Weekend Recap

A few days later (as usual), but our weekend was so good, I don't want to forget!

Marty took Saturday off to play golf with some high school buddies. So this freed up a Saturday night (which has only happened 2 or 3 times in the past 4 years) so we went on a date! However, the best part was that Marty's sister, Erica, volunteered to take the kids overnight. (And for the record, a night without either kid has never happened in 4 years.)

Unfortunately, I didn't get many pictures, but here is a cell phone pic on our way to Erica's.





Obviously, Marty and I were ecstatic (we also thought Erica was slightly crazy for asking of this arrangement) and had a great time together.
But, more importantly, Arianna and Bernie were apparently fantastic at their first sleepover. Bernie had never slept away from home and Arianna only twice.

Erica said she'd do it again!! Success!!!

I'm also taking orders for anybody else willing to one up Erica. A weekend. A full week. We'll take whatever. I'll even dedicate a blog post about you too.


On Sunday, we had (3) free tickets to Disney on Ice. We decided that Arianna would enjoy it more than Bernie, so he stayed with Mimi and Papa. Arianna LOVED it and was reluctant to clap after a performance because she thought it meant the whole show would have to be over. We saw Mickey and Minnie Mouse, Goofy, and Donald Duck who were the hosts of the show. The performances were brief versions of Lion King (which we missed for being a few minutes late), The Little Mermaid, Lilo and Stitch ( I didn't care for this one) , and the 2nd half was all Peter Pan and Tinkerbell. Arianna's favorite was Tinkerbell and now decided that's who she wants to be for Halloween.

Overall it was great husband and family time.
Marty got a free seat to the Rays and Yankees game on Tuesday night (4th row!) to cap it off.
The Rays lost that night, but that's because I wasn't there with him.

P.S. Don't forget the comments are open to sign up for a few nights with 2 wonderful kids!!!

Thank You Aunt Lisa

For our butterfly nets!
Although we haven't been outside to catch anything yet.

My brother Josh and sister-in-law Ashley were here this week. They are transitioning from Wilmington, NC to Nashville, TN and made some time to visit their favorite Floridians.



We hit the beach, attended a Rays game, and went to Busch Gardens. I took 2 days off work and had to work the other 3, so Josh and Ashley had lots of intimate time with the kids during those days. Thank you for spending so much time with us!

(Most of the photos I got this week are from Busch Gardens since that is the most time I had available to snap them.)


Chugga Chugga CHOO CHOO! Riding the train around the animals.




The Safari at Busch Gardens - although Aunt Ashley shared some of her experience at the real safari from Kenya in April.


The lions, a piece of thick glass, and us! In the perfect spot that day.


They are some ferocious beasts, but so awesome to observe.






Josh couldn't wait to read the map so someone could snap his picture!


Duck watching.





Thank you for spending your week with us, even though we don't like to sit still much!


P.S. I couldn't forget the best picture from the week!

Dolphins, Whales, and Sharks Oh My....

I'm still having some computer problems, but I didn't want to forget about our Sea World trip we took a couple of weeks ago.

All week, we threatened the kids, that if they acted up we wouldn't go to Sea World. They were really good the whole week and even better while we were there. It was really a fun, fun day! LOTS of pictures to look at!

Arianna is mapping out our day.

Bernie runs out of the bathroom, ready to start our adventure!

The sting ray touch tank (for Camille).

Daddy pets a dolphin!

Waiting in the hot sun for the Dolphin show.

In awe at the dolphin show (excuse the dorky hats, but it's better than sunburn. I guess.)

Does this one need a caption?

On the moving ramp, waving to the penguins.

They really were excited, but a slightly hot and tired as well.

Sea Lion or Otter or whatever that kind is called.

SHARRRRRKS!

Looking at the pretty fish.

Shamu Stadium.

Did she forget that these are killer whales?

Shamu? They never even mentioned Shamu. Maybe all of their whales have the same name.

Cookie Monster

Paps - This is for you since you are always asking if Bernie has had any tricks up his sleeve.


The past couple of weeks, Bernie has finally learned to exit his crib by himself. Usually, when he gets up, I can hear him or he'll come get me, or even, sometimes he'll go wake Arianna up.

One particular day this week, I got up and started getting ready for work, but noticed they were "sleeping" a little late. Once I realized it was about 30 minutes later than the normal wake up time, I walked out of my room to scan the scene.

I noticed Bernie's door was open, so I knew he'd gotten up. But, Arianna was still in bed. So if he didn't come in my room and didn't wake up Arianna, where must he be????

I head towards the kitchen/dining/living rooms. Ohhh, Bernie is in the kitchen. On his tiptoes, reaching for the cookie jar.

He said he had one, but honestly, his face was too clean for chocolate chip cookie consumption.

Moral of the story - now the baby gate stays up at night too!

Our Day in Camera Phone Photos

NO work this week. Probably since 3 or 4 days since our second child was born, have Marty and I both had a few days off work simultaneously.


A few months ago we were going to take a vacation and were planning to go to Myrtle Beach, SC this week. However, since then, we unexpectedly (but quite excitedly), moved to our local beach and decided not to go that route


Therefore, this week is now our staycation week.



Yesterday we did just do some personal errands, but it was still fun to have our family all together and not worry about what time it is or where we have to be, etc.


Today, we went to the Museum of Science and Industry (MOSI) in Tampa.

And, therefore, Our Day in Camera Phone Photos, since I forgot my camera.

Bernie is checking out the fire engine.

Arianna and the dinosaur.

Bernie and the dinosaur.

Life sized checker board.

Marty is on a bed of nails.

My favorite part of the day - one of my favorite places to eat in college, but there are not too many locations in Florida. We happened to be close to one today, so I had to go there.

The rest of the week includes a trip to Sea World and a garage sale.
Stay Tuned!

Rain, Rain Go Away

It's the end of my 3 day weekend. And my guess is that it has rained for 62 hours out of the 72. And every day for the prior week. That's a lot of rain. Amazingly enough, the rain quit at 7:00pm July 4th and didn't rain again until after the fireworks.



Thank you God for our freedom


and to all of those who sacrifice to defend and protect it.




We ate a great dinner with my parents, which include ribs, baked beans, potato salad and homemade ice cream for dessert.

We have a hand crank/motorized ice cream maker and the kids had so much fun cranking away!


Stirring the pre ice cream mix.




Drinking the every last lick of that yummy ice cream.

We finally headed to the beach about an hour early to claim our spot before the fireworks. The kids were very excited about fireworks and kept asking for more. We watched at least an hours worth and the kids didn't get in bed til 10:30.

Don't worry, Marty and I paid for it, because when the kids stay up late, they don't sleep. And when they don't sleep, we don't sleep. Good thing, it was indeed, a 3 day weekend.


Playing in the sand before fireworks.


HAPPY INDEPENDENCE DAY!