Monday, June 18, 2012

Family Florida Trip Take 2

We packed up the cars and we were off on our second adventure to Florida.  Last years trip was so much fun we knew as soon as we pulled out of the drive way to head home we would be going back. 

This year we were able to take our time getting there so we left on Friday and drove to Mandaville, where the Knights are now living.  We were so happy to see them!!!  We ate a yummy dinner at one of their favorite spots and then they took us crabbing. 

Each of the kids took a turn holding a crab.  Even Emma after Uncle DeDe spent some serious time convencing her.  We stayed up late and enjoyed a great visit. 


Early the next morning Lisa and Emma met us at our hotel and we drove to New Orleans.  This was a great place to spend some time before we were able to get into the beach house at 4:00.  We ate Binetts at Cafe du Monde.  We visited the Cathedral. We saw some really cool street preformers and then walked through the Tomato Festival and the local market before the heavens opened up and we got REALLY wet.  What should have been a 3 hour drive turned into a 5 hour trip because of all the terrible rain.  We finially made it to our perfect house and we didn't care that it was raining!

Once at the beach come rain or shine were were there to have fun.  On Sunday and Monday it did rain but it didn't stop us from fishing the sabine and enjoying our family time.  Alex even found a new friend-shrimpy.  We also made a new herrin friend...kinda like a cat...once we fed him he wasn't leaving.  The boys had some good luck but mostly Henry and Belle caught fish!!!


On Tuesday morning we sent Big Daddy, Shad, DeDe, Gracie, and Emma out on a fishing trip.  They had a wonderful time catching Reds, Red Snapper, a shark and a conch shell.  The girls talked about the trip for the rest of the week.  Each morning just like last year the boys would get up early to go shore fishing but they weren't alone...those little girls were right there with them.  Unfortunatly the lady fish weren't biting quite as good as last year so the girls mostly hunted shells.  The storm had brought in a great new crop of shells so lots were there to be found. 

The girls remembered how much they loved boogie boarding and couldn't wait to get out there and start "catching some waves"  Tuesday afternoon we had some great waves but the storm had washed in lots of sea pork (gross) sea hairs (gross) and sea weed (gross).  The kids really didn't care that much and by Wednesday we had a perfect day at the beach.  We spent ALL day Wednesday at the beach playing...the boys even brought us lunch down to the beach because we refused to leave.  We swam out to the sand bar and played football, we built a HUGE sand castle, we collected hundreds of clams and shells, and we just had the BEST DAY EVER!!!  On Thursday we were back at the beach again for more fun. 

While the boys and Emma and Gracie were fishing we wanted to take Belle, Henry, and Alex to do something special.  We read about a local zoo and decided that was the way to go.  I can't explain to you just how wonderful it was!!!  Tons and Tons of great animals and we were so close to all of them. 


Just as you walk into the door you are able to feed the animals out of your hands.  Our kiddo's were so excited. 

It was a great trip with lots of fun memories!

While we did alot of cooking we did eat out about once a day.  We hit our favorite spots: Peg Leg Pete's, and Crabs and added a few new ones: The Fish House and McGuires...YUMMY!!! 
We also did some shopping!

While in the house we still spent all out time together watching movies, cooking, eating, making duct tape projects, and great foot massages (Alex was working to get her phone back)

Alex got a special treat!  Last year she really wanted to try paddle boarding but we just ran out of time.  This year she was such a trooper and helper we decided to take her out by herself for some fun.  She got the hang of it in no time and really enjoyed this activity.  Shad and I also loved it... defiantly a good work out. 

Our trip goes down in the books as another GREAT success.  We feel so blessed to enjoy our family the way we do.  It wouldn't be the same without each and every one of us there!

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