Joey’s Big Day

After morning nap, we picked up Grammy and headed over to Mote Marine Aquarium. Peter a Joey loved seeing all the fish.


 Peter saw all sorts of fish and crabs and jellyfish. Even at the end of the day his favorite when asked was Nemo the orange fish. They had a tank dedicated just to Nemo’s and Dory’s.











The sharks and the manatees were crowd favorites too.

It took Peter a few minutes to warm up to the touch tank, but soon he insisted on touching every sea urchin in the tank (probably about 20) and a few star fish too. He is still telling the story how mommy tried to touch the crab but it was too fast.

The boys fell asleep on the way home (a wonderful thing is silence in the car!) and we got to enjoy the sunshine a little.

Ah yes, and now you’re probably wondering why it was Joey’s big day. Well, Joey decided he loved playing hockey so much that he needed to take a few steps to get that pesky ball. By no means is the kid running around the house yet (that will come), but he finally giggled his way into a few accidental steps without holding on.

We finished out the day with a dip in the hot tub with the boys and then off to bed. We hope everyone had a great Valentines day!

Sunday sunset

After church on sunday, Faith and Luke (friends from college) drove down from Tampa for an afternoon visit. It was great to catch up with them.

Luke joins Joey on the floor

After nap we headed down to Siesta Key for the drum circle and sunset.

Joey plays (eats) the sand - he decides he prefers dirt.

Testing out the water

The little waves chase Peter

Beautiful sunset

Daddy gives Peter a helicopter ride



On the way home we HAD to stop at Captain Kirk's for some yummy chowder.

Just as tasty as we remembered!



Joey enjoyed some cheesy noodles (can you tell?)

We finished the evening off with a little time in the hot tub.

Good 'Ol family vacation

Saturday was a great low key kind of day. Joey had a rough night of sleep so we took it easy in the morning. I did some errands and came back with a doughnut for Peter from Pop Paul.

Mark had just finished his egg sandwich and commented, "Good breakfast baby." To which Peter added, "Good doughnut baby." (Sometimes you just have to take what you get.)

We packed a picnic lunch and headed to the park after morning nap...

Peter loved playing on all the new different playgrounds. Mark helped him climb the big wall over and over again. There was also a walking path we expored a little. Peter was happy to run and run as fast as his 'fast feet' would go. Joey tried desperately to keep up...

And when he was tired he would sit.....and eat dirt.....a lot of dirt.

We ate lunch tail gate style.

We returned for afternoon naps and quick sink baths (to rinse off all the dirt).

Pop Paul and Grammy treated us to dinner at Troyers Dutch Heritage and then we went back to their place to run off the sugar from the ice cream!

The beautiful sunset outside Troyers.

Picking grapefruit in the dark

Taste testing Pop Paul's shoes

Joey still refuses to walk on his own

What a fantastic day! We can't wait to see Faith and Luke on Sunday. It's getting warmer everyday!

A little piece of Peter heaven

 The day started as any other -  Breakfast and playtime...

A little lightening mcqueen puzzle time

Probably not the intended purpose of the pool table...

Then we headed to the library to pick up some books for the week (courtesy of grammy's new library card).

Joey spends most of his day looking out at the pool or standing at the door pointing to the pool saying, "oooo"

After nap and a little snuggle time...

All the magic happened.....we went on a train ride and roasted hot dogs and marshmallows over the campfire!

Peter watches the train approach

All Aboard

Hobo Peter (everyone got a stick and a sack when exiting the train)

Roasting the hot dog

Round off the night with a little dancing

It was a pretty fantastic day and we can't wait to see what tomorrow brings!

Funny things Peter said today -

(It's funny how you learn what you say a lot when you have kids...)

When driving up to the train ride I was entering the address into garmin and Peter says from the back of the car, "Hey, what are you kids doing up there."

Florida Vacation

Good Morning from Florida!

This is my trial run with blogging. As Peter is approaching his third birthday I've noticed his comments and stories are getting a bit more humorous and animated. We are enjoying his funny answers to questions and his reactions to suggestions. In an effort to share more of these moments, I'm going to attempt to post more often than once a month (as with shutterfly). I figured a great place to start was our vacation in Florida.....

Wednesday -

Peter fills his bag with stuffed animals when asked what he would like to bring to Florida. Good thing mom packed the clothes.

Joey goes right to the important room - "Is that GORP mom?"

We finished packing up in the morning and I took the boys to play group while Mark packed up the van. We were on the road at 11 am with a very excited Peter and a very tired Joey (someone skipped morning nap).

Joey loved his new lap desk. He also loved swatting everything off his new lap desk.








Jenna drove the first 5 hours (the easy part)

Color wonder finger paints

The first 5 hours were fantastic! The boys were entertained and the weather was great. Once 5 pm came around it was nothing but horrible. It started to snow in Lexington, KY and minus a short break after Knoxville it didn't stop until after Atlanta, GA. From Atlanta to Tampa was heavy rain. It was stressful on top of the already tiring. Thank goodness the boys hung in there and didn't put up much of a fight. We were all very thankful to arrive and Pop and Grammy's. Joey was so happy to crawl on the floor!

After everyone got naps, Mark did grocery shopping, Jenna and Gram went to the fruit stand and we checked into the rental house. It is fantastic! We may never leave :).

Exhausted, but happy.

After dinner we had to try out the pool (in the rain). So we took a short dip. The pool was much warmer before the rain. I'm sure it will warm up again. The remainder of the weather forecast says sunny and dry so we're excited.

We'll see how tonight goes in new beds and a new house. We're hopeful for some good sleep! New adventures await us tomorrow.