Memorial Day at Suwannee

Time again for a family trip to Suwannee for Memorial Day! This year was a blast! My mom and sister came with us along with their boyfriends. We had never let Jeremy ride on the tube before and we finally got it out. At first he was super nervous about falling, alligators, sturgeons, snakes, etc. but after about 5 minutes he was a pro! 

Everyone took turns on the jet ski.  Even Mimi hopped on with Jeremy for a few minutes!

And we spent some time at Fanning Springs jumping off the dive. We love Wakulla Springs, but this one is more Jeremy's speed.

Suwannee vacation

This weekend we took a quick trip over to Suwannee to visit David and Wanda. It was a very relaxing weekend. We took cold boat rides followed by warm camp fires! We watched the steam rise of the river in the morning.

Ever since Jeremy was just a few months old, we've been bringing him to Manatee Springs and he has always posed with this manatee... and this time it was gone. We were really sad!

One more day of quiet on the Suwannee

I've really felt deprived this summer because we haven't been to Wanda and David's house in months! So, we had to spend one more day on the river. Sadly, there was a huge storm that passed through the area the night before and we were still getting the tail end of it. We really had to take our chances and most of our trip was beautiful and sunny! Here's a few things I love the most about the river:

Happy Easter!

Easter was a really fun day! We had lots of family time with Mimi, Yaya, Ray Ray, Nanny and Papa, the Herndon crew, Aunt Wanda and Uncle David, and Aunt Janie and Uncle Jerry. We did all the usual things... church, a 25 course lunch, egg hunts, opening Easter baskets. But, this year the one thing the kids will probably remember is their pinatas Joey and Papa made for them! They were filled with *mostly* unbreakable toys and tied onto the garage door. Jeremy had so much fun! I think Matthew had a little bit of help...
And Kelsie just wanted her basket of toys!

New Years at Suwannee

There is nothing better than a weekend down at the Suwannee and boys doing all the things that boys should do: driving tractors, fixing things with big tools, geocaching, and making fires. Our New Years eve was spent around the fire. It took us a little while to get the fire going, so Uncle D poured diesel on it to get it going... And we had some s'mores with extra large marshmallows. It was really fun. :)

Christmas, 2010

Here are a couple pictures of our Christmas! Its really the one day a year where I don't feel the need to take thousands of photos and just enjoy the day together. So, here are the few photos that I did take.

There are a couple of videos at the bottom. If you have time, check out the last one! Jeremy and Mimi made a book to help him read the Christmas story by himself. It was pretty special and he was very proud of himself.
One of Jeremy's favorite things he got was his his Paper Jams. He LOVES music!

Jeremy reading the Christmas story...

Summer isn't complete without...

...a weekend at the Suwannee.

2010 Road Trip: Great Sand Dunes, CO

OK, our last stop on our trip before we rushed home was the Great Sand Dunes in Colorado. Being a Florida girl, I know a little about sand dunes. So, I just had to know what these dunes were doing in the middle of the country.

But first, we had to drive across the Rio Grande National Forrest. We weren't expecting to drive across a mountain range, and the RV overheated just before we got to the top. Luckily, we were "stuck" with a beautiful view where we could wait around a little while before we were able to leave.

We thought we were going to hang out for a few days at the Great Sand Dunes, but there was a massive wild fire on the mountain right next to the dunes. They were still letting people come into the park, so we went to check it out.OK, I know this looks really bad (it really was) but I promise we were safe and the fire was pretty far away and the went was blowing away from us.Speaking of wind.... I know it is kind of hard to see, but we really couldn't stay long because we were being pelted by sand. I was really impressed with how tall these dunes are! There was one random guy walking around by the dunes so you can see some perspective on how just how massive these things really are. I wanted to get closer, but Jeremy was pretty upset by the sand stinging his legs.I'm hoping we can come back to the dunes one day when we can spend some more time. We were really looking forward to sledding down those dunes!