June has flown by for us partly because I spent a little over a week traveling back and forth to Florida. Brandon & Lexi were able to come spend 3 weeks in Thatcher and play with their cousins with plans to return with Nana and Jackson for a week. However, a few days before they were supposed to leave Nana asked if I wanted a free trip to Florida if she watched my little boys. My initial reaction was ok, sure. Then, the more I thought about it, the more I didn't think I could make the trip.
I had to take Gracie on a 5 hour plane ride and go to Florida for a week leaving my work and my boys and leaving Scott to hold down the fort. I was going to miss Scott's and Jake's birthdays plus Father's Day. Plus I had just been put in the Primary Presidency the Sunday before I was to leave so I was going to leave before I even got started. But Nana was really in need of a break from Grandkids and really wanted me to be the one to make the trip so I agreed.
We celebrated birthdays and Father's Day before I left and then we were off. We had a good time it was just so blasted hot and humid there that it makes things hard to enjoy. We flew to Florida on Wed. the 17th and Cami & Ethan came and picked us up. We stayed in a hotel in Tampa that night because Cami bought us all tickets to Busch Gardens for Thursday.
So Thursday we spent the day at Busch Gardens where I rode my FIRST and LAST roller coaster. I am not a thrill seeker. I am not a ride person. I actually am pretty cowardly I guess. I agreed to go with Brandon & Jackson because I could only see a portion of the track and I didn't think it was that bad. More like one at Disneyland or something. But, oh no! It was an old rickety wooden roller coaster. I cried and kept my eyes closed the whole time. Jackson was so proud. Jackson and Brandon were much braver than I and went on lots of roller coasters together.
Lots of cool sculptures cut and grown out of foilage.
The morning time was pretty hot and miserable for us and the babies until we found this fun little water play area for the kids.
Gracie & Ethan had the best time in here. Gracie didn't want to leave.
It wore Ethan out though and he was ready to snooze.
Day two of our trip was spent at Adventure Island which is owned by Busch Gardens. It's a huge water park. This day was much more my speed and we all enjoyed it thoroughly. Even the babies loved it because they got to play in the water all day. Being wet all day made the heat much more bearable.
We didn't take our cameras with us so no pictures but Cami & I set up home base with the babies in a water play area just for them and then Brandon & Jackson went off and did all the slides on their own and then just kept checking in with us. Lexi went back and forth with them and taking turns going with Cami or myself. I hadn't been on a waterslide since I was a teenager and it was a blast. We even took the babies swimming down the lazy river.
Saturday and Sunday of our trip we just hung out at Cami's house since she had to work the night shift Sat. and go to church Sunday. Then Monday we tackled the beach. This beach trip was unlike my first experience with a Florida beach. I love the Florida beaches because the water is so warm and they have cool seashells and shark teeth to collect. However, this time it was sweltering hot and the wind was blowing hard so the waves were huge. Plus we had babies so we couldn't stay in the water to keep cool.
Jackson, Brandon & Lexi had a blast but after about 1/2 an hour the babies were done. Gracie loved it at first. I put her in the sand near the waters edge and she loved when the waves would come up and get her. But then she got hit with a big one and got seawater up her nose and it was all over after that. We spent about an hour in the car trying to keep cool while we let the big kids swim. At least I was able to capture a couple of pictures before her mood soured.
The next day we flew home and Scott and Jake and Joey picked us up and we stayed at the condo for the night and swam and then headed home Wed. It was a nice visit but there's no place like home. Thanks for putting us up Cami!
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