Home

We decided during the first day of driving to get it done in two days instead of three. The kids were doing good, and we just thought getting home Sunday evening would be better than Monday at noon. We stopped about 40 miles North of Atlanta and stayed at the Fairfield Inn in Cartersville, GA. I stay in alot of hotels, Marriott brands to be specific, and we used some of my points to stay places on the drive there and back. I just want to stay that this Fairfield (which is Marriott's lowest quality hotel) was nicer than some of the regular Marriotts that I have stayed in. So, if anyone is driving from the midwest to Florida and wants to stop halfway, I recommend this place. The town was pretty nice, too. We found another playground for the kids at a Chick-fil-a, so they could burn some pent up energy, then we all had a good night's rest.

We got home yesterday about 6 o'clock. It was good to be home. I think everyone had a great night's sleep last night, and the kids even slept for about an hour and a half extra between last night and this morning.

It sounds like Kim's sister, Courtney, is going to have her baby this week, so that is exciting. I don't know all the details, but from what I understand it will be sometime in the coming days.

I will try and find a good way to post pictures from the trip on the site. I haven't been able to do that yet, but am determined. Probably a late night project tonight.

Wrapping up a GREAT WEEK!

I see that Kim did some early morning blogging and said we were going to the aquarium. We did, and it did prove to take Austin's mind off of going home for a few hours. It wasn't the biggest aquarium, but it had some cool stuff. The clown fish were a big hit as the kids know that is a "Nemo fish." There were also sharks (Austin's favorite), dolphins, big lobsters, and some Manatee, which are found all over around here, I guess. Well, I should say, used to be found. I guess they are either endangered, or very close to being endangered. There were also some huge sea turtles. Austin became a big fan of these all of the sudden. In the gift shop Austin picked out a stuffed sea turtle, and Caitlin picked out a stuffed Nemo fish. We got a great picture of Austin actually trying to get his stuffed sea turtle to talk to one in the tank. I will post it when we get home. The turtle got the name, "Tuga." Which is short for Tortuga (Spanish for turtle), and the name of a sea turtle that Diego saved in one of the cartoons that the kids know by heart.

After a not so great nap time after the aquarium, the kids were a little stir crazy so we headed down the island to see Turtle Beach. This is a place that alot of giant sea turtles go to lay their eggs. Some agency comes out and marks where the nests are and tapes them off so you don't step on them, but you can easily see where they are, so the kids all week have enjoyed knowing where the turtle nests are. There were several on Turtle Beach, as promised, along with some surfers as there were probably about 5-7 foot waves there today, also. But, as soon as we walked 50 feet onto the beach we got hit with a downpour, so we ran for the car. It probably lasted about 5 minutes, but we bailed on it, and headed to the nearest DQ to get the kids a little ice cream. After that, we hit the Chick-fil-a (a fast food place that has awesome chicken sandwiches) not really to eat, but so the kids could get some time playing on their indoor playground. Not sure if we mentioned it a couple of days ago, but we took the kids there Wednesday night for awhile. They keep it very clean, much better than the McDonald's ones. They played there for over an hour and had a great time with the other kids.

We got back and took one last walk on the beach for this trip. We had an English guy take our picture (needs to go through photoshop to see if I can get it to look good!), looked at some sand sculptures of a manatee, a dolphin, and a mermaid and then headed up for bath time. The kids fell right to sleep and we are getting everything packed up to get an early jump on the road. Fay is raining all over Northern Florida so it will be interesting getting through it. We will take it slow if we need to and stay safe. We plan on getting to Macon, Georgia tomorrow night (7 hours), Bowling Green, KY (6 hours) on Sunday night, and then have only about a 3 hour drive home from there on Monday. Hopefully, with the storm, we can still keep that schedule.

