It's fun to be Emma!

February is quickly on the way out, and I'm still mentally half way stuck in January. The boys and I were super lucky to get a break from winter for a couple of weeks, and I think the recess scrambled my brain a bit.

The reason for our trip to sunnier skies was to celebrate Emma's first birthday with the Bacons. There's something about first birthdays that seem to me to be as much as a celebration for the family and friends as it is for the person turning one. Emma is one very loved little girl, and it was lots of fun to be around so many people who love her as much as we do.



Emma is at such a fun age. There's so much for her to absorb at her age. How interesting it would be to get inside her head and see her take on all the things she's experiencing right now.

A couple days following Emma's party we had planned on returning home, but we ended up extending our stay to lend some help. Honey had not been well when we first arrived and needed some extra care to recover from a nasty case of pneumonia. Although the circumstances were far from ideal, it was nice to be able to spend the extra time with the Bacons.

A little of the extra time included another fun party the following weekend. The Bacons are skilled at throwing a good party. Emma's party followed by their Super Bowl party the following weekend were no exceptions! I had lots of fun with Patti getting food ready for the party. I get so many great and delicious ideas from her.

During our stay we also enjoyed a nice visit with Grandma Gaile and her husband Jim, who were kind enough to make the drive over to Orlando from Sarasota. They treated us to lunch, froyo, and gifts for the boys. It was so nice to be able to visit with them and so much sooner than we had anticipated.

I didn't care to leave our friends and the warm weather behind, but it was good to come home to Darius. He doesn't like it when we leave him for long periods, and I can't say that I blame him. We miss being away from him too. I appreciate him and his job which allows us these opportunities to visit our far-away friends and family!

Triple G

The boys' Great Grandma Gaile paid us a visit a couple of weeks ago. She and her husband, Jim, made the drive to Orlando from Sarasota, and it turned out to be a much longer drive than usual. A tanker truck carrying fuel had overturned on the interstate and spilled its load which had traffic snarled for most of the day.

We changed our plans once Gaile and Jim arrived and instead of visiting the Science Center, we enjoyed a visit at our place followed by a quick trip to get ice cream.

Ben and Zach love their visits with Great Grandma Gaile and Jim. Ben was quite the host and showed GGG his room, the bathroom, the shower curtain, and the toilet. Important stuff. Zach talked Jim into looking at Star Wars books and playing trains with him, and they very much enjoyed the little gifts GGG brought for them.

We appreciate how thoughtful Gaile has always been with all of us. It's nice to have a little extra family in FL, and we always enjoy our visits with her.

Pre & Post Birthday Fun

Darius took a couple days off this week and we were able to do some fun stuff with the boys the day before and after their birthday. Sunday Zach came down with a 24-hour bug of some sort and was running fever. We were so relieved Monday morning when he was over it, and instead of keeping him on lock down we decided it would be better to get him outside, so we visited the Central Florida Zoo.

It was a smaller zoo, but it was the perfect size for us to tackle. There was an awesome snake exhibit with a couple dozen different species which the boys were super excited about, but even as enthusiastic as Zach was about the snakes, he told me his favorite animal at the zoo was the porcupine.

Inside the zoo there was also a fun playground and splash pad that the boys both enjoyed. Probably the coolest thing about the zoo was actually in the area outside of it. Up in the trees tops is the ZOOm Air Adventure Park equipped with zip lines, rope bridges, suspended discs, etc. It looked like so much fun, and a few years down the road I can totally see the boys up there having a blast.

The day after the boys' birthday we took a little road trip over to Sarasota to visit Grandma Gaile and her husband Jim. She had a little party planned for the boys, and we had a lovely visit. We enjoyed lunch and more birthday cake (which I ate too much of), and the boys were thrilled with more birthday gifts. Ben tackled 2 new puzzles, Zach loved on his plush sea turtle, and later they both enjoyed watching Jim's model electric trains.

On our way home we stopped by our favorite produce stand in Lakeland and picked up a flat of fresh strawberries and lots of other goodies. It's still a thrill to be able to buy such awesome produce for a fraction of what it would cost us in AK.

The past several days have been full of fun, and it's been great for us to spend all this time together, especially to celebrate the boys and the day they came into our lives.

We love you so much Ben & Zach!

Sarasota

On Friday we got an early start and drove south to visit the boys' great grandma, Gaile, in Sarasota. She and her husband Jim met us at the Sarasota Jungle Gardens, which is a zoo-type park with 10 acres of beautiful gardens housing rescued/donated birds and reptiles.

 The park was the perfect size for the boys and we had fun mingling with the free-roaming flamingos. There was a great playground within the park that the boys gravitated to, and we ended our visit to the park after watching the Birds of the Rainforest bird show.

After the park, Gaile and Jim treated us to lunch at Lee Roy Selmon's and gifted the boys with some new books, little stuffed Curious Georges, and birthday presents to take home with us. Grandma Gaile has always been so generous with us, especially Ben and Zach, and we enjoy our visits with her. Thanks Gaile and Jim for taking the time to meet up with us! We enjoyed our visit!