Last week my super, 
amazing, brilliant, fun, wonderful (you get the idea...) friend Sarah, and her family came to town for a visit. Sarah was one of the first friends I made when I moved here to Titusville and although she moved away less than a year later, I still consider her one of my most favorite people. Sarah has two kids - a girl, Rachel, who is just a month older than Aubree and a boy, Mikey, who is a few months older than Bryce. So, not only did I get to see my great friend, my kids also had built in playmates for the week! And play they did!
We packed our short week full of fun activities. Our first stop? The local zoo.
Even though it's been over 2 years since Aubree and Rachel last saw each other, I think it took about 3 1/2 seconds before they were fast friends again. We met up in the parking lot and by the time we made it past our cars, they were holding hands, whispering, and giggling. They didn't stop for the rest of the week.
The kids liked spending time pretending to be veterinarians (and the moms liked the air conditioned building). The poor deer Aubree worked on apparently had four broken legs - ouch!
More than anything else though, they loved playing in the water. Since it's really too hot to do much of anything else, who can blame them?
The next day was Beach Day! With more friends, we spent the morning playing at Cocoa Beach. The weather was glorious and everyone had a blast. Since her experience last year at Sanibel Island, Aubree is no longer a huge fan of the waves, so she played happily in her "pool" in the sand. Bryce crashed in my arms (which almost NEVER happens).
The following day, Thurday, was extra busy. In the morning we attempted to go to the free movie offered by the movie theater. That was a grand failure. We'd never seen the movie (Over The Hedge) before but I'd heard fairly good reviews. Aubree, however, was terrified within the first 5 minutes because of the "mean, horrible bear." She spent the rest of our time in the theater sitting next to Bryce on my lap and covering her eyes for fear the bear would reappear. As a result of the novelty of the situation, Bryce actually did really well for the first 20 minutes or so. Then he decided he was done sitting and tried to throw anything I gave to occupy him. With the help of snacks, we made it another 1/2 hour before finally giving up and deciding the mall playground was a much better bet. There Rachel and Aubree could play freely and Bryce got to practice his climbing skills.
With tired boys, we went back to Sarah's hotel and let them take naps. Once they woke up it was back to playing as we prepared to go swimming at the hotel pool. At one point just before going out to the pool, our friend Juliana arrived with her 4 kids and we had 8 kids under the age of 8 running crazily around the hotel room. Of course, the cleaning lady took that moment to open the door. We couldn't help but laugh as we saw her eyes widen with shock.
For those of you who are super-detail oriented, no - that's not Aubree I'm holding, it's her friend Ella. Aubree borrowed Rachel's ring floatie and didn't get within arms reach of me the rest of the afternoon. 
Mark met up with us after work and we then went out to dinner. In this situation, having more kids actually made going out to eat much easier. Rachel and Aubree kept each other thoroughly entertained the entire evening (they are eerily alike) and Bryce really enjoyed having someone to torture (poor Mikey!).
Friday night we got to have Sarah & her family stay at our house! Since they used to live in our ward, we arranged to have a bunch of families they knew over for a potluck dinner. Since all together these families have 17 kids, (14 of which are 3 or younger!!) the plan was to have a totally outside party. We arranged for a slip-n-slide, little pools, games, lawn chairs, etc. and figured our backyard was plenty big enough for everyone to have their space. Alas, the best laid plans...
Instead, a pesky Florida thunderstorm rolled in, complete with pounding thunder, pouring rain, and brilliant lightning - not exactly outside party weather. Rats! We bravely went ahead with the party and had a great time. As you might imagine, it was total chaos and I don't think anyone even thought to pull out a camera so I don't have any pictures. After a while the storm passed by and half the kids got in the pool anyway. There was plenty of yummy food and despite the change of plans, it worked out wonderfully.
Following the party, the house was incredibly dirty, but thanks to Sarah's help within 45 minutes after everyone left it looked twice as good as it did when the party started! See, I told you Sarah's awesome! Sarah and I spent the rest of the evening making bows for our girls.
The next day Sarah left to return to Texas. I had such a fabulous time having them visit. We wish they would come back and stay for good, but maybe instead someday we can move to Texas and be near them! The week of fun left us all exhausted and we spent most of Saturday sleeping. Even Aubree took a 3-hour nap (and she rarely naps nowadays).
amazing, brilliant, fun, wonderful (you get the idea...) friend Sarah, and her family came to town for a visit. Sarah was one of the first friends I made when I moved here to Titusville and although she moved away less than a year later, I still consider her one of my most favorite people. Sarah has two kids - a girl, Rachel, who is just a month older than Aubree and a boy, Mikey, who is a few months older than Bryce. So, not only did I get to see my great friend, my kids also had built in playmates for the week! And play they did!We packed our short week full of fun activities. Our first stop? The local zoo.