We have had a great time this week. Some great time as a family to play and laugh and just have a great time. It has been such a great blessing for me personally because it just doesn't seem like I get time like this with the kids that often. Just to be connected with them and Kim for these 10 days or so makes me feel closer to them, and feel like we are a little tighter as a family. There are a ton of memories we will take, and hopefully can get down here a lot more in the future. To have a week without a storm and just enjoying the sun and water would be awesome!!! By the way, only Kim is going home sunburned...I am slightly darker (I used sunscreen), Caitlin is darker (even through SPF 50 - she tans really easily), and Austin is still pretty white (we make sure he is covered head to toe in sunscreen with his fair skin).

Thanks for following our travels with us this week! It has been fun to blog about our (mis)adventures!

our last day in siesta key! :(

well, austin is homesick...pretty amazing considering he is here with his entire family! he has been grouchy as can be and all he can talk about is mowing with daddy and "want to go home". so in an effort to take his mind off of it, we are going to the aquarium this morning. today isn't really a "hang out on the beach" kind of day anyway...VERY windy with big waves. hopefully they will enjoy the aquarium.

oh yeah, in case i haven't mentioned it earlier....once we get home, ryan is our family's OFFICIAL GRILLER. he has been manning the grill and cooked up some great burgers, pork chops, and ribeyes. everything i grill has a tendency to become um, charred! i think it's best for all involved that he take over! :)

more after the aquarium....

Thursday...

Today was pretty much back to normal. Sunny and hot. We had a pretty good breeze all day and it is picking up pretty good right now. The surf has gotten pretty wild, with much bigger waves hitting the shore. I wouldn't say you could surf on them, but for what we have seen here, it is pretty rough. A lot different than the other morning when the two dolphins were swimming around.


We started the day by taking the kids to breakfast at Dunkin Donuts. They can be a challenge to get to eat, so we thought a good sugar filled start to the day would get them going. Caitlin ate some "blue cake" (blueberry muffin). She loves it, and makes quick work of the oversized ones she usually gets at Starbucks. This was just as big and was devoured just as quickly. Austin wanted a chocolate doughnut with sprinkles. He licked off most of the frosting and sprinkles but wouldn't bite to eat the dough part. Oh well...We have learned on this trip that if you let him walk around with a bag of animal crackers he is good. Never seen someone consume the pure quantity of animal crackers as he has, and I am not sure of the nutritional value, but at least he eats them! He will eat some occassional chicken nuggets, strawberries, grapes, and, of course, goldfish. Caitlin has been eating her noodles (circle pasta), grapes, strawberries and goldfish. She is snacking on some mini ritz right now. I'm not sure if we have mentioned it yet, but we discovered they LOVE Oreos the past few days...well, not the whole thing, just the frosting inside...Boy would they love to know about DoubleStuff...


After breakfast, we stopped and took a look at a couple of other condos that we have driven by and wanted to take a look at for future trips. There is probably a mile long stretch of different condo buildings, some really nice, some not quite as nice, and some that really need some updating. I think we found one that we will try to reserve for a week next summer. The place we are at this week has probably the best view of any place on the beach, but is just average in terms of being updated and taken care of. Not bad, but not great, either. There are places for the same price that would be better. Without being on Waikiki, this is probably about as close as you can get in the lower 48. To be here for a week without a storm messing with the weather would be great! I see why this place is like a magnet for people to come spend the winter months, and people make big money renting places out.


We spent about an hour on the beach this morning after taking a look at the other condos. Austin has seemed to like the water less as the week has gone on. Adventure girl just gets more and more comfortable. She runs to the water whether you are with her or not. She loves it. During nap time, Kim walked the beach and found some more shells. She definitely loves to look for them, and the collection that she and the kids have got to take home is pretty impressive. We have alot!


After the kids woke up from their nap, we went down to the pool. They can float around and be in the water much more than in the gulf. We spent a couple of hours down there. We are going to have some dinner and then watch another beautiful sunset. It is amazing, no matter what the weather is during the day, the sunsets are absolutely postcardesque. There are amazing colors and they have been breathtaking every night. People stream to the beach to take pictures of them. We have sat on our balcony and enjoyed them everynight. Looking forward to the last two we get to see tonight and tomorrow night.


