Chicken of the Sea

When you go to Florida with 19 people (majority of those being children) you tend to eat at home rather than eat out.  Of course this is much cheaper and we love mom's cooking. But we usually ALL go out to eat at least one night together.  This year we went out a couple times.  I can't really brag about being in Florida and eating all the yummy seafood because I do not like seafood.  I eat chicken every where I go. 

The first night we went out was a little smaller.  My sister Sarah and her family had not arrived yet so we only had a party of 13.  We ordered a huge plate of nachos and it was my first time to try alfredo pizza.  I thought it was great. 

Even my step-sister Casey got to take a break and come down with us this year.  

The Big night that we all went together we headed down to the "Beach Monkey."  Garon was NOT at his best behavior and Nini ended up taking him outside for a big part of the wait.  You could see Nini and Garon outside our window running around...and before we knew it...all the kids wanted to go out.  I ordered chicken immediately and all I know is I was surrounded by buckets of crab legs everywhere and Grady all of a sudden wanted to order FISH! ugh!

Garon would not get his picture made with the gorilla.  

Here is some of the dancing that was taking place.

And Craig still holds the title for eating the most crab legs!

Dan, the boys, and I decided to go out one night by ourselves.  This is my favorite place to eat pizza.  In fact, we ate it 3 times while we were there.  Yes, it is that good! We usually order in but thought it would be fun to go and check it out.

I may not get yummy seafood but I still enjoy getting out for pizza and chicken! 



Beach Bums

We had another great trip on our family vacation.  This year mom decided 19 of us wasn't enough people and added more family members to attend with us.  :) My Aunt Allison and Uncle Steve, their kids, Brynn, Avery, and Ella all joined us and stayed a few doors down.  We had a blast. 

This is the beautiful townhouse that Gary and Mom just bought.  It was never a dull moment or a quiet one.  But that is what we love...the chaos of it all and just being together. 

 I was thrilled about how well the boys survived on the trip down.  Last year was amazing and I just knew with Garon being one now that it could be risky.  He proved me wrong.  Garon did awesome.  He got whiny when we hit Pensacola (20 min. left into the trip) and Grady started getting excited.  He expressed his excitement by kicking the seat.  My seat!! We deferred the seat kicking my shouting "who can see the beach first" and that worked out great.  When we finally made it Garon was so excited to see that his legs still worked.  He just ran around in circles and laughed out loud. 

After settling in we decided to hit the beach and become beach bums.  We were really good at it to! Garon loved the sand and the ocean.  He would laugh out loud every time a wave hit him.  Even if it knocked him down! Here is my beach bum relaxing in his chair.  

 Here is Mom, Halle, Landon, and Grady.  Mom is shelling.  It is her favorite thing to do and you wouldn't believe how many shells she now has.  The kiddos were intrigued and wanted to try it out theirselves. 

 Grady was just relaxing in the sand. 

This was another great trip for the books.  I love my family and I love getting to spend this time together with all of them.  Thanks again Mom and Gary for more wonderful memories!

Surfing USA

Everybody's going surfing in Navarre!! This is one of the favorite things the kids love to do.  I love the facial expressions that I captured. 

And yes, I sure do wish that I could play the Beach Boys song while scrolling through the pictures.

Tired Surfer!

Even Garon wanted to try it...but it didn't last. Plus there were no waves in the pool.



Hometown Nazareth

This year VBS was so much fun.  Our theme was Hometown Nazareth: Where Jesus Was A Kid.  I was helping with the 3 and 4 year olds so thankfully I got to be with Grady.  Daniel usually volunteers but stepped down to stay at home with Garon.  Grady and I had a blast all week.  There was so much going on that I decided to break it down by day. 

Day 1

Grady was so excited! All he talked about was singing songs at church.  In fact, on the way to church he asked to play our Children's Church cd.  When I told him we had to learn new songs this week he got really upset.  "I don't want to learn new God songs, I want to sing the old ones," were his exact words.  Needless to say, he's still singing his VBS songs daily.  I think he did want to learn new God songs! We got our t-shirts on and away we went.

Avery was the first person we ran into.  Grady was all smiles when he saw her.  We snapped a quick picture and I think it is SO sweet.  Love how he is really reaching to put his arm around her. 

