A Couple of Down Days

{July 19-21st 2012}

My MIL Kathy took the girls for 4 days up to SC to visit with them and show them around. I still had my mom and step-dad here so we stayed close to home. Larry wasn't feeling to swift and both boys had a cough.

We were so run down by this time that we needed a rest day and we actually stayed in our Pjs all day Thursday, but by dinner time we were all itching to get out of the house. We took the ferry over to Mayport for some dinner and then took a drive through Jax beach. By the time we all got home, we said goodnight and went to bed.

On Friday, we headed over to Fernandina Beach and had lunch and walked around some of the shops. The little historical downtown is so pretty and the shop are so cute, something you would see in Carmel or Cambria. (My California folks will know what I'm talking about)

My mom and I bought the boys some books, I bought myself a Pandora charm bracelet for our Florida memories and we stopped and had some great ice cream!

On Saturday Larry went home and my mom and I hung out at the house with the boys. We read all their new books and just enjoyed each others company.

(top left to top right: T man looking at his new book, my mom and Larry at dinner, Jt at the ice cream parlor; Bottom left to bottom right: Random store with some cool steps, T man relaxing on Thursday and my dolphin bead)

St. Augustine

{July 18, 2012} I have so many pictures, that it's easier for me to do it this way then loading them 1 by 1! Please click on the collages to view the pictures in a larger format.

We started our day off at the Alligator Farm. We only spend a couple hours there being we got stuck in a thunderstorm and we were all starving. We did manage to loose Jt, or better yet, he lost us cause he wasn't paying attention to anything other then the animals. He was following us and when we got to the umbrella, he was gone. Smart stood right there and waited and boy was he scared.

Courtney and Ashley were pretty impressed with all the gators. I just wished we would have seen one in the wild. We saw one the day we picked them up from the airport, but nothing after that:( They did get to hold a baby gator while I took a picture of them!
{these are from my phone, mostly random through out the day} After the gator farm we headed into downtown St. Augustine for some lunch at Harry's. They have the best Shrimp and Grits. We also found a great ice cream shop. I had sweet potato something. Oh it was so yummy and low calorie. So refreshing on that hot day.

After lunch we headed over to the Castillo De San Marcos Fort. We tried to listen to the tour guide, but it was so damn hot. The girls and I took the boys and started wondering around the indoor rooms to stay cool. Man was the sun brutal that day.

After the Fort and finding our way back to the car, we headed over to the St. Augustine Lighthouse. We climbed 240 step 1 way and if I remember right we were 140 ft in the air. Crazy!!!

All in all we had a very productive day and we were all exhausted when we got home.

I am so glad that the girls got to see all of this stuff. I would rather be showing them around then shopping at the local mall.

Anheuser-Busch Tour

{July 17, 2012} I know the pictures are small, but if you click on each collage they will appear larger in another screen.

We took advantage of the babysitters on this Tuesday. The Anheuser-Busch Brewery is literally 5 miles from our house and they give free tours with 2 free glasses of beer (Our Choice) at the end! What a great treat for us and relaxing too!

They walk you through then end you at the bar, but if you want to walk back through and read some of the information provided, then you are welcomed to do so. We probably hung out there for a couple hours and really enjoyed ourselves. No kids running around or demanding our attention, ahhhh heaven!

At the end of our tour, we were all pretty happy after 2 glasses of beer, that I goofed our first group picture up! it was just half of our bodies. I was going to post, but I'm pretty sure, I'm the only one laughing at it!

The other picture with Larry and the horse is kind of funny too. That horses name is Larry, what are the odds!
In the collage above, these are from my phone. We bought a 6 pack of the Wild Blue beer when we left the gift shop. I do have to say, it was pretty tasty!
The 2 free glasses I had, an amber beer and an Arnold Palmer! Oh the Arnold Palmer was yummy!

The brewing process!

I would be happy to take anyone here when they come to visit. I also think the locals go just for the free beer!

Marineland Fun!!!

We had the opportunity to swim with dolphins during the girls visits. I can't even begin to tell you how awesome it was. I am seriously in love and love the expressions from their eyes.

We took some pictures before hand of some silly stuff and getting a bite to eat before hitting the water.

We saw the biggest grasshopper EVER and took some picture before heading into the park. The water gets more turquoise the further south you head in FL. Here is was so pretty, I can't imagine what its like in the Keys.
My mom and Larry went in first. We watched and took pictures of them while we waited. We had to separate because we booked our tickets so late. They got to hold the dolphin in the water, feed them and touch them a lot. More hands on interaction in their class.

