Check out this blog...

Chris has started his own blog called "The Boston Peddler." I've added it as a permanent link to the list over on the right-hand side of this page, so I hope everyone checks it out! (You know that Chris likes to discuss sports-related topics, so you guys out there should especially enjoy reading what he has to say!)

Starbucks is Open in Ashland!

I'm interrupting my series of vacation posts in order to share this very exciting news! Woo hoo! Ashland's very own Starbucks store opened while we were out of town, and had been open almost a week by the time we had our first visit there on Sunday.

It looks great on the inside, full of dark, warm tones. In addition to the comfy chairs pictured here, there's even some a few bar stools so you can belly up to the espresso bar - what a nice touch!

Needless to say, we are thrilled to have Starbucks be part of our hometown. (There's a bit of a "worlds colliding" aspect to it all, but in a good way, of course!) We love it!

Tubing on the Blackwater River

Last Wednesday, I had the chance to do something really special: tubing! I had never been before, but I'm so glad I went. Aaron was the catalyst for this day trip to the Blackwater River; he convinced Tim & me that we'd enjoy a day floating down a lazy river - boy, was he right!

Unfortunately, I didn't take my own camera, so I've had to borrow a couple pictures from elsewhere on the internet. I'd never seen a white sand river before; the scenery was truly unique and quite beautiful. These pictures don't even begin to do it justice!

The water was wonderful to swim in: clear & cool. It was especially refreshing given the 100+ heat index all week at the beach! This river has an average depth of 2.5 feet and, according to the State Park brocure, "is one of the purest sand-bottom rivers in the nation." Wow!

All in all, it was an awesome trip. Tubing on the Blackwater is now a permanent addition to the list of things to do while spending a week in Florida. Next time, we hope rest of Pullems (& a waterproof camera) will join us!

Our Last Beach Day

Sad, but true! But as the sign I saw in downtown Santa Rosa Beach indicates, today is our last day in this lovely community. It's come too fast, and we've had a truly wonderful time!

Lots of bloggable stuff has happened since I last posted on Tuesday, and I fully intend to catch up over the next few days. However, since today was an exceptionally fun-filled day, I'd like to share some of the highlights:

Our day began with Nana & Grandad bringing the girls into Destin for their first trip to a Build-A-Bear Workshop. It's a special place for children, and both girls (Jordi especially) really seemed to love it!

Despite the omninous sky in the background, we had probably our best beach day of the whole week this afternoon. The heat & rough surf have put the girls off from wanting to swim in the ocean, but today changed their minds! The overcast skies brought down the temperature, and we found a nearby calm spot of water right by a newly formed sandbar on our beach. It was perfect for us! Here's a picture of the Jordi & Caroline standing in the shallow water on the sandbar; they're finally in the ocean! Yay!

It was a hard sell, but Jordi finally decided that she liked swimming in the ocean. Look how much she's enjoying herself with Daddy & Uncle Al in this picture! I bet we stayed in this spot for at least two hours; I took lots more pictures, and I'm sure I'll post more later. It was so special!

And what's a last day at the beach without being buried in the sand one more time by Uncle Al? The funny thing was that Jordi got right out of the sand after we took this picture, but Caroline stayed in, packing more & more around her, until it was time to leave the beach! It was really funny!

Here's Caroline, listening to one of the shells we found today. I included this picture because it demonstrates just one more way that things fell together for us today... today was the first day of our trip that there were actually shells on the beach to find! Weird! But the girls were thrilled to finally gather some souvenirs to take back to Kentucky with them.

Well, we've got a long day of driving tomorrow. Hopefully I'll be back online by Sunday!

A Beach-free Day

For the girls' sake, if you don't get them to the beach before lunch, we've found it's best to either wait until dusk or just not go at all. Hot weather at the beach is not unexpected, but the heat index today was about 105 degrees, which is just too darn hot! So, today we opted for some relaxing indoor activities:

Our beach house is a 3-level town home, with the third level being a sunny "tower room." Here's a picture of the girls playing in the tower room this morning; they love it! Jordi especially likes to go play by herself up there. I wish I had such a getway spot for them at home!

