The kids and I recently got the opportunity to take a trip down to Florida to visit all sorts of family. We started our trip off in the Billings airport where Blake and Wyatt kept themselves entertained in the play area.
As we were waiting to get off the plane in Denver, Blake was being her usual self striking up conversations with anyone on the plane who would make eye contact. She was sure to let everyone know that we were going to see Aunt Shell & Lleyton (sorry Craig...guess you sort of got left out on that one). After she had exhausted all those that would listen she turned to me and asked, "Do Aunt Shell & Lleyton have toys at they house?" I said, "yeah, I bet they do." And as a silent moment had come over the cabin, Blake says (in her never quiet voice), "Good. I gonna mess they house up!" Needless to say, many of the passengers were rolling with laughter. That's Blake - always keeping things interesting for me. When we finally got in the airport, we found out our flight to Tampa was going to be delayed. So, we ended up with around 4 hours to kill in the Denver airport. So, we ate ice cream...
...chilled out...
...took a walk around most of concourse B and had a picnic. Blake & Wyatt did really well, and thank goodness I kept them really busy at the airport. They slept the entire 3 1/2 hour flight to Tampa!
We spent most of our time in Florida at my Aunt Shelly & Uncle Craig's house in Palm Harbor. They have a son (my cousin & Godson) who was 10 months old at the time of our visit. Here's a pic of Wyatt and Lleyton riding side-by-side in the vehicle.
As we were driving to get me a Dr. Pepper one of the first mornings we were there, I was telling Aunt Shell what a back seat driver Blake is. Right on cue, Blake started in asking which way we were going next, telling Shell to go faster and inquiring why we were stopping (at stop lights, etc.). We decided to get me a Dr. Pepper at a Chick-Fil-A that was just a turn away, so we turned and headed that way. As we approached the restaurant, we saw that it was extremely busy; so Shell took another turn and headed back to the intersection that we were previously at. During this whole little jaunt, Blake was just chatting up a storm inquiring exactly what Shelly was doing. Shell was trying to explain that we were going to get me a Dr. Pepper, but now we're going to go somewhere else. And Blake bluntly stated, "SO, you went the wrong way." It was hilarious!!!
The boys sharing a little jail time :)
We headed out to the beach one morning. Shell took us to Honeymoon Island State Park. We got to drive across the Dunedin Causeway and got to see plenty of unfamiliar sights - palm trees, beaches, osprey nests, the ocean (or Gulf...I guess...it's still an ocean to us). As I'm sure any of you can imagine (especially those of you who've met Wyatt), my opportunities to have a hand free to take pictures were slim to none. The odds were forever NOT in my favor on this entire trip. But, we did manage to get a picture of Blake making duck lips with her Pringles at the beach. Sorry, that's the only beach pic we got.
Both of the kids LOVED the beach. Blake had fun swimming in the ocean and finding sea shells while Wyatt seemed to have the most fun walking back and forth between our picnic area and then splashing in the ocean...and repeating...definitely kept me busy trying to watch them both at the same time.
We also got a chance to take a couple bike rides. My aunt and uncle have more wheels in their garage than you can imagine, so it really was fitting. Here's Wyatt after his first bike ride. He LOVED it!!! He even started trying to steer for me which actually became a bit of a challenge by the end. He is a strong little dude.
My Aunt Kath and Uncle Mike also live in Palm Harbor, so we got to crash their place a couple times and swim in their pool. They even had a little Princess themed birthday party for Blake. She was in heaven. My Grandma Kramer, Aunt Kath, Uncle Mike, Cousin Melissa, Aunt Shell, Uncle Craig, Cousin Lleyton, Uncle Shawn, Aunt Heather and Cousin Sam were all in attendance. Blake had a blast, and on the way home she kept telling me, "Momma, they kept calling me PRINCESS." Here's the happy birthday girl posing with a couple of the cupcakes that Aunt Kath & Melissa made for the party.
Thanks to Melissa, I actually ended up with some pictures of the kids swimming and running around. Here they are:
Blake swimming all by herself ;)
A goofy Wy-Guy
As I've said many times before, Wyatt is a wild man. He has no fear around water and will quite literally walk off the edge of the pool into the water. He also doesn't like hearing NO. So, here's my little maniac throwing a fit at the pool after I told him, "no" to something. He was screaming and leaning his head on the screen...but Lis, this is a GREAT shot. I love that you captured my pouty little man in action :)
Wyatt was making the funniest faces when Uncle Mike would squirt him in the face with water. Wyatt thought it was the best thing ever.
A couple more pics of Blake in the pool
Wy-Guy finally settled down a little in the evening. He seemed to take a liking to Uncle Mike. And Uncle Mike seemed to be pretty entertained by Wyatt (AKA Wyatt Riot...as dubbed by Uncle Mike).
We had such a wonderful time getting to visit with everyone, and I especially appreciate everyone chipping in to entertain my children and throw Blake a little birthday bash. Believe me, she will not quit talking about all of you ;)