The kids and I got to actually swim and do some tricks with Tomo the dolphin. He was the smallest of all the dolphin, except for the 10 month old dolphin they had there. So cute by the way!

The girls were telling him to speak in the far top left corner, Jackson and I were telling him to spin, and then group pictures. We did get to rub his belly and feel his beautiful body. When we were in the water we got to spin with him and see him jump around.

We did so much with little guy. I think the most exciting for Jackson was feeding them. He got to give Tomo a high five and kiss him. He loved it and the girls were so excited. The smiles on their faces were priceless. We learned a lot and walked away with great memories.

So glad we got to do this. We spent a total of 30 minutes in the water and 30 minutes of learning about them. I would definitely do this again!

July 9th through the 13th and few things in between

{July 7th-8th} My air conditioner went out on Friday, so by Saturday morning it was 85 degrees in the house. We all got up and went to the gym to stay some what cool. The air conditioner guy wasn't coming till after lunch and there was no way we were waiting there until then. Shortly after we got home he came, but we were all outside playing in the water, uggg it was so hot! The rest of the that day and the weekend we hung out and went to the beach. Nothing to exciting!

{Monday July 9th} We headed up to Georgia to try out St. Mary's Aquatic Center. It wasn't very big, but the kids loved the splash/kiddy area, as we did too! They had a lazy river, but T man absolutely hated it, so we hung out at the kiddy area and Jt made some friends and Ashley and I followed T around. He had such a good time climbing the stairs and going down the slides.

Just a few pictures from our day!

{Tuesday July 10th} I took the boys to the gym with me and left the girls at home. After the gym we had a play date at my friend Kelly's. She has 2 little girls, 1 of which Jt went to VPK with and they still enjoy hanging out. Kelly has been a blessing too, she has helped and made our stay here very comfortable as well, love her!

We did find this little guy at Kelly's that day, he is a Mediterranean Gecko! I've never seen a gecko in person like this so it was pretty cool to have caught him and explore his little body. We read that he'll only grow to be 12cm long and he came from Europe. I have no clue how These Geckos came to Florida, but the have made it their home as well. I love learning about animals and catching them, maybe that's why I have boys;) lol

The rest of the day was spent at home relaxing and watching TV. We were all pretty tired after being in the sun the day before!

{Wednesday July 11th} We spent the most of the day hanging out and lounging. By the time T woke up, I was ready to get out of the house. We decided to head over to Target for some soap and a few other things. We then headed over to Fernandina Beach to eat some dinner. We ended up Timoti's Fry Shack and they had a pretty cool play area in the back for the kids to play on. We sat outside and had dinner and let the kids run around.
{Thursday July 12th} We cleaned up the house and worked out at home. I made the girls workout with me being they couldn't go to the gym with me anymore:( you would think at their age they would be running circles around me, NOOOO they could barely finish! lol After we got ready and waited for grandma Kathy to get here and take us out to dinner. We decided to take the girls on the Mayport Ferry to try out Singleton's.
They had fun going on the boat and having crab legs for dinner.

{Friday July 13th} We hung out and waited for the dishwasher guy and then headed to the movies to see Ice Age 4! What a cute movie that was!

The rest of the weekend we cleaned and waited for my mom and step dad to get here.

July 2nd through the 6th

{Monday: July 2nd} Playing catch up isn't fun, but we've been having so much fun that I haven't had time to really sit at the computer and update anything. When it's time to relax, we either fall asleep or catch up on a show and go to bed. Most of our relaxing days are playing with the girl or catching up on laundry and straightening the house.

Courtney playing with the boys! They were so sweaty and winded doing this!

{Tuesday: July 3rd} On the days we don't go to the gym, we head to the beach in the mornings to beat the heat! It's almost impossible cause the sun is so strong all day, but there's a nice breeze so that helps.

Ashley watching the waves!
Courtney didn't want her picture taken:(

Beach feet!

The boys TRYING to build a sand castle

{Wednesday: July 4th} We spent the day at the movies! We went to see Madagascar 3 and on our way home bought a couple fireworks. It doesn't get dark here till 9 or so so we waited and waited, but had the distraction of a good thunderstorm. The girls were worried that it wouldn't pass and we wouldn't get to do any fireworks, but like usual, it passed after an hour. We couldn't wait any longer so we set them off pretty early!

Jackson enjoying his sparkler(s)

T man wasn't to sure

The sunset that night! So pretty

{Thursday: July 5th} This is what we've been doing on most of our lazy days after the kids go to bed! Courtney isn't really into it, she's to cool for us most of time! lol Ash and I have had fun making them thought!

