Cheers to old friends!

One of my favorite parts of our trip to Florida was making plans to have Grace (a friend from nursing school) and her son join us for dinner one night at our condo. It had been entirely too long since I had seen her and catching up was wonderful, as was finally meeting Connor! The boys had a wonderful time playing together and Grace and I fell right back into our warm, comfortable friendship. Hopefully we can get together again soon!

New Smyrna and Daytona Beach Florida

While in Florida we took the kids to the ocean for their first time (Cole has been, but he was younger and doesn't remember!). We spent one day at New Smyrna Beach and then headed on to Daytona Beach. I love that you can park on the beach and have your car close for packing food etc. I had expected the boys to be a little nervous, but it didn't last long and Cole found a new love of Body Boarding, while Devin preferred to hang in the surf and jump the waves. We had a wonderful dinner at Bubba Gumps and stayed the night in a hotel right on the beach. Nothing like the beach and a good book to kick off the summer right!

Animal Kingdom

Our second day in Florida brought us to Animal Kingdom. I have been wanting to return for years! The first time we visited I was VERY pregnant with Devin and they wouldn't allow me on any rides (including the safari) which was a big let-down. We returned this year to hit up all the rides we weren't able to enjoy the first time! We also caught their mini version of the Lion King which is still fantastic. The grandparents and Devin decided to leave after lunch leaving us with Cole to enjoy some of the bigger rides that Devin wasn't allowed on. We LOVED the Dinosaur ride (well, Scott and I did, Cole was a little more than freaked out!). By far my favorite Disney Park! And finally, our search for Mickey was answered!

Family Disney Trip

We headed to Florida to take the boys to Magic Kingdom and Animal Kingdom (Devin had never been) as part of their birthday presents this year. We didn't realize we were going to have to take out a second mortgage to do so, but this isn't to complain, this is to share our pics. We had a wonderful time! The boys really enjoyed getting the character autographs, and we stayed for the Electric Light Parade which has, for years, been my favorite part of Disney (how cool to see a float of Pete's Dragon that I used to watch with my brother growing up!). Devin rode his first roller coaster (he INSISTED he go on Magic Mountain with us because he "was tall enough".). We heard for the rest of the day how much he didn't like that and will never ride again. I warned him! Cole loved it and looks forward to the next time he can ride again! We enjoyed the shows...the Monster's Ink one is fantastic, and my husband got called out to dance, but he stubbornly refused, so my father-in-law got up and danced instead...it was great! All and all it was a wonderful, but hot and humid day. Our hunt for Mickey brought us up empty handed tho :(

New retaining wall

We decided to rip out all the bushes in the front and update the area a little bit. Scott built a new, brick retaining wall on the far end. It came out great!

Cole's Christmas Recital

Cole has been playing piano for a year and a half now and he really is getting quite good! His Christmas recital piece was The Twelve Days of Christmas and he was the talk of the show! He is so animated and enjoys playing and everyone can tell! That's my boy!! :)

NASCAR Hall of Fame

My parents visited again in the fall and we took them to the NASCAR Hall of Fame.

Canoeing!

We also took both boys out in the canoe for the first time! It was nice to be back in the boat!! The boys had a great time and didn't jump over-board!

Scout Camping Trip to Jordan Lake

This was the boys first camping trip...They had a blast! They both slept well which we were really worried about, but Devin thought it was the coolest thing ever!

Scouts Baseball Game 2010

Scott and Cole attended the Cub Scout Durham Bulls game again this year and had a blast as always!!

Atlantis

A hurricane kept us from our normal schedule and we ended up stopping on the other side of the Bahamas. The weather wasn't great so we went to check out the resort "Atlantis". Im guessing this is a phenomenal place to stay, but also probably significantly out of our price range!! The aquarium was awesome tho!

BeatleMania!!

Cozumel, Mexico

I have to say this was def the best day of the trip and up there as one of my fav memories! We were finally able to fulfill one of my dreams and go swimming with dolphins! What amazing, strong, beautiful creatures they are! I hope to one day be able to take my kids to participate in this awesome activity! I highly recommend it to everyone!! They also allowed us to go in and swim with the manatees which was also something I have always hoped to do!

Key West!

We decided it was time to take another cruise (not to mention we found a deal that we couldn't pass up!!). Our first stop was in Key West where we took part in a Pub Crawl. At the first pub, we met up with a couple from Fort Lauderdale: Corey and Mercedes. After a few more bars, I took part in, and a won a conch blowing contest (no doubt thanks to my many years of instrument playing!!). We headed back to the ship and ended up meeting up with Corey and Mercedes again. After a night of beers, corn hole, and a beautiful sunset...we really couldn't have asked for a better first day of the cruise!!