It's Getting Hot in Here

...so we do lots of swimming! Actually this post is just more of a random smattering of pictures from the last few weeks. Navie playing at the beach with her new swimsuit.

Navie wearing her new goggles in the tub. That is where the goggles get the most use.

This was the swimsuit I fell in love with but took back because it was not a good fit.

We went to the zoo. Pretty sad day...we saw lots of sleeping animals.

We did see some friends too.

We saw some cool monkeys as well on a little boat ride. This is obviously not a great picture.

Navie got her haircut. She got to watch a movie and sit in a Barbie jeep and she got a sucker. I love her hair!

She made this cute little turtle too. I love a good craft!

Noisy Neighbors

That's right...apparently we are the noisy "upstairs" neighbors. We live on the top floor at our complex and our neighbors below us just starting complaining about us being too noisy. We have lived here for at least 4 months and haven't heard a single complaint. Things started to change last week. Remember the episode from the TV show Friends...The guy living below them starts banging on the ceiling with a broomstick whenever he feels that they are TOO loud. Well as a teenager growing up in a house in MO I thought this was so hilarious...who would ever do such a thing?! But apparently in apartment life it is totally normal. Last week, there were 2 or 3 times that I thought I heard a noise sounding like a broom banging on the floor below me. Thinking this couldn't be true, I brushed it off. However, earlier this week, the dad of the little baby that I watch a few times a week comes inside to pick up his little girl and he starts telling me that our neighbor says that we are making an "annoying" sound at like 7:00 am every morning. Awkward!! My poor employer has to hear the complaints about "my family's" noise from my neighbor with anger management issues. Every single time our downstairs neighbors think we are being too loud, they now let us know with broom-stick banging on the ceiling. I wish I could play you a recording of it. They bang very loudly and they don't just hit it a couple of times in one spot. They hit the ceiling like 4 or 5 times in multiple places around the apartment. Insane? I think yes!!! Today for instance, Navie ran from one side of the living room to the other. This probably took her a total of 10 to 12 steps and about 6 seconds. Immediately after we hear banging from below for about the next 20 seconds or so moving all around the apartment. CRAZY!!! Then Navie runs back and forth a few more times...I guess she was excited about something. I can understand that maybe after a minute or so of straight thudding feet early in the morning that you might hit the ceiling but 10 footsteps/6 seconds in the middle of the daytime and that calls for at least 20 seconds of banging from you...I don't think so. Then about 5 minutes after this running episode we hear an angry knock on our door. I was in the kitchen preparing dinner and Jason says "should we just pretend like we're not home?" Me: "Yes." What feels like a minute or two goes by...and we hear yet another angry knock. I don't know about you but as a mother with a young daughter, I hear angry knocking and I see that as a threat. I am not in the habit of just allowing threatening people into my home. I feel slightly guilty about not opening the door but if you can't even suppress your anger to knock on the door like a normal person...I'm certainly not going to choose to open the door just so you "can give me a piece of your mind." I would be more than willing to talk about this noise issue in a civilized manner but seeing as that does not seem to be an option, I will just hide inside my apartment instead. Hopefully I will not be posting about being kicked out of our apartment next week. We have talked to Navie about walking with quiet feet when we are inside...we'll see how that goes. If that doesn't work, we'll try strapping pillows on our feet.

Air Boat through the Everglades

Yesterday Jason and I drove to the 'glades hoping to see some gators. We went for a great boat ride but there wasn't much to see as we barreled down the canal in our louder than life air boat.

We wore earphones to keep out some of the noise. Very thankful for that.

The local driving us around, told us all about "giggin" frogs and catching crabs.

After the boat, we drove around Everglade City to really take it all in. Since we were disappointed about not seeing any gators, they told us about dirt road where you could see some. We drove out but I wasn't feeling hopeful but boy was I surprised. We saw around 20 alligators in under a 1/2 mile stretch of this river. The alligators did not seem scared of us. In fact Jason says that he drove down this road when he came out to interview and the alligators were coming over to them looking for food.

We were really this close to this guy. I didn't even zoom in.

We drove past the smallest Post Office in the United States as well. So cute!