So, after playing indoors all morning and swimming in the pool after naps, we headed out for our first restaurant dinner of the trip: pizza in the community of WaterColor at Sugar Pies!

Doesn't our dinner look delicious? Mmmmm, it was! Not only was the pizza really good, but the atmosphere was charming and the service was friendly & very quick. What more can you ask for??

After dinner, we drove a bit further down the road to the community of Seaside for some outdoor live music. The whole experience was so enjoyable: the music, the pleasant evening air, the grassy amphitheatre-type setting, the pure joy emanating from all the kids running around. Jordi & Caroline were no exception, especially after Nana bought them their "rainbows" (a.k.a. glow sticks)!

Well, we've got a big day planned for tomorrow; Aaron, Tim & I are heading out for a canoe/tubing trip! It'll undoubtedly be an interesting day!

Sunset at the Beach

Another day full of sun, swimming and sand for the Pullem Family in Santa Rosa Beach! We are loving it here; as Jordi told Nana, "This place is so great!" She's right, it is!

Today's pictures, however, are from this evening. Isn't this a lovely sunset? (I can't take credit for the shot, however; Chris took it!)

Our sunset trip was a family affair. Here are Nana & the girls, enjoying the view. (Note the amount of sand on Caroline!)

Awww, how sweet! (But what is that guy doing in my picture??!)

Finally, I figured out how to set the flash so I could take a proper picture of the girls with the sunset in the background! I wish I was better with my camera so I could take these kind of pictures on the fly & capture the moment more effectively. Oh well, practice makes perfect, and I've got 4 more sunsets to get it right! (Again, check out how coated with sand these girls are!) (Arrgh! there's that guy again!!)

Our First Full Day at the Beach

What a great day we've had! Everything here is warm & beautiful: the sun, the sand, the emerald-green Gulf water... even the pool feels like you're stepping into a cozy warm jacuuzi (sans bubbles, of course)! Here's a few pictures of how we enjoyed ourselves today:

Here's Chris & Caroline having a morning swim. It didn't take Caroline long to decide that ocean swimming is the way to go!

Then, after swim-time comes sand-time! The degree to which these girls repeatedly coated themselves with the white stuff - front and back, ears to toes - sincerely surprised me. Perhaps not so much Caroline, but...

...Jordi is a girl who, at home in Ashland, prefers not to get her hands dirty when playing outside. Well, look at her now! (I don't have a picture of it, but at one point she was actually laying down & making sand angels! Yikes!)

This picture tells a cute story. Towards the end of the day, Uncle Al decided it would be a good idea to give each of the girls a turn at getting buried in the sand; he covered their legs and then patted the sand into the shape of a mermaid tail. Well, Caroline was on board immediately with this since pretending to be a mermaid is second only to pretending to be a kitty at this point in her life. She liked it so much, in fact, that she let him continue to cover her right up to her shoulder, all the while maintaining an unusual zen-like countenance. It was really weird! Then, she was so upset when it was time to finally get un-buried. (Who knows? maybe it really does feel that good!) Looks like Uncle Al is going to have to put covering his niece in sand on his vacation's daily to-do list!!

Welcome to the Beach!

We left Lexington, Ky, at 3:24 a.m. this morning. After 12 long hours of driving, we finally arrived at our destination in Florida, Santa Rosa Beach. The look on the girls' faces upon feeling the sea breeze and seeing the beautiful sugar-white sand and emerald water for the first time says it all:

Their faces seem to be saying what we all were thinking: "We're so happy to be here!"

We're here for a week, so I'm looking forward to posting more vacation pictures as the days go by. Stay tuned!

Jordi at the Salon

In preparation for our upcoming vacation, I took Jordi for a haircut last week. Since last November, she's only had one haircut which was after ballet season at the end of May. We've enjoyed her having a bit longer hair (ponytails are nice!), but there's a point of diminishing returns after which the tangles become increasingly problematic. So, off to Studio 21 Salon we went!

