vacation 2010-day four

Beach on Tybee Island in georgia.

We spent Monday morning at the beach.  Again it was not the warmest day, but warm enough to play on the beach, no swimming though. 

The ocean waves always amaze me.  The first thing someone always does it run out to the waves and play tag with the waves.    This activity can take many hours and on warm days leads to wave jumping.

They spent a lot of time making this castle.  Dennis was trying to reach the waves, unbeknowest to us, the tide was going out, so it was a feat not accomplished!!

Julia spent many hours maticulously placing shells on the four corners or each tower.  Remember* there are a lot of towers since Dennis was trying to catch the tide going out!*

Sawyer loves to stick his feet in the sand, wiggle back and forth in an attempt to bury his feet.  It is soooo CUTE!!

A trip to the beach would not be worth it for Ryan, if some form of animal life was not found.  He found this crab, played with it for awhile and then he and Sawyer spent a long time watching it bury itself into the sand. 

Another treasure found by Ryan! Earlier in the day, Ryan had informed me that sanddollars were actually purple.  I didn't really think about it, until later when he brought me one to show me.  I had never seen that before and was thoroughly amazed! 

The kids love the beach, we went for a walk to the lighthouse and when we came back to the beach, they laid on the sand and started making "snow angels", as Sawyer referred to them. 

A picture of the Tybee lighthouse, we made a brief visit,without our shoes, and then realized you had to have shoes to enter the buildings, so we went back to the beach and when we were done being on the beach we came back, with our shoes this time. 

Julia always asks before we go to the beach if there are going to be sharks!  We always inform her that there will be no sharks.  While she was building her castle she informed us all that she saw a shark.  Thankkfully it was a dolphin, but still great that Julia saw it first.  We saw two groups of dolphins twice during our beach time.  Very cool!!  it was hard to get pictures though!

And you truly know if you vacation well when you take a detour in the opposite direction, just so you can touch a certain state.  We traveled over the bridge into South Carolina, so chalk it up as a state we have been to as a family!

vacation2010- day three

Day three-Sunday

We slept in, then went to church at a branch Dennis served in.  There were a lot of really nice people.  Dennis was suprised how much people had aged.  (it has been 15 years since his mission, so I am pretty sure most people age in 15 years!! ha ha)  We then vistied with the Murphys some more and drove over Pine Mountain.  SO BEAUTFUL!!!!!!!

WE stopped in Manchester to visit another family.  Then drove on to Svannah, GA.

We got there real late and ate at this YUMMY seafood place.  Seriously the best hush puppies that I have ever ate. The seafood was pretty much divine. 

vacation 2010-day two

Day two starts with breakfast in a motel.  Sawyer thinks that vacation means going to a motel. which it usually does, but it is so cute how excited he gets to go to a motel.  Even the not-so-grand breakfast is amazing to Sawyer, if it is in a motel.  Our destination for this day, Georgia, to visit Dennis's mission.

Our first pit stop of the day, Biloxi, MS.  We loved this place.  So quaint, so pretty, the beach was awesome.  We had not planned to stop here, so we just took a quite stroll on the beach and decided that we would make a beach day at the end of our vacation, and it would be here in Biloxi. 

Dennis's favorite thing to do on vacation, buy souvenirs!!

We made too many pit stops for potting and food.  But before too long we were in GA.  Dennis made reservations at a little cabin in Pine Mountain, Ga.  This was an area on his mission.

We did some driving around, Dennis pointing out places that he remembered on his mission. This is one of the place that he lived on his mission.

We ate at a local place, super yummy and super friendly.  I could understand why Dennis loved this area. After dinner we visited a family that Dennis knew from his mission, the Murphys.  WE had a good visit.  Whenever I meat people that knew Dennis before me they always have stories of him being a onry little boy.  I was very happy to only hear what a great person Dennis was from these people.  I am so glad that Dennis was a great missionary, I hope that my boys picked up on this, this was a great example for them.  

