Sure April is beach weather!

The last weekend of spring break we took the kids and a friend(Hannah) to Ft. Pickens beach and met the McDavids out there for some fun football, metal detecting, and giant hole digging. Rick finds it necessary every time we go to the beach to dig a ginormous hole that engulfs the kids. This time was no exception. The hole was so deep, we couldn't let Adeline or Abigail near the thing. There was actually water pooling in the bottom and I think I could hear the sound of Moo Goo Gai Pan being made in woks somewhere on the other side of the world.

Adeline has to be around Rick 24/7, so when she brought him this football, he couldn't resist a trainer game of catch. Here she was actually catching the ball.

Throwing back to Daddy- as you can see from her sweatshirt- Yo Gabba Gabba is a staple item here in the Parrish household. We have to listen to that show at least once a day and then hear the guitar music and microphone music.

As a side note, once a week I've been trying to give my kids( the girls especially) a bath in baking soda. I guess the bubble bath can create extra sensitivity, so a friend suggested to me to try baking soda once a week. So, tonight was our baking soda night and while I put the towels in the dryer to make them nice and toasty for post bath exiting, I could hear Reece hollering at Emma. When I came to check, he said " Mom, Emma poured the whole box of trail mix on my head." As you can deduce the trail mix was really baking soda. But we all got a good laugh.

Go Dog Go

Back in July, I saw that the Pensacola Little Theater would be performing MY FAVORITE Dr. Seuss book, Go Dog Go this spring. So, I tied our theater badge in Girl Scouts, into taking a field trip as a troop to an evening production of the show. It was a cast entirely of kids from about 8 through 15. It was a musical with cute backdrops and hilarious dog humor. The girls loved it and one of the girl's father's was the musical accompaniment for the whole show. Tom( seen in the back with the dog ears) was the piano man for every song. We had to include him in the picture here of the girls up on stage in front of the giant cake for the dog party at the top of the tree.

Emma hammin it up, and Hannah, Makenna , Jenna and Emmy. This was an unintended great night out for just the mom's and daughters. We all dressed up and went to the theater, very high class.

I had to include this picture of a picture from Kindergarten. It was Dr. Seuss week and Emma chose to be the poodle from Go Dog Go who wears all those hats. Her hat was off for lunch, but she made a cute poodle.

One is silver and the other gold

An old Girl Scout song goes:
Make New Friends
But keep the old
One is silver
and the other gold. These friendships speak the truth- Emma met Haley her Kindergarten year and they became fast friends. They see who can run the fastest in the P.E. sprints, they share their lunches and play "flying gerbils" on recess. They have play dates and movie afternoons. Sadly, this fall Haley will be attending a different school and Emma will have lost another best friend. This was taken at Kindergarten Graduation.

Grace is Emma's golden friend. They have been friends since Preschool when they attended First Steps as 3 year olds. They lived just a few doors down from one another and even though Gracie now lives in South Carolina, the miles mean nothing. Within just moments of reacquainting, it's like no time as passed between these two. Emma writes letters to Grace and draws pictures in her room of the 2 of them. Even though her local friends are here and present, Grace will be her best friend and it would make a mother's heart happy to watch these girls grow up together. I think those oldest of friends are the real treasures in our lives and as we mature and realize how important friends are, only then can we really appreciate watching our children forming the same bonds.

Easter Sunday

We went to church and battled little ones through the 90 minute service. We sat between many Easter Lilies( people who only come to church on Easter Sunday) most whom I had never seen before. Came home and took the boat out. We were the only people out that day and enjoyed some sun and fresh air. Had a ham dinner that night and watched Spy Kids 3-D.

About 5 minutes after taking this picture we were to find 2 baby Black Racer snakes in these bushes right behind us. They are harmless, but still, I am now on a quest to get every snake out of my yard as possible

Iron Man was in Reece's Easter Basket and is his super cool new buddy with a electronic voice that says " I am Iron Man"

Adeline was thrilled to see yet MORE Yo Gabba Gabba things in her basket. Forget the candy, that girl has yet to eat one piece. But, the Yo Gabba Gabba plastic figures are being carried around the house and shoved into strollers, tricycle baskets and purses.

The older 2 had discovered everything to be found 45 minutes before Addie came all floofy downstairs. So we had to point out a few BIG eggs the other ones had missed, so she had a few things to open.

The one thing we forgot to do this year was dye Easter Eggs. I just plain forgot and feel sad that we didn't have the pretty colored eggs on the table.

Jacks in Jax

Rick calls me Jacks, hence the heading of the blog post. Pretty creative nickname. We had a mini family reunion of the Parrish's, Rysaks and Guerreras in Jacksonville over the spring break. Even Rick's Dad took a Southwest flight down to join us. We did the zoo, beach, adventure island and St. John's Towncenter for shopping!