Even though it's been over 2 years since Aubree and Rachel last saw each other, I think it took about 3 1/2 seconds before they were fast friends again. We met up in the parking lot and by the time we made it past our cars, they were holding hands, whispering, and giggling. They didn't stop for the rest of the week.
The kids liked spending time pretending to be veterinarians (and the moms liked the air conditioned building). The poor deer Aubree worked on apparently had four broken legs - ouch!
More than anything else though, they loved playing in the water. Since it's really too hot to do much of anything else, who can blame them?
The next day was Beach Day! With more friends, we spent the morning playing at Cocoa Beach. The weather was glorious and everyone had a blast. Since her experience last year at Sanibel Island, Aubree is no longer a huge fan of the waves, so she played happily in her "pool" in the sand. Bryce crashed in my arms (which almost NEVER happens).
The following day, Thurday, was extra busy. In the morning we attempted to go to the free movie offered by the movie theater. That was a grand failure. We'd never seen the movie (Over The Hedge) before but I'd heard fairly good reviews. Aubree, however, was terrified within the first 5 minutes because of the "mean, horrible bear." She spent the rest of our time in the theater sitting next to Bryce on my lap and covering her eyes for fear the bear would reappear. As a result of the novelty of the situation, Bryce actually did really well for the first 20 minutes or so. Then he decided he was done sitting and tried to throw anything I gave to occupy him. With the help of snacks, we made it another 1/2 hour before finally giving up and deciding the mall playground was a much better bet. There Rachel and Aubree could play freely and Bryce got to practice his climbing skills.
With tired boys, we went back to Sarah's hotel and let them take naps. Once they woke up it was back to playing as we prepared to go swimming at the hotel pool. At one point just before going out to the pool, our friend Juliana arrived with her 4 kids and we had 8 kids under the age of 8 running crazily around the hotel room. Of course, the cleaning lady took that moment to open the door. We couldn't help but laugh as we saw her eyes widen with shock.
For those of you who are super-detail oriented, no - that's not Aubree I'm holding, it's her friend Ella. Aubree borrowed Rachel's ring floatie and didn't get within arms reach of me the rest of the afternoon. 
Mark met up with us after work and we then went out to dinner. In this situation, having more kids actually made going out to eat much easier. Rachel and Aubree kept each other thoroughly entertained the entire evening (they are eerily alike) and Bryce really enjoyed having someone to torture (poor Mikey!).
Friday night we got to have Sarah & her family stay at our house! Since they used to live in our ward, we arranged to have a bunch of families they knew over for a potluck dinner. Since all together these families have 17 kids, (14 of which are 3 or younger!!) the plan was to have a totally outside party. We arranged for a slip-n-slide, little pools, games, lawn chairs, etc. and figured our backyard was plenty big enough for everyone to have their space. Alas, the best laid plans...Instead, a pesky Florida thunderstorm rolled in, complete with pounding thunder, pouring rain, and brilliant lightning - not exactly outside party weather. Rats! We bravely went ahead with the party and had a great time. As you might imagine, it was total chaos and I don't think anyone even thought to pull out a camera so I don't have any pictures. After a while the storm passed by and half the kids got in the pool anyway. There was plenty of yummy food and despite the change of plans, it worked out wonderfully.
Following the party, the house was incredibly dirty, but thanks to Sarah's help within 45 minutes after everyone left it looked twice as good as it did when the party started! See, I told you Sarah's awesome! Sarah and I spent the rest of the evening making bows for our girls.The next day Sarah left to return to Texas. I had such a fabulous time having them visit. We wish they would come back and stay for good, but maybe instead someday we can move to Texas and be near them! The week of fun left us all exhausted and we spent most of Saturday sleeping. Even Aubree took a 3-hour nap (and she rarely naps nowadays).
2 comments:
Sounds like lots of fun. When I visited Florida we went to Cocoa beach. The said was so much softer than the sand in San Diego & the water was like bath water temp. I loved it!!!
You captured our week so well, can I just change the names and use it for my post too? We had such a blast, Rachel is ever talking about going to see Aubree. Maybe that will hasten our return...Thanks for everything. We love you!
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