We will split time tomorrow between the beach and the pool, I would suspect, and then head home Saturday morning. We lost a couple of days of good weather to Fay, but we have had a great time here for sure, and hopefully can come back many times. Good to spend so much time with Kim and the kids with nothing really to stress or worry about. I guess that is what vacations are for! I haven't been the best at taking them. We have gone places, but done tons of sightseeing or been really busy. Nice to come to a place as beautiful as this and do really nothing but enjoy the beauty and spend time with the family!

The kids carrying water in their buckets from the gulf today

Kim in the pool with the kids this afternoon. Caitlin is a fish! She floated around in her "floatie" and life jacket for at least an hour today learning to kick and paddle around. Austin clings pretty hard to you still.

Another unbelievable sunset from the other night. We have taken a lot of picture of them and I am sure one of them will end up blown up and hanging in our house. A picture doesn't do them justice. Caitlin was telling us the colors in the sky on this night.

The Day After...

After a windy and cloudy day yesterday, and amazingly almost no rain, we are having a windy and partly cloudy day this morning. I think we are in about a 75 mile area in the whole state of Florida that will have gotten no rain from Fay. It should be in the upper 80's today, and although it doesn't look like we are going to have anymore perfect days here the rest of the week, it should be nice enough to spend plenty of time down on the beach.

Last night at about 2 a.m. I woke up to hear a bunch of kids down on the beach. From what I could see, it looked like they were taking advantage of the winds from the NW making some fairly good waves to body board. In the last 24 hours we have seen the wind come from the East and rotate all the way around to coming from the North, and now the Northwest.

Shouldn't need to really update anymore weather conditions, I know the storm is forcasted to cross back over Florida, but well to the North of us. I think we are just in for a windy rest of the week because of it.

Noon Fay Update

Well, we haven't even gotten our first drop of rain yet, so that is great news. It is windy, maybe gusts to 30 or 40 mph, and overcast, but beyond that, it is still warm and there are plenty of people on the beach and in the water. Mostly, it looks like they are looking for shells, but some are out swimming. We took a morning walk with the kids and both would exclaim how windy it was.

The forcasters have said that we are now maybe only going to get up to an inch of rain this afternoon, and are amazed that we haven't gotten any yet. The storm continues to head up to the Northeast while the bands of rain kind of disappear before they get to us, although they are getting closer. Hopefully, we will be back to sunny and hot temperatures tomorrow.

random funnies....

whenever we ask austin a question requiring "yes", he replies, "think so!" in an adorable sing-song voice!

in bed the other night, caitlin took a band-aid off of her foot and applied it to her bunny's knee! she (and austin) love to pretend they're doctors.

caitlin's favorite question is, "how we get down to the beach?"...knowing full well the answer is the elevator. she loooooves to ask that!

during our drive, austin was very impressed with the mountains (we told them it was the smokey mountains, but we're not sure)...he was often heard saying, "want more 'mokey mountains!!"

mr. polite...when ryan unlocks the gate to the beach, austin walks through and says, "thanks dad!"

caitlin is fascinated by the analog clock in our condo...she loves to announce that "the hands are pointing to nigh nigh time."

when looking for seashells caitlin doscovered one with a tiny crab in it...she didn't know whether to be scared or excited but became excited when mom and dad told her how cool it was.

the kids have discovered a love of oreos on this trip...well, not the whole oreo...just the frosting!

caitlin declared "I feel hungry about it" several times as she was trying to tell austin that she was hungry for some goldfish in the car.

Morning Update...

The above map is courtesy of the NOAA.gov website and is their prediction of the storm track as of 5 a.m. this morning. Can you believe that we are in the green area to the north of where the storm made landfall! Tampa is right inside the white part just to north of us, and Orlando is pretty much in the storm path. Here at Siesta Key, it is windy (20-40 mph gusts) and partly sunny right now at sunrise. Granted, the clouds that are overhead are blowing from East to West about as fast as any clouds I have ever seen go by, but we have had no rain so far, and as of now they are saying that we may only see 1-2 inches today (some places may get a foot) and things should be back to normal summer weather by tomorrow. That means a chance for a thunderstorm in the afternoon, which seems to be the case in any tropical place I have been in the summertime.

