Great Fun! Great Friends!

WARNING!! Those of you up North who are snowbound and freezing may want to avoid this post all together!

We spent a fantastic day at Clearwater Beach with our great friends Nicole, Antonio, and Shane. The kids had so much fun chasing each other on the playground and watching the exciting shows at Pier 60. Isabella was thrilled to "babysit" Shane, while the boys were so cool playing football, hide and seek, and working hard to look just plain awesome for the chicks...

Dinner was at Crabby Bills across the street, where Nicole and I had a hard time trying to keep the older kids from feeding Shane random weird things like lemons and hotsauce, and Izzy thought it was great fun to give him a tomato slice to use as a hat. (Sorry, no pics of that-I really need a new camera!)

They didn't want to leave and Antonio tried really hard to bring Nate home with him. It is so great to watch the boys interact...they have so much in common and I know are becoming great friends. It was such a fun day enjoying the beautiful weather and the ocean-maybe even worth the parking ticket that greeted us as we returned to our car.
***Don't forget to pause the music at the bottom of the page before watching the video! Enjoy!

Photo and video editing at www.OneTrueMedia.com

An Exciting Day!

Last weekend we spent a great day in Tampa! We began at the Forum getting to see the Ringling Bros. Circus. I was so excited because it was actually my first circus ever! We were a bit disappointed to find out that our seats were about 600 miles in the air, but hey, nothing like looking DOWN on the high wire acts!! The expereience was great though, and it was just the beginning of our day...
We then shot over to Channelside and looked at the huge cruise ship waiting to depart and even got to see Jenny who was just showing up to work on her dinner cruise ship. We then decided to take advantage of the fun around us and have some dinner and fun at Splitsville. I bowled a crappy game and only beat Isabella by like two points (not great for my competetive ego). Nate also got a reality check that he is not quite the kingpin that he is on the Wii in real life! Daddy took home the trophy, but it was fun for everyone and the sushi was terrific. Check out the video of our day (but don't forget to pause the music at the bottom of the page first!!)

Make an on-line slideshow at www.OneTrueMedia.com

A Nature Walk

We decided to enjoy the fantastic weather and the beauty around us with a day at Honeymoon Island. We live just a couple of minutes away, so it was easy to escape from real life, take a breath after the holidays and enjoy Florida and each other.
We began our adventure with a picnic by the ocean-great food (bologna of course), sun on our face, and an 80 year old stalker who insisted on telling us stories about the bench that he donated and how it was in the movie "The Punisher" with John Travolta. Actually a very sweet man (who I'm pretty sure just wanted Isabella off of his bench..)
We then took a hiking trail that led us ultimately to two bald eagles' nests. We didn't get to see the eagles but had a great time looking at the mulitude of osprey and hunting for gopher tortoises. The walk was about two miles total, and by the end both kids had to pee and Isabella was sooooo done walking.
After the hike, we couldn't leave without taking advantage of the playground (energy automatically restored). It was a great start to my New Year's Resolution...to spend more time outdoors enjoying the beautiful weather and ocean that we are surrounded by...
Here's a video of our adventure-no need to turn down the music (I didn't add any to the video).

Make an on-line slideshow at www.OneTrueMedia.com

Brody the Great

So many of you ask about our Great Dane, that I thought I'd let you take a look for yourselves! Pictures do say 1000 words, however I opted against posting pictures of the multitude of damage and destruction that the little cutie has caused along the way...we love him anyway! How could you not??

Merry Christmas!

We had a wonderful Christmas! It was actually the first that we spent in Florida and it was quite different to have Christmas Eve on the lanai in 80 degree weather rather than being snowed in with no electricity!!! It was certainly a great time, but was bittersweet because Jason, Breann, and Myara made the trip North to visit with Breann's family. I'm happy that she got to see them, but it just wasn't the same without my little bro there. We also missed seeing Grandma Barb and Papa John, but will hopefully see them both very soon...
Christmas Eve started a bit dramatically, when I had the audacity to put curlers in Isabella's hair earlier in the day. She was fine with it until she saw herself in the mirror and was horrified. She threw a fit and begged me to take them out of her hair. She thought that she would have to keep them in for the party and said that she didn't want everyone to laugh at her. Awwww-it took a while to convince her that they would come out before anyone saw her (I told you she was a diva!) I actually shot a video of the fit, but promised her that I wouldn't show it to anyone. Her hair did turn out beautiful though, as you can see in the pics! The price we women pay for our beauty!!!! :)
Christmas morning began a bit sooner than we had hoped-Nate woke Izzy up at 2 a.m. and came to our room to wake us...needless to say, he was sent packing. Iz had no problem cuddling up with us and snoozing away, but Nate spent the rest of the evening watching the news in his room. We began our day at 6 a.m. and the kids were very thrilled with the haul for the year. Some of the favorites for Isabella were her bike, all of the many Barbies, and about 1,000 Littlest Pet Shop animals. Without a doubt, the top of the list for Nate was the Wii-his first game system ever. He also loved the rip stick and great tool box (filled) from Santa.
I hope all of you had a wonderful holiday too...lots of love from all of us!!!
***Don't forget to scroll down and turn off the music before playing the video!!**

Make video montages at www.OneTrueMedia.com

Deck the Halls

Just a quick glimpse at us decorating for Christmas...Thanks to Carrie for yet another "gentle nudge" to get something new posted!! Love ya!

Photo and video editing at www.OneTrueMedia.com

Everyday Hero!

Nate was recognized today as an "Everyday Hero" by Bay News 9! We had an exciting shoot at the Children's Home of Tampa where Nathan was able to give a donation of $530. The taping took about 2 hours and included an interview with Nathan, myself, and the Executive Director of The Children's Home. All who know me will not be surprised to know that I had a very hard time choking back tears as I talked about Nathan and about adoption in general. They also took footage of Nate playing with some of the kids who live at the home and of him actually presenting the money. All in all a VERY neat experience, however Nathan had a bit of a hard time leaving. He said he felt bad for the kids and wanted to take some home...oh my.
The story will air on December 15 every hour, so be sure to catch it. I will also give it my best shot to post it here as well for those of you not in Tampa (or without Brighthouse!). Thanks again to all of you who helped make this possible for my boy! Here are some pics that I was able to snap of the experience...