Settling in...

The past two weeks have been much better than the first two :-)

I was blessed to have a visit from my Aunt, who lives in Port Charlotte, FL.  She came up for the week and was a tremendous help!  The task of therapy, school, and life here in FL is more difficult than I expected.  Most of my wise confidants made notice of that prior to our departure, and I continued to think I could handle it all...hahah!  They were right :-)

So, these past two weeks highlights....photos are not in any specific order....

Visit from Auntie Irene

 Went for a nice nature walk with Auntie Irene!  Nora and I have been learning about waterbirds the past two weeks, so we took the binoculars, and our nature journals, and hit the lake.  Had a very nice time, and saw lots of vultures, egrets, and gallinules.  Fun morning on Friday...all of the other days last week I tried my best to focus on Nora's schooling, and my aunt took Lila to therapy.  Amazing what you can accomplish when you don't have to drive an hour before school can begin :-)

Nature walk through Mt. Dora

Nature walk

Nature Walk

 We have been swimming a few days a week, which seems to help Lila's muscles.  So, if she does a good job with Sylwia, we head to the pool after her 3 hours of therapy.  This week is her last week of her first month session of therapy.  With commands, and close attention from myself or Sylwia, she walks very very well.  She is not necessarily applying this to walking around the house, to the car, or at the store as of yet.  I am hoping for that shift in her brain where she realizes that this is possible.  This will be the gateway to her true independence!  Prayers please :-)  I have a video of her walking, but it seems to be too large for the blog.  I will get another shorter one this week.

That being said, she just took 225 independent steps yesterday, outside, at our villa.  She lost her balance after 140, and then again 45 more later, but caught herself and kept on going.  This, for her, is amazing!  At therapy on Friday, she took 154 independent steps before losing her balance, and then 20 perfect steps backwards, and to each side.  Beautiful progress :-)

Swimming!

Mt. Dora lighthouse

Gallinule on Lake Dora

Egret

Sunset from back lanai

lunch and play at park

 Last weekend we went on a pontoon boat ride on lake Dora, into the canals and connecting river.  This, too, went along with the birds we were learning about and the nature in the area.  What a great morning it was for us, and sure helped the girls and I de-stress from the beginnings of our FL adventure.

boat ride on Lake Dora

 We went to the library and decorated pumpkins, and also enjoyed the petting zoo.  Very nice Saturday to enjoy the Fall season :-)

petting zoo at pumpkin decorating

Dora canal

alligator island

Anhinga on the canal

pumpkin decorating at library

enjoying the Dora canal birds and wildlife

Good morning central FL

Nora driving the boat with Captain Bob

driving the boat!

Ibises...saw one catch a frog and stab it before eating...yuck!

Lila sings songs to all on the boat ride!