Spring Break in Florida Part 1 (March 2018)

We went to all the work of making cannoli and hardly anyone liked them but some of us did!

William was star student. We had a fun time helping him with his poster. He was so proud.

The cutest note of all time!

I got to have lunch with William in the "special" area.  It was fun to have that time with just him.

No weather will stop Brooke from using the swing.

We made a little stop sign hoping it would help on our long trip to Florida. I think it helped?

Brooke in her new beach hat.

Some prizes to make car time more enjoyable. I think it was a 20 hour drive.

We always have garbage explosions, even when we recycle! I guess that's the consequence of having an older house where we're constantly throwing things away.

All ready to go! Blake had to stay for work and studying. I'll admit that two hours out, I wanted to turn around but we made it through. The kids weren't super excited about going but today they say they are so glad we went. Me too.

William is becoming quite the good little writer.

We drove through St. Louis and saw the arch and the bridge and the temple.

The hotel pool is always a lifesaver after a long day in the car.  This hotel was a little misleading and the room was pretty bad but the pool and breakfast were amazing! We got out of there pretty early in the morning. Later, I was talking to Michelle who notified me that we had stayed in the most dangerous small city in the United States. Who knew?! It was mostly military people and hotels there.

I'm always so amazed by all the beauty we see as we travel.

In Nashville, we saw this building that looked like the Eye of Sauron from Lord of the Rings so we had to pass it on to Blake.

Stopping for a snack with some funny kids. It was fun to be called "Ma'am" in Georgia.

Hooray!! We made it to Mike and Mikaila's and went to the beach.  It made all that driving worth it! I was nervous about how they would get along since they had never met but everyone had a great time together. And it turns out that Mikaila and I are pretty much the same as in college. 

The Demetters were so nice to show us around and this ice cream place was yummy! Mike also got some baklava, which I always hated as a child, but loved as an adult!

We went to the sponge museum.  It was pretty interesting and the Demetter kids were nice to suck it up and come along even thought they've been there a bunch of times.

There were a bunch of pelicans eating fish off this dock. They sounded just like the pelicans on Finding Nemo. We had a good laugh over that one.

We went to Berkeley's softball game one day. She is so good!

Lots of lego time.

After church, we hung out in their back yard.  The water from the neighborhood runs off into this pond that nobody uses except for them, so it's pretty much their pond. It was so beautiful!

We went to an alligator sanctuary one day and saw quite a few!  

It was pretty chilly when we were there but the kids still got in the pool on the warmest day! Brooke stayed in for over an hour saying she wasn't cold.  She loves swimming so much!

William set up his bear for bedtime. He was also my roommate for the trip. It was fun. The other kids "slept" upstairs with the friends but they mostly messed around.

I listened to this book whenever it was movie time for the kids. It is an amazing book. I laughed and cried and learned new things. The kids even liked listening to it.  It made the drive time go alot quicker.

I love these kids! The only thing to make it more perfect would be if Blake were there. I'm glad they will come along with me on these crazy adventures!

The kids fell asleep five minutes after they got in the car.

Florida is so beautiful! There are so many different plants and trees. It's such a mix.