Florida Summer = Stay Indoors

There's a reason why most of these pictures are mostly inside buildings: because it's million humid degrees outside, and we don't have any summer vacation plans. So our July was mostly me & the babe at home, and Dave going to work; here's a snapshot of our lives, nonetheless.

Jessica loves practicing dressing herself--from underwear on her head, rolls of masking tape around her arm, swim diapers on one leg, and cow puppets on her feet. Now that's a moon boot.

She is improving her pretending:

And a friend gave us her kids' old "baby" grand toy piano, which is adorable next to my piano! So far Jessica can play loud, soft, black keys, white keys, and how to sit on the stool without falling off.

She loves to escape the house and play in the grass and the parking lot. (I am really looking forward to a fenced yard.)

We learned how to properly eat olives and sing "Yo-ee-oh" from the wicked witch soldiers on The Wizard of Oz:

Jessica goes over to play with her buddy Will Shurtz every week when I teach his older brother Fuller a free piano lesson. Fuller is making some of the faster progress of all my students, thanks at least partly to his mom's tutelage. In exchange they watch her for a few hours while I exercise or do errands. We've been doing it since Jessica was a few months old, and we love the Shurtz family.

The Deboskey boys, Jake and Drew, get in on the babysitting action too. These are my most energetic students (and great performers, as I saw them in the Honk! musical last week) and she loves their wild play. Just this week she learned to ask for "Dwew."

Some days we bike to the new neighborhood playground Eco-Island, and to the Busch Wildlife Sanctuary to look at the deer, foxes, armadillos, alligators, panther, snakes, racoons, etc. We've been to library storytime,  free summer movies and frozen yogurt (excuse the bad cell phone picture--I'm getting a smartphone soon),

tried PlayMobile (European LEGO-like Plasticland play place),

and Loxahatchee River Center storytime, below. She loves the nearby lighthouse so much, she pointed to our wall picture everyday for two weeks, until she learned to say "house!" (But she calls it the "blue house" because that's the only color she can say.)

Her lighthouse love probably started when my Texas friend Shannon came to visit me with 2 of her girls.

I liked the new banyan pavilion and the pioneer houses they've installed.

We also hit the turtle rehab center, which has new tanks and great kid programs:

Shannon and I were in the church women's Relief Society presidency in Austin, TX for 2 years. She and I love science, were learning Spanish, and I visit taught her, so we became good friends. Thanks for the visit Shannon!

This summer, Dave has been making the most delectable homemade ice cream in our new counter top ice cream maker (no ice, no salt, done in 15 minutes, yes!). Apparently, he let Jessica lick the spoon for the chocolate batch.

Time to wash off. (Note her Water Babies tanline. She never burns--she only gets pink brown and then fades to tan.)

Jessica suddenly one weekend started yelling at bedtime and bath time. I think it was partly sickness, and partly fear peeing/pooping in the tub. So I took a week persuading her to enjoy bathing again. It took new toys, getting in with her, and a few baths with swim diapers, but she likes it again.

Well, that's all we have pictures of. Dave is out of town this week, and we'll sure be glad when he's back. Thanks for your updates, and have a great summer.