There is so much wildlife here. I love it. We went to a new beach the other day. They had signs posted all around the parking lot to watch for these turtles under your cars before you drove off. We were thinking the signage was a little excessive but then we saw one.

We could have even come home with a new boat. We saw this big beauty as we were driving through town.

Kayaking

I got a new swimsuit for like $23. And Jason got some big tests out of the way last week and didn't have much homework so we headed to the beach together. The water is finally warm enough that we both got right in. The shore has more seashells and seashell pieces that have washed up but the water is still a gorgeous green-blue.

We rented a kayak for an hour and paddled around in the waves. It was the day before a storm so the water wasn't as calm as usual. It was lots of fun. We had just bought a new lunch-box/cooler so we enjoyed some cool drinks and snacks while we floated in the breeze.

At this point, it would be nearly impossible to get me to leave this place. I LOVE FLORIDA!

April Trips

The first week in April we all went on vacation. Jason went to Utah for Uncle Joshie's wedding and Navie and I drove to Destin to spend Spring Break with Kristy and her kids and grandma and grandpa. I am terrible about taking pictures, try not to judge me too hard on the quality. We went see Air Force airplanes

played miniature golf

rode on merry-go-rounds

and of course played on the beach with new Easter bucket and shovels.

Activities not pictured: watching "The Lorax," eating ice cream from Cold Stone, swimming at the hotel, and having cousins sleepover in our hotel room. Jason got to study in the airport..on the airplane..and the Springville library. He also rented a Jeep Compass that was no good for him. Danced and socialized at the wedding. He also performed some maintenance on the house. He dug a huge hole in the front yard to re-bury a pipe for the sprinklers although it was a lot of work, it was also a nice break from studying and great way to catch up with old friends.

Easter

In true Prickett style, we celebrated Easter on about 4 or 5 different days this month but no actual Easter celebration on the day that Easter fell on. Jason was coming home from Utah on Easter Sunday and Navie and I were killing time in Tampa waiting for his flight to arrive. Easter celebrations include: Adorable rainbow Easter toes.

New dress up shoes.

New beach toys from the bunny and an indoor Easter egg hunt.

Our attempts for a family photo.

Navie's fancy, yellow dress from her nana.

(Just when I thought I had this picture upload in the correct order, it turns out nope! Maybe someday I'll get it).

Injuries and Shepherds

Not to worry, nothing major. The end table/filing cabinet received quite the blow today, not to mention...Navie. Navie was jumping along the couch, something she started doing after moving to Florida. Somehow today she overshot the couch and smacked her chin right on the table thing next to it. Navie has a small mark on her chin now but she totally put a hole (dent) in the furniture. I was rather amazed. After all the dramatic crying and snuggling, I made her tell the table she was sorry. Navie also sustained a minor bruise to the arm as well.


The next story I'm going to tell you is AMAZING and came straight from Navie. I'm telling it exactly how it happened.
So Navie and I are driving to the dry cleaners on Thursday. Up ahead a little ways I see a family of about 5 or 6 walking down the sidewalk towards us. I notice them because I was about to turn right and they were also dressed with white, long robes and straw-looking hats. As we get closer, Navie sees them out her window as well. As soon as she sees them, she tells me rather excitedly, "Mom, I saw them!" I'm thinking yeah, they had some different clothes, kinda funny. But no, next I hear her say "I saw the shepherds!" She then goes on to ask me "Are they going to see the baby?" The baby in which Navie is referring to is the baby Jesus, of course. I respond, "yeah they are." Now the thing I can't type is the pure excitement and joy in her voice like she is putting it altogther. She was ecstatic. Finally after another minute she says, "I didn't know they came to Naples..(pause)..Florida." I wish you could hear her say it like I do in my mind. It was HILARIOUS! She sounded completed awed about the wonder and greatness of this new place she now lived in because the shepherds and baby Jesus were here for goodness sake! I laughed so hard on the inside. I couldn't ruin it for her. Oh yeah and then she says, "Mom, we gotta tell Dad that we saw the shepherds." I've never been so grateful for people dressed in white robes before.