Dinner with the Family

I think I've mentioned before, but my youngest brother Joe and his wife Lindsay live in Brandon, FL (just outside Tampa). My oldest sister Amy and her husband Todd decided to take their kids on a cruise this year for Christmas, departing out of Port Canaveral. So before they took off, we all met up for dinner!We thought Benihana's would be a fun place! The kids were so happy to see their Uncle Joe again!I've already seen pictures of the Jensen's cruise, and it looks like they had so much fun! (It's taken me a while to finally post pictures of our Christmas... I know!)

Joe had to work Thanksgiving this year so he and Lindsay weren't able to join us in Tennessee. We were so glad to be able to see them and catch up! Here they are with our niece, Kaylee.The kids got these cute little hats and chopsticks which kept them entertained for a while.
The next day was Karrington's birthday, so Amy had the restaurant come sing to her. She is now 14!!! I can't believe it!! Here is Kinley, Avery and Karrington waiting patiently for their cook.Not waiting as patiently was my daughter, Addie! She was just too excited to hang out with her cousin, Kimball!But once the cook got there, she was all eyes!!
The kids were very entertained!!I think Austin has a new career choice!And he had a couple of assistants come join him to cook for us!Ashton didn't want to miss out on any of the fun either!

Such a great evening!! We had a blast... only wish it lasted longer! :)

Back to the Beach!!

We found a little friend waiting for us at the beach! We had so much fun the day before, we decided to put on our swimsuits and try another gorgeous day at the beach! The weather was perfect. And you know me, the kids can't go swim/play until I get a picture of each of them! So here we go... Avery Madisen

Austin Edward

Addison Elise

and last but not least... Ashton McKay John, aka AJ!

Avery went straight back to her job of collecting seashells!Austin stopped from picking up the frisbee for this snapshot.We went back to Ron Jon Surf Shop for a couple of beach towels and the kids picked out some sunglasses. I love these glasses on Addie! And here is Ashton taking in the sun and fun!We love this frisbee we bought. It doesn't always go where we want it to... but it goes far!!Addie was having another race with the water! Looks like she won this time!We also bought a pail and had a lot of fun building this sand castle.
Here is Ashton and Addie learning from their dad how to build it!

And again, the final product! AJ kept asking the whole time if she could tear it down. In fact, we had to hold her back a few times! We finally let her do it... another great day at the beach!

Magic Kingdom- 2nd attempt!

After our fun day at the beach, we decided we could attempt DisneyWorld again. So we went back to our hotel, cleaned up, and headed out! Our new plan was to get in as many shows/parades and then do a few rides here and there. One of the parades I really wanted to see was the electric parade and firework show at Magic Kingdom.Look at the smiles on these kids! The Magic Kingdom is so magically at night! We couldn't believe the lights on the castle... and they kept changing colors!The electric parade was so fun... it was exactly how I remembered it when I was a young girl at DisneyLand. Here is Cinderella in her coach.And the firework show was so cool! At the beginning they have Tinkerbell start the show by flying down from the castle We were standing right under where she flew... the kids loved it!After the show, a lot of people were leaving so we thought we would take advantage and get a few rides in. We started at Buss Lightyear's Space Ranger Spin. I think Ashton had fallen asleep so I took the kids through this one. After that, Randy went with the older kids to Space Mountain. While they were there, I took Addie and AJ to Monsters, Inc. Laugh Floor. It was a lot better than I thought it would be. A comedy show, and I was laughing so hard. Ashton woke up after this show (probably from me laughing) so I took her and Addie back through the Buzz Lightyear ride. They loved it.
Here's another pick from Buzz Lightyear. We met back up with Randy, Avery and Austin and then I went through Space Mountain with them while Randy stayed with the younger girls. This was one of the rides Addie wasn't quite tall enough for or I'm sure she would have done it too! But I had to go to Space Mountain... another ride you can't miss at DisneyWorld! We ended up leaving the park this night at 1am! I know, I told you the beach was rejuvenating!

Taking a break at Cocoa Beach

Once again, we slept in! We were going to go to Magic Kingdom again, but we just weren't quite pumped up for the crowds. So we headed to Cocoa Beach instead! All we brought were tennis shoes, so our first stop was to Ron Jon Surf Shop to get some more beach appropriate shoes!We also picked up a frisbee and a volleyball so we would have a few activities to do! Now this was our idea of a great vacation! Just the break we needed! The weather was great!
The kids, especially Avery, were so excited to find seashells all over the beach!The sand was so nice and warm! At first we had fun just playing in it...But it didn't take long til the water was more enticing!Addie was trying to beat the water before it got to her, but it was pretty fast! We weren't planning on getting in the water this day, so we didn't bring our swimsuits.But it didn't take long for the kids to get all wet! Oh well, they were having fun!Even Ashton removed her shirt after it was soaking wet! Thank you, daddy, for letting me take my shirt off!Avery was a little jealous that Ashton could take her shirt off! Because even though the weather was nice and the sand was warm... the water was COLD!!But it didn't stop them! Avery said after a while you just get numb and don't realize it's so cold. I just took her word for it!What a great day, we needed this so much! I told Randy our next vacation will just be to a beach house where we can stay for a whole week!
We were even tempted to not go back to DisneyWorld after seeing how much fun the kids were having here. This was Ashton's first time in the sand. I hate sand... but I don't mind it on vacation because it wasn't going back to my house or my car!Our day of rejuvenation!My shirtless kids, trying to warm themselves in the sand....

And then decided to make a blanket out of the sand! Randy buried each one of them, they loved it!

John Family Vacation '10.... our favorite vacation yet!