Thursday, July 29, 2010

VBS

It is Vacation Bible School week at FUMC. Both boys are crew leaders this year and they are having more fun than they thought. Laine is participating and having a great time learning about Jesus. It has been a great week on our High Seas Expedition with one more day to go. Ahoy Matey !!

Sunday, July 25, 2010

You're a Good Man Charlie Brown





Walker and a few select kids from Warren Acting Company were chosen for a special project "You're a Good Man Charlie Brown". Walker played Linus complete with blue blanket. It was a great show. The kids did a fantastic job and had us laughing so hard we were in tears.

More photos can be seen at www.warrenactingcompany.org

Wednesday, July 21, 2010

Scalloping 2010


This year we went scalloping out of Homosassa. We stayed in a beautiful house along the Homosassa River with its own boat dock. We went with the whole Gilmet family and had a great time. Our only mis-hap was Garrett decided to try and wrestle a jelly fish. Garrett was the only one to get up close and personal with a jelly fish in fact that was the only one we saw all weekend. It wrapped it's tentacles around his upper arm and left raised lines across his bicep and the ends hit his torso. It stung pretty bad but the vinegar we were told to bring, just in case this happened, really helped. Within 20 minutes he was back in the water and by the next morning the welts were gone.



Here we go ! Scallops look out !



A great big bag of loot. I loved going out with my boys, one on each side. All I had to do was float and point and they dove down to retrieve my find. Nice and relaxing for the Mama.

Dad on the other hand wanted to get all the scallops he could find too. So it was a nice Ford competition when the 3 of them went out together.




Last year Laine had fun just jumping off the boat. This year she not only ventured off the boat but snorkeled on her own and saw lots of fish. She started to see scallops and before I knew it she dove down right next to me to get her own. She was so proud. She held on to that scallop showing everyone and telling them "this is my scallop, I got it all by myself." One scallop was enough though and she went back to snorkling.





Papa went too and was in charge of counting the loot bags and making sure the scallops had enough water.

After we had a full day of scalloping, getting as many as we could find then came the fun part. We discovered a shop vac and assembly line worked quit well and actually did not take too long.

Each day when we came back in, dolphins would swim around the boats. It was great to see but hard to photograph. We also saw a sea turtle or two. What a great weekend.



Tuesday, July 20, 2010

A Boating Weekend in Florida





A relaxing Saturday on the boat. The kids had fun tubing. Laine is still not too fond of the Christmas present but hopefully she'll change her mind soon. Garrett had fun driving so Daddy could relax with Laine, at least for a few minutes. What a great day in the sun.

Sunday, July 11, 2010

Laine's New Friend

Laine wanted a pet of her very own so this is Laine's new Beta fish, King Triton. King Triton lives in sparkly bowl with his own castle. She did a great job picking everything out for his new home. She is very proud and has done a good job taking care of him.

Garrett's Trophy

Garrett finally got his trophy for the Doubles Tennis Tourney he played with Kirk. Another one to add to the almost full shelf. :)

Monday, July 5, 2010

FCAT Scores are in!

We are pleased to announce that FCAT scores are in (the Florida standardized tests) and both boys scored all 5s. The scores are from 1-5 so both boys did outstanding. Walker's tests for 6th grade were in reading and math and Garrett's for 5th grade were reading, science and math.

We also received final report cards while we were away and all 3 kids scored all As (well Laine's were 4s but same thing) We are now the proud parents of a 7th grader, a 6th grader and a 1st grader. We are very proud of all their hard work. Two weeks at the beach was a well deserved break for the Ford kids :)

We're Back from the Beach



We had a wonderful 2 weeks at the beach. The Weather was perfect and we are tan Floridians. There are so many pictures I'll try to post enough for you all to share in the great time we had.
Above is our view from the condo, the tent city on the beach was our little refuge from the sun.




Boogie Boarding :)




Skim Boarding, the boys got really good this year.


Laine's friend Lily and her family came to play for a day. We had fun.

Shore fishing, fun but we did not catch much.


















In our group there were 21 kids, all middle school age and younger. Of the 21 kids only 4 were girls so Laine's friend Kylie came and spent the 2nd week with us.







Crabbin' at Night



Papa came over for a day. Have to get him used to being a Floridian :)