Hutchinson Island

 

We took the kids to Stuart, FL this past weekend to visit their great grandparents, Busia and Dzia Dzia. I was a little worried about our three hour car trip given Addie's history, but I am happy to report that she and Connor both did fantastic in the car. We left around 9:30 AM, arriving in Stuart right around 12:30 PM. We visited and ate and the kids played with their new books from Busia. Connor and Addie didn't nap in the car and never really got whiney  all day. I was still skeptical and kept waiting for the meltdown to being. We decided we should eat dinner earlier than later just in case.

 

  

 

Busia and Dzia Dzia took us to dinner at Chili's around 5 PM. We had a good time at dinner and both kids were still quite pleasant! After dinner we left for our hotel. Addie didn't make the 10 minute drive to Hutchinson Island where we were staying though. It was about 7:30 PM at that point so I figured we would just carry her up and get ready for bed. I was wrong again! Addie perked right up like she had just taken a power nap. They were both so excited to be at the hotel and on the beach. We quickly went down to the beach before we lost all of our daylight. It hadn't been a very pretty day but it was a gorgeous night. The kids had a blast running around and playing in the sand. We finally headed to our room once we lost our daylight to get the buckaroos ready for bed. It had been a long day!

 

The view from our hotel room

 

 

Connor took this picture :)

 

After showering them off and getting settled in, the kids watched a couple videos on the iPad and iPhone to wind down. John and I were fully prepared to go to bed with the kids but we lucked out and got a room with a balcony. The kids went down at 10 PM and we sat outside for another hour before calling it a night. We all slept until 9 AM the NEXT morning! Crazy! Connor and Addie were clearly warn out and we'll sleep until they get up any day :-)

 

 

 

We beached it for a couple of hours before we had to check out. The tide is much stronger on the East coast so I wasn't comfortable taking the kids in the water so they took turns with Daddy. We lucked out with the weather because as soon as we left the clouds rolled in. We headed back over to Busia and Dzia Dzia's for one more visit before leaving to go back home.

 

 

 

The trip home took almost four hours and we were blinded by the sun almost the entire way but I am still very happy with how well everyone did in the car. We had a great weekend!  Thank you, Nancy, for taking care of our doggies while we were away!!

 

You can view these and a few more pictures from our weekend here.

 

 

Labor Day Weekend

 

We had a fun-filled holiday weekend. We started off having Chris, Marti and Nancy over for dinner Friday night to kick-off John's birthday weekend. We grilled kabobs and had fun playing games. John even got to open one present early :-)

Saturday was full of F-O-O-T-B-A-L-L!!!!! Gooooooo Gators!!!! Grandma and Papa came to visit later that afternoon, continuing the birthday celebration. They had not seen our house since we moved in so it was fun to show them the progress we have made so far. Connor and Addie helped Grandma put the finishing touches on John's cake (adding the whipped frosting). We ended the day with a yummy dinner of bacon wrapped filets, roasted potatoes and broccoli...and Mary Champion cake, of course! John opened the rest of his gifts and we spent the rest of the night watching football.

 

Sunday was John's actual birthday. Papa and Grandma took us out for breakfast before saying goodbye. It was a gorgeous day so we spent some time in the pool before naps. After naps we took the kids to see Disney's Planes - their first movie theater experience! They both did great! I knew Connor would love it and sit through the whole movie but Addie surprised me a little and sat through the entire movie too! I think the popcorn helped :p

After the movie we met up with the Donnell family to watch a boat parade and fireworks. It was an inaugural Summer Light The Night Labor Day celebration in downtown Tampa. The firework show was awesome, better than the 4th of July show, and the kids had a blast together (though Addie was a bit tired and clingy). She was still a trooper though and we were out until almost 9:30 PM. It was really hot and muggy out so baths were a must when we got home, even though it was super late, so it was well past 10 PM before they were finally tucked into bed.

Reid and Connor

While eating breakfast Monday morning Connor asked if it was a school day. You should have see the look of excitement on his face when I told him it wasn't. We ♥ 3 day weekends! After breakfast we took off for Orlando to meet the Jones family at their timeshare for a fun day visiting with them. Their resort had a wade in pool, lazy river, water slides and a splash pad! The wade in pool was really nice for Addie. She is suddenly NOT into splay pads so it is a fun way for her to play in the water without having to be held all the time. Connor on the other hand is swimming away, you really have to keep an eye on him! We got back to Tampa in time to eat dinner and get the kids to bed before the FSU game. The Seminoles won...a perfect ending to John's birthday weekend.

Jayce, who turned 2 yesterday!

 

♥♥ Happy Birthday, John!! We love you!! ♥♥
 

You can view all of our pictures here.




AMI

 

We went to visit Grandma and Papa a couple of weekends ago who were vacationing on Anna Maria Island. Mark and Nancy also went, we were only missing Andrew! We had a beautiful day Saturday and got to enjoy the beach and pool before the clouds rolled in later that afternoon.

 

 

We went out to dinner Saturday night to celebrate Mark's birthday. We ate at the Sand Bar but unfortunately we had bad weather so we had to eat inside. It was still a nice atmosphere as you had panoramic views of the water and we had some pretty cool views of the lightning.

 

We continued the celebration on Sunday when Nancy arrived with the Gumula familes' infamous Mary Champion cake and opened presents. Connor and Addie were also spoiled with gifts (as usual). Connor loves his new light-up Lego's and Addie is having fun with her baby highchair. I didn't realize she was already so maternal! It's cute to watch her feed her babies and change their diapers. She also loves her new dresses, she is such a girly girl!

 

 

The weather wasn't as nice on Sunday but we still had a fun day on the beach.

 

 

 

We were sad to say goodbye on Sunday but we knew we would see Grandma and Papa again the following weekend to celebrate John's birthday. You can view all of our AMI pictures here.