Cousins and friends forever-

It's as simple as that. I just thought I would take a minute to share a few quick pictures that I had on my phone. I have more on my camera that I will share later.

Here is a picture of two special girls in our family. Ellie, I might add, was VERY sad to see this cousin leave-



Here are the boys...and which of these two do you think are brothers? haha...



And the entire crew-



We had an amazing week spending time with lots of special people whom we don't get to see near as much as we would like. The best part is these kids can go 2 years without seeing each other, yet when they are back together, it's like they need missed a beat . Love that about those kids...

Thank you to Aunt Essie and Uncle Tony for the fun times, good memories, shopping trips, and especially for watching out for our 2 little ones during all the crazy festivities we had going on with the reunion.

We will miss you guys dearly! Safe travels back across the pond and we anxiously await the next time we are together. I'll get in touch with you about our Skype day, Es...I've already talked to little E about it.

Lots of love to all of you!

T,J,J & E

We ended our vacation...

with what else? A baseball tournament in Coral Springs... We lost our first two games on Sat. and then won our next two on Sun. We were scheduled to begin our playoff game for 3rd and 4th place when it started to pour down rain. They ended up canceling the games and we got to head north to our very own, nice, comfy and cozy beds....ahhhhh!

Time to begin the unpacking, putting away and a little bit of laundry. Does anyone have any idea on how to get these pants clean? I've tried every spray out there and can't seem to find a good one that will get these back to the sparkling white they once were.

I'm not sure if it's because my son plays so hard, or if he just insists on sliding head first at every chance he gets. Okay, so maybe it's a little of both. I can almost bet that after every game my son will be the one that comes out with the dirtest pants...guaranteed...every time! Which leads me to my next question...why would you buy white pants for a group of 12 yr old boys anyways?

Well, it's been a great week off from work spending quality time with some of my favorite people. There is nothing better than that. Good times, good times....

More vacation pictures-

This picture may be a little de ja vue to some some of you...does it seem like you are back in New York?



Just thought this was a funny picture of someone's sandy feet-



Ellie's favorite part of the resort....pirate ship time-



We weren't there 5 minutes and already had our first boo-boo-

Nice shot of Daddy and the kids-

The bartender took one of all of us-

Then Daddy took one of me and the kids-

Another favorite activity...jumping off the platform in the lagoon. Although I had a hard time getting a clear shot (need a new camera), I thought this was a pretty funny shot-

Ellie looks terrified in this picture...wonder if she was having flashbacks of the jellyfish that Daddy and Jacob saw which really seemed to freak her out-

Daddy losing ground as they swam out to the lagoon. Todd said it was a good 20-25 feet deep around the platform-

Just a shot of the opposite end of the lagoon where I was sitting-

I had a really hard time getting a good shot of the dolphins. Again, need a new camera...mine just wasn't quick enough to catch them jumping out of the water.

The firepit where Daddy and I sat while the kids....

played in the pool-

A liked this picture of the kids standing outside the resort-

The "Lucky-Ducky" game that the kids played at game time. This is the resort worker giving them instructions-

Then she threw out the ducks and said "Get ready, get set.....

GO!"

Looking for the lucky winner....duck #21-

A few more shots of Ellie's favorite spot-

I loved this little palm tree. The little coconuts would fill up with water and then topple over on whoever was walking by-

The little playground for Ellie-

Okay, I think that's going to be it for now. I will try and upload some more later.

Great times, great memories!

Key West Pictures

I just thought I would try to upload some of these vacation pictures again, but blogger is still being a pain in the butt and I'm frustrated since it's making me upload one picture at a time, so the pictures will have to tell the story.

Pics from the Southern most point of the US. It was a little overcast, so probably not the best sunset I've ever seen, but it was still a pleasant evening out.

This is one my favorites because of the sailboat in the background-

America, America...

God shed his grace on thee...

Happy 4th, Everyone! and...

Happy Birthday, Uncle Paul!

XOXO

Oh yeah-

I forgot to tell you about our little incident immediately following our wonderful parasailing experience. So as Jacob and I were relishing in our adventurous endeavor, we met Todd and Ellie back at the dock, went to check out these HUGE tarpon fish that Ellie was feeding and then headed back to the truck. Within seconds after I sit down in the truck, Jacob starts screaming and crying hysterically. As I look over to see what's going on, all I could see was the top part of his hand crushed in the truck door. Todd had shut Jacob's entire hand, from the knuckles down, in the backseat door. Yes, I probably panicked a little because at the moment it seemed as though Todd was moving in slow motion as he reached for the car handle, plus it tugs at my heart strings seeing either of my kids in such distress. Luckily, it turned out that he was/is okay. If anything, I think it just scared the crap out of him.

