The Lovely Florida Keys....

After our week in JAX we headed to the Keys. Here is a slideshow of some of our pics of the beautiful water and Mallory Square (where we did all our shopping and site seeing). They truly live by the motto no shoes, no shirt, no problem! If it were up to Brady, the house would already be on the market and we would spend the rest of our life in the Keys.

JAX - Atlantic Beach

As promised, here are a few pics from our week at the beach house in Jacksonville.

AJ learned to boogie board this year. He actually did really well for only being 4 years old and he loved it! Well, except for when his timing was off and the waves knocked him off the board and into the water. But mommy and daddy were always right there to help him up. He even got what he called his first "surfing injury" when he scraped his back all up along shells while riding a wave in. He was so cute!












During the days the boys played on the beach building sand castles, looking for shells, and playing with cochina shells in the sand.

In the evenings we took walks on the beach as the sun was setting to enjoy the beautiful view. The boys enjoyed looking for and chasing the ghost crabs as they ran in and out of their holes.





Of course one of the best things about summer is eating summer treats. Look at these faces.... ones only a mother could love!

I mentioned in my last post that our cousins came in early to spend the day with us. Here are a few pics of the boys all playing together. They really had so much fun with them!

HOME SWEET HOME

So, we are (sadly) back home from our trip to Florida. We had a fantastic time and even the long days in the car went pretty well. Thankfully AJ never got sick, not once, out of 6 full days in the car, split up of course. We headed to Jacksonville first and spent a week at the beach house. Brady's cousin Lisa and her husband and two boys (Cam and Zach) came in on our last full day and we had a great time catching up with them. The boys loved meeting and playing with their cousins! Sadly they live in NC so we don't see much of them.

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Once our relaxing week in JAX was over we hopped in the van and headed to the Florida Keys. We spent three days in Key West and never wanted to leave! The water was unbelievably beautiful. It was so green and blue that it looked dyed. Incredible! The actual beaches though leave a little to be desired because they are all man-made, the sand is actually rocks and crushed coral (quite rough on the feet), and there are no waves. We also really enjoyed walking around Mallory Square and taking in all the shops and historical sights. And let me tell you, this city literally never sleeps! They have their first happy hour at 7AM and then they just continue on into the wee hours. It's crazy!

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There will be pics but we are still trying to get settled back in so I just haven't had a chance to download them yet. Stay tuned.....

ON THE ROAD AGAIN...

Well, we're leaving early tomorrow morning for Florida and won't be back until July is over! We are really looking forward to spending 2 weeks hanging out on the beach. First we'll spend a week in Jacksonville on Atlantic Beach at our beach house, then we'll be heading down to the Keys!! YAY! We plan to spend a few days visiting Key Largo and Key West. The boys, big and small, are going to have such a great time.

There is however one big complication.... we will be in the car for the better part of two days there and three days coming back and AJ gets car sick, bless his heart! Last year he got sick 3 or 4 times on the trip down so ... We'll just keep our fingers crossed that the trip is fairly uneventful! As if driving for two days with a 3 and 4 year old wasn't trying enough. Wish us well!!

I hope that everyone else enjoys the rest of their summer and I'll be posting LOTS of pictures when we get back!

WELCOME EMERSON MAE!

Our family was blessed today with a beautiful new addition. My cousin Crystal and her husband Wesley, along with their 3 y/o son Campbell, welcomed a little baby girl...



Emerson Mae enetered the world at a quaint 7lbs, 18inches with olive skin and thick jet black hair (and her mommy's pug nose).





We are so glad that she is here and that mommy and baby are well and thriving! What a lovely family!





AJ and Noah were so excited about going to see her but once we got there they were too rambunctious to really pay much attention to her. Typical boys! However, AJ now seems to think that not only does he want a little sister but that when he grows up he wants to have THREE girls of his own. He has LOTS of time to change his mind!!

INDEPENDENCE DAY

We spent our 4th of July relaxing and taking in nature out at our ranch. We had lots of fun taking short walks (cause boy was it HOT!)...

... going fishing...

...and best of all - catching grass hoppers. Daddy bought us the new little traps that we can catch and keep our grasshoppers in and we thought they were great! Thanks daddy!!

As the sun was starting to go down we did a few small fireworks in front of the house. Daddy was sad he couldn't shoot off his big ones but he felt the ground was too dry and didn't want to start a fire. Then we got in the car and drove on the ranch a bit and watched some big fireworks that other people were doing, they sure were pretty.

The Dallas World Aquarium

So we had a wonderfully fun day at the Dallas World Aquarium on Sunday.... and Nana even joined us too. While the sights were enjoyable, the crowds were not. We do not typically do these types of things on the weekends for this very reason. That is one of the perks of being at home; getting to do things during the week when very few people are there. Still, we enjoyed the outing and all the creatures.

Note the reflection of all the people!!

While we loved every creature we saw, we each had our favorites and least favorites. Daddy could spend ALL day in the saltwater fish tank room! But his absolute fave would probably have to have been the GIANT octopus. He keeps trying to convince mommy that we need another saltwater tank so that we can have an octopus again. Mommy thinks that even though she really liked our octopus, who passed away, they are just too high maintenance and we have plenty to care for already!

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Mommy's favorite thing would probably have to be the Jaguar. She just thought she was beautiful and
moved with such grace. Though the sting-rays and monkeys came in a very close second.

AJ loved everything so much it's really hard to focus on one favorite. He really took the jaguar, monkeys, pink flamingos, and the giant octopus. He wanted to stay and watch them for quite a while. However, the hardest thing to pull him away from were the river otters. It was so cute too! There were two of them and just as he stepped up to the glass they swam up and started "wrestling" and "play fighting" right in front of him. He just laughed and thought it was THE coolest thing. I so wish I could have gotten a pic of his facial expression (but due to the above mentioned crowds, it was impossible).

Noah well, while he thought SO many things were great, his favorites by FAR were the giant fresh-water turtles (not sure of their proper name) and the jaguar. This kid LOVES turtles. He gets so fascinated and excited by them, and always has. He also really liked watching the sharks and sting-rays, especially since they were eating when we saw them.



































Nana, well her favorite thing, without a doubt, would have to have been US!! She just loved watching our faces light up and all the questions we asked because we are at that age where we want to know and understand, or try to, everything.











































I think we could pretty much all agree on our least favorite things: 1)again, the crowds of people, many of whom were quite rude and 2) the smell of the penguins! Those little guys are so cute and fun to watch, but have you smelled them?! Seriously, they should have a warning: TOXIC FUMES AHEAD before you enter that room! PEW-WEE!!































All in all, HUGE crowds and stinky smells aside, we had a great time at the DWA. We worked up an appetite walking through , what seems like miles, of the DWA and so we walked to the West End and ate at Fridays. We (the boys) SCARFED our food down and were quite a mess by the time we left.










































It was a long day full of excitement, and excercise, and treats, and laughs.
Fun was had by all and we can't wait to back again. Though mommy and daddy said it will definately have to be during the week next time!