At the Beach

We are just getting back into our routine after a week lounging around at the beach. We can appreciate the statement, 'I need a vacation from my vacation.' We did a whole lot of nothing in particular (which was precisely the goal of our trip), yet I am exhausted after it all. I think it was the late night Wii tournaments after days filled with fun in the sun that did me in. But nonetheless, it was a great trip, and everyone had a lot of fun. MariCagle and Nate enjoyed the beach building a tremendous fort, running from the waves, searching for seashells, digging for buried treasure, flying kites, making sand angels and just sitting in their beach chairs enjoying a snack. They also loved the heated pool. They got braver and braver jumping off the side especially with the inflatable rings. They loved being able to hang out for more than just a weekend with Hudson and Quinn. It was special to Brandon and me too to get to spend some real time with our niece and nephew. There's just something about spending time with family away from the usual places where there are often 'things' that we have to do. It was great and I hope we'll get to do it again! I hope you enjoy just a few pictures from the week (we took a million, literally I think)!

Nate and MariCagle upon arrival at the beach our first day. They were anxious to get out there, but kind enough to pose for a picture for me.

MariCagle playing in the waves. For the first 20 minutes she and Nate both ran in and out of the waves like they were playing chase.

Nate danced in and out of the waves until he face planted into one. He steered clear the rest of the trip. :)

Nate and Brandon begin work on the soon-to-be massive fort. Brandon remained sore the rest of the week after all the digging.

Hudson, MariCagle and Nate loved the fort. It was as big as MariCagle had hoped for in her anticipation of the beach!

THE fort complete with a double moat barrier. All were secure. :)

I just love pictures at the beach. Brandon was experimenting with the black and white setting on this one.

Nate was searching for seashells. He enjoyed throwing them back into the ocean as far as he could to watch them splash. MC, however, brought every one of hers home.

Nate with his turn flying the kite. It was quite an easy task on this windy day but he worked hard at it nonetheless.

MariCagle delighted in kite flying too.

What cool cats! And adorable too. :)

Nate was not afraid to get sandy. Since he hasn't had a chance in his lifetime to make a snow angel, he went for a sand angel.

As I said, by the end of the week there was no fear in jumping in the water.

Wee!

We took the time to take a family shot on our way to supper our last night.



Probably our most surprising event on the trip was MariCagle's eagerness to get on the bungee trampoline. This is the same girl who wailed and pitched a fit to have a splinter taken out of her finger earlier in the week. I kept thinking she was going to change her mind during her 30 minute wait, but she never waivered, not even when the guy slung her 25' into the air the first time!! I am still amazed.

So you can tell we had a fabulous time! Hopefully these pictures get you ready for the summer!

New Addition

I've probably got a lot of you on your toes with that title don't I!?!? We are happy to announce that will have a new addition to our family come mid-May. (Do the math, not nearly enough time for a human pregnancy!) MariCagle and Nate have finally gotten their wish and we will be getting a puppy! I realize this may be a shock to many, it is shocking to me even as I'm typing this post. We have been adamant to the kids that we had to wait until Brandon finished school and we moved to get a dog, and they have been able to understand that and have been surprisingly OK with it. But with the prospect of BL's graduation so close, we have been contemplating the pet situation much more seriously in terms of what we want out of having a dog, indoor/outdoor, breed, etc. That 'planning' has quickly become reality as we have come to the decision that we would prefer an indoor dog that the kids had a relationship with and felt like a part of the family. Brandon began looking at small, less smelly, minimal shedding dog breeds and we decided that a medium to miniature labradoodle (poodle, labrador mix) was the pet for us. Brandon quickly found THE puppy for us...
Her litter was born April 1 so we will be picking her up around mid-May. MariCagle is especially excited. The puppy thing was her idea several years ago and she has not let go of the idea since. As we made our decision known to her and Nate yesterday, she was beside herself. She said that she had wished for a puppy so many times and her wish had finally come true!! She went to sleep last night with the above picture taped next to her bed. :) Nate is excited too but in a more general kind of way. He has enjoyed pretending to be a puppy with great imagination since the announcement.

After much deliberation and many suggestions including Minnie, April, Belle, Rose, and Pearl to name a few, we have named her Alberta. Alberta will always remind us of our time spent in graduate school as it is also the name of the female Gator mascot. :) Alberta also has a theme song of which MariCagle has quickly requested a CD - on Eric Clapton's Unplugged CD is a performance of Snook Eaglin's 'Alberta'.



We will surely be posting pictures of Alberta's homecoming come May, so stay tuned!

More Sea World...

By request, here are a few more pictures from our trip to Sea World. I don't have a lot more, but these are good ones too. Enjoy!

This one was while we were waiting for the Shamu show. As with all theme parks, there is a lot of waiting. You have to get to the shows about 45 minutes ahead of time to get a seat, especially for Shamu and the dolphins. But the waits were worth it as you can tell in the next picture.

This one is following the Elmo Bookaneer show that Nate liked so much. He got to shake hands with Telly, Cookie Monster, and Ernie, but he was a little miffed that Elmo didn't come shake his hand. We tried to appease him by posing with Elmo here. MariCagle is showing off her whale necklace we bought her.

Here's another shot of MC and Brandon on the ship that Nate deemed 'the pirate ship.' She wanted to badly to get me with that water gun but I was sure to get out of range.

I didn't get too many pictures at the dolphin show because I was too entertained. I didn't want to miss anything. But here's a decent shot, though it doesn't really capture the true awesomeness of the show.

Sea World

Hi everyone! One of the perks of living in Florida is access to the exciting theme parks.We took advantage and spent a day at Sea World courtesy of the wonderful family members who helped MariCagle to win 4 tickets through a school fundraiser. It was a first for all four of us and we thoroughly enjoyed ourselves. It was a fun-filled day packed with lots of excitement and we didn't even see everything there. I think we all enjoyed the Shamu and dolphin shows best. Although Nate was especially taken with the pirate-themed shows including the sea lions and an Elmo production. We were also amazed by the penguins and the sharks. We hope you enjoy a few of our pictures below. We love you all!!

We were greeted by Shamu at the entrance gate. No better way to enter the park.

Then we quickly saw the real thing. Shamu was the very first show we watched. MariCagle was especially taken with the 'Believe' show sharing with us that it almost made her cry because she was so happy. I guess she gets her sentimentality from her mother...I must admit that I too teared up. She explained later that it was her favorite because it 'taught us about the world and how we all work together.' And here she made her mama cry all over again!! Man!

Posing with Shamu after the show.

Nate continues to love all things pirate. This ship was in no way fitted with pirate decor, however, Nate declared it a pirate ship. Therefore we had to climb on...twice. It was also his primary reason for loving Clyde and Seymore, the pirate sea lions, and the Elmo Bookaneer show. I would say that his and MariCagle's preferences are slightly different. :)

The rides and play area for young children was quite impressive. They had lots of rides that the kids loved including the Shamu roller coaster and this crab free fall type ride. I was a little concerned that they might freak out at the top but as you can see, they loved every minute of it.

They both figured out pretty quickly how to get to the top. This was the site where Nate incurred his carpet-type burn on his belly. Needless to say, the boo-boo was very quickly forgotten after we took him to the first aid station and they patched him up and gave him a free stuffed Shamu.

We had a fantastic day and will hopefully be able to get back before we leave Florida to see all the things we missed this trip.