ATTACK!
They both like Legos and Owen is willing to share!
Getting ready to start loading the car!
Happy, relaxed family!
She wanted to try to poop so very badly…and she’s SO cute.
Category Archives: Vacation
She loves shades.
Owen didn’t want to take a nap.
I may get my wish to see a thunderstorm roll in…
Goodbye cousin cuddle!
One last trip to the beach
It was super windy and you could see storm clouds rolling in…but the kids wanted to take just one more trip down to the water. It didn’t last too long as it started to rain…so this is them heading back home.
Beach Frisbee
Owen and Anna were bestest buddies!
Then Kathryn and Izzy were playing frisbee and Owen wanted to join! This is his catching stance.
His robot stance.
Look at that form!
Good catch!
Proof that his form actually works! He can throw pretty well!
I told him to write his name in the sand. You can see the normal-ish sized O right behind his feet…and then I told him he could do it a little bigger and so he’s drawing an O about three times his size (he’s finishing up the last of it). That’s as far as he got with his name before he lost interest. 🙂
Fudpucker’s
I stayed home so Katie could take a real nap (i.e. in total piece and quiet) while everyone else went to Fudpucker’s in Destin.
The food was taking longer than expected and the gator show was about to start, so they sent the kids off by themselves to the show.
Then it was back to sign their names—and add some drawings—to the wall…
And then Owen tried—and liked!—alligator!
But got pizza for his lunch!
And then it was time to feed the alligators!
And a few photo ops:
Then it was off to get ice cream!
And a gun that I’m sure he wanted but he did not come home with:
Tom said Owen had a great time! And Katie had her very best nap all week—just over three hours!
Windy Beach
It was too cold and windy but the kids still wanted to go to the beach and the guys wanted to try fishing one last time. We took pictures from the balcony. 🙂
Just hanging out
And Tom working on Gramma Jean’s computer that she hauled from Michigan so he could update it to Windows 7.
Storytime with Gramma
Legos with Anna
We brought a new Lego kit for Owen to build…and Anna was more than willing to help! They made a great team and did a good job. (The next night, Izzy helped and they did an amazing job!)
Owen said: “Wow! We have a lot of Legos going on here.”
Cousins at the beach!
I love this picture—it looks like David is the Godfather sending his minions off…
The wave snuck up on him!
Katie LOVED the sand…and was COVERED in it.
Anna and Owen in their hot tub!
Bubbles!
Testing out the non-heated pool. It was COLD but Owen stayed in for probably 15 minutes!
And one year ago…the same cousins on another beach.
Helping mom make guacamole
Jellyfish!
Tom texted me this picture from where they were fishing. That’s a lot of jellyfish!
Gramma Jean’s Hair Salon
Gramma Jean has taken over Katie’s hair duties…and she just sits there patiently.
Bat at play and rest
Afternoon at the Zoo
Today we all went to the Gulf Breeze Zoo — it was Katie’s first zoo experience!
Stole the cup right out of his hand!
Owen can jump as far as a tree frog!
Who can jump farther?
Train ride!
Hugging the stuffed animals!
Owen picked a bat mask at the gift shop!
Katie’s turn at the beach!
Owen was out with daddy and grandpa, so we took Katie to the beach!
This is her saying “SNOW!” She kept saying snow snow snow—and we had to keep telling her it was sand. 🙂
Waving goodbye to the birds as they flew away!
Splashing in a little pool!
Chasing the birds!
Scouting out fishing locations
Grandpa David and Tom took Owen with them to scout out potential fishing locations…
Should have just given her a bath!
Someone had to get their feet washed before bed…which we learned is a bit difficult since she wants to splash and sit down for a real bath. You notice she has no pants on (since she sat down in the tub) and her shirt is a little wet. 🙂
Owen hits the beach!
We waited until Katie went down for her nap, then we took Owen down to the beach. It was a Red Flag day which meant dangerous surf conditions, but it was too cold to even get into the water anyway…but he still had fun!
The balcony keeps Katie at bay…for a while.
She wants to go outside so desperately…and letting her out on the balcony keeps the begging at bay for a little while.
