THE WORLD OF THE SEA

So for those of you who don't know, Natalia has always had an affinity for sea life. For the first 3 years of her life, she was extremely attached to Ocky the green Octopus and used to sleep with him every night and play with him all the time. Sometime in the past year or so, Ocky has gotten "shelved" and Shamu the whale has taken over the top spot in Natalia's bed. Besides Shamu though, Natalia is always talking about mermaids, dolphins, Nemo, and whalesharks. Maybe she will be a marine biologist?
We decided to surprise the girls this week and take them to see Shamu up close and personal. It was a great day. :) The weather was just lovely and it wasn't crowded at all, which makes for a nice family day.

Meeting Shamu. Kira wanted to take a picture with him AFTER our turn was over.


And I love the awe-stricken face of Natalia as the real Shamu swims by for the first time.



You know, you'd think she'd be more excited about standing in the middle of a flock of flamingos.


And we got to meet "Dolphee" too, as Natalia so promptly named her.

Christmas Lane

So my friend Sheila introduced me to this place called Christmas Lane. It's actually just someone's house, but every year they decorate it up like crazy and invite people to come and enjoy the Christmas fun for free. They have a gazillion lights and moving props.















They even have a train ride for the kids.

Walking with Kira

Kira loves to go-go-go. I just have to mention the word "walk" in passing, and she is grabbing her shoes with a huge smile on her face. Natalia, on the other hand, would rather just "stay home with daddy" and could care less about being outside. For this reason, you will not see any pictures of Natalia in this post. She didn't want to walk with Kira and I as we went on a search for leaves. Florida has had some lovely cold spells recently, and there is much more color to be seen in the foliage than I can ever remember. Kira loves finding the big leaves on the ground..














..and then of course she has to sit on the ground to inspect her findings, and to sing about them..
















..and then onward she goes with her loot.

I've had complaints..

.....that the Christmas pictures I have posted on the side of the blog are not big enough. So, to satisfy those who are GROANING and MOANING, I am uploading the Christmas pics here onto the blog. If you click on the, they should enlarge. And don't make fun of my picture-taking skills :P

HAPPY THANKSGIVING!!

This year for Thanksgiving we spent the day with Grandpa and Grandma Riccio.

As you can see, Natalia thoroughly enjoyed the bread.



The girls were enjoying some kettle corn here.

Grandpa and Grandma turned on their Christmas lights for the girls to see when it got dark. They really enjoyed the reindeer. I'm not sure they realized that they weren't real.