 

vacation 2010-day one

WE started our vacation this year with happy kids and clean vehicle.  WE headed our Friday March 12th and drove to Baton Rouge LA.  It was a fairly long drive.  We stayed in a motel  right on the river, it was pretty.

WOW-10 years

March 11th, 2010, Dennis an dI reach 10 years!  That seems so crazy to me.  It has been grand, and though there have been good and not so good times, I would not trade even one minute of the last 10 years.  We celebrate a month early with a trip to Cancun, and on our actual anniversary we went to dinner.  We went to The Melting Pot.  What a fun place to eat. It is a fondue place.  It was so yummy!!

Cute Sawyer

One day in March, I watched this cute little baby, Molly.  Sawyer loved her! He loved holding her, he loved feeding her, and he loved looking at her.  He asked me, "Mom, can we please have a baby in our family?"  I so wish that we could!  While we can't, we will try to enjoy all the babis that we can!

lu's music program

The kids elementary school has the best music programs. In March it was Julia's turn. The first grader's program was entitled, "When I Grow Up" it was seriously so cute.

Julia's had a part. She was a secretary. She was to dress like a secretary. So we put her hair in a bun, put a sweater on her and attached some reading glasses to a set of beads. She did not think she looked like a secretary, but when I asked her what she thought one looked like, she said she did not even know what a secretary was, so I think she does not get an opionion on what a secretary looks like.

This program had the cutest songs ever. Julia had a lot of fun and true to her character after the program I was asked, by her, what me favorite song was, what my 2nd favorite song was ...etc... until I had named every song! Isn't she so cute!!!

Beach Season

Well the first Saturday in March we headed to Galveston to start beach season.  It is so nice to be so close to a beach.  We went to a stake picnic in the morning and then headed to the beach later that day. 

We had a lot of fun, it was not hot, but warm enough to have fun.

So notice the black eye on Julia's forehead.  We went to a picnic that had face painting and my 7 year old GIRL, chose a black eye and lightning bolts on her cheeks.  Why??  I have no idea, all her friends that she was with had cute flowers and butterflies!  What a funny girl!

Each child likes the beach for different reasons.  Ryan's reason-to find things.  He will dig and walk anywhere, if there is a chance to find a shell or animal!

Sawyer's reason-eventhough he like the water, he loves the sand.  He will dig and build for hours!!!!

Julia-well she just loves to be involved.  If someone is playing in the water, she loves to jump the waves.  If someone is on the beach, she will build with them, she just like companionship!!

Sawyer and Julia dug a big hole and buried themselves.

I LOVE THE BEACH!!!  It is so peaceful, the kids love it so much, the water is so pretty!

I LOVE THE BEACH!!

Puppet show!

I took Sawyer and his friend, Caleb, to the children's museum one day.  The both had a lot of fun as always.  The cutest part was that they put on a puppet show.  They just walk behind the curtain, picked up a puppet and started telling a story.  It was so good, that you would have thought thay had been practicing it for hours. 

Kids are so creative and CUTE!!

It does snow in Houston-barely!

If you look real closely and concentrate a lot, you will see the flurry of flakes coming down.  This is the 2nd time that this happens this winter in Houston. Rumor is that is only snows once every 10 years in Houston, well.....this is twice in 1 year.  I am not sure if you really call it snow, since it never made it to the ground, but nonetheless there were flakes in the air.

Brazos Bend-ALLIGATORS!!!

One Saturday we took a little trip down to Brazos Bend State Park.  It is home to many alligators.   When we first got there we went to the nature center and saw some baby alligators, that all the kids were lucky enough to touch.  While we were there we asked where the best place to see an alligator would be, we were told that we would only see the baby alligators that we just saw.  We decided to take a walk around the lake anyhow. 

Well we saw one right when we got on the trail around the lake!  We were so excited, and that excitement lasted the whole walk, we saw around 50 alligators that day. 

