Jungle Mania

Thanks to some friends from church, we got free tickets to what they called "an overpriced South Florida attraction", Jungle Island. It's basically like a small zoo. The animals looked sad, though. 

This was a sedentary tiger. Note the claw marks on the glass.

Swinging monkeys

Lazy gators

Squawking birds

And Nathan's fave, the lions. Here he is sweetly introducing Mikey to the cat in the distance.

Wow, that's mighty close.

Oh, you want to offer our child to the lioness as an after-school snack?

The male didn't seem to mind.

While my crazy hubby was baiting the lions with our baby, it started raining, then raining harder, then raining cats and dogs, then raining lions and tigers and bears. Oh my! We got absolutely soaked. All three of us.

I asked Mikey if he liked pina coladas and getting caught in the rain.

He thought I was pretty funny.

I probably asked him the same question 20 times, and he laughed each time.

Gotta love that!

Those smiles were what got me through the following two hours of him screaming in the car on the way home. Oy.

Big Weekend

These pictures of the ordination/installation/baptism weekend are all jumbled up, and I'm far to lazy this morning to order them. So, let's begin.

We went to a famous South Florida fruit stand called Robert Is Here. Check out the link! It's a great story about a kid starting a business at his bus stop. Here is Mikey pictured with the famous Robert himself.

Here's a picture of Nathan being prayed over during his ordination and installation ceremony.

Here's Mikey and Papa enjoying the Florida sun.

Our dear friend, Pete, came to preach at the service, and he managed to fit in some snorkeling with Nathan in Key Largo.

Mikey was in this swim suit and rash guard for about five minutes. It was too small, he was too hot, and it probably wasn't even worth it for this not-so-good picture.

We had a lovely dinner at Sundowners when the sun was setting. How apropos. 

Guess who surprised us! Wilbur came out from California and just walked up to us in Key Largo. So sneaky! It was such a joy to have him there for the service.

Nathan's sister, Hannah, and her then-boyfriend-now-fiance came too! It was so special to us that they got engaged in Miami.

Here's Mikey giving me the stink eye for dressing him in a sweater vest for his baptism. Nathan is praying

Papa Mike Bear and Mikey

After church that Sunday, Mikey started reaching out for toys for the first time. My dad couldn't help but buy him this Curious George when he tried to grab it. Mikey now sleeps with it, and when I put him down for a nap, I tell him that he's going to enjoy some Georgie time.

Mikey was very intolerant during the baptism part, so Nathan stuck his pinky finger in the baby's mouth.

Here we are listening to the vows.

Mikey's about to get sprinkled!

And there it is.

There they are! Reverend Doctor Nathan Parker and his son, Michael Harrison Parker. It was so special to have both of our dads (after whom the baby is named) there to witness it.

And it was so special to share the morning with our new Pinelands family.

Hooray for Missed Flights!

My dear friend from college, Kristin, and her family (well, most of them) missed a flight to Haiti for a mission trip, and they just had to spend the day with us. It was spur-of-the-moment, it was serendipitous, it was AWESOME. The kids played to their hearts' content outside on this beautiful property, I got to catch up with my friend, we shared lunch and dinner together, and we looked at pictures from college. Good stinkin' times. 

The first time I met Sydney, she was barely walking at our wedding. Now she's holding Mikey!

Here are most of the O'Berskis. We missed you Ellie and Hudson! Maybe we'll see you next time your family misses a flight...

Three Things We LOVE About Living in Florida

There are many places I have lived. There are things I've loved and things I've hated about each place. Or as the British would say, there are things I quite liked and things I rather disliked. 

Here's the beginning of our Florida list.

1. People have asked us many times what we loved about living in England. We always said, "Our church." People are now asking what we are loving about living in Florida. Our number one answer is the same - our church! The people there have welcomed us with open arms (literally... they're very huggy!). Nathan and I are so blessed to have a new church family that is warm, friendly, and loving. The church is incredibly diverse - so many cultures and ages and stages and family structures represented. They are an amazing picture of the body of Christ.

So what else do we love about living in Florida? 

2. Weather (the number one thing we hated rather disliked about England). It's warm every day. While the rest of the country is frozen over - I've heard of some cities that have experienced more than 70 straight days  of below freezing temperatures - Miami is experiencing the third warmest winter in its history. So shorts and t-shirts and air conditioning every day it is!

3. Produce. Most people know that I'm a huge avocado fan. I was a little sad to discover that most of the avocados around here are not the Hass ones from Mexico or California I would usually find in the supermarket, but instead the big, fat Florida ones. Well, I wasn't sad for long because we are staying near an avocado grove. We arrived at the end of the season and found several avocados just lying on the ground, begging to be eaten.

I ate this whole bowl of the stuff straight up. Just salt and pepper. This was only about half of the flesh on one avocado. IT WAS HUGE!

There is also a starfruit tree on the property, and we enjoyed a few at the end of the season. I've never had starfruit before. It's really tasty!

These beauties are wild lemons from a church friend's tree. I get so excited when she offers them to me. They are mild and oh-so-juicy, and tonight we had them with our salmon. Yum!

There are more thoughts to come!

Exhibits A Through J

I didn't think it possible,  but the boy keeps getting cuter. Please see exhibits A through J.

Exhibit A: You're tired when you wake up with hand prints on your face. You're REALLY tired when you can even see your fingernail prints.

Exhibit B: We took out the infant head rest in the car seat, and now he looks like a proper baby!

Exhibit C: Some friends from church gave us this Bumbo, and he sits in it for a few minutes at a time before getting tired and cranky. But Mikey did join us for dinner the first night we got it.

Exhibit D: Note the alligator hat, onesie and blanket.

Exhibit E: A close up of the onesie. We got this from friends from church as well.

Exhibit F: He sits on his throne of cuteness.

Exhibit G: A golf cart outing with Mrs. Terry to see the neighborhood donkeys. Their names are Eddie and Murphy.

Exhibit H: He's big enough to be forward facing in the carrier. He loves just walking outside and looking at all of the plants and animals around here. I think he likes a good breeze on his face too.

Exhibit I: No one gets him laughing and talking like his dad. Here they are debriefing about the day.

Exhibit J: And all of a sudden he's in a collared shirt and looks like a little man.

I'm working on a post about all the things we love about Miami so far. And the baptism/ordination post. Thanks for your patience! Mikey requires just a little bit more entertaining with each passing day, and his naps are shortening, leaving me with less time than I'd like to blog (which I dislike) but more time with him (which I love). He is such a joy. I love him.

A Blast from the Not-So-Distant Past

Now that I have my fancy pants phone, I never take pictures with my regular camera. It is a little beat up, after all, and it's just so much more convenient to take pictures with my phone. I finally whipped out the old one today to reminisce about times with family and friends before we came to Miami, and I realized that I never posted any of these pictures!

Coming home from a walk in Cali. June took this picture.

With Aunt Deanie

Olive Garden lunch with Mrs. Grueber and Amy

Meeting Uncle Matthew for the first time

At the sip and see with Mary Lou

Coach and Dee come down to Atlanta from Big Canoe.

Katie and Jenn

Anwhitney and Sally still think he's cute despite his receding hair line.

Natalie didn't mind Mikey spitting up on the Auburn sweatshirt she borrowed from Bev. Nat went to Alabama.

In the Georgia mountains with Mr. and Mrs. Bramblett

Down to Miami with Pappy Parker

I know I'm super behind with blogging and posting pictures. I hope to get some more updates soon about our new life here in Miami, including Nathan's ordination and installation, as well as Mikey's baptism this past Sunday.