Shell Island Cruise

We went on a "cruise" to Shell Island while in Florida...it was great! We actually had the best time just riding the boat to the island...we fed seagulls out of our hands, and saw dolphins in the wild! That was well worth the trip!

Chilling on the boat:
The seagull took the goldfish (cracker, that is) right out of my hand while we were riding to Shell Island--it was so much fun! The kids preferred to throw the crackers and watch the birds catch them in midair--that was pretty cool, too.

I know this picture is blurry, but I still like it. They are looking for, what else, shells!!! Here is one of the better pictures I got of a dolphin...they were actually coming up a little out of the water looking at the people on the smaller boats...how cool!
All of the kids got a turn to drive the boat back to the marina.

Here's Dylan:
And Jodee:

And Dustin:That was so much fun--I definitely recommend it!

The Treasure Ship

In Florida, we ate at this really cool restaurant called "The Treasure Ship"--it actually has 3 different restaurants inside--depending on the type of food/atmosphere you are looking for. We chose the child-friendly menu, outside on the deck--and it was great! There was a "live" pirate there, and the kids got balloon animals and paintings done on their arms. This is what it looks like: Here are the kids with the pirate and his real sword!
Standing with Daddy on the top deck of the ship:

And, not related to the restaurant, these were some of our favorite stores in Panama City--just because you had to walk through the mouth of the whale or shark to get into the store! They also had live feedings of animals in the stores--pretty neat.
This one is Moby Dick: And Jaws:

If you look closely, my kids and hubby are in the doorways!

Meet Miley

(Yes, another break from vacation posting...I promise I'll go back to it someday!!)
We got Dustin an early birthday present last week when we got home from Florida. Something he's been wanting for quite a while...his own puppy! We have been looking all summer, and finally found Miley at the Edmond Animal Shelter. She is part beagle, part Australian cattle dog, 3 months old, fixed, has shots, and is a precious dog! She is really good...doesn't bark too much, loves all of the kids, and pretty soon she'll be the ultimate perfect dog, thanks to Petsmart obedience school! Dustin is taking her every Sunday for 8 weeks to puppy training, something I've never done before, although I've always had dogs. So far, (it's our first week), it's working! It really is, I'm not just saying that. She responds to a clicker very well, so hopefully that's a sign of good things to come.
Here is Roxy wondering who this strange dog is: Dustin lovin' on his puppy:
Resorted to carrying her in after a walk. She was worn out and he couldn't get her to come inside!
Sleepy puppy:
We love our little Miley! She won't be little for long, but we are enjoying her. And, yes, in case you were wondering, we got the name from Miley Cyrus/Hannah Montana. Dustin was coming up with names like Spotty, and Brownie, and so we all came up with a bunch of girl names, and Miley is what he chose. Thankfully.

The BIG first day of school!!

Well, I have to pause in my vacation posting to add a post in here today....it is the first day of school--for ALL of my children! I never thought this day was actually going to happen! Dustin is in 3rd grade, Jodee is in Kindergarten, and Dylan is in Pre-K. WOW--I have a full 2.5 hours to myself everyday! What in the world am I going to do?

I didn't get sad like a lot of other mom's, maybe because I've been through this a few times. But I 'm so excited for my kids to enter into another phase of their lives---school! I know they will love it, and love their teacher's, and have fun, and learn a lot!

I drove them to Orvis Risner this morning because it was a little rainy outside today. Bummer! We love walking to school. We walked Dustin to the front of the school and said a quick bye--he was ready to go!

Then, I walked the other two around to the pre-k and Kindergarten side of the school. We took Jodee to her class first, and being the big girl that she is, she went right in and found her place!! I watched for a minute from the doorway and we gave each other a thumbs up sign, and that was that. Too sweet.... Then, on to Dylan's classroom! We did what we were supposed to do--find his cubby, hang up his back pack, and find his spot around the circle, and listened to the sweet tear-jerker of a story "The Kissing Hand", and exchanged heart stickers (well, he didn't really want his, so I ended up with 2!), and I was out of there. So happy for him to have a good teacher and a good school to go to. They are growing up!

I enjoyed my time...got a little cleaning done, but not much. It was weird being home alone...but okay. It was only two and a half hours!! Check back with me in a couple of years when Dylan starts 1st grade and I'm home alone ALL day! That may be a totally different story!

