Florida

Just so that you are prepared....there are ALOT of pics on the slide show, so get some popcorn and settle in!

Our trip to Florida this past week was lots of fun! We got there on Saturday afternoon (after traveling all night long) and the girls immediately went to the pool! I stayed behind to unpack and RELAX! Monday we set off to take Meghan off to her first day of Animal Encounter camp at Clearwater Aquarium. She had so much fun everyday working and learning about marine animals. She got to have a dolphin encounter on Thursday so that was really cool! The definite highlight! While Meg was in camp, we did different things to keep ourselves busy. We went to a beach playground (very cool), shopping (always fun), and to the aquarium itself. We also went to Tarpon Springs, this little Greek area. It was our second visit and we just walked around for a while. On Thursday, after Meg's dolphin encounter, we packed up and headed to Orlando/Kissimmee to stay for a couple of nights. Friday we just hung out, swam, and shopped. That evening, we had Mindy, Jim, their four kids, and Aunt Jane and Uncle Jack come over for supper and to help celebrate Trey's upcoming birthday. I made my yummy Oreo brownies (Uncle Jack had three helpings!) and Trey opened a few presents. He got a play drill, chainsaw, and a great John Deere tractor! He was in seventh heaven! Some of us took the older kids to play putt putt and then we came home, dropped in bed, then after what seemed like only minutes, we woke up to head out to Sea World. We have been there many times (the girls love it) and since we can get in free (military thing), we figured, why not? It was STINKING hot! I. was. miserable. The kids did really well considering. Meg, Lily, Katie, and I sat int he splash zone during the Shamu show and can I just say...I had NO idea that a whale THAT big could soak me so thoroughly! I honestly think I had no idea how BIG the actual Shamu really is! Needless to say, we were cooled off, but the girls were a little scared after the first soaking....(Shamu came back for more!). I am guessing they won't ask to sit in the soak zone again! We left for home early early on Sunday morning. We were home by 8pm, so all in all not too bad. Thanks for the great time, Mimi and Pop Pop (Poppy)!

Six Rocks!

Camden, a close family friend, turned 6 on Wednesday! We are not going to be able to go to his bday party this weekend, so we held our own at our house. The girls put up red and blue streamers throughout the house and we made brownies, and Camden's favorite, hot dogs! I hope we made him feel very special! The kids helped pick out the T-ball bat we got for him. I really think he loved it! Happy 6th Birthday, Camden!

Remembering Billy

I just got off the phone with my mom. My cousin (by marriage) died in Iraq yesterday. He was stationed in Hawaii and went to Iraq in December as an Army medic. We are not sure at this point exactly how he died. He leaves behind a wife (they haven't been married long). He was only in his 20's. I know he was brave and fought for our country with everything in him. I urge you to pray for his family and friends. We will miss you, Billy.

**Update: He was traveling with four other soldiers and their vehicle hit an IED. Billy was killed and the 4 others he was with were hurt. I am not sure how seriously, but so far only one fatality.

Date Night!

Daniel and I had a date night (last one was so long ago, who can remember the date) on Saturday evening when we went to see a MLB game. We had bid on a "family fun" basket which had these two tickets in it at the girls school spring carnival back in April. We bid on the tix mainly b/c Daniel really wanted to see the visiting team, not the home team play. So as you can imagine, he is one of three (I only saw two others) with visiting team apparel on. We didn't care! We had lots of fun and I enjoyed spending time with my husband w/o kids! We had decent seats, but I got a call today from the lady we got the tix from. She apologized for the seats saying that the umpires (her husband) usually get great seats but since it was a sold out crowd, the MLB messed that up. So she offered us two more tickets free when her husband umps again! I am very excited and now I know I have at least one other date with my husband soon!

**PS...I forgot my camera....again, but I did have my cell phone with me. I took some pics on that and I just need to figure out how to get them from my phone to the PC...hmmmm

Evening of the 4th

On Friday evening, we headed back to "W" to see the fireworks show. It was a lot of fun having most of the family there. Andy, Alyssa, and the boys came and Dan and Carol were there too. Trey took his "daddy ears" (which are the ear things Daniel wears when he mows) so that the fireworks wouldn't scare him, but he refused to wear them. Luke wore some too, which I think helped. Trey was tired as he had only slep about 30 minutes for a nap. So as you see in the picture, he was pretty tired. It was a great night with beautiful fireworks!

Happy 4th!

Happy 4th of July, everyone! So far, our day has been fun and very patriotic! We went back to our old "hometown", the big W to see the local parade that we love so much. As Trey has a HUGE love of lawnmowers and tractors, I did not want him to miss the lawnmower brigade. I was very positive this morning when I woke up to rain, that by 10am it would not be raining....and sure enough, as soon as the parade started, God provided a window of no rain, so that we could enjoy all the tractors, lawnmowers, and, of course, the neigh neighs bringing up the rear. Trey was in love with the neigh neighs (horses) and when we went over to the campground, the local college equestrian program was giving **free** "pony" rides. Naturally, they were not pony rides...Trey rode a horse that was taller than me....all by himself! He enjoyed every minute of it, laughing the entire way! He was not happy to be done and kept calling out "Neigh, neigh!". I had left the camera in the car (***stupid me!!***) due to the rain at the very beginning and we did not go back to the car before we walked to the campground. Oh well. The memory of it was definitely precious! I thought for sure he would have been scared being so high up, but he sat in that saddle and was so happy! He sure does love those neigh neighs!

I will try to take pics at the fireworks tonight....praying that the rain stays away!

Birthday Party #3

Lily had her friend birthday party last night at a local pool. I rented the shelter and there was a playground nearby for them to play on. It was a cool day (for June), but the kids didn't seem to care. They wanted to go swimming (although their teeth were chattering afterwards). Lily had a great time and so many of her friends came! She is such a social butterfly!