F is for Fun with Friends

My sweet friend Jenn lives in Orlando and even though she's in the same state, she's so far away.  We decided to change that on this trip to Florida by meeting in the middle for a night.  Yesterday, we drove to Tallahassee.  The kids and I stopped at Falling Waters State Park to see Florida's tallest waterfall on the way.  I forgot Florida is in the middle of a drought...oops.  We did see a few drops come over the falls lol.

We had a suite in an awesome hotel and had the best time once Jenn and her two girls got there (Baby girl stayed home with Daddy).  We swam in the pool and rescued a crawfish.  We ate dinner at the hotel and stole hamburger buns to feed the geese outside.  The geese weren't too hungry though.  In the end, the kids had more fun chasing them than feeding them. 

Caden's calling "here ducky ducky ducky" as the goose slowly backs away :p.

We've only seen Jenn for a few hours once a year for the last couple of years, but the kids were fast friends as if they'd known each other forever...which I guess they have because we've been talking about each other's children since they were adopted or born.

Allie and Lydia are two peas out of the same sassy pod!

The kids stayed up way too late giggling while Jenn and I ate chocolate and watched bad reality TV.  It was perfect :p.

Today, we visited the Tallahassee Museum.  It was hot, but we loved it. We saw a bunch of animals and got to pet a snake (well, the kids did anyway).  As always, I'm not above staging this pose.

Jaelyn found a baby lizard that she let crawl all over everyone.  Lina loved it.

Lydia liked the lizard until it was actually on her.

The kids loved getting to learn about snakes. We could hardly get Jaelyn and Lina away from the snake house.

Jaelyn through the eyes of a fly.

Caden's favorite part of the museum was the little red caboose.  It made me want to dig out a copy of The Boxcar Children to read.

Lina, Caden, Jaelyn, Lydia and Allie on the tire monster.

I was sad to drive away, but so thankful for the time we had together.  It was awesome!  We'll need to do it again with less no kids and more girlfriends!!!

Another Beautiful Beach Day

We've been promising to take the kids to the beach for a few days, but it just hasn't worked out.  We really wanted to take Nick and Jared with us and today was their last day here.  This morning, we headed to the beach right after breakfast.  We beat the life guards to the beach even.  I love Pensacola Beach.  There's just something about driving onto the beach and seeing the beach ball water tower.  It makes me smile.

We used my Dad's pass to get into Fort Pickens.  I love going there because it's a totally different crowd than the main beaches.  Not everyone wants to pay to get in.

The kids finally got to try out their new boogie boards and a family leaving the beach gave us theirs so Nick and Jared had one to share.  The weather was picture perfect!

My mom made sure the kids new the rules repeatedly before they got in the water!

The water was perfect...

Not too rough...

But not too calm either.

It was just right.

As I look back over our pictures, I'm wondering if we can go back tomorrow afternoon!

Baba's Cherry Tree

My mom has several climbing trees, but the cherry tree was the favorite. It died this winter. My dad wanted to cut it down, but my mom wouldn't let him until all the grandkids got to climb it one last time. They compromised by cutting it "mostly" down. The kids have all climbed it; so it's ready to finish coming down.

Who Says Child Labor is Illegal???

This house was a wreck.  That's what happens with you have three adults and five kids having fun and only doing manadtory house work (laundry and dishes encase you are wondering what is mandatory).  We are having a party here tomorrow to celebrate a belated father's day and family birthdays.  We needed to get the house clean; so we put all of our little laborers to work.  They were so gung ho.  I love the attitude of a medium sized child.  Teenage child, not so much, but medium sized children, awesome. 

My mom owns at least seven different vacuums and at least ten assorted dusters.  At one point, I think they were all in use.

Nick swiffered and dusted at the same time.

Thirteen year old Jared was the only one who wasn't gung ho.  I think we got the stink eye from him a few times :p.

You missed a spot.

After Allie finished cleaning the porch, she collected the stone figures from the yard and washed them.

There's an old family joke about dust falling into your dinner plate so I made sure to clean the fans.

Baba enjoyed sitting back and watching her little minions work.

Bring on the party!

Dessert After Breakfast

The Fireman Pole

Lunch with Friends

This summer is all about fun and friends.  Today, we drove to Crestview to have lunch with Chris and Angie.  They are friends of ours from Maryland.  They were my go to people in emergencies anytime Dan wasn't around.  They moved to North Carolina two years ago and are mid-PCS to Alabama this summer.  I've seen Angie a few times in Maryland, but I haven't seen Chris.  I wish Dan could have been here.  Chris and Angie were taking a break from moving and were playing in Destin.  Yea for us.  We met them on their way out of town.

We got to spend an hour or so over lunch at Cracker Barrel.  The kids loved getting to play with Laney, their two year old, and Emmie, the dog.



Next week, we are going to Tallahasse for a night to see more friends and the week after we are going glamping with Grandpa and Baba.  We camp in our tent, but when we are with my parents and their 36 foot motor home, it's definitely glamping.

Our New Temporary Library

There are so many things about Abingdon that we will miss. One of those things is the library. We checked out books at least once a week. We visited the newest Pensacola library on Tuesday and it was like a little mini Abingdon Library. The book selection is sparse, but it'll last us through the summer.  The best part was the playground back.  It was hot, so we didn't stay long, but we had fun while we were there!

The spider web, as I call it, or the rocket ship, as the kids call it, was double the size of the one in Abingdon.

Fun superman swings - beware face plants in the mulch.

Bliss at Serenity

My friend, Jennifer, and I went to Destin on Monday for our semi-annual spa day.  This summer is the 5th summer we've been going to Serenity and everytime is just as good as the first.  We did their summer Bliss package and got a 30 minute massage, body scrub, facial and pedicure.  It was PERFECT.  I actually fell asleep during the facial.  That's something that I've never done before.  I'm already ready for Christmas and another day away.  Ahhhh...