Amelia Island 2016

We had so much fun this year on our beach trip to Amelia Island.  We have been back a week but I feel like it was so long ago that we were there.  The minute you get home from fun beach vacations reality is quick to slap you in the face.  We love Amelia Island so much and had such a fun time.  We spent our days playing at the beach, at the pool, and riding bikes.  There was also a lot of eating in between!  Bryce was in full force this year at the beach!  Last year he still couldn't walk and couldn't crawl for the first trip so it was fun watching him run around.  He was fascinated with the sea gulls.  He was hesitant about the ocean at first but by the end of the week he loved it!  He was walking in the water and getting a little too brave at times.  The girls loved the beach too, more so than ever I think.  Kate loved to spend all her time digging for little periwinkles in the sand and Cohen loved to help her.  She also loved boogie boarding.  I loved that she was so eager to get in the waves from the start of the trip.  Of course all the kids loved the pool and we had a lot of pool time.  The one day we had rain we still spent it in the pool.   A little rain never hurt anyone right?!  We took a morning trip to Fort Clinch State Park on Wednesday.   I had been a as little girl but it was neat going back and seeing the fort.  I think the kids enjoyed it too.  It was pretty hot but they didn't  complain other than wanting drinks.  We picnicked, played at the playground and then played on the beach.
The day we left for the beach was mine and Kelly's 11th anniversary!  I can't believe it has been 11 years.  It has been such a fun journey and I look forward to many more years.  It is fun to have a summer anniversary.  I think we have spent a few at the beach and of course we have taken our own trips to celebrate a few as well.  Sug and Pop kept our kids so we could have a night out and we really enjoyed ourselves.  We had a great dinner, walked around downtown, and had our first night of ice cream.  We love going to Dinucci's when we are there.  They have the Dole Whips that I love so much.  I have not found those anywhere other than Disney World and Dinucci's!  It was a great anniversary and a great start to vacation.

We got our trip started with breakfast at Jim's grill on Saturday morning too.  Kelly loves to stop there every chance we can we when head to the beach.  Kate was fascinated with the horses.

On our lunch stop Bryce wanted to sit in his bike seat and didn't want to get off!

11 years and counting....

This about sums it up!

11 years and 3 kids later! 

This picture makes me laugh because we were enjoying the beautiful sunset and looking at all the boats.  I happened to make a comment about having a boat and Kelly pointed at one saying "that can be ours".  I said "which one the red one?" and he said "no this one right in front of us" which happened to be the teeny little boat in the first slip that I didn't even see at first.  I think it blended right in with the dock!   Hubby is always good for a laugh for sure.

We finished our night walking on the beach and got to watch a beautiful fireworks show.  A great night for sure.   Sunday morning we were up and ready to start our beach time!

Kate put her goggles on and she was an instant fish!  It was crazy the difference it made for her.  She picked right up on swimming.  She did so good!

We did a good bit of bike riding and Bryce loved it!  He wanted to be on the "bi-ka-ka" all the time!  I think it is some of the prettiest bike trails around.  Riding under the huge oaks with spanish moss hanging down!

I got cracked up every morning seeing Cohen and Savannah sleeping...only Cohen was the only one I could see.  Savannah covers her entire head with the sheet!

Bryce was fascinated with Uncle Davis

Scuba Bryce is back!!  With real goggles instead of American Girl goggles this time!

showing off her metallic tattoo 

Bryce got a few bike rides from Pop too!

We had a pond right out from our balcony.  One night the girls fed the turtles and loved it!  Bryce was completely amazed at all the turtles!  The girls and I loved matching in our Peach State Pride tees!

Wednesday was our visit to see Fort Clinch.  The girls ran right to the canon.  More to climb than a big interest but they did enjoy seeing how real soldiers lived.  

Kate was amazed when we told her this was a bathroom

Got to match with my sweet girl.  

Bryce had fun with his grocery cart!

Cohen found a sand dollar on the beach!

this was our rainy pool day!  Pretty nice!

