Literally! Winter garden hosted an event celebrating Halloween but doggy style. Owners and their pets entered a parade in the farmer's market area to show off their costumes. It was hilarious to see some of these outfits, everything from snow white to even our favorite a chick magnet (as seen in this photo). One lady even brought out her breaded dragon dressed up as a dragon of course! Cristiana LOVED seeing the dogs all dressed up, but we had to stop her from trying to pet all of them.
We visited Sea World during their Halloween Spooktacular. We also joined the Sesame Street gang for the Count's breakfast (which I got a discount for since I'm annual pass holder yay!). It was so much fun, they had a show and Cristiana had the chance to take pictures w/all the characters. After breakfast we did some trick-or treating around the park and of course enjoyed the rides in the kiddie area as well. The girls had a blast together.
This year for Halloween Cristiana dressed up as a pirate, it was ultimately my choice since I bought her outfit dirt cheap on e-bay a few months back, but I have to say, Cristiana embraced it, she loved wearing that costume every time. Julie hosted again this year the Halloween party and as in previous times, it was a hit. The kids had so much fun together. I baked my 2nd tier cake for this party, and it turned out ok. All covered in fondant.
We visited Leu Gardens for their monthly story time. It had been a while since we had the chance to make it out there but the weather was great and it was another place to play w/all the fun features on our camera. Cristana loved the rose garden and all the greenery! I wonder who she gets her naturalistic side from?
Being an annual passholder w/SeaWorld has its benefits. I got a free one day ticket in the mail, so we were able to have a fun family day there. Jaime got to enjoy everything Cristiana loves to see and do, especially the kiddie rides. She went up on the nets play area today for the first time as well, she had a great time, though it was hard to maneuver.
So ever since I took my sewing class I have all these projects I'd like to do, have tons of fabric and tons of patterns, but never have the time to actually sit down and sew. I've only sewn Cristiana 3 items so far, and this one is my favorite one. Every year Cristiana dresses up for college football, but this year, with our tight budget I didn't want to order anything on-line so I found some UM fabric at JoAnns and saw this really easy to follow tutorial on You Tube and "Viola." Everyone at the sports bar we go to, to watch the games with the other alumni in town were talking about how cute her shirt was. I also made the cover for her hairband as well! I was very proud! It was a design by Maite.
During Sept. we went down to S.FL again for Jaime's job. Cristiana and I sneaked a trip down to Miami to visit my mom. We attempted to go the beach, but apparently the waters had high levels of bacteria due to a storm. We did end up visiting my Alma Matter, University of Miami. It was so exciting to see Cristiana walk down the same halls I did when I was there. Maybe she'll go there as well! " It's Great to be a Miami Hurricane"
It was so exciting for us to start ballet, it felt like forever when we first signed up and had to wait for classes to begin. Cristiana was so excited but didn't know what to expect and least of all, she didn't expect me to leave her there while I waited outside. The studio so graciously offers this wonderful free ballet class for 2 year olds. Monica and Amelia shared this with all of us and we were lucky enough to get in (there's always a waiting list since it is a free class), but mom's are not allowed inside the studio during the class, I unfortunately didn't prep Cristiana for this since I thought it being the first class we would be allowed in, it was a surprise to me too. With all that, she did SO great on her own. Didn't even cry when I left, a bit surprised and looked like she was about to get upset but was quickly over it once class began. She danced and had a great time (the window has a semi see-thru curtain so you can get a quick peek at what's going on). We bought her ballet shoes that afternoon and she was ready for class the following Monday. The following Monday after ballet we took the girls to a local Ice cream shop and they played in a sitting area right next door to the ice cream shop. Cristiana really seems to Love ballet, what can I say, dancing is in her blood.
We had a great time celebrating with The Grant Fam and all their friends for Joe's birthday. Cristiana played in the pool, played with Ava and some new friends and even curled up under a blanket w/Ava. She ended the night with some yummy ice cream cake. We had a great time and it's always so nice to hang out Grants.
We headed to Longwood for a fun story time w/ Kristin and Ava. Unfortunately we got lost and ended up missing 90% of the event but we decided to have a picnic lunch @ Big Tree (which I've been wanting to visit for a while) and got a shot of the girls standing in front of "The Senator" which is a 3,500 year old Bald Cypress that is 118ft tall with a circumference of 35ft (it's the state's largest cypress). They look so tiny next to that tree. It was a pretty cool sight to see.