One of the best things about living in Florida is basically having the beach at your back door. For example, whenever you have a free Friday or Saturday night (or any night of the week for that matter) and you want to pack everyone up & head to the sand & seashore to witness a gorgeous sunset and let the kids frolic in the sand, you can. Thankfully our home here is just down the street from the beach. The road our development sits off of leads right straight down into the gulf of Mexico. A 5 minute drive to the beach makes everything in life that much better.
There is nothing I love more than stepping down into that sand and feeling the grit of it all between my toes. The sugaring process...ya know? The sound of the waves lapping and the smell of the sea salt in the air is almost more than my heart can handle. There is also nothing I love more than seeing my kids enjoy the beach as much or more than I do. I managed to get Brennen to stand still a few times while there Friday evening. This is now one of my new favorite images...
There is something to be said for footprints in the sand. Not just because of the famous poem either. The rushing of the waves and their ability to wash away a footstep is a perfect word picture for how important life is. How short life is. One minute it is here. The next minute it's gone.
I just love photos of toes in the sand. Images of flip flops at the beach.
Brennen wasn't happy with me for posting this image of him below. He stuck his toes in the water and found that the gulf was freezing. However, I just had to share it. :) I focused my camera all on him this particular night. I just love this boy...
When I look at this shot below, it is hard to believe he is going to be 11 in just two more weeks. In some ways he looks so much older here - but in other ways he still resembles that little baby of mine who ran around with a chili bowl haircut for so long and who adored Blues Clues as a toddler. The years just fly by.
He is such a little stud-man now. Girls calling and texting. Females in his class leaving "I love you" verbage on his Valentines, etc. How quickly they grow up. It is nights spent watching the sunsets at the beach that make me so thankful for the time I do have with him. One day he'll be wanting to bring his "best girl" to the shoreline instead of his Mama. No fear...I'll be hiding out in the sea oats with my 70-300mm telephoto lens. Poor girl...she'll have no idea that his Mom mimics the Paparazzi until its too late. Ha ha! Poor Brennen...his life is forever doomed. LOL!
Hope you are all having a spectacular weekend. Even if you don't have a beach near by, go sugar your toes in the snow with your kiddo's. It will melt soon. Again, life is soooo short. Much love, Angie
PS...Thank you to all of you who've signed up for the Angie Seaman Photography class that begins this Monday. The class has once again sold out. There is now a wait list going for the next class being offered in May. I'll announce details on that one soon. For those still interested in the workshop I'm doing here in Naples in September, there are seats available. Click HERE for details. It is going to be an amazing weekend!
FIX IT FRIDAY - SANIBEL ISLAND CHILDREN'S PHOTOGRAPHER
It's fix it Friday over at I heart faces again this week. The above image is the shot they gave us to try and "fix." The shot above is the before shot and the shot below is my post edit fixed shot. Here is my "after..."
Here are the two of them side by side...
I love any image with blue skies and bright colors. This one was no different. Thanks Caroline for letting us play with your image. :) To see more fix it Friday examples, visit HERE.
Here is another one of those shots where there is just beauty in the mundane. Call it my obsession with lines again, I donno. Whatever it is...I just love when birds are all lined single file up on an electrical wire - let alone on a pretty day - right above the beach with blue skies AND pretty white fluffy marshmallow clouds. I took these image several weeks ago and something lead me to share it today. Although it means nothing to you guys, it makes me smile. Can you imagine just chillin' with your B/F/F's all day long up in the blue pillow-y skies with the beach down below? WOW! What a rough life that would be. Real, real, rough. Fo' sho'! :) In the end, this is just another example of how we pass this type of stuff daily and the images never register with our brains that they mean anything or that they are beautiful enough to be noticed. The beauty in the mundane again. The stuff we see day in an day out but never truly "feel" when we see it. I snapped this image because I wanted to remember what I felt when I saw it and I wanted to feel the smile that it brought to me when I thought about hanging with my gur-frens on a live wire all day long. At.the.beach! This was another scene that being a photographer taught me to see that I otherwise would not have.
