Florida Trip: Jesters Arrive

For a couple days after Cody left everything was pretty chill and quiet. Jill's girls started having fevers and getting sick so we just hung around the house and pool. Not a bad way to spend a few days, for us at least...sorry, Jill. We also got the house ready for Kim and family to arrive.

Yay, for sisters having fun together.

And yay, for awesome cousins.

Never a quiet moment with little ones around.

On Friday evening, June 21st, Kim and family (minus Mike and Nathan who had to work and go on high adventure) arrived. First order of business for the people stuck in a mini van all day was a walk around the neighborhood.

Auntie Kim and Pepper.

Gramma, Joshua and a beautiful tree.

Benny, Morgan and Pepper

Happy gang.

Saturday morning, we headed out to the beach again to meet up with Lisa and family.

Uncle Shaun's first order of business was to dig a super big hole. Kept everyone entertained for hours.

Always happy to be laying out.

Catching Katie in a moment of weakness when she finally decided to let Ali braid her hair. She only managed one braid before Katie put a stop to the whole thing but it was a moment to capture while it lasted.

Monday afternoon we took the kids to see Monsters University. The kids loved it and so did I!

Oh, there you are Morgan.

After the movie, we headed over to Jill's house to let the kids play, have dinner and drop the girls off for a sleepover party. Everyone was excited to explore a new house with lots of new toys.

Kevin's homemade sprinkler was a huge hit.

Here's a video I took with Instagram:

Hazel wondering where are all the popcorn went.

This is what we got when we asked Katie to model the goggles for us.
This girl cracked me up the whole time we were there!!

Curly Sue Cousins having cuddle time.

Kids Eat Free night at Dennys.

I'm pretty sure putting Pepper at her own table was not my best idea.
She spilled two cups of water, 3 or 4 sets of utensils on the floor and a basket of fries.
That girl is all over the place sometimes!

Some of the kids were not happy that they had to have water to drink. Later Morgan told me that he didn't mind having water to drink because he just wanted to eat the yummy food. I think this picture sums up his feelings!

After dinner, we headed to a nearby playground to relax and let the kids burn off some energy.
I love this pic of Gramma and Hazel.

Wednesday morning, we headed to the Brevard Zoo for some more fun in the swampy heat.

Feeding the birds.

These two were so proud of themselves when they finally whined and wormed there way into the double zoo stroller.

The friendly deer getting a snack from the girls.

Train ride.

Sweaty baby who was happy that she kept getting her "kinky" whenever she wanted it on vacation.



After making the kids sweat for an hour and a half we finally took them to the water area to cool off.

I love that you can see Kate's cheeks from here!

After about 30 minutes of playing in the water we got poured on. Luckily, the kids were all ready wet and we had seats under a roof so we let them keep playing until the thunder came and we were kicked out.

Everything about this picture makes me giggle from Hazel's cheeks to Morgan's kicking foot to Katie just sitting there hugging the bucket.

Mikayla looks like a zombie coming out of the water...a very cute zombie.

Playing inside out of the rain.

Ben asked Gramma to get him some swim shorts to match Morgan.
It's a blurry picture but they still look pretty cute.

We were heading out of the indoor play area when we noticed a zoo worker putting an animal back in their cage. She let the kids touch it. I love zoos.

Mikayla wanted to try out dipping her hair in kool-aid so Pepper decided to join her. Here we go again.

This is Pepper's idea of posing.

Every night I would read to whatever kids were sleeping in Jill's old room. Most nights it was Mikayla, Morgan and Ben but this night Jane was sleeping over too. After I would read a few stories, Mikayla would ask to read a story to everyone. I love when kids read to kids. 

I love cousins!

A pic from Ali's phone. I'm pretty sure she buried him too.

I love Hazel's crazy morning hair.

These two make me smile!

Always a good time to watch Bye Bye Birdie in your diaper with your cousin.

Jacob got the worst sunburn on his shoulders and back. This poor kid was in some serious pain for days and couldn't sleep or get comfortable. He got huge blisters on his shoulders and then had lots of raw skin. Felt so bad for him.

Pasta and breadsticks night.

I know how to feed a crowd!

Morgan and Pepper found these snails outside my parents' front door and built them a house.

Here are some videos of the girls putting on a show for me:

Poor Katie was so patient with Hazel during this bath but had finally had enough cups of water dumped on her head.

On Friday the 28th, we all drove up to St. Augustine to see Inez and then Kim and family drove on from there. It was nice to see everyone despite being kind of a crazy up and down emotional week. We are so blessed to have so many wonderful cousins on both sides that we get to see on a fairly regular basis.