Florida has been burning up and we have spent many days at the beach! The surf has been rough at times and when Mia wants to boogie board she wears her life jacket. I myself have hit the deck when trying to get out far enough to ride a wave in, and I am telling you that was NOT a pretty sight!! Our pool temp has consistently been at 90-91 and it has been a rather dry summer here! We have been missing those afternoon showers to cool off the pool a few degrees!

My Summertime Girl

I think that we spend most of our time in our bathing suits from May til late September. Mia has mastered the backstroke and can do the entire length with no problems, we are working on the breaststroke right now but she's got to get some muscle behind those arms!!

This weekend, Mia's close friend Haley had her birthday party which was a Hula theme. So I dug deep in Mia's closet and found the hula skirt that my parents brought back from Hawaii last year. She does not like the coconut top, so the skirt it was!

yep! most of us were ALL together for a family shot! I can't believe it!! My grandfather

is 85 and his sister, my great aunt is 87. My side of the family is really small and this

almost sums it all up!!

Thank God for a tripod and a timer. It was quite funny watching me hall *ss to the group

while the timer was counting down.

Family....Fun there is nothing like cousins! Our 4th of July this year was spent with our toes in the sand!!

. . . . YEE HAW . . . . Mia has started her riding lessons and she absolutely loves it! The first lesson she basically talked the ENTIRE time and asked umpteen questions. Mia's facial reaction was priceless when she learned that her horse was named Belle and she loves apples and carrots! This past week she started to trot a little and she was all giggles when she started bopping in the saddle. . When we purchased her helmet, they were out of pink so Mia asked me to add some bling bling to her helmet! After this weeks lesson, we were heading to the car, she asked me why we can't have riding lessons everyday!!

Busy Little Beavers... last weekend was my BFF Joey son's Bar Mitzvah. We of course made a little weekend out of it and hit some of our old stomping grounds!! I have to say, although I love the tranquility and slower pace Florida I live in now, I REALLY enjoyed me some South FL this past weekend. The boardwalk was busy busy and we were able to have lunch at one of our favorite Greek dives on the beach. The Marlins game was a blast and Mia got to meet Billy the Marlin too. Saturday night was the big event and it was a rockin' party. Mia hardly sat down and was right in the middle of everything and couldn't be bothered with Mike or I. She sat at the kids table and thought she was hot stuff. We caught her twice going to help herself to more and more soda from the kids bar! I must say, we have a social butterfly on our hands!!

Our annual 2010 Marco Island trip has come and gone and we had another great year! Mike and I have shared this tradition for many years and look forward to many more. This year we really cherished the beauty of Marco and are hoping that our little slice of heaven is spared the horrible disaster that is happening in the gulf. The beaches are so beautiful and the sand is pure white and the thought of them covered in oil makes me sick. Everytime we came across some sort of wildlife, we wondered if we would see them again next year!