At the RESORT! *Blue Tree Resort in Florida*

This picture says it all! My boys LOVED the pool and we swam in it almost TWICE a day!

Gavin and Grant waiting for the magic words ~ Alright, time for swimsuits, let's go to the POOL!


This was our cue that Grant wanted to go swimming first thing in the morning! PJs and goggles already on! :)


Here is the pool in the morning (above) Here is the pool in the evening (below)

and here is the pool mid-day! Notice, not many people! That is how ALL of Florida was. There wasn't hardly anyone there in the pools, at Gatorland, SeaWorld or Magic Kingdom! I mean, there are always lots of people, but nothing was EVER busy with waits in lines. Seriously, end of January/First of February is a great time to go to Florida!


Here are the 3 swimmers.
~On the first night, they were nervous, hesitant, and didn't want water on their face. They also clung to us- like frighten spider monkeys.
~By the end they all were OK floating by themselves, could kick and paddle from the steps to a mommy, grandpa or daddy, went under the water when jumping in, and put their faces in non-stop.
Corey and I were AMAZED at how well they did, how much they learned and how much fun we had being in the water a minimum of 3 hours per day!

On the second time in the water, we were still coaxing them in. Not full on leaping in the pool like the top picture or the video at the bottom!

Gabriel is definitely ready for full on swimming lessons and I truly believe that we will have a legitimate swimmer by the end of summer!

The boys' favorite game after going to Sea World was playing dolphin trainer. They would throw something or tell Corey and I to do a trick, then we would do it! We would retrieve it, pull them around the pool on our back, etc. and then they would throw-in a "pretend" fish! It was a crack up!

Gavin is sitting on the steps, warming up to the water!

Here I am with my oldest lovie GABRIEL!

The boys all LOVE their Grandpa so after jumping in to him and splashing him, he also got to tote them around the pool! How lucky!

Here we are in the pool. It was so warm, it was like a really warm bath. Probably at least 90 degrees!

Here is the whole gang ending our evening in the hot tub!! So stinkin' hot that I could hardly stand to be in it. But just perfect to get hot before jumping out and carrying in all of the sweet munchkins!

*Gavin, Larry, Grant, Gabe, Karen and Corey*

We're goin' to SEA WORLD!!

"Ahhh!!!!!!" We were so excited that we could just scream! All six of us were dressed, ready for adventure and EXCITED!! This was going to be amazing for our boys, we just knew it!, and Corey and I were dancing with excitement just thinking about how AWESOME these animals are and how mesmorized our boys would be! Let the adventure BEGIN!

Quick family shot ~ thanks Dad!
Ok, we were off to see the dolphin show, but MAN, flamingos are stunning!

Here is a GIGANTIC sea turtle. At least 4 feet long and really struggling to get out of the water. Hmmm....

Here we are at the dolphin show. With 3 adults and 3 kiddos it was easy to hold them and snuggle them all. Plus they each got a running commentary from the adult they sat with! ;)

The show begins and it was FANTASTIC. Gabe was completely entranced and enthralled and awed by the show, trainers and dolphins!

See her under the water?!?! Crazy and amazing!

Watching the dolphins jump was great!

Now the above picture was of a false killer whale and this creature could jump high and more gracefully than ANYTHING I had ever seen before. It made me feel like a kid again! :)

The show was phenomenal!

After that amazing experience, we headed out to feed the dolphins, because now Gabe is obsessed with the idea of dolphins. If you buy food, *at an ungodly price* you can go and pat and feed the dophins. TOTALLY WORTH EVERY PENNY THOUGH CUZ, I WOULD PAY TO DO IT AGAIN IN A HEARTBEAT!!

Here I am showing Gabriel that you pat the dolphin first, then drop in the fish afterwards, while holding scaredy-cat Granty Boy!


Gabe is fearless and ready because HE WANTS TO BE A DOLPHIN TRAINER WHEN HE GROWS UP! The dolphins were so cute splashing, clicking and wanting to be pet.

Here goes Gabe without any help. He puts his hand out, coaxing them over and then petting them and dropping a fish in. He rocked at being a dolphin trainer!! ROCKED!

Here were mine and Gabe's favorite 2 dolphins!

Meanwhile, my dad, Corey and Gavin were feeding dolphins too. It felt like a dream. A chance of a lifetime! Wow! :)

Gabe snaps some pics at the underwater viewing area!

Next, we headed off to feed the stingrays. They were beautiful flying through the water, but definitely scarier to feed. The mouth is on the bottom, so you have to be under them and feel them suction slurp it out of your fingers. Seriously such a chance of a lifetime. What memories...

So then we headed to the sea lion exhibit! Yes, we fed these cuties too. Grant finally was brave enough to toss some fish to them. You just had to make sure that they were looking because the birds here were AGGRESSIVE, scary aggressive! Gavin though threw this exact sea lion a fish, bulls-eye, right to him! The whole crowd cheered. * Not many people actually feed the animals, due to the expense, but Corey knew it was a chance he didn't want our munchkins to miss. So there we were, living in the moment and enjoying life to the fullest. Plus the 3 adults were loving EVERY second of it too. It was amazing!

Then we went off to an EXPENSIVE restaurant called Shark Encounter and ate lunch down with the sharks. It was cool and slighty creepy. The boys were speechless, except for squeals of "Look!" "Look!"

This was an amazing experience and we were blessed to have been so spoiled by Corey.

What a fun day with the 3 cutest/sweetest boys in the world, best Grandpa in the WHOLE world, and the best Daddy in the entire UNIVERSE! What a lucky lady I am ~ blessed!


* Here were the favorite fish from the day* (They reminded the boys of NEMO!)

Crazy shouting of "Dory!! Mom we found DORY!"

A sawfish? Or some creepy shark....

Now for taking Gabe on his FIRST roller coaster! Double click on the snapshot to see him big! He LOVED it and went again and begged to KEEP GOING! My kinda guy. It must be in the genes!

All aboard the Shamu Express!

And now we are going to call it a day, go home to the resort and take a NAP!

Bye Sea World! Gavin*Gabriel*Grant

Exploring Florida Wildlife, then chilling at Uncle Brad's!

A day for the BEACH and exploring!

Gabe decided this is how he was going to wear his visor, backwards.

He wouldn't let Corey turn it around so, Corey took a few more pictures of him being a goofball!

Here we are out in a bird refuge, for my DAD. :) In the grass are TWO giant alligators and a black, freaky looking snake. YIKES! Corey was commenting that even with all of the lakes in Florida, he has never seen kids playing in the water- NO WONDER!!

Here is my Dad looking at this armadillo. It was just sniffing the ground and walked right up to my dad, oblivious of him even there. Funny creatures!

Here are my 3 favorite boys posing across the stream from an alligator. See it behind them?!

Here is the close-up of the alligator over there!

Well after that busy day and lots of driving we came back to Brad's for dinner.

GABE my handsome boy

We adored being out in the sun, even if it was WINDY that day!

My cutie pie Gavin



My cheesy boy Grant

My sweetie pie GRANT

And here is where we ended the day, reading with Grandpa B. and in PJs so if they fell asleep on the way back to the resort, NO WORRIES!