Ruzas Summer Visit and Mimi's Birthday!

This past week the Ruzas came for a visit and we could hardly control our excitement knowing our days would be filled with Horn Island, tubing, fishing, swimming, shell collecting and the like.  Well buzz kill number one: little Sam broke his arm the day before they were set to drive here.  Poor little man.  Well, there is no way we can miss out on a Bosko/Ruzas vacation so we called our Orthopedic surgeon friend  and  he came to our house to cast Sam in our kitchen!  What a VIP he was.  Buzz kill number two: RAIN!!!  It rained the first 36 hours they were here, continously.  The kids didn't let that slow down on their fun, they just put on their swimsuits (and Amelia added rain boots, so stinkin' cute) and collected toads, turtles (above) and crabs off our beach.  

Sam and Dr. Tom.  We love Dr. Tom-he saved our vacation!

Thank goodness the next day brought in loads of sunshine!  It had to be sunny, it was sweet Amelia's 8th birthday!!!  She was so excited to share it with her best friend Abby, just like her first four birthdays.  

Amelia's new bike, pretty cool stuff Mimi.  

After doughnuts and opening presents for Amelia, it was off to Horn Island to enjoy the beautiful day.  And what would a birthday be without your own personal dolphin show?  I was so excited the Ruzas got to see the dolphins play with our boat, the dolphins swam along side and under our boat for a good 15 minutes and we even got a spinning jump out of the water from one show off dolphin...AMAZING.

The kids enjoying the dolphin show.  

We always find something new on our island adventures and this time it was starfish.  Marcie and the kids collected a whole bucket of them but don't worry, we released them all like good beach goers.  

Addison carrying a giant hermit crab Marcie and Chris found.

This trip the kids also helped a fellow boater catch blue crab for his family's dinner that night.  Amelia followed this guy all over the island helping get the crabs out of the net and asking as many questions as he would answer about crabs and fishing.  This same gentleman, Mr. America, as Stephen called him; caught a GIANT stingray while fishing for sharks.  So the kids got to see a sting ray up close, Marcie even held the pole while Mr. America released him.  

Pint size best friends.

Grown up best friends.  I decked Marcie out in my MS finest beach apparel.  You look so cute Marcie, I just can't stand it.  

HAPPY BIRTHDAY MY BEAUTIFUL AMELIA!

About to leave for Amelia's birthday dinner at  The Dock, a restaurant on the water.  We took an evening boat ride there as a special treat and even brought her cake on the boat.  

Mommy and Daddy love you so much, you are an amazing 8 year old girl.  We don't know what we would do without your smiling face, golden heart and helpful attitude.  We are so proud of you Amelia Grace.  

The whole crew, well, except Luke who was hiding. 

Singing Happy Birthday to Amelia.  Classic picture, look at Luke pouting because Amelia told him Abby gets the second piece of cake, not him.  Love it.  

Tubing!  Sam was the man on this trip.  He wore a ziploc bag on his arm like a champ and had fun at the island, fishing, tubing, everything.  Way to go Sam!  The kids also went fishing off the dock behind our house and they all caught fish!  Luke even caught a speckled trout with his little teeny spiderman pole.  Abby and Sam caught a catfish and they thought it was neat that in the Gulf we fish with shrimp for our bait instead of worms.  We hired our wonderful babysitter Ashley one evening so we had an awesome night out just the adults:)  We had a delicious dinner and the Ruzas were surprised and impressed at how far Stephen and my taste buds have come in recent years.  We then headed out for drinks and plenty of laughter.  Love you guys.  

My girl.  What would I do without my Marcie?  Love you and I miss you so much already.  I can't wait to visit our feathered friend again soon;)

Midwest Trip 2011

It's summer and that means our annual migration up north to visit with my family.  This year we decided it made a lot of sense to drive since we have to visit three different cities.  It made a lot of sense until we actually started to drive the 20 hours to Minnesota; then we had a lot of time to talk about how this decision did not make sense.  But we continued on our journey and traveled nearly 3000 miles round trip in our trusty Kia minivan.   We started out in Minnesota visiting my sister Traci's family.  Amelia and Luke had fun playing at the park, splash pads and the beach with Max and Addison enjoyed being able to boss around another older kid.  

My sister Traci and Addison.  Addison cozied right up to Traci saying, "More ice cream Aunt Twaci."  What's not to like when your Aunt lives right across the road from an awesome Malt Shop? 

Max, Amelia and Luke went to the Twins game with the dads.  Lucky kids, they watched the Twins win and got to eat their weight in junk food at the park.  

My big sis and I.  

Luke waiting for the trolley in Minneapolis.  

Cousins.

And the best photo of the trip contest goes to Daddy!  Great shot of Addison on the trolley.  

We then moved on to Madison, WI to visit my sister Amy's family.  Here are the kids rocking out to Taylor Swift with Annie on vocals and Uncle Dan on the drums.  Amelia and Luke love playing with Evan and Annie and they especially enjoyed the family hamsters :)  

Then it was time to move on to Milwaukee, WI to visit Grandma Nancy and Grandpa Jon.  Happy 4th of July!

Downtown Milwaukee for the fireworks.  

