Let the vacation begin

Instead of taking a cross country this year we decided to stay and play in our own backyard.

 Our first stop was Henderson Island to snorkel at Bathtub Reef.

 The snorkelers ready to dive.

You can see the reef behind us in the water.

 Even Brian braved the water.

 For some reason sand on the east coast of Florida gets stuck on you more than sand on the west coast Florida.

One happy snorkeler.

Relaxing on the sand.

 Sand castle construction worker.

After a day at the beach the pool is a must.

Pool boy.

The next day went went to St. Lucea beach to collect shells because a couple of bull sharks had come into the tub of the reef during high tide to go grocery shopping.

 The kids building a sea wall.

Merry searching for shells.

More of the sea wall.

Me relaxing on Jacob's boogie board.

Adam posing.

 Other highlights were a pancake/checker run to Cracker Barrel and

visiting the Stuart Fish and Pig.

Baseball and beach

 Adam went to a day camp at the Rays Tropicana Field.

 Here is some baseball action.

You can tell he is paying really close attention to the instructions the coach is giving

 Of course this is what baseball camp is all about, playing rock, paper, scissors with your new friend while waiting in line.

After the camp we headed to St. Pete beach because the water is finally warm enough for Floridians to swim.

We also needed some sand between our toes.   As the photographer this is the only picture of me.

 The tide was low enough for the kids to wade out to the sandbar.

 Jacob tried out his new boogie board that he got for his birthday

Merry tried to break a wave with her head.

Eliza busy collecting water.

Adam carefully trying to balance his water.

More of Merry.

 Digging is a must.

 The progression of the digging.

Which ended up as a nice pile of sand.

Oh happy day.

Summary of the week

Jacob spent the week at scout camp.  He got to try water skiing for the first time and play endless hours of gaga ball.  It rained the whole week, which is a blessing in Florida so it was not so hot.

We went up on Thursday night to visit on family night.  He was trying to impress the other kids with his fidget skills.

This is Brian after spending almost a week at scout camp.  He looks so happy.

  This is Jacob's funny face.

Merry finished her second week of volleyball camp.  I think she found a sport she loves, mostly because it is air-conditioned.

Grace and Adam had to spend the week at mom camp because Jacob and Merry were at camps.

They spent the week playing pick-up sticks, making slime and terrorizing my office staff.

They also got fidget spinners which entertained them for hours.

Eliza is finishing up her last couple of weeks of preschool.

She has reverted back to sucking her finger and twirling her hair to fall asleep.

As much as it annoys me, I can't help but thinking she is so cute.

I guess we will worry about ortho later.

Eliza looking particularly patriotic.

I spent the week painting and repairing drywall.  This was my makeshift ladder.

Which I upgraded to reach the 30 foot parts of our ceiling.  Now to picking new flooring next week.

Finally, Happy Father's Day to Brian, who is a fabulous dad to our sweet hoodilums.

Now entering the teenage years

Happy 13th birthday to Jacob.

Hopefully his yearly wish will come true.

We spent his birthday weekend at a soccer tournament,

which fortunately his team won.

In between the soccer games we were able to squeeze in a trip to Wekiva springs.

My kids were all appalled by the freezing water.

Their Florida blood is not thick enough.

We also went mini golfing per Jacob's choice.

He is looking too old.

I am sure I'm not old enough for this.

 More of the handsome man.

 This is his good smile.

We are lucky we have this boy.

5th grade grad

 Merry finished her 5th grade year.

 She finished with academic honors and received a special citizenship award,

 We are so proud of her.

Merry with some of her sweet friends.

Merry plays basketball

 Merry played basketball for the first time this spring.

 Her height was definitely an advantage.

She didn't love sweating or not being in air conditioning.

Who can blame a girl.

You can tell Eliza and Grace were really into watching the games.