This was from one of evening walks on the beach.  We saw the prettiest sunset!  Kate was excited to catch a crab!  She really enjoyed chasing everyone with it and using it to make everyone scream!

Football frisbee can bring out the best in Hubs

Loved rocking my baby!  

By Friday Bryce had really warmed up in the ocean.  We had such calm water too.  He was playing in the water, running and walking in it and loving every minute!

Kate had gotten a kite for her birthday so it was perfect to fly on the beach.  Bryce preferred to chase sea gulls over flying the kite.

Our last night we ate at Timoti's seafood shack which was a new place for us.  A big plus was the playground for the kids!  Eating outside is my favorite too.  You really speak to this Mama when you have a playground for entertaining the kids.  The shrimp was pretty good too.  Its the little things we enjoy the most now!

Happy Birthday Kate!

I can't believe that my little Kate is now 5 years old!  Its just a constant reminder that time continues to fly by.  I love the saying "the days are long but the years are fast" because that truly sums it up to a tee.  I could write so much about Kate.  This girl is such a sweet, kind hearted, laid back, go with the flow girl!  She is the biggest animal lover you will ever meet and keeps us laughing.  She loves her brother and sister, but is content to play by herself and can occupy herself very well.  She is our little soccer player and will play most any game.  She recently has started playing tennis and will be going to tennis camp later this month.  She is very adamant that she wants to take gymnastics now too.  She is an absolute joy and I am so lucky to get to be her Mama!  We celebrated her 5th birthday with an animal party of course!  She wanted a jungle party.  Since Kate has the summer birthday in our family we enjoy having her parties at our house and getting outside!  This year we bought a water slide for the kids to play on and brought back the redneck slip-n-slide from last year.  "Back by popular demand!"  I also had water balloons for the kids (and adults) and did a fun I Spy game with the kids which I was really excited about.  I think it was a hit too!  Thank you to everyone who came and celebrated our sweet Kate with us.  She loved her party and has told me she wants to have another birthday very soon!  We haven't had her official 5 year check up yet but here are a few things about Kate at 5 years old:

• LOVES animals!  She will catch any bug, frog, lizard, you name it!  She has several bug houses and I don't think they ever stay empty.  The most recent was a baby praying mantis that Sug had caught for her, and also worms that she digs to go fishing with.   She also will spend hours doing animal books and playing with all her animals.  We are going on a special vacation this summer that is going to be full of animals for her to enjoy!
• Always has the best attitude in all situations. Very rarely do you hear her complain or cry.  I know something is wrong when she does.  
• Loves her cousin Addison.  These 2 are the best of friends and play very well together.   I know she is going to be so sad next year because Addison will go to kindergarten while Kate will stay back in pre-K.  
• Right now Kate is our sporty girl.  She plays soccer, recently likes to play tennis and will play all games with us at home.  We will see how this continues.  She wants to start gymnastics like I mentioned earlier. 
• Loves books and will often come to me during Bryce's nap time and tell me its now "Mama's day with Kate"  which we will usually spend doing her animal activity books.  She is starting to be into writing more so we have some new letter books to do.  

We love our Kate!  She is such a bright spot in our little family!

Roaring like a lion on the water slide

Cohen & Carolina were twinning!

I caught Kate snatching some Cheetos!

For the "I Spy" game each child got a card with 9 things to find on it.  They then would dig in the "slime" to find each one.

The adult water balloon toss!  Kelly & Westley tied with Jason & Lindsay!

Sadie was having some fun getting Denny with the water gun!

The most beautiful cake!!  

Bryce could be found out on the lawn mower most of the party!

Every year we get a group picture and this year was probably the best they have been! A big sign of how big everyone is getting!

PARTY ANIMALS!

At the end of the night Kate wanted to rock with me and I wasn't about to turn that down.  Even at 5 years old I can still rock my baby to sleep!

Every year I like to take one last picture of the girls (and boy too) on the night before their birthday.  I was on a little surprise girls night away when Kate went to sleep on Friday night so I took this one right before I left.  My last picture with my FOUR year old.