Month: March 2010

I am getting awesome at riding my bike. I still have my training wheels and intend to keep them for a while longer. Mommy said there is no reason to rush taking them off (based on her and Uncle Matt’s learning to ride a bike experience). Daddy said it is time to take them off but Mommy argues that I still rubberneck too much.

Which results in this:

But I am getting right back up and peddling again. I am learning to make turns not so sharp so I don’t crash. When I DO crash I hop up and yell at my bike “BAD BIKE!” It listens well and keeps be safe and riding for more.

I kept getting this vicious look on my face when I saw Emmerson pushing his tricycle around. Suddenly, I would aim right for Emmerson and try to run him over!

After our ride at the playground I wanted to ride all the way home. Mommy ran after me while Daddy drove Emmerson home in the minivan. I made it all the way home without falling off my bike or driving into the grass! 🙂

So Daddy, after being fed up with the almost $40/lb he pays for his soap, did a bit of research and decided to MAKE soap for our family. He used what is called the “crock pot hot process”. He used a base of olive oil & coconut oil with lye and water and once it reached “trace” (coated the spoon) he “superfatted” with almond oil, castor oil, and jojoba oil (so that those oils will be mostly intact in the finished soap vs. being “consumed” by the lye.)  I got to help him, although we forgot to take photos until the end.  We measured out the oils and mixed them up and after Daddy mixed up the lye water wearing our chemical goggles and masks and then carefully poured it so I wouldn’t get splashed, we mixed it up and added the other oils.  I drew what it looked like when we first mixed it and what the “cooking” looked like.

Once it was “cooked” we added essential oils based on who was using the soap.

Emmerson and I got peppermint oil soap with a bit of green food coloring.

Mommy got lavender oil.

Daddy used what was left and added peppermint, spearmint and clove bud oils along with fresh chopped mint leaves.

The smell was really pretty until the heat of the crock pot brought out the true aromas! WOW was it STRONG. Mommy cracked the windows and door and it is all okay now. It really wasn’t THAT strong… but not something I was used to. I enjoyed watching how soap was made.

Once the soap for Emmerson and I cooled a bit and started to set up, Mommy pressed it into some fun molds. We will see how it comes out.

Mommy and Daddy used the little pieces that were leftover for washing they hands. Mommy said her hands have never felt this soft. It really is wonderful for her dry skin and psoriasis! 🙂

Today we took a field trip to Parke Hydro Parks in Dover, FL (exit 17 off of I4…same exit as Dinosaur World). We arrived and the place was empty. They had just opened after teir normal two days off on Sunday and Monday. You could see the berries hanging when we walked in. After the rough cold winter they were delayed a bit this year but we lucked out with our timing today.

Dara and her Mom joined us for some fun. We had the run of the field and were really well behaved.

Dara found a mutant strawberry!

I found this itty bitty tiny one. It was amazing how the different variety of berries grew so different and TASTE so different as well.

I had a fun time picking. Daddy eventually gave up trying to convince me to stop picking the “half and half” berries. Apparently you are only supposed to only pick the red ones. I kind of thought the half and half berries were neat though.

Dara and I eventually got silly and Mommy took that as a cue to stop picking and head to the front.

My “girlfriend” being silly.

Dara’s Mommy, Miss Jill! She is very nice to me and thinks I am well behaved!!! HAHAHA!

When we got up from we found out we had enough berries for the best rate of $1.99 a pound. You have to have 20lbs to qualify!!! He had, ohhh, well over 30 pounds!! Then we added some nice organic peppers and other veggies. It was a very fun morning out. The weather was overcast so it didn’t get too hot like last year.

Today we joined a group of home schoolers for a morning at the Suncoast Seabird Sanctuary. I really wanted a picture of the HUGE pelican outside.

Isn’t it HUGE!

We waited patiently for the friends to arrive. We had a lot of laughs watching the pelicans try to sneak into the food room. Some got really aggressive.

I enjoyed walking through ad looking all the birds and learning about why they were there. They bring on average 20+ birds a day into the facility for treatment or rehab. A lot are caught in fishing lines, tangled in nets or have flown into windows. We did not get to see the surgery centers but we did see a lot of different birds: hawks, vultures, woodpeckers, pelicans and more pelicans! Afterwards we got to play on the beach.

My friend, Dara, and I worked hard to build a sandcastle. We had some bucket difficulties as the one we were using burst into a bazillion pieces when we tried to get the wet sand out of it.

Since we were right outside of the bird sanctuary every time someone reached into a bag or made a loud sound the birds flocked over to see what was going on. We managed to come out without bird poop on us, surprisingly! 🙂

Dara and I had a lot of fun. We are becoming great friends! She has no clue that I am a crazy boy! But being around her is so calming to me. We really click.

When we got cleaned up and came home Mommy let me water my new plants. I am growing snapdragons, which I am learning to spot at places like Disney and Safety Harbor. I am also growing another flower that I picked out.

Emmerson and I had a fun time watering everything we could find with our squirt bottles.

Here is one flower.

This is my snap dragon. Aren’t they cool! You can even open them like a dragons mouth.

Between by store bought flowers I am growing sunflower seeds. They just sprouted and I can not wait until they are taller than I am! 🙂

The nice winter weather was finally here today! It is nice to be outside playing and enjoying the weather finally.

My hair is getting longer in the front and it is hard to find me in a picture. Mommy said we are trying to grow the front out when it is cooler and try to get the lengths a bit more even before we decide what to do with my mop-head!

I had a lot of fun today compared to the last nearly week. I had a horrible cold that turned worse and my ears were hurting a lot. Mommy and Daddy finally took me to the doctor when the boogers set in. I had an ear infection and an upper respiratory infection and what could have been strep throat. More antibiotics for me! fun fun fun! We were all feeling better by Thursday and headed over to Disney World with Miss Lynn and my buddy Zachary. We had a grand time until about 7:00 pm when Emmerson started vomiting uncontrollably. This continued all night and then he felt a bunch better by morning. I felt fine until we got home Friday night. About 3am on Saturday I woke up telling Mommy my tummy hurt and about 30 minutes later I started to vomit. Once again, Mommy was up all night tending to me and my bucket. We must have picked it up at the doctors office. Mommy and Daddy think it was rotavirus. Oh well. We are feeling better now. My tummy is still a bit sensitive but getting better.