Jenny and Tyler's Visit to Florida

Here comes Tyler off the plane all packed and ready to come stay with us! Isn't his little suitcase adorable? It is so funny! He took his traveling toy bag with him every where we went.

One of the first days they were here, we went to visit the pier in downtown St. Petersburg. It was cold the first two days they were here, but it eventually warmed right back up into the 70's the remaining days of their stay. Thank goodness it warmed up because I didn't know what to do with myself anymore. I do not "do" cold weather anymore. That is why I am in Florida. I have had enough! So unfortunately, on this particular day, I had to bust out my jacket for the first time this season. It was sad. Although, on a happy note, I love this jacket, so it wasn't too much of a sacrifice! I know all my friends out there in cold climates are just hating this, but what can I say, come visit me! :)

We got to see lots of pelicans and some cool fish that the fishermen were catching.

Tyler loved the water and looking out at all the boats. At lunch, Jenny and Tyler got to see their first wild dolphin sighting here in Florida. We ate lunch at a Columbian restaurant above the water. It was a beautiful setting and it reminded us of being on a cruise again. Even though it was cold, it turned out to be a successful and fun first day.

My sister, Jenny decided to bring us a house warming gift, a ballon animal/sword making kit. Let's just say, it was the hit of the week. We are all now experts on making ballon animals, so if law school doesn't work out, we are going into the animal/sword ballon making field. It was one of Tyler's favorite things to do with uncle Robbie.

Due to finals approaching, Robert didn't really have anytime to go out with us, so when we would get home Tyler would run up to Robert and say "play swords." I think by that time he had had enough of playing with girls all day and needed some one on one male interaction fighting, and such. Who knows? Boys...

We ventured out to the beach the following day. It was beautiful and so relaxing. I could stay all day on the beach.

We collected lots of seashells to throw into the water.

Tyler would also throw lots of sand at the water and anyone who got near him. This is a look of I am about to throw this at you, so you better get moving!

Oh how he loved the water. If Jenny would have been in her bathing suit, Tyler would have spent the whole day swimming in the water.

He loved the water so much that, well as you can see, he pretty much got soaked! Here lies the evidence. His clothes were so wet that we had to dry them out on the rocks. He remembered this all week. He would keep saying "BYU shirt, dirty." It was his favorite t-shirt, and he got it all wet, how sad.

Which left us with a naked jay-bird just soaking up some rays.

On Saturday night, since Robert's mom and brother were still in town, we went out to dinner with them and then headed out to have a nice friendly little competition on the mini-golf course. Which, may I add, I smoked everyone at. It must of been the good steak I just ate at Outback, or was it the bread? Toss up...

Tyler had a great time playing with us, and he waited patiently for his turn every time.

Yes, I wasn't lying. I told you we played with these all week long. We showed Teri and Austin our new found talent.

We sent them home with some parting gifts.

On Sunday, Robert took Jenny around Stetson to show her the campus. It was a beautiful night, and the first day of our warmer weather!

The next day, we decided to take one last stroll down the beach before their trip ended.

We ate lunch at my new favorite local restaurant Caddy's, which is on the beach. It has good food and an awesome atmosphere with live music.

Our Florida postcard picture with the whole group minus Ben. We were happy to have Jenny and Tyler come, but we were sad Ben couldn't be there as well. It was mainly a girls trip anyways, since Robert was hard at work, studying. So, maybe next time Ben, when it's warmer.

We are not done yet. This was only a wrap up of our local adventures that we accomplished while Jenny and Tyler visited, but a trip to Florida isn't complete until...

you visit Disney World. Luckily, we live close by, so we decided to take Tyler on his first trip to Disney World. After all, he still gets in for free since he is only two years old.

It was a lot of fun riding all the little kid rides. He did awesome. He didn't cry on a single ride. We took him on everything. Even his first little roller coaster and many rides in the dark.

His favorite ride was the Buzz-Lightyear Ride. We rode it three times, so of course it was the one character we had to meet.

Here we are rockin' our sweet glasses at the Mickey's PhilarMagic Show. Surprisingly, he kept his glasses on the whole time. It was hilarious. We had such a wonderful time. It was a day full of fun and magic. What is there not to love about that?

Thanks to Jenny and Tyler for coming to visit us and helping to make our Thanksgiving that much better!

"A dream is a wish your heart makes when you're fast asleep. In dreams you will lose your heartaches. Whatever you wish for, you keep. Have faith in your dreams, and someday, your rainbow will come smiling through. No matter how your heart is grieving, if you keep on believing, the dream that you wish will come true."

-The End

Thanksgiving Day

Yes, this post is about Thanksgiving. I know it may not look like it, but when in Florida do as the Floridians do!
This year, we went over to Robert's grandparent's house (they only live about 45 minutes from us) and had Thanksgiving dinner with his mom and brother, Austin.

