St. Simons Island

Drove into Georgia with my In-laws a week from Sunday and had some fun exploring this cute little Island. I did however drive up there a few days previous to this to get my hair done. I was told it was a 20-30 minute drive and it ended up being a little over an hour! Oh well, I ended up finding this little restaurant called Southern Soul BBQ, the smell that was coming from this place was awesome and the first thing I told Kathy when I got home is, "we have to go eat there!" So we did! I do have to say the atmosphere was pretty cool, but to be honest the BBQ in MS was way better. Don't get me wrong it was good, but the Pit n Cone is wayyyyy better! Especially when you walk in the place and the girl taking your order has an awesome black eye! Doesn't get any classier then that! Seriously though, it's a must try and see!

We ventured around and found this street full of little shops and craft fairs. Really cute and original stuff, definitely want to go back to a couple shops. At the end of the street was the Saint Simon's Pier and this great park area with people playing football, fishing, you name it and the beautiful light house just off in the distance to complete the view. Looks like a scene out a movie!

We played and let the boys run around for a bit and hopped back in the car. Short day, but it was pretty warm and we were tired.

This is somewhere I would take those of you when you come to visit! Beautiful and definitely Southern!

{Trying out the photo collage instead of loading each picture, I hope you don't mind smaller pictures?} *Click on the collage to enlarge it if it's to small*

Sunny Days

Mayport Island

I'm a little behind again on blog posts! Seems like we keep getting to see new places around here. The weekend after Jeff left, we took the kids over to Mayport Island. We thought they would get a kick out of taking the ferry to an island not to far from us. It was only a 5 minute ride, but they loved it!
When Kathy was looking up Mayport, she was under the impression it was a quaint little beach town with some shops. When we got there, there were only 2 restaurants and the Navy base! lol
So we ended up having dinner at this whole in the wall looking place, but come to find out it was featured on Diners, Drive-ins and Dives called Singleton's Seafood Shack.
Now that I'm looking up this place there are a few that are featured here in Florida! We just went to one this last weekend too! Another post coming for that one!
We ate, let the kids throw some shells in the water and we headed back home! It was a late trip and by the time we got home, it was way past bedtime! So here are some pictures we took, I did take a couple pictures of the restaurant with my phone, but I wish I would have know that it was featured on TV. It was pretty cool. When you walked in, there was a huge open tub with all the seafood on ice. Almost looked like you would choose which critter you were going to eat for dinner. It was dark and had a ton of boating pictures. Loud and really busy! We will be taking Jeff back for some fish and chips! It was yummy...
Granny and Jt checking out the water while I stayed with T in the car.

Happy St. Pattys Day

We celebrated with corn beef, cabbage and green champagne! Hope you all have a safe and fun day!

Cavities, Cavities.........

Yep Jt has cavities. Today was the second visit to the dentist, last week for a cleaning and this week for his 1st of 2 fillings.

He did so good and was hilarious on the laughing gas! He was so talkative even with all the stuff in his mouth. He kept touching the doctors face and saying things I've never heard him say.

When we got in to the room with his nurse he kept calm and wasn't nervous, she was amazing and so patient. He kept asking so many questions after she would explain things to him! She even convinced me a few times after she would tell him something to end the conversation. I would say really and she would turn around and wink at me! To funny and what a great experience for him!

She gave him this little monkey for his finger, if he needed something she told him to raise it.
He got to watch Cars

Look like a Star Wars contraption. This was his oxygen to relax him!

Getting ready

Did you want some water Jt?

Curing the glue

All done.....for now.

We go back at the end of the month for his second filling! It's for the same tooth on the bottom left when looking at this picture. Poor guy!

He did tell me to take him back when we left to get it off, but after dinner tonight he told me it feels better. I think he's going to keep it!

Happy 5th Birthday Sweet Boy

(please click on the picture to enlarge, you then will be able to read the writing on the photo)

5 years ago today I was laying in a hospital bed waiting to meet the baby boy I only dreamed of having. Only my dreams led me to believe he would be blonde and have these big blue eyes! Little did I know he would be so dark and handsome! Black hair and brown eyes, who would have imagined. Those brown eyes have shown me true love, opened my heart and soul to pure bliss.

I always wondered how much my parents loved me and now I truly know..

There isn't anything like it and the day Jeff and I met this little boy, we were reminded of it.

This little boy has been a joy and even though he is stubborn at times, he is truly a good boy and I am reminded of that everyday. His kind heart, his concern for others, I can only hope he knows how proud we are of him and the little boy he has become.

He has changed so much in the last year. The way he talks, his common sense, his imagination, his curiosity, wanting to learn and explore more then usual. He has always been independent, but more so this year. If I could only get him to put his own socks and shoes on, then we would be golden! lol

He tells me he can do it all the time, so I've been having a hard time stepping back and letting him do things! I need to work on that!

His love for his brother is amazing. He can be rough at times, but who isn't. He takes T mans hand and walks him to what he is asking for, he helps brush his teeth and the way he helps tuck him in at night is so sweet.

