Jacksonville jaunt

On our trip to the zoo the flamingos












Me, Emily and Cathy( Rick's 2 sisters) in front of the bronze elephants














Reece and Mommy feeding the giraffe who was too little to nurse











Reece, Emma, Angela and Bethany( their cousins)
on a Jacksonville Jaguar














Adeline took this Easter basket away from Reece during the egg hunt

Rick, Dave and Christian recline in manly luxury


The day after Easter we packed up our minivan and headed out East, to the land of Ponce DE Leon. We decided to visit family and stayed 2 days with Rick's two sisters. The kids of course LOVE Love Love to see their cousins! The first night there, they even had a Jacksonville's Next Top Model Fashion show for us. We went to the zoo on Tuesday and scared poor Emma to tears when we headed to the Australia exhibit. Her older cousin said, " hey let's visit Australia next!" Emma turned to Cathy and I and asked how long it takes to get to Australia. I said either an entire day on an airplane or sitting on a boat for weeks. She asked if you could get there by car and I said No. She immediately held her feet firmly to the sidewalk and refused to go a step further and then started crying. She actually thought we were on our way to Australia. Little did she know the Australia we were talking about was 20 paces away. It was hard not to laugh at those big tears. But a Hawaiian shaved ice flavored with bubble gum and watermelon clears everything up. Well, no sightings of Cecil B the wild turkey outside Emily's condo this year. But we did have a run in with Nemo the orange cat next door. Thanks Dave for the delicious Tuna Steak and Salmon, what a great Polish brother-in -law.

Easter Sunday

Easter Sunday was wonderful to have Rick home for the 1st time in 2 years for Easter. We did the 10:00 mass and jammed ourselves into the cry room, along with 30 other steamy, sweaty Easter "Lilies." For those who don't know that Catholic only expression, it means, BAD CATHOLICS who ONLY go to church on Christmas or Easter. meaning you are either a Christmas poinsettia or an Easter Lily. We had an early dinner with close friends and I made an Easter carrot cake in the shape of a laser eyed lamb dog. It was supposed to be a curly lamb, but didn't quite make it after I added the pink mento's for the eyes. The kids loved seeing their best friends from South Carolina.

A Three year old's WORST NIGHTMARE

DUH DUH DAHHHHHH THE CAR WASH!!!

Reece is very concerned about the car wash, even though he insists on going through them. He says he " loves" them, then upon entering, gets very quiet and solemn. Emma was the same way as a toddler, but would all out scream her way through until the end. Adeline is no different! You would think any nice mother would avoid car washes, as her young offspring are so violated, but oh no, I say ma ma needs a clean car, toughen up young marines.

Ready Set Find those eggs!

On Tuesday Emma and her 31 classmates had their class egg hunt. I helped set out the eggs and upon finding a few cracked opened I realized that one mother had put Hershey's nuggets with almonds and toffee inside her eggs.( The note that went home said No chocolate or gum, but she wasn't listening I guess.) So, I told Emma to sniff those eggs out, cause Mommy wanted some chocolate. She didn't find any nuggets, but she did find an egg with a quarter inside. I guess some parent didn't have time to get candy, so figured money was the next best thing. Afterwards, was a parent-child lunch out under the gazebo. I guess Subway was the restaurant of choice for most parents, instead of bringing along PB&J's. Rick and I were no exception.

Makin Whoopie

Happy St. patty's Day! As we are not Irish, but rather Polish and English, we did not drink ourselves under the table singing Danny Boy. Instead, we went to Finnegan's Wake Irish Pub and ate corned beef and cabbage and had green mint whoopie pies. We just happened to drive by their celebration on our way to a local nursery looking for bamboo, when the kids saw the moonbounces set up. So, eeeeeekkkk, that was our tires squealing as we pulled off the road to join the Irish romping. Rick even, got on the Bungee Run. A cord tied around your waist( meant for children) in a giant moon bounce catwalk and you run as hard as you can, and it whips you back with the bungee. Afterwards he said it hurt. Adeline ate more of her whoopie pie, than the other 2 kids did.

