Florida {Day 6}: Morning

Another beautiful day in Florida!  As soon as we could get the kids out the door (which is never as early as you hope!) we piled in our vans and headed for St Augustine, the oldest city in the United States.  St Augustine is about 30-45 minutes south of Jacksonville.  On the way there we took the scenic route past all of the huge houses right on the ocean.  Absolutely beautiful . . . and absolutely disgusting at the same time!  It was pretty warm by the time we arrived in St Augustine - low to mid 70s.  We first stopped at the old city gates for a picture.  After that we walked down St George St (the oldest street in the United States) and the kids threw pennies into the fountain and made a wish.  St George street has a lot of shops and historic buildings and signs.  My kids weren't super interested.  Daryl and I decided it would be a really fun place to visit without kids!  We went from there over to the fort that is right on the river.  We're too cheap to pay to go inside of it but the kids didn't care - they had a great time walking on the wall around the outside of it.  As we were walking away from the fort the kids saw a big grassy hill to play on.  First, it was rolling down the hill.  Then it was running down the hill. (The picture that you'll see below of Aliyah running down the hill was taken right before she had a major wipe-out!)  Then we created what we called "sledding in Florida" - my Dad put a kid in the stroller and pushed them down the hill.  Aliyah decided against participating but the other three thought it was a lot of fun!

After we left St Augustine, we headed back to Jacksonville beach to have lunch at The Loop.  The Loop is Anna's favorite restaurant and we were more than eager to try it out!  It was delicious.  My kids' favorite part was that they each got their very own cup of Sprite.  It's fun to spoil them every so often!  

After lunch we headed back to the beach house so that we could have a couple hours of playtime on the beach.  We knew a cold front was coming in later in the day and we wanted to enjoy the last few hours of sunshine and 70 degree temperatures!

Florida {Day 5}: New Year's Day Afternoon with Tim and Kaye

After a great lunch on the sunny patio, we headed for Tim and Kaye's house for the afternoon.  They have a great park/playground within walking distance of their house.  It was such a beautiful day that we decided to check it out!  Aliyah ended up not napping at all but she did okay with it.  She loved the "twisty slide" and kept begging me to take her picture - there was no way that I could say "no" to that!  We also took Samuel's new bases and started up a little wiffle ball game.  Hope and Aliyah weren't interested in wiffle ball so Kaye and I played on the playground and swings with them while everyone else played some ball.  Samuel and Savannah lasted for about 20 minutes before deciding that they wanted to play on the playground again.  They ran off, telling the adults, "You can keep playing without us!"  Since they were the main reason for playing . . . the adults called it quits. :)  

We went back to Tim and Kaye's house for a spaghetti supper.  I told Kaye that she was really brave for inviting my family over and then feeding us all spaghetti!!  Aliyah's plate did end up upside down on the floor - thank goodness that they don't have any carpet in their house!  Tim and Roslyn (Kaye's parents) came over for supper as well.  It was nice to spend a little more time with them.  It was another big day of football games so the TV was on before dinner.  It stayed on  while we were praying before we ate and Daryl noticed that instead of paying attention to the prayer, Samuel had his eyes open and was watching the TV instead.  Daryl had a little talk with him about how he needs to close his eyes and not watch football while we are praying.  His reasoning for that being okay?  "But Daddy, I can do both because I have 2 eyes!"  After supper we all went to Sweet Frog for some delicious frozen yogurt.  The kids thought it was great that they could pick their flavor of frozen yogurt and then pick their own toppings.  They all polished off their yogurt and asked for more . . . sorry kids!!  What a fun day with Tim and Kaye!!  

Florida {Day 5}: New Year's Day Morning at the Beach

Today was a perfect example of the weather that I have been hoping and praying for ever since we started making plans for this trip to Florida!  Low 70s, sunny, light breeze . . . perfect!!  After a lazy start the morning (I was up early with Aliyah . . . and the other 3 joined her before too long.  By the time everyone else was up, I was so tired that I went back to bed for an hour while they took a turn playing with the kids!!) we headed down to enjoy the ocean.  Our first mistake?  Not putting swimsuits on the kids!  They all got absolutely soaked.  They didn't mind and we kept reassuring them that we didn't mind that their clothes were dripping wet, either!  Hope did a face plant in the "puddle" of water (see picture below) that the girls were running through.  She made it clear to us after that that the water tasted very yucky!  She was a good sport though and didn't complain too much about it after we dried off her face!  Samuel and Savannah raced the waves and ran in and out of the water for a long time before settling on the beach to make a big "wall".  Hope and Aliyah were done the water a little bit earlier than the older two but they settled in and played in the sand next to me for a long time without needing much intervention or entertainment from any adults.  Samuel and Savannah made their "wall" and played in the sand about 20 yards away from us for at least 1/2 hour without hardly noticing that the rest of us were on the beach.  It was fun to watch them playing together and having such a great time!  We didn't want to leave the beach but eventually had to pack it up and head back to the house for lunch so we could get to Tim and Kaye's house at a decent time this afternoon.  Praising God for giving us a beautiful Florida day!!

Florida {Day 4}: New Year's Eve

Weather in the mid 60's on New Year's Eve Day?  Yes please!!  Today was a pretty relaxing day just hanging around the beach house.  Daryl and Samuel worked on legos early in the morning and then later on we headed for the park about 5 blocks away.  My Mom and Anna were walking/running a 5K with Tim, Kaye, and Roslyn so they weren't around to join in on our fun!  Aliyah woke up a whole lot happier today and she ate her breakfast great - thank you, Dr Dyk!  The park was a lot of fun for the kids . . . and for the big boys too, as you will see when you look at the pictures.  Aliyah could have stayed in that swing all day - she loves to swing!  Daryl taught Samuel, Hope, and Savannah some "dance" moves - I use the word "dance" very loosely.  The kids laughed hysterically and thought it was so much fun!  They even showed off their dance moves to Mom and Anna after we got back from the park.  

After lunch, while Aliyah and Hope napped (and Mommy too!), the older kids tried out the beach for a little bit with Grandma and Grandpa and Daddy.  They weren't gone for long though because it was pretty windy and cold down there.  My Mom ended up going for a walk with Samuel, Savannah, and Hope after coming back from the beach.  They walked around the block and collected stones, had their picture taken by palm trees, etc.  

Tim and Kaye came mid-afternoon for our little New Year's Eve party, Ben and Anna came late afternoon, and Roslyn around the same time.  Anna and I did the pizza run and came back with Pizza Hut pizzas for supper.  After supper we all played Catch Phrase before Roslyn, Tim/Kaye, Ben/Anna/Grace had to head home.  They all wanted to drive home on time (before 9ish) because Jacksonville Beach (where we were staying) has a lot of bars and crazy people and they were nervous about driving home much later on New Year's Eve.  Can't blame them!  After we got our kids to bed we played Scrabble, Marbles, and Wits & Wagers with Mom, Dad, and Anna.  We all made it until midnight.  It was a great New Year's Eve.  I loved spending it with family!