Black Hammock

We had to fly home today but before we go, we wanted to go to Black Hammock. It was only a little ways from Kimarie's so we didn't have to worry about a long drive and being late. We packed up as much as we could but we still had clothes in the drier so we had to go without being fully packed. We decided we would have to be back by 2 so that we could finish packing and be to the airport on time.

When we got there, we went right over to the cages with the female alligators. They didn't move much so we walked around the cage to see if they would move more.

Lake Jesup (full of alligators)

That didn't work so we decided to go over to the huge male alligator. While we were looking at him through his cage, he started making some really weird sounds and tipped his head up. One of the workers told us that it was his mating call. The female alligators in the other cage started calling back, it was really cool. I don't think they so it really often so it was cool to see.

Next we went to show Brooklyn the birds, since they were more colorful, we figured it would be easier for her to see than the alligators. The parrot talked to us and said "hello" which Avery really liked. We tried to get it to talk more but it was more interested in its toys.

Kimarie went into the restaurant to see if she could get take out orders of Gator Bites and saw that there was a live little alligator that you could hold and get your picture taken with. She told the girls to come and get us so we could get our picture taken with it. Tyson and I both held it and Brooklyn just looked at it wondering what in the world it was. It was cold but different than I thought it would be. I really enjoyed it and I was glad that I decided to hold it.

Before Kimarie could get their orders of Gator Bites, Tyson and I decided we had better head back to their house so we could finish packing and get ready to head to the airport. When they got home, Tyson and I both tried alligator, which wasn't bad, it was just really chewy. We finally got packed and headed to the airport after grabbing some lunch on the way.

We got through security at the airport surprisingly fast for the number of people in line. When we figured out where our gate was, we decided to get some snacks for the wait. We found Smoothie King which had the best strawberry, kiwi, papaya smoothie. It was insanely good. Brooklyn really enjoyed it too. Then we grabbed some chips and some chocolate milk for Brooklyn. We sat and ate for a little while and walked around a bit. When it was time to board, we got on the plane and headed for Salt Lake City airport. Brooklyn was really good on the flight, other than the fact that she kept trying to grab the lady's black hair that was sitting in front of us. But she kept everyone else entertained by saying "hi" the whole trip when she wasn't sleeping.

We landed in Salt Lake and got some pizza for lunch and waited for our next flight. Before we boarded, we decided we needed to find some milk for Brooklyn for the flight but no one had any. Tyson walked around for a while and finally found a Starbucks that gave him a cup of chocolate milk. We boarded the plane and Brooklyn slept the whole way home from there. We landed and Tyson went to grab the car while I held Brooklyn, who was still sleeping, and waited for our luggage. Tyson came back and we loaded up the car and headed home. We got Brooklyn in bed and we're headed to bed ourselves. It was a great vacation, even with Tyson and Brooklyn getting sick. I am looking forward to my own bed though!!

Sunday!!

Today was a wonderful and eventful Sunday!! We started out by going to church with Kimarie, Jason and the kids. We forgot Brooklyn's binki when we went to church this morning so church got cut short. I took her out halfway through Sacrament Meeting and had to find the mother's room because she was crying and screaming so loud. She screamed for the rest of the meeting and when Tyson came out of the chapel we both decided that it would be better to go home than interrupt Sunday for everyone else. We finished getting dinner ready while we were home so it was ready when everyone else got home.

After dinner, we relaxed and then later in the evening, we all went to the Orlando Temple. It was magnificent! I took so many pictures because I couldn't get enough of it. There were a ton of fountains and plants surrounding it. Brooklyn enjoyed getting to get down and run around. She climbed up and down the stairs over and over. She seemed to really enjoy being out in the nice weather.

We headed back to the house for the rest of the evening where Tyson and I began packing for leaving tomorrow. It was an outstanding day even though we had to come home early from church.

Manatees

Today our Florida trip brought us to Blue Spring State Park, where this time of year the manatees swim in for the warmer water. We parked in the upper parking lot and walked down to the water. We got there a little late so we didn't get to see the manatees swim in, but we saw a ton of them out where the sun hit the water.

When we arrived, the worker told us there were about 264 that swam in this morning. We couldn't believe it, there were so many! We walked down the boardwalk to see if we could find a spot to see the manatees up close, but they were all out pretty far. So we decided to walk around and then go back and see if we could see them up close on our way back to the car. We walked down to the dock where they took you out on boats, which weren't running yet. We saw a bunch of birds but no manatees. So we walked around the playground and then back to the boardwalk.

