Flowers are a blooming....

Beautiful red Gladiolus

Splendor Hibiscus

Splash Hibiscus
Yellow Harvest Moon Hibiscus

Blue Lily of the Nile

I just love all the colors of Spring. The Hibiscus were purchased at a local flower show and are blooming like crazy. I only wish the blooms would last for more than just a day or two. I've enjoyed cutting the Glads for my flower arraignments. The Blue Lily of the Nile bulbs were rescued after a hurricane flooded the River Walk, downtown Sanford, and tore up some of the flower beds uprooting many of the plants and bulbs. I planted the bulbs on our property before our house was built. They have multiplied and are really producing right now. I hope everything is blooming for next weekend when we have a cookout for John's and Mark's birthdays.

My 6.5 pound Bass

Icee helping bring in the 4.5 pounder

John with Donna's Bass....Nice 6.5 pounder

We had a nice time Bass fishing on the lake this morning. My first Bass was a 6.5 pounder. She went down into the grass and I thought I was going to loose her, but perseverance paid off and I landed her along with a huge pile of grass. John and I both caught 4.5 pounders too. Icee had a great time trying to help us land the fish. She just loves to bite their tails and try to drag them. Not sure where she's going with them. She came back today covered with fish scales from the approximate 15 Bass we caught. She's definitely getting a bath today. Oh, and don't worry all the Bass went back into the lake.

Canyon, 16.3 TB

Kierstin, Canyon and Haley

Haley on Canyon

This is Canyon the horse we looked at on Sherry's birthday. He is a 13 year old, 16.3 hand, TB gelding who has been around the block. He has been shown, Dressage, Jumper and Cross-Country. He is a gentleman on the ground and was very quite for Haley to ride. He is definitely one to consider as he has also been a lesson horse. Seems like we keep finding bays, though at least he has some white. From what I hear the market is flooded with cheap or even free horses. We're getting closer to the right one. The search goes on. (Note....5/1/09: The search ended with Canyon. He's now under lease to Sherry. Can't get the smile off of Haley's face!)

HAPPY BIRTHDAY SHERRY!!!

Sherry's Birthday Butterfly Cake

Sherry was 30 something (see I didn't tell your age) on April 17th. I enjoyed going with her, Keith and the girls to look at a horse she was thinking of leasing. I had a nice time watching Sherry and Haley ride Canyon, a BIG 16.3 hand, TB gelding. Watching Sherry ride brought back so many memories of her riding her pony, Spunky, as a child and her horse, Ari, as a teenager. She is still an excellent rider even after not haven ridden regularly for many years. Afterward we celebrated her birthday with some chocolate butterfly cake and ice cream. John even made Root Beer floats. Mmmm good! And, of course, there were gifts. It was a good day.

Haley, the Track Star!!!

Feeling like a winner

We attended Haley's first middle school track meet at Sanford Middle School yesterday and she did a great job. The first race was the 4x100m relay where she ran the anchor to impressively win the race, against some boys too. She tied for first in the 200m, then went on to win her leg of the 4x400m relay. All in all she had a great day. We were so happy to see her having a good meet. Can't wait for the next one.

Kierstin the Cheerleader

Kierstin's cheerleading team, The Lake Mary All Stars, recently competed at the COA Nationals held at the Gaylord Palms near Disney. She is getting so much better in her jumps (not sure what they call this move). They had a great time between competitions touring the Palms which was an adventure in itself. If you've never been there I here it's an awesome place to visit.

Today's Sunset

What a beautiful sunset! While watching the news this evening John pointed out toward the lake and said "look at that sunset". I grabbed the camera and quickly got some shots before it was gone. I have to say we get some of the most beautiful sunsets being on the East end of the lake. Almost looks like a painting doesn't it?

Papillon Easter

Icee found some eggs
LaLa guarding her eggs

If you don't try to photograph your pets you have no clue how hard it was to get these little pups to sit still, ears up, looking in the same direction with happy faces while you try to snap shots. These little girls love to chase lizards which were all over the place while I was doing this photo shoot. They were such little troopers staying put under such temptations. Thank goodness for digital cameras. We had a wonderful Easter lunch at Mike and Cindy's house. It was nice to get together with family and enjoy some great food. Hope you all had a wonderful Easter.

Easter House and Mini Cakes

Easter Ginger Bread House
Mini Easter Egg Cakes

Kierstin and Haley came over and we spent the day making an Easter ginger bread house and later some mini Easter Egg cakes which we all decorated. I forgot to take pictures of the cakes the girls took home with them and when I called Sherry to have her e-mail me pictures she said that they were all eaten. Guess they were good. These are some of the mini egg cakes that we all decorated. The Easter house went home with the girls with instructions not to eat it until Easter day. I hope it lasts that long. I think they did a great job on the decorating. I'm sending a bunch of these cakes to work with John tomorrow. (Note added 4.10.09: I'm still finding some of those tiny candy beads from the GB house around the floor of our house)

Warhawks win 3-1

Outta my way! That's my ball.
Watch the feet. Ya gotta take the bad with the good.

Today we went to watch Haley's soccer team play a boys team. Our girls won 3-1. Way to go Warhawks!! Here's a few of the shots I caught. Playing the boys helps make the girls more aggressive players. This game was definitely a feather in their caps. We thought Haley played a great game.

Mulch Magnets

Sorry kid, you aren't coming in wearing that mess!

Chili, Icee and LaLa were chasing lizards through he hedge bushes and all three came out looking like little bushes themselves. I managed to catch these shots of Chili just because she wanted to come back into the house. Of course they were all brushed thoroughly before they could come in. Mulch and dingle berries are two of the hazards of owning dogs with long coats.