Island Paradise


Matt and I were able to take a "kidless" vacation last week to Sanibel Island, Florida.  It was the first one without kids since Ava was born almost 7 years ago!  What a relaxing, magical, beautiful vacation!  Matt and I were able to spend an incredible amount of time together while soaking up the sun and taking in the beautiful sights of Ft. Myers, Sanibel & Captiva.   I am thankful from the bottom of my heart that my parents agreed to take care of our kids and allow us this much needed time.  We enjoyed every single minute and we feel rejuvenated, refreshed and reconnected. 

This was the view from our room - looking out over the bay.

My favorite spot on the beach - in the hammock!

Walking on our little beach by the resort

Beachy feet - Sanibel Island

Found this quiet little beach while exploring Sanibel. 

Picnic on Lighthouse Beach, Sanibel.

Sanibel Beach Lighthouse

We found this sweet baby on the beach.  We threw him back.  :)

This poor guy had a hook stuck in his beak.  Matt & I and two old fisherman tried to catch him and remove it, but he was too quick.

Watching the sunset before dinner.

The Muckey Duck.  On the beach, live music, lots of beers on tap.  Right up our alley!

Another fabulous sunset

Captiva Beach @ The Muckey Duck.



One of our favorite adventures was a sunset/dolphin cruise. It was a beautiful night and we were able to see a ton of wildlife as well as a beautiful sunset.



This was our sweet ride!

 

An Osprey nest, look close . . . there's a baby!

 

White Pelicans

 

Enjoying the sea air

Dolphin sighting! Yay!


Happiness.

 Sunset at sea

We played "bags" on the beach, we sipped on drinks called "The Sanibel Sunburn" and "Miami Vice" & we saw dolphins, osprey, pelicans, storks, starfish and jellyfish. We got up early and ran together, we ate swordfish, shrimp, grouper and MORE grouper. We shopped for souveniers for our kids and we watched every sunset together. We had a really fantastic adventure and we promised to have many more adventures together in the future.



Cheers! To an incredible vacation and to the amazing life we've made together!







Snow fun, part 2 . . .

                          

We went back out and played in the snow this afternoon . . . had snowball fights, built a snowman and snowdog and went sledding.  Just had to add these adorable pics.  What fun!!

Snow much fun!!

Finally some SNOW!  Graham was so excited to wake up and see the world covered in white, he has been waiting for snow all winter.  He & Matt headed out to shovel the driveway first thing this morning. 



catching snowflakes with his tongue

Throwing snow!

 Helping Daddy shovel the driveway

Building a mini snowman

We had parent-teacher conferences with Ava's teacher this week.  Ms. Petrie says Ava is amazing and has "personality plus"!!  (We already knew that!) She says that Ava is a good friend and has great relationships with her peers.  She is reading on a late 2nd grade/early 3rd grade level,  She studies the alternative (more difficult) spelling lists and has gotten 100% on almost every one!  Ava was one of only 2 students in her class that was chosen to come out of the classroom for some extra learning time with the teacher that runs the gifted program.  Matt and I are so incredibly proud of our sweet, kind, funny, smart girl!  I treated Ava to a special day last Thursday and we had such a blast together!

 Ava got her first "real" pedicure

 matching pink sparkly toes

 We went to First Watch for lunch & Ava had a chocolate chip pancake & bacon.  She ate nearly EVERY bite!!  Can you sense her excitement?

Even thought it was cold, we hit the park for a few minutes.  Playground kisses rock!

Matt and I are really looking forward to our kidless vacation this week.  The beach, the warm weather, some fresh seafood . . .  and most importantly some quality time alone together!! 

A vacation is having nothing to do and all day to do it in. ~

Robert Orben





Dancing with Dad & Feeding the birds

We have had an exciting week around here! Ava girl lost another tooth!

Also, we have spent a ton of time outside enjoying this beautiful weather! Swinging, playing, taking walks and riding bikes . . .

