Family Adventure 2014

 For Christmas, the kids got a vacation. We began the trip by driving to Denver. The kids loved this hotel and their comfy beds, as did I! They got to swim and that was a big highlight. We haven't swam since summer!

 Whitney lost a tooth at the beginning of the trip. Luckily the tooth fairy found us in Denver.

 Zach had to take a break at the airport to tend to his "picker".

 From Denver, we headed to Florida. While we were there, we went to Sawgrass Recreational Park. There was lots of wildlife to look at. This cougar is the same kind you would find in our neck of the woods. I don't know if I've seen a cat as fierce looking as this one. Kind of creeps me out to know they have been spotted around our town!!

 Notice how I was not in this picture. The sign explains why. Tee Hee.

 Feeding the ducks...

 We went on a private Airboat ride. The airboats were fairly loud and just floated on the water. It was cool to be in a different climate and see wildlife that we never see.

 This tree was freaky. Sort of an evolutionary mystery to me.

 We met up with Granny and Pops while we were in Florida. They were vacationing in Florida as well and it was a real treat to see them.

 Eating alligator tail. Tyler liked it. He'll eat any meat though. Whitney was not a fan.

 Holding a baby alligator. This was not scary to him, but don't ask him to go to the bathroom by himself. That's way too scary.

 She was shaking the whole time. Pretty funny.

 We hit the beach while we were there too. The boys have never been to the ocean so they thought this was pretty cool. They loved the waves. 

 

 Zach and I made a castle. I just love his face in this picture. Such a Zach face.

 Whitney and Josh searched these rocks for little creatures for most of the time we were there. They found some pretty cool things.

 

 I loved this pelican. It was so crazy big and just sort of reminded me of a dinosaur. I like the odd looking animals I guess (Ostriches, Moose, anteaters, etc.)

 

  Tyler being "Sandman".

 Our last night in Florida, we went to a Spanish restaurant. We ordered the Paella for the whole family. This thing had so many different critters in it, I'm not sure what I ate. This was our first of many culinary adventures on this trip. Josh is somewhat of a "foodie" these past few years and sometimes we have to go on these taste trips with him. This was not my favorite thing to eat. I was proud of Whitney for being so brave and eating the clams, oysters, scallops and other items in this dish. The Tres Leches cake at the end made it all worth it though. I think Whitney has found a new favorite food!

 Then, just when we thought we had already had our vacation, we got on the Ruby Princess. It's a Princess Cruise ship. We headed to the pool as soon as we could.

 Bon Voyage...

 These were our first of many ice cream cones that we ate on the trip. The kids were in heaven.

 

 I just love how Tyler "ices" his rolls with butter.

 Zach was usually pretty tired at dinner time. Too much fun in the sun I guess.

 Whitney developed a bit of a sweet tooth on this trip. I started taking pictures of her dessert plates.

 The kids really enjoyed the kids club. They did crafts, games, parties, face painting, movies,and other cool stuff.

 Here's a shot of our ship as we were headed to the Cayman Islands on our boat.

 

 Tyler loved the beach.

 Picture of our "chicken nuggets" as Josh calls me and Whitney's toes. Rude.

 Pounding some cheese cake.

 

Falling asleep at dinner, again. 

 

 More pizza and ice cream...

 We found a pool on the back of the boat that was sort of a secret, I like to think. No one really used it but us. It was nice to have a quiet place to go.

 More dessert.

 Didn't' want to go to sleep.

 Waiting to get off the ship.

 Zach got some pretty funny looks carrying his backpack that was as big as him. The kids were great travelers. They carried their things and didn't complain much.

 Home at last. And boy are we tired!!