All of the alligators were on islands in the middle of the lake, so it was safe.  You can see how close we were from this picture.  We did have some friends that went recently and they were so close to the alligators that the dad of the group grabbed a tail of one of the alligators.  I am glad that they were farther away when we went!

It was a gorgeous day for a nice family walk!

A nice family picture and proof that I was there, there are pictures to enjoy!  Truth be told, Dennis does take pictures of me, but more often then not, I am not in love with those pictures and since I am the blog poster, I get to pick the pictures!!!

Maybe we will go back soon and get closer to the alligators!!

date night

This year we decided as a family to take one child out each week on a date.  Dennis and I rotate week by week and the kids rotate.  This gives each kid an one on one date with one of their parents once every three weeks.  It has been really good and the kids love to think about what they are going to do on their dates.  This particulae time, Dennis and Ryan test drove a mustang for their date. 

February fun time!

My Christmas present from Dennis this year was

one fun event a month for the whole 2010 year.  In January we went to the opera, not our favotire thing.  Glad we did it, but we do not ever have to go back.  In February we went to a Jazz game.  We went as a family and another family came with us.  The Jazz, my fave team, were playing the Rockets in Houston.   It was a fun game.

The stadium the Rockets play in is pretty small, so even the "cheap" seats are not the bad. 

Sawyer was super excited.  He really likes watching sporting events.  He probably watched more of the game then the other kids, whether it was interest, or the other friends of Ryan and Julia that were there, who knows. 

I love watching the Jazz and I am glad me family can enjoy this with me!!

The best part, the Jazz won!!!!

Cancun

Dennis and I took a quick trip to Cancun.  Dennis's parents flew out to Houston to stay with our kids so we could spend some time together, kid-less.  Thank you Lynn and Brenda.  This was out 10 year anniversary trip!!  Wow can you belive that we have been married for 10 years!!  Our anniversary is not until March, but this is when it worked out for us and Dennis's parents.  We flew out early Friday morning, well that was the plan, but with the snow in Dallas, our lay over, our flight was cancelled, so we did not get to Cancun until late that night. So we started our trip minus one day! 

We spent the first day walking on the beach.  It was unseasonably cool, so not a lot of water time.  It was perfect weather to walk around the beautiful carribbean.  We browsed the shops and rested and enjoyed the sun. 

We enjoyed the all-inclusiveness of the resort.  Eating yummy food, but we have decided that we enjoy mexican food more in the US then we do in Mexico.  I like to go on vacation when you get to dress up each night for dinner. 

One day we enjoyed a day touring Talum, a Mayan ruin.  It was amazing and we loved listening to the stories that our tour guide told and the similarities we find in the Book of Mormon. 

It was BEAUTIFUL!!  The water was so blue and the vegetation was so green.  So pretty!  There were iguanas everywhere! 

Dennis really enjoyed this tour.  I decided that if we throw history into all our trips Dennis will be SUPER happy.  All I need is the sun and the beach!! 

We enjoy the cultural and shops around Talum.  Here we are posed with some fun warriors!  This was the sunniest day the whole trip.  It was so nice. 

Our last day was a short day, since we had to catch out plane home.  We took a Kayak out of the ocean.  Dennis spent a little more time out there while I spent more time laying in the sun!! 

All in all it was a great trip!  We love spending time together without the kids, but I will admit that we are always commenting on  how much the kids would enjoy what we are doing!!

horse time

Julia started horse riding lessons this year.  She really likes it.  It is great for her.  She starts each lesson brushing down the horse that she will use.  As she is doing this she learns about the horse.  Is is really good for her, she loves learning and she really loves this particualr horse, Moose.

After taking care of the horse, she gets to ride.  She is learning western style.  Learning how to steer the horse and learning balance.  Just recently she has gone outside and started running around the arena. 

Here is a "Just being Julia" moment:

normally this lady is her teacher and gives her lots of compliments.  One night she had a different teacher and she did not give as many compliments.  When Dennis asked Julia if she had fun that night, her response was..

"well not as good as normal, she did not tell me good job very much!"

Julia likes to be complimented!!