I think we've done a pretty good job raising this young man. He is beyond smart and seems to amaze us everyday. We can't wait to see all of the New Beginnings that are ahead of him this year. It literally makes us sad to know he'll be starting school this year and becoming a bigger boy.

Jackson,

We love you more then life itself. We are so proud of you and hope one day you will know just how much. I hope this new year will be good to you and guide in a rewarding direction (with our help) of endless beginnings!

The Eve of Jts 5th Birthday......

The last photo of him being 4:( It makes me so sad to see him growing up. I know he's only going to be 5, but it's 5. The year of all these new beginnings!

(we were playing with play-dough this morning and he made a pizza. He thought he should taste it, so that's why his teeth are red and green)

Being it's the last night, I had to take a picture of it! Tomorrow will be a new day, a new age and a full moon! I hope he doesn't change in to something! lol

I hope you sleep tight and tomorrow is the best day ever! To bad your going to the dentist!

Birthday Week for Jt

I can NOT believe we have a soon to be 5 year old. I would rather turn 30 10 more times then see them age another year! I definitely feel old now.

We celebrated Jts birthday Sunday being Jeff won't be here for his actual birthday:( He is deploying for the month and won't be home till the end of the March. Jt didn't mind though, who would when you get to open gifts early!

He wanted an Angry Birds bday party. The kid is addicted to the game and would play most of the day if he could.

I did some research and came across this cute blog that had done an Angry Birds theme for her son. She only pictured the cupcakes and how to make them, so I basically copied them. I couldn't find some of the things she used, so I guess you could say I added my own touch. But for the most part, I copied her!

Jackson was so surprised when he saw them! He said, "Mom, those are awesome!"
That's all that matters to me and I am so glad I was able to surprise him with them! He loved them!

We had grandma and grandpa her to celebrate with us! Jt loved that they got to be here with him. I do have to say I would be excited too! Grandma always gives the best gifts! (blogger is being silly right now, it's not letting me do what I want) Jt had shared with grandma and grandpa some of the MANY things he wanted for his bday and right now he's really in to dinosaurs. Everything is dinosaurs, he even wants me to decorate his room with them! So he got a Spinosaurus and grandma and grandpa found this awesome airplane. We all know you can't go wrong with airplane for this boy! The only problem is that they keep getting bigger! See below...

Grandma got T man a little gift so he wouldn't feel left out!

Pretty cool, huh?

and of course a Transformer from mom and dad!

T man got brother some Dino's as well!

All lined up

Typical boys

They're all working on something

Not 5 yet, but we had to sing and pretend. It really makes me sad to know he's going to be 5! He's my baby, my first born, my snuggle buddy and now my big boy!

Yesterday my mom sent a care package that had some gifts in it. Jt was so excited so we opened them!

Oh boy, more dinosaurs! He has not stopped playing with this since he opened it! He loves it and the best thing about it, is it tells him about everything. What they eat, defense, when they lived and where, family history. It has a quiz mode that we haven't used yet, but its very informative for this big boy who is so interested and eager to learn.

He's been waiting for this one!

Last night we sat in the living room playing with ALL of his new toys! We wish everyone was able to celebrate with us! Thank you for all of the love and gifts that you have given him. He loves them and we appreciate it very much!

We are going out to dinner for his real birthday and to the toy store to spend some of the money my dad sent to Jt. But, today is a book fair at school, so we will spend some if it there!

Jacksonville's Monster Jams

(wishing I would have loaded them bigger)

Last night we took Jt to Monster Jams for his birthday. It was a surprise and being Jeff will be gone for Jts actual birthday, we wanted to do something fun with him. We will be taking him to Disney World at the end of the month, but being he has to wait, we thought we would do something for him now.

He was so surprised and excited. We got to leave T man home so this was just a Jt night! He thought that was the coolest part! lol

It was held at the Jacksonville Jaguars Stadium, which was huge and pretty cool. They were expecting 70,000+ people for this event and we weren't even sure if we would get tickets. Well, we lucked out! We were right by the entrance and exit for the monster trucks. It was so loud and so cool to be right by them!

Look out!

One of Jts favorite

Hey, why are your lips purple? Oh wait, it was that slushy you didn't share!

Our seats! Pretty good if you ask me!

Madusa

Uh oh!

El Toro! We thought that was pretty cool to have steam coming out of his nose!

Jts favorite! Maximum Destruction!

Lots and lots of doughnuts!

This guy was pretty cool!

Big air!

Major air!

King Kong air!

Now he's just showing off!

This was the free style and Grave Digger won of course! He was awesome, you should have heard the crowd! We laughed and laughed! We really had a great time!

After he blew the tire, it was time to destroy the whole truck!

Wow!

From the picture above to the picture below, I literally to took 10 pictures of him flipping! It was awesome and the crowd was going wild! Amazing to see how old this guy is and how long he's been doing it and he's still the best!

And this is how we ended the night! We left right after that! So much fun and by far the best Monster Jams we've seen yet!

I'm so glad Jt had fun! It's nice to be able to spend that 1 on 1 time with him and to let him enjoy himself! Happy early birthday buddy!