3 legged Bandit

Mikayla has been asking DAILY for a dog or bird now for months. Zach loves dogs and I feel he was missing out on that part of childhood. Mikayla said she wanted something that was just hers that she could take care of...so we ended up at the Humane Society and I thought that maybe in 6 months we would find the perfect dog to replace my Sunny and Sandy (yellow labs that my parents have). 2 weekends ago after painting all day and telling Mikayla if she was good we would just stop by the HS, we hurried over 20 mins before they closed. And there we found the most loving but yet sad 3 legged dog (sorry pic doesn't show it well, its his right front paw) and we just couldn't leave him there. The positives to a 3 legged dog are that he can't dig, can't pull the kids down when they walk him and can't jump up on people very well. He also doesn't bark and weighs only about 30 pounds..which is nice compared to our 70lbs labs that drug us everywhere. Everyone who meets Bandit (Mikayla choose the name) loves him and says how sweet he is.

NYC

While my parents were in town we went to NYC for my first time. We were there 2 nights 2 days and had a great time, shopping, eating good food, and doing a double decker tour. The only negative was when B's wallet was stolen out of our safe at the Marriott just as we were headed to the airport. So we had to run 10 blocks to the train station to get the airport early so they could call the FBI and ask lots of questions and do lots of pat downs to finally let him on the plane.

Orlando

Byron had a work conference in Orlando, staying on site at Disney at a nice resort with a waterslide and playground, foosball table and lake so we decided to go with him. I took the kids to Sea World all by myself 1 day from 9-6pm, we got to see and do everything but feed the dolphins because they closed it early so Kenzie was sad about that, next time. Sea World had a special going on where kids where only $5 with a paid adult. It was a beautiful day, the park was empty and the kids behaved except for during a sit down lunch at the shark exhibit where Mikayla proceeded to put pepper on Kenzies mac and cheese so that she could have it for herself, which of course thru Kenzie into a tizzie. But other than that they were great. They even got to ride the kids rides again and again without getting off cuz the park was so empty!


On the way home from Orlando we stopped at Byron's gma who lives about an 1.5 hrs from Orlando.
The kids loved the waterslide and pool. We were there at 8am just as it opened because they loved it so.....not many other people there that early....Zach also loved the foosball table, we played that for a few hours, and we rode our scooters around the lake.

Family pics 2010

My snuggle puppy!
By the looks of this pic you wouldn't believe me if I told you they fight all the time!

FAll fun

Zach's preschool did a little thanksgiving program/sing along

The most sparse corn maize I have ever been too...you could see thru the corn!
Zach loved the cow train at the corn maize though

Jax zoo

We did the Jax zoo this past fall

long over due....halloween

Ichetucknee river

Since Linsey was here we decided to float Ichetucknee river on a Sat right before school went back....BAD IDEA! The park rangers said that before 8am 750 people were already waiting to enter the river. by the time we got there at 10:30 only the south enterence was open, we waited in line for about an hr to enter the park, then again in line herding like cattle into the river, then played bumper tubes with crazy people all the way down the river. Wish I had a pic to show you but don't have a waterproof camera. Just imagine cattle herding down and river and thats what we looked like. AND Mikaylas expensive glasses got thrown into the water...we won't say who's fault that was....mind you we 3 days soon just come back from the eye dr. who said she didn't need new glasses....now I guess she does. The water is 72 degrees year round and cold. Next year we will be sure to go during the week. The upper pic is of the kids getting into one of the cold springs watering hole.
This is a deadly cotton mouth snake that was on the edge of the water hole that my kids were swimming in....there were 2 that I saw and I can only imagine how many that I couldn't see.

Costa Rica

Byron has been begging to go back to Costa Rica (where he served his mission) ever since we got married. Thanks to my sister who was willing to watch the kids we went for 5 days. The roads are terrible there, windy, narrow and a lot of the time you are driving in the rain and through a cloud forest. We rented a 5 speed Toyota Yaris that Byron had fun driving thinking he was a race car driver going around the turns with a cliff on both sides, with Amber saying slow down and ready to puke. We decided to just concentrate on the rainforest and volcano and hit the beach another time since they span each other by about 8hrs.
This is an active volcano and we stayed at the only hotel that you could actually view it from.
This is one of many waterfall hikes that we went on, on average we hiked about 2x a day.
This is the view over a cloud forest right outside of our room. The placed we stayed was tons of acres owned by a bunch of Israels. The great part was the on site food and activities, so we never left the resort. We ziplined here and river rafted and hiked.
This is me ziplining. I was terrified to do it cuz I am scared of heights, but since you can't see the ground because the trees are so thick it wasn't so bad and I just never looked down. We were about 26 stories up. We had a great time, but I was ready to come home to the good ol USA were there are actually street signs and no bars on the the windows.

