Surprise Dad!

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The other weekend, Jeff, myself, Tyndell, and my parents flew up to Delaware for Jeff's Dad's SURPRISE 65th Birthday party! We started the weekend off with a nice lunch on the waterfront and then went on a really cool train/hay ride during the evening (Tyndell kept saying "doo-doo!" i.e. Choo-Choo!) on the Wilmington-Delaware Railroad. The next day we got to catch a glimpse of Kaitlyn's soccer game before getting ready for the party - and surprisingly to us - Dad WAS, in fact, surprised (Keeping secrets is pretty rare in this family)! He had no idea and had a great time catching up with lots of friends during the evening. Unfortunately, my camera battery died at the party and I didn't get that many shots (so Smith family - sorry you aren't on here - I blame technology!) of everyone that I wanted. Thankfully, I did get a pic of the amazing "tool cake" that Mom designed prior to everyone digging in! The next day, we managed to find a few hours to visit Longwood Gardens' Conservatory which is super beautiful. As you can see - lots of great fun was had that weekend....including the fun joke played on Dad with the gorilla sign placed on the front lawn with coordinating animals. Needless to say, Tyndell had fun kissing all the birthday chickens and cows. And yes - Elmo was in tow the whole weekend and he also enjoyed the lovely flowers at the Conservatory.

And Art Begins....

Here are some fun examples of some the artwork we've been getting home from school from the past few months. I just love seeing the random splotches of paint and scribbles and wonder what Tyndell must be thinking about it all when she does it. I love the paper plate fish the best. I selfishly hope that Tyndell will be really into art so that we can color and paint together and it can be a way for her to relax later in life. We shall see....I hope to do art updates every once in a while to see how things change....

Pizza Night Kids

Every month or 6 weeks or so, we have "Pizza Night," with our other couples friends with kids. In actuality this means that whoever hosts gets the pizza and everyone else brings the beer, appetizers, and dessert for everyone and we share and let the kids run amuck for a late afternoon/early evening and then no one has to get babysitters and we all get to hang out. Anyway - these are our best friends' kids and the little cute faces that we see most often. How lovely are these little ones? In order from the left we have Madelyn, Reilly Sue, Tyndell, Samantha, Bailey, Reagan, and Max. I just LOVE these kids!

Tyndell Words - Almost 21 Months

I have been wanting to make a list of all the words that Tyndell says so that I don't forget progress. SO - I finally sat down with Jeff and my parents today to come up with a list that represents Tyndell at 21 months. Here are all the words she currently says in no particular order:

Mommy
Daddy
Apple
Elmo
Ice
All Done!
More
Please
Whoa!
Uh-oh!
Oh no!
Airplane
Socks
Shoes
Elbow
Nose
Eyes
Puppy
Happy
Giles (this is my parents' dog)
Papa (though it sounds more like Popeye)
Gigi
Frog
Tyndell
Pool
Cheese
Bye-bye!
Hi
Hey
Bus
Baby
Up
Down
Juice
Wa-wa (water)
Purple
Pee-pee on the Potty
Ears
No
Yes
Bird
Ball
Bear
Fish
Dog
Duck
Baaa!
Moo!
Quack!
Ruff-ruff!
Roar!
Stinky
Mmmm!
Flower
Owl
Tiger
Show (this means Baby Einstein Videos)
Dido (this means Choo-choo train)
Hat
Hot
Knee
Kiss
Teeth
Yabba Dabba Do
Cat
Home
Pig
Park
Turtle
Outside
Bike
Keys
Button
Feet
Ba-Da (this means banana)
This

Funny Cute Ones

How CUTE are these?!

Green Cay Wetlands Outing

A couple of weekends ago, Jeff had his boys weekend (unfortunately...or maybe fortunately there were no pictures of that event taken) and before Donald left South Florida, we met them and my parents at the Green Cay wetlands park for a nice walk. I have been wanting to go here ever since we have lived in Florida - it's an old pepper farm that was turned into a wastewater effluent treatment wetland - what a great reuse of water! Love it! Anyway - as you can see - it was so beautiful. Afterwards, we even ventured out to see one of my Dad's favorite parks where the radio controlled airplanes are flown and then went out to lunch at of course...Two Georges...the Dave and Judy hotspot. By the end, Tyndell was pretty hot and tired...so much so that she was willing to share her pootie with Elmo.

Hooray for Robin & Erik!

The other weekend, Jeff and I drove up to Orlando for the day to attend Robin & Erik's wedding! Erik is the dear son of our good friends we met from church, Lynn & Glenn, and we've been so happy to see Erik do so many cool things in his life over the last couple of years, including meeting his best friend, Robin. So - this had to be one of the coolest, most creative weddings that we've ever attended (and many of you know how many weddings we've been to). The wedding venue was at a place called the Enzian Theater, which is an old Indie moviehouse that shows old and offbeat films and the whole event was inside. There were so many cute do-it-RobinandErik-self details too - from decorations, fun music, and some awesome eco-friendliness - it was impressive. I also have to give MAD PROPS to the vegan brunch buffet! I don't think I've been to any planned affair where I didn't have to think about what I could eat b/c I could eat everything! Even the cupcakes were vegan (baked by the DJ himself)...how amazing. Best of all is that the ceremony was so meaningful and Christ-centered which was so beautiful and thought-provoking. The whole affair was beautiful, and as you can see, I couldn't stop taking pictures (except I somehow missed getting one with Lynn and me sniff, sniff). I was in love with the spanish moss covered trees - exactly what I needed to fuel my post-"Away We Go" watching needs. Note the awesome picture of Jeff with Jareth....coincidence that it was playing that week? I think not....Erik and Robin are obviously destined for good things! Anyway - it was a great and beautiful day and we are so excited to have shared it with the VL fam! Hooray!

Brandon and Carter Visit!

Last weekend, Brandon and his friend, Carter, came to visit South Florida. They decided to stay in South Beach, Miami and come up to Palm Beach County to hang on Saturday....which worked out well b/c then we all went to the Dave Matthews Band concert together that night. It was a great show and Brandon, being the cool and well-connected person that he is, got us really good seats to upgrade our tickets to - so we could actually see the band from our seats! It was amazing! On Sunday, Mom, Dad, Tyndell, and I went down to see Brandon and Carter at their hotel, The Delano (really famous South Beach hotel - look it up if you haven't heard of it), and had brunch together. It was one of the most beautiful hotels I've ever seen so I posted a pic from Brandon's room and also a few of Tyndell hanging out inside and on the front porch - check out the fun father and son shot! Unfortunately, Tyndell got so hot on this visit that she passed out immediately when we got back into the cool car to go home. Thanks for a fun weekend Brandon and Carter! It was great to catch up with you!