June update

Sophia went fishing with her BaBa. I tagged along this time. After a lot of patience they finally caught a fish. It was a tiny fish but the excitment it brought was huge. It is so nice so see a father and daughter do things together. Steve is totally involved with all his children. I don't see too many fathers as involved as he is.


Katie graduated from middle school this year. We went to New Jersey to attend the graduation. We are so proud of Katie. She has grown so much. She had a blast introducing Sophia to all her friends. Katie and Nick both share a special bond with Sophia.


Anne's friend, Tracy came up to visit. She and her daughter and another mom and daughter went to DC and New York on this trip. We were able to spend a night with them. Sophia had a blast playing with Tracy's daughter, Julianna and her friend. It was so nice to catch up with Tracy. We have been friends since we were in kindergarten. She moved to Texas in third grade but came back to visit and spent a whole summer one year. We have been in touch since. Seeing Tracy was so much fun.


Sophia and I went to pick some rasberries. We had such a blast. We picked red raspberries, black raspberries, tart cherries and spinach. We made smoothies, berry pancakes and a yummy syrup as a dessert topping. We can't wait to go again.

Florida!!

Sophia and I were lucky enough to spend a week in Florida with Heather and Katlyn. It was such an awesome trip. She stayed at Heather's dad's house. The house is right on the Sarasota Bay. It was beautiful. Sophia and I went down a couple of years ago for a few days but this time we decided to stay the whole week.

The girls got along great. We went to the beach, the pool, mini-golfing, a farm where they rescue animals, a park, an aquarium and shopping.

One night we brought dinner to the beach. The seagulls swarmed. One was trying to get a chicken leg from Sophia. I took the chicken to get the bird away from her and in seconds that bird swooped down and stole the chicken leg right from my hand. It was wild.

It is hard to say what our favorite part was. I enjoyed the sunsets on the beach. Heather and I brought snacks and something to drink and enjoyed the sunset while the girls dug in the sand and played at the shore line. There were some hammerhead sharks and sting rays sited in the area so we made sure the girls did not go far into the water.