vacation days 6, 7, and 8

Day 6.....Was cold!~ So we headed off to the Aquarium. What a bonus...we googled coupons for the Mote Aquarium and found $3 off per person. Which was the deciding factor for going. COOL!

SO GROSS..But the boys were fascinated! I thought things that looked like this were only in the movies.








My favorite part of the aquarium was watching the jelly fish. They are so transparent, beautiful, and so deadly. It was so cool to learn more about them. Some of my learning came from my daughter, who has read so much about marine life and esp. jelly fish. Am I smarter than my 3rd grader? Probably not. I loved watching my kids learn hands on!

If you look close you can see Nemo.

Touching tank.

Pretty cool sharks.

Sting rays, that have been snipped so they can not sting.

Lovin' it!

Day 7-

still a little chilly.....so this morning we colored Easter eggs.

After the Easter eggs....we headed off with a picnic lunch to the
The John Ringling Bridge. Such a beautiful morning for a walk.

Half way on the bridge, watching the boats.

Made it across!

I love how my girls love each other. Not always do that skip around and hold hands..they have moments. But this morning they were very endearing.

After the walk across the bridge, my monkeys asked to climb this great climbing tree. Then we sat on the park bench for a picnic.

Just before this picture was taken we were watching the ocean and saw just beyond the shore...a dolphin. He was swimming so close to the shore. When we looked closer it looked like his fin was clipped...maybe by a boat? We're not sure. And as fast as I was with my camera I could not get a good picture of him. Bummer! But it sure was cool to see him!


Later that day....My cousin Jenn & Randy offered to babysit so we could go on a date. How very very generous! We were due for a break after a 20 hour ride in the van with 4 kids...don't you think??? We went out to St. Armands Circle for dinner at an outdoor cafe and then later went to the beach for a walk.

No, we didn't take a photographer with us on our date. If you are wondering we had a tripod.

Some of my favorite shots from that night.

I'd like to get some of these enlarged and hang them in our room. I'll add that to my to do list for next week.

Day 8

Yes!!! Warm enough to go to the beach!

I don't know what William is saying to Suzy but I love the looks on both of their faces. I love Suzy yanking up her shorts...that are just a little too big. What do you think the big brother is telling her??

Working hard...because my husband has a hard time sitting still. Fine by me. :)

This little girl was due for a nap. I wasn't sure how nap time would work for her. I just know that when she misses it, we are all miserable. While on vacation I wanted to be flexible...but really who wants a fussy 2 year old to contend with? So after lunch, I told her it was time to lay down. She did! It was amazing.

We put her under the umbrella and after about 15 minutes off she went to sleepy land. I was beyond excited. It just made the magazine I was reading that more enjoyable.

Later that night we had a picnic at the park with Donovan's extended family that lives there. I adopt them as my own. I love them so much.

I was in awe of all of the beautiful green. All the beautiful landscape there is in Sarasota. One of our children are missing from the above picture. He is busy finding something.

And then he came running to me to show me.

This sweetie pie...is so endearing. Thank you William for thinking of your mama.

Jenn, Me, Danielle, and Wynette

My fun cousins. You girls are so sweet. Thank you for hosting us with yummy food and loving me.

All our kids....as you can see the girls are outnumbered.

More to come. Hope your not getting tired of vacation pictures. Because there's 4 more days to talk about.

Quote of the day:

William: How did he get alive when He died on the cross?

Donovan: It was a miracle-God is all powerful.

William: Jesus looked weird with all that blood everywhere after he got off of the cross.

Days 1-5

I hope to not to anger y'all in Indiana...I'm just sharing our week so far. If you are easily angered by warm weather...please do not proceed.

Day 1 -

We headed out at 4 a.m. This was the first time we left that early...and let me tell you it was awesome.

Most of our driving was done during daylight hours. That helped so much with getting 7 hours of sleep and then driving, unlike most years when we drive after Donovan works all day and then drives all night.

The kids had lots of movies....William was digging for gold....

we also had some travel games our neighbor gave us just before we left. Not even knowing we were going to Florida....just cleaning out some things since she had just moved. Bonus. I love free.

The trip went well. We arrived in Sarasota at midnight.

Day 2- We had rain on and off our first day here. So we headed out to get some groceries and stop in to visit our cousin Jenn who let us borrow a stroller.

In the evening we went to one of our favorite Mexican restaurants in Sarasota...

The forecast for Saturday was 80 and sunny...So the girls were giddy just thinking about the next day. Another bonus they got to share a bed & room. It was so cute Isabella had her towel, bathing suit and flip flops all laid out for the next day.

Day 3- Saturday
We headed off to some garage sales...and loaded up some bargains and then off to the beach.

Enjoying Siesta Key

In the evening we invited ourselves over to Randy and Jenn's for a cookout. (Randy is Donovan's first cousin) And had a blast. The kids were so entertained with their kids and their toys.

Donovan, me, Jenn, Randy





Day 4- Sunday

the kids were SO burnt. It was sunscreen from last year and Isabella and Jack were in the ocean for 4 hours. Poor Isabella's eye's were swollen from her burn, by the morning. We felt so horrible. So our plans to go to church were cancelled.

It was about 85 Sunday & sunny...but we had to stay in because of the poor burnt kids.

This is the front yard of Donovan's aunt and uncle's house where we are staying. There is jasmine blooming right by the front door, which makes a sweet smell every time you come and go. I love it!

We did go to walk around a little at the outlet mall on Sunday to get out of the house.

How we spend some of our down time....

Sunday night we rented some movies and popped some corn....

The poor burnt things. They are glossy because they have Vitamin E oil on them....to heal their poor little bodies. Yes, I feel awful.

By the way...check out those Victoria secret lounge pants and old navy sweat shirt I'm cozy in....Yes. Garage sale. $1/each.

Day 5 - Monday

We are loaded up with brand new SPF 50 on the kids, sun visors and sunglasses for Isabella and off to the beach....

Notice the surf shirts the boys have on...oh yeah baby 25 cents at the garage sale from Saturday.

More sand...more fun.

Just as we were thinking of packing up...it started to sprinkle. So we made a mad dash for the van. By the time we got there....yeah it stopped raining. But it was already 2:30 and we were ready for our afternoon siesta.

Does it make you feel better if I tell you it's supposed to rain tomorrow? But seriously just not setting an alarm is fun...isn't it? Hope you are enjoying spring break where ever you are.

More to come....