New Month? Yes! New Year? Yes! Still Christmas? Yup!

January 1st, time for a trip to one of 60-ish pools in the Villages. Yeah, I looked that up. I’m good with the Googles. See this image larger.

Mommy takes Nina for a spin, while Grandma Barb does the same with Ian. See this image larger.

She’s already got the beginnings of a swimmer, in this pic. (Months later, she had a great time in swim class at the YMCA, but that’s a tale for when we catch up on the blog!) See this image larger.

A helping of noodle! See this image larger.

Nina’s confidence level around water makes me both thrilled and completely terrified. See this image larger.

Perfect image, destroyed by handrail! See this image larger.

Both kids love water! See this image larger.

I think the thing that I remember most about this part of the trip was Melissa’s grace with the kids. She stood there in the pool, quietly and gently helping Nina back and forth, smiling; they moved like partners in a slow dance. The act itself and Melissa were mesmerizing, and beautiful. A reminder from life of just how lucky I am. See this image larger.

Love you, girls! See this image larger.

One more swim! See this image larger.

Ian and I posed for some hilarious shots at Grandma Barb and Grampa Ray’s! See this image larger.

Some more hilarious than others! See this image larger.

It was around this time that I must have lost my brother’s watch, as it would later turn out that Barb found it in the recesses of this chair. I didn’t realize I had lost it until at the hotel on the way back up to Michigan; so locating it was not easy. Thanks Barb for checking around a bunch! See this image larger.

Trouble kitty adds to the fun… I’m sad to report that dependable, loving, and often drooling; more recently Trouble has gone from this world and will be missed. He was a really cool kitty. See this image larger.

My favorite shot of the bunch. I think you can tell I really love my son, and he really loves his dad. See this image larger.

Ian took this one with my camera, thus it is a little blurry! Overall, nice job, though, kiddo! See this image larger.

Nina gets ready for bed, to say so long to the first day of the new year! See this image larger.

©2024 Copyright - Out Of Their Minds Design, LLC