FL August '19

florida is our happy place!

spending time at the pool,

at the beach,

at grandma and grandpa's,

riding bikes,

slip n sliding,

snuggles with grandma,

dance parties with DJ grandpa,

fishing,

board games,

having sleepovers,

ALL WITH COUSINS

is our happy place!

fishing with grandpa! he knows all the good spots! so glad to see the fish are coming back after all the trouble the gulf has had.

dinner out with just Rik, Andrew, Alli, Jacob, Chris and me

Owen + Olive = O squared

O squared = BFF

everyone wants to snuggle with Sammy! 

the girls had fun with hair chalk so Ash and Char wanted in on the action too... and of course theirs were the ones that stayed for days, despite many many swims in the pool

bracelet making

Ellie taught the kids how to meditate to try to have a few minutes of quiet.... try being the key word.

catching jelly fish

slip n slide fun and popsicles at bo and lari's has become a fun tradition!

mmmmm, Bennetts Donuts!

grandpa asked all the kids to help with yard work and he'd make a special treat for anyone that helped...

SNOW CONES!

corn hole tournament!

special shopping trip and lunch at Lucky's with Grandma and Grandpa

we were able to go watch Ashton play at a bball game. very impressed with his skills!

jack helping with the pool cleaning

kayaking dates are always my favorite. a storm rolled in but luckily we were able to beat back to the house.

Ellie bought her own Publix key lime pie to enjoy

drip sandcastles were something I always made with my mom and sisters growing up. so fun to work on one with grandma on our beach day

grandpa taught the kids how to catch sand fleas.

bass fishing with bo and ev

 Alli and Jacob introduced us to the world of Pickleball this trip. super duper fun! luckily the courts are at the park with a splash pad, so we spent a morning there and everyone was able to have some fun.

after pickle ball we hit up Pollo Tropical followed by PDQ for shakes. while there, the manager brought out a giant basket of nuggets and fries for everyone to share for free, it was awesome!

the kids absolutely love sleepovers at their aunt and uncle's homes. that is truly a highlight for their summers. I wish I had pics from those, im sure I do somewhere. but I just wanted to make note of that since I don't have pics on this post. They are so lucky to have so many that love them. going to Rik, Andrew & frank's, Bo & Larissa's, and Alli & Jacob's is always such a treat. they are spoiled with delicious breakfasts (something I don't do much at home because it requires me to wake up before the kids lol) and that's usually the first thing they tell us about "uncle Andrew made us pancakes and sausage and bacon and eggs and...." or "uncle Jacob made crepes and we got to put whatever we wanted in them!" or "Larissa makes the best (fill in the blank because she's always making them something fun, this summer I think it was shaped pancakes!)"

we ended our trip with a trip to Busch Gardens in Tampa!

Ellie and Sophie rode on every single roller coaster, they were so brave, and now they are addicted to them!

ev and jack did all the rides, including the drop tower. this particular one lays you face down once you reach the top so you are facing straight down when it drops. yikes! they didn't even flinch... nerves of steel.

Jacob took the younger kids on the smaller drop tower...

...it was very entertaining to watch haha

olive and Owen spent a solid 20 minutes dancing with a group while the rest of us rested and waited for a group to go on a ride. it was pretty much the cutest! they earned several bead necklaces for their moves.

they weren't the only ones dancing! I caught Alli with a few of the nieces and nephews in the fog:

One of the times I took these girls on Cobra's Curse it stopped part way through due to technical difficulties... it was an odd sensation and a little unnerving. but we survived!

sheikra night time ride... I almost lost my dinner while we waited in line cause I psyched myself up so much. I used to LOVE coasters but having babies has definitely caused me to get a little bit more nervous, but it doesn't usually keep me from riding a ride. When we got up to the front of the line, they shut the ride down to clean up some puke on the ride.... that didn't help my nerves at all!but we went it was a blast! I loved doing that with Alli!

after that ride, most of the family left the park. but Sophie, Ellie, and Louie wanted to ride on Cobra's Curse one last time before the park closed. So we ran the entire way there to catch it just in time! the best part about it though was that shoppe had just gotten her cast off her leg, so her little leg and ankle were pretty stiff. so Alli and I took turns running with Sophie on our backs lol! #worthit

leaving our family in Tampa was so hard. 

I think it gets harder each year.

our drive home was super fast, almost straight through. we made one quick stop in Charleston SC for some biscuits and pralines. oh man, they were sooooooo good. 

after gorging on biscuit sandwiches and pralines we settled in for the last leg of the drive, arriving home around 5 am. this pic of Owen sums up how we felt.

we came home to new rooms for the kids, thanks to chris and dad staying a few extra days to paint and put in new trim while grandma and I drove with the kids to Florida. they love having soft carpet in their rooms... something they didn't have in our last house with wood floors throughout.