Our Florida Vacation

This year our family vacation was a bit different. We always go over Christmas, but I had a complete hysteroctomy scheduled for Dec 28, so we were unable to go this year. So instead, we scheduled our vacation for the end of May/first part of June! We had a blast! We stayed in a beautiful 2 bedroom condo in Pompano Beach (just north of Miami, FL) for the week.. where I think the kids and I ended up taking jacuzzi baths every night!

All I heard for 2 months prior to going to the ocean every single night at bedtime was the kids asking if they can bury me in the sand when we get to the beach. Of course you can! Why would I deprive them of such great joy?


But of course- I got to bury them too!

We made sandcastles..and the guys jumped some waves!

It was so relaxing!

This was at the condo-in between 2 of their pools. The kids were modeling their Cinderella outfits I made!





We went on an airboat ride and got to see a lot of alligators!


Then we were entertained by an animal show! Sorry folks.. you couldn't PAY me enough to stick my hand here!

The fact that my animal lover (Eleesia) shook hands with the alligator didn't suprise me... however, I WAS impressed with Enoch actually touching it!

Adam took his picture with it! Essa wouldn't go anywhere near it (can't say that I blame her much)!

We were able to look around the alligator farm for a bit!

... and tour the gift shop- where Essa insisted on trying on every single one of their hats AND having her picture made wearing each one!

Then we got in some major beach time! The sky was amazing!


Essa LOVED picking up all the coral! It was SO amazing because you can see all the holes in it for the sea animals, and some still have shells in them! We brought a ton home!

Eleesia loved picking up everything she could find!

We hit the beach during sea grass season! Oh well.. we loved it anyways!


Seriously.. how can you NOT love this?!




Enoch getting in some waves!


This looks more like a painting to me than a photograph! I love it!

Like father, like son!

I enjoyed the view!

While everyone else made sandcastles!


Then we took a trip down to the Keys for the day! How can we be that close and NOT go?! It was beautiful!!!



We went snorkeling in Key Largo...



Then we went shopping in Key West...

We had to make sure we took a picture at the Southern-most point for my Dad!

With the recomendation from some locals.. we went through the backdoor of Starbucks and got to see an amazing view of the entire island! It was gorgeous!



Apparently, the sunset is a HUGE deal in Key West! They have a "Sunset Celebration" every single night.. so upon another recomendation from another local- we headed down to the "Sunset Celebration"! I'm SO glad we didn't miss this! This was a HUGE part of the island.. and I'm glad my children were able to experience it! They had street performers and vendors.. it was AmAzInG!!

We watched the flame thrower! He was awesome!


Enoch absolutely loved it! His face was lit up the entire time!

Downtown life went on until 4 am!

Back to Pompano... we went to the park!


They look so small standing by that great sea mass... so I had to write it right on the image!

We had to take some family pictures before we headed out!


Then, the day we had to check out of the condo, we woke up the kids at 4 am with some exciting news! We had a little "detour" on the way home... DISNEY WORLD!!

Inside Cinderella's Castle!

Riding rides!

This one looks haunted to me!

Then we took our time coming home- through the Smoky Mountians!


We took a picture like this with me, Jemma, and Jonna YEARS ago and I love it! So I wanted to do it again with our kids!

I love this one! Adam is saying "Seriously.. Another picture?" and I'm saying "Suck it up Bud!" .. he he!


In the Smokies!

So this is the Alpine Slide. We went on this when we were kids (I was probably 5ish??) and I've wanted to do it again ever since! We FINALLY got to do it! You ride this (rather scary) ski lift to the top of the mountian...
.. and SLIDE your way all the way down!

Such fun!

All in all.. it was one amazing vacation!

Minivan Express Front Row Ticket!

I have 3 kids, and 2 front row seats in my van. This sets itself up for lots of arguing! When I was a kid, I always got the back seat. The oldest child got to ride up front (after all.. they were the oldest). But I wanted to create a system where every child had the chance to get a front row. So I thought we could settle the debate by taking out 1 of the front row seats. In theory that made a lot of sense. With only 1 front row seat- surely we can take turns and rotate out. However, how in this WORLD am I supposed to remember who sat up front the day before yesterday when I can't even remember to tell the kids to grab the library books. So when the kids jumped in the van yesterday and for the umpteen time began arguing AGAIN about who gets to sit up front- I decided to take some action!

Introducing.... A front row ticket in the minivan express!

From now on- ALL 3 kids sit in the back- period. UNLESS.... you have front row ticket! Now every child has an opportunity to earn a front row ticket, and then and only then can you exchange your ticket for a front row seat on our trip to town. So- you ask.. "How do you earn a ticket"?

Throughout the day I am watchful of extra good attitudes. Attitudes of love, joy, peace, patience, kindness, goodness, gentleness, and self control. I'm looking for someone to take that extra step- do something nice for their siblings "just because", go above and beyond what is asked of them. If I notice it- they earn a ticket! We have only 2 rules: NO asking for tickets and no pointing out their good deed. If they do, they forfeit their front row pass.

We'll give it a go! I designed a ticket in Photoshop, printed them out and glued them back to back (so both sides are pretty). Next step is lamination or contact paper for protection. Then they all went in an envelope in a special place here in the house (for distribution), and I have another envelope in the van (for collection).

Want your very own tickets (to use for your family)? Just comment below (or message me), and I'll get you your own set of tickets for you to print out for FREE!

Enjoy ;-)

I'm getting caught up on my digital scrap booking for the entire year of 2010, so I thought I'd post all my digital scrapbook pages here as well to share with you all what is going on in our lives! So the next several posts will be an overview of our 2010 year! You can click on the images to make them larger so you can see them up close. My plan is to print all my digital scrapbook pages (once I'm all done) in a 12x12 hardbound custom portrait book. It should turn out beautiful! I'm excited. If it all comes together according to plan, it will be the first book I've ever ordered for myself (even though we've ordered tons for our clients from the studio) ! So have fun looking at our 2010 year in review ;-)

I'm doing to start with Jan '10. We actually had lots of snow this year! The kids had such a great time sledding, building snow men, and ice skating on their Gramee and Pop's pool!