Vacation shots-Part 3

You don't see this sight in the water very often...

This was near where we ate on the water at John's Pass. I just like textures/patinas going on here...
Uncle JR and Aunt bernie loaded the kids up with Bubba Gump gear. How cute is he with his hat turned around? Rosy cheeked boy...


I love all the funny signs you come across down there. We ate outside by the water and boy-those birds were relentless! They attacked the table next to us as soon as the people paid their bill and left. Gabe chased the birds away and the owner said she might just have a job for him...;)


Cute...

The pelican who waited patiently near our table.

Down by the shops Gabe spots a man with a cocketeil riding on his shoulder. (Is that how you spell that?) Anyway-the guy was so nice and goofy and let it crawl all over the kids. Gabe was a bit nervous since he said it was pinching him with it's claws.

The next thing you know the man scoops up the bird and shoves it's head in his mouth!

It shocked Gabe and got a huge belly laugh out of him.

The next morning after breakfast we headed down to the Seabird Sanctuary. We hadn't been there since Gabe was Sawyer's age. He's such an animal lover we knew we'd have to make a trip. Forgot how stinky it is...whew!

This poor little guy.....he's missing his top beak! I wonder what happened to him? We watched the guy with the fish come out to feed and he had to hand feed this guy and help get them in his mouth. :(

The view from the ocean side of the sanctuary. So pretty and calm.

Cutting back through to the parking lot from the beach Chloe and I got a little surprise. Here we are in the bathroom cleaning it out of our shirts and hair.....sigh.

The rest of the day was spent at the beach and pool-resting for our trip to Busch Gardens the next day....

Guess you know what pics will be posted tomorrow...

Our vacation in photos....Part 2

See what I mean? Fearless. That kid was jumping in so much the water wings went on asap after this. Not that I trust them much but made me feel a smidge better.

Dinnertime before getting dressed for the wedding. Crabby Bill's. Gabe loved the huge crab on the roof and screamed Crabby Billlllllllllllls each time we drove by.

I love whoever thought of resteraunts having crayons on hand....

Gosh, I already miss daily seafood!!

They have a photographer come around and take your picture then charge you an outragious amount to print it in the back room to take home. I asked her while she was at it to use my camera as well. (she made it far away and wonky. little did she know I could fix that...)

Anyhow, here's all 5 of us plus Nana and Uncle Tyler who joined us down there for the wedding.

(*take a good look at Gabe's face-lol)

On to the wedding.....centerpieces of seashells and seaglass.....so pretty.

A really unusual and funky cake they had made. Pineapple too-yummmmmm!

I wish I had taken more pictures of the dessert table...They had an evening dessert reception. Anything you could think of-chocolate covered strawberries, little raspberry cobbler bites, mini key lime pies, mini coffee cake bars....that's only a little...wow.

Helloooooooo white chocolate seashells with graham sand!!!!!
How cool is that-really??!! I had to do a double take. I thought it was only decoration!

Guitar player sat up front to play beforehand and to walk down the aisle...nice touch. Each time I'd go to take his picture he's sit up a little straighter-funny.

Playing with editing pics for Tyler's facebook page-lol.

Me and my gorgeous daughter-who came home all cocoa brown...Can you believe she's only 8? No, I'm not short-she's crazy tall!

Thinking the print on this dress is making me look a little pregnant.....hmmmm. No-I am not.

Our view slightly to the right as they said I do...

Joe and Nicole
(had to grab from this angle since the photog had them busy)

Here are the 5 of us with Nana and Uncle Tyler afterwards again

And an outtake for you as well. Most would come out like this-lol.

Nicole-looking gorgeous with her dad...

Wish I'd gotten a good one of her and Joe.



If I could do our whole wedding thing over I'd do it this way. On the beach at sunset? Perfect weather? Small and intimate? Oh ya-in a heartbeat.

Our vacation in photos....Part 1

There's going to be quite a few pictures in these next few days. I'll just toss some of the cuter ones on here.

We wento down to the Clearwater Florida area for a family wedding. Travis' cousin, Nicole, got married at sunset on the beach. It was a gorgeous, perfect evening...more on that later...

We stopped in Metropolis to visit Superman.....