Swim time

Byron taught the kids how to do flips forward and back this summer much to Amber's dismay.

Summer time fun!

With school starting back tommorrow I wanted to recap Summer 2010: The kids had a blast blueberry picking and then making lots of blueberry smoothies. Amber and Byron went to Costa Rica. Mikayla did 2 pottery camps and made lots of cool things. Makenzie did a "messy camp" and had a blast. Amber's sister came to visit for a few weeks and we all went to wet n wild waterpark, summerwaves waterpark and floated the itchetucknee river, and went bowling and played lots of games. AND did lots of swimming! We sure had a blast this last summer! pics to follow.

Driftwood beach bike ride

Zach and Kenzie
Mikayla up in a tree...that she could not get out of by herself...



Last weekend we took a bike ride to driftwood beach and the kids had fun playing on all the trees at low tide.

Dancing Queen

Kenzie did a salsa dance this year with a patriotic theme to the show...she is getting so good, she also did a hip hop number...I think she dances better than me or Byron. She is also going to a zumba class.

Memorial Day Weekend

We took a bike ride on Jekyll island with our new bike rack, swam in the neighbors pool for a few hours. Byron camped in the backyard with the kids. If you can call it camping when you have a blow up bed and fan blowing on you. One night Kenzie got kicked back inside to sleep cuz she wouldn't be quite by 10pm and the next night Mikayla got kicked out cuz she wouldn't behave. Zach did pretty well but woke up early and was crabby. but at least we had all the comforts of home within reach. This is practice to see when they are ready to brave "real" camping.

Best garage sale ever!

Sat I hit the best garage sale yet! This is a pic of the kids playing ps2 rockband without even being hooked up. Kenzie was singing a song and playing guitar while Zach was playing the drums. Zach was soo into it that I had to take the pic 3x cuz he wouldn't stop bouncing to Kenzies music. This whole set plus disc and microphone...only $20 normally around $200. I also got uno attack, a karaoke machine for $5, dance dance revolution and mat for only $15, LL Bean rolling backpack like new for $5, a book for Mikayla and carrying case for her gameboy. I sure do love garage sales! This will go up in our new 440sqft toyroom that we are building in the attic with stairs coming from the laundry room.

I have the Force

This is Zachs favorite thing to do with daddy....He really thinks he has"the force"..especially since Byron pretends to die and lose an arm.

Zachs Harem

Today at the park Zach was playing with 2 of his "girlfriends." when another boy a little bigger and older than Zach (maybe 4) tried to play with "his girls" he stood in front of them put his arms out to each side and said "these are my friends"

I want to be like Daddy

Zach wants to be just like Daddy so he is wearing one of Byron's ties. And for some reason every time I take a picture he tilts his head sideways and sticks his tongue out.

Soccer girls

Kenzie was sooo tired after soccer that she fell asleep watching tv

Kenzie
Kenzie just making a goal
Mikayla (pink shirt with glasses) Not afraid to get the ball


Kenzie is great at making goals, she makes at least 3 a game which is only 30 mins long. She loves to play and gets this big toothless grin on her face everytime she makes one. Mikayla is a great defensive player and goalie. She is not afraid to go up and fight for the ball.

Handy Zach

Zach loves to fix things and use the electric screwdriver. Anytime batteries need to be replaced he tries to do it himself. He actually did a pretty good job of fixing this bench that the arm had fallen off of.

Zach turns 3

My sweet snuggle puppy has turned 3! He loves cars,playing basketball, tball, soccer and cuddling. As you can see he also has the cutest smile ever! We just love to squeeze him and his cheeks! Byron hid his presents so he had to find them this year and he wanted to blow out his candles again cuz it was soooo much fun. So he got to do it 2x. Even Byron comments on how heavy this boy is....and Byron lifts weights lots of them!