Florida Trip

We had a great trip to Florida. We were able to do many things and visit many people. We had a blast. I was a little worried about having a stressful trip because of traveling with two little ones, however, it was a very stress free experience. Aleigha had her moments, but what two year old doesn't. Since we have been back, Aleigha has had her second birthday, but I did not want to combine that blog with the Florida trip due to having so many pictures...hopefully I will get to that with in the next few days. I have written a good bit under most of the pictures, that pretty much narrates most of our trip, so I will leave it at this. I'm not always the best with blogspot, and I always end up putting the pictures in the wrong order. Our trip begin at the bottom of the post and worked it's way up (if that makes sense). Enjoy.

Aleigha with her cousins Hannah and Brian
One evening we went to the beach to just visit, it was beautiful to go and listen to the waves crash and just enjoy God's creations.

Me and my two babies enjoying ourselves at the pool

Every time we went swimming, we had this whole pool to ourselves.
A lesson learned: I read in a magazine that you should give your children time limits for things (like how long they can play with a toy before letting some one else play with it, how much longer before you have to leave the park or some where else that is fun, how much tv they can watch, etc). So we decided to do this, and realized it worked like a charm. We would tell give her a 5 or 10 min. warning before we would leave somewhere she didn't want to leave(amongst other things). We would also give her a visual by holding up our fingers. Then we would count down every min or 2. Well, one night while we were in the pool, Brenton started getting cranky so I immediately said, "Alright, it's time to go back up." Aleigha then looked at us, held up one finger on each hand and said, "Two minutes to go." We were amazed at her reasoning skills, that we gave her those two minutes. She has since used it several times.

The bottom of Aleigha's bathing suit was wet from the previous time of swimming, she thought she must have peed in them, so she took the off as soon as I got them off and decided Brenton's trunks felt a lot better...and surprisingly his 0-3 month swimming trunks fit my 2 year old.

Even Brenton likes Aleigha's dinosaur

Okay, so the story behind this picture:
I realize there are certain things that you teach your child never even knowing that you are teaching them. Then there are other times when you realize you didn't teach them something, such as what a curb is (there are not very many curbs in WV..at least not where we live). However, at times like these, your child often uses things that they are familiar with to relate to this new object. In Aleigha's case, this curb. I was holding her hand and letting her walk on it while I hear her saying over and over again..."bubble rock, bubble rock, bubble rock." When I asked in clarification if this was truly what she was saying she answered, "Yeah mom, bubble rock." I started to think about it, and I can definitely see where she would come up with this.

Aleigha and Brenton enjoying the swings

Us with Chris' Aunt Sherri, and cousins Justin and Amber

Chris and his grandmother

Aleigha got to go to Build-A-Dino in downtown Disney. She was pretty upset until she walked in and saw all the dinosaurs. Once she saw the dinosaur she wanted...it was love at first sight.

After she picked the dino, stuffed it, and put a heart in it...she was able to brush out the fur, she said she was giving her a bath

She got to dress the dino too...it had on 3 outfits before she found the right one (which is not the one in the picture)

she named her dino....Dinosaur (however we put Pinky on the birth certificate)
I liked the name...Pink-apata-sauras, but we couldn't talk her into it

Chris, Aleigha, and me in front of the lego dragon in Downtown Disney.

In Downtown Disney, we ate at the Rain Forest Cafe with Chris' Uncle Gene, Aunt Carie, and cousin Olivia. We had a great and memorable evening with all of them.

first time on the "tire" swing

Aleigha climbed up the whole slide!!

Brenton's first time in the baby swing..and he loved it

enjoying the big girl swing

Brian and Aleigha...both of them were posing just like Brian, however, I couldn't get Aleigha to keep that pose

jumping on the trampoline

crashing in the waves

too cute

Hannah, Aleigha, and Brain hanging out on the trampoline at their house

my sexy husband

It was such a beautiful day! Look at the sky and the water...we couldn't have picked a better day to spend at the beach

Daddy taking Brenton out into the ocean

Family picture out in the ocean

collecting seashells

oh look at those blue blue eyes

Brenton enjoying the beach

She absolutely loved the ocean!!

