Celebrating the 4th

Our town has one of the larger celebrations in the Tampa Bay area. The morning parade meanders along the neighborhood golf course and makes its turn for the home stretch just slightly more than a block from the house. Aimee, Louisa, Scott and I (the latter two lamenting the late night departure from the Tiny Tap Bar) mindlessly watched seeminlgy every business, politician and church parade along with make shift floats and embellished cars and trucks. Louisa especially enjoyed the beads and candy tossed out by most floats to the huddled masses along the lightly crowded avenues.

Later in the evening we went to the first tee of the neighborhood golf course for the fireworks show. The fairway and streets were thick with picnicing families, many with golf carts, lounging and letting off their own explosives prior to the official show. Louisa was slightly taken back by the loud cracks and bangs of the fireworks, but she stayed tight in Aimee's lap and seemed to maintain a quiet balance of awe and confusion. The slow cadence of the bursts enticed her to sit back once the show had ended and tap her tiny hands together and ask for "mo, mo, mo." Her pronunciation of more.

Starting a family blog.

It has been a busy time for the three of us and we've missed being able to share in the lives of our friends and family like we did when we lived in DC. So, I'll attempt to keep this blog fresh with images and stories of Louisa, as well as other major events--like living without a kitchen.

Included is a photo of Lousia gladly recreating her method of escape from her crib at our new (old) house in Temple Terrace, northeast of downtown Tampa and less than a mile from Aimee's university-the University of South Florida. We bought Louisa a pair of blue Crocs (the funny rubber clogs) the day prior and her fondness for them compelled her to scurry out of her crib to retrieve them from the living room the next morning.

Feeling that there was no turning back, we decided to take down her crib and let her sleep on the mattress on the floor. Big mistake! She spent the remainder of the day launching herself off of her dresser to her mattress. And after nearly five hours of trying to get her to at least lay still in her bed that night, we put the crib back together at 1:30 in the morning. Thankfully there haven't been any break outs since. She now simply yells "Mommy, Mommy, Mommy, Daddy, Mommy..." at around 7:30 every morning.

We are really enjoying our new house, but the decision to demo our kitchen completely and put in a new one has been a bit overwhelming. We now have a proper grill (thanks to Phil and Carleen) and are using a utility sink and plywood on saw horses as our "kitchen."

The pool is lots of fun, but it too causes headaches due to the constant maintenance. Louisa really enjoys it though and welcomes any visitors that will join her for a refreshing swim in this punishing Florida heat.