Florida Trip 2009

We has such a fun trip to Tod's parents house in Nokomis, Florida for Spring Break. Gran and Gumps had a great week of beach, pool, and parks for us. We ate wonderful food and played very hard. I took LOTS of pictures......

Here's Tod and Brady building sandcastles. Brady loves to dig.

Jacob looking for shark teeth. He found 6 on the first day!!

Easter morning. The boys were loaded with goodies that the Easter Bunny brought.



And what is Easter without a Whoopi Cushion?

I think Brady ate all of his chocolate right away.

A very nutritious breakfast of Peeps and Chocolate Bunnies!

Out on the lanai resting after a day of swimming. Brady and Gumps spent a lot of time lounging outside. They had long conversations. Jacob loved the sauna and made Gran tell him stories inside the sauna.

The best time to go to the beach is at sunset! No sunscreen required!!

Gumps got in his power chair and we all walked to the beach. Jacob rode on Gumps' lap and I pushed Brady in the stroller. Jacob and Gumps had some really neat talks while going to the beach.

We went to Myakka State Park. One of our favorite places to go. Every time we are there we see LOTS of alligators. Myakka State Park is such a beautiful place. Lots of crazy trees, a tower climb, and many many WILD animals.

Once we got in the park Brady climbed into Grans lap and Jacob sat in Gumps chair to be the alligator lookout.

Look what he found....

This place is beautiful.

Brady

Tod, Brady, Jacob, and Gran posing by a very crooked tree.

Jacob on the Canopy Trail.

Brady climbing the first tree tower.

Jacob so bravely went first across the suspension bridge that connected the two towers.

There is Gran at the bottom waiting for us.

Jacob made it to the top first.

On the top of the world...

There were these rabbits all over the park with little ears. Brady was convinced that it was the Easter Bunny and thanked him for all of his chocolate.

On the Bird Walk. We saw lots of birds but they were too far away to really tell what they all were.

Jacob on the Bird Walk.

Tod and I got to go on a fun date while in Florida. We went to the Tampa Bay Rays baseball game!!! They played the Yankees. It was such a fun game. Neither one of us had ever seen the Yankees play before. It was quite the experience.

It was the first time we had seen baseball in a dome.

Ok ladies...here he is.... Derek Jeter....

The 7th inning stretch

After the game we were walking back to the van and we were trying to decide what to do for dinner. We were in St. Petersburg and not in the best part of town. I was debating on asking someone where we should go and eat when I read the gentleman's shirt in front of us. It said "Crabby Bills St. Pete Beach". Well, that sounded right up our alley!! We put it in our Garmin and headed to the beach. It was the perfect place. While we waited on our table we went to the rooftop bar for a beer and to watch a beautiful sunset. It was a great evening!

The last day at Nokomis Beach. Brady befriended a seagull. Well, at least Brady wanted to be his friend. The seagull thought otherwise.

Jacob playing soccer on the beach.

After we left Nokomis we decided only to drive halfway back. We stayed at Fernandina Beach on Amelia Island. It was super cold!!! What a difference between the Gulf Coast and the Atlantic Coast. As you can see....Tod wearing a sweatshirt and drinking coffee at the beach.

We decided to spend the afternoon in the historic district which was much warmer!


The boys got a huge kick out of this shark.

Jacob and Peg Leg.


What a fun trip!!!

Rainy Days and Sunny Days

We have had such crazy weather this Spring. One day is rainy and cold the next day it is a sunny warm spring day. The boys have been going stir crazy on these rainy days. Jacob and Brady's Gran (Tod's Mom) gave Jacob an art set for his birthday. He loves to paint and draw. Gran is an artist and this is right up her ally! We broke out the paint set and the boys created many masterpieces.

Brady thought the paper plate was more fun to draw on than his paper.

As you can tell...Jacob is VERY serious about his artwork!

On Saturday the Charlotte Knights had their Family Fun Day. We got a tour of the stadium, lots of family friendly fun, and free hotdogs! We love going to the Knights games and this was a bonus for us. As you can tell..there wasn't many people there...didn't matter to us! Lots of fun!

They had an inflatable "boxing" ring and Jacob just had to participate. His opponent was a much bigger kid. Tod asked Jacob, "You sure you want to do this?" Jacob, "YES!" Much bigger kid said, "Don't worry. I'll go easy on him!" Yikes! The boxing gloves were about 3 feet tall. It was so funny to watch and much bigger kid let Jacob get in a few good punches. It was hard to take his picture..this is the best one.

Brady loved the bounce house. He would have jumped all afternoon!

Here's my boys walking around the stadium.

You can never pass up a free hotdog!

I love this picture. Brady is watching batting practice...all by himself.

On Sunday we tried out our new Carowinds season passes. Jacob is finally tall enough to ride all of the big kid rides. If only his courage was tall enough. He stuck to the little kid rides. Tod is riding with Jacob in the little cars.


Brady in the driver seat...not driving.

I took the boys on the little boats while Tod rode the BIG boy rides. Jacob drove while Brady rang the bell...constantly.

It was such a fun weekend. Tomorrow we are going to have another cold rainy day. May need to break out the paints again!