Florida Fun

Ella helped Gramma with the dishes!
Blowing (or dumping out!) bubbles at Amy's house

Anson and "buddy" the frog at Amy's house

Ella, James, and Charlotte - cousins!

At Silver Springs

Silver Springs - the water looked blue it was so clear!

The girls in their matching dresses taking a ride in PaPaw's wheelchair

Big ol' gator at Silver Springs

Tired Baby James

Tired Charlotte

Tired Ella

Tired Toto!! :o)

We just got back from a very fun trip to Florida! The kids and I went down last Friday and spent a week in DeLand with my parents. We went to visit Auntie Amy, did a lot of swimming in Gramma and Papa's pool, roamed around DeLand, did some shopping, and got to rest too! Anson enjoyed going to the barber shop with his Papa and then going for a treat at the doughnut shop! Dusty flew into Jacksonville on Thursday and we were soooooo happy to see him! He had been in New Jersey for two weeks with one of his painting crews. We are so thankful that he usually doesn't have to travel because none of us enjoyed having him gone! On Friday we went to Melrose to see all the Rollins'! Jared, Brittany, and Charlotte (and baby Naomi, still in utero!) cam Friday also and we all enjoyed visiting. Ella and Charlotte are so cute together. They walked around hugging and holding hands! Then bright and early Saturday morning (really, 5:45 am is pretty early!) Chad and Amber joined us and we all went tubing down the Itchatukcnee River! It was a such a beautiful day and we all had a lot of fun. Ella and Charlotte stayed home with Charlotte's grandma but Anson came and had a fun time! We all rented rafts instead of tubes because the spring water was freezing cold! But the scenery was gorgeous! I wish I could have taken pictures. We saw turtles, ducks, cormorants, and even saw an osprey dive down and catch a fish! Then we ate lunch in Lake City and went to see Chad and Amber's new house and office! They plan to move there in a month to be close to Chad's new office. When we got back to Melrose, all the guys played a soccer game and exhausted themselves. Anson was so proud to be included in the soccer game this time! He is really growing up!

Then on Sunday morning we all went to Silver Springs park! Silver Springs is home to the famous glass-bottomed boats. We took a couple boat tours over the Silver River and saw lots of fish, birds, and turtles and even a few gators. We went to a couple shows where Anson was not shy to ask questions! In the reptile show he asked the man "What do alligators say?" and he proceeded to make a pretty large alligator hiss unhappily! It was great! And then in the snake show he raised his hand and said "That sure is a beautiful yellow snake!"... more of a comment than a question but that's OK! :o)

Then on Monday morning we headed back to Atlanta, and here we are! Now I need to go through all the pics I took and find a few to post here!