July 2021

We had a lonely turkey chick hatch from a nest and she was so lonely, she would not stop cheeping! Anthony put a mirror in her cage with her and it calmed her down to have another "buddy" in there with her.

Daniel came to visit, which means lots of time playing with Rose! We love this dog so much, she is the sweetest/cutest puppy ever made!

We bought her a treat to have while we ate birthday cake for Daniel's birthday.

We didn't want to leave Baymax out, so we bought him a peanut butter filled bone to chew on.

Decorating Daniel's bedroom door for his birthday morning:

Birthday breakfast!

I finished a puzzle! I had so much fun working on it, hours would pass and I wouldn't even notice!

Cake time!

We took the boat out for a little adventuring.

We walked around a sandbar and found so many live sand dollars!

Both the boys got turns driving the boat. It made me a little nervous, but they did great!

Swimming around the sandbar:

James had another swim meet and got 3rd and 4th place for his races:

We've been wanting to go out and see the bioluminescence in the lagoon and we finally did it! A lot of people go out in kayaks and there are lots of tour companies that put in at the same boat ramp so we were fighting the crowds of kayaks to get out. Once we got past the bridge we found a spot and waited for dark.

It was really hard to get an accurate picture from our phones, so I found some pictures online of what it was like. It really was as magical as it looks!! The boys couldn't believe it! You could dip your hand in the water and bring it up and it would look like a handful of fireflies dancing on your hand. Amazing!!

I found an old sewing machine on the side of the road, so I brought it home from James to take apart. It was a fun way to spend an afternoon! He ended up going back and forth to the shed multiple times to get different tools. I was impressed!

The boys had a friend over and they had a lot of fun playing with pretend snow:

James had a movie night with me in my room. Such a great picture! LOL!

There was a small carnival in town so we took the boys. Rett needed a lot of convincing to do any of the rides, but eventually he tried them and decided that he loved it!

I volunteered to help with a local triathlon, so I spend a morning help point cyclists where to turn at a spot on the road. I thought this team was so cool, the man in the back of the bicycle is blind and the man in the front did the entire triathlon with him. For the swimming portion they were attached by a tether and for the running portion the man who is blind held on to his friends shoulder. So cool! 

We had a family game night at Robin's house when Joje was in town. We had the best time playing Pictionary. Rett was trying to guess with his eyes partially closed for some reason...

James carefully drawing his snail:

The boys and I went to the marine science center to pet some sting rays:

We also got to hold some sea urchins:

James had a swim meet in Deland and Rett was getting restless, so we took a walk and found a few geocaches:

Rett had Anthony take a picture of this vending machine inside the YMCA. He came back and said, "They had one job!" (The gatorade machine only had water :)

After the swim meet we realized we were close to the Reptile Discovery Center, so we stopped in to watch the venom extractions. It never gets old!! Every time I think I am going to watch someone get bit by a snake. So far we haven't, but I am also on the edge of my seat.

Can you spot the snake?

Holding ball pythons before the show:

I wanted to go to the bookstore in the mall before we went home, so after the bookstore we explored the mall for a little bit and discovered an arcade we didn't know about. It turns out that the arcade is owned and operated by a teenager in our stake that is homeschooled so that he can operate his business. He is doing such a great job!

While in the arcade, a friend called to ask if we could meet at another arcade in Daytona so his son could play with the boys. After two hours of arcade playing, we got dinner and then the kids played in the splash fountain in the shopping center. It was crazy that we started the day thinking we were just going to a swim meet and ended up doing a million things afterwards!

James couldn't resist this Mandalorian outfit from Walmart. He is obsessed with that show!