Summer Fun begins

Rhiannon painted a picture for Joel for father's day. She was so excited to get to use one of my large canvases. BTW, she's wearing her new Pixie swimsuit. It's terribly cute.


Yesterday Rhiannon's friend Sierra came over for a playdate. She lives a block away but we only found out this fact a short while ago or the girls would have been playing together much more. I wanted us to have lunch at Fresh Choice Plus, our favorite little buffet down town, but apparently a fire has destroyed the place, so we ate at Palace Pizza instead. BTW, Palace Pizza has the best pizza in Lakeland. Then I took them both to Barnett Park by Lake Mirror. They played in the water for over an hour. I was getting hot and tired (even though the most I did was sit on a bench and truck over to the bathroom with them three (!) times) so when they began fighting over a cup I decided it was time to leave. Both girls were exhausted so Rhiannon took a nap after Sierra left - but not before throwing a huge temper tantrum, bringing up every insult or ill she has ever recieved in her life. I barely woke her up in time to get to her swim lesson at the YMCA because I also napped a little. She's doing well at her lessons, but I don't think this class will have her outright swimming because there are too many kids in it and not enough one-on-one time. We can't afford the one-on-one lessons, though, so this will just have to do. As it is I feel like a failure of a mom for not having her in gymnastics, dance, soccor, and/or tee-ball like the other kids. Our work schedules and our funds - plus the time and energy the two dogs take up - just don't allow ofr all of that. Oh well, she'll survive.
Today I took her to the Florida Aquarium in Tampa.





We had a really good time, although the part Rhiannon enjoyed most was the water park area - and we could have returned to Barnett Park (for free, I might add) for the same experience.











It's going to be hard to stave off the boredom this summer without spending too much money, I fear. It's often just too hot to just walk down to the playground or take a hike. Everything is such an ordeal, what with the sunscreen, and the water, and lunches, and the dogs.... But it's been really great so far to spend so much time with my little girl.