Easter Happiness

Although Mike & I don't consider ourselves to be a 'religious' family we do believe in God, Christian values & the ever important bond of family and goodwill towards others.  Despite Easter's spiritual origins, it's also a time of to celebrate family and the rebirth of Spring... for our girls, they don't understand many of the lessons from the Bible about this holiday but they do understand the more modern traditions like... eggs, candy & the Easter Bunny!

Thursday night, upon the beginning of Maddy's 3 day weekend from school, we made homemade pizzas, watched Yogi Bear (which is super cute!) & colored eggs.  Mike loves this tradition, the man loves hard boiled eggs!

Saturday evening after Mike got off of work, we left for Mike's parents' beachfront condo.  The Easter Bunny knew we were going to be there, so overnight he brought baskets of goodies for the kids & hid some eggs to be hunted!

The girls were thrilled when they woke up!  The Bunny brought them new swimsuits, a coloring book, a kite & some bubbles... all inside a cool new sand bucket for the beach!  That Bunny is so practical!

Cam had a fun bucket of goodies too!

The kids relaxed watching a movie while Auntie Allison whipped up a yummy breakfast casserole!

Grandpa enjoyed some of the movie time too...

As we got closer to breakfast we started to get ready to head down stairs... Sunscreen, check! Cooler, check! Towels, check! Buckets to hunt eggs, check!

As soon as the kids came downstairs they could see where the Bunny hid the eggs and couldn't wait to snatch them up!

I think they set a record!  6 dozen eggs collected in less than 2 minutes!

The beach was calling our names!  We were so happy to see the Gulf was just the way we like it... calm & shallow... the water was only 6 or 7 inches deep for about 25-30 feet!  It was perfect!

Maddy has been using her friends' boogie boards at the beach, this time I made sure to bring one of Grandma K's boogie boards, Maddy loves it!

 

Maddy looks so grown up!  My little surfer girl in training!

Mikayla loves the water but she also loves rolling around in the sand!

Daddy, Maddy & Uncle Mike threw a frisbee around, Maddy is getting better with her catch & release! Except for the one that the wind caught and hit me in the face. LoL!

Allison, enjoyed having some time on the beach chairs catching up with her magazines.  Poor Cam, his eyes are so sensitive to the bright sun & sand. 

After some time on the beach we went up to the pool where there was still some shade.  Cam loves jumping off the edge into the water. 

Mike & our girls love the pool too!

We had a very easy Easter dinner, Mike & his Mom warmed up a spiral ham while were we down by the pool... Allison whipped up a batch of baked beans that morning while she made breakfast.  I brought my Grandmothers' potato salad that I made at home the day before, and Mike's Dad made a family recipe macaroni salad that he also made the day before.  So we had a yummy somewhat traditional dinner, but we were able to spend the day at the beach & the pool instead of in the kitchen. Everything was delish! Including the refreshing fruit we snacked on!

I never get sick of this view!  We always have such a nice visit at the condo, it's great spending time with family and having a beautiful beach & pool to enjoy.  Time always flies when we're having fun so after dinner we had to pack up and leave... but I think we'll be heading back in a couple weeks for Mother's Day!  

We hope all of our family, friends & readers had a Happy Easter!  We sure did... and to top the day off, our Stanley Cup Champion Chicago Blackhawks won Game 6 in overtime against the Canucks... Game 7 of this playoff series is tomorrow night!

BEACH BUDDIES!

We've been beaching it a lot lately!  The Gulf is warming up and so is our Florida weather!  A couple weeks ago the kids had a Friday off of school, and a 3 day weekend is the perfect opportunity to spend some extra time with our friends!  My besties Jackie, Sarah & I made plans to meet at Siesta Key early.  We also bumped into Jackie's friend Gianna, which is always a treat because her daughter Bella is Maddy's age.  Since my girls are a bit outnumbered, it's nice when we can add another girl into the mix!

My girl friends & I love having time to chat & relax but we also love getting the kids out of the house and away from their tvs & video games.  The kiddos have so much fun playing together, it's such a carefree way for us ALL to spend the day! 

Mikayla, Mikey, Bella, Maddy, Conner, Collin, Gavin, Colin & Caleb! Yep! 9 kids between 4 moms!

