Vacation is over and I’m back to reality!

I’m always amazed the difference between my time on vacation with no kiddos and my time at home in the normal everyday grind!  We took an adult only vacation with our friends, and our only stress for the day was where we were going to eat that night for dinner!  I didn’t have to worry about making lunches, doing homework, running to t-ball practices or gymnastics, work, etc…  I didn’t really sleep in on vacation – it’s just not something I can do, but to be able to get up in the morning, check some emails, sit out on a porch listening to the gulf waves, and having a good breakfast was wonderful!  I even read a book – literally a whole book in one day!  That is a huge achievement for me!  I am just not a reader.  I wish I was, but I never take the time to do that.  To be completely honest there is always something else I’d rather do…like scrapbook or browse galleries/forums.  My girlfriend had brought along the book “Heaven is for Real”, and she was telling us some of the facts about the book, and it intrigued me!  She finished it up, and I started right in!  We had some great dicussions about the book and the concept of heaven, while sitting on the porch at night!  I now have my hubby reading it!  It’s a pretty unbelievable story, and it paints a great picture of heaven!  And the whole concept of children in heaven…wow – how precious!  They truly are Jesus’ children!

Here are a few photos from our vacation!

Our drink cups and tunes!

the dolphin that was extremely close to shore!  We could completely see his whole body very well!

We had a pretty good time watching this movie – The Other Guys!  Got a couple good lines from that to joke about all week!

From the roof of the condo – great pool and beach!

The guys went out for shark and tarpon fishing, but only caught one smaller shark.  Kind of a bummer.

And one night we went to the dog tracks.  I have never been and was interested in what they were.  We aren’t big gamblers and we have kind of bad luck with these type of things, so we were out after $10!  Good night though!

And of course we had to love the guys cooking breakfast and cleaning the kitchen!

And the guys were even good sports and wore these fun, LOUD, touristy shirts that Beth got a steal of a deal on!

Good times…just good times!  It was a great break from parenting and my kids loved the time they got to spend with Grandpas and Grandmas and Aunt!

 

Braelyn is in her second year of t-ball and she is liking it much better this year!  She is much more confident and is really getting the concept of it.  Last year was somewhat brutal to watch because none of the kids really understood what to do with the ball!

She made it to home plate on each inning!

And what would a t-ball game be without ice cream afterwards?!

My diva – jumpin’ around

And today we went to the Tulip Time Parade, and I forgot my camera!!!  Gasp!!!  It was fun to just enjoy it though!  I think I actually got more sun in one day here today in MI than I got the whole week in FL though!  I ALWAYS put on sunscreen when I am laying out, so I was lathered up in FL, but I don’t always do so good lathering up at home when I am just running around or doing stuff outside all day.

And I haven’t been scrapbooking much at all!  I don’t know what it is, but I am just not feeling it.  I did manage to do this LO while on vacation though, and I LOVE how it turned out – it was the perfect kit for the perfect picture, and the LO got picked yesterday on the Gallery Standouts blog!  Such an honor!

 

Have a great rest of your week!

MandaKay

Girls Weekend Getaway

last weekend I had the opportunity to go up to my sister’s cabin – up north Michigan with a group of fabulous women! We all felt like we really needed more time, but we enjoyed the time we did have! We ate yummy things like cinnamon chip scones with maple icing, frittatas, this delicious pasta dish, eggs in a basket, and Mexican corn salad to name a few! We ate good! We did some antique shopping where I found a really great set of glass bottles to put up above my cupboards, and also a set of wood shutters that i have big plans for! We went wine tasting in Traverse City at Brys Estates. We ate dinner at the Jolly Pumpkin on the peninsula. One of the fun things we did as well was to take pictures of each other. As women and mothers we are often behind the camera, so we each stepped out and got fun pictures taken of ourselves! Lots of laughs! So here are a few pictures from our weekend! Enjoy!

Can you tell we had fun?! We had the most beautiful weather and the colors of the trees up north were just so pretty! We took a nice long walk on Sat. morning too! All and all a perfect weekend getaway!

Facebook

Facebook has taken over my blogging. It is just so easy to upload my pics to there and to give just snippets of information about what’s going on, that I have neglected the blog a bit. And it doesn’t help that facebooking is just so easy with having a blackberry and all. Technology – so many options, so little time! ;)

I’m blogging from Florida though today! We are on a Disney vacation! Our first trip to Disney! I’ve been to Disney about 12 years ago or so, but no one else in our family has been. It’s been a fun and busy week, and it is coming to an end tomorrow night. We’ve had so much fun! By tomorrow we will have had 8 days of Disney fun – in all 4 parks! We’ve rode on dozens and dozens of rides, watched some great parades, seen spectacular fireworks, and had a lot of fun! I have so many pictures – I think I’ve taken about 500 so far, and I put some of them on facebook, but I’ll share a few of my favorites here too, and of course I’ll be scrapping them, so I’ll share those as I do that as well! We haven’t had super good weather, but it’s better than being in MI in 12 degree weather! The worst part is the rain. Doing Disney in the rain with kids is just not real fun.

I could do so many more, but I figured most of you have seen them on facebook, so I will spare you! I can’t wait scrap these! I hope to make a whole Disney vacation book!

Today is probably our nicest day here! The kids have been swimming all morning, and this afternoon we will head to the Magic Kingdom again and catch the fireworks and all that again. I didn’t get any pictures of that the first time we did it because it was a rainy day, so I didn’t even take the camera with that day!

I haven’t been scrapping at all, but I know there is a dynamic BYOC coming to the Lilypad tomorrow – I can’t wait to play with some of the goodies once I get back!

Have a Dippity Doo Da Day!

MandaKay

Beach Pictures

I have more beach pictures! We had a great night last night at the beach while the guys fished (they didn’t have such a great night of fishing, however.) MaryJo had one wish this week and that was to get a few pictures of all of her grandkids lined up on the beach in front of the ocean! We got some great ones!

My girls were little models as well! Love when they decide to be photogenic!

And we did some impromptu family photos as well – not what I was hoping for as far as what we would wear, but they are going to have to do!

We’ve seen some interesting creatures on the beach this week!

Misc. pictures!

The kiddos are there in the middle playing in a low spot caused by low tide! These kids all play SO great together – it really amazes me. Cobe is the oldest at 9 and there are 9 total grandkids and Gracyn is the youngest at almost 2! So fun!

Beautiful Sunset last night too!

There is the last few days summed up in pics! Going out tonight with no kids so that will be nice! We will pack up tomorrow and head home somtime tomorrow so that we have a nice big Sunday to get back into routine at home! I can’t believe that once we get home it is going to be last minute school preparation, meetings for both Braelyn and Selah’s school, a birthday party for my niece, and back to work for Kyle and I – and it’s guaranteed to be busy this week with all that! I get to go to a woman’s live simulcast event by Beth Moore next weekend with my mom and some sisters and friends so I am looking forward to that as well!

Ciao!

Amanda