She has got that down.)

I LOVE YOU THIS MUCH

Joey has her own sense of humor. Granted, it leans towards her father's appreciation of the twisted and weird. Here, she thinks its hysterical to alternate between sweet and possessed while saying "I love you this much."

FLORIDA, THE RED ONE

I was talking to Mark and mentioned the word "Florida." Upon hearing the word, Joey popped her head up.

Joey: "Florida is the red one." thinks a moment "What is the blue one's name Mommy?"


After a few moments of hard thinking and a blank stare I put two and two together.)


Mommy: "Oh! The red one is FLORA, not Florida. The green one is Mistress Fauna and the blue one is Mistress Mary Weather."
Joey: (beaming) "Yeah, from Rose's movie! Mistress Flora, Fauna and Mary Weather."

For those of you who don't speak Disney and still need translation, those are the names of the three good fairies from Sleeping Beauty.


Dontcha just love her!!??!!

JOEY'S 1ST MOTORCYCLE RIDE

ACTING UP AT THE ZOO

Lashanda, Shiloh, Jessie, Jade and Ty joined Joey and I for a Sunday at the zoo.

 

IPHONE POTTY TRAINING

Joey hasn't had an accident at home for weeks. 

She now TELLS us she has to go pee-pee, instead of us just putting there every hour or so. 

Joey will do anything in order to play with Mommy's "pink phone".

But she only gets to use it if SHE TELLS US, that she needs to go potty. 

Going potty means you get M&Ms, it's the telling us instead of telling her that is the big part.

Now don't think I'm letting her play with the phone part; she knows what she is and isn't allowed to play with.

There is a folder labled "Joey" that has all sorts of toddler ABC & 123 games on it. There is a folder labled "Disney" (She knows all about the upcoming construction projects at Disneyland and Disneyworld and really wants to do the Little Mermaid ride at Disneyland.) And she knows how to go to my ITUNES, click "artist" and switch it to "album" mode. Then she can recognize the pictures of who she wants to listen to (Stones, Clapton, Cinderella soundtrack...)

Thank you IPHONE for potty training my daughter.

STOP AND SMELL THE ROSES

It is important, as the mother of a 2 year old, that you build into your schedule the time to stop and smell the roses.

Or pet the bugs.

Or watch the snail move along his way.

It's part of their growing and learning.

So if it takes you 10 minutes to get to school, plan it to take 15. That way, when she wants to pet bugs by the front door, or finish the song in the parking lot, or count and then recount the steps... you have the time.

OFFICIALLY SWIMMING

Joey has been OFFICIALLY swimming now for a few weeks.

By that, I mean that she can lift her head up for a breath, and keep going.

 She's been able to swim the width of the pool for months, but she would do it on one breath.

She was actually quite fast, but she just wouldn't take a breath!

 Ms. Anne (Truby Thompson) decided to make her swim the LENGTH of the pool... got a take a breath for that one!

And it worked.

Once she took a breath, she went vertical, and kinda treaded the rest of the way there. 

But she has since worked out how to lift your head to breath and still stay horizontal. 

She should be ready to go lobstering by next mini-season!

TAKIN' IT EASY IN THE KEYS

We went down for Grandpa's birthday.

(Yes, that was last month, I was without a comp for a while.) 

Grandpa's favorite breakfast place has boat dock parking, and is both kid and dog friendly.

Now that is doing it KEYS STYLE! (Made to Order Cafe)

 The Jellyfish were swarming, so we headed to Jacob's Aquatic Center instead.

 Say cheese!

 If you can't read the sign, you don't have to follow it, right?

(No, the bottom quarter is not normally underwater. This is one of those seasonally extreme high tides.)

1ST MATE

Joey is in training.

(She really does know what she's doing.)

MUSIC TO HER EARS

We were stopped at a red light when a beautifully loud snorting Harley pulled up next to us.


Joey: "Mommy, please roll my window down so I can hear the motorcycle!"


She does a grandpa proud!

BABA O'RILEY

I taught Joey to do the air piano intro just like HOUSE does. (Sorry, only video I could find of that scene from HOUSE was in Spanish.)

DANCING QUEEN

DOYLE, THE COMPUTER GOD

Sorry it's been so long!


The internet wasn't working right at home, at the same time the PC at the office gave me a notice of "imminent hard drive failure."
But Doyle has fixed us up at home and we have a new PC for the office that should be installed tomorrow.


It is going to take me a few days folks, to organize the pics, videos and thoughts that have been missed.

JUST CHECKING YOU

I was "supervising" Joey putting on her clothes.

It was a jumper.

She sat down and slid her foot through.

Mommy: "Ahp, wrong hole."

Joey: "Oh, okay." (She puts her foot through the right hole, and then she smiles at me, in a mischievous way. She then begins to put her other leg through the sleeve)

Mommy: "Ahp, wrong hole again!"

Joey: "I just checking you!" (Smiling grandly.)

Mommy: (slowly, as comprehension dawns) "Joey, do you mean you are just checking to see if I'm paying attention?"

