Cimarrone Golf Club - A Foursome Fun!

AA played a round of golf with three other experienced golfers! From Facebook: 
Great team playing! The girls won! AA enjoyed the foursome with Jack H. (member/lives at Cimarrone), Andrew D. (Magnolia Point, GCS) and Tori M. She used the Golf Certificate for Four that she won at the FCFCC Chinese New Year!

Tori and AA planning their next shot - strategy! AA birdie'd the last hole with a final score of 47; Tori scored a 41! Great game!

Fun for all! Hope to do it again soon.

End of May - Crab Trap, School, Plants, Recipe

At our favorite neighborhood bar (actually in our neighborhood!), the River House has a crab trap that was tended by Wyatt. He passed about a month ago, so we asked if we could bait it and maintain it going forward. AA got her chance to open, bait and close the trap. We did catch one blue crab, but decided to let it go after several times going to check the trap and not taking a bucket with us!

AA received the Citizenship Award this month, she has been bestowed this honor each year including the Principal's Award. This one is given to a child each month in each class, so only half receive it during the school year. We are proud of our child!

As we are tending our new little yard, more plants a blooming and we have no idea what they are!

Flower above - whole tree below:

Another plant, lower to the ground, with a beautiful but strange looking flower:

And this plant looks like an elephant leaf while small then grows taller, another mystery!

Our "Cocktail Citrus" tree is blooming!

New recipe for a pimento-goat cheese spread. I liked it, but would be easier if one bought the already prepared pimento cheese and added the goat cheese:

What a beautiful summer day! Next week is the end of school!

Kilee's Second Day - Sunday

The girls went to bed pretty late compared to our usual weekend night, girls did sleep until a little after 7:00. I made Martha Stewart's Best buttermilk Pancakes and they were delicious; some with pecans, some with blueberries, and the girls wanted theirs "original", no additions. Ford made eggs and sausage, peppers and onions. After we were done, Kilee added that she likes her eggs scrambled (we fried them) and strawberries in her pancakes. Oops! Maybe next time we will get it right! She did say that it was a good breakfast.
We reserved two seats at the family-friendly Sunday Painting with a Twist as the owl painting looked rather simple. WRONG! It was a two hour class that should have been much longer. They enjoyed the painting; it was detailed even though the coloring looked simple. Next time we will look for a class strictly for kids! 

Each time I tried to take a picture, AA scolded at me! They are at that age; when other adults are around, they don't want anyone fussing at them.

Serious expression:

Almost done:

The final art work!

Alyzabeth's was monogrammed by the teacher, it was difficult to get a paint brush in the small necklace circle, so the teacher used a paint pen.

After painting, we had lunch at Taps and then went to the park as we had a few minutes before our meet-up with Kilee's mom. Spring Park was busy, getting ready for tomorrow's Memorial Day celebration. A warm day but the breeze helped, so unusual that it wasn't close to 100 degrees (only 85!)!

Poppy/Daddy with Grand-Kilee and AA.

A good time, always wears us out! Ready for home and a quiet evening!

Memorial Day - In Remembrance

Our Memorial Day holiday is usually quiet, we enjoy the holiday, sometimes with family, sometimes without; sometimes as a picnic, sometimes a public BBQ, sometimes at home.
Growing up, everyone I knew went to cemeteries and spruced up the graves of our ancestors. Here, we do not have any family graves, so we "adopted" our neighbors and occasionally spruce up their graves and replace the worn flags with new. 
Remembering........maybe.........will be enough.
Ford's Dad's Casket cover:

Our River Road neighbors, the Nichols:

From the web site - theveteranssite.com:
This coming weekend our cities will be decorated in bunting and the American flag will be flying along downtown streets all across America. There will be memorial ceremonies held at National Cemeteries, and small local cemeteries, where veterans are buried beneath broad, manicured grounds marked with long, regimented rows of white marker stones. Some people will gather in those places of rest around the country to remember their own family members who died in service. Others will come to honor all who have served the nation in times of war and times of peace. The flag will be raised solemnly as the National Anthem is played or sung. The plangent, melancholy notes of “Taps” will waft over the silent grounds.   The old veterans in attendance will be recognized by their baseball hats emblazoned with military branch insignias, or with the names of the wars they were in. They will stand at awkward attention and salute at the raising of the flag, or during the playing of “Taps.” Their eyes and cheeks may be moist with tears, because they will be remembering fallen brothers and sisters in ways most can not imagine.

It is not wars that we are remembering with this national holiday. Rather, we are remembering those who served and those who gave their last full measure of devotion in order to insure that the freedoms that this country offers to all would be able to be passed on to the next generations. We remember them because they tell us something of our human dignity. They remind us of the cost of freedom and of the quality of our character as a nation. We do not gather on this holiday to glorify wars. Rather, we are challenged to remember that when war comes unbidden to us, there are those who are willing to give their all to defend this nation. Deep down we want to remember in the hope that we will find ways to prevent wars and never again have to fight them again. There is, among veterans, no more hoped for desire than the desire that their own sons and daughters will never have to suffer the terrors of war, or the effects of war.

Kilee's Over Night Visit - Saturday

We picked up Grand-Kilee at noontime, went to Fleming Island Golf Club for AA to get in her nine holes of practice today, then did some shopping with Kilee. We went to Kohl's and Michael's. She selected a dress, skirt and a couple of tops; then bought some flowers for her class project at Michael's. We arrived home and jumped in the pool, popcorn at the River House, then made homemade pizza for dinner. The girls enjoyed playing the Wii and movie watching. 

Fun pool time!

Kilee in her new dress; she will be graduating from 5th grade in less than two weeks, then moving up to the middle-school in August.

Flowers for her class project:

Playing the Wii - mostly doing the dancing competitions:

Enough for one day! Painting with a Twist is tomorrow (Sunday).

Miscellaneous May 2015

Catching up on some news, including the announcement of the passing of our Maine cousin, Willis Redmond.
We lost "Cuz" Redmond this month, on May 15th, he and his family were one of our closest relatives growing up; we are very close with his middle daughter, "Aunt Carolyn", who lives near us (photo of all three daughters).

 A woodpecker decided to make his presence known to us for an afternoon:

 

Nephew Andrew visiting my Mom (his Nana):

Grand-Dylan's Graduation photo from Pre-K:

 

Our neighborhood bird on the fountain in front of our home:

Pool time! It is almost summer!

A few photos of our newest Maine Grand-Niece Chloe:

And Maine nephew Chris with son Anthony:

Ford joined the River House Beer Club; attended their outing to the May 15th Jacksonville Craft Beer Fest:

Life has been good to us; enjoying our new little home, I am soon to be on the WPOA Board - our home owner's association. I volunteered and was elected at the Annual Meeting on May 16th. Can't wait to see what I got myself into!
AA continues golf lessons with Ms. Kathy (had one on Tuesday, May 19th and a lesson with her Coach Jason on Thursday, the 21st). Looking forward to the end of the school year and many golfing tournament trips!