Early Celebration

Tomorrow is Aiden's 4th birthday! However, Micah has to go out of town for a conference...again...but everyone in the program goes, so there's not much of a choice. He'll be back late on Friday, but is on call, so we won't really see him until Saturday. So we decided to do Aiden's birthday dinner a night early. We went out to eat, and gave him a few of his presents-he'll get a few more at his party on Sunday.

opening presents

Oh if I could get him to stop his cheesy smile... ;)

We played a few games while we waited for our food.

Aiden super excited that he scored!

As Aiden told me, Candy is better than Ice Cream. I suppose it depends on the day, and the candy or ice cream!

But Ice Cream is good! Especially with sprinkles ;)

Devin has mastered the art of feeding himself. Not so much getting the food on the utensil, but getting it in his mouth-he hardly ever misses! Go figure ;)

Oh yeah, shove it in!

Of course eating the ice cream is more important than smiling for the camera.

That's better :)

When we got home we decided to try out his skates a little. More practicing will be done outside tomorrow.

Sorry about the angle-Micah wasn't aware you couldn't take video like that. Note my great coaching, cuz I'm such a pro at skating...NOT! haha

Aiden's Girlfriend

The day we got into Florida, Micah needed to get some work done and my family needed to do a little shopping. So off we went to hit the stores, the boys and I, my sister Lauren, and my parents. My mom was looking for sandals for the ceremony for her and Daryl, and I-well just wanted to go shopping ;)Tiki man statue

Dad and Devin pooped out!

And then we found Aiden's girlfriend :) I was pushing the stroller with my mom and sister while my dad and Aiden went on ahead. I couldn't see Aiden anymore and so I asked where he was. My dad said he was just up a bit and we came across him in this car with this girl! I profusely apologized to the girl's grandma who had started the ride. She laughed and said it was not a big deal and they were cute together. So they rode and then my family and I went into a store close to the ride. Aiden was in there with us, and I was doing some good shopping-so we had been in there for a little while. As I'm finishing up the door opens and the Grandma pokes her head in and asks if Aiden was still in here. I said yes, and she asked if it was alright if the kids rode the car again together. Her little granddaughter had been asking for him! Oh my gosh how cute!! So we let him go for another cruise with his new found friend. I had him put his arm around her, and it was just too dang cute ;) We were all snapping pictures and gushing over the two of them.
Oh, young love...*sigh*. Haha :)
After talking with them a little we found out that they too were on vacation, and they were from our area back home! What a coincidence! Her dad went to college in my hometown and everything. It was too funny and we have left it up to the universe to bring these love birds back together if it's meant to be.

Till they meet again...

Ft. Myers Beach

We finally made it to Florida for Hilary's wedding very early Tuesday morning, and the wedding was Wednesday evening. We did a little shopping in the morning while Micah got some work done, and then we all went down to the beach for some fun in the sun.

And he's about to fall down on his doupa!

One of the things I was grateful we drove was that we can load the car up with everything and about anything we needed, including beach toys. So luckily we didn't have to buy any! I really enjoyed getting to pack what I wanted without having to worry about weight restrictions.

We all played a little volleyball, even Uncle Mike and Aunt Laura got in on the action. And then again it was a good thing we drove so we could take Lauren's new volleyball home with us so she didn't have to deflate it and carry it on the plane.

Oh and he ate it! Poor guy, but he recovered well ;)

And he got really sandy too. At that point he was tired and ready for a nap, so Micah took him back up to the hotel.

Look what we found!

Lauren did a good job finding Star fish and Sand Dollars. Aiden loved holding the sand dollars and feeling them move, and then we carefully put them back in the water where they belong. Sad I didn't get any pictures of that-oh well. Next trip!

Aiden and Papa

Dinner after checking out the ceremony site

We got back and put the kids to bed, and then went up to my parent's room which was directly above ours, and played Jokers and Marbles with my parents, Uncle Mike and Aunt Laura. Again, grateful we could pack anything we wanted! ;) Oh, and if I recall-girls won!

The day after the wedding we checked out and then packed all our stuff in the van and in my parent's room so we could still spend the day with the family and leave in the evening. So we all went down to the pool and enjoyed one last swim session. The weather was just really crummy most of the trip, raining and overcast almost the whole time. Oh well, we still got some time outside!

Aiden liked jumping into the water, but then wanted to be put on the stairs where he could touch or wanted out so he could jump back in. He was not a fan on being in the middle of the pool. He is still scared of anyone letting go, and really has a hard time really practicing his swimming. Luckily I have enrolled him in lessons again at the Y, and so I'm hoping he will soon get over his fear. Not to mention the fact that he somehow fell off the stairs and into the deeper waters and needed "rescuing". That surely set us back a bit!

And Devin seeing his brother have so much fun jumping in the water, had to jump in too! He was so cute and absolutely LOVED the pool. It was nice because it was warm, and he really had a ball :)

And of course I can't resist throwing my kids in the water.

We really had a good time, and wished we could have spent more time out there.

On the way home, and the boys are on the phone-probably asking "Are we there yet??"