The ocean water was soooo nice and warm!! We all enjoyed it!

Aleigha in the hotel pool....at about 9 pm...the water was perfect!!

Brenton working on his floating skills

Aleigha and Brenton in their matching zoo shirts sitting on Daddy's lap

we met Chris' Aunt Nicky and cousins at a restaurant in Tittusville, Fl
we had a good time with them on several occasions during our vacation
from left to right: Amanda, Brenton, Nicky, Brian (Nicky's son and married to Amanda), Emily, Chris, and Aleigha, Hannah, and Brian (Brian and Amanda's children)

Chris' cousins Brian(left)-his daughter Hannah, and Bobby(right, also son of Nicky) sitting with Aleigha

Aleigha, Hannah, and Little B

We went to the Brevard County Zoo and had a very good time. We saw lots of animals while we were there. We saw these giraffe's from the safari train ride we got to take. Unfortunately we didn't get to see them up close because it was time for them to eat dinner. Aleigha's favorite animals were the monkeys. We got lots of pictures of all the different kinds, however they didn't turn out very well.

ostrich eggs

Aleigha, me, and Amber (Chris' cousin) on the safari train

turtles

Aleigha was so excited to see the crocodiles that she had to call grandma and pop (who kept telling her before we left that we would see crocodiles) right away to tell them of her discovery

up close croc

we got to be turtles...so much fun!!

Brenton and Aleigha hanging out in the stroller before we entered the zoo...it was the only time Aleigha sat in the stroller

just chillin'

Everyday on our trip we got to visit with Anne (Chris' grandmother), as you can see, Brenton had no problem warming up to her and getting to know her...and neither did she. It is so cute to hear Aleigha say her name... she's calls her great grandma aunt anne. It was so nice getting to spend so much time with her.

us with Chris' cousins Amber and Justin..we had a great time spending so much time with them over the week

me and my baby boy

Of course, it never fails...where ever we go, we must find a disc golf course. I think Aleigha is going to be the youngest pro disc golfer...a week before her second birthday, and she has perfect form...now she just needs to work on distance.

Daddy chillin' with his little ones right before he gave them yet another lesson in disc golf

family pic at the disc golf park

Chris, Aleigha, Brenton, and Anne

Anne holding Brenton for the first time

Chris asleep...Aleigha not so much

Right before take off. The kids were amazingly well behaved on the flight there. The flight back though, we had to wake up at 6 am, so Aleigha was pretty tired...she cried for quite a bit until she feel asleep. Luckily we were beside another 2 year old. Overall, I can't complain too much.

Daddy and Aleigha in the airplane. The flight attendant gave Aleigha and Brenton First Time Flyer certificates. The pilot, co-pilot, and all flight attendants signed it. It also had the flight # on it along with the airports that we departed from and arrived to. Thanks for the idea Katie!

Aleigha was sooo excited to finally be able to fly in an airplane. We had been talking about it for weeks..so when the time finally came...she was certainly ready

So, they are saying kids are becoming more technology advanced earlier and earlier these days...it is so true...you should have seen Brenton on the playstation!

using the cat to prop himself up while he checked out his fingers

It was sooo cute to see these two play and talk together. Aleigha, 2, and Seqouia, 2 1/2, would have conversations between just the two of them. They are too darn cute.

Seqouia, Aleigha, and O'rion playing in the loft of the boy's bedroom...such a neat idea, and they loved it!

O'rion reading to Aleigha and Sequoia (who is evidently reading to himself). O'rion was so good with Aleigha. These are Chris' cousins. On our way to Florida, we stopped and visited with Chris' Aunt Loree, her husband Wind, and their children River, O'rion, and Sequoia. We had a great time with them.