Summer Outings Photo Montage

Em and I have enjoyed many outings during our first 2 weeks of summer...





Em in 3-D glasses today when we saw the movie "Up"



SPOILER ALERT (Please skip to next photo if you don't want to read about "Up" plot details):



(On a side note, I LOVED the movie. And I cried more regarding the sweet relationship between the husband and wife, than I did at their "baby situation." Whew! Prior to seeing the film, I read a few movie reviews and fellow blogger's posts and wasn't sure how sensitive I'd be to the issues the couple in the movie encounters as they try to conceive a child. Such a sweet movie! And I agree with the wonderful Mel's POST HERE , in which she states that the infertility signs within the film were "presented in such a way that families in the know will appreciate the ability to use it as a jumping board for discussion and those who have thankfully had no trouble with family building will miss the point entirely."

Ironically, I saw the film with my 4-year-old daughter whose only question after the film was, "What happened to his wife?" Whereas, I was left with multiple questions:

--Why did Ellie and Carl choose to remain childless?
--Did they suffer a miscarriage, or were they told they couldn't conceive a child? (I thought it was a miscarriage, but I can see how it could be interpreted either way.)
--Why did the movie creators not show any 2-parent families throughout the film? (The young boy Russell has a father who is rarely around, and the mama-bird Kevin is seen caring for her 3 babies with no father or partner around?)


Overall, I thought it was a great film, that as Mel said lends itself easily to infertility discussions. As I continue on my secondary infertility journey, I can see using this film to one day help explain to Emma the difficulty DH and I are having trying to conceive a sibling...

END SPOILER

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"Friendship Fountain" a Jacksonville landmark. We saw it when walking along the St. John's riverfront.
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Near---Em in tree house at the MOSH (Museum of Science and History)



Far---Em in the same MOSH tree house

Baby dinosaur "hatching" in the dinosaur exhibit.

Baby Dino's mama

This dinosaur freaked Emma out a bit. "I'm done with this part, Mommy, let's go!"

Entrance to the museum
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Em as we hiked on a nature trail at Ft. Caroline

Self portrait of us at the fort (excuse my double-chin, bleck!)

Em being silly with the "Junior Park Ranger" badge she earned when we completed the activity book at the Ft. Caroline park. (Did you know that most National Parks have free activities children can complete to earn "badges?" I didn't know until this visit. Awesome!)

Beside one of Ft. Caroline's cannons

"Aren't I sweet?" with the tail end of another cannon
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Wearing her new mermaid hoodie-towel at the Metro Park water park

Just splashin' around

Using a water squirter at the water park

We aren't always on-the-go. We've had plenty of at home time too: including board games, Hide-n-Seek, and baking of No-Bake cookies. (When my younger sis was in college her roommate had a super delicious no-bake cookie recipe for creating oatmeal/chocolate/peanut butter cookies in the microwave. We made them this weekend. It was nice to have a "sweet treat" without heating the house up by using the oven. Yum!)

I've also been trying to get through the awesome ICLW list on Mel's blog. I'm trying to earn "Iron Commenter" status again. (And *salty tears* I won't be able to participate in next month's ICLW due to my NYC trip with my college girlfriends. But you can bet I'll be back in August!)

Whew! That's my summer so far. What have you been up to?