Here are the kiddos in their choice of clothing for the first day...yes, those are "sleeves" on Jodee--came with her Hannah Montana shirt!And, showing off their backpacks:

And the ritual--the pic in front of the marquee! It looks like Dylan's backpack is heavy huh? It's not...he's just standing funny! Well, it was a great day so far. I walked to pick up Jodee and Dylan and we went to sonic with the Bailey's to talk about their exciting first day! Can't wait to see Dustin!

Playin' in the sand

The sand in Panama City was beautiful! We had fun with some new sand toys that I surprised the kids with--and they found TONS of neat shells! That was Jodee's favorite thing to do--find shells. Dylan with one of our new toys:
Dustin trying it out:
Josh caught a jellyfish in our bucket the first day we played in the ocean--very cool to see--but not fun to think that those things were swimming with us!
Also, while hunting for shells, Jodee found a sea turtle eggshell!! It is SO cool! The sea turtles are a protected species, so while the turtles are still in the eggs, they put tape around the area of the beach so they are not disturbed. But, I guess Jodee found an area after the tape had been brought down where the eggs had been--and found an empty eggshell! She also wanted to show her really neat big shell that she found:

Those are some of the highlights from our first morning at the beach! Much more to come!

We love Florida!

Well, we did it! First we drove to Austin to visit all of Josh's family last Wed. night. We had so much fun! My mom-in-law got my sister in law Summer and me pedicures (thanks again Pam!!), and we took our kids and 2 cousins (and Pam) to the Austin Children's Museum. It was fun! Definitely not the omniplex, but it was nice for a couple of hours of entertainment for the kiddos. We really enjoy visiting all of our family down there--and miss them so much between the visits!!
Then, at ~4 am Friday morning, we packed up and headed out to Panama City Beach, Florida!! I made Josh stop at every visitor's center for each state we went through to take pictures. He didn't want to be in them, but I promise he was there!! We also stopped in every state and got each kid a key chain with the state name on it so they can remember where all they've been. It added some time to the trip, but I think it was worth it! The kids were SO good in the car! I was so proud of them for their great behavior--I knew it could go either way--but I'm so happy it turned out nice.
Here are the state signs on our way to FL:

Can you tell how happy we are to FINALLY be in Florida??
And, we had to go to the beach that night...found crabs, shells, and got a little wet in the ocean.
There will be much more to come!!

Last minute post...

Well, I figured I should do a post before our vacation....we are heading to Florida!! woohoo!! I am so excited--we are going to Panama City to enjoy the beach and ocean for 5 days. It's a long drive, but I think we can handle it. Here are some pics from the past week:

Jodee in front of our HUGE sunflowers! We planted these in May--the one in the middle is over 10 feet tall!!

A rock star in the making??? Nice headband, Jodee.Skating at the skate park--he's getting pretty good!One of the coolest places around...Bouncin Craze! They got a new toy--air hockey! The kids loved it.And, of course they loved the inflatables!Okay, everyone's been updated....now we're off!

Dylan's a winner!

We always do the "Summer Reading Program" through the public library--and the kids get little prizes and coupons, and entered into numerous drawings for really good prizes. We have been doing this for something like 5 years, I think. We have NEVER won anything.....until now! Dylan got a phone call Friday saying his name was drawn and he won a family year-long pass to Science Museum Oklahoma!! (aka the Omniplex). We were SO excited! We let our pass expire earlier this year, and planned on renewing it this fall, but now I dont' have to pay for it! Yippee! That's always a good thing! We decided to go today, to see if there was anything new, and there is! For all of you that live close by, you need to go and seethe "Science Live" show. It was great!! It's on explosions and chemical reactions--but if you have little ones--it is a little loud! Luckily all 3 of the kiddos enjoyed it--even though Dylan got a little confused and started covering his eyes instead of his ears for the explosions!! It was funny--and very entertaining!

I don't have any pics from the omniplex (we weren't planning on staying that long!), but I have a pic of Dylan and Jo and Dusty at the library after receiving his prize:

I know, he doesn't look thrilled, but I promise--he is! He just didn't want his picture taken--thanks to Jodee and Dustin for standing with him!