Miami Metro Zoo

We spent Thanksgiving in Orlando with Erica, Dana, Carmine and Cruz. It was a lot of fun. We left a day early to go to Miami for the night. We went to the Miami Metro Zoo. Grace loved the animals. She kept making her elephant sound, but got scared when she saw the elephants. She was getting tired by the time we got to the giraffes, but she stopped her tired temper tantrum long enough to feed the giraffes. We enjoyed the zoo so much that we bought an annual pass. I can't wait to go to the zoo again.

Santa Baby

This is our third year of taking Grace to see Santa. I am kind of strange about Grace seeing Santa. I don't want photos of Grace with a bad looking Santa and I like her to be dressed up and looking cute. Mission accomplished this year. Santa was great and Grace looked adorable in her blue Christmas dress with matching shoes. I was pleasantly surprised that Grace didn't have a meltdown with Santa. We didn't get any smiles, but we got typical funny Grace face photos.

Happy Veteran's Day!

We went to the Veteran's Day Parade here in Key West today. We had a great time. Grace got a ton of candy and LOVED waving her flag around and waving to everyone. She enjoyed the fire trucks, and even the bagpipes that played in the band. It made me so proud to see her waving her little flag and her little hand at the Service Men and Women who were marching in the Veteran's Day Parade. Thank you to all the men and women who have served or are currently serving in the Military. Happy Veteran's Day.

Yee Haw?

Perhaps Grace has seen Toy Story too many times, matter of fact I know she has. I was editing photos on the computer when I kept hearing Grace say her version of "yee haw." I turned around and about fell out of my chair laughing when I saw her straddling the foot pedal to Brandon's base drum, rearing it up and saying "Yee Haw!" She has such a great imagination to think of that as a horse, and no, she doesn't need a pony for Christmas.

Afternoon Fun

After the circus and after Grace's nap we still wanted to enjoy the beautiful afternoon. Brandon took Grace out to ride her bike. She is starting to get the hang of it and enjoy it a lot more. She is even learning to steer it by herself. It is so amazing to see how she has progressed since she got it in September. The bike ride took us to the park where Brandon, Carrera, Grace and I all played on the equipment. I'm not sure what Grace likes more, swinging or sliding. Who knows... She had fun though.

Circus

They had a free Circus on base today. It was a small one, but a good chance to introduce Grace to the Circus. She liked the trapeze artists and the dogs. She didn't pay too much attention to the clowns though. What she really liked however was the elephants. She was so excited to see and ride on an elephant. We didn't get to stay through the entire performance because she REALLY needed a nap, but I'm glad we got the opportunity to take her!

Swimming Lessons

Now that Grace is getting older I see a lot of Brandon's personality in her as well as mine. Thankfully she has inherited Brandon's love of the water. She is such a little fish and always asks to go to the "pooh wa wa." To calm my fears and to let her enjoy the water more I enrolled her in swimming lessons. Her first lesson was on Thursday. The instructor made it a fun game by encouraging her to kick and splash as well as blow bubbles in the water. He tried to make her reach and paddle towards the pool toys. She had a great time and didn't want to get out of the water. Hopefully after a few more weeks she'll start to get the hang of swimming.