Kites at the Beach

We spent a day at Clearwater Beach flying our kite and relaxing. I love this time of year because the beaches aren't super crowded like they are in the summer.  Ty had fun building castles and BB was all about the kite. It took a few trys to get it up in the sky, but once we got it up he was a pro at holding the string and keeping it up there.  We bought this whale kite on clearance last year and it was a really fun one to fly by the ocean.

 Flying higher then the birds

 Couple crashes but we got the hang of it :)

January Randoms

Little Buckeye :)

This outfit has cycled through all my boys and I just love it! 

Gotta start the brainwashing early :)

Manatee Season

This time of year the manatees come into Tampa Bay because the water is so much warmer then the ocean.  It is seriously so cool to be able to see them so close.  We took an evening and went to Tarpon Springs, which is about 10 minutes from our house, to try to spot a few.  There is a bayou there that is completely surrounded by houses (picture above) where we saw 3 or 4 hanging out. 

We watched them for awhile on someone's boat dock and the boys had fun running down the grassy hills nearby.  It was definitely very cool to be so close to them and I think we'll be heading back a few more times before they all head back to the big ocean! I love these little memories we'll have of our time here in Florida and I'm grateful we get to share them with our boys. It was great watching how excited they were when they saw a little manatee nose or tail pop up :)

Melissa comes to Play

My sister Melissa came out to visit us in January for a week. We had a blast with her and enjoyed some fun at the beaches and in Orlando. It was so fun staying up super late every night talking about life and reminiscing about the good old days when we were little. I love my sister so much and I am so grateful we are close. My boys LOVED having her here to play. They loved the endless hide and seek games she played with them :) BB and Melissa are pen pals now and it's cute how much time he takes writing her letters and drawing pictures. Love you Lissa and thanks for coming to see us!

 Clearwater Beach

Disney Kid Races

The boys ran races at Disney on January 7.  We did this with them last year too, except last year I had just run the half marathon right before.  Haha, ya definitely too soon to be running that far again!  They had the races at the ESPN Wide World of Sports and for BB's age group they ran 200m and T's was 100m.  I was planning on just signing B up since last year Ty didn't want to do it, but I decided that for $10 I would sign him up so he could get the t-shirt and medal. He surprised us and was all ready to run until it was time to actually do it and then of course he decided it wasn't going to happen. 

So I carried him and got him his little medal. haha.

And later on he decided to have a little temper tantrum on the track so we just let him and I took a picture. Haha, this is Ty for you. So much drama packed in such a little body. We're hoping the terrible two's will leave us when he turns three in a few weeks!

 BB before his race

Here he comes!!

Great job buddy!

I had a birthday on January 6.  Brady made me a cute card and the boys gave me some Calico Critters families that I used to have for my dollhouse when I was little. I guess since I can't buy girl toys, I will just start getting them for myself :)

Movie time on the bed :)