{Friday: July 6th} We ventured out to a Wildlife Refuge called Okefenokee. They have trails, swamps that have boat tours and it's mainly a camping facility! I don't know who would want to camp out in the middle of summer with this kind of heat, but good on you! It was pretty warm that day and we decided the trails wouldn't be much fun, so we did a 90 minutes boat tour. We unfortunately didn't see anything. With Hurricane Debbie that had just passed, she flooded a lot of areas and brought the heat with her, so most of the animals were keeping cool else where:( We were pretty bummed, but did enjoy the ride!

Pretty small channels if you ask me. There were people in kayaks, one with a small child. CRAZY, the tour guide was saying there are usually 10s of gators passing by the boats during these 90 minute boat tours. I would never do that especially with a small child. That's just crazy and down right scary. Those gators can jump and I wouldn't be surprised if the they could knock you of a kayak.

The views were pretty awesome and the girls thought so too. They were pretty amazed to see such a thing!

Getting ready for the tour

The boys were checking the water out and keeping a close eye on the water for those gators!

We are definitely staying busy and keeping the girl active with the gym and running around! I am really enjoying their company, for sure!

The tooth fairy visits AGAIN!

So Jeff missed this one:( I knew he would, but luckily we didn't have to tie a string around the tooth and slam the door! This one just came out a good brushing before bed.

As usual, we brushed and he stopped me saying his mouth tasted like blood. When I pulled the tooth brush out, it was definitely bloody and there was a tooth sitting on Jts tongue. It went under the pillow and as last time we was ecstatic to receive $5.00 dollars! He is so funny and it so proud of his missing teeth!

No we sit and wait to see what will happen in this little mouth of his! I swear, I never pictured this and I hope he doesn't look goofy with his baby teeth and big boy teeth when they decide to come in!

MOSH

Jeff and I took the kids to the MOSH (Museum of Science and History) on a $5.00 dollar Friday being there are so many of us. I'm glad we went on $5.00 dollar Friday cause we were only there for an hour! The boys so busy running around and we were so busy keeping up with them and the girls were looking bored!

We wanted to take them there because they have the T-Rex name Sue on display! She is being borrowed from the Chicago Museum and is the most completed T-Rex fossil.

After the museum, we walked over to the Florida Brewing restaurant and had lunch. A little picture of downtown and friendship fountain!
Picture time and making some memories

Hey, who is this guy? I tell you, you turn your back for 1 second and they've already spotted the single guy!

Tanner was making sure he was ok!

Here's Sue! She was pretty scary and big!

All in all we had fun, even if it was a short visit!

Randomness

Our latest and funnest new past time is writing on our screened porch screen! More like tagging, but we can wash it right off with the hose! We had a little fun with everyone writing something and making it color-fully pretty!

I got the chance to fly to Birmingham, AL to see an old friend who I haven't seen since we lived in MS. We have kept in touch through FB, texting and occasional phone call, which have been nice too. This was on my flight home back to FL. I just flew over for the day to attend her baby shower and spend the day with her. After the baby shower was over she drove me back to the airport:(
Saying goodbye, but hopefully seeing each other soon after her sweet baby girl arrives. Can't wait to meet her!

I think she swallowed a basketball! Jennifer at her shower!

The girls and I have been on a dessert trip! We came up with this and had to share! Vanilla ice cream, fresh strawberries, pretzels and caramel. So darn good!!!!

You should try this one! You won't be disappointed!

Another Beach Day

Headed to the beach to soak up some sun and being it's free, we will be doing it often! All the kiddos piled in!!!!

Courtney and Ashley eating at one of our favorite restaurants, Salt Life!
Hangin out by T man while he napped and watching the kids play in the water!

T man giving his best buddy some loves

We had fun and we are definitely sending the girls home with a Florida tan!

Micklers Beach

This was the Day after Hurricane Debbie ended and the girls first day here. We ventured out to Micklers Beach, it's about 35 minutes South of us. It's a natural beach and everyone says its the best place to find shark teeth. Jeff and I have wanted to go for a while, but it's so hard going to the beach with the kids. All they want to do is play in the water and when your looking for a needle in a hay stack, it's kind of hard to find that needle and watch little ones.

As you can see, it was super windy and very rough seas. The kids still wanted to test the water and play!

Most of the beach looks like this.

So when it comes to finding a shark tooth, you really have to look!
We found a couple shark eggs. This one was actually laying where we set our stuff down.

Ashley found the first tooth of the day! Me then Courtney! After we saw Ashley's, it made it a little easier to see what we were looking for.

They had a great time looking! We want to go back, but we will be leaving the boys home for sure!