The Lee Family: 2015

Thursday, December 31, 2015

Photo Op

While taking a Gator ride with Sofia around the farm, I decided it would be fun to do a photo op with the girls on the rolls of hay that are lined up near CK and Connie's house. I brought the girls nice dresses for Meeting and didn't realize how nicely they went together. So, one morning when the light seemed to be decent we headed out to the hay rolls. I envisioned having both girls up on the rolls (thanks to a little inspiration from Pinterest), but Olivia would not attempt to get on top of the hay because she was scared. So, I had to be a little creative with taking photos of both girls. It ended up working out and I captured some cute photos of them together and separately. I also love taking photos when we are at the farm of the trees, the Cub flying, the landscape, etc and I enjoyed taking pictures of Buddy this time, too. Anyway, here are a few of my favorites:

Wednesday, December 30, 2015

Visiting Great Grandma

The day after we arrived, we visited the girls' Great Grandma to bring her the gifts we bought her as well as those from Cynthia and Jay and to spend a little bit of time with her. It was very warm outside, so we took her in her wheelchair to the courtyard and the girls did a great job of steering the wheelchair from Great Grandma's room through the door to the courtyard. Once in the courtyard, the girls love to hunt for geckos and look at the little phone and the fish, but we tried to encourage them to sit with Great Grandma and ask her questions of growing up, what their Grandma was like as a little kid, and some of her favorite memories. She seems to have a good recall of events when they are further in the past and loves to tell a good story. The girls did well and it was interesting to hear her talk about her life. She enjoyed her gifts and after awhile the girls pushed her back to her room and said goodbye.

Opening Presents!

Last night, we opened Christmas presents from Grandpa and Grandma. Of course, they completely spoiled all of us and there entire fireplace shelf was completely full of wrapped presents! We settled into the living room and Sofia passed out the gifts. We took turns opening up gifts with CK Sr. going first. CK and I went out shopping together a few weeks prior to buy for his parents and CK picked out some great clothes for his parents. The girls were super excited to be opening more gifts and they had SO many of them! Over the course of the evening Sofia got The Curvy Tree book, the latest Magic Tree House book, a book about gems, the Shawn the Sheep movie, a Find Your Own Gems kit, Simon says game and Lego set. Meanwhile, Olivia opened up her gifts and got a large white New Generation Pony, a Spirograph game, magnetic horse dress up, princess glitter coloring book, My Little Pony Play Dough set and 2 pair of pjs. The pjs were a huge hit and she spent the rest of the week rotating between the two pairs of pjs, since she couldn't decide which one she liked better.

Just as we finished opening presents, Sofia read both her Curvy Tree book and the Magic Tree House book in about 20 minutes! She also thumbed through her gems book and opened up her gems kit. Olivia started to play with the magnetic horse dress up set, which was a HUGE favorite between the two girls, and they generally played with it together although they fought over it from time to time. They also enjoyed playing with Olivia's large white New Generation Pony and the My Little Pony Play Dough set. Olivia also finished up coloring in the princess glitter coloring book over the days we were there too. The presents were a huge hit and the girls loved everything they got from Grandma and Grandpa.

Grandpa opening up his gifts

Sofia opening her book

Olivia opening her presents

Both girls checking out their goodies

CK opening his gifts

Checking out her new gem book

The girls with Grandpa

With Grandma

Fun at Grandma and Grandpa's

We headed out to Florida in the Baron on Tuesday morning. We originally planned to fly out the day after Christmas on Saturday, but got stuck with bad weather either here, en route or in Florida so we couldn't leave until Tuesday. The flight went smoothly and both girls (and Buddy) enjoyed a long nap before we arrived. Of course, once we landed at Grandpa and Grandma's, the girls were super excited and completely re-energized for their grandparents and the farm. For dinner we went to Sunny's for their delicious BBQ, since it is a favorite of all of ours. It's such great BBQ and we always love to go at least once during our visits to Florida.

We spent our visit enjoying the 80 degree weather, taking Buddy for long walks on the runway, taking Gator rides and Cub rides with Grandpa. The girls spent the first two days inside playing with their new toys and making up stories, but after that they enjoyed bouncing on the bounce house outside, Sofia driving the Gator around the farm like a maniac with Olivia in the back and going up in the Cub with their Grandpa one at a time. Both girls loved taking Cub rides with Grandpa and would ask him to go up every day. CK and I took a ride in the Cub together and it's always so relaxing to be able to look down on the beautiful fields and horses and just relax in the air.

On New Year's Eve, Connie and CK offered to keep the girls so CK and I could go out to dinner. We ended up driving into Gainesville and eating at a really good restaurant and enjoying a kid-free evening. When we returned, the girls were watching a video after having pizza and popcorn with Grandma and Grandpa. Earlier that day, we bought fireworks and decided to set them off. Unfortunately, it didn't last very long because Sofia and I set what we thought were finished sparklers on the back of CK Sr.'s truck where CK had set the fireworks and one of them went off! It scared Sofia half to death and hurt her eye and my ears and burned Olivia on her collarbone. Sofia was so upset that she just wanted to go to bed. She calmed down and went to sleep and CK took them out the next night to finish off the fireworks and let them get comfortable with being safe around fireworks.

Of course, Buddy thoroughly enjoyed his visit to the Farm which included at least one, but usually two, long walks each day. Surprisingly, he wouldn't wonder off too far from me and always was sure to keep good track of where I was at all times. In prior trips, he's run off into the trees and explored but never did on this visit. He did enjoy barking and raising a fuss at the donkey and the calves at the far end of the runway. The calves were as interested in figuring out exactly "what" Buddy was, as much as Buddy was interested in figuring out what those big black furry things were! They came close to sniffing each other, but Buddy's barks would scare off the calves. It was pretty humorous.

All set to go to the farm!