Trav and I got makeovers...My head didn't get screwed on straight though.

An interesting picture of all the superman guys. I didn't realise we'd actually had that many.

Passing through Nashville....awful. Most exits were closed w/ police directing on the highway. There were people pulled over on the side here and there taking pictures. Actually SEEING the flooding that Chloe had heard about really hit home for her. Really sad. And I'm sure this area was only the tip of the iceberg.


We had to stop at the gorgeous Tennessee rest area we always stop at. It's on the lake with picnic spots all over and wooded, shady and a great place to let the kids run and stretch their legs.



The night we got into Florida we went to Nicole and Joe's house for their wedding rehearsal that they held in their backyard. This is her father walking her down the "aisle". During rehearsal they married under their grapefruit tree. How cool to have that in your backyard :)

Afterwards we ran over to catch the sunset at the beach across from our condo.

Gabe~starting to collect seashells for his classmates. Love this picture.

Gabe's one of those texture sensitive people so it took awhile for him to warm up to the sand on his feet but then he got over it and had a blast playing in it. Sawyer on the other hand is Mr. Fearless and went crazy out there. He LOVED the sand. Digging, rolling, piling-you name it. Not scared of the water either-unlike Gabe who only got in at the very edge.

Fine by me actually-my heart can only handle 1 fearless little person at a time!

Me and Trav's toes...

More tomorrow!

This is the life...

Oh yes it is...Wish this tiny moment lasted a wee bit longer but with 3 little ones to chase I'll grab what little I can get!

Back next week with I'm sure what is going to be some very picture heavy posts! See ya then....

On this Earth day~

I've been wandering around with the camera around my neck grabbing shots of signs of spring. This time of year seems to fly by us and I don't want to forget it. I tend to sit in awe at what we're surrounded by sometimes but hardly take a second glance at. It's really amazing.

I used macro mode for most but wish I had a macro lens.

My dads lilacs. They're enormous.


Gorgeous.

Our sad lone tulip. It really needs some friends. This fall I really need to remember to plant some more. Someone remind me then-k? ;)

Our Magnolia tree in the front. *Gasp* I wish it would always stay this beautiful. The blooms don't last near long enough. We spent as much time under the canopy of flowers as we could.

This was the first bloom on the magnolia "bush" I caught before the flowers all opened overnight.

And our sad single daffodil. Only one bloomed :( Not sure why.

Unfortunately this year we won't be planting a garden like last year (behind our neighbor's house) but I plan to get the kids involved and digging in the dirt when it's time to split and transplant some plants soon. I'm sad about the loss of the garden but plan to try and buy as much fresh produce locally at our farmer's market this year.

:)

We are recycle freaks and tend to have more recycling than garbage. Wish we could have more containers. Chloe's job is to take to the curb and Gabe's is to bring up the empties. About a month ago I caught Sawyer going to the basement door, opening it (gasp! eek!!) and throwing his yogurt container in the recycling can. My jaw was on the floor. He is less than 2 years old-but I guess he's paid enough attention to the kinds of things that go in there instead of the trash. What a feeling to know you're doing something right!

What I wore~Week 1

Following the lead of Lindsey over at The Pleated Poppy~I decided to photo my daily outfits for awhile. Let me say right now-I feel totally silly-but it HAS made me feel a little more accountable when I choose my clothes for the day. Instead of grabbing yoga pants and Trav's big old shirt I am forced to think about what I put on my body. Paying attention to what I wear-kind of like I did before we had kids...

I've loved looking at the others who have linked up with her and seeing different ways to pair up outfits or accessories ;)

Well......here we go...

Day 1:
Old Navy black top (scored for .97 cents!)
Apt 9 denim shorts
Reef flip flops
black "A" wax seal necklace-made by me
Do you like my Shey B camera strap that my friend Kim sent me? :) love it...

Day 2:
Green top from JCP -that I didn't realise how awful it looks til just now. Won't be wearing that again!
Mossimo shorts (hmm-not wild about these either!)
Reef flip flops

Day 3:

Old Navy top

white cami

necklace I bought way back in high school

old jeans (name?)

