He makes my heart swell

My grandson is full of energy and life! It is so hard to get him to sit still long enough for a photo.  Trains are one of his passions though so it worked in my favor. . . momentarily.

I get lots of goofy grins or closed eyes - that's his idea of a great pose, lol. Check out the dirt on his knee. I chased him all over the place trying to get a few decent shots, then I gave up and took what I could get.

This is Twister at age 3, and that's exactly what I'll tell 10 year old Twister when he asks me why he has funny faces in all his toddler photos.

Apparently, he has an affection for huge rocks too.  Can you see the orneriness in that face?!

At least he slows down long enough to enjoy the dandelions.  This was near the end of our time in the park, can you see all the yellow on his shirt?  That's from rolling in the yellow dandelions, he had the pollen all over him, lol.

I could use a little joy today, this, my 4 year survivor anniversary, it will be a full day - seeing the oncologist this afternoon and getting my 4th butterfly tonight - but the joy this boy brings to my heart can wash away my worries and fears.

Macro Monday Skittles

I'd like to introduce you to Skittles. He's a blue parakeet and belongs to my daughter. I had opportunity to babysit for a week and I really enjoyed having him around.

But he's a little nervous so this is as close as I could get.

Time is calming him some, but he also has a new friend and that's helping a lot. I don't have photos of his new friend yet though.

I also want to take a moment to tell my husband, "Happy Anniversary! The best decision I have ever made in my life was saying yes to you! Thank you for always being here!"

Macro Monday is easy to play, snap a macro (or any close-up) photo, post it on your blog and come back here and sign MckLinky. Don't forget to visit each other. :)

Love is. . .

I love that Tristan loves his baby sister so much! I love that she puts up with it.  She's over a year old and he still loves to kiss her all the time.

I love that Twister loves flowers!

I love that Addy gets more independent every day!

I love that when you ask Twister to hug his sister this is what happens.  I also love that you can see a hint of a smile on her face even though her brother is trying to pull her head off, lol.

I love that kisses fix so many things!

Little Blue Heron?

Is he a Little Blue Heron? Juvenile? I dunno, but I enjoyed watching him groom.

Gotta new club

My husband and I are preparing to celebrate 7 years of wedded bliss and this is his anniversary present. I had to snap a quick cell photo of it right after getting it before he took it on the course early the next morning.  (Notice his tight grip still on it, lol)

I love the color, I mean that's what's important, right?! And for those of you who don't golf, this club was marked $665! OUCH! Good thing it was on sale or he would not have got it.  But he treats me well with plenty of Coach purses (and shoes, wallets, planners, etc) so I guess he deserves something big every now and again, lol.  ANd FYI, his game did not improve. . .yet.

Brown Pelicans and Black Vultures

As we went to find a campsite in Flamingo (Everglades National Park) a ranger told us about the crocodile that had been on the opposite bank and we went to look for him. We never did see a Florida crocodile, just lots of alligators. But we found some pelicans. The fellow above is a juvenile Brown Pelican.

I think he's pretending to be a statue.

I find it funny that the adult Brown Pelicans aren't really brown.

We had a little bit of time to look around before dark. Haden found this spider.

I'm pretty sure this isn't blood in the water, such a large area was this color we're thinking there's some mineral or something making the water red. Very odd.

Before leaving the park the next morning we stopped to walk a trail and take some bird photos. We were surprised to see signs warning about black vultures attacking/damaging vehicles. Near one of the signs was this vulture strung up, I assume as a warning to other vultures.

I don't think it works, lol.

I don't find them near as creepy as the turkey vultures we have at home.

Hosted by Cecilyand Mom24

Early bird

I'm not sure if Florida just has glorious sunrises everyday, or if the fact that I'm not a morning person keeps me from noticing the same type of sky at home Wisconsin.

Either way, I'm sure we don't have palms full of birds up here.