Siesta Key Beach spoils us rotten with it's flat, shallow, warm waters... and the sand is like powdered sugar.  No other beach compares to it!

Just last weekend, we managed to get all of our friends (and husbands) together for a big cookout at SKB.  We had such a GREAT Sunday Funday, we can't wait to do it again! Click here to read more about it! 

Uncle Kyle's Birthday

Last weekend my Dad & stepfamily were in town for Kyle & Kayla's overlapping Spring Breaks, it also happened to be Kyle's 17th birthday!  So my Dad & Karen hosted a family party in his honor.

Nothing beats Florida weather in April!

My Dad & my girls

Karen's Mom & siblings came all the way from Georgia & the East coast of Florida for the fun... from the left; Elaine, Jennifer, Chuck. Grandma Jean, my Dad & Karen.

Happy Birthday Uncle Kyle!

Kayla & Kyle

Karen, my Dad, the dogs & my girls!

Grandma K bought tricycles, Mike & my Dad rode the girls up & down the street, they loved the smooth ride! LoL!

Air Show Awesomeness

Two weekends ago, we got experience something really cool that none of us have experienced before, an AIR SHOW!  My cousin Keri is a police officer and she coordinates security for this event every year.  As a thank you she gets complimentary passes to give to family & friends to attend.  Not only did Keri secure us free access but she also hooked us up with passes into the VIP tent where we met up with her hubby & twin sons.  Mike & I were not expecting VIP treatment but man what a treat! We enjoyed a catered bbq lunch AND an open bar!  We also had runway seats for the all the excitement in the sky! 

Mike was stoked!  They had a F-22 Raptor! He says "This is the deadliest, badass, mother fuc*in, stealth, supersonic payload from hell." His words exactly. :) 

It's back end is pretty sweet lookin' too!  I should be though, Mike says this thing costs 100 million dollars... WOW!

It was a hot sunny day, a bit humid too, but the girls enjoyed their front row seats!  It was a bit loud but they didn't mind!

The Misty Blue Skydive team is nothing but chics! Girl power!

The Air Show is a patriotic event, as this skydiver brought the flag down, there was a lady singing God Bless America over the speaker system & a few fireworks popped you can see the smoke here in the picture! 

The Misty Blue Skydiver that landed right in front of us came over to greet the girls... GIRL POWER!  Maddy & Mikayla were both impressed by the chic skydivers & the chic pilots doing ariel acrobats! 

In line for lunch!

Here's an F-16 cruising down the runway preparing for take off, this thing flew so fast in the sky, every picture I tried to take was blurrrry! Next year if we're lucky enough to go again, we'll have to borrow one of Mike's Dad's professional cameras.  My little Sony Cybershot doesn't do the Air Show justice.  I was bummed, the pictures that I tried to take of the Heavy Metal Jet Team that flies in formation did not come out at all. :( 

But I found this cool pic on their facebook page! Sweet!

The stealth bombers fired blanks but had pyrotechnics on the ground, imagine our surprise when this patch of grass just went up in flames!

This is the A-10 Warthog, another badass warplane, Mike says "It turns tanks into swiss cheese with it's depleted uranium rounds from it's evil nose gun."  Again.... his words. Here's the pilot waving to the crowd!

So the Airforce builds motorcycles now... I did not know!

We also got to tour an Eastern Airlines DC-7B, it's inaugural flight was January 23rd, 1958.  Just a few short years before the jet age.

Cockpit...

Well, the seats haven't changed much in 60 years...

But this was interesting!  A 6 seat lounge in the back of the plane! 

NASA was there for the day!  How do you like the girls space suits?

US Army C-27J cargo plane, designed for short takeoffs & landings.

An Avenger!

The Tokyo Doolittle Raiders B-25 Bomber, three of the five WWII veterans were at the Air Show. We ate lunch 15 feet from them in the VIP tent.  What an honor!  

I can't thank my cousin Keri enough for such a great day, what would have cost our family well over $100, cost us less than $20.  My only complaints are that Keri was working the whole time, so we hardly got to see her and that her boys wouldn't sit still long enough for a picture.  Otherwise it was an absolutely AWESOME day!