Our Trip to Destin

Let me start out by saying that even if its warm in Florida the weekend after Christmas the water is still cold!!! But not to this little guy, our nephew Blake who is 7 and from Wisconsin, loves to swim in the water no matter how cold it is, they left snow to come down here for a week of fun in the sun. To them it feels like summertime!

This is Mark, Lisa and Blake. We only get to see them at Christmas and this time it had to be a quick visit. We drove up there on Saturday, then had to leave to come home Sunday around noon. It took 6 hours to get there and then 7 hours to get back. Traffic was a little hectic!

But it was worth the travel time to get to visit with them. Maybe next year we can go to Wisconsin...We will see!!

Aw! Brother & Sister Love!

Below is a few pics that I took of the kids on the rocks, the beach was beautiful. I just wish it wasn't so foggy. The sun never came out enough during the time we were there so most of the pictures are dark or foggy looking. We have hopes of going back there sometime during the summer when its warmer so we can see all the pretty colors of the water and stay longer to enjoy it!

Hope you all have a Safe and Happy New Year!

What's In That Big Box?

It was left with only a tag that said From: SANTA

Another Box to unwrap...

I snapped that picture in the right moment to have her say "It's a Wii!"

Surprise was the theme for this Christmas...we really didn't think we would be able to get them a Wii but when we sold the boat I found a very gently used one online we bought it and ever since, I have toyed with the idea of selling it because money was so tight and if I sold it we could afford to buy more gifts they wanted instead of just this one thing and a few smaller things. The last time I told my mom "I think Im gonna sell the Wii, Brant wants a skateboard and Chey wants a bike and a camera" She told me "NO don't sell it, let me help and get them one of the other gifts they asked for this year." So she did...

Brant got a skateboard freshly built from the Van's Skate park in Orlando and Chey got a beautiful purple "big girl" bike from Mimi this year (Thanks Mom for all you did, you made their year) plus they got really great gifts from everyone in our family...Between all the opening presents, eating and visiting everyone here in our big family had a wonderful Christmas!!!

And as a added bonus the Big Boys (meaning Larry, Bubba & Jeremy) got to play the Wii and entertain the rest of us all day! Here is Larry & Mandi's Bubba boxing while Pop watches.

I will have to tell you it is addicting, Larry and I stayed up until 11:00 last night playing Mario Kart and Pool!!! If I come up MIA in the blogging world you know where I am (playing the wii)!!!

We are leaving in the morning for Destin to see Larry's sister Lisa. They are flying in from Wisconsin tonight and we have not seen them since last Christmas. Im excited to go, I have never been there and I heard it is beautiful! Hopefully I will have some great pics to share when we get back on Sunday!

Not Me! Monday

I'm going to apologize now, this one is a little long. There is quit a bit to confess this week with pictures (which by the way cannot be used as evidence...nope!)

*This one I should have confessed last week...we did not adopt another dog and he is not completely attached to my son!

*I did not make my kids put on the Santa hat to take a picture of them!

Me niece does not remind me of Cindy Lou Who from "The Grinch"
I do not have a great husband who cooks us the best breakfast sandwiches on the weekends and I don't drive him nuts with my camera!
My sister is not going to kill me when she finds out I posted this pic on the Internet!!! Love you Mandi!!!
*We did not spend 6 hours last night baking Christmas goodies!!! This is a tradition Mandi & I started several years ago and we look forward to every year until the last hour of baking then we cant wait for it to be over!!! That is not some sort of batter or white chocolate on my shirt either!Its a family affair...everyone helps in some way...even Pop, well he supervised!

*We did not eat all those delicious sweets and the dips Mom & Mandi made instead of eating a regular supper last night, that would make me a crazy mom for letting my kids eat junk instead of real food.

*I am not looking forward to Christmas morning to surprise my kids with something I didn't think we would be able to afford, but we have been very blessed by God, he works in great ways and we have a great family that has helped tremendously!

Check out Mckmama's blog to see other Not Me! Monday posts!

Hope you all have a very Merry Christmas!