Flight Cancelled

Well,On  Wed. Laura and Gordon were supposed to fly out.  But their flight got cancelled.  You may think that sounds fun- but it stressed them out.  Gordon had 17 patients and a couple of important meetings that all had to be rescheduled.  Laura was on the phone trying to rearrange rides for 7 kids. 
We made the best of it and went to the beach.  This time we went to Delnor Wiggins.

Seashell art.

Gabe with his blue arm of annoyance.

Me and my sister that I love so much!

After the beach we stopped and got soft serve ice cream.  It hit the spot.  By the way, Gordon, thanks for paying for pretty much everything.

Eat it quick! You don't have a lot of time to eat ice cream in Florida because it melts so fast!

After the beach Laura took me to eat on 3rd Ave.  It was fancy, delicious and fun.  And once again, Gordon, thanks for paying.  Sorry you couldn't be there to enjoy it.  you had fun babysitting all the kids while trying to get office work done, right?

I just loved these flowers so much I had to get a picture.  It was just such a beautiful day! The weather was perfect!

That night we took the kids to the pool, and then let them run around the tennis courts playing with Nerf guns.

While Darren and Gordon played a little tennis.

Laura, Gordon, Isaac and Jacob, thanks for coming to visit us and thanks for being such fun guests. We love you guys!

Beach Days

What do we do when visitors come?  We go to the beach -everyday! There are so many different beaches to go to- it's hard to decide!  So on Monday we went to Little Hickory while Darren studied.  Poor Jacob was sick and slept the whole time.

We walked to our favorite island- "Bird Island" where Gabe is stranded and cannot run away from me.  It is a perfect spot.  The water is shallow on 3 sides of the island and so the kids can play and play and play in the shallow water.  It is so much fun. It is also a great shelling beach.  I can't believe I didn't take pictures of the shells we found!

Tuesday we got up and headed to our favorite- Shark Tooth beach! In Venice.  It is about 1 1/2 drive but totally worth it.

This guy came walking along the beach with a HUGE Megalodon tooth around his neck.  We had to stop him- he pulled out a bag of bunch of them.  He let the kids hold them for the picture.  They were amazing!  He told us he searches for teeth for a living.  He mostly uses his boat and dives for them.  He said he has taken Woody Harrelson and Kevin Costner out searching for teeth. That is a fun thing I would LOVE to do!.

Isn't that amazing?!!! Those teeth sell for anywhere from a couple hundred dollars to couple thousand dollars.

Poor Paul felt lousy and slept all morning.  He didn't even care about the guy with the Megalodon teeth.  You know he's sick when that happens!

After he took his nap he felt a little better.

Oh, Ellie! Why do you have to roll around in the sand and make such a mess!??

Oh, I see, now I know where you get it from.

Poor Gabe with his broken arm had to wear this dumb huge blue thing over his cast.  He was a good sport and didn't even seem to care.

About sunset we headed over to Sharkey's on the Pier to watch the sunset.

I love this picture!

  This sunset was the end to a beautiful day!

Kyle's Baptism

I totally dropped the ball.  I forgot to take pictures of Kyle and Darren on Kyle's baptism night.  Seriously what kind of mother am I?  At least we had some good, fun food.  And I took a picture just because Laura reminded me. We baptized Kyle while Laura and Gordon were here.  It was great to have them here.  Gordon played the piano and Laura gave a talk on the Holy Ghost.  Then Isaac, Jacob, Paul and Ellie sang a song.  Paul decided he wanted to sing a solo- so while we were waiting for Kyle and Darren to change he got up and sand a solo.  It was great! It was a special night.  Thanks Kyle for choosing the right. 

Sanibel and Captiva With Laura and Gordon

We spent Saturday baby free at Sanibel and Captiva Island. I got a babysitter for Gabe.  We spent the first couple hours "shelling" on the beach.  Which mostly entailed laying out, burying kids in the sand, eating and visiting.  It was so enjoyable!

On Sanibel Island they have a wildlife Preserve.  We took a tram ride with a guide.  He explained all about the birds and wildlife.  It was great.  It got interesting as Jacob told Laura he HAD to go pee 10 min. into an 90 min. tour.  We were on the very back 2 rows with some other people.  The poor kid was in tears.  The bus was stopped and the guide was talking about a flock of birds on the left of the tram.  Everyone was looking out the left side of the bus at the birds. After  some convincing Laura had Jacob stand on the right side of the bus and start peeing off the side.  Darren, Gordon, and I were all trying not to burst out laughing.  We were all standing around him so no one would notice.  When all of a sudden a pedestrian started walking along the right side of the bus-heading right for Jacob's pee stream! He had his nose in a book and was not looking up.  It was like in the movies- like in slow motion.  When you know it's going to happen but you can't stop it. Laura whispered frantically, "Jacob, stop peeing, stop!" I was very surprised at the speed he stopped his stream- about 1/2 second before the pedestrian walked right were it had been going.  1/2 second later and he would have gotten a surprise right in his face. (I would have just looked up and said, "Did anyone else feel that? I think it is starting to rain.")  At this point we were almost all in tears from laughing and people started turning around to look at us at which point Laura points to something on the left side of the bus as says, "Oh WOW, look at that bird!"   It worked! Everyone looked away from us and on the left side of the bus again.  The whole thing was hilarious and I don't think it could have been better played out in a movie.  I don't think I have laughed that hard since college.

Kyle and Jacob got along so good!

Darren! Smile!

The birds on the left side of the bus.  hahaha

After a fun filled day at the Island we drove to Ft. Myers Pier for Sunset Celebration! Our Favorite! We got pizza and sat under the beautiful stars listening to the life band and watching the street performers.  I love it.

Then we walked out on the pier to see what people were catching- this is a little Black tip shark.

I love this kid! He is such a character!

It was such an awesome day full of good times, and especially good people! I love my family!