Joey: "Yep!"

That is 100% Mark right there.

NO PARKING, LOADING ZONE

Back to school driving tips

Part 2

1) Do not park in or block the cafeteria delivery area.

(No, not even for the second it is going to take you to kiss little Tommy good-by. Because then the car behind you will do it, and the one behind it, and then the delivery area becomes a second kids drop off point and the drivers can't do their jobs because YOU are a selfish person and a bad Mommy who is setting a bad example for her children.)

**True story** We just had one of our trucks bump a motorcycle that was parked in the loading zone. Cop told the guy he shouldn't have been there.!

2) Let the truck in, let the truck out.

I swear, he is not going to pull in front of you in the drop off line and won't slow you down if you're both on the way out.

3) Don't drive selfish.

Everyone else has to get somewhere too.

DEAR SANTA...

Maddie has a watch.

Joey doesn't.

Mark heard ALL about Maddie's watch on Tuesday, when he stayed home with Joey.

Mark: "Well maybe, if you're a good girl, Santa Claus will bring you a watch for Christmas."

Joey: "Well... what's Santa Claus doing now?"

GET OUT OF THE LEFT LANE

School is fast approaching and with back to school, comes back to school traffic.

I thought I would take this opportunity to remind people how to drive.

Lesson #1: GET OUT OF THE LEFT LANE!

It is a passing lane.

Not a fast lane.

Not a "I'm going to stay over here because I'm not turning soon lane."

If you are not in the act of passing someone right now then move over.

It doesn't matter that you are going 10 mph over the speed limit already, someone behind you might want to go faster than that.

Don't pretend to yourself that you are doing some service by slowing him down. He is still going to pass you, he is just going to have to swerve through other lanes to do so, while pissed that you are blocking things up, and that is way more dangerous.

Please explain this to all the abuellitos in your life.

GARAGE STROLLER

Joey spent the night at Kaki's & Paka Rick's the other night.

She asked if she could play with the "garage stroller."

She had Kaki stumped.

She meant the toy lawn mower.

You push it, like a stroller, and it stays in the garage!

Oh yeah, another 2 years or so, and I'll have her doing the yard... for sure!

ONE OF THESE THINGS IS NOT LIKE THE OTHERS...

"One of these things is not like the other,
One of these things just doesn't belong.

Can you tell me which thing is not like the other,

By the time I finish my song?" -- Seasme Street

Joey LOVES animals.

Always has.

It was the animal books that made her love books and reading when she was tiny. She could "Ooh Ooh Ah Ah" like a monkey when she was 13 months old.

Unfortunately, from a mother's perspective, she does not discriminate. She finds bugs as interesting as horses. While walking to the house from the car, she has dropped everything to lay down and look at the line of ants.

The other day she was playing with her little plastic rain forest animals (mostly reptiles).

After she went to sleep I was cleaning up the living room. She had them all lined up, neatly in a row.

Including a real live (dead) cockroach.

EPIC ERROR

I am a bad mother.

I made a horrible mistake.

I told Joey that we were going to go to Disney around Christmas and she was going to have dinner with Cinderella at her Castle.

Christmas is a LLLLLOOOONNNNGGGG time away.

Do you know how many tomorrows that is?

I'm beginning to.

Joey: "Mommy, we go and eat with Cinderella in her castle today?"

Mommy: "No, Joey, not for a very long time."

Joey: "Oh. Okay. We go to Cinderella's tomorrow."

(tomorrow)

Joey: "Mommy, are we going to eat at Cinderella's castle today, or tomorrow?"

Mommy: "Joey, we aren't going to see her till after Grandpa's birthday, and then Mommy's birthday and then Halloween and then Cracker's birthday and then Daddy's birthday and then Thanksgiving and then FINALLY we go to Disneyworld and see Cinderella."

Joey: (silence for a moment) "Oh. Okay. Tomorrow."

A GREAT SMILE CAN TAKE YOU A LONG WAY...

Joey had her first dentist visit this past Tuesday.

She had fun (as she always does, wherever she is).

Yesterday, we were listening to our Disney mix CDs in the car. After we listened to Hercules sing a song Joey exclaimed,

Joey: "Mommy, Hercules is going to the dentist."

Mommy: Silence (While I try to figure this one out.)

Joey: (Continuing) "Yeah, Hercules go to see Dr. Abella."

Mommy: (Finally things click together) "OH NO Baby, Hercules is going to go the distance, not go to the dentist."

http://www.youtube.com/watch?v=_5jDlLJPz1A

You just HAVE to love her!

Falling flat

BOWLING

Did you know they made toddler bowling shoes?

Dude, they had a size 7, just Joey's size.

Did you know they make 6 pound balls?

The bumpers in the gutters popped out only when it was Joey's turn.

They had a ramp for her to push the ball down.

Between the two, she almost beat Mommy, who was having a really bad bowling night.

She knew she'd done good.

Throw in some really good chicken tenders and curly fries and that makes a perfect evening at the Fish bowl in the keys.