Floaties

Mornings with Meadow

Yesterday morning I was getting ready for work, every so quietly- since Gordon was home and still sleeping, he is off all week.  I was trying to keep my usual routine while "daddy" was home but Meadow the Great Dane puppy had other ideas.
She was sleeping on the bed until I finished drying my hair then I could hear her start to move around the bedroom so I brought her in the bathroom with me as I finished applying my face.  This dog is sooo busy, here you can see her exploring-seriously I wouldn't have believed it if I didn't watch her squeeze up there myself.  She managed to climb up the steps and tippy toe over to the left side stepping over the faucet and over to the window.  Once she got to the window there was no way to turn around, I managed to get my cam on video to capture her exit.............so much for trying to be quiet in the morning.

On the water, finally

Even though we are in Florida not every weekend is ideal to take our boat out, this weekend was.  We had a great time and Mia got to swim with her daddy for hours yesterday.
These pictures have not been touched, the water is actually that color-it's gorgeous!

Next weekend we won't go anywhere near the beach, Holiday weekends are nuts at the boat ramps around here.  ***********Click the lower right corner of the video player for full screen

Meadow

At 10 months old Meadow our Great Dane puppy was spayed Friday.  Here is our totally hammered girl after her procedure on her way home (she did eventually sit down for the ride).  It was so nice to have a calm Great Dane in the house, even if it was for only 24 hours..........once the anesthesia wore off she was her usual crazy self again.  She is doing fine today but we need to keep her from doing too much for the next 14 days.

Meadow post op

Swim lessons

Not going in the pool for lessons

Not sure if I mentioned this yet.  A few months back Gordon enrolled Mia in swimming lessons at our local YMCA.  Well..................those haven't turned out so good.  May 4th was our first scheduled class and we got Mia all pumped up and excited about her very first swim lesson.
When we(Gordon, Mia & myself - it's a family thing we do everything together usually) arrived for the first lesson we came across a sign in the parking lot that the YMCA was closed for a fundraiser.  I'm ok with that, it's their thing, they do yearly what I'm not ok with is that No one EVER told us and the staff even wrote down the dates for us to be a the lessons.  Off to the water park we went, it was a place that Mia would have fun and take away the disappointment of her swimming lessons not happening.
  On to the next weekend, I take Mia this time since Gordon had to be out of town for a seminar.  Mia is excited to go swimming and when we arrive they are actually open :)
 Fast forward here......it took 45 minutes of my daughter screaming "no" until I could get her close to the pool by then the class was just about over. Finally in the pool with me, class on the total opposite end of the pool.   I asked the instructor if she could take Mia around on the kick board like she did with the class (as Mia was screaming by the side of the pool) and the instructor agreed.

That yellow pad is where Mia SHOULD be

 It's hard to paint this picture but here I am, in the pool - fully clothed - making my daughter more comfortable in the pool and once she is comfortable and excited to swim with the instructor I turn her over to the instructor start to walk away(I am still thigh deep in the pool).  I turned to look back at Mia hoping to see her just kicking her way around the pool with the instructor when I see the instructor is not actually watching my daughter, the instructor is looking forward and Mis is BEHIND her holding on to the kick board . I watch-in horror- Mia go underwater and freak the F out.  The mommy in me kicked in before the Paramedic in me did and I bolted towards her screaming at the instructor "She CAN'T swim" "what part of this lesson is swim on your own!!!!!!!!!" Fortunately Mia bobbed up more times than down and didn't get too mach water ingested.  I took her out of the pool and we left.
  I was and still am sooooooooooooo pissed.
Here we are, weekend #3 and guess what......................yep you got it.......Class cancelled once again and WITHOUT a phone call.
I finally reached the director of aquatics for the YMCA today and discussed the chain of events and advised her that we wanted a refund for all of the classes and wouldn't be returning.  The director was very apologetic and offered to give Mia 2 free Private lessons with only her, I told her I would have to get back to her on that.................would you go back there??

Today I am calling a few pvt instructors that have been referred to me, even IF we did take those 2 free pvt lessons at the Y I am still going to do pvt swim lessons one on one for Mia at our house.

At the water park, finally a happy little girl.

Pictures

Professional photos....

1 of many..................waiting on proofs.

Sunset

It was such a great night here Saturday that we ran out to the beach just before sunset to grab some pics of Mia.  She had a blast running in and out of the water and chasing the birds, we are usually on the boat and not on the sandy beach-she enjoyed the sand!   

Just a few pics for you............I shot tons of them but still don't have time to go thru them all yet.

There's that cheesy smile

All wet !

Got'cha

2 years in pictures.

Today marks our 2nd Got'cha Day.  For those of you not familiar with adoption lingo this is the day we met Mia in China for the very first time hence "Got'cha".    Our process started back in 2005 with paperwork being submitted to China and logged in Beijing on June 2, 2006.  On February 3, 2011 we received our referral, traveled to China on April 8th 2011 and on Apriil 11th 2011 we got our baby girl!!!!

Yes that was 5 years of waiting but on this special day 2 years ago we were blessed with a beautiful little girl and our wait was so very worth it.

You will have to click on the picture to see them all.

Easter continued

After the Easter feast and  playing with chalk on the driveway we headed over to the park for Mia to do her favorite thing.......................Swing.  ***32 pics here for those of you that need a Mia fix.