We Like the Things that Summer Brings...

It brings the sun, it brings the heat, it brings the things we like to eat!

A new big kiddie pool...

"Please smile Finny"

...not quite Finn

Big enough even for mom! This kid kept trying to throw cups of cold water on me and then laughing hysterically. Good thing it was 90 degrees!

Aaden came to play!

One Last Day in Florida!

Wow, people think it rains in Seattle...but our rainstorms are nothing compared to the torrential downpours of Florida!

Our Tuesday started out at the beach...

(I'll take a moment to highlight our growing niece at nearly 29 weeks!)

..and then came the rains. It rained from noon until dusk. There was so much standing water everywhere, it was quite a sight!

Finn, Daddy and Uncle Matt were enjoying the knee high (Finn's knee height) water in the middle of the street.

Addie enjoying some thunder and lightning on the storm porch. This so reminded me of summers in New York as a kid!

The Key's!

On Saturday we drove through the Florida Keys to reach our final destination of Key West. It was neat to get to see all of the Keys and stop to enjoy snacks and beaches all along the way!

Tarpin

Feeding the tarpin.

Addie was hoping to see pelican's on our trip!

We stayed at a Beachside resort in Key West. Funny that during our stay, all the kids wanted to do was be in the hotel pool!

So we played in the pool both days!

Dinner out on the Marina. The kids did very well to eat dinner at 10pm. Addie tried her first calamari and cheese cake, and was a big fan of both new tastes!

On our way back to Jacey's, we stopped in at this beach that Addie likes to remember. She recalls it as the time "I went swimming in the mud". Indeed the water stayed shallow for days and the white sand was easily stirred as we walked through it!

Miami Seaquarium

The Seaquarium was a highlight of Addie and my trip to Florida from two years ago. Those who know Addie will realize how exciting is was to be surrounded by marine life!

The Sea turtles were a hit with the kids

Top deck dolphin show (we went to two dolphin shows per Addie's request)

Waiting for the Flipper show to start (the seaquarium is home to the original Flipper)

Loving the Flipper show

Waiting for her chance to pet the dolphin

The trainers loved Addie and gave her extra time and let her feed Denise (I think that was her name) the dolphin. She was literally dancing with excitement as she walked out. She walked right over and hugged the dolphin immediately. Unfortunately I was so far away that my shot of her hugging the dolphin has her behind him (as does the shot were she gave her a kiss).

A good day!

Jacey's Beach.

Our first day in Florida we were all pretty tired following our red-eye. We hung around the house and enjoyed the beach at Jacey's. The beaches in Florida are just a bit different...

The water is ever so warm!

Both kids loved swimming in the ocean! Addie was disappointed no dolphins found her..

17 Month Birthday!

We are back as of last night, and get to enjoy one more day off with Blake before back to business as usual around here. I have LOTS of photo's from our time in FL that will take some time to sort and add, but I will. (Jacey, I will send you a link from our photo session)

Finn turned 17 months while we were away. He is growing up too fast it seems (has he really been walking 6 months? seems like just yesterday he was in a swaddle!), and its wonderful to see how he is turning into a little boy. If you double click that second photo, you can see that the last two canines are just about through and he will soon have a full set of teeth (until the 2 yr molars).

Our big boy enjoying a warm Florida beach

"Airplane!" Doesn't matter what he's doing he drops to point out any airplane that flies overhead. This was frequent in Florida as his "airplane" included the coast guard helicopters.

He seems fascinated by airplanes which was lucky for us with our 10:30 pm flight. He stood (nose pressed to the window) watching the airplanes well past his bedtime watching the planes land and take off with great joy! I foresee an outing to the Seattle Museum of Flight...

Here he's pointing out a small plane flying at the Miami Seaquarium.