Bedtime at the condo
Both kids got to bed late tonight due to the long day of travel plus a time zone change…
Going, going, gone…
We got on the road at 6:08am so I wasn’t surprised that Owen got a little tired after lunch…
HotAmi 2014, Day 2
Good morning!
We ran some errands then headed to our group lunch spot:
Waiting for drinks:
It sounded (and looked) better than it tasted:
The whole group:
Then it was back to the house for visiting, games (trivia, which my team came in fifth of five!), and fun! I missed pictures of the delicious catered Cuban dinner we had!
Cigars with Sheryl—a tradition!
Tom and Elle!
We knew we’d have an early morning so we said goodbyes around 11!
HotAmi 2014, Day 1
Aside from my usual 4:45am potty trip, I slept in until 7:41! WOOHOO!
We went to our host’s house to carpool to a Cuban lunch:
Then we joined him on errands…which included Costco and Total Wine:
Then it was back to the house to visit and hang out before dinner.
And then Sheryl was having issues getting the iPad to take a picture so we were laughing. 🙂
On our way to meet for the “high end” dinner!
We were originally going to do the “budget” dinner…but then learned that a forum friend from California that I’ve really wanted to meet was going to be attending as a last-minute surprise so we switched. So we got to sit next to Brett and hear lots of Apple stories (super interesting to me)—he was a top engineer at Apple for many years and just recently retired. You know Siri? That was him. HDR on your phone? Him. AppleTV? His team. Just fascinating.
Our table of 17:
Recreating a photo from last year (substituting Katie for Nancy who couldn’t make it this year):
And another California peep, Darren:
After a nice dinner and dropping people off at hotels, it was back to the house to visit for just a tiny bit until we called it a night—the previous night was 12:30 and tonight was 11:30 and we were exhausted!
Pre-HotAmi Dinner
After we checked in to the hotel it was straight to the sushi restaurant for dinner with friends. We had seen most of the small group last year but I was SUPER EXCITED to see Katie, one of my very bestest friends whom I hadn’t seen IN SEVEN YEARS! SEVEN YEARS! (It hadn’t felt like that long since we do talk online and text/call now and again…but it’s obviously not the same as seeing each other in person.) I think she was even more excited than I was, and we hugged hello for a good two minutes!
It’s a long-running joke that the two of us share a brain because we think a lot alike, have the same views, like the same things, have finished each other’s sentences, etc…and it was proven again tonight—remember we haven’t seen each other in seven years and really only talk on forums…yet we both wore black capris, a purple shirt, and a black jacket.
We visited with friends until after midnight then headed back to the hotel to crash—we hadn’t been up that late since I don’t know when…and were exhausted from a long day on the road.
Road Tripping
We spent just a hair over 12 hours on the road to get to Florida… It went fairly smoothly and was actually quite relaxing without the kids (i.e. worrying about snack breaks and potty stops and whining and napping).
I got caught up on my blog entries and a mini stack of parenting magazines, Alice was texting updates and pictures…and we Skyped with Owen while flying down the highway:
The only annoying thing was the toll roads in Florida. First it’s a turnpike but you have to pay along the way (not just at exits). Then you think you’re getting off the turnpike but wait there’s an exact change only booth on the other side of the traffic light….so you’re apparently off the turnpike but still on a toll road that only has exact change/sunpass lanes and we don’t carry change. Then we hit a manned toll booth and got change…but then we were on I-75. WHAT?!? It was maddening (we’ve obviously never taken that route).
But we made it to the hotel without major incident. 🙂
RIP awesome Dawson Crocs Boots
I hate when companies change a good product. Owen has Crocs “Dawson” boots that I LOVE but he’s outgrown them.
Of course when I go to buy a bigger pair (easy, right?), that style has been COMPLETELY redesigned and now instead of boots they are slip-ons that look just like most other Crocs. 😡
And if I decided I wanted those? Oh well, no one has them in stock or they aren’t available in Youth sizes (at this point I don’t even care—the point is they aren’t available in Owen’s size).
It took me forever to find a perfect pair that wouldn’t be super warm (since we rarely need winter boots), came up high enough in case there was snow, would work for rain, and weren’t super expensive. And now I have to do it all over. Similar ones by Keen are twice as much. No thanks.
Ugh.