I've been told that I need to blog... ha, hi Pat.
I haven't been able to do so because we've been super busy around here. Nathan's family arrived for a visit on Sunday night. We met them at the beach, and had a blast at the condo for a few days. Grandpa, Grandma, Aunt Beth, Harrison and Bennett will leave tomorrow, and we're very sad about it.
I had a shoot on Sunday afternoon, and then the kids and I headed over to New Smyrna to our family condo to meet up with Nathan and his family. They had all been in Blacksburg, Virginia for a family wedding, and then drove back from there together in one van. Crazies.
During our time at the beach we swam, looked for shells, walked on the beach and laughed a lot. Marilyn found two whole sand dollars and a starfish. I have a TON of pictures of all of us on the beach, especially the kids, and I'll try to upload some of them later. Harrison is sleeping in the office. :)
James still doesn't like the beach much, he loves the condo and loves the pool, but takes after his Mommy and does NOT like the sand much. Things got better when Nathan got out the sand castle stuff and they were allowed to dig.
Kaitlyn loves the ocean, especially likes to sit in the shallow part, and watch the waves come up onto her belly. She was always very cautious too, when a wave would approach, she'd stop dead in her tracks and wait until it passed.
Bennett and Harrison did fabulously on the beach, both were content to just sit and dig. It was a lot of fun to see them on the beach, and they are so young- but it's not their first time on the beach!
One funny story.... We were all in the pool, and Aunt Beth was taking pictures of James and me. She said to James, "Say pizza!... and look at the camera!" So James says, "Pizza and look at the camera!" :)
Beth and I took Harrison and James to Sea World on Wednesday. What a day! We had so much fun. We got there around 9 when they opened, then first went to the sting ray area to touch the sting rays. James shocked me by actually putting his hands in the water and feeling the slick creatures. He loved it! "How 'bout again!" he'd say.
We fed the dolphins, saw penguins, sea lions, otters, whales, a polar bear, a walrus, and ORCAS! Harrison calls the Killer Whale an orca because that's what Diego says... so cute. The Shamu show was the last thing we did, but it was worth it for those kids. We had to sit there for 45 minutes waiting for the show to start... so we had Shamu Ice Cream bars (made in LeMars, IA), and Beth and I each thoroughly enjoyed a Bud Light. Ha. It was a very trying day, James wasn't feeling absolutely 100%, and made me carry him all over the place. Hind sight- RENT A STROLLER STUPID. :) It was a day that we'll never forget, and my first experience taking James to a theme park. It was 93 degrees that day. Whoa. Needless to say, both kids were passed out within 5 minutes of the car ride home.
We like the Wilckes because the come to visit bearing gifts. We all received our birthday presents... James got a T-ball set, and a croquet set. Kaitlyn got two ADORABLE dresses, I got two really cool magazine subscriptions dealing with families and crafts, and Nathan and I got a new ear piece for our phones. Very cool, thanks! The kids also got one of the coolest books I've ever seen called 'Gallop' that looks animated. Amazing.
While here in Orlando, the kids have had a lot of fun playing together. Amazingly enough, we haven't had many fights. Bennett started walking this week, taking about 10 steps before falling to the ground. Kaitlyn won't sit still, and laughs hysterically at Harrison. The kids have gotten to swim in the pool and play with James' new water table. The babies went to town on that while we were at Sea World. We have had so much fun, but now they need to leave so I can lose the 5 lbs. that I've put on in the last few weeks. Ha. They sure like their ice cream! Ha ha ha.
