Other Daily Experiences

A couple of ways that living in Florida is different:

Very large birds anywhere:

A tropical forest for a back yard:

But no matter where we are, some of us will always love our ice cream.  You can see that Quinn has two different servings!

More Visitors

The day after Thanksgiving:
 Thanks Aubrey for buying the guys 18 holes of golf:

The girls did their hair - see the matching pony tails:

And all the kids did crafts:

Then in the afternoon we bought Ashley a different vehicle - sorry we don't have a good picture.  Thanks to Joel and the Dreyers for babysitting!

Saturday was quiet.  With some illness going around, the McDonald's couldn't join the rest going to Orlando.  But it was a nice day for kite flying:

Nice hat Quinn:

Sunday was the final day with visitors.

We took the new vehicle to Orlando:

The cousins enjoyed the animal exhibits:

While Mike pondered the world's mysteries:

The rides were fun, too, but made me look like a giant:

 Nearing the end of the visit, some of us were very tired:

 While others were acting goofy - notice James in the back off the ground!

That's all folks!

Thanksgiving

Elly prepared for visitors:

Day before Thanksgiving:  Busch Gardens

Elly and James: "This is fun."  Cousin Cooper:  <speechless>

Sesame Street:

Elly spends a lot of her free time playing teacher.  While waiting in line, here she is helping Cooper practice counting.

Something different for Thanksgiving morning:  warm temperatures.

Thanksgiving Day traditional lunch:

I just learned that what Elly did is called a "photo bomb."  Ha ha.

Yes Quinn is wacky.  No she didn't drink the wine!

Thanksgiving evening at the beach:

Joel with his granddaughters:

Soccer is great at the beach, but Elly I think you missed!

Elly poses crazy, so her grandpa copies:

The Busch Gardens gang was tired that night:

Other Attractions

A day at the Tampa zoo was thoroughly enjoyed by the children.

Sunset Beach at Tarpon Springs was fun, too.

Heather and Brea Visit

We love having visitors.

First Heather and Brea they welcomed us to their Disney-themed hotel and activities including ice cream were enjoyed by the pool.

Sea World was a lot of fun.  I couldn't believe how big the killer whales were and the show they put on.

Some of the attractions, like this one, weren't open so we will have plenty to see when we go back.

Other Random Photos

Halloween was a lot of fun with the mild weather and friendly neighbors spending time outside.  We had a fairy, a poodle, and a hawk.

While eating pizza one night James lost a second tooth.

On a Sunday afternoon ride Elly and James experienced a monastary and later got a tour from a monk.

Visit to Iowa

We've made one visit back to Iowa.

We love spending time with family.

And we prepared for Halloween.

Sunset at Clearwater

One of my favorite experiences here so far was an unusual evening at Clearwater Beach.  Since the beach is an hour-long drive away we usually go early, but this time went to see the sunset.  The other thing that made it unusual was that being on the far edge of Hurricane Sandy made it very windy.

We ate at the popular Frenchy's.

Now that Elly is old enough, it is nice to have her take pictures.

Of course her pictuers are not always centered!

It's a very wide beach and good for soccer.


Pictures of the sunset speak for themselves.