On our way back up the boardwalk, we stopped at one of the lookouts and got to see an alligator swimming in the water. Avery was really excited. She wanted to see one so badly so I'm glad we decided to stop. A couple stops up the boardwalk again, we saw 3 turtles off past the manatees.

We walked up to where the swimming hole and were completely shocked to see a bunch of manatees swimming right under the boardwalk. It was amazing to see them up close. You could see all of the scars on their bodies from boats and other things. They are really big too. I always knew they were bigger animals, but seeing them up close it really hit me as to how big they really are. When you see them out further in the water, they don't look as big so it was definitely a shock up close.

I walked to the stairs where people could walk down to go swimming or snorkeling. There was a manatee at the bottom of the stairs, and when it saw us standing there, it came up the stairs to the top of the water, and poked its nose out. It was so cool to see one that close!!

After we were done looking at the manatees, we got to follow some that were playing together. It was fun to watch them swim around each other. I tried to get it on video, but they didn't seem to play as much when I was recording. I would miss the best parts every time I stopped recording.


After following them, we went inside the house that was turned into a museum. It was nice, but I think the manatees were the best by far! Although, the manatee made out of glass and tile pieces was really cool too. It would take a lot of talent and time to make it.

We all went back to the car and decided to go to Daytona Beach since it wasn't far. We got to go inside where buy tickets for tours or races, but we never figured out how to get in so we could see the actual race track. The gift shop had a ton of jackets and shirts for kids and adults. We weren't there very long but we had a lot of fun. We got to see where the winners put their hand and shoe prints and signed their name. Each winner had a square on the sidewalk.

Then it was back to Kimarie and Jason's to spend the evening! What a fun day, we had a blast!!

Disney Adventure

Our adventure started this morning when we headed to Downtown Disney. We walked around and wen t throught all of the shops with Brooklyn strapped in the carrier. Tyson carried her so she was facing out while strapped to his chest and I carried the diaper bag, that we overpacked again. It was a chilly today so Brooklyn and I both had jackets on.

There were candy shops everywhere! It all looked so good but was so expensive. Our favorite shop of all was the Lego store. Outside the building they had huge Disney characters made out of Legos. The first statue we came to was from the first Toy Story movie, when Buzz and Woody were strapped to the firework. The statue had a cloud of smoke from the firework and at the bottom was the remote control car. All of the statues looked like real toys.

The next one we came to was Snow White kissing Dopey's head on a hill. There were birds in the tree behind them. They had another statue with the other dwarves from Snow White. They were all mining for jewels like in the movie. It was so fun to see the cute 1-2 foot dwarves.

Next, we went into the building to see what was inside. They had several stations where you could sit and build things with all of the Legos and then they had walls of Lego kits yu could buy and one wall of single Legos, in every color, that you could buy. It was the coolest thing we'd ever seen. Tyson got to see several Star Wars sets and built models, which I think he really enjoyed. There were also a huge statue of Buzz and one of Woody. Those were a big hit with a lot of the kids. After looking around in the store, we went outside to look at what else they had. We found a section where you could build Lego cars, and then one of the employees would take it and put it on their racetrack so you could compete with other people. The racetrack was similar to pinewood derby tracks that the scouts do.

And the best statue was from Sleeping Beauty!! It was the scene where Prince Charming was fighting against the dragon. It looked so real, I loved it! I can't imagine the amount of time it took to design and I can't imagine the amount of time it took to design and build all of it.

And the final Lego structure was when you walked out the back of the store. It was a huge statue of the Lock Ness Monster in the water. The statue was enourmous. I couln't believe the detail in all of the statues and it made me want to find my old Legos and get to work on something fun like that. It was such and WONDERFUL, FUN store to go through!!

When we were finally done with Legos, we continued to go through the other shops. We found the one with all of the princess stuff and counldn't believe the prices they charged for things. Princess dresses cost over $60 and the toys were expensive too. As we walked through the store, we found a hair parlor where the girls, in their princess dresses, could get their hair done up like a princess. Parents could easily spend hundreds and hundreds of dollars in under an hour. I was glad Brooklyn wasn't old enough to want to get all of that. This Disney store had tons of the characters from oher movies too. I couldn't believe how many they had. We decided to buy Brooklyn a set of all of the princesses for her to play with. She seemed to really enjoy them. She was smiling when we handed her the box.

So excited!

