Florida Day 1 & 2 - Cocoa Beach

We were so excited that the day had finally come, to get on the plane, and head to Florida! Even though we had only finalized our plans for this Spring Break trip only about six weeks earlier we had been anticipating this trip for what felt like months. We haven't done a big family trip like this in a while and we were all ready for it! 

The boys did such a great job on our flight. They ate almost all the snacks we had, watched movies and played their iPads. The lady in front of us even praised us for how well behaved the boys were.

Our trip had three segments to it. It all started off with a day in Cocoa Beach. None of us had ever been to the Atlantic Ocean so the plan was to meet up with JJ, Jennifer, Nolan and Brandon, and have a beach day. The hotel we ended up at was an absolute nightmare. The room was terrible...think 1950's room, pounded by beach weather got sixty years and has never been renovated. I was not happy that we ended up there but we made the most of it and tried to only be there to clean up and sleep. We had a nice breakfast at the hotel, right on the beach. 

Following breakfast we met up with JJ's family and set up on the beach. As we made our way to the sand we were notified that the warning flag was up because there were hundreds of jellyfish in the water and all over the beach. While it was great to see the jellyfish in their natural environment it quickly took the wind out of sails as we realized we weren't able to swim in the ocean. We took the boys very cautiously to the water and let them put their feet in for s few minutes. Luckily if you are in the shallow water, you can see the jellyfish on the surface of the water as it comes in. It was hard to help the boys to understand the seriousness of being stung by one until a girl who chose to keep swimming was stung and had to be carried of the beach. We managed to still have a lot of fun visiting, playing ball, building sand castles and soaking up the sun. 

That night we met up again with JJ and Jennifer to see the property in Melbourne where they are building their house. It is a beautiful neighborhood and we look forward to going back to visit them in the future. Then we enjoyed a nice dinner at Squid Lips. Our time with them was short but we are so glad for the time we did have and the opportunity for the cousins to be together. 

These beauties came a few weeks before our trip so we left them on the counter as a constant fun reminder of what was to come. Turns out, these MagicBands are amazing and really did make the trip so much nicer. 

 Packed and ready to go...plus they got to miss an extra day of school so they were pretty excited. 

 Family selfie to start the vacation.

 This little guy loves sitting by the window. He doesn't do any of his activities until we are well into our flight because he is so intrigued with everything going on around the plane. 

 Drawing and movies kept Logan busy on the the flight. 

 Lincoln was glued to his iPad to play Minecraft and watch movies. We didn't let him have his iPad for almost a week before the trip so he was thrilled to have it back. If you look closely you can spy daddy in the background reading his book. 

 "We are going on our trip, yes!" with our airplane below. 

 Breakfast on the patio at the beach. 

 Logan was starving, and was mad the food wasn't coming fast enough because he wanted to hurry to the beach. He quickly got over being grumpy the second his meal arrive. 

 Love my three cute beach boys. 

 Cousin time with Nolan!

 It took all of one minute before the boys were laying in the sand making sand angels. 

 Family picture (plus Brandon who was peacefully sleeping in Uncle Ricky's arms) with the Atlantic ocean. 

 Jellyfish were pretty to see but really put a cramp in our day with not being able to swim in the ocean. 

 Brandon is the sweetest, easiest and cutest baby.  It was so fun to cuddle and play with him. 

 A little game of sand football. 

 Even the boys had to get their baby Brandon fix. 

Mommy and the boys being brave for a few minutes with our feet in the water. 

Family picture in the Atlantic Ocean

Group shot minus Ricky

 We were adventurous and tried a favorite local place for dinner - chicken for us though since we don't do seafood. 

Look to the Sky

Living near the stadium and the Air Force base affords us some unique opportunities. This week we got some amazing views of military helicopters that flew over our house for hours as part of an all day training. They were loud and the rumbling made our windows shake a bit but it was awesome to see them. It's nice to have reminders that freedom isn't free and we have men and women who are putting their lives on the line to make sure America is safe and a force to be reckoned with.

All of the the other pictures were taken by Ricky but I thought it would be fun to snap a picture of him capturing his pictures. 

Just a few days after the helicopters, we were graced with beautiful morning views of hot air balloons launching from the stadium and landing in our neighborhood. There were more than a dozen of them, all shapes, sizes and colors. They are a quite the sight to see when they are so close to us.

Boys Activities

It's that time of year again...soccer season!  Logan is playing again and is with the same coach, and many of the same boys, as last season. Soccer is a good outlet for him to run and get our energy out. I love to watch him have fun, challenge himself and be the athletic little boys that he is. Here's to a winning and fun season!

Lincoln competed in his first Pinewood Derby. It was a family affair as Rick and I helped with different parts of his car and Logan was his biggest supporter. We prepped him by telling him it would be awesome if he won, and we hoped he would, but we weren't expecting it. We just wanted his car to race a good race and frankly, just stay in one piece. We showed up to see about 40 or more scouts all ready to race. It turned out to be a very long, unorganized, and chaotic event but the good news is that Lincoln's car was in the top ten and was probably about the sixth or seventh fastest. He got a little medal at the end of the night but most importantly he had a great time and it was a good experience. I was so proud of him for showing such good sportsmanship. He cheered on his friends and didn't complain one second when he didn't win. He is a special kid and we are lucky to have him!  

Hike

In an effort to enjoy the beautiful Arizona weather, we tried to get out and take a quick hike on the waterfall trails in the White Tank mountains. The boys were so excited and promised to not whine and be good hikers....and they were. We did stop about every twenty to thirty feet for a water break but we made the two mile trek in an hour. We stopped for a few minutes to see the pond and non existent water fall at the top. We also took a few pictures along the way because my boys are super cute and I couldn't resist. At the end of the hike, they were both tired and hungry. I would say it was a successful trip. I hope to do a few more activities like this before it gets too hot.