"Free & Easy Down the Road I Go"

We are well adjusted back to our life in Florida and have had a very relaxing week.  We arrived back home Easter weekend, which was fairly uneventful, with both of us working.  Easter Sunday, though, Carly and I got up and went to church just like any other Sunday.  Our church normally has about 300 people attend each week and we had close to 900 people Easter Sunday!  Both services were filled to the brim & there were chairs out in the foyer with no standing room available.  On the one hand, what a blessing that so many heard the good news that Jesus is ALIVE but on the other...wow...I don't think I realized how many folks are the type that only go to church for Christian holidays.  Yikes.  At any rate, here was our best shot at an Easter photo in our pretty dresses:

That afternoon we met a friend on the Boardwalk for some ice cream and beach time.  I am still finding sand in and on things around our house from not bathing Carly the minute we stepped in the door.  She had so much fun throwing the sand around that she looked like she had a terrible case of dandruff.  Haha.  We also stopped by Coronado Springs to see Daddy, since it was Easter Sunday and all.  It was a bit spontaneous, however, so we had eaten lunch before leaving the house.  I thought our Easter lunch was so humorous, being that we had just returned from a two week vacation and didn't have much food in the house, that I decided to capture it on film for laughs later in life.  "Hey, remember that one Easter when Carly & I had a cheese tortilla, a can of tuna and some crackers as our fancy feast?" 

That evening I had planned to make a ham and all the bells and whistles that accompany that, but after driving to 3 grocery stores figured out that everything was closed on Easter Sunday!  How great is that?!  I am immersed in this world here that never closes, and certainly doesn't acknowledge exclusive Christian holidays, so I made the assumption I could do my grocery shopping that day.  I was pleasantly surprised that all the stores were closed and was more than happy to figure something else out for dinner.  My Mom's frozen lasagna saved the day once again, and we were able to have a homemade dinner despite not having any cooking ingredients in the house. :)

Monday & Tuesday were some of the best chil days ever.  No plans but to snuggle and play with my little girl.  It has been beautiful out this week so we spent plenty of time playing outside.  Her and I both greatly benefitted from some down time, that's for sure!  One thing of note is that Carly still won't drink cow's milk, so I decided that I needed to find a way to get some calcium and dairy in the kid.  So, every day this week I've made a smoothie for her per Carley's recommendation: strawberries, raspberries, banana, spinach, grape juice, milk & yogurt.  They are delicious and she chugs them down!  We even went to the store to get her a straw sippy cup so she could carry it around with her.  After taking her first big drink, she began to cry...I wondered what was wrong and she started shaking her head.  The poor girl had a brain freeze!! Despite feeling slightly bad for her, I laughed out loud and grabbed my own and said, "ouch! Do you have a brain freeze?" It became a game and each time she took a drink she would grab her head or mine and say, "oouuuuieee."  This clip doesn't do it justice, but it was pretty humorous.

Wednesday we took a trip to the splash pad in Celebration.  There were a million kids running around so it was rather intense trying to keep them from running Carly over, but she had a wonderful time! Here are some pics from that!

giggling girl

determination.

The day was made complete by spotting this big fella in the lake right by the splash pad!

That's about it.  Nothing too terribly interesting, which means the week was composed of perfection.  I'm looking forward to another few days hanging out alone with my sweet girl. :)