We went through a bunch of other stores and found a lot of things we really enjoyed. There was one store called "Once Upon a Toy" where the whole front of the store was Potato Head Pieces. They had pieces to build Darth Vador, Storm Troopers, Cruella Devile, Minney or Mickey Mouse, and tons of others. In the rest of the store, there were places where you could build your own lightsaber. There were Potato Heads dressed up as Star Wars characters and tons of others. We had a ton of fun building different things.

  

There were a bunch of other stores and restaurants that were really cool. One of my favorite restaurants was the T-Rex. There were dinosaur bones surrounding the building and a huge T-Rex. I love the sign posted just below it!!

We went inside the restaurant and found out there was a gift shop inside too. When you looked in the restaurant, there was a giant octapus with jelly fish as lights. It was very interesting.

The next restaurant we went into was The Rainforest Cafe. There were aquariums all over and different animals throughout room. Brooklyn's favorite was the cheeta that roared and moved its head. Her least favorite was the giant frog hanging from the wall. She did enjoy seeing so many different animals, even if they weren't real.

We got back in the car and gave Brooklyn her princess dolls and you can tell how much she liked them from this next picture!

All-in-all, we had a really fun day. Brooklyn got to explore something totally new and colorful and enjoyed everything. I'm glad we got to get out and get some fresh air and spend time as a family!

Flu :(

January 8, 2012

Today we went to church with Kimarie and Jason and got to be there for Coleson's blessing. He looked so cute in his blessing outfit and he was so good all through church. Seeing him so small made it hard to believe Brooklyn used to be that small. I went to Young Womens with Kimarie, where everyone thought I was one of the young women. When I told the one leader that I was actually 24 and had a one year-old, I think I shocked her. I'm glad I look young but I guess I should be used to people thinking I'm a teenager because I get it all the time. Like my mom always says, I'll love it when I'm 30 and people think I'm in my 20's. The lesson in Young Womens was so good. I felt the spirit so strong and it was nice to be able to listen to the lesson without trying to keep Brooklyn in a good mood or entertained. Tyson had taken her to priesthood with him, which was really nice.

After church, we went to Kimarie's and ate a delicious lunch and broke the news of us being pregnant. Everyone was super excited and we sat and talked for a little while.

Brooklyn hadn't wanted to eat anything but blueberries for dinner and then she threw them up all over me. Kimarie said she would spot the clothes while Tyson and I got Brooklyn in the bathtub. After throwing up, I thought she wouldn't want to play in the tub but I was wrong. She had a blast and even started to get on her tummy and splash around like she was swimming. It's the first time she's done that in the tub and it was so cute. After her bath we got her dressed and hung out again with everyone. She threw up a few more times, not as badly, and Tyson and I were wondering if maybe she had too many blue berries or if maybe she'd come down with the flu. We had to drive to the hotel tonight so Kimarie sent us with a bowl and a towel in case we needed it. I'm so glad she did because Brooklyn threw up all over her car seat. I was sitting back there with her so I was able to use the bowl until we could pull over.

Well, we finally made it to the hotel and cleaned her up again in the tub. After she was clean and dressed, we decided to see if she would drink a little milk and go to bed. She drank the sippi cup and then threw up all over me again. We both ended up in the shower so we could clean up. We decided that we'd better put her to bed and let her tummy settle and feed her something when she woke up.

What an eventful Sunday!!




January 9, 2012

Tyson left for class earlier this morning and Brooklyn and I fell back to sleep. When we woke up, we tried to walk to the store but couldn't figure out where it was so we walked back to the hotel and got the car. We drove around and finally found it right across the street. I guess I was blind when we were walking, I thought it was just next door so I didn't even look across the street. We got some food for lunch and headed back to the hotel.

When we got back, Brooklyn went down for a nap and I studied my Medical Transcription class. Other than that we didn't do much while Tyson was in class because I didn't want to do too much with Brooklyn where she hadn't been feeling good yesterday. She didn't throw up at all while Tyson was in class so I figured I would give her a day to recover. She hadn't wanted much to eat so she didn't have much energy.

We had dinner downstairs with everyone else from John Deere. I got to meet a really nice couple from Canada, and it turns out they used to live in Cardston. It was great getting to talk to them and they were LDS so it was nice. There weren't very many people besides us that weren't drinking alcohol so it was nice to have something in common with them. I met a bunch of people that Tyson works with in other states. We all met down in the hallway for a mingling party before dinner and then went in to eat around 7:00 pm. For dinner we had salad, which Brooklyn enjoyed because she ate all of our cucumbers, then they brought out steak and shrimp. I put the shrimp off to the side and ate as much stake as I could. The rolls were excellent and all-in-all, dinner was great! It was nice to get out of the room and mingle with other people.