Now this is certainly great news for us, but hopefully there won't be too much damage where the storm does roll through. Also, interestingly enough, we may have to drive through the remnants of it on the way home this weekend! That should just mean a rainy first day's drive into Georgia.

Well, we will update more later. Right now, as the sun comes up, people are filtering out to the beach for their morning walks and enjoying the fact that somehow, we are only having windy conditions!

Settling in for Fay, and some pictures!!!

Well, it is about 7:30 p.m. on Monday evening and we got in our last hour or so of beach time before the storm comes. We took a nice walk with the sun starting to go down...Amazingly, so far we had one quick, intense shower, and the rest of the storm kind of just disappears on the radar before it gets to us. That won't last a whole lot longer, but for now there are still quite a few people out on the beach under partly cloudy skies, but still warm temperatures (in the 80's). There are definitely some darker clouds to our East, which is where the storm bands will come from, but definitely nothing too ominous. The NOAA website doesn't even forcast the storm to be at a hurricane level when it hits shore, as of now. We will see. People say that these things are very unpredictable, so always have a plan if things change.

There is a voluntary evacuation of the barrier islands (Siesta Key is one of them), but they aren't telling anyone they need to leave, and there is hardly any boarding up of houses or anything like that. I was at Target earlier to get a flashlight, a couple of candles, and Scrabble (in case the power goes out for a long time) and people were just shopping as if nothing was happening. I called Larry to get his take, as he has lived in Naples and been through several hurricanes. He said that as long as it is a category one or so, it shouldn't be too bad. He said it would be a good experience for us! He said the last category one he was in he was driving around and stuff was still open. I hope that is the case for this one! Our friend Bethany, who is from Sarasota, said that she used to surf in category one hurricanes, so maybe we will see some of that!

Anyway, I got some pictures uploaded and thought I would share....So here they are!

A&C getting to play on the Chattanooga Choo Choo...a big hit on the drive!

The view up the beach from our balcony...How beautiful is this place? The sand feels like powdered sugar!

Austin throwing the ball to Caitlin...He's got an arm!

Caitlin doing her interpretation of an SI swimsuit model...She LOVES the water! No fear at all!

Austin and Caitlin playing ball...

Last night's sunset from our balcony...Breathtaking...

fay is coming!!!

well, we are figuring out what to do right now...looks like we are in the direct path & a voluntary evacuation has been issued. we are keeping a close eye on the conditions and will do our best to find a weaker section of the storm to find shelter. how's that for some vacation excitement?!?

this morning i was able to hang out on the beach for awhile by myself and was lucky enough to see TWO DOLPHINS playing!!!!!!!! that was one of the coolest things i've ever witnessed!

then we headed to a different beach (venice) to look for shark's teeth. austin was melting down shortly after we arrived so we left empty handed...the kids decided to play in bed until 10pm so naptime was early today!

more later!

siesta key

first of all, this place is beautiful! the sand is cool and has the texture of flour. we arrived yesterday and were able to get in some time on the beach. austin wasn't so sure of walking in the sand at first, but as he got used to it, he had a good time. caitlin was fearless...she just marched right up the beach like she had done this her entire life. the same went for the water...she loved the waves and kept asking to go further and further out. to which we replied, NO WAY. they were both very good and stayed close to us...mom's recurring nightmare is one of them getting swept out to sea!

we all had an early bedtime last night (maybe we had "van lag"?!)...ryan and i didn't even make it to see michael phelps' last swim and that's what our goal was! sad!!! but after we put the kids to bed we sat out on our balcony, ate pizza, and enjoyed the sights and sounds of the gulf.

it is hot as blazes here! the water is perfect though & even when we're cooling off inside, the view from our condo is spectacular. ryan made a great selection...tons of windows and 3 balconies overlooking the gulf with no obstructions. we took some good sunset photos last night.

