the Schrader 5

We have had an early taste of winter weather this year. This week has been quite chilly as far as Florida standards go. It has been nice, except for standing on the soccer fields in the blowing wind and having my ears burn (more on that in a minute). Today was gorgeous. I decided to ride my bike to the park that Will and Noah will be having their birthday party at to check to see if there was any electric at the pavilion. It is called Mary McLeod Bethune Park. Half of the park is on the ocean and half is on the river. While I was waiting for the boys to show up (Chris drove them up to meet me there), I watched this pelican chase a poor dolphin all around the river. I have a funny video of it, but it was not zoomed in enough to see it all that great. If you enlarge this photo you will see the pelican about to land on the dolphin's fin. I can only guess he was trying to steal whatever fish that dolphin may have been catching. I was there for 45 minutes or so, and the entire time he was chasing that dolphin! After walking over to the beach with the boys, we went to lunch at Mi Mexico. Yummy! This afternoon we went to wildlife refuge with the Eagney's. This is the same place that Will and Noah went with Chris last weekend. Of course since it was Ethan and my first time being there, we didn't see nearly as much cool stuff as they saw last time. We saw a couple gators but they were all small. I do believe we found a gigantic alligator poop on the trail. Exciting stuff, eh???
The week was full of soccer. This is a picture from Will and Noah's Wednesday night game. The wind was blowing like crazy and I have sensitive ears that start burning instantly in the wind. For me, the night was pure agony. Here Noah is manning the goal.

Ethan and Will went to get a snack from the concession stand. Now, a smart kid would have come back with hot chocolate, but these dopes came back with ice cream! I will say that Will went back and got himself a hot chocolate as a chaser.
Ethan in an attempt not to show his empty mouth. He lost another tooth tonight!
This is the best I could come up with to protect my ears. I found it in Melissa's soccer bag. You see, I also did my best to keep Noah nice and warm at the end of the game!
Ethan had a game on Thursday night. I rode my bike to that game but wised up enough to wear my big, fluffy, purple headband. That made the evening far more comfortable! Friday night I camped out with the boys in the Eagney's backyard. They were very good boys minus the waking up at 5:50 begging for breakfast! Will woke up at 5:45 to go in and use the potty. I took Will and Noah inside and then brought them back out to the tent. I was hoping that they would fall back asleep. Well, I was wrong! They just woke up Ethan and started begging for breakfast. So, we were home by 6:20 sitting at the kitchen table eating breakfast. Good thing there is no school on Monday to make up for it!