 The kids had a great time visiting their grandparents and were kept busy with games, walks in the woods, children's museum, Summerfest and lots more.  Amelia and Luke even both got a special day with their grandparents.  Luke and Grandpa Jon headed out to Miller Park to cheer on the Brewers (lucky 5 year old got to see two big league games in a week).  Amelia and Grandma Nancy went out for a special lunch, visited the book store and went to a movie together.  We were thoroughly exhausted with fun by the time the trip was done.  Thanks everyone for letting us stay with you :)

10th Anniversary Trip!

Thanks to our lovely babysitter Ashley, Stephen and I were able to celebrate our upcoming 10  year anniversary by jetting away on a trip to Destin for just shy of a week.  We had an absolute blast biking, playing tennis, kayaking, riding the waves and enjoying some amazing food.  

We had plenty of relaxing beach time; I was in heaven reading to my hearts content.  Notice my sand footrest my sweet husband made for me everyday.  He even moved it over as we moved our chairs to stay in the shade as the day went by.  It's the little things really that make my man so amazing.

I caught up on my reading and Stephen caught up some ZZZZZ's. 

Each night at dinner we would do a toast to our marriage, each other,etc.  Most of the toasts just made us both laugh but there is still no one that makes me laugh more than my husband and no one else I would rather spend all of my days with.   Here's to laughing for the next 50 years babe!  Love you so much.

We Love Daddy!

Happy Father's Day!  Daddy had a whole day devoted to him although he probably deserved a whole year devoted to him for how great he is to all of us.  Church and breakfast were followed by presents which the kids were super excited about.  They had picked out a Star Wars coffee mug, a Cubs tshirt and a backyard bean bag toss game.  I had the kids fill out little surveys about Stephen such as daddy's favorite food, his job, favorite t.v. show,etc.  The answers were really cute but my favorite was when I asked them what daddy's favorite outfit was and Luke shouted, "No shirt!"  You can take the boy out of Indiana but you can't take the Indiana out of the boy.

Destin Beach Trip

Woo Hoo, we are in Destin!!!

Stephen had a medical conference in Destin and it had been on our calendar for months.  However, a few days before he left he looked at the conference schedule and he was done every day at noon.  Sweet husband that he is, he invited the whole family along!  We spent a lot of time playing in the waves and relaxing in our cabana.

Amelia morphed completely into a fish on this trip, she was in the pool or the waves for about 12 hours every day.  She is such a social little thing that by the time I had set out our beach towels and toys she would come running up to me with a new little girl she met and say, "Mom, this is Autumn, she is almost 8 too and she is from Mississippi too!"  And off they would go for little girl, giggling fun.  And seriously, how can you not love that sunscreened, missing tooth, goggled girl?

At a dinner for the conference (free dinner? I am so there).

They also organized crafts for the kids, here they are painting sand dollars.

The "downtown" area of our resort, lots of restaurants, shops and a gazillion ways to spend money on your kids-carousal, ropes course, zipline, etc.

Early morning beach time while Daddy was getting his learn on.

This trip contained lots of this which meant it contained lots of relaxed smiles from mom and dad too.

Amelia took a picture of me and Addi, great job Mimi :)

My three little fish by the pool.

Seriously, what a life this one has.

Time with mommy in the pool, "throw me, throw me."  Even Addison loves to be thrown and yells, "Throw me bigger" meaning she likes to be thrown up high and go all the way under by herself.

Our sweet friends the Patinos were also in Destin this week so we were able to meet for dinner.  We all had a great time and the kids enjoyed laughing and goofing with their friends.

Amelia and Luke with their hermit crabs.  Stephen and I have been married for almost 10 years,  yet I learned something new about him on this trip...again.  Who knew I married this guy, "Go on kids, pick out anything you want" when he pulled into the souvenir shop.  What???  Anything you want???  I am panicking as I quickly scan the shop, seeing what I can quickly stash and hide so they don't pick it.  But alas, my kids who long for a pet with all their being both run to the giant cages of hermit crabs.  We now have two hermit crabs, who we must feed and water and mist, and take out and play with because apparently they are very social creatures.  Oh boy.  At least they can't chew on my furniture.

Because we had planned this trip for only Stephen, we had a one bedroom condo.  So couch bed it was for the kiddos, let's just say some nights ended up better than others but we made do.  

Amelia and her hermit crab.

We all loved boogie boarding.  I probably loved it the most after Amelia that is and Stephen did capture a picture of me.  However, look at my photo skills, shooting while they are actually catching the wave.  Stephen captured me while splayed out on the beach after a wave dumped me to shore.  Um, definitely not blog worthy.  Thanks honey.

Addison and I catching some waves.

Multiple times during the trip Stephen said to me, "I am so glad y'all came with me, I don't know what I would have done with all this free time without my family."  I immediately thought three things.  1. Man, I trained him well (his free time is our free time).  2.  The kids should be thanking their lucky stars mommy didn't have a conference in Destin because I would have been plopped in a beach chair reading a book for 5 days while they were at home.  3.  Wow, what an awesome man I have (Maybe this was my first thought, but the other ones did cross my mind).

We love the beach!