Gulf Shores, Alabama

The whole Sands clan headed out on our annual pilgrimage to the shore. The 14 hour drive to the Gulf coast went by quickly as we drove through the night. 

The view from our condo's balcony. Beautiful! 

Every car ride meant some kind of entertainment for Ella. Chris is practicing for his spot on "So You Think You Can Dance." Ella is his protege. Scary! 

Recent hurricanes have uncovered a mysterious ship that has been buried under the beach in Gulf Shores for hundreds of years. Not a soul knew it was there until its protective blanket of sand was blown away by the storm. The skeleton was amazing...ropes, wood, nails still intact. 

The Isenhours return from Sweden!!

It was a long, long year. We are all so thankful to have Amblen, Cindy, Ben and Luna back home safe and sound. 

Mama Bird always flies back home

Ella is starting to get the hang of our weekly routine, and is paying attention to weekdays and weekends. Every mornings she asks "where will I go today?" "Is it the weekend yet?" and "are you sure you have to go face the day without me, momma?" (yes, I know. Heartbreaking.)

Since we recently upgraded her to a big-girl bed, we moved the furniture around in her room—leaving a few blank walls that needed some artwork. I decided to do a piece that would show a mommy bird coming home to her family, so it would assure Ella that my favorite time is truly when I fly back to the proverbial nest of 2124 Belvo. I watched her face as I unveiled it. I thought she was terribly moved but she was actually focusing in on the second baby bird. She has determined that this is the little brother she will have someday...and his name is Alex. LOL!! 

It's mostly cut paper. All the patterns are either from found objects, poetry, musical scores or printouts of patterns I made to build texture.

I did an Eric Carle-style dry brush painting and cut some of the leaves from that. 

Summer Ends!

Ella participated in her first charity bike-a-thon. I think the highlight was getting to wear her pink barbie helmet, which she spent a considerable amount of time pointing out to people. 

She kicked! She blew bubbles! She floated! She pushed off the wall! Ella has officially graduated from the "Guppy" swim class and will move up next summer to "Dolphin" status. Sweet. 

And, to mark the very end of summer, Ella started her first day of class at Creative World of Montessori. We were more nervous than she was. That night we asked her what she did at school. She said "I played!" like it was the most idiotic question she'd ever heard. I hope she always feels that way about learning.