Warm Mineral Springs

Ezra, Grandma and I went to the lovely, peaceful Warm Mineral Springs in North Port, Florida the other Saturday. It is supposedly the "Fountain of Youth". I don't know about that, but the water felt great. It was also quite an interesting mix of people, mostly Eastern Europeans with large sun hats and dark lipstick speaking in their aggressive sounding tongues. Ezra loved it. Swimming was slightly easier for him as the mineral water made him more buoyent. He brought one of his inflatable dinosaurs. It was perfect.


We brought this lovely quilt and weren't even attacked by fire ants.


We also drank a delicious smoothie and a beet, ginger, wheatgrass, garlic drink that left me feeling Healthy with a capital H.


Ezra and Grandma relaxing, and wait, he's smiling! He never smiles for pictures! There must be something funny going on here...


Oh it's because he thinks it's hilarious to put string cheese on his head.


It was a calming day.


On the ride home Ezra dabbled in photography and surprise! He also likes to take pictures of his feet.

Sailor Circus

Ezra, Grandma and I went to the Sailor Circus on Thursday night. It was fantastic! All the performers were youth ages 8-18 and there was unicycles, juggling, high wire, acrobatics, rings, tissue, and even the flying trapeze. It was really cool to see kids performing, feeling so proud and knowing the dedication that it took to put on such a show. Of course now Ezra wants to be in the circus, which is fine with me.


He might just want to be in the circus so that he can eat cotton candy everyday. We bought him a bag and he ate it SO FAST.


I gave in and bought him this ray gun (I know, a gun) and he delighted in it's obnoxious noise and light the whole way home.

Sorry no shots of the circus, but they said no photography.

Christmas Eve Lunch

We went out for lunch at Sharky's with Grandma. It was delicious. Coconut breaded shrimp and macadamia grouper, yes please!

Ezra got a fancy drink that he enjoyed immensely if you can imagine.

The Boy & His Grandma

He loves her, he really does, he just will not smile for the camera these days.
We tried, many times, as you can see.





Miss you Grandma!

Robots, Cousins, Sunshine, Rain

The latest favorite past time is being robots. Bucket on head=robot. We chase each other around and do robot dances. It's pretty awesome.

Pleasant Lake was overwhelmed with the visit of (from L to R) Hanna, Ella, Ezra, Connor, and Isaac. They swam, swam, swam and watched local favorites Mamma Mia and Cottage Cheese.
Bread Man is a hero among this crowd.

Sparkly water tube time with Grandma.

Crackers at Itasca State Park Beach. We saw a snapping turtle and a crawfish! They're doing some construction on the building site, to explain the orange fence. Ezra's sunglasses collection is growing!

Thanks for the underdog, Grandpa!

In his swimsuit, with his umbrella, in the rain, eagerly awaiting the sun.

Da Boat

Yesterday we took a putt putt around the lake on the old pontoon. Ezra drove, and he's got some skillz but just needs to work on paying attention to where he's going. A wide open expanse of water might be the perfect place for driving lessons.

True Hick

He does love the neighbor's John Deere. Unfortunately, he will no longer be able to sit on this gorgeous green tractor. Why? The locals have too many horror stories of toddlers and tractors. One told of the dad holding a 3 year old on his lap while he cut the grass and the tot rolled off and his feet were severed. Another was worse, I won't recount it cause I don't want to bum you out. However, let's just keep toddlers and tractors apart.

On to safer ways to play...

Closely supervised under a card table covered with blankets!

On the pontoon wearing a life jacket!

Playing in the dirt!

Trying on Grandma's glasses!

Play it safe out there folks. Off to read some bedtime stories...

Where Ezra gets his Adorableness

Minnesota: Grandpa's Garden

Ezra and Grandpa on the shores of Lost Lake

We are quite the movers and shakers this month. From Guatemala to Portland to Minnesota! Ezra has racked up quite the frequent flier miles. He has become very plane saavy. Shortly after boarding he falls asleep, and wakes up upon landing. Everyone around coos how wonderful he is, and I agree. The flight to Minnesota was really nothing, three hours with no connections. Compared to the eight hour (not including connections) trip to Guatemala it was like a stroll around the block.

The first day here we spent with the lovely Marla. I'll post some pictures of our time at the Como Zoo in St. Paul as soon as she sends me some (wink wink Marlsipoo). I'll save some details, but a highlight was certainly the baby orangatang.

Then we headed up to Pleasant Lake to spend some time with Grandma. There's no photos of this time because my camera decided to drain batteries of their juice when not in use. Bummer dude indeed. Highlights of Grandma's include: a bag a frogs, insects, snakes, turtles and the occasional pirate, a farm set up complete with animal noises and an annoying rendition of Old McDonald Had a Farm (not annoying at all for the wee one), and Lucy the cat who loves to rub up against Ezra, the tip of her tail licking the underside of Ezra's nose.

We'll go back to Grandma's next week and hopefully take some photos of the two love birds together. He does love Grandma. Who wouldn't?

Thankfully here at Grandpa's house Uncle Nate has a camera that he let me use for a photo session this morning. Grandpa has quite an impressive garden, and Ezra enjoyed grazing the strawberries, tomatoes, broccoli, basil, and green beans. There are many more veggies to be had, and tonight at dinner we will see whether or not Ezra likes sweet corn. I think he will, but I'm not always right. (He didn't like Grandpa's famous home made waffles! He did however scarf the sausage. He's a savory guy.)

At the entrance to the garden, with an appetizer of a ritz cracker.

He loves the cherry tomatoes.

Sometimes he figures out to bite them.

Picking broccoli (the leaves anyway).

Fresh from the soil.

Thank goodness for teeth. Sitting on the new porch on the new porch swing catching some rays.

Inspecting the leaves of his apple tree.

We're off to Itasca State Park! Perhaps a photo tour will spontaneously occur...

Happy Sunday!

The Many Faces of Ezra Diego

The Bee

The David Bowie Fan


Grandma's Boy at the Farmers' Market getting a special hat

Peas in a Pod

His hat is finished! And he won't leave it on.

Balloon Maker in action

Marker Face.