Sophia and Matt attended a Father/Daughter Dance at Lord of Life (Sophie's preschool) last weekend.  Jim & Maya Mellody came along with them.  Jim & Matt got their girls beautiful corsages, took them to Winsteads for dinner, and then danced the night away.  What a magical night!

 My mom gave me a recipe for homemade suet cakes many years ago.  I love making my own . . . it's easy and cheap.  This recipe holds up well, even in the hot temperatures. Sophia helped me whip up a batch this weekend.  She loves helping me in the kitchen! 

All you need is lard(manteca), peanut butter, corn meal, quick oats, flour and bird seed.  You can also add dried fruit.

Melt lard & peanut butter over medium-low heat and stir.

Stir in the rest of the ingredients

Pour into forms.  (I use old ones I have saved from store bought cakes)

Refrigerate until solid and then feed to the birds!!

NO MELT SUET

1 cup lard (manteca)

1 cup peanut butter (crunchy or creamy)

2 cups corn meal (yellow or white)

2 cups quick oats

1/2 cup flour plus a little more

1 cup bird seed (or raisins or dried fruit)

Makes about 4 cakes.

Tiny Dancer & 2012 Running Goals

Sophia is LOVING her dance class! She is learning tap and ballet and making some new friends. We are looking forward to her dance recital in May.   She was SO excited today because her daddy was able to take her and watch her dance!! 

 I have been wanting to try to make my own wreath . . . I keep seeing so many adorable DIY wreaths on pinterest.  I finally decided on a Valentine's wreath.  I had an old wreath that was faded & falling apart, so I reused the metal frame.  I used strips of tulle and wrapped them around the frame, painted & embellished the wooden "Love", and hung with a pink ribbon. Turned out pretty cute!

There are a couple of things I would really like to accomplish in regards to running this year:
1. Run Hood to Coast Relay
2. Run my second 10K and my first 1/2 marathon
3. Run at least 500 miles in 2012

So . . .  to keep myself accountable I am keeping track of my runs and my miles!  There's a ticker in the top right corner of the blog that will track my progress.  Matt and I have already signed up for the "Rock the Parkway" half marathon on April 14, 2012!!

My current progress . . .
JANUARY 2012: 31.6 miles
MILES TO GO: 468.5 miles
(I am 6.5 miles behind my target . . . hoping to get caught up in February!)

Photoshoot

It's Thursday and I thought I was gonna have a crafting/running/lunch with my husband kind of day. Instead, I am having a stay at home with sick kids & cuddle on the couch kind of day. Fevers have taken over the McCluer house . . . so I dosed everyone with tylenol and decided to play around with my new camera. It does SO many fun things. Here are some of my favorites.

love the blue eyes, and long lashes



my handsome bearded husband

this is the "fishbowl" setting

Create

I always enjoy reading blogs from my friends and from fellow runners.  There are so many exciting things going on in our lives, so I thought I would resurrect my blog and start sharing some of them!!
The kids always keep us busy!  Ava has started taking karate (she LOVES it!) and Sophia has started dance class.  Graham started Mother's Day Out once a week, which gives me a day to myself.  Yahoooooo!  I will be doing a ton of running, crafting, shopping and sewing every Thursday!!

I am really excited about our newest project, the "dining room turned craft room"!! We decided it was wasted space to have a formal dining room (that we used once a year) considering we are a crafty bunch and always have projects going on.   We found an adorable and functional craft table that can be used for crafting, sewing or even homework!  I decided to work on a few projects that were inspired by Pinterest (yes, I'm addicted) to add some color to the new craft room.

The first project was amazingly easy . . .Mod Podge letters!  I found raw wood letters, craft paper and mod podge at Joann's. First, I painted the edges of my letters black.  (You could choose any color or leave the edges raw.)  I traced my letters onto the craft paper, cut them out and attached them with a layer of mod podge.  I added several layers of mod podge on top of the letters, then embellished them!  I love how they turned out!  It was so easy, I think I will let the kids do a project with mod podge in the future!! 

My hope for this blog is to keep my family and friends updated on the happenings in our lives, but also to add some joy, some inspiration, and some happiness to your lives!  Love you all!