More fun pictures from last year! Hooray! Or should I say.. Boo-ray! ;)
There is a post I have in mind for next month, but if I don't post several mini-posts before then, I will have about 500 pictures to talk about and show off. That is far too many, and quite an overwhelming task, which ends up not happening. So breaking it up is a lot more fun. I thought tonight would be a great time to post this one since Target just put out their Halloween decorations!
Last year we didn't get to really celebrate Halloween, because on October 31st we were driving back from Delaware after Emma's leg surgery with her sporting a fancy new hip spica cast. One fun thing from that day was that she did try a small amount of vanilla ice cream for the first time (from Dairy Queen)! Although it's a little bit confusing that she didn't get sick from that since she got sick very quickly when we recently tried giving her vanilla milk-based Pediasure through her G-tube..
In late September 2021, I did a couple quick photo shoots with Emma and some Halloween decorations as they became available in stores, along with a few favorite items that I brought with us. Luckily, she was in a happier/ more smiley mood the second time I tried. Some days she just isn't "feeling it".
A couple weeks later, my best friend, Mia thankfully urged me to tap into my creative side and do actual Halloween dress up photo shoots of Emma with whatever I could find, so I used Target decorations, makeup I already had, and some non-expensive costume pieces from Dollar Tree and Walgreens, along with Emma's own clothes, to create the deer and witch attire. Later, I turned some mini Polaroids that I took of her in those costumes into scrapbook cards!
On Saturday, October 16th, the weekend before we drove up the Delaware, we went to the Fruitville Farms Festival. There were a few places around Sarasota to choose from, but we went to that one because that is where my friend, Tonia, and her sister, Kendall, who was visiting from studying abroad in England, were going to! Before that, Kendall had been studying in Australia! What a cool life, mate! Michael liked that place so much that he said he would like to take Emma back there again this year. I just looked up the October dates, but we're not sure when we'll be able to go. That's going to be a busy month for us, with moving and such! How will we ever fit in all this fun? :)
I read a really nice affirmation this morning about that: I feel relaxed and centered. I have plenty of time for everything. *yoga girl emoji* I feel calm even typing that out!
Here are our pictures from last year (2021) at the Fruitville Farms Festival:
There were a bunch of things that we didn't get to do because it was hot, and Emma and Michael were getting heated fairly quickly. I think we were there a total of one hour. However, I am not going to list all the things we didn't get to do because those will probably be the first things we do this year! We did go down the area where people were selling homemade crafts and items. I saw a pretty dress for Emma, but the price they were asking for was a lot higher than I was wanting to pay, and we really don't put her in dresses very often. By the time we got to the festival, Tonia and her family had already been there for a while, so we didn't get to see them long, but it was great seeing them nonetheless.
Before we left, while Michael and Emma were still fine hanging out in the shade, I waited in line to hold a couple of skunks! Once I sat down though the woman said I actually wasn't allowed to hold them though, (bummer) because they too get overheated easily and can quickly reach a body temperature of 102. It's hard to tell, but in between the chairs, behind the mesh parts are tubes blowing air. That's why the black and white skunk is facing that way- his face is against the mesh and the tube. I guess they are a different type of skunk because the last time I held a skunk- yeah, I said that!- they didn't have any body heat issues, and that was in the middle of the summer. (I'll post that picture in a minute.)
Skunk story ~ so in July 2015, two summers before Emma was born, after spending a fun week at the beach with Michael's parents.. On our way home, Michael wanted to stop at the Seacrest Wolf Preserve in Chipley, FL. I don't have a link for a blog post because on their website it said you had to bring a disposable camera and you were not allowed to take digital pictures, so we followed those rules. I quickly became annoyed when I saw that we were one of the few people who brought disposable cameras and the employees did not enforce that rule at all. Anyway, after we saw the wolves and took lots of pictures of/with them, we got to see some smaller animals, which included holding skunks (of course, the stink bags had been removed) and feeding grapes to raccoons!! By that point we began using our phones to take pictures.
And while scrolling through Instagram to find these old pictures, since I was just talking about looking for our new Sarasota house in the last posts.. Here are two pictures from Spring 2016 when our realtor, Anita Wise, was helping us look for houses around Orlando.
Lastly, for Pre-Halloween 2021 events, here are a few more pictures of Emma in that cute, but tighter-than-I-thought-it-would-be, pumpkin sweater. She only got to wear it those two months, and then I had to donate it. I did buy it in a smaller size than she normally wears (probably a 12 month instead of an 18 month), but when I held it up, it looked like it would fit her just fine. Technically, yes, -the sleeves were perfect!- but it was a tight squeeze around the tummy. Little pumpkin rarely complains though. :)
For more cutesy Trach Life Family Fun ~
Here you can see Emma's first "real" >> Halloween Day << when we celebrated in 2020!!
As well as when we took her to >> Boo at the Zoo << near Cocoa Beach shortly before that.
I was so excited to dress up 4 month old Emma >> in the NICU << October 2017!! :)
