Catch-up

Just a few notes about what has been going on around the Hertz house. From the previous post, Gabe learned how to ride his 2-wheel bike on March 15th. Within that same week he started flying down the driveway at warp speed, hardly slowing to turn. I was out there one day and I told him to slow down when he turns or he’s going to fall. The next time he turned his pedal touched the ground and he looked at me and said “but I didn’t fall.” He’s going to be a Nascar driver some day. Ho hum.

Damien, who is almost 2 1/2 is in the phase of hilarious sayings. He thinks he knows everything the rest of us do, but what he says is hilarious. Yesterday he was outside and told me he was looking for the fris-bean. I said “do you mean frisbee?” exasperated he says “No MOM, fris-BEAN not fris-bean!” Then later, he comes walking out of our bedroom holding a tube of diaper cream he was told many times not to play with. He looks at me and smiles, tucks it under his arm and says “oh, I for-dot” (forgot) and keeps on walking.

Callie is growing too fast (well, maybe not taller, just smarter)! Gymnastics is definitely her calling and she continues to do very well. She had 2 meets so far this year and has placed first all-around at both. She has another one the weekend of April 12 so wish her luck! She is also a huge help at home, changing and taking care of Damien, helping with dinner and generally being as helpful as possible around the house. I’m sure she wishes she could do that instead of homework every night!! I can’t believe she will be 10 is just 2 1/2 short weeks!

Gustav is growing too fast as well. He is now a couple inches taller than Callie and I can’t keep him in pants! I am hoping this warm weather continues so he can keep wearing shorts instead of his too-short pants. He continues to be a straight A student in school and it comes easily to him. His passion, however, continues to be reptiles and amphibians and basically anything that moves, slithers and hops. He brought home a snake a couple weeks ago from a creek-hunting trip and Gus let him keep it in his room! I survived without a heart attack until they finally released it back where they found it. Whew. He and Gus also made a homemade bow and arrow last weekend that works surprisingly well. Gustav made the arrow mostly by himself!

That’s all for now. In case you haven’t heard we are trying to sell our house, so if you have a few extra moments of prayer we could use them!

I am going to try to load pictures now…

Guess who can ride a 2-wheel bike!

Now that I'm not on facebook I have no easy way of recording these milestones. Gabe has been on the verge of learning for a while now, but the weather finally got nice enough to try again. He learned in early March. These pics show him being the crazy animal he is - complete with his garbage bag superhero cape!

Callie SGA ceremony

Week of June 23rd

Those of you that know me well, know that I am TERRIFIED of tornadoes. I have been, pretty much all my life. I have been near tornadoes (not major ones) several times in my life, mostly when I lived in Florida, but also in other cities. This week alone, there have been TWO, count them TWO tornado warnings where we are staying!! Ok, so both were innocent waterspouts with the potential to come on land making them tornadoes, but still. I actually have a picture of a waterspout and one of a funnel cloud that formed in a storm near us this week. On Tuesday, there was a waterspout near the Gandy bridge that came on land and did minimal damage. Then on Wednesday night we actually witnessed the formation of a waterspout right over us that eventually sucked back up into the clouds and got a picture of two more from the same storm. One that actually became a waterspout that touched land. Ok, so not your midwestern nightmare, but for someone who is terrified of tornadoes, I thought I was in Kansas… And to top it off the tornado warning that night was for EXACTLY our spot! Thank goodness for hurricane shutters….

Other than that, life has been good. Gus went fishing with Scott Nolan last night and they caught lots of keepers (can you say fish tacos for dinner tonight?!). The kids and I went to John’s Pass with the Abood-Calabreses yesterday and Callie and Alya got hair wraps. The boys were so good for the HOUR and a HALF that we waited for the hair wraps! Then things went a little downhill for the Hertz clan (hence the picture of the behavior chart). But we recovered today and had a good 4 hours at the pool.

The day before that we FINALLY went to the beach. The kids all had a blast and the weather and waves were perfect. Hardly any waves but enough for the kids to experiment with their boogey boards. Gabe was terrified of the water at first, but by the end he was swimming completely in the water. I didn’t pressure him at all, he just saw all the kids having fun and decided it was time to join. What a brave boy!!

Callie is currently down at the pool with her Daddy and Alexis’s family (at 9pm). They invited her down to swim with Alexis and she danced around the condo until it was time to go down. Her brothers are all asleep and have no idea…

That’s all for now! We are looking forward to the 4th of July!!!

