Florida Fun 2011!

Our annual family vacation to Florida this year was once again packed with lots of time on the beach, by the pool, and visiting our favorite restaurants and watering holes. We even added a new twist this year by meeting up with some of our favorite Quitman folk to hang out, introduce them to some yummy Mellow Mushroom pizza (a favorite from our days in Atlanta) and to watch the Dallas Mavericks beat the Miami Heat to win NBA Championship. (Watching this WHILE in Florida was just an added bonus!!) Is it too soon to start counting down until next year???  365, 364, 363, 362...

Yummy pizza and fun with the Burgos family at Mellow Mushroom.

An annual favorite...AJ's Landing after a long hard day on the beach!

PawPaw and the boys.

Megan enjoying a little seaweed wrap while buried in the sand.

This was Will's favorite hangout each afternoon.

Outside Angler's after the Mavs took the Championship!

Cooling off with PawPaw at the pool. (Or, washing the sand off...)

The best purchase of the vacation...bright green beach chairs! We logged many hours in this position!

Sand castle construction...

School is OUT for Summer!

Ben and Ava wrapped up 3rd and 1st grades yesterday with an awards ceremonies and a sad goodbye to a very special friend who will be moving to Amarillo next week. Overall, both had a great year, made some new friends, loved their teachers and from the number of awards each received, managed to learn a little too!

Ava received the: Read Naturally Award, Citizenship Award (perfect conduct), Presidents Award (awarded to a student with perfect conduct, top grades and excellent participation), Music Award and an AR Award (for reading 136 books this year.) Way to go Ava-B!

Ava and Mrs. Ellison (Both kiddos had her as their 1st grade teacher and boy will we will miss her!)

Ben received the: Citizenship Award, Science Award, was recognized for his Commended Performance (missing 3 or less) on his reading and math TAKS tests, and the Sports Award. Good job Benjamin!

Homeroom teacher Mrs. Bradshaw and Ben (He LOVES her!)

What has BIG ears, SAD eyes, LARGE feet, and MY heart?...

Stanley! He showed up at the office uninvited, and stayed patiently all day waiting for someone to notice him, and maybe even take him home. Any guesses who the sucker was? (I swear there is an animal-to-animla adoption network out there and I am on it somehow! How do they know?) So...

I ask YOU, how could you say NO? We were hoping the Little Rock Atwoods were going to adopt him, but it's just not feasible, so I began home hunting. I was actually successful right off the bat to a great family, but now I don't think I can say goodbye! He's just good family entertainment in my own backyard. (And, when it's almost 100 acres what's ONE MORE dog, right?)

And, Deets adores him, so how can I tell him NO? We are pretty sure he thinks he's a lab watching him hang with Deets and Major.  So, I guess, meet our third dog and newest family member...STANLEY!