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Monday, November 5, 2012

Holiday World 2012

Back in September I took Gavin, Allesha and Alexandra to Holiday World with me for one last visit before they closed for the year.  I get free tickets from my work each year and usually I like to go the very last weekend that they are open, however I noticed that our tickets were only good through September this year so during the last weekend in September we went. The weather the day we went was really nice, not to warm, but not to cool, and cloudy with a little bit of sun.  We all had a great time and Gavin got to ride on alot of the bigger kid rides this year. 

















As we were leaving the park, Pat Koch was at the exit so I took a picture of the kids with her and everyone was giving a "Thumbs Up for Lane", a local child, at the time, who had cancer, but has since gone home to be with Jesus!


And as we were leaving the park, we were also informed by Gavin that his Nannie takes butt pills to make her butt bigger!  Of course this had us all giggling and I had to call my mom to get the full version of his story!  LOL!!

Happy 1st Birthday Reese!

Happy 1st Birthday Reese!  Our friends from church, and our neighbors, daughter turned one last month and we were invited to join in the festivities!  I was late getting to the party because of prior commitments that day so I missed most of the messy cake picture opportunities, but I did manage to get a few!  We got her some fuzzy green and pink froggie princess jammies that someone I missed a picture of that too :(  And she had cute ladybug themed decorations!






Saturday, November 3, 2012

Happy Birthday Allesha!


Happy Birthday Allesha!!

I can't believe this beautiful blonde hair 15 year old was only 4 when I first met her.  She's definitely had her ups and downs, but she has turned into an amazing young woman!  I'm glad Shawn and I got to celebrate her birthday with her and her family!  

Tuesday, October 23, 2012

Carving Pumpkins

Last Saturday I went over to my sister's house to visit since I hadn't really got to spend time with them since before my surgery at the beginning of the month.  They had bought 3 pumpkins and had waited to carve them until I could come over and help.  This was my first time carving pumpkins and had alot of fun! 

It took me forever to get Gavin to sit down with his pumpkin so I could take a picture.  That little stinkpot doesn't want his picture taken for anything anymore.  And by the looks of his face in the second picture, he's definitely up to something now good!  LOL!



As soon as we got started carving them, my sister opened her pumpkin up and I looked in and said Gross!  When Gavin heard that, he didn't want to have anything to do with the pumpkins.  He said "you carve the pumpkins, I'll be the "hicture" taker" and that he did. Not the most flattering pictures now, but hey, it is what it is.




I told Gavin to take a picture of me pretending to eat the pumpkin guts.  He said "no, no, don't eat that Stace".  I guess he thought I was really going to eat it, but trust me, I wasn't!  I don't like anything pumpkin!





After the pumpkin was cleaned out really good and carved, that's when Gavin wanted to sit down and help. 


And here it is...my first carved pumpkin.  I think I did pretty good for a rookie!



And of course, midway through the carving and "hicture" taking, Gavin decided to run off and ride his big boy bike!


Monday, September 24, 2012

Wed: A busy, fun filled day

Wednesday morning Shawn and I were busy the entire day.  The day's activities were actually based on what the ocean looked like when we woke up.  If the waters would of been calm and cleaner, then I was gonna beach it all day and Shawn was gonna golf.  But instead, the waters were rough and choppy so we decided to do a bunch of other things.  We got up early that morning, but didn't actually leave the house until 10:00 a.m.  Our first stop was Andy's Flour Power Restaurant.  Someone told Shawn about this place so we wanted to try it.  Shawn had an omlet and raisin toast and I had some sort of breakfast skillet with red potatoes, onions, ham, egg, tomato and cheese and a biscuit.  We also shared a single piece of their famous french toast.  Their food was good, but not the greatest. On your way out the door, they were giving everyone a free cookie and it was a big cookie, and yummy :)






After breakfast we went to Zoo World.  It is a smaller zoo, and on only seven acres of land so I knew it would be a fun little activity to do.  I love nature and animal photography and knew this would be a good place to get some upclose shots of the animals.  Usually I can zoom my lens through the holes in the cages but I was having a hard time with this yesterday :(  I had heard mixed reviews on the zoo - some loved it; some claimed it was cruel to animals since they didn't have alot of room to run around.  I agree with both statements.  We had a good time there, but I can see where it's kind of a run down place and not much room for some of the animals to roam; yet on the other hand with it being a small zoo, you have more upclose encounters with the animals. I created a seperate blog entry with pictures from Zooworld.  Click here to go to that.

After we left the zoo, we headed back to Pier Park to do some shopping for Shawn to get some new tennis shoes and then had lunch at Fatty's Sandwich Shop.  We only stopped there because of it's name (I always call Shawn and his brother this - Fatty!).  Haha!  It was pretty good.  I had a sloppy joe sandwich and Shawn had a philly cheesesteak sandwich, and then we both had brocolli cheese soup.



After we ate lunch, we had about an hour to so before we needed to head to the marina so we paid the $2 each to get on the pier and just walked to end and back and watched people fish until it was time to leave. 






Time got away from us at the pier and we were running late for the Sea Screamer.  Luckily they hadn't left yet and then another couple got on even later than us so it was all good.  The Sea Screamer was one of the best things we did the whole week!  It was so much fun!  The captain of the boat and his deck hand were super friendly and very knowledgeable of the area and made the trip alot of fun.  They constantly had some great beachy tunes playing in the background that made the trip that much more fun.  We also shot off the cannon at a couple locations which was fun.  But the best part was the dolphins!  We saw so many dolphins!  I got a few shots of some jumping out of the water off in the distance, and then the ones of the dolphins riding in the waves of the boat.  Priceless!  I'm so glad I brought my big camera with me and then brought my telephone zoom lens.  It was great and helped capture the best dolphin pictures!  I created a seperate blog entry with pictures from the Sea Screamer Dolphin Cruise.  Click here to go to that.

We ate dinner at J. Michaels that night.  A girl I am friend with on FB recommended it to us and I'm so glad we went.  It was my favorite meal of the week!  I had the chicken fetticunie and Shawn had a seafood combo platter.  It was yummy!  I wish we would of had more time cause I would of loved to have eaten there again.





We drove a different road home that evening and found an active go-kart track for Shawn to ride the go-karts.  He said it was the best one he's ever riden.  There is quite a few go-kart/putt putt type amusement parks here, but they all seem to be either run down or shut down for the summer, so I'm glad we happened upon this one.