 You can barely tell Grady is in this picture...he looks so small standing by that big screen. 

 We were in the tribe of Gad.  We had cute robes and banduras to wear.  Here is Grady with Wyatt.  And another picture with Kylie. 

 After meeting in our hometown huddle we went straight to Mary's house. 

From there we went to snacks, games, and the marketplace.  The first night they had an egg race.  Grady did an egg-cellent job!  He also made a sheep on wheels at the marketplace.  Day 1 was FUN!

Day 2

Another picture had to be made before we left. 

 
Here we are at Mary's house sitting with Jaxon and Colby.  This was their favorite place to go.  All the kids loved visiting with Mary. 

Day 2 was sack races.  How funny it was to watch this age group try to figure this out.  Here is Grady, Hayden, and Kylie going strong. 

Then they decided it was a lot more fun to run without the sacks on their feet.  

Grady got to eat a snack with his best friend Hayden. 

Kylie was so hungry this night.  Snack time was all she talked about.  She ate all the icing off the top and was done with it.  Well besides the small bit of icing she left on her face.  :) 

This night you made me a beaded necklace.  They provided clay and let you shape your beads.  You had several made and then all of a sudden wadded all of them together and made one huge bead.  But it was cool looking and I can't wait to wear to it.  

Day 3

 Your daddy gives you a big ziplock bag of money every night to put in the boys bucket.  This is one of your favorite things to do.  Tonight on the way you asked why you were putting money in that bucket.  I told you it was going to help other children buy things they needed.  You said, "I'm going to put all this money in so they can buy a big toy." 

Here you are sitting down, waiting to begin. 

Tonight was tug-o-war.  Your team won! You all started out strong and then half your team ran off.  You didn't go anywhere though.  You pulled and pulled and pulled.  Love the picture where you were so into it you had your tongue out. 

After tug-of-war they let them play with sponges and water.  They were suppose to splash around with them but instead they all started cleaning the concrete.  They had fun doing it though. 

Another one of my favories.  Kylie is so cute with those eyes. 

Tonight you finished my necklace and I got to wear it home.  We went to eat at Wendy's afterwards with Kylie and Peyton.  You loved that and wouldn't stop talking about Peyton coming over all night. 

Day 4

I forgot my camera on day 4.  Only have a few pictures from my phone.  Tonight was a balloon toss and you did great.  You took care of that balloon and surprised me about how good you were at catching it. 

Tonight you made a wooden offering box.  It is great.  It has colorful stickers all over it.  The best thing ever happened on night 4.  You were chosen as the best behaved boy from our tribe. You got to pick out of the basket and came back with this glider. You were so excited we had to call dad on the way home to tell him.  Then when we got home we had to call grandma and papa and tell them.  You were so happy! And so was I!   

Day 5

Whoot whoot for day 5.  I enjoyed it, but hanging out with 40 three and four year olds is exhausting.  Tonight is the finale and you were super excited about singing on stage.  You were even more excited when you learned that Grandma and Papa were coming to watch. 

We played indoor volleyball and it was hilarious to watch.  The ball was 10 times bigger than all of you and it would just roll you all over.  Lots of screaming, laughing, and a few tackle downs going for that ball.  



Kylie and I ate snacks together because you wanted to sit with Peyton.  

 The church brought in these precious animals for us to see and hold.  Kylie adored the bunnies.  You loved the horse.  I was having to watch Kylie hold the bunny while making sure you didn't get kicked by a horse.  Loved the small baby goat. 

This is not a clear picture on here for some reason but it will have to work.  This is the big finale.  You had to get on stage and perform your songs.  You had been waiting for this all week but when the time came you got nervous and couldn't perform.  You didn't even want to go up front.  I finally forced you up there but it didn't quite matter.  You turned around, bent over backwards, played on the steps, took a seat, and several other things that you shouldn't have done.  I finally quit trying and just enjoyed the show.  

 Our daily question was asking the students what God sightings they've seen this week.  Some of your God sightings were hay, grass, and the ocean.  You are so cute! I sure did love getting to be your teacher at VBS this week.  Such great memories to make with you.