For now, I'm off to tend to my littles - my Kenidi Grace - who has been home sick since Monday. She is sitting right here beside me eating chex mix and popcorn now that she finally has an appetite back. I'm just glad to see her eating - I don't care if it is bucket loads of chocolate at this point. Hoping you are all having a great week. PS...I'm starting to get lots of calls from clients about wanting professional beach portraits done when they travel here to Florida for Spring Break next month. If you are heading to the Ft. Myers Beach, Naples, Marco Island, Sanibel Island, or Cape Coral areas for your upcoming travels and would like to schedule a session with me...shoot me an email. I'd be honored to photograph you, your family, your children, etc. A huge thanks to all of you who continue to pass on my name to others in regard to photography needs. Your word of mouth referrals are priceless. I can't begin to express how much they mean to me.
Hi friends. Just wanted to post a note here real quick and let each of you know that "Canvas People" are giving away free photo canvases right now. They are on a mission to earn the business of everyone in the market and then some. Therefore, they are offering an awesome deal for free canvases. I must say that I ordered two for my office and I received them a couple of weeks back. They turned out OK but they definitely aren't the quality that I'm used to with my professional photography lab. These canvases are thin and skinny, not the 2" wide heavy duty canvases some of you might be familiar with. Their lab coloring was way off and actually produced a bluish tint to my images as well as some dark areas but beings that they were free (or one was), I'm not complaining. For the FREENESS, they are just fine. I'm appreciative of their gesture to give so many free canvases away. I'm just one that will knit pick a bit more because I work with color labs and can distinguish what tints are normal in a photograph and what aren't. These are horrific shots of mine that I grabbed real quick and on the fly but I at least wanted to give you an idea of what they looked like.
If you should want to receive a FREE canvas yourself, feel free to go HERE for the details. Enjoy and have fun.
My next beginner online photography class starts this coming Monday, March 1st. As of this moment, we literally only have 4 seats left. If you are interested in signing up, please go HERE to register. Time is running out. If you'd prefer to read a bit more about the details of the class, feel free to visit my photography blog HERE for more information. Should you have any questions, you can email me directly at Angie@AngieSeamanPhotography.com
As you can see, seats are filling up fast. This class is well on its way to being another sold out session. It is a sure fire guess that the remaining slots still open will be gone before the weekend. We've got a great group from all across the country and beyond joining us again. We're going to have a great time and would love to have you join us.
Meet Dotty. Dotty is Kenidi's assigned horse each week at therapy. To say that Kenidi loves Dotty would be an extreme understatement. Everyday she asks me about "oohs" which means horse in her language. We think she got horses and cows mixed up somewhere along the way and refers to horses as "oohs" because of the noise that cows make..."mooooo." It is nothing for her to come in with her cowboy boots and her riding helmet asking for the "oohs." I have to count down sleeps with her (days/nights) and remind her that she has 4 more "sleeps" for example before she sees the "oohs" again. These talks have to be the sweetest thing you've ever heard.
The shot above was just my way of capturing the beautiful light that was filtering in thru the barn the other night. It's great to be able to have the weather where she can do this outside year round. Back home in Indy, we had to do it indoors. I was standing right on the edge of the fence and the light was hitting the corner. There is so much to be said about natural light. It really is gorgeous. Thus why I can't stand to use a flash on my camera. EVER!
She looks upset in this shot below but this is Kenidi's shy face. I was snapping photos of her and she noticed me there. She swung that shy look at me and turned away from the camera...
The mundane orange cone below - again just a shot showing the natural light hitting it in just the right way. There is such beauty in the mundane if we are willing to look for it. I love being a photographer because the camera teaches you to look for things you never saw before. To look for beauty in even the ugliest of places...
Those who know me well...know that I love angles. I love architecture. I love lines. Leading lines. I looked up in the barn and saw these lights strategically hanging in a row. Loved it.