Simple brand tennis shoes

Day 4:

Old navy striped top

Old Navy grey cami

Apt 9 shorts

"Live" necklace-made by me

Day 5:

Ok, the day before I wore that shirt for 5 minutes until I realised how warm it was outside so I grabbed it off the closet doorknob the following day when it cooled off.

old jeans

old tennies

high school necklace again

Day 6:
Talbots cardigan that is the softest in the whole world!
white cami
Gap jeans
Simple brand tennis shoes
"Live" necklace made by me

Day 7:
JJill top
Abercrombie man jeans
Reef flip flops
"Live" necklace again

*Spring!*

Hallelujah! The new computer screen we ordered for the laptop did the trick! I had almost 400 pics to upload-whew! I have a sneaking hunch the next few days you may be overloaded with picture heavy posts ;)

Here's a few from Chloe's first soccer practice for the spring session...

Playing with a little sunflare...

Anyone else ever get "the stink-eye"?

Andddddd...he snaps out of it!

Extras:

It's been absolutely gorgeous in our little part of the world. Sunny almost every day and mild temps. Chloe scored 3 goals for her soccer team on Saturday and is thrilled. Has her pumped up for next week-funny what that can do for your confidence. We leave for for a family wedding/vacation in Florida soon and the kids are so excited. On Gabe's list is building sandcastles and going to Busch Gardens to see animals. Chloe's just excited to get gussied up and go a wedding on a beach and be out of school while her friends are still there (lol) and Sawyer? I just hope he survives the drive down. Or we do. One or the other.

Don't be jealous of my bag...:)

Well, I'm still on the old dinosaur computer...awaiting the new laptop screen that was ordered. Sure hope this will work! I've been so many pictures and have nowhere to upload...wah!

My Artist's Way 2 coarse started back up last week-looks like a fun group and am looking forward to seeing everyone weekly :)

Our magnolia tree bloomed~and is dropping it's blooms like crazy today. I sat out on the front steps doing my homework for class trying to get some sun on my legs and huge petals were raining all over me...Smells so good. Perfect day.

Oh, and I won a cutey patootie purse last night from Lindsey over at The Pleated Poppy! It's the first time I've ever won anything and I am JAZZED! I've had her posy pins on my xmas list, birthday list-you name it for maybe 2 years now. {he can't take a simple hint?} I loooove her blog and visit daily~go check it out!

*extras*

Chloe's soccer has started back up...Trav's indoor soccer is almost done...Gabe's resisting afternoon naps...Sawyer's in the throe's of terrible two's {and 2 yr molars-ugh}...started couch to 5K again and so far so good (and bought a pair of super cute capris a little too small for inspiration to lose a few more lbs)...huge neighborhood garage sale coming up-wow we've got a bunch of stuff!...lots of shopping {but with no luck} to find the perfect dress for a Florida beach family wedding next month...oh, and we're going primarily organic and it feels really good :)

M.I.A.

Our computer monitor bit the dust. Waiting on the part that will hopefully solve the problem...so... I am currently on our ancient laptop that is almost worse than having no computer at all-lol.

I did dig thru some old photos that are on here tho and ran across this sweet pic of Gabe from 2 years ago.

Right before he fell and lost those sweet little chicklets up front there...:(

What a little sweetie.

{Just cos I hate to post w/o a pic hehe.}

We've been super busy here but I feel we have nothing to really show for it.

Neighborhood egg hunt, 3 stops for Easter, huge basement clean up, lots of walks and stating Couch to 5K over again~spring!! Throw in a few doctor appts, air duct cleaning, lost contact & vision testing, repeat ct from the fall (good), spring cleaning/getting ready for garage sale, taxes (ugh), researching basement paints and trying to find a driveway guy-whew!

And as we go on with these day to day things lately I've been trying to figure out how on earth I'll have the time to make items for a show coming up in June. I know it seems so far away but I haven't had the chance to sit at the torch for a couple months! Add a vacation and a 2cd birthday party in between now and then....agh. Oh! And the Artist's Way class starts back on Wednesday night! :)

Trav says I'll always find an excuse and that I just need to sign up for it-that I work better under pressure anyway. He's right...But right now I'm mad at Sam's Club for discontinuing the table I need (just need 1 more for art fairs and had planned to get it NOW), don't like my table coverings and don't have enough displays..ya, I know. whine whine whine...lol.