A promise...

Just thought this was scary....

I snapped this photo as a flock of seagulls appeared to be attacking Paul, Brenda and the kids. I snapped it at just the right time and it just looks scary to me. Right?!?

A whole bunch from the beach. I couldn't pick 1...or 2...or even 3. Sorry.

Ayla on the beach....

I'll let the photos speak for themselves. This was her first real experience on the beach. Ayla has attitude. I love her.

One of my favorite places on earth...

I'm pretty sure last year I talked about the beach being my favorite place on earth.
Things haven't changed.
I love it there.
It's so relaxing to me.
I love everything about it.
And I love spending time with my family there.
So today it was the beach.
If I had my way, we'd be spending the rest of our trip right there.
I'd camp out if I could.
But they aren't really on board with that.
I'm just hoping to get one more day there this week.
Warning....lots of beach photos to follow....

Lani

Man...she is sweet.
And growing up right before my very eyes.

A parade

This is how we navigated around the city most of our trip...

a single file line of white (very very white) women.
We were a bit of a spectacle.
Don't you think we just "blend in" in the flourescent life vests?!?

Amazing women.
So honored to know them.
And so grateful for this week spent together.
All of us changed forever....

a couple more...

because i find them incredibly cute.

Day 3

you'll never guess what we did today....
swim.

truly, the kids have been swimming since we arrived at our first stop.
quite literally 48 hours of swimming.
lisa, tony, macy and hadley arrived around 6:30 on saturday.
and seriously...hadley is a.dor.a.ble!

lani and macy have been playing non-stop....matching swim suits and all.

and ayla loves to be by hadley.
even if it means getting in the water...which she really doesn't love.

other than the first evening of rain, the weather has been perfect.
nana s and nana b arrived this afternoon.
kids were ecstatic! (and the parents,too!)
the plan is to hit the beach tomorrow...if we can drag the kids out of the pool.

Day 2

We started out the morning at Chris and Brenda's.
Ayla learned out to drive...

And Lani lost her FIRST tooth.
It was a big deal.
And the tooth fairy...who has been fairly distracted lately...blew it.
Somehow she redeemed the situation, but it was a close call.

There was also more swimming.
Lots more swimming.

Paul and Brigg hit a spring training game in Port Charlotte.
The girls got ice cream and went grocery shopping and set up shop at mom and dad's.

My cold is getting worse.
I got a huge gash in the back of my ankle while at the grocery store and I'm fairly certain I broke my toe.
But we had fresh fish from a fish market and fresh beef from a meat market.
Plus, it was 75 and sunny.
Things are looking up.

day 1

I need to document this trip or i'll forget.
we left muscatine at 5:30 on thursday.
we pulled into chris and brendas driveway around 2:30 the next day.
it was a loooooooong drive, but the kids were amazing.
dare i say, perfect.
and i don't throw that word around lightly.
i had been a long couple of weeks for me and this drive about pushed me over the edge with lack of sleep.
but i slept well at chris and brendas that first night.
the kids swam and played games....

we ate supper and chatted and got to see their house for the first time.
it was fun.
a great start to our trip.

You know your from Iowa if...

you drive 20 hours to "sunny" florida,
arrive after 6 inches of rain has fallen and is STILL falling,
and it's 66 degrees out
and you JUMP IN THE POOL....

we have 7 days here.
we were not about to miss out on a single day of swimming.
we do know how to appreciate decent weather...that's for sure.