And this hook below. Nothing. No significance whatsoever other than the gorgeous natural light that is hitting it again.
I saw this sign on one of the barns. Thought it was very profound. This entire horse facility is run off volunteers. We pay only $10 a week for Kenidi to ride there. The day to day runnings of the facility are done via the help of all volunteers. Even the side walkers you see walking beside Kenidi when she is on the horse are volunteers. This is a HUGE difference compared to the facility that we went to in Indy for her. We loved it there but it was $180 a session compared to the $10 we pay now. Thankfully our insurance paid for most of those sessions back home. The unfortunate part is that many families never get the opportunity to send their child there because it is so costly and they don't have the means to cover it. Very sad!Volunteers ROCK!
These side walkers are there with Kenidi to make sure that should the horse ever act up, they are there to help her. In all the time we've been doing this though, we've never had a horse get out of line. They are what they call "Bomb trained." Meaning even if a bomb were to go off near them, they remain controlled and don't go crazy - especially with a rider on their back. Kenidi tells the horse when to go and when to stop. She is to pull on his reigns when stopping and shake his reigns and tell him to "walk on" when she wants him to go. It is really amazing to see how calm she is when in therapy with these horses.
Now look at these images and notice how all of the locals are wearing coats, muffins around their heads, etc. Kenidi of course just has on a sweatshirt. It was 66 degrees on this particular day - with sunshine. However, according to how the locals were dressed, you would have thought that it was below zero outside. LOL! Of course us Hoosiers are good with a simple hoodie. Ha ha!
It still seems so odd to me to see palm trees with barns and horses. I don't know why. The barns and the animals just remind me of the Midwest. However, they roam where the palm trees grow too...
Now this is what I call one big ol' ceiling fan...
We are so very thankful for all of the therapists, doctors, volunteers, etc. which have now come into our life since moving to Florida. God placed some great ones in our path and we couldn't be more at peace with the individuals we entrust Kenidi with. It is such a scary thing to have to find and recruit all new people to handle the medical issues and the day to day routines (i.e. school) and so forth when it comes to your child. Because Kenidi can't speak to us and tell us her feelings or how her day went, we rely on trustworthy people to make us feel at ease when it comes to her. It is so very tough but when you have relationships with stellar individuals such as these, it makes each day a little easier. Thanks again to everyone who is helping to make us feel so at home here in Florida.
This shot above is the rec center where Brennen plays on his basketball league. It's a gorgeous park - as all the parks here in Southwest Florida are. The parks here in Florida put our parks in Indiana to shame. It's really embarrassing when you compare the two. The Indiana parks and rec peeps could really take some advice from Florida's head honcho's. That is fo' sho'! This shot just happened to be of the entrance into the rec center. It's just a small snippet of the beauty to behold at this particular location. Either way, thought I'd do a quick blog about his game Saturday...
Yeap, here is the stud-man himself exuding frustration at one point in the game - those long eyelashes and all...
Here is the gym inside the rec center. They also have a massive fitness center inside this same building with a phenomenal day care that looks like a school. It's amazing. Awesome facility to say the least.
Just a simple shot of the basket I kept seeing while down on the floor. Yeap, I'm that Mom who sits at the end of the court and takes pictures the whole game - sprawling out across the floor when necessary...
Like for this shoe shot below. Look how dusty and dirty that floor is though. GAG! Can you guess which tennies are Brennen's?
If you guessed the third set of tennies from the left, then you are correct. He is sitting next to the kid with the white tennis shoes on - with his hands together.
This next shot was just of a little girl sitting on the folded up bleachers. I saw her feet dangling with the flip flops on and thought it was a cute shot...
Here was a fun succession of shots I took during one of the baskets made for Brennen's team...
SWOOSHHHHH...nothin' but net...!
