St. Augustine

Beware, long post ahead. It's just so hard to contain my love for St. Augustine...

We've been going to St. Augustine for years now. It started when I was looking for a Pilates certification program and the most suitable one I could find, in a city where I had any connections, was in St. Augustine, Florida. My connection is a family that I grew up baby-sitting for, who have let us stay in their quintessential beach home so many times. Every time we go, we fall in love with St. Augustine a little more.



Here is a view from their backyard which is on the bay. During this visit, we chatted with the neighbors more and for the first time realized that the next door neighbors home, is also an art gallery! So I treated myself to some pottery for my birthday.

The beach house is perfect...the vintage mirrors with painted flamingos, the cute play-doh sea-creature figurine gallery that Suzan and her daughter Amanda did years ago. Everything is so casual yet filled with love.

Here are a few pics of Lucas's first moments on the beach (about a 5 min drive from the house.)





The water was chilly so we played in the sand most of the time. Lucas was pretty rebellious during the trip and didn't want to be made to do anything he didn't want to do. At one point, I took a towel to wipe off all the sand that was on his face and mouth and mentioned I didn't want him to eat sand. So he picked up a handful, shoved it in his mouth and acted as if he liked it.

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Other than that, he was in his element on the beach. Sand castles, construction vehicles, shovels... Lucas loved adorning the castle tops with fallen reeds, spearing them like a mini-Mohican.

Almost as fun as going to the beach is riding bikes to the lighthouse. It's fun looking at all of the colorful florida homes with their lush tropical gardens. (I wish asparagus fern was perennial in Atlanta!) It's genuine Florida. Many are overgrown and need some TLC. Several have too many wind chimes and garden statues. But that is what I love about it!




On the lighthouse grounds, Lucas found some moss that he entertained himself with for quite some time. And on the way home we found a turtle in the middle of the road that we helped to cross the street.


One day my mom and I took a (LONG) walk into town. It was a beautiful, warm and breezy day. The Bridge of Lions, over the bay, is a sight in itself. But the views from it are indescribable. We even saw a dolphin playing in the water very near the docks and shore.

The last night, my handsome boys had a daddy-lukey evening on the beach...

Thank you Aunt Judy and Uncle Larry!

Chris's aunt and uncle, Judy and Larry sent Lucas a sweet homemade Valentine card with a Borders gift card tucked into it. We finally went to the store to redeem it. Of course we came home with cars! I tried to gently redirect him but in the end let him choose a Tonka book with 12 small cars and a play mat. I'm glad I did because it's a cute set and he loves it!

On the play mat is a minituare city - a school, firehouse, neighborhoods and hospital. He really gets into the zone, driving the cars around town. My mom had the police car stop for doughnuts. Then Lucas took the police car and it stopped for peanuts. Doesn't quite get it yet :)

Happy Birthday Uncle Sasha!

"Uncle Sasha, this is your birthday party!"

SONG:
"Have a happy birthday, yoo-hoooo.
(no clue what he's saying here)
Everybody play, it's Uncle Sasha's special day.
Happy Birthday!
Blow out the candles!
Hooooooo (blowing.)"

Happy Birthday Uncle Jon!

"HAPPY BIRTHDAY UNCLE JON!"


"Have a happy birthday, yooo-hooo
(forgot a line)
Everybody play...it's Jon's birth (correction special day)
Happy Birthday!
Blow out the candles!
Hooo (blowing)"

The Aquarium with James and Kate

Today's trip to the aquarium was definitely the most interesting one for Lucas so far. He sat for long periods of time taking in all the excitement happening in the tanks. I asked which was his favorite and he said "ALL of the animals are my favorite!" (My favorite exhibit was James blowing Raspberries and attacking his stuffed bear like a little shark.)

In the picture above, a toddler in a stroller next to him kept telling Lucas "NO!" just to get a reaction from him. He was authoritatively telling her "Don't DO that!" It was hilarious. I think he looks a bit like Jack Nicholson in the pic.

Learning Tower

In case you're wondering what a learning tower is...Lucas uses it to gain access to the counter top, sink or stove to help prepare food and I don't have to worry about him falling off.

Audrey

Some of you remember Audrey from a previous post (see second to the last quote from "More Lucasisms.)"

Apparently, Lucas and Audrey have been planning playdates at school. When I'd pick Lucas up from the playground he would confidently announce that Audrey was coming over. Then he'd get very agitated when I had to inform him otherwise. Of course something had to be done about this quickly, so I invited Audrey over to make muffins and play last week on a rainy afternoon. Cheryl had some things she had to take care of so it was just me and the kids.

This post would be five miles long if I typed all of the cute things that happened. But I will try to highlight the afternoon.

They were on cloud nine from the moment the door was opened. While pizza was cooking, they explored the house together through Audrey's eyes. Over lunch, the Syrian in Lucas came out and he was ordering more pizza for Audrey and telling her to drink her juice, etc.

They shared a spot on the learning tower and took turns mixing the muffin batter. As the muffins baked, Lucas hopped on his tricycle and pedaled off furiously like a little caveman while Audrey fluttered happily behind him. They raced to Lucas's room where they pretended that it was night and then raced out again pretending it was morning. This went on for quite a while, then they settled down to make "soup" (pictured above.)

Next they ate their whole wheat blueberry muffins, fulfilling one of Lucas's biggest dreams. He loves to hear stories about having a friend over for muffins(the friend varies depending on who is on our mind that day.)

We can't wait for more playdates with the "most wonderful girl in the world!"