Field trip - Reptile Discovery center

Some of you might say “What Reptile thing, did you not just go skiing!?”  As that is true we did actually go on a field trip right before our vacation and I have been too busy vacationing so I need to tell you about that first :-)

With our CC coop we went to the Reptile Discovery Center to watch and learn about reptiles. We went there many years ago and it was fun to be back. We had a guided tour outside and then a visit inside where they have snakes and show you when they milk snakes on their venom (to use as anti venom for snake bites) and the kids could also hold snakes. It was an exciting day!

After the field trip we picked up Alex at the airport in Daytona and then meet up with our friends again for lunch.  A great day!

Petting and African turtle. 

Yay for cold weather, and our new (temporary) pet

Ever since our weekend in Jacksonville it’s been pretty chili here. So in other words, totally wonderful! We have had to put on warmer clothes (some days and during parts of the day) and the heat has been on in the house. I love it! 

Alex was out of town for a couple of days last week and me and David went axe throwing with some friends. It was a lot of fun!





Noah’s and Marlee’s zoology class has a class pet, a leopard gecko. It was finally our turn to have it and the boys I’ve enjoyed it so far (it’s only been a day :-). The gecko eats live crickets that we have to feed and take care of, too. They are pretty grouse, if you ask me.. but the gecko, named Pascal, is pretty cute. (I have not touched it yet)







I did get hold of some better pictures from Aunt Jackie’s birthday party so here they come :-)

Happy 1st Birthday David!!! Lost tooth and hundreds of Manatees!

We are finally all well (except for David with some minor night cough) and we have had some exciting days this week. It started on Tuesday when Raffi suddenly lost a tooth!? It was like a Deja Vue from when Noah lost his first tooth, no one knew it was loose and then he just suddenly lost it. Except, this time it was not even one of the very front tooth, it was the next in line. Not sure I have ever seen someone loosing one of those before the front ones… well, he is still happy as a clam like always! 

Wednesday we went on a field trip to Blue Springs. Lots of manatees come there during the winter to escape the cold rivers. The springs stay the same temperature all year around. The day we went it was really cold and rainy and more than 400 manatees were “hiding” in Blue Springs. What an amazing scene!! 

So much fun but maybe the most exciting news is that David turned ONE YEAR today!!! That sweet little booger! Between coop and work we did not have much chance to celebrate him (and luckily he is unaware of what a big day it is) but we did have cake after dinner and we lo sang for him. It was the first sweet thing he had gotten and he did not like it much 😂

School started and we have been sick

We managed to go to one coop and then we got sick and had two stay home for a week. Not all of us got sick but I didn’t and little David. The others had some cough and runny nose. We all got through it okay and now it is only David who does not feel great. He is teething though so that might have something to do with it. 

We have not seen a lot of people lately because of the coughing but we all went to the beach to enjoy absolutely beautiful weather and we have gone to one birthday party. 

The birthday party was at a park in Palm coast which has some great play areas, of which one is a hill where you can slide down in cardboard. The closest we can get to sledding here :-)





Snotty baby at the beach 





Marlee got to go to his first Dance ever!! I felt strange to just drop him off but I had plenty of friend helping out at the event so they kept an eye on my boy ❤️

My creating Gabriel will never let ANYTHING go to waste. Making a boxman is both fun and creative!



Alex got a dehydrator for his birthday in December. We finally had time to tear it out! Fruits and home made beef jerky! 





We have done some school outside in the afternoon. It has still been too hot to be I. The sun so we have stayed in the shade. Gabriel likes to sit in the little cart while doing school 😂


This weekend we went to Jacksonville for cousin Chris’ memorial and Aunt Jackie’s birthday party. It was good to see family and the party was a lot of fun! Unfortunately, I didn’t get very many good pictures.  









The boys had a lot of fun with their older cousins. 

Now we are on the way back to Ormond beach..

Counting down the days until school starts

Beach, birthday parties and baby David - that’s what 2022 had been like so far. We celebrated New year with the cousins until they left after dinner. Then we went over to some friends house to wait for the new year to start. It was a good night and all but David and Raffi stayed awake :-)

Beach day with the cousins. Hole and tunnel building. Marlee tried to surf but the waves were very small. 

The weather has been gorgeous. We have been outside quite a bit but it still feels like too little. While we had lunch outside the other day we had a little visitor- a land turtle. He was not very scared at all and happily ate the cucumbers we gave it. 





The kids got a new swing for de Leon springs for Christmas. Alex put it up the other day and the boys are so happy!



The big news is that this little guys is walking a lot now!!! Watch out!!