A Day at the Beach... or not.

While Carrie and Todd were visiting, we found this great little place on the intercoastal to dock the boat. It's a nice area that is just a one minute walk from the ocean.

 It has picnic tables, grills, bathrooms, etc. right where you dock. We thought it would be a great way to spend a Saturday so we made plans with our new boat co-owners (The Mays) and the Mulcocks to head over there.

The day got off to a great start, only leaving the house one hour after the estimated time of departure (not bad for a Rhodes outing). First stop was the gas station. As we were pulling in, we noticed this guy, under the air/vacuum machine:

He has nothing to do with this story, I just thought it was crazy that this is where this guy decided to pass out. Gas station parking lot. There has got to be a more comfortable place for that... on a bench somewhere in a park?
Anyway... while Tyler was getting gas, I decided to run in to the gas station to grab some waters. Owen wanted to stay in the car and "drive" so I turned the car off but didn't think the take the keys out of the ignition. When I got out of the gas station, I went to get in the car and all the doors were locked, with my two children inside, with the air off, in 90 degree heat. Great. We figured Owen could unlock the doors for us but after ten or fifteen minutes of us trying to get him to push the unlock button and him not quite getting it, the gas station attendant (who we had asked for a hanger or anything that we could get the door open with ten minutes earlier) came out with a slim jim to help us open the door. I guess he was afraid to bring it out to us before because apparently it's illegal to own a slim jim (Tyler is explaining this to me as I write this post). Thanks to the gas station attendant lending us his illegal equipment, we finally got the door open.
 We got down to the boat launch and everything was finally going as planned. I got out of the car, had both kids in my arms and was trying to lift Owen up onto the peir when I slipped, and this happened:

Is that gross? Should I not post pictures like that?
It didn't feel good, but I'll be honest, my pride was hurt worse than my knee. You would think I would get over being embarrassed from falling because I'm always doing it. I'm super clumsy. I even fell down the stairs at my high school graduation when I was walking to get my diploma (but that's anther story). Anyway... second not so great thing to happen that day.

We got on the boat and everyone was happy. Look at these three kiddos loving the boat ride:

Two minutes into the boat ride we got pulled over by a cop because two of the life jackets we had on the kids were a bit too big. The cop made us feel like horrible parents and then gave us two free life jackets. I guess that isn't too bad when you get pulled over by the boat police and drive away with something free.
Finally got to the beach and set everything up.

Once we got settled, we jumped in the water and found these suckers all over the place:

Since we docked our boat just a few steps away from the beach, we decided to go over to the other side to swim there; hoping to find better water. Which we did, everyone was having a great time...

  until about five minutes after this picture was taken when both Jeff and Tyler got stung by this little guy:

After so many not so great incidents all in one trip we decided we'd better call it a day and head home.

We actually did have a really fun time with great friends but it was probably one of the most eventful beach days we've had thus far in South Florida. I think I'd be ok if that was the only super eventful beach day we had like that one as long as we live here. 

Orlando Baby!!!

This past week, Tyler was heading to Orlando for work so me Owen and Collette decided to tag along and invited some friends to meet up with on Friday for a little weekend getaway. We had a BLAST! Thanks Mulcock's!!!

The first few days, me Owen and Collette just hung at the hotel pool. Tyler had a hookup at this great resort. We couldn't get enough of this place, the pool was amazing. Live music, cool kids area, splash pad, the works! Who needs to leave the hotel when you've got a place like this?!

Friday we grabbed some dinner at Panera (yummm), headed back to the hotel and met up with these guys:

 Jeff, Cait and Max. We love them. They are leaving us in a month and we are trying to spend every minute we can with them until they go. JEFF AND CAITLIN... DON'T GO!

Our main reason for wanting to stay the weekend was so that we could visit the temple. I have something I'm ashamed to admit, Tyler and I haven't been to the temple since we moved to Florida a year and a half ago so... it was way past due for us. We took our turns; while Jeff and Cait headed to get a spiritual high, we hung with this cool little dude:

Owen's best buddy right now. They can't get enough of each other, except when  they are pushing each other. You know, because that's what best buddies do when they're one and two years old.

