Vacation 2012-Part 1: Busch Gardens

We had a perfect fight down Friday and even arrived in Florida with energy so we decided to hit the town for dinner. We ended up at Whiskey Joe's which had awesome food and would have been perfect if it wasn't so cold outside. Grandma and Brock totally rocked the Tampa club scene that night :)We decided to spend an extra day in Tampa so that we could take the boys to Busch Gardens. This turned out our to be money very well spent and most definitely of of the highlights of our vacation. It was a bit cold while we were there and even got down to 33 degrees one night. We got to Busch Gardens at 9am and didn't leave until 4pm. The boys went on every they were allowed to go on and they even rode "Air Grover" twice. This was a good sized roller coaster for such small kiddos. They had a whole Sesame Street area there so the boys got the hug all the characters and even got to tickle Elmo! They also loved all the zoo animals and the endless play structures. Another bonus for staying the extra say was we got to see James's cousin Cindy who lives in Tampa. Jim and Ann spent the day with her at the Florida state fair while we were at Busch Gardens and we just went out to dinner with Cindy and her family that night.

Puzzle Mania

The boys have been really into putting puzzles together lately, especially Mason. They can put together a 36 piece puzzle in under 5 minutes! Even if it's a brand new one out of the box. I guess we need to get bigger puzzles.

Shiny Teeth!

The boys had their first cleaning at the dentist. After watching daddy get his teeth cleaned a few weeks ago they have been very excited to get their teeth shined up too. They went to school afterwards and ran up to every single person on the playground to show off their "shiny teeth".

First Snow of 2012

Well they predicted snow and we got it! Several inches fell in just a few minutes. Unfortunately it was already getting dark so play time was fairly brief. However they did get to slide down the hill on the tube and ride their quad through the yard. They had a blast and didn't seem to mind the cold much.

Sea Shells

We took the boys over to Lincoln City for a very quick trip to the coast. We only spent one night in a hotel and we really just went over so that James could take his state electrical boards. While he was taking his test the boys and I went sea shell hunting. It was only 9am when we went out and 30 degrees...freezing but the boys loved it!

Christmas 2011

Because of work schedules we had three days of Christmas festivities. On the 23rd we had dinner with the Raymond side of the family and the boys opened their presents from Nana and Papa. On the 24th we had breakfast with Raymond's then snacks and games with the Dodge's that night. Christmas day the boys got to open their presents at home and Nana came out to hang out with the boys in the morning. We had lunch and spent the evening with the Dodge family. The boys had asked Santa for real tools like daddy's. This was the first year that they understood what was going on. They left cookies out for Santa and "magic reindeer food" (from preschool) out on the lawn. It consisted of oats for the reindeer to eat and glitter so they would have a landing strip :)

Ugly Sweater

Watch out when I'm feeling inspired! This years Christmas surprise was ugly sweaters for all. Even the backs had bling and yes that is a reindeer stuck to the back of Brock's sweater.