trip to OHIO

Since Tyler and Jordan are completely tied up with football camp, Shanda and I took the chance to go to OHIO to see Leah and meet our newest niece, Margaret (MARGE).

It is an 8 hour car ride. Lots of snacks (and bathroom breaks) Too bad 45 minutes into our return trip, the DVD player quit working. ARG!

We got babysitters and went out! We did a little bit of shopping, eating and then hit up the movies.

We saw "THE PROPOSAL". It was quite funny! (see Margaret "peekaboo-ing")

Shanda and I took the kids to the TOLEDO Zoo.

The polar bears were THE BEST part! (the rest, not so much....SO HOT!)

My kids are so jaded to zebras and water buffaloes, since my parents have some at their house down in FL. They had NO interest at looking at the "Serengeti" to try and find the zebras. And all Tee wanted to do the WHOLE trip was ride in the wagon and drink the diet coke. (ah, that's my boy!)

One night, Grandma and Shanda made sushi. YUM! I'm not normally a sushi lover but for some reason, these were DELIGHTFUL!
(and a little peanut butter pie for breakfast...yum!)

And then there was OF COURSE, the main reason we went to visit the Ward's...baby Margaret

ISN'T SHE DARLING?

Thanks Wards for letting us invade your house for a week and mom for the day trips/dinners/movie!! With us and Grandma Munns, we were quite the full house. Until next time.....!

Those of you who know Tee, know crying is what he does best. This is what was happening on the floor of the kitchen this afternoon.

And do you want to know WHY this fit was happening....it is because he couldn't get this pretty yellow dress up shoe on the way he wanted!

Fresh Garden Tomatoes

Between our tomatoes and our wonderful neighbor, we have tomatoes coming out of our ears!

So yesterday, Shanda and I decided to make some homemade tomato sauce. And man is it delicious! We sauteed up some garlic, onions, green onions, and zucchini. Then added ALL the tomatoes, some salt and pepper and little beef stock and let it simmer away for a few hours.

YUM!

Jupiter PART 2

Here are a few more from Jupiter. And yes, there are some more. I am feeling a little "landlocked" here in Virginia and posting these pics is sort of therapeutic for me. If I close my eyes, I can still feel the slow rocking of the boat......ah.........nice!

The boys always pick the best spot in the boat for the ride out!

Tyler reeling in one of his catches...and Jordan (the cowboy fisherman hero of the trip). Without Jordan, Daniel and Collins amazing knowledge of fishing/boating/and the ocean, we could have been disasterous!

Even Ryan held his own out there. He was the only man to come out on the "girls trip" and he was busy taking fish off hooks! On the last trip out, we somehow stalled out the engine and couldn't get the prop back in the water. Ryan did his best to fix it and in the process, slipped in and sliced a nice big CHUNK of leg off on the prop. (we chum our own water!) Christine (Collin's wife) works in the medical field and took a look at it. She wrapped it and we had to wait until the boat guy came to help us!

LOVED LOVED LOVED that trip! Cameras clicking away!

(and LOVE that face!)

a few pics from Jupiter

(Daniel is reeling in his catch.........and I LOVE seeing Dad sitting on his make shift seat on Collin's boat!)

This trip to Jupiter has been one of my most favorite family trips to date. The kids had fun, Tyler and I had fun....the sun....the water....the fishing....AMAZING! There were quite a few fishing trips out with numerous cameras. These pics were taken from the one ours....when I get the rest, we will post the best from those trips. LOVE LOVE LOVE Jupiter. And we are already looking forward to next summer's trip!

It gets quites hot while out on the open water, so this is how the boys cooled off. On the other boat, there were sharks circling....but not this boat. I wasn't out on this trip. But on the one I went out on, there were sharks circling our boat at one point, too. After that, there was no more "ocean swimming"!

This is the PRIZED dolphin...Duce was the only one to catch one this trip!

Tyler and his red snapper!

The whole weekend was the perfect way to end our summer vacation in Florida. See that smile on my mom's face....that is how we all felt! Thanks Grandma and Go-dad Munns for these priceless memories!