Here is another one of those moments when I got down on the floor - that dirty filthy basketball shoe wearin' floor - in front of all the other parents watching me make a fool of myself - and captured this shot of all the boys running. They have two girls on their team (it's a co-ed rec league here) and I loved the pink converse that were proudly displayed in this shot along with all of the other "boyish" tennis shoes.
Here is their team with their coach. You can see Brennen dead center - peeking thru...
And for those of you wondering if they won or not...here was the final score.
We were the HOME team! YAY!
It was a great game that stayed neck and neck - about 1 point apart - the whole game. (until the end when our team landed a few extras) We love his coach - he's a great guy. Brennen starts football this week as well. It's a spring league. His basketball and football will overlap with one another for the next couple of weeks. He's going to be a tired boy I'm sure. On Mondays for the next few weeks he'll have basketball and football practice - on the same night. It was a fluke thing due to being in two different leagues. However, we are going to play it by ear and see how he can handle it. In the meantime, I am just as anxious to get back out on the football sidelines as he is. LOL!
I'm off to go enjoy the sunny and blissful 76 degree weather here in Naples, Florida today. It has been in the sixties all week so yesterday and today were a great change. Looking forward to a weeks worth of warm temps now that the cold front is gone again. "There is something about the sunshine baby..." (that is a Disney song for those who don't know. It's playing on the movie Starstruck as I type. Catchy little tune if you ask me) Enjoy your week everyone. xoxo, Angie
Real quick...I'm on the hunt for some healthy recipes centered around Tilapia as well as some healthy recipes for sea scallops. I've been eating much cleaner lately as I attempt to be back in my skinny jeans by May. HA! However, I don't ever really cook those two items and now I am. I'd like to try out some new recipes with them. You know...shake it up a notch.
If you have any recipes for Tilapia or sea scallops, will you forward them to me? You can link me to them by posting a comment on the blog here (below) or feel free to shoot me an email at Angie@AngelicaGraceDesigns.com - I'd be forever grateful and just might photograph your recipe as I'm cooking it should I decide to try it. Then...I'll feature it here on the blog. One quick thing though...they must be for grilled or baked recipes. No fried or breaded things. Must eat "clean." Must eat "clean." LOL!
Thanks friends. Can't wait to hopefully try some new stuff - via your recipes. xoxo, Angie
Over at "I heart faces" today...it's fix it Friday time. I always say that I'm going to take the time to play along and try this but then I usually end up sidetracked and out of time. So this week, I decided I was going to just make time. And I did. Fix it Friday, for those who don't know, is a play along blog game where someone submits a photograph that needs a little "fixing." It might be overexposed, underexposed, etc. and it is our job to throw our own spin on it and fix it. You can be as creative as you like with it. It's always neat to see what other individuals due to the image in order to fix it. Without further ado, here is the image this week that was submitted for all of us to use...
As you can see, it was underexposed and need some help with the lighting and such. I decided to bring up the exposure, add a bit of honey soaked action to it as well as some haze to tone down the background a bit and then I placed a slight texture over the top of the image. Here is the "after..."
I had fun playing with this. For more I heart faces fix it Friday edits of this same image, go HERE.
As I sit in my office and edit each day or when I'm returning emails, paying bills, etc., this is what I look out over my desk and see. This is part of my view. It's the spa over flowing into our pool. Back home in Indiana we would call these hot tubs. However, in Florida, they aren't hot tubs...they are "spas." Guess that is just another small reason why Naples, Florida was just ranked the 11th happiest and healthiest city to reside in nationwide by USA Today. (out of 162 cities across the country) Even their containers of water sound better. HA!
Either way, something about this small little overflow of water makes my days even better. When I look out into that turquoise mass of water and that stream from the fountain is running, it is calming to me. I eyed it up for weeks before finally deciding that it was camera worthy. I kept saying to myself..."Self, you need to get out there with the camera (a.k.a Big Papa) and take some pictures of that running fountain of peace." So...I eventually did. And these are the shots that came from that moment.