McGuires Fun Run

Five years running now we have participated in the McGuire's 5k run thru Pensacola. Emily and Christian have made it 4 years in a row now to make it a family event. Some years we all have run, but this year just the guys " ran". A very foggy start to the day, but after 5 Irish wakes who cares? Rick and Christian then continued the festivities at Flounder's taking on a Diesel Fuel each. Always a fun weekend! " You got eggnog in my goat's milk"

A visit by Grandpa

This weekend Grandpa Wojtanik and Miss Annette drove down for a few days. The kids just LOVE visitors and were thrilled to have the one on one attention that Grandparents can devote. Adeline took to dancing in the evening to satellite radio with Annette, while Emma made a periscope with Grandpa. Reece just liked to show off his new moves on the swingset. He can wind up the trapeze bar until it is so twisted that the minute he lifts his feet off the ground, he is a blur of a 3 year old , twirling at mach speed, until it yanks his arms out of the sockets once it finishes it's revolutions. And then he does it all over again. Sad to see you guys go, after such a quick, but looking forward to maybe a summertime trip where Adeline can show off her tricks in the pool.

Super Ducky

I feel I must explain Super Duck. Super Duck is Reece's alter ego that appears the instant we are out of the car and back in the house. He invented this " character" himself, and becoming Super Duck involves immeadiately ripping all your clothing off except for your underwear. This must be Super Duck's supersuit. Now all this would be fine and dandy, except for the fact that Reece only uses Super Ducky as an end to a means. And that end is being underwear boy. As soon as he is in his unders, the game of Super Duck is non-existent and is never mentioned again. That is, until the next time he is fully dressed. So he as a 3 year old had to devise a way to be nearly naked, but in a way that his parents would allow it. Therefore, Super Duck was created. It's his way of pulling the wool over our eyes. Or should I say feathers over our eyes. Quack Quack

The 2nd picture is Adeline aspiring to be Super Ducky wearing her Ugg boots, we couldn't resist

Blue Cup today Emma?

Every morning before we drop Emma off for school, Reece turns to her in the minivan and asks" Going to be blue cup today Emma?" Now, for those of you who may not know, there is a cup system in Emma's class that is discipline based. The entire class has a popsicle stick with their name on it and everyone starts the day off in blue cup. As the day progresses and of course the usual suspects find their way passing thru the colors of the rainbow like Skittles, you can wind up all the way in dreaded red cup if you are not lucky. Thank my lucky stars Emma has not gotten there( yet). We have found our way to yellow cup a few times, but being that she is of the fairer sex, these were all talking and chatting it up with your girlfriend offenses. So, seeing that Reece's day revolves around Emma, literally, dropping her off in the morning, doing somersaults all afternoon " dressed" as Super Duck until 2:00, then loading back in the car to get Emma, he hones in everyday on what cup she was in. And he loves to be her angel on the shoulder when she hops out of the van in the morning and remind her to be good and stay in blue cup. Little brothers are good for something, if not the gentle reminder to walk the line.

Adeline's True Love

This little caterpillar rocking toy is her favorite toy in the house now. She will climb on this and giggle and wants you to watch her. She thinks she's doing something special by riding this. A few weeks ago, she couldn't get off it once she was on, but now she's a pro. Emma uses this a chair to sit in front of the tv and Reece uses it to ride as a surfboard.

A Morning at Crabs on the Beach

Last weekend on Saturday we took the family out to the beach and were the first ones at the restaurant Crabs. The kids enjoyed playing on the equipment while we waited for our Shrimp Po'Boys. Emma, always the supermodel, demanded a million shots of her posing in front of beach grass, the beach ball, a crab hole, etc etc. I caught Reece just coming down the slide. And here is baby Adeline snagging a little thing of coleslaw off my plate to feed herself and make a royal mess. It was too chilly and windy to eat on the bay side , but when we came over the crest of the restaurant the wind was blocked and the sun really warmed us up.