Salt Springs

Here are some pics from our trip to Salt Springs. This wa the first time that the kids were actually big enoug to wadet through the water. They weren't even bothered by the 72 degree water. They learned how to swim with noodles and basically just wore themselves out.

Having some fun

The kids can't get enough of the pool this summer. Here are some fun pics in the pool at Mee Maw and PaPa's house. Here is a pic of Parker with his lizard friend, he named him "Freddie".

And one of Sydney lounging....

Fourth of July

So its taken me a bit to get to it but here we are. This Fourth of July we started our day at our annual neighborhood parade. This parade consists of the neighborhood families getting together at our neighbothood park. The kids are all on skateboards, bikes, rollerblades, in strollers and wagons. The parade goes through some streets of our neighborhood. The parade was led by a fire truck this year sirens blaring. The kids loved it. After we met back at the park we had some donuts and juice. The kids then had a chance to check out the fire truck up close and personal. They were able to pretend like they were driving it.
We planned on making our rounds to BBQs and then onto a big fireworks show but we went to our first invite and while we were there Sydney got sick so we had to hang out there with her for awhile. By the time she was feeling better it was too late to head out to a fireworks show. It was probably better anyway, we got to watch Uncle Jeremy shoot off fireworks.
Here are some pics of that day/

FLYING!!!!!!!

For Father's Day this year, the kids made one of their Daddy's greatest dreams a reality. They bought him his first flying lesson. I had scheduled it for the morning of July 4th but he coudn't wait that long so he recsheduled it for the following Saturday.

Hanging out with friends

We had a BBQ at our house a few weeks ago. It had been awhile since we had our friends together under one roof and the kids are at an age where they are actually 'starting' to play together. What a nice preview of times to come...

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Here is a pic of Sydney getting sweet with Boo Boo Dane.

Here is a pic of the kids sitting down for some din-din. Parker(2), Dane(5), Sydney(2), Mady(15 months), and Ben(19 months).

Uncle Bill(32) at the kids table...VERY appropriate. hehe

Visit with 'Cole and Boo Boo Dane

We were very excited to have a visit from Nicole and Dane. We made a trip to none other than Sea World. It was Dane's first time.

The Playroom

Here are some pics of Parker and Sydney's Playroom. It has been a work in progress for awhile now. It is finally complete.

Proud Mama videos

Time continues to fly by. I try to document our lives with these two miracles by taking lots of pictures and video. They are learning so much so fast that if I don't note it now I will forget what they were doing when and just how cute they are at each stage.

Here is a clip of Sydney counting. She is a little more camera shy than Parker so sometimes she whispers.

Its easy to get both of them on camera in the car because they are all about showing off. There is nothing else to distract them.

TOTALLY AMAZING......Parker has learned to spell his name minus the letter "a". "PRKER...Parker!!!"

Pretty impressive for a 2 yr old.

They love singing songs. Here is Parker singing the Barney theme song, "I love you". His version anyway. This was after a couple of times. I finally grabbed my camera and of course it is never as cute but you get the idea.

Diving in West Palm

We celebrated our 7 year anniversary on June 22. The Saturday before is when we celebrated it. At this point, instead of buying gifts for each other, we like to actually do things together instead. It had been almost a year and the weather is right so we decided to go diving.

Thanks to a team effort of Krista and Jeremy and my mom and Jim, Patrick and I were able to make an overnight trip down to West Palm Beach. It had been almost a year since we had been diving. We stayed with our wonderful friend Nicole. What a great dive it was...a shark and some turtles.. Now we have the diving itch. If only it wasn't so expensive. :(

Sunset in Siesta Key

My mom and I went down to Sarasota to visit my Grandma and Aunt Jan. Aunt Jan had the idea to go to Siesta Key for the sunset. It was beautiful. Once again I am reminded that it is worth it to go southwest and drive the extra miles to experience the white powder sand. That is why we were married on the west coast. The kids could not stop talking about the sun going "night-night". They know now that when the sun goes "night night", we call it a sunset.

WOW!

Last week I came home and Sydney started counting...the surprising part is she just kept counting past 10 and all the way to 19 only skipping the number 15.
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Two days ago I came home from work and Parker kept telling me, "Mommy come in playroom" Over and over again. He took me by the hand and took me to the blow up turtle pillow in his room..."its leatherback sea turtle, mommy. its leatherback sea turtle."
WHAT?? Who says TV is all bad, he learned about Leatherback Sea Turtles on Diego. Moderation is key!!

Meet Sydney and Parper Ship

Both the kids know their ABCS. They love to read and sing with Nanny everyday.

Here is Parker saying his ABCs.

The kids can tell you their names now. When Sydney says it is my favorite....meet Sydney and Parper Ship!

Sydney and Daddy

Patrick has always played guitar for the kids. Well recently Sydney has started to play air guitar when she hears music. Who knows maybe she will be a musician?? She definitely loves to practice pratice practice anything and everything until she has got it down pat and then she practices some more.

Sea World..yes again

It's so nice that Aunt Krista and Uncle J have Sea World passes too. That means we can make any ordinary weekend an extraordinary weekend!!

Sydney's first braid

Hugs and Kisses

It is so sweet to see the love between these two. They are the best of friends! They can also fight like cats and dogs, but we won't share pics of that. This is so much cuter.

Nana's(aka Nanny) Birthday

Nana just had a birthday and instead of cake, she asked for pancakes for breakfast, so Parker, Sydney and I woke up extra early that morning and made pancakes. They have both become quite the little helpers these days. You can also see a pic of Nana with the card the kids made her and also a video of them singing "Happy Birthday" to her.

A Get Away

It had been awhile since we had been to New Port Richey. We decided to make a weekend of it. We made plans to go down Friday, spent Saturday at Pine Island with Grandma, Grandpa, and Desiree and then Saturday night the kids stayed the night with Grandma and Grandpa so Mommy and Daddy could have a night out in Clearwater Beach.
Pine Island was great for the kids. They were able to wade in with out being worried about the waves crashing over them. Parker loved floating on his belly in the water.Saturday night we went to Clearwater Beach. This is definitely one of my favorite beaches..that is next to Trunk Bay in St. John, Virgin Islands. Clearwater Beach is known for it's beautoful sunsets, in fact when the sun went down everyone started clapping. We were able to eat dinner and watch the sunset on the beach. It was beautiful.

This is the view from our hotel balcony. We weren't ableto stay in the Sheraton Sand Key where we were married almost 7 years ago but we did manage to stay right across the bay.

Lunch on the beach.