We just got home from our trip to Florida and it was so great. Of course, no trip is perfect- there will always be rainy days, occasionally grumpy kids (or moms), ..., but what a great trip we had. And we were so blessed with the timing of everything. We were gone for 11 days but James was working most of that time. We were able to see good friends in NC on the drive down and the drive home. We got to spend time with my parents and the Cole's, go to the circus, rodeo, and the beach. Pretty good for one trip!
We left here early Thursday morning and made it to Christy's house for hotdogs, cupcakes, and fun. The kids and moms had a great time. It was just like old times! we spent the night with a friend and stayed up way too late eating cookies and catching up. Friday we drove down to my parents in Florida and were so excited to go Saturday afternoon to the FSU Flying High circus. It was terrific. All people- acrobats, dancers, clowns. These unpaid college students were great. There was one scare on the flying trapeze but the net worked well. Fun!
Saturday night KG was pretty sure she turned 4 because she had "another birthday." Nana baked a strawberry cake (not using my recipe from years ago) and gave KG super presents. Sunday morning we enjoyed going to the church I grew up in. It was great to see lots of familiar faces. After napping we headed out to "Matthew's grandmother's" house for a wonderful dinner. K thought he was in little boy heaven- lemonade, plenty of drawing supplies, hotdogs, and banana splits. C and T thought the same thing just with lots of dirt and digging toys.
Monday we played at Bibb park, got ready for our trip, and went to Hawaii :) what a great pool!
The Cole's arrived Monday for dinner. between the 8 kids, we made good use of all the riding toys in my parents' garage (plus a few from Bibb park.)
After breakfast Monday, we headed to Daytona Beach. We were thankful for GPS when my carefully found park for lunch turned out to be a school park. The kids were excited to do a kid swap for the ride and get to catch up with their "cousins." We were so thankful to my parents for setting up the beach trip- and even more so when we arrived and saw this beautiful view from our window.
Sunrise and sunset were beautiful and we were blessed with awesome weather!
We all had a blast there- I could definitely get used to our beach routine. Wake up, easy breakfast, go to the beach (body surfing, sand castle building, fun in the sun & sand), go to the pool (swimming, lazy river, fun in the water), go to the hot tub, easy lunch, rest time, repeat above... easy dinner, movie w/ popcorn, bed. Fun!!
We drove home Thursday afternoon with 4 exhausted kids, 1 tired mom, and one tired Nana. we had a a super quiet drive back to Madison. Friday C & T got to have some special time with Papa; K went to Men's breakfast Sunday. We had a fun trip to the playground by the lake.
We didn't see alligators but we did see a ton of turtles who seemed a little disappointed that we didn't feed them. We also saw a bird fishing. Well, at first I thought it was a snake but then we figured out that it was a bird swimming under the water. It would spear a fish with its beak then bring it's head out to toss the fish into it's mouth. I think it was
this.
Friday night we had pizza with friends and then headed to the Rodeo. KG kept asking what the cowgirls do because that's what she likes. C kept track of how many times the cows beat the cowboys. T loved the snowcone. Everyone loved the clown- especially when he put the lighter into the gas tank- really hoping we don't try that one at home.
After a super trip, we left Saturday morning for North Carolina. We were excited to be able to see some more friends and go back to our old church. It was a rough drive home but definitely a great trip!
