Florida Trip - Part 8 {Cocoa Beach}

Yes, we went to the beach twice during our week!  

The boys LOVE the ocean.  

Well, I should say they LOVE the waves, actually.  

Riding the waves on the boogie board. 

Building sandcastles.

Feeding the birds.

I love the fresh air.

 Warm breezes.

The sun on my face.

Sand in my toes.

Sounds of seagulls above and waves crashing before me.

Great conversations with my sister-in-law.

Florida Trip - Part 7 {Family Fun}

We were able to spend some time with Brian's family toward the end of the week.  The boys don't see them very often, so it was great seeing them all having a fun time!

I wish that I had captured some shots of the adults, too.  I started to, but then dessert came out so I put the camera away and didn't think to get it back out until the night was over.

And I didn't get pictures of our evening with our friends, Paul, Jenni & Bob, either.  I don't know what I was thinking.  Such a fun time catching up with them!!

glow food

Our conversation on the way home from piano lessons.....

Elliott:  My leg is hurting.  I think it's growing.

Me:  Did you know that when I was about your same age that I complained about my leg hurting and my mom told me it was probably growing pains.  Then I went to the doctor for something and I told him I had been having growing pains, and they all laughed at me!

Ethan:  I'm having this contest with this girl...we're going to eat glow foods and measure us and see who gets taller.

Elliott:  You mean "grow" foods?  Like food that helps you grow?

Me:  Healthy food?

Ethan:  Yeah.....no, "glow" foods that make you get taller.  Like fruit.

later tonight at dinner......

(eating a salad of kale, spinach and other lettuce)

Ethan:  I ate all my salad.  Mrs. B said that it is glow food!

At this point I'm still thinking he means "grow" foods and it's just a simple way to say healthy foods.  He's pretty random in his thoughts sometimes and still gets words mixed up every once in a while, but he was so adamant about it that I googled it.  And guess what?  He did know what he was talking about.  How have I not heard of this before now??

Here's what I copied from the answers.com website just in case you're interested.  Pretty much common knowledge, but I thought it was a fun way for kids to remember.


Glow foods contain a large amount of vitamins and minerals. It helps us to digest our food and be healthy. Glow food make us look beautiful. It makes our skin smooth and attractive.

if eggplant you eat you grow strong and not weak

GO FOODS- Go foods are the type of a food group that provides energy, hence the name "go". Examples of this type of food group are bread, rice cereals and other foods that primarily provides carbohydrates.

GROW FOODS- Grow foods are foods that enhances growth development. Foods like milk, yogurt, cheese and other dairy products are types of this food group. 

Lastly, GLOW FOODS- Glow foods are foods that enhances the quality or the "Glow" of our skin. These foods are rich in Vitamin D that is important for the development of a healthy skin. Green-leafy vegetables are examples of this food group. 

Also:
Breads and other grains are Go foods. They help us to run, jump and play all day. 
Fruits and vegetables are Glow foods. They help our hair shine and our eyes sparkle. 
Dairy, meat and meat alternatives are Grow foods. They help us to grow big and strong. 

Florida Trip - Part 6 {Universal & Harry Potter}

We still have some free tickets to Universal leftover from Brian's days at the camera shop there.  We had been saving them to use once the boys were a bit older and had read the Harry Potter books but decided to go ahead and use them now.  Elliott is on the 4th book, and Ethan has seen at least the first movie so at least they knew about it and could enjoy it.

I have to say I've never read any of them (I know - I can hear the gasps) or seen any of the movies, but I thought that this part of the park was done really well!!  The rides were great and the boys loved it.

We had to try the ButterBeer.  No one liked it.

Brian's old store.  I think it was called Lights, Camera, Action when he worked there.  Too bad he didn't wear the pink striped shirt for old times sake :)

Okay, Brian and I were so disappointed that the Jaws ride was no more.  They kept the hanging shark that was in front of it for some reason.  Gives me hope that they'll bring it back?

Ethan rode the Hulk 5 times.  I stood in line with Elliott the first time and was going to ride, but then decided not to cause I wasn't sure how much it would jerk you around and the thought of my port banging into those harnesses was not comforting.  So I bailed at the last minute.  Brian didn't even act like he was going to ride - smart guy!

We caught onto the single rider lines pretty early, and since the boys were usually the only ones riding the big rides it worked out pretty well for us - saved so much time!

As we were walking out through City Walk to the car, Ethan spotted these light-up t-shirts.  They light up to the beat of music or any sound, so it looks like the lights are dancing.  Kind of like an equalizer I think.  Anyway, that is what he wanted to spend his money on, so he is now the proud owner of one!  We had a hard time convincing him that Mrs. K would not appreciate him wearing it to school the next Monday :)

Easter

Happy belated Easter everyone!!