I've come to the conclusion that the reason why I love this simple fountain coming out of the spa and into the pool so much is because the spa fountain is a good analogy or educational word picture for me. It is a daily reminder that life is full of recycled events. Full of running outpours that eventually fade into the great big sea of a deep pool we call life. Streams of events that conglomerate to form one big mass of history. No matter what debris flows from that stream or what beauty sparkles from its grip...in the end, it all ends up in one grand place. In the grand scheme of life - serenaded along side other sparkling moments and other pieces of debris that ultimately get skimmed up and pulled away from the pretty. Away from the sparkling. Even though gone, the debris made the sparkling look even better. Even shinier. Even more refined. The debris and its process helped make the sparkling - the bling of life - all that it is. I heard a quote the other day from within a song called "Broken." (which is broken on my playlist below right now for some odd reason) The quote reads..."Hitting walls and getting scars only makes you who you are. No matter how much your heart is aching, there is beauty in the breaking." How unbelievably profound, eh? I have a dear friend - one of my best friends from high school - who is beginning a new chapter in her life this week. I am beyond upset that I'm not there in Indiana to ring her doorbell donning a big ol' fat pizza in my hand, a bottle of red wine for her - not me - because she loves a "good red" - all while wearing my pj's - ready for a long night of laughs, cries, and oh so important life altering girlfriend moments. I've said it before but I'll say it again...this is the time - in the era of our thirties - when we realize that our girlfriends are needed now more than ever. This is the age when our parents come down with life threatening illnesses, when marriages are battered and left for dead, when marriages end and those involved must begin new chapters, when dear friends die tragically, when we loose jobs and need to find another, when our children are growing up-putting us thru worry at times and we need to vent to another, and so forth. This list goes on and on. This is the era when girlfriends *must* step up to the plate. You know who you are. If you are the girlfriend that says..."Call me if you need me" instead of showing up and ringing their doorbell before they ever even realize that the other needs you, then you should re-evaluate how you treat and treasure your friendships. We don't get to own the title of "gur-fren" for nothing. Friendships are just like marriages. They are hard work - work that is required by two people - giving and taking when necessary. Depleting and replenishing in a fair way. A balancing act of two souls keenly in tune with one another no matter what the geographical distance.
So when your old chapters in life end and a new chapter begins - when your spa fountain runneth' over into that grand pool of life carrying debris, baggage, or better yet...bling...know that it will all recycle and begin anew no matter how ugly or how pretty. In turn, it will leave you more refined and more polished for the next cup that spills over. We will all have life events or certain individuals that are strong enough to bring us down. Make a valid effort to surround yourself with people, friends, family, etc. that are there to help you prove your strong enough to get back up. And if your on the other side of the spa fountain observing the moments of recycling for others, be sure to be the friend that "acts" rather than just "says" I'm here if you need me. I know from my own personal experiences that the ones hurting never have the energy to ask for help. They are on the floor - barely breathing - when the trenches call. It is up to us to act before they even realize they need us. If you aren't there for your *friends* when they are going thru the depths of hell...when DO you plan to be there for them?
You all know how I feel about friendships. True friends are like rare jewels. Hard to find. Hard to hold onto. Treat them as such.
And to my gur-fren back home who is beginning a new chapter of her life today...remember..."crazy is yo' friend." I love ya girl!
I shot some images of some flowers recently and thought I'd share. They remind me of Spring, Florida, color, happiness, pink-ness and everything else a girl loves. I added the rest of them to my photography blog. There are just a few but you can click HERE to see the others.
I'm off to play catch up today. I have several things on my to do list that need tackled. Imagine that! Other than those errands though, there is much going on. I'm working on details for my Naples photography workshop here in September, spending my time in the sunshine with my laptop while educating myself on some new things regarding photography via a very awesome DVD series from some pro photographers, and just conquering daily life as usual. The kids are at school, Brent is at the office, my Mom is at the license branch, and I'm soaking up the peace and quiet time before everyone returns back home this afternoon. Speaking of the license branch, I owe a huge thank you to all of you who gave me ideas on facebook the other night regarding the personalized license plate for my car. I was asking for advice on different 5 or 7 letter words/phrases regarding photography and boy did you guys give me some fun ones. I found many that were available according to the Florida BMV website. Now I just need to narrow it down and pick one. YAY! You ladies know how I love those personalized plates but instead of ordering one that has to do with AGD this time, I'm ordering one that centers around photography.
