Los Flemings

Now that the exterior of our house is nearly painted we are about to tackle some interior projects. One of the first is new flooring for our kitchen. So yesterday in the afternoon I tried peeling up a corner of the current linoleum to get a sense of how much work it was going to take to remove. I discovered two things. First, it wasn't too bad. Second, Sam was fascinated with the process. He immediately asked if he could try it, so I let him. The he wanted a scrapper of his own which I provided. The next thing we knew he had pulled up several 'tiles' and didn't want to stop. Even after he got into his pajamas he wanted to scrape some more. We finally got him to go to bed but the first thing this morning he was back in the kitchen. Before I could even get out of bed and turn on the light, he was back at work with his scraper. He's probably responsible for about a third of the progress we've made so far. (photos to come)

Grandpa Bunk came to Tallahassee for a visit this weekend. Friday night the boys took over the grill so that mom and dad could have a night out. BBQ chicken and sweet corn were on the menu.

Saturday afternoon Sam demonstrated his new swimming skills at the Levy Park Pool.

Big news: Sam 'tested out' of his swim lessons last Friday. It involved jumping into the pool fully dressed (long pants, long sleeve shirt and shoes) and demonstrating the ability to swim and float his way to the nearest exit. The instructor turned him head over heals a couple of times, pulled him in backwards off the deck and even covered his face while he was floating to make sure he had the skills for self-rescue. We knew he was done when he was starting to swim around on his own. He was floating on his back close to the wall and pushed himself back out into the middle of the pool.

We hit the road this weekend for central Florida to celebrate The Big Dots 85th birthday in Winter Haven. We shared a cabin with Donna and Frank at Lake Louisa State Park with a lovely view of Lake Dixie. On the drive home we took a little detour to Cedar Key to take a swim and try out Sam's new trail-a-bike. The beach was pretty small and a bit muddy but Sam had a blast digging in the muck and splashing around in the water. Sam's legs are just a tad short for the trail-a-bike but he hung in there and we're excited to have it for the trip in July.

and the livin' is juicy.

The painting of 1324 Jackson street has commenced. Here's a preview of the new color.

warm weather means that they put the barefoot flag out at school - one of Sam's favorite parts of the day.

Sam started swim lessons last week and has made good progress. The instructor has him floating on his back and motoring through the water. The objective of the one-on-one lessons is to teach him self-rescue if he fell into the water by first rolling over into a float, catching his breath and then swimming to the nearest point of exit.

on the move to Ms. Julia

Sam won't let go of the "bone" till he's gotten every last drop of juice.

Sam's latest creation with the big blocks. When the tower got taller than he could reach, a little light bulb went off and he retrieved his stool from the bathroom in order to reach the top.

Ben is done and Mame is about to start. Thanks to everyone who showed up in person or in spirit to celebrate our accomplishments.