Family

One of the hardest parts about living 12 hours from your hometown, is missing family.  Every holiday or special occasion, you always know that everyone is gathered together having a great time..and you're not able to be there.  So this trip we were happy to be able to visit with a ton of our family.   One night we met up with the Brown family which is my family from my step-dad's side.  We had a great time and always enjoy getting to see them.  I posted some pics from that on facebook.  We also had a chance to visit with some of Randy's family as well.  This was a particularly exciting visit because Ella was able to meet her cousin Gracie!  They are only about 6 months apart or so and they had a blast playing together.

 Noah and Ella with cousin Nathan!

 Ella and Gracie playing together!

 The little ones made the play pen into a little fort and were just sitting in there chatting away.  I love it!  Brings back memories of holidays with my own cousins.

 Next, we were able to see some of our McCabe family.  We stopped by my Uncle David's house (my dad's youngest brother out of 7!).  We were able to celebrate his middle daughter Danielle's Birthday with them!  She was turning 6.  Danielle has an older brother James and a younger sister Kristen who is 2, so there were lots of fun friends to play with!

 Ella, cousin Danielle, and one of Danielle's friends..

 Here I am for a picture with my cousin Tiffany (my Dad's brother Tom's daughter) and my Uncle David.

 And here again..from the left: my cousin Tiffany's boyfriend Ryan, cousin Tiffany, myself, cousin Melissa (My Aunt Patty's daughter), My Aunt Patty (my Dad's sister), and my Uncle David. Whew!

It's always great to see family.  Can't wait until the next visit we have!

Florida Aquarium

Another fun outing we had while in Florida, was a trip to the aquarium!  My mom bought us all tickets to go sometime while we were on our trip so we decided to go one rainy morning we were there.  I took the kids in the double stroller, but since we made it there nice and early, there were very few people around and the kids got to spend most of the day walking and exploring out on their own.  They LOVED it there!!  Both of them had a blast..and I really did, too!  I'm thinking we may have to plan a trip out to the beach soon and check out the local aquarium.  

 One big hit with the kids was this little "touch tank" it had lots of fun stuff to touch like starfish and sea anemone!  Ella was a little hesitant and just barely touched one with the tip of her finger....

 but Noah was all about it and he touched everything he could get to!

 Hee! This picture makes me smile.  Ella wanted to get a picture with the mermaid.  Love her little crossed legs...seriously!! SO precious!

 We also watched a live animal show were they got to see some random animals like a baby alligator, skunk, turtle, and hawk..

 They showed some of the training techniques they use with the animals..

Another great day!

Mantatees!

So I finally got all of my blog "issues" squared away!!  Apparently as my blog is approaching 4 years of existence...I have used up all of the available memory for pictures?!  SO...I basically had to buy more space!  Thankfully it was a small $5 investment and I'm sure my faithful reader(s)..Hi Mom..Will be happy I paid it!

SO..I have a couple of random posts for you from a trip the kids and I made to Florida a couple of weeks ago.  We had a great time and really got to enjoy the warm weather and relaxation.  It's always nice to get "home" and see family and friends.  I have to admit..this last trip has left me more homesick then usual.  There's been a lot of space between my visits (8 months between this visit and the last) so maybe that just makes it particularly hard.  Not knowing when we will go back..

Still, like I said earlier, We had a great time!  So here are some pictures from one of our little adventures. The kids and I had spent the morning just hanging out and playing outside when I decided to take them on a little outing to see the manatees.  My in laws house (where we were staying) is in Riverview so it was just a quick drive over to see them.

For those of you reading that have no idea what I'm talking about, there is a great site to view Manatees. It's at one of the large power plants for the Tampa Bay area.  Here is a little excerpt from the TECO Manatee Viewing Center:

Tampa Electric’s Big Bend Power Station in Apollo Beach delivered reliable electricity to the community for 16 years before the commercial operation of Big Bend Unit 4 in 1986. That year, people started seeing manatees in large numbers in the power station’s discharge canal, where saltwater – taken from Tampa Bay to cool Unit 4 – flowed, clean and warm, back to the bay. When Tampa Bay reached 68 degrees or colder, the warm-blooded mammals would seek out this new refuge. The Manatee Viewing Center was soon born

There was quite a crowd of them gathered there that day.  I'd say probably at least 15.  The kids really seemed to enjoy it!  I remember going here and seeing them on field trips at school, but it had been a while since I saw them for myself.  They are so fascinating!!  It's just sort of strange to see such a large mammal swimming around in the water.  Also, we were excited to see several baby Manatees like the one pictured below..

Mama and Baby!

Here are the kiddos enjoying the view!

 One of the large smokestacks you can see high above the plant..

Noah and Ella seeing Manatees for the first time!  Couldn't get Noey to look at the camera though..

 Some of the power plant..

What a great way to spend a warm, sunny, Florida morning!