We're home!

What a great vacation! We were blessed with safe travel, spent wonderful time with family and had a great experience on the beach! We went on a boat to a small island off the coast, toured the Air Force base and saw lots of plane take off, fly, and land, visited Gulf World, and played at the beach every day. It couldn't have been better!!

Gulf World was a lot of fun! Here is Jack exploring the underworld as a turtle.
Charlie is such a cute, happy turtle.

We really enjoyed watching the real turtles swim around.

Penguins

Sea lions.

Jack and his cousin looking at more turtles.

Mark and Charlie posing for a picture in front of a macaw. They had a lot of these birds.

Having a snack of popcorn before the dolphin show.

It was hot, so we stripped Charlie down!

It was really fun watching the dolphins jump and swim! The park had three shows and was the perfect size for little kids. We had a great time!



We saw a lot of animals on the beach. This pelican came ashore to get a fish that a fisherman left behind.

Here it is eating it. We also saw dolphins, sand crabs, sand fleas, blue crabs, a small shark (that a fisherman caught), and lots of birds. Jack enjoyed chasing the birds.

This is how populated the beach was on our visit! It was great to let the kids run around without worrying about someone snatching them up or getting into other people's things.

Jack taking a break from sand play.

Charlie perfected the bear crawl on this trip. The sea shells didn't feel pleasant on his knees or underfoot for that matter.
He found lots of things in the sand that he wanted to show us.

We tried to have a family photo taken on the beach. However, it was very bright and windy, so they aren't the best ever b/c the boys didn't want to look up at the camera or smile.

Squirmy kidos!

I was tickling them to get a smile. Jack liked it but Charlie had different feelings about it!

Great Day!!!

I apologize for not posting yesterday. We had a pretty relaxing day. The Beach in the morning and we just relaxed inside in the afternoon.

This was the desert Laura made for us. Cake balls. MM good.

Charlie enjoying dinner.

We decided to grill and Jack was excited about being outside. He loves running on the deck.

Jack collecting rocks to throw off the deck into the water.

Jack throwing the rocks.

The town house we are staying in is the red one on the right. It is a 3 story 4 bedrrom 2.5 bath.

This is what we grilled, fresh grouper, fresh shrimp, asparagus, chopped red potatoes, whole corn on the cob, and cake balls for desert.

Monumental Day

This day has been eventful. We all woke up, Jack was first at that, 5:20 AM. I told Jack to tell Laura "Happy Mother's Day" and he said "Happy Birthers Day Mommy". We had pancakes for breakfast and then headed to the beach. We went in the morning and in the afternoon.

Charlie was ready for an exciting day. He was all lathered up with sun tan lotion and sporting his gilligan hat.

Jack carrying around a water gun.


Charlie stood up on his own for the first time today, and it was on the beach.

We saw alot of this, Charlie headed towards the ocean.

Jack playing with all the water toys. He loves gathering sea shells and then just throwing them right back into the ocean.

After a restful nights rest we were ready for what was going to lie ahead. We are only a few miles from the Eastern Time Zone, so in consequence the sun comes up at about 5:15 AM. The plan was to go on a boat ride with Scott's friend and hang out on a sand island.

Here is Charlie after waking up at 7 AM. He nevers wakes up at 7, but for some reason he did and Laura go to sleep in a little. Now Jack woke up at 5:30 AM (he is supposed to wake up at 6, and you will never guess whose responsibility it is to wake up with him, MINE, I'm a good husband). I say that, yesterday morning when we left El Dorado Laura asked me to get our sandwiches and put them in the ice box for the trip. I forgot them. (way to go me). And then today, me being the great husband prepared my families snadwiches for lunch. And then forgot to pack Laura and mines sandwiches, got the boys sandwiches but not ours. (way to go me)

Jack and Samule have loved playing with each other.

At the island Charlie loved crawling around in the water and drinking the salt water.

Jack collected Sea shells and put them all in a bucket. The neat thing was after he collected all those sea shells in the bucket he would then reach in the bucket and throw them one by one back into the ocean.

Laura's brother and his family.

Charlie looking full after a great meal.

Jack posing for the picture. This was the view from our table.

Think we've got it figured out?

Our vacation started out early. We decided to wake up at 3 AM and head out early. The goal was 3:25 AM, but reality happened and we proceded out of El Dorado at 4:00. The plan was to get the boys and load them up and let them sleep in the car until daylight. But we thought we had it all figured out, then Jack decided to be social for about an hour b/c he was so excited about the vacation. He slept maybe 45 minutes (supposed to sleep for 2 hours). My wife provided activities for the kids for the trip. She had about 20 different activities. Thinking we have it all figured out, the plan was for us to pull out a different activity every 30 to 60 miles. Every 15 minutes jack would ask for something else to do.

One actvity Laura had (a puzzle)

This was taken at 8:45 AM. That is almost 5 hours of driving. Oh Yeah!!

Charlie sleeping. Laura hung black curtains over the windows to keep the light out.

Jack sleeping (naptime) that is the curtain hanging over the window.

Jack playing with the slinky (another activity). The activities lasted longer with Charlie.

We got here at about 3:30 PM; so that was about 11.5 hours of driving. It went great. We went to the beach and Jack enjoyed the sand (meaning throwing the sand) and Charlie, oh Charlie, Laura put him down about 30 feet from the water and he took off to the water. The waves didn't scare him, he just crawled right in. He did drink a few tablespoons of water, but he kept going back for more. And he wasn't even in his bathing suit. He is going to be a swimmer.

On the trip Jack seemed to be more interested in aggrandizing himself than letting his brother sleep. (he was excited about the trip) (Joey, here is my word)

Family Easter Celebration

Mark's brother, his wife, and new baby boy are visiting from the north and we were so excited to celebrate our risen Savior with them. Since they only get to visit once a year, it was also the occasion for family pictures. Here are some of the best pics:

This is Jack and Charlie w/ lambs that Mark and I gave them. Jesus was the Lamb of God.

The John Day family

The Paul Day family

The Mark Day family. If we seem to be over-smiling, its b/c Paul is making some really goofy faces to get Jack to smile and look at the camera.

The Grands w/ all three of their treasures. Do they look happy or what?!

I thought this was a great shot of Grandpa w/ Jack and Charlie

The Day men

Birthday Party

Here are some shots from Charlie's first birthday party!

Jack was kind enough to help Charlie with blowing out the candle and opening the gifts.

Its a frog in case you are wondering.
Charlie had just eaten a big dinner, so he didn't eat the cake. However on his actual b-day, 9th, we had chocolate cake and he devoured it! He was a mess and we caught it on video but not with the camera (sorry!).