Lastly, the seats are filling up fast for my next online beginner photography workshop. It begins March 1st. Should you wish to register for it, the details can be found HERE. I've had many questions about when I'll be offering the next class after that. Truth is...I never know when I'm going to do another one until I look ahead at my schedule for the next couple of months. Right now it is tough to say when I'll offer an additional class because we will be coming back to Indy soon for a quick visit, Spring Break is also approaching, my shooting schedule is picking up due to the vacationers coming down, etc. So...if you want in on a class...now is the time to jump because it is the only date set in stone at this moment.
Have a 'fantabulous' Tuesday and be careful for those of you traveling those roads in the Midwest. I hear it is messy there again. Thank God I don't live there for this pounding you guys are taking this season. I'm there in spirit though... LOL! :)
We had a great dinner last night with Joe (our friend from Indiana). Although we missed Tamara and Derek - his wife and son - whom we hope will be back down to visit here real soon. Their family is looking to purchase a vacation home down here in the Cape Coral area so we are pretty stoked and excited about that idea. Derek is one of Brennen's best little pals that he has known since his early elementary school days. We adore their family and hope that they'll be joining us down here as residents soon. It would be great to know that they could "beach it" with us whenever they are in town. :)
That little yellow hand in the photo above is Kenidi's. I think she got it from school. She carries it around in her hand and as small as it is, I always find it sitting or laying somewhere. It's literally about the size of an eraser on a pencil. So tiny. It always makes me laugh though because I've been trying to teach Kenidi how to give the peace sign forever but she just can't figure out how to get only the two fingers up and the others kept down. It's too much coordination for her little hands at this point. She did learn to give two thumbs up the other day though and we've had a hoot with her ever since. She walks around giving everything two thumbs up now. I decided to break out the macro and photograph the chubby little peace sign hands because they remind me of Kenidi so much. Love em'! Love her!
And speaking of love...did I tell you guys how much I love that son of mine too? (even though he NEVER lets me photograph him...he gets it naturally I guess) Yeap, for those of you who aren't friends of mine on facebook, you probably hadn't heard that Brennen made the honor roll here at his new school. I'm so proud of him. It brings me such joy to see him excited about school, his grades, and doing well overall. He came home with a certificate the other day for his honor roll accomplishment and let me know that he got to participate in a special luncheon/party for making the school honor roll. Again, we are thrilled with his transition just as much as we have been Kenidi's. He has a wonderful teacher who has really encouraged him in writing. He loves to write and she's noticed that - and has since promoted his want to keep on writing. His grade level took the "Collier Writes" test here this week. It's part of a test that is similar to our I-Step testing back in Indiana. It had a big portion of the test which centered around writing. The top score you could get was a 6. She let it be known that after skimming quickly over Brennen's test, she felt he had scored either a 5 or 6. I was so pleased and yet again so proud. His grandparents spoiled him with cards and letters in the mail for his hard work. Inside those cards...yeap you guessed it...money. He loves the "green" and I just love their support and the unending encouragement they give my kids. (and me) We are so blessed with the family we have. So very, very, blessed.
On another positive note, please keep my Mom in your prayers. She had a job interview this morning and we are hoping that it went well. She should know something within a week to ten days if they decide to hire her. Please pray for favor in this area with us. We are desperately lifting her up in hopes that she gets some good news and lands this job with benefits, insurance, etc. She needs this and it would be a perfect position for her. Thank you in advance for your prayers. We can't begin to tell you guys how much we appreciate them.