On a brighter note, here are a few pictures from our night at Key West:

(sorry, but I've been trying for 2 days to upload these pictures to my blog and for some reason it's not letting me do it. I guess I'll have to post these later.)

We are now in Coral Springs for Jacob's baseball tournament as our vacation starts to wind down...sigh. It's been an amazing week and I highly recommend Hawk's Cay for anyone looking for a little relaxtion along the Gulf or the Atlantic. The kids found it pretty amazing that they could walk out the back porch and climb a tree that sat on the Gulf water line, yet walk to the lagoon and swim in the Atlantic Ocean. Other than the night we went to Key West, we never even left the resort and we had plenty of activities to keep us entertained from dusk to dawn...we will definitely be going back again.

Well, I guess we'll be heading back to the Fort sometime in the afternoon on the 4th.

Happy Friday!

WE DID IT!!

Believe it or not, folks, I actually convinced Jacob to go parasailing with me today. He's becoming a little more daring the older he gets. Honestly, it wasn't that hard to convince him because he was, surprisingly, pretty willing to go. All morning I kept debating....should we go or should we not, so I decided to call and get the details. The funny thing is when I called they only had one opening left for the rest of the day and that was at their 1:00 sail...guess what time I called? 12:45! At that point, there wasn't much time to really think about it, so I made a quick decision to reserve our spot, grabbed our stuff and we headed down the street.

Everything was good at first - Jacob was a tad quiet, but in his world that simply means he's a little nervous. There was a sister and brother going before us and the young teen boy was asking Jacob a lot of questions about baseball (he had on one of his baseball shirts), but all the boy could get out of Jacob was very short, one word answers. Although a little afraid and apprehensive, all was good until we got in the boat and I, foolishly, asked the captain, "how high do we go?" As soon as Jacob heard, "oh...about 350-400 feet," he started to get really nervous. He wasn't quite in panic mode, but you could tell he was more nervous...."What? 400 feet?" Plus, it didn't help when the young girl before us came back looking as white as a ghost and feeling sea-sick. The guys on the boat were great...they were laughing and joking with Jacob trying to lighten the mood. All in all, I have to say Jacob surprised me and handled it very well.

I only wished we could of gotten pictures. I have to admit 350-400 feet is pretty high in the sky and even I was a little nervous. By the time we got back to the boat, I thought they were going to have to peel my hands off the bars you hang onto because I had a death-grip on them. I did get to see some sea turtles and a shark.

I believe Jacob enjoyed it, but I do think he was expecting something maybe a little more fast paced. It was definitely a very quiet and serene experience high in the sky, and one I'm glad I got to experience with my favorite little guy.

XOXO

You may initially believe...

you are in South America when you see of these walk by, even if you are laying by the lagoon in Key West, FL...







and Momma's baby-



or perhaps sailing the ocean and you see one of these jump by-



Yep, we have iguanas walking the lagoon just as if they belong there and dolphins jumping in the water in the dolphin encounter right next to the lagoon. Crazy...

We spent most of the morning playing in the lagoon and relaxing by the pool. We just came in to take a quick break and eat some lunch, now it's off to the Indies Club for a little slipping and sliding on the Pirate ship and some more hot and sweating basketball fun.

XOXO

What a fabulous start...

to our vaca at Hawk's Cay in Duck Key, FL. There is a lot to do here. I'll try and get a lot of pictures posted, but it's late and I'm exhausted after an afternoon full of activities, so this post is going to be quick and consist mostly of our villa. A post full of activities will follow later...

A few outside shots of our cute and charming villa:

The family room as you enter the front door:

The kitchen is to the right as you enter through the front door (me taking a shot from the stairs):

The master bedroom:

The view/porch outside the family room sliders (there is also a porch outside the master suite, and the spare room):

This is a little path in between pools and play areas...it's very nature, kind of tropical looking:

One of many pools to swim in:

And a really cool firepit out by the lagoon and pool:

There is so much to see and do here. We've been here since late afternoon and I've already taken a ton of pictures, but I'll have to share the rest a little later. However, here are a few of my favorite shots from the day.

Jacob doing what he loves best:

A cute shot of Ellie at the lagoon. They loved jumping off that platform in the middle.

And, to end the day, a cute shot of my two favorite little people looking like they actually love each other (and I didn't even have to tell them to do that):

Wonderful day...I wonder what tomorrow will have in store. I'm thinking a little parasailing with my favorite little guy. We'll keep ya posted, but so far, so good! Wished you all could be here to join in the fun!

XOXO,

J