Our trip to Florida

We are home from Florida! We had a wonderful time & equally wonderful weather. We stayed at the Medalist Golf Club in Hobe Sound where Jessie & Sam said their "I do's." We are so thankful that Sam's parents invited us to stay on the Medalist grounds for the weekend. It was lovely. Below are a few favorite snapshots.
(I'll post more tomorrow.)

This was our guest cottage on the driving range.

Day 1: Ready to travel. Little did we know what chaos was in store. We definitely felt like Steve Martin in Planes, Trains & Automobiles, but at least we made it to our destination!

Our little cherub relaxing on our bed in Florida. She loves to play in nothing but her diaper.

Stephan reading on the window seat in his room. He is a reading machine these days. He loves the Hank Zipzer series by Henry Winkler (the Fonz).

Testing out the water with Jude.

Even though she looks cautious in this picture, Norah just loved the grass.

Rehearsal day with flower girl Ari. Stephan practiced his reading--If Not For You by Bob Dylan.

Nic & Jessie at the rehearsal dinner. It was at a fun local place called Sugar Cane Bistro. Everyone got one of these hats.

Ari & Stephan checking out one of their many birds.

Gramps & Casey

The big day! Jessie looked like the cover of a wedding magazine. She was breathtaking in her dress!

The get away car from the ceremony to the reception.

My amazing bouquet

First dance!

Norah & Jude. She was quite the dancing queen for a 7 month old.

Disney Day. Stephan at Liberty Square.

After the Pirates of the Caribbean ride. Stephan has been dreaming of this exact moment!

The Frontier Land shooting gallery.

We took Norah on It's a Small World. She loved it! I may be the only other person I know who likes that ride. I really do!

The Lego displays at Downtown Disney. For Lego Man Steve, this was Heaven.

When we got home, we had a garden full of daffodils!!

More new house...

It was a warm spring weekend & when the air turned chilly tonight, Casey made the first fire in our new fire place. There was also a neighborhood bonfire last night. Many of the houses have fire pits in the backyard. (we have one too, but it is currently under our "pond") They take turns hosting bonfires for the kids in their yards. Stephan has made a lot of new friends. I cannot believe how many boys his age live on our street.

silly hats

Stephan decided to include Norah in his hat club. (He is standing behind me making her laugh--she didn't know what to do with the Davey Crocket hat on her head!) Stephan loves hats. It all started with the cowboy hat Pops bought him in Texas. Over the years he wore a Peter Pan hat, Revolutionary War hat, Civil War hat, pirate hat and jungle hat...just to name a few. When we was younger, he was even known to wear them around town. He decided Norah should try out a few hat styles as well.

More Davey Crocket. Here she is playing peek-a-boo with Stephan and Daddy-o. She loves to play this with a blanket. She is also pretty good at "So big!" which she performs for people who smile her way at the grocery store.

Ok, next hat borrowed from Stephan. She's a Sox fan already! (of course she loves the Brew Crew too)

Admiring her big brother...

Norah's new trick is to "walk" up our chests when we hold her. She thinks it is great fun, but it is awfully hard to hang onto her these days

These our the ducks in our backyard pond. It's not really a pond, but the melted snow left behind one giant puddle! There are three ducks who seem to call it home now. They play all over the backyard much to Lily's dismay. She watches them out the patio door with her nose pressed to the glass.

Zoo Day!

We took advantage of sun on a Saturday and went to the zoo. Norah was mesmerized by the animals & animal lover Stephan amazed us with all of his wildlife facts.

Outside the cheetah area. Every animal was so playful! I have never seen all of the animals so wild.

Checking out the zebras...they were particularly, um, frisky. It was not necessarily a G rated show.

Watching the spider monkeys...

This gorilla enjoyed his lettuce...
(photo by Stephan)

...this one prefers the grocery bag!
(photo by Stephan)

Golden Lion Monkey
(photo by Stephan)

Know what you buy: We learned that wild orangutans will be extinct in 10 years due to the production of palm oil. Unfortunately, it is in just about everything. Of course, I had to Google it when we got home. Go to www.orangutan.com to find a list of products that contain palm oil & those that use orangutan-friendly, sustainable palm oil (RSPO). I was surprised that some of my favorite products (Ben & Jerry, say it aint so!) use it, even some of the "eco-friendly" health care products we buy.

Happy Easter!

Easter dinner at Pops and Liza's house. They prepared a wonderful meal. Aunt Shelly came up from Chicago to join us.

Norah's new bunny from friend Rocio. Norah loves it, especially its feet!

Good Friday brought 10 1/2 inches of snow!
(this is looking out our front door...you can barely see the street)

(part of our back yard)

Chocolate milk & Banana Bread

Here we are out for Stephan's favorite treat...chocolate milk & banana bread. If it were up to him, he would eat it daily! I think the coffee shop baristas thought I was weird for snapping so many photos, but I can't help it!

Norah gets SO excited when she sees herself in the mirror or looks at babies in books & photos. She loves to give the babies a kiss!

Measuring spoons make great toys!

It's still winter!

Hanging out before school. Stephan wakes up and plays with Norah before he does anything else!

I can't resist the messy face pictures. Poor Stephan has about two dozen messy face pictures in his baby album.

Cousin Reese scooting around in the fire truck. Stephan received it as a gift from Grandma and Grandpa and now Reese is the next cousin on that side of the family to take it for a ride.

Norah playing with Great Aunt Kris in the saucer.

Cousins Richard and Christopher with Stephan.