The fun started with a twilight easter egg hunt. Poor Adeline almost got the poopie prize that night. She was reaching for a nice doggie "present" when Aunt Emmy jumped over and stopped the travesty.

At Adventure Island you could feed the gators. So, we paid the $2 and got some Canine Carryout Dog Treats and put them on a bobby pin to feed them. Angela(my niece) here with Emma, wanted to " make them work for it!" So she kept yanking the treat up at the last minute. She had a small swarm of gators slowly circling ready for when the pole would drop down next.

I can truly say in my eventful life so far, I have never ridden in a Go-Cart. After a day at the beach, we all rode the carts. I was the picture taker this time around, next trip I would end up rippin the track up. Plus the girls in front of me, got kicked out for having a driver under 16 going nutso all over the track and hitting us. They do that one more time and I'm puttin them into the wall. This is Rick and Reece and hot on their heels is Bethany(my other niece) and Cathy.

Poor Reece kept vibrating down into his seat, so he couldn't see, so every few laps Rick had to jack him back up to be visible.

The floral fountain garden near the river's edge in the zoo

This is Emma's favorite place in the zoo. The Lorakeet feeding area. You buy sweetened water for them and then enter this caged area with tons of Lorakeets dive bombing your head. They land on your arm and lick the nectar.

The kid playarea with a giant spiderweb. This is a vertical hanging web that Reece loved to scale

A pretty zebra with soft ears

A nice picture of Bethany, Angela, Reece and Emma.

The one that DIDN'T get away

Easter afternoon we decided to take Old Moldy out, that's our boat for those not informed. OK, so it's not moldy anymore, but I think the name may have stuck. We took the boat out to the Gulf Breeze Bridge and stopped near the pilings. Within 15 minutes, using live shrimp as bait, Rick snagged this guy.

As soon as Rick's line went taunt and he yelled, Whoa, I knew we had a bigger fish.

I could see the orangy red color of it, as it got near the surface, then I caught it in the net and we hauled it in. This is the biggest fish Rick has caught yet, about 1 1/2 feet long.

It had a black spot on it's tail which is to fool other predators that it has an eye there, so it appears to see where it just came from. We found out from a neighbor that it is a Red Fish and are good eats. BUT, we being the bleeding hearts( yes Rick is too apparently), pulled the hook free and told him to return to his homeland. Go back to your babies big fish and remember " giant shrimp dangling on the surface are NOT to be eaten". Maybe next time we'll catch one and actually take him home. Emma wanted to put it in our gerbil tank and name it Coral. I'm sure the gerbils would've loved that. Our neighbor says he has caught a few sharks out where we were. So maybe we'll need a bigger boat the next time we fish for JAWS.

Three Easter Egg Hunts in 2 Days

Egg Hunt #1 Emma and Haley hold up their bunny creations- Emma's is FrankenBunny

Yum, jellybean cupcakes and hurray Mom didn't have to make them this time

Egg hunt #2 Inverness Home Owners Egg Hunt

Reece was so happy to get a firetruck egg, a dog shaped egg and an airplane egg

Adeline found Little Foot the bunny before the hunt started

Here's Bunny......... the VT-6 bunny costume is put to good use with Rick inside - I felt this bunny costume was the least threatening of the countless ones I've seen

Adeline as you can see, didn't care that the bunny sounded like her Dad, she was freaked out and screaming to get down!! It's funny the different reactions kids have to large stuffed people dressed like imaginary creatures. Emma never seemed to mind when she was a toddler, and one little girl kept coming up to Rick wanting hugs and kissing his belly. But then the same girl's older sister came up and flicked "Rick's" teeth with her fingers and tried pulling up the pant leg to see his real leg. Hands off sista. Poor Rick though, I wasn't aware that he had very little peripheral vision and couldn't see directly below him. So, when the itty bitty ones were walking up to him, he would just stand there waving to other kids and giving the A- OK sign and these poor little ones are just staring up at him, like what gives bunny? He never saw them.

This was a brand new costume to the squadron this spring and doesn't Murphy's Law suggest that the first 2 yr. old to sit on Rick's leg and hug him, would have melted chocolate all over his hands and face. Hey at least he wasn't peed on, right?

Candid Addie

As the 3rd child, Adeline never seems to get herself heard unless she yells or is extremely cute. So, here she is being almost offensively adorable. :)

Watching Yo Gabba Gabba on the computer while singing "go go go Brobee and Foofa"

Licking turkey that I am going to make into sandwiches for lunch and thinking she is funny for licking it

Reece made this little cowboy hat in school but refuses to wear it, but Adeline put this on the other day and invented a little cupboard game. her other cupboard game involves shoving Moxie into a cupboard and then forgetting about her until I hear the loud meowing and then the crash of pots and pans as Moxie tries to get herself out.

Punching Spiderman

This video speaks for itself. We were getting ready for bed the other night and this game developed. Reece's laugh is heart melting. I guess the game could be described as Whack-A-Spidey