Here's Candy, styling Jordi's new 'do. She's the only one who's cut Jordi's hair since we moved to Ashland a couple years ago. She does a wonderful job, and I highly recommend her to everyone! Jordi's hair always lays so beautifully after she cuts it, and she's also very kind and accommodating of Jordi's age. We love to go to the salon!

Visit with Cousin Libby

Cousin Libby & her mom, Sarah, came for a brief visit this week, and were only here for a few days. They live far away in Virginia, so anytime they're in Ashland is a real treat!

Since these two cousins were both born in 2003, they've never known life without each other. And the older they get, the better friends they seem to become!

Since Libby was going to miss Richard's birthday celebration, Muffin had a little pre-birthday get-together so she wouldn't miss out. Doesn't this (almost) teenage boy look so thrilled to be surrounded by all these younger female relatives? Don't worry, Richard, you'll have more fun at your real family birthday party later today!

Welcome Back, Uno's!

The best place around here to go for delicious Chicago-style deep-dish pizza is Uno Chicago Grill, aka Uno's! After being closed for several months, their Huntington location in Pullman Square is back in business, so headed there last weekend:

Jordi remembers how much fun pizza building was the first time, and was very excited to have at it again!

Here's a picture of Caroline with her first build-your-own pizza. On our last visit, she was too young for this adventure, but now she's all grown-up, and made quite a good-looking pizza! The only problem was that she didn't want to give up her creation when our waiter came to take it back to the kitchen for cooking. We did our best to reassure her that it was indeed coming right back, but Caroline just wanted dinner!

All in all, however, we all left satisfied, and are looking forward to our next visit!

Happy Birthday, Grandad!

This past Monday was Grandad's birthday; of course, we celebrated with a party! I brought the girls over to their house about lunchtime, and they spent the rest of the day helping Nana get things ready... Shopping to do, dinner to make, and a birthday cake to bake!

Aren't birthdays fun?! Jordi & Caroline have a lot of love for their Grandad, and they were very proud of their roles in making his day so special. All in all, a wonderful day!

Visiting with Baby Ava

We had another pool day at Susie's house this week. It was so wonderful! The last several days have been pure summer: temps in the 90's with lots of sunshine & humidity. What a relief it was to cool off in the water; We are so lucky to have friends willing to share their pool with us! Even luckier was that this time, Baby Ava, Susie's 3-month-old granddaughter, was there with her mommy, Megan, to share the day with us!

I took this picture at the end of the day, after swim time. Jordi is drawn to Ava like a magnet; she can hardly keep her hands off her! Jordi has a real maternal side with lots of love to give, and loves to have a someone to be affectionate with!

You can tell by her face that Jordi feels so honored to be allowed to hold Baby Ava all by herself. Not pictured is that Jordi also got to help feed Ava her bottle, too. She was thrilled by the experience, and talked about it for the whole rest of the day!

Story Time

Story time is part of our bedtime routine, and we take turns reading a book or two each night with the girls. Chris took this picture of us last week:

It's a special time of day for all of us!

Armco Park

Central Park, near us in downtown Ashland, isn't the only game in town when is comes to family-friendly green space. Earlier this week, one evening after supper, we ventured outside the city limits to visit Armco Park. This wooded park, full of rolling hills, is located out in the county and is equipped with nature trails, shelter houses, and several playground areas. Here are a couple pictures I took:

Swinging is a good way to beat the heat on a steamy summer evening. Once the girls got going, I even hopped on a swing myself, to try & cool off! Notice the woods in the background here; this play area is surrounded by lots of these tall trees, and the resulting deep shade of the evening was very relaxing & peaceful!

Here are the girls atop a big, old-fashioned, metal slide, y'know the real tall kind with the shiny, wide slide that can really zip! As a kid, these kind of slides were my favorite, and I'm glad there are so many of them in Ashland for the girls to enjoy & grow to love, too! (If you're wondering what Jordi's doing with her hands, she advised me that they were her "elephant ears"!)