buckeyes in the sunshine state (part uno)

aunt amy and uncle tyler came to florida!!!

our kids had never met these cousins before, which is just sad.

so they made the 17 hour drive from ohio to visit for a week and we all had the best time ever.

seriously, the kids had such a blast and it was wonderful to get to know their beautiful girls.

we crammed each day full of fun activities and then at night the kids all packed in together and laughed and giggled and had a grand time falling asleep while the adults stayed up talking, eating key lime pie and chips and salsa, and watching youtube videos. it was awesome!

are you ready for a picture overload?

here we go!

after dinner the first night, we went for a walk on the beach to see the sunset.

chris didnt want the kids to get wet, so we decided not to wear swimsuits. 

HA. HA. HA.

no trip to sw florida is complete without a visit to our favorite crazy, cheap, red-neck petting zoo: skunk ape.

hadley and ellie

kate holding the gator

amy

lauren

dont let their sweet looks fool you-

kate and lauren were brave little chicas!

 go amy go!

i still havent worked up the courage to hold that big boy

tyler and madeline riding the tortoise

 charlie was.not.happy.

 this cockatoo curled right up and started purring

picnic time

it rained a couple times, so we had to get creative. good thing amy is awesome and has a billion fantastic ideas! like soap snakes...

lauren was the champion of our egg game!

her egg cracked all the competition

bo and larissa invited us all over for cake and ice cream on sunday evening after conference. we took full advantage of their beautiful backyard and played red rover, tag, and the kids all took turns on the swings.

on monday afternoon we were lucky to use a nice (heated!) pool courtesy of our dear friends the tucketts. kate and lauren got the hang of swimming and may have even sprouted fins :)