Shortly after gobbling up some yummy turkey, sweet potatoes, rolls, and much more, we were out the door hitting the golf course. It was another beautiful day outside.

The boys & the girls

Just after finishing up on the course, we had just enough time to grab a bite of pumpkin pie, watch some football, and look through some magazines for Black Friday deals before we were out the door heading to the airport to pick up my sister who would be spending the next 6 days with us.

Carnival Fun

Last Saturday, we decided to try out our city carnival and had a really good time.

Robert especially had a great night because he got to do one of his favorite things and that is throwing a baseball at breakable objects. He absolutely loves doing this! Don't worry, he doesn't do this often, and he only saves these occasions typically for fairs.

Well, he's actually pretty good at it too. In order to win the game you get 2 balls in attempts to break 2 bottles. He rocked it, each one shattered to pieces, and they announced his win to the whole crowd that started to form.

He really did impress everyone around. Some lady even paid him to throw 2 balls for her son, so he could win a prize. What? I don't know, I guess carnival prizes are the hot commodity these days. Although, isn't the giraffe pretty cute? I think it is the cutest carnival stuffed animal I have ever seen, and it helped me avoid all the carnival "salesmen" the rest of the night.

It made a trip to the carnival well worth it!

Also, look at Robert's new haircut! He got a buzz-cut, not by choice though! The lady at the hair cut place took it all off. Oh well, at least he won't have to get a hair cut until after finals.

I love...SeaWorld!

This past Saturday we decided to take a trip to Sea World. Back when I bought Robert's birthday present, the tickets to Busch Gardens, they were buy one get one free tickets to Sea World. It was a birthday gift that kept giving.

P.S. We forgot our camera, but luckily we had our iphone, so we were still able to get lots of pictures. However, they are just not the best quality! Thank goodness for camera phones, otherwise, I would have been really sad if we didn't get any pictures.

I was really excited to visit this park because I was six years old the last time I went to SeaWorld. Shamu was my favorite when I was little and still is! Who doesn't love Shamu?

It was another perfect day at a park with no rain, front row parking, perfect weather, and the lines were once again minimal. We rode every ride in less that 15 minutes and in the front row, except for Atlantis (we will get to that later).

Word to the wise: if you plan on arranging a family vacation to Orlando to visit all the parks, go during October - November (not during thanksgiving) and you will get to do everything you want without waiting in huge lines!

The dolphin show was the first show we went to, and we loved it! I love dolphins because I think they are such happy animals. Robert and I even got to pet them later in the dolphin exhibit.

Just showing off my animal trainer moves...

Manta was a really fun roller-coaster and our favorite.

Now, the infamous Atlantis ride, which I did not ride in the front two rows because according to the park website, these are the only spots where you get drenched. So, I thought we would be fine in the back, and the park employee agreed with us. No worries, right? I mean, I saw others getting off the ride without water damage. However, this was not what the gods of Atlantis had in store for me. As you can see in the above picture, there is a large drop that causes all this water to shoot up and splash everywhere. Well, you may be thinking well of course, the water splashed you when you fell from that large tower. No, no I came out unscathed, just like I had hoped. Robert and I were both dry as could be. So, I am thinking we survived, and no worries just a little bit left in the ride. Just one more dip.

Well that dip is why I am writing this novel. Unfortunately for us, we were not as lucky on timing as those good folks in the picture above (the ones riding on the left going up back into the tower) because when the boat behind us hit the bottom of the hill and splashed all that water into the air. That water went only one place, not at the good people sitting in the back two rows, but at us! The water shot right over the wall and completely drenched me!

How could they? I was supposed to be safe, and I was minutes from finishing the ride. Lesson learned, water rides are not to be trusted!

Luckily, I managed to keep most of my hair dry, so I didn't look like a crazy frizz ball walking around, and my clothes dried up pretty fast. I think riding a couple more roller-coasters at fast speeds helped me speed up the air-drying process.

Here's the after math.

We also took some time to get a closer look at the marine wild life.

And to play around in the jungle gym...


In you go...

It's nice to feel like a kid sometimes. Who needs to grow up?

Here we are waiting for Believe, Shamu's show to start. We watched it twice. We also watched two other shows that day with acrobats, pirates, and sea lions.

There he is!

They are beautiful creatures to watch. The shows were amazing. Even though we saw the same show twice, it was completely different. There were different trainers and completely different tricks.

We decided to really test our luck with water and sit in the soak zone. Uhh...I think Shamu can really make a splash...what were we thinking?

Here it comes. Well we lucked out this time, the people next to us got soaked, but somehow we survived without a drop on us. It was hilarious. Everyone in front of us was soaked and left the show. We had so much fun!

The show was amazing, so inspiring, that I had to buy a t-shirt that said Believe!

I love my shirt.

Like I said, it was a perfect day.