Waterspouts and stuff

I never know what order these pictures will post in, so enjoy even of they are out of order!

Callie and Alexis in the pool today!

Gabe at the beach before he got brave enough to go in the water

Gustav testing out his boogey board

Looks like he got a wave!

Getting braver....

Hair wraps!

Oh! I may have posted this before... catching starfish while walking on the flats at low tide.

St. Pete Beach!

Gabe is practicing how to float on his back in case he gets tired while swimming. We had to bribe him to do this... He tried to promise he would never get tired while swimming.

Damien being occupied while waiting for Callie and Alya to get hair wraps with his beer holder pretend prescription bottle for beer. Thank goodness he can't read...

More practicing... it must have been a good bribe!!

Alya and Callie catching some waves

Don't worry, we do actually have some electronics while we are here...

Here is the picture of the waterspout that actually touched down near downtown St. Pete

Oh what a cutie!!!

Here is a picture of one of the 4 funnel clouds from that storm, This one never touched down.

Oh yeah, there is still some discipline while we are here. Thanks to Aunt Shellie for her teaching expertise. I do practically have a classroom here folks!

Alya getting her hair wrap... they got matching ones of course!

Gabe getting braver...

In St. Pete

I think going to St. John Vianney Church on St. Pete Beach last Sunday really made this summer seem real. I can't believe we are spending our third summer in St. Pete. This has been the easiest transition of all mostly because I think we are so familiar with our surroundings it has really become a second home for us. Thank you so much to Nonno and Nonna for making this possible!

We arrived on June 9th and moved into Aunt Shellie's condo. Gus worked from her condo until the 11th and then Nonna and Nonno arrived at their condo for our traditional week down here with us. We had a blast as usual but unfortunately didn't get to do any deep sea fishing or dolphin watching because everything was booked for Father's Day. We got our fair share of swimming, shopping, fishing and EATING though!! And mostly getting to spend time with them.

On Wednesday June 19th we moved into Nonno and Nonna's condo and have been enjoying every minute. Swimming and fishing mostly. Joe and Joey came down on Thursday to go night fishing with Gus and Gustav and they caught another fish dinner (well 2 actually). Then summer really began when Aunt Shellie, Alya and Niko made it here on Sunday. When they arrived and we had them over for dinner, it seemed like last summer was just yesterday.... We also spent a totally fun day having lunch at Skipper's Smokehouse in Tampa with Don and Meg (SO sad I forgot to take pictures!!)

And to top it all off, Callie's friend from last summer, Alexis showed up today, complete with a BFF necklace for Callie. They began where they left off last summer. She will be here for  2 weeks with here family.

Things we look forward to:

The BEACH!! I can't believe we haven't been there yet, but that tells you how much fun we've already had.
More dinners, swimming, fishing, etc. with Aunt Shellie, Alya and Niko who haven become out 5th and 6th children.
Dinner at Sea Critters! WHAT! We haven't been there yet!
Dessert at Paradise Sweets on Pass A Grille Beach
Fishing!! Did I say Fishing??!!
I am too tired to think of more...

That's all for now. More later!

Pictures first post to follow

Weeks 1 and 2 in St. Pete. These pictures posted randomly and out of order :)

Gustav caught this lizard but Callie wanted to hold it.

FIRST fish dinner of the summer!!! Yum! Seatrout, Seabass and snapper! Oh, and WHO is that eating fish.....????? Nonna???

On our way from St. Simons to St. Pete we stopped in Jacksonville to visit Ginny and Dick. their house is awesome and the cousins got along great even for only an hour!

Cuties!! Damien and Paul.

Speaking of Damien... he is a FISH!!! Loves to jump in the water and try to drown himself...

Nonno and Callie. I thought this was a great picture.

Yes, we ate this guy... Oh, the fish not the guy sorry.

Picturesque view from Aunt Shellie's condo pool.

Gabe says lizards are too quick, but he can catch some snails!

Ouch! hehe!

Nonna outfitted this kids with this season's most fashionable noodles.

Oh! Isn't he handsome!!!!

Loves drinking his baba by the pool :)

Ok, so this was actually the first lizard of the season caught by Gustav (of course). Either the lizards got slow this year or he got a lot faster!