Aviation Museum

We took a day off from the sun and went to Pensacola and visited their Aviation Museum. The kids loved it and Collin was in heaven!!!

Playing in the kiddie area.

Collin could have spent an hour in each airplane. HE LOVED IT!!!

There were airplanes and helicopters everywhere. It was a really awesome place!

They all got to enjoy this one at the same time.

Can you find Anna?

My sweet boys.

Check out their poses.

They actually got to spin this cannon around. It was pretty cool, but nerve racking for mom and dad.

We stopped and ate at their fun restaurant and Benjamin surprised us by eating his pickle. He's never eaten one before and is one of the pickiest eaters around, but is getting so brave here lately.

Our family!

The boys thought this camo helicopter was pretty cool. Aren't their big brother/little brother matching shirts adorable?

Peek-a-boo!

Benjamin and Anna running to tell me about getting to ride in a flight simulator with their Daddy. They were really impressed!

All three kids had a grand time in this one.

We had to make them get out. It was adorable watching them pretend and be in their own magical worlds.

This was another cool one.

We showed up just in time to go on this tour that they did for the kids to teach them about how airplanes can  fly. A lot of the content was way over Benjamin and Anna's heads (the other kids were at least a couple years older), but they did so well. They both payed attention the whole time and seemed to really enjoy it.

At the end of the tour they got to each fly a little airplane in this contraption, which was a big hit!

Posing with the Blue Angels.

The kids really love flags and were pretty excited to see this huge one.

They also got excited by the large propellers on display.

Everyone had a great time looking at and learning about the space exhibits. Here they are on the moon. : )

There was an actual a piece of the moon on display! Benjamin thought it was pretty neat that Dave and I hadn't even seen that before.

Benjamin loved this one with the painted face.

Our little tiger lover thought this was pretty cool and requested her picture be taken.

Dave wanted to get a picture with him and the kids under this airplane's wing, but Collin tried to tackle his siblings instead which started fits of laughter and made for no chance of a serious picture, but definitely a funny moment!

At the end of the day we loaded up on a trolley to go see the big airplanes they have outside.

We had a great day!

First Swim Lesson

Dave and I have been looking forward to the opportunity to have Dave do swim lessons with Benjamin since our condo has a pool for the week we are here. Benjamin surprised us both and did amazing. He was brave and listened to his dad so well. He also caught on really quick. Here's some photos I took from our balcony of their first swim lesson (I have to stay upstairs since the littles are napping). 

Kicking.

Learning how to do his arms.

Practicing them together.

Going underwater! He has never done this before and he just went for it! Dave had the great idea to have him just look at the superheros on his kick board right beneath the water and then put a toy lower and lower. Having something to focus on really took the fear of going underwater away for Benjamin and now he loves doing it! His Daddy is a really good teacher!!

Going all the way to the bottom.

He did it!

Again and again!

I've been so amazed at how fast he's been able to swim (this was his very first lesson!). He tucks his little face in the water and gets those legs kicking and off he goes!

This is what was going on inside the condo:  Little #1

& Little #2

After the swim lesson, Benjamin was ready to veg out.

& Daddy went a little farther and passed out! : )

All this sun and activity is definitely making for some hard sleeping! Although these crazy kiddos still get up between 6 & 7 am every morning. Oh well, it makes it so that we get to the beach early each morning while it's a little cooler and then right when its getting too hot and we're all getting tired, we jump in the pool and cool off before heading up for lunch and naps.

The above pictures show some of our condo. We walk in to a good size living room, dining, and full kitchen and then there are two bedrooms (with a total of three beds) and two bathrooms. We even have a washer and dryer. It's a wonderful place and we are beyond blessed to be spending the week here.

Beach Fun

The kids were intimidated by getting in the ocean at first and mostly just enjoyed pretending the water was chasing them.

My beach cuties.....

The shells are right where the waves crest, so Daddy was holding their hands to help them bend down and pick up their finds.

Hi Collin!

After several trips getting them used to the water, the big kids got brave enough to start swimming (in their floaties) without us holding them. (The water is incredibly mild.) Here's Benjamin running to proudly tell his Daddy that he swam in all by himself!

Anna was so surprised by her ability to swim on her own. Once she discovered it, she was a little water baby wanting to go in again and again just so she can swim back in by herself!

They have lots of fun digging and building in the sand!

Off to fetch a pail of water for their sand creation.

Time to get buried!

The most fun was had by burying Daddy though!

I worked pretty hard getting a good mound of sand around him. The big kids were funny because the waves would come up to his feet every once in awhile. So while I was crawling around moving sand around, they were doing kung fu and soccer moves attacking the waves thinking they were keeping the water from Dave. It was pretty funny to watch their fierceness and determination! While Collin mostly just took it all in and went for drinks.

Off To The Beach

We are on our first family vacation (just the five (almost six) of us)! We are in Gulf Shores, Alabama having an amazing time! We made the trip a little easier and spent Friday night in a hotel part of the way down. The kids thought that was pretty cool and loved the big comfy beds.

After many hours of driving and some really good kids (yay!) we made it. The first thing we did was take off our shoes and hit the sand to introduce the beach to our kids.....

Look at that!

They like it!

After getting our toes wet and sandy it was time to check out our condo. It's awesome! We're living blessed.  The kids love looking down on the pool from the balcony.

Bet you didn't know there were tigers in Alabama. Yep, me neither. : )

To be continued!

Bunk Bed

After months of deliberation, we finally found the boys a bunk bed. The kids LOVE it!

For now we are leaving Collin in his room and letting Anna do sleepovers with Benjamin. They're pretty excited about that!

Anna had her dance pictures today. She was so excited to put on her costume! They are dancing to Got No Strings On Me from Pinocchio. It was quite the adorable sight!!!