Month: November 2016

We spent Sunday decorating the outside of the house and then the evening putting up the tree. Mom did all the branches (with the cats help of course!) and put on all the lights. Then B and I added all the ornaments.

We talked a bout some of the memories and ornaments as we put them on the tree. Mom was impressed with my memory of details about making some ornaments and where we got others.

All done and looking for the pickle ornament! I was bound and determined to be the first to find it. It was hidden really well this year.

I found it! Then I got to hide it for B to find! 🙂

I spent Monday through Wednesday at Practically Pikkasso at art camp. I had a blast painting mugs, plates, canvas and many other surprises Mom and Dad don’t know about yet!

This was my favorite. It is “Sharktopus”! He is from a movie I saw. I think my teacher thought I was NUTS! All the other kids were painting tress and holiday themes for their Santa cookie plates. I made… SHARKTOPUS!

Our evenings were spent with quiet games and toys. I love building with the plank blocks.

Thursday, Thanksgiving, Dad had some motorhome chores so Mom took us to Safety Harbor to do out first ever 5K! It was called the Gobble Wobble! It was a lot of fun but got hot quickly.

We made it to the turnaround point!

It was a good turnout for a free event with no medals! A lot of people were over at the Turkey Trot in Clearwater. This was more low key and we had a great time. We even stopped along the way to watch the mangrove crabs climbing on the bridges.

Happy Thanksgiving to everyone!

We spent the long weekend camping at Blue Spring State Park. The first night we were walking back from the bathroom in the dark and I jumped to get out of the way of a car and misjudged Breighton’s location and crashed into him. This lead to me skinning two knees, badly skinning an elbow and arm, and having bruises all over my back. Mom got me cleaned up and dad got me bandaged up. We cut socks to slide over to hold on the gauze and keep oozing off my sheets. An ice cream cone helped distract me as the tylenol kicked in.

Feeling better and excited for manatees! There were about 15 that we saw in the morning. The nights were getting colder so we were in high hopes of seeing many more.

Friday we went out to a “surprise”. I was so excited to go to the make your own pancake place! It is called Old Sugar Mill. I loved my pancakes with peanut butter mixed in and chocolate chips on top.

We explored De Leon Springs , where the restaurant was located, and headed back to Blue Spring for the afternoon. 

We walked along the boardwalk at Blue Spring and saw many manatee and a rather huge gator! This was a cool sculpture of a manatee too!

We took an eco boat tour along the St. Johns River and saw many more critters. We learned a lot of history of the area.

There were lots of wading birds and even a few alligators.

The river was so calm and peaceful. I am glad we took the morning tour because the tour was near empty too!

On Sunday we got up really early and explored the spring head again. The temperature was a chilly 45F! There were lots of manatees in the spring head this morning. We watched them roll and play for a long time.

We had a 4-H club meeting at the beach and caught all sorts of cool critters.

We raced hermit crabs.

Then we did a beach cleanup. I collected the most and got a special prize!

I really took it seriously and willing picked up trash!

Thursday we helped Mom set up for the Pinellas Country Fair booth for 4-H. We ended up combining tents and moved all the tables and chairs a few times to get everything perfect.

Friday we ran over to Legoland for the day with Dad and Mom. I was goofy as usual.

I was in charge of driving the boat until we came by waster squirters and then Dad took over and got us both soaked!

We walked around the old Cypress Gardens and explored the plants and trees.

Saturday we spent a long time at the Country Fair running the 4-H table. I found out that my photo received 3rd place for juniors!

I also learned how to start a fire with flint and steal!

That evening we zipped over to Disney to see the trees at Disney Springs. We acted out all of the movies as we came across the trees.

Sunday we finished the playhouse and tried out the new swings!

Sunday night we spent some family time out walking and Pokemon hunting in Dunedin!

Our final 4-H club meeting of the year! After learning about fish scales we scaled the tree for some photos.

I was a sloth!

Mom thought this was a cute photo of the kitties! Storm isn’t little anymore! Every night you can find Storm and Crystal curled up in the car tree together. I think we need a larger cat tree?

 

I am finally coming around to this diving thing. Every class I get more and more brave.

We have spent the evenings working on material for the Marine Ecology Contest. I have been working extra hard.

The contest was on Saturday so Friday we drove over and stayed in a hotel near by. We spent some time at Disney Springs.

We were up early and to the contest and eager to go. I was nervous and decided I never wanted to do this again. It was so many people!

As I went through the sections I got more and more comfy. I had a good reader with me who acted more as my emotional companion.

It was finally over! Time to relax and let our brains go jiggly.

We were able to walk though and see the samples with the names on them. I figured I missed 2. Sometimes the contests are really close in scores so I figured I didn’t get anything. The awards started. I got an honorable mention for a photograph I took! I called it Kayak Resting Place.

The team awards were next. Pinellas County Juniors got 2nd place!!! YAY! I was so excited!

Individual awards are always so hard to win. I knew for sure I missed two so figured I was eliminated. Somehow I got 2nd place! There was a 3 way tie for 1st place! I skipped and giggled all the way to get my award.

SO HAPPY and excited!

I am the youngest kid on the team and this was my first year competing.

 

Showing off our awards!

We got back in town and spent the weekend setting up fish tanks and then getting new fish. Most of my fish died before the weekend was up but I am hopeful we will find a happy balance for them.

Celebrating my good week with some crazy twisty jumping things at diving class.

 

 

We had an amazing time at the campground. We took a long walk to dinner the first night and saw lots of deer. They were so close to us!

I helped set up the inflatables for the campsite. I love the dogs!

Being silly after dinner at Artist’s Point. We had a lovely site with great neighbors.

On Saturday Mom drove us up to Gainesville for the Forest Ecology Clinic. I really got into it and learned a lot. I think I will do well this year at the contest. I even got to spend time with the main leaders learning to identify some plants.

I was all ears in the map session and quick to spout out answers.

I learned compass skills and then we went outside to test our skills. I was great at finding coordinates.

Back at the campground for some swimming and Pokemon Go before bed.

 

We loved the Hoop-De-Doo Review show. I thought the music and play were HILARIOUS!

We scootered around a lot and explored on our own while Mom and Dad relaxed. I enjoyed the golf cart parade. We ran into some friends and enjoyed time with them. Mom even went scootering with us several times. I was Kilo Ren again this year for Halloween and this was also the first year B and I went out on our own trick-or-treating. The campground is always my favorite place to go trick or treating when we camp!