SeaWorld

Our friends, the Tuttles came to Florida for vacation and we got to go to SeaWorld with them. It was fun to see them.
There was no line so the kids rode Journey to Atlantis at least 8 times.

Happy 36th Birthday Dale

Wow, my husband is now on the down hill to 40. He's such a super guy. He is so good to play with the kids and to help me out with them when they misbehave. He does the dinner dishes almost every night and takes care of everything outdoors - cars, lawn, garage . . . Dale works really hard to support our family so I can stay home - I'm so grateful for that. Dale gets along well with people - in fact sometimes I feel like to have to pry him away from a gathering because he's so busy talking to different people. The thing I love the most about Dale is that he is constantly trying to do what is right. He's very conscious of things that could pose a threat to the spirit in our home. I'm so glad I get to be with him forever.

First Class Hill

Taylor is now ranked FIRST CLASS thanks to his awesome scout leader. He has a super fun group of boys his age.

We have a lousy backyard for playing in, but we have a great hill just 2 houses down that the kids love to sled and snowboard down. Well not snowboard, but grassboard.

There's a fun big oak tree too that the boys like to climb.

St. Augustine

Here we are at the Fort in St. Augustine. Yes, we made it and we're not sick.

It's a fun little town with lots of history.

SeaWorld

My parents have been in town and we went to SeaWorld one day for some fun. It has been cold the whole time they've been here - I guess it is January.

The kiddie area will be our favorite - lots of rides for little ones.

The kids love to ride their bikes down the hill by our house. Taylor got the snowboard out of the attic and was going down the hill on it - who needs snow?

The Trip From Hell

It's noon on New Year's Day and we're all still in our jammies worn out from the party the night before. Dale announces that he booked a hotel and we're going to St. Augustine (The oldest city in the United States). Wow, how spontaneous - one problem - Kendall isn't feeling well. We sit down and talk about it and he decides he's okay and wants to go. One hour into the trip - Kendall throws up in the car. Max is screaming the whole way so far and finally falls asleep 1 1/2 hours into the ride - Kendall needs to go to the bathroom because he has diarrhea - Max wakes up. Kendall throws up some more, Max screams the rest of the way, and we arrive 2 1/2 hours later. Bummer - the hotel has no pool. Some of us go to the hot tub - it's too hot and can't be tolerated. We watch some TV and decide to go to bed so we can see the town in the morning.

Midnight - Summer throws up in her bed, the girls are now sleeping on the floor. Max is stirring. 1:30 am - Taylor gets up and is throwing up and has diarrhea at the same time - Dale cleans up the mess. Max wakes up and is screaming and unconsolable. Max settles down for 2 minutes, just to have someone get up running to the bathroom every 5 minutes. Summer is now throwing up in the ice bucket, Amy has thrown up a few times, and I go to help Taylor and and find him standing naked in the bathroom throwing up - he takes a shower. This goes on until 4:30 when Max finally stops crying and we're all so exhausted that even if someone is throwing up, we manage to get some sleep. We wake up and now I don't feel so hot. Dale and luckily Max are the only ones who escaped the sickness.

We pack up and head home and never even make it to St. Augustine. This is a picture of Taylor on the way home.

Christmas

The boys got rollerblades and so did I. And I also got this white TV stand that I have been wanting.

Summer got a blow up swimming pool and thanks to the 80 degree weather and a little hot water from the tub, the girls played in it for 2 hours.

Taylor also got this pogo stick and they got some video games they have been playing a lot.

Amy got a new bike. Max got the talking Elmo and I have to say that all of the kids have enjoyed playing with it. We got Horton Hears a Who which is a great movie and also from my parents we got a Clearplay DVD player which takes the garbage out of any DVD. Shelby got Pedipaws - I'll have to practice with it though - it's basically a dremmel sander.

It's orange season again.

We actually went to the beach the day after Christmas because it was so warm, but we didn't takes our suits, just played on the beach.

Max still isn't too sure about the beach.