January 10, 2012

Today the weather was horrible. I was thinking about taking Brooklyn down to the pool but it was raining and extremely windy. Brooklyn enjoyed looking out the window for most of the day.

When Tyson got back from class, we decided to drive to Olive Garden for dinner. On the drive over, Brooklyn threw up in the back again. So we had to stop in Toys'R'Us parking lot to get her cleaned up as much as possible. Tyson had to do the majority of it because the smell was really getting to me. Then it was back to the hotel for another evening in. Tyson went to get us dinner from KFC, which he found out was further than he had anticipated. He got back and we tried to get Brooklyn to eat some baked potato but she still didn't want to eat anything. We gave her 4 ounces of milk to let it settle and when she didn't throw it up, Tyson gave her a little more. A little while later, to Tyson's surprise, she threw it all up on him. So this time they had to get in the shower while I cleaned up the floor and our luggage. I feel so bad for Brooklyn. It's no fun when you are sick on vacation! We put her to bed hoping tomorrow will be better for her.


January 11, 2012

Tyson was in the hotel for classes today and he came up at lunch time not feeling well. He looked pale and I knew he had to have gotten something. We heard that the flu was going around the hotel so we figured it was that. He drank some Sprite to see if it would calm his stomach down so he could go to his afternoon classes. A few minutes before his class started, he headed down feeling a little better. I went to the store to get him some medicine and to get Brooklyn and I some lunch. We got home and ate and Tyson came back up after his class feeling worse.

He fell asleep on the bed and I woke him up to get him to eat something so he could take some medicine. He said if he didn't feel better in the morning he would stay and help me pack up everything in the car and we'd drive to Kimarie's. After that, he went to bed for the night while I got Brooklyn ready for bed.

Another interesting day of vacation. I'm beginning to think that this vacation is going to be full of sickness and no fun. I hope I don't get it next.


January 12, 2012

Tyson was feeling better after a good nights rest so he went to class. I started packing the car with the things Brooklyn and I weren't going to need for the day and then I packed up our things. Brooklyn ran down the hall on each trip back from the car and she loved every minute of it. I think she is feeling a lot better today! Let's hope!



Kimarie told me she would be there to pick Brooklyn and I up around noon so Brooklyn and I went exploring where she was feeling so much better. We took pictures of the pool since we never got to get in, and I let Brooklyn lay on her tummy and put her hands in the water. The water was nice and I wanted to jump in but we didn't have enough time.





The plants here in Florida are so cool! There were some I have seen before but others that I hadn't. I don't know what all of them are but I enjoyed taking pictures of them.





I checked us out of the hotel and left the car keys with the front desk when it was time. Brooklyn played peek-a-boo with the ladies at the front desk for a little while and then her and I waited for Kimarie.

Kimarie got there and drove us both back to her house, where we talked and relaxed until she had to go and get the girls from school. Brooklyn and I took a nap while she was gone and then Tyson got there after he was done with class. For the rest of the night we hung out, watched a little TV and ate dinner. It was a nice day!

Florida Here We Come

We headed off for our adventure in Florida this morning at 5:00 am. We woke up early so we could pack the car and head off to the airport. We got on our plane and headed to Salt Lake City where Brooklyn had a ton of fun. Tyson and I walked miles through the airport with Brooklyn during our two hour layover. She didn't want to sit still so we would wander around. She was walking with Tyson and she would stop and bend down to grab the rocks that were in the tile. There weren't really rocks, it was just the way the tile looked. There was a couple inches of snow on the ground and on the planes so before we were able to take off, we had to have the plane de-iced. It took forever! We waited in line for at least 15-30 minutes and then it took at least that long to get our plane done. But we were finally on our way and we got to Florida on time. When we landed, we headed to the train that leads to the baggage claim area. On the way to get our luggage, I looked out the window of the train and saw an alligator in the water below. It was kinda cool to see one, although it would have been even better if we were closer. We grabbed our luggage and headed to get our rental car.



Having fun climbing on the airport seats

Then we were on our way to Kimarie and Jason's to spend the evening there and go to church in the morning. Today was Kimarie's birthday so we went out to eat at a fantastic Vietnamese restaurant. We tried a pizza place but the wait time for a table was at least 45 minutes. The food at the Vietnamese restaurant was amazing and even Brooklyn enjoyed it. I think she ate half of our plate. We all had a lot of fun tonight!!