And then our turn. This temple is gorgeous; what a great afternoon.

After being spiritually fed, we headed over to one of our favorite restaurants Bahama Breeze to feed out bellies. Can you say yummy?

 . A little coconut shrimp to start with and then some ribs with guava bbq sauce... so good.

Have I mentioned that Cait and I are doing a health challenge right now? Grand Prize: One night out with the husband, babysitting and $50 for the date given by the loser. Seriously people, I can not lose this challenge. I have got to get rid of the leftovers from my sweet little Coley. Last week, one of my young women asked me if I was already having another baby. Hmmmm... no, but thank you for reminding me that I still look six months pregnant.

Back to the food, I'm sure you're confused on how I can have ribs and be having a health challenge. Two words: Cheat Day. Since we were there together, we decided it was the perfect time for it. And why stop at ribs? Why not head over for some ice cream while we're at it?

These are the series of "sexy poses" we were doing for the camera. 

Jeff must practice is sexy pose. He knew what he was doing.

Tyler looked like he knew what was going on too. I guess I haven't quite figured the "sexy" thing out. Instead I look at this picture and wonder what song I'm singing. I know it's definitely not JT's "I'm Bringing Sexy Back."

Sunday we headed to Sea World. Is that so wrong... temple on Saturday then break the sabbath to see a bunch of fish? Wait... don't answer that. I think I already might know the answer.

Can you tell by this picture that we had such a fantastic time? Doesn't Owen look like he's in heaven? We were spending time with the sting rays. We also hung with the dolphins.

This is Max telling you all about them.

And hit up a couple of shows while we were there:

This lady is riding on the nose of two dolphins. For some reason I was super impressed by this.

 Isn't this little dude so cute? He was pointing out this bird who was really a person.

 Collette really loved it too. I mean really, doesn't she look like she is having the time of her life? Or not.

Next was the boys' favorite part of the day. The Merry-go-round. Sorry for so many pictures but seriously we rode this thing like fifteen times so we got a lot of pics...

Who is loving this more? Really...

 Jeff was trying to make the ride more exciting for Max. It worked... look at that kids face.
I love this place, they have rides, a splash pad, a giant climbing net with slides and steel drums. Does it get better than that?

I don't know if I've mentioned this before but Owen gets some serious comfort from his juicey. He's getting super talented with it. Can even hold it in his mouth while playing an instrument.
The boys decided to hop on another ride, because why wouldn't they?

 Owen loved it.

So did Tyler and Jeff.
After being in the heat for so long we decided to try and cool off inside and check out some walruses and polar bears.

 We figured we'd hit up the Shamu show because that's what Sea World is all about right?  I'll be honest, it wasn't nearly as great as the show with the flying bird people.

 But the kids were thoroughly entertained. Look at that face. Pure joy.

It was nearing the end of the day and the kids were getting pretty pooped.
We decided to head over to one of the adult rides so the big boys could have one last hurrah before heading home for the weekend. Unfortunately when we got over to the ride, it was closed for maintenance and they didn't know when it would reopen. We decided to stick it out and hope for it to reopen within a few minutes...

 While the men waited, the boys played...

While the boys played, Collette mostly did this:

Sometimes I think there is nothing cuter than this lady. Love those cheeks.

 After an hour of waiting in line, they finally let the guys on the ride. YAY!
Max and Owen decided to celebrate with a hug,

 It didn't end well.

 Besides this unfortunate event, it was a super successful trip. Orlando treated us well.

Bowl Cuts

Remember how a month or so ago I accidently gave Owen a bowl cut?

It must run in the family except that this one was no accident.

This is me at three years old. Tyler and I came across this picture while we were in Utah and were looking through old photo albums. I always thought bowl cuts were only for boys but apparently I thought wrong. My mom knew what was up.

A good little bed time story

This is one of Owen's favorite books, we read it almost every night:

The other night when we were reading it, we got to this page:

I asked him what was happening at this point in the story (he likes to help read the book). His response: "That pig coming out of that cow's butt"

Not really the response I was looking for, actually a much funnier response than I was expecting. Thanks for that two year old son. I was always excited for the age when kids start saying unexpected things. I guess we've arrived.