austin and caitlin built their first sandcastle yesterday. they were so cute!!! this morning we all took a walk along the beach and looked for seashells. they had a ton of fun. austin thinks every tall building in "the big city" is "daddy's work" which is pretty funny!

well, gonna get out and enjoy some more sun...hope the hurricane doesn't get us on monday/tuesday. they named it "fay" and they aren't certain of the course yet...stay tuned!!!!

the state fair...

we ventured out to the fair on sunday morning! it was a gorgeous day...sunny, in the mid 70's with a slight breeze...not your typical "august in indiana" weather. the kids were excited because we had been talking it up nonstop for a few days...as soon as we walked up to the fairgrounds, caitlin said, "what i smell like?" (translation=what do i smell?) daddy said, "the fair"...ain't that the truth?! they loved seeing all the animals up close. they got to ride on the merry-go-round and they rode on a ride all by themselves for the first time. it was called "convoy"...just a bunch of little "trucks" hooked together that they could "drive" around the track. it was sooooo cute to see and further evidence that they are indeed growing up waaaaaaay too fast! the highlight of the day was that they each got to ride a pony!!! austin went first and was a little bit afraid to get on, but he did and then he just grinned from ear to ear. caitlin hopped on right away and was all smiles too. austin's horse was named "rowdy" and caitlin rode "hank". too cute! they also had elephant rides but ryan vetoed that till they're older. darn!

earlier in the week we took them to the zoo to see the koalas....they loved them. austin also loved seeing the rhinos...caitlin declared them "stinky". they also got to pet the goats and ride the merry-go-round...always a favorite.

we have suffered the devasting loss of austin's favorite toy...his lawnmower!!! one broke last week and the other one broke yesterday. poor guy. we are going to find him a new one after vacation. in the meantime, he has been pushing his tractor around like a mad man!

yesterday ryan and i celebrated our 8th wedding anniversary!!! YAY! it's always nice to remember the day we promised to be together forever...marriage can be a bumpy road sometimes, but it is well worth the ride to be with the one you love with all your heart.

2 more days till the beach!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!! we are all sooooooo ready to just go and relax! so excited, in fact, that we bumped our departure time up by a day! ;) the last minute preparations are underway...hooray!!!

suppose i should go accomplish some of the aforementioned last minute preparations...more after our vacation...

vroom vroom!!!!!

this morning we were playing outside and caitlin had an accident in her undies. so, she and i came in to change. i told her to take off her shoes, shorts, and undies while i ran upstairs to get some clean clothes. it took me about two minutes but by the time i had come back down, there she was...naked from the waist down, swinging from her trapeze. oh my gosh, it was the funniest sight i've seen in a long time! i had to usher her inside the house, all the while explaining that we don't go outside with our buns hanging out. so glad none of our neighbors were out yet!!!!!!!! she only had 2 accidents all morning so we're making progress....

except we're not....caitlin wants to wear undies but refuses to use the potty. what the heck? we'll keep chugging away tomorrow.

aunt bubbles and uncle john stopped by this evening for a few minutes...the kids had a ball. they especially loved sitting on uncle john's motorcycle (see pics). they fell asleep without a peep tonight! love it!

funny, but not really

well, austin has discovered how to lock our doors. last night he locked me out of the master bathroom (he locked the door then pulled it shut when he left the room, so he wasn't locked in or anything)! of course, i can't find the million and one keys the builder left for us because i cleaned and lord knows where i put it! thank goodness my neighbor let me borrow one of theirs! double thank goodness because he locked himself and caitlin in our bedroom and i needed to unlock it! talk about double trouble!!!!!!!

in the bathtub tonight austin kind of lounged back onto caitlin. so, she grabbed her dora sponge and told me "i'm scrubbing my little buddy!" as she washed his hair with her sponge. i cracked up!!!!!!!!

tomorrow is a total hang out day. i am going to do some cleaning tonight and then we are all going to veg tomorrow! we bought "go fish" so we'll see if they can get the hang of playing that game...