For now...I'm off to go take a 30 or so minute walk/run before coming back to edit some images. The palm trees are swaying here in Florida today and I love getting outdoors to here their actual rustling as they sway back and forth like that. I'm weird - I know. However, they have a sound just as the sea has a sound when its waves come rolling ashore. Happy Friday everyone! Have a superb weekend!
No time for a "real" photo today. However, I managed to snap this very blurred and out of focus shot the other night and thought I'd use it anyway. This is how I found Kenidi on her bed the other evening. She was intent on watching her "Bear in the Big blue house" potty training video. Even though she is enthralled with that DVD, I'm about to fire Bear in the big blue house because his potty training videos aren't helping Kenidi get anymore excited about learning the technique herself than when we began. Grrrr! Still trying...
Speaking of Kenidi, many of you have requested that I start putting more photos of her and family back on the blog again. I can honor your request for photos of her because most times she is still a willing participant in front of a lens. Brennen detests my camera now days and I have to physically bribe him to cooperate. LOL! As for Brent and myself...as you know...I rarely post photos of my husband on here and NEVER post images of myself - well almost never. I have decided to keep him and any details concerning him and I as private as possible. I'm sure you've noticed that in the past 8 months. There is a certain individual who reads my blog "hourly" and therefore, I like keeping that person in the dark as well as any others out there who feel that they need to get up in my business or know what is going on in my life. People still think that just because I blog about one millisecond of my life each day that they are owed every detail surrounding us, our family, our children, our lifestyle, etc. Wrong! Don't think so. Believe it or not, there is a HUGE part of me that is a very private person. What you see here is a 20 minute snippet of something that my day held each time I post. That doesn't mean I should have to give a full account or run down of my life to anyone. So...I appreciate all of you who want to see more family photos. You are so very sweet. Again, I can arrange that regarding Kenidi's images. However, for the other three of us...it might be pretty tough. Ha ha! I'm not saying I won't share images of us - EVER - but as you know, it is rare. We like it much better this way. God for bid Kenidi ever turn on the camera. Who knows what I could blog about then.
Speaking of Kenidi, she is doing phenomenally well. Eloise, I know you and several others have asked me how she was doing with her new school. She is doing GREAT! Her teacher is an amazing woman with great patience and unending knowledge when it comes to working with special needs children. We love her. She does well on the bus too - has a great driver and an awesome aide on there each morning and afternoon with her. Kenidi has made great strides since starting at the school back in November. She is a completely different child than she was the first half of the year when she was back in Indiana at her old school. We are so thrilled at the smooth transition she made into the Florida school district. God is good!
We have enrolled in equestrian therapy here in Florida just as we did back in Indiana. She looks forward to it every week. Her horses name is "Dotty" and she is completed obsessed with her. The trainers at the barn have commented on Kenidi's exceptional posture and how she has caught on to riding so much quicker than they've ever seen in a child. They are very pleased with her skills and we thoroughly enjoy watching her tell "Dotty" to walk on as she shakes her reigns and then pulls back on them and says "OP" for stop. It is the cutest thing ever. I have some photos from last week that I'll share here on the blog for you guys soon. They are of her riding Dotty. Fun times!
We have begun visiting a new pediatrician down here and he has been a big help in getting us acclimated and introduced to new therapists, a new well known neurologist in Miami, etc. for her. Again, the transition has gone unbelievably well. God is good!
Speaking of horse therapy though, that is where we are headed now. She visits there every Thursday after school - armed with her riding helmet and pink cowgirl boots that every adult there wants for themselves. Problem is...they only come in kids sizes. :( Trust me, I would've already had a pair for myself if they had come in my size. LOL! After we get back from therapy, a good friend of ours from Indiana is coming over for dinner. I'm cooking lasagna for the crew. It's great to have a "Hoosier" in town visiting us down here. Wonderful to see familiar faces. So for now...have a wonderful Thursday evening. Thanks for always inquiring about Kenidi and the rest of our family. My blog readers ROCK!