We spent the morning worshiping and serving our ever-loving Savior Sunday with our church family.  We so often take the opportunities to do just that for granted, but something just nudged me Sunday and really let me know how fortunate we are just to have the freedom to get together and worship.  And on top of that, our family is blessed even more with a wonderful church and church family to worship with!  Love you all!!

Loved the rest of our day, too.

Subs for lunch.

Naps after.

Playing outside.

Florida Trip - Part 5 {Fort De Soto Park & Beach}

Wow....this one has a LOT of photos!!  I'll try to keep the rambling to a minimum to balance it out :)

While we were in Clearwater, we went to Fort De Soto State Park.  We thought it would be fun for the boys with the fort and swimming both. 

Honestly it's probably my favorite beach in Florida so far (the disclaimer being that I haven't been to all that many, but my favorite none the less).  Because it used to be a military fort and then was turned into a state park, there are no hotels, no houses, no shops or restaurants.......just nature.  The sand is powdery white, the water was calm, and the birds outnumbered the people.  I think the boys and Brian would have preferred more waves, but I liked it this way - less worrying and more relaxing for me!

At the remnants of the fort.  See how Brian is reading the sign?  I told you he always pays attention to all the details.  I couldn't tell you one thing any of the signs said.

Elliott found this "mud" as they were walking around in the ocean.  He scooped it up and said he was getting a "spa" treatment.  

They always want to be buried in the sand at least once.

The beginnings of a sand castle.

We stayed till sunset and loved every minute of it!

Florida Trip - Part 4 {Strawberries & Winter}

This past summer the boys and I went to see Dolphin Tale.  Such a good movie - we all loved it, and at the end there was a little blurb about being able to see Winter (the dolphin in the movie) at the Clearwater Marine Aquarium.  So we thought we would do that while we were in Florida this time.  We don't typically go to that side of the coast and thought it would be something different, too.

So the night before we were to drive to Clearwater I was reading Nancy's latest Southern Living and saw this citrus and strawberry market featured that was on our way to Clearwater.  It claimed that its strawberry shortcake was world famous.  Well, we shouldn't let an opportunity like that pass by, so we made it a stop on our little jaunt to the coast.

It was a fun market with this trademark red and white awning.  I was reading some of the signs and brochures and learned that the same family has owned this place for many years - 30 maybe?  I can't remember now, but I thought it was great that the passion for it had been kept through a couple of generations.  

The boys didn't want the shortcake, but they were all about fresh strawberry shakes......at first.  They drank a little and then decided they were too "chunky" since they were made with fresh strawberries.  Brian and I were happy to help them out with not wasting anything.  And we were so glad we did!  Those were the best strawberry shakes ever.  There were signs saying they had been featured on Food Network, and I can definitely see why.  So good!!

This was the world famous strawberry shortcake.

It was good, but I really like my mother-in-law's better.

Probably the main reason was that it was made with the spongy shortcake.

It was made-from-scratch shortcake, and Brian really liked it, so I still recommend stopping by.

They had tables set up to the side of the market in this lush tropical garden.   I wasn't expecting that - they had really done a nice job making it a fun place to visit.

It was really such a neat place to stop and have a bite

There were tons of citrus to choose from, and lots of other yummies, too.

And after we finished our treats (or tried to finish them, I should say), we found this huge strawberry throne!

They even had crowns for you to wear for your picture!  How fun is that?!  This market is in Plant City where they have the Strawberry Festival each year (bummer that we miss it by about a week every time), and I'm wondering if there is an actual strawberry queen that is crowned and seated on this throne each March.  Hmmm.....

So, back to the reason we went to Clearwater in the first place.  We got to the Aquarium and it was PACKED!!  Maybe it was coincidence and lots of people were on the same spring break and all wanted to see Winter.  Not sure.

But this is really all we got to see of her

Can't see anything?  We really couldn't either.  We were really disappointed.  I really wanted a better look, but that's okay.  They seemed like they were really overwhelmed with the amount of people that were there.  It also seemed like it could be a really great learning experience when it's not so crowded.  They specialize in rescue and rehab of marine animals, so it was neat to see some of that, which we don't get to see in regular aquariums or at the zoo.  In fact, we were lucky to see them scoping a sea turtle (we think) in one of the exam/operating rooms.  And there was a gentleman outside the aquarium with some hands on props talking about how Winter had lost her tail and the whole process of how they created a prosthetic one for her.  They even had the prosthetic tail there to touch.  I thought that and the sea turtle procedure were pretty cool!

This was cool too - underwater viewing of this turtle.  I think the guy said her name was Bailey.  (Brian always jokes around with me about not listening on the tour - I do try - I just think I'm way more of a visual learner, distracted by all there is to see, and he is hands-down better at auditory than me - we're a good pair - I remember what we've seen and he remembers all the facts about it) He said she was one of the most photogenic sea turtles around.  I believe he knows what he is talking about!