My crazy life..........

Okay I really need to get back to blogging......

2011-05-19T12:44:00.002-05:00

I'll try tonight!

Oooooooppppsssss! Forgot about my blog!

2011-02-21T18:33:00.001-05:00

Wow, has it really been since 2009 since I've been on here. I better get to work getting this thing updated. I got carried away with facebook and forgot all about my blog. Shame on me!

Wow..... where has the time gone????????

2009-08-31T11:27:00.017-05:00

The last post was January... crazy! Let's see what we have been up to. We had some great vacations this year. In March, we and two other families went on an Eastern Carribean cruise. We stopped in Roatan, Honduras, Belize City, Belize, Cozumel, Mexico and the cruise island in the Bahamas. We went on Norweigen Cruise Lines. The ship was the Norweigen Pearl. It was a GREAT time! Kids absolutely LOVED it. We even got to visit the ships hospital, thanks to Ashlyn. She decided to stick a bead in her nose. She still won't fess up to it. She claims it just, "got in there". It was sooo far in there that the ships doctor had to remove it. Fun! Fun!

Sorry the picture throughout will be a little out of order. It took me 3hrs to do this update. I'll have to add more pics later. Enjoy~

Seth goofing off at the pool.

Posing for daddy.

Seth was actually naked in this hole. He had so much fun on the beach here.... after he got naked. He had to get his itchy bathing suit off!!!!

The whole clan eating at the Resort in Roatan

Our guide Eliya playing with the kids on the beach

The Awsome view on the way to the beach. I Loved Roatan It was soooo nice!!!

Loving every minute of it!!!

Playing with an iguana in Honduras

Ready to get off the ship in Roatan, Honduras

Susan, Nathan, Me, Jason, Dinah & Randy

The adults only dinner crowd.

We also spent 10 days in GA this summer. We actually had 3 families join us this summer; the Martinez-Avis clan, The Schauer's and the Storr family. It was great fun. The weather was Gorgeous!!! Very cool for summertime. We visited all of our normal favorite places, Helen, Dawsonville, Amicalola Falls, and of course the Deer Park. We got a few very special surprises at the deer park this summer. One was a 3day old baby deer. Ashlyn was in heaven. She got to hold it and feed it. She did not want to leave, not that she ever wants to leave there but this was EXTRA special. Mr. Sean also was nice enough to give us all Deer park shirts.

On the way to Helen, GA, stopped for some roadside scenery pics.

Ashlyn and the baby deer... The whole crew at the Amicalola Deer Park.

Jason, Seth, Michele, Liam, Loui, Olivia, Gabriella, Amy, Charlie, Noah, Ashlyn and I

Us and the Storr clan minus Drew.... Stacy, Kendall and Kate at Amicalola Falls

My favorite part of the summer was our trips to the E.R...... NOT. We made 2 in two weeks. Ashlyn was doing a back flip from the jacuzzi to the pool on the spillover and busted the back of her head wide open. It was a very very scary time for us all. 7 staples later she was all patched up and back to her normal daredevil ways. Seth brought us to the E.R. again two weeks later on the fourth of July..... just what I wanted to do for my birthday. He was jumping off the side of PaPa G's pool and turned around to grab the edge when he realized his sister was swimming right in front of him and cracked his chin on the side of the pool. Luckily with him we just got "Super Glued" back together. That stuff is great! Two days later he bonked it again on the side of the pool and had a nice looking blood pocket there for a few days until the glue gave way. After all of these crazy incidents daddy wanted us to try and avoid the pool. Yeah right! Didn't happen.

No Pics to share of this incident....... camera just wasn't handy :-)

Some of our really good friends moved away this summer.... the McKinley's. We miss you guys!!!! We'll see you in October.

We didn't a lot of boating with friends. We have a new "hangout" this summer due to the loss of our old hangout Shell Island. It's now a very protected bird sanctuary. Our new hangout is called Bird Key, Sandbar, the Bar. Everyone calls it something different. It's just inside John's Pass on the inter-coastal. Not Shell Island but still lots of fun.

Seth, Kenzie, Tyler and Ashlyn

Seth stealing a smooch

Ashlyn stealing a smooch from Tyler

Tyler and Ashlyn tubing

Playing in the Hot Tub at PaPa G's after boating

Goofing

Daddy's First Mate

Daddy's other First Mate

Girls catching some rays

I celebrated my 35th birthday, I mean 25th birthday this July. Jason suprised me with a Limo full of friends and a night on the town. We had a blast, had a great dinner, howled at the moon, cut some shag rug at Stumps.

Me on stage at "Howl at the Moon"

The Boys

The Girls
Jason & I

Stacy & Drew

Dawn & Kevin

Who are these studs???

The whole crew outside the limo at Channelside

Mike and Cheri

PaPa G also celebrated his 70th Birthday this July. So the majority of the Goldstein Family went on a short cruise to Key West and Cozumel. It was fun but way too short. We had a great ride down to the ship and back. It was a 48-foot Haulmark RV. We rode in style.

Our Awsome chauffer driven ride to the cruise ship.
Kids at Senor Frogs, Cozumel

Too much fun for Seth in Cozumel - This picture is all too familiar

Pretty Beach in Cozumel - Cousins... Michael, Michaela and Ashlyn

My little blue-eyed boy

Our ship docked in Key West

What else is there to do in Key West at 9:00A.M. ...... drink!

My Brown-eyed girl

We had one last summer trip to Ft. Wildnerness a few weeks ago and had soooo much fun! I haven't been there since I was a kid. We were lucky enough to stay in the same RV that transported us to the cruise ship. We were really roughing it........ as you can see from the pictures. Our friends, Mike, Cheri and Ryan joined us. We had so much to do at the campground that we didn't visit any of the parks this trip. The campground kept us very busy. We also had 2 golf carts to play with so it was a fun time for all. Can't wait to go back!

Seth in the Golf Cart. Couldn't keep him out.

Our Awsome accomodations for the trip!

Chip and Dale campfire.

Mommy and Seth at Chip and Dales Campfire

The nerve racking marshmallow roast.

showing off the frogs they caught.... yuck!

Searching for baby frogs....Pony ride

Ashlyn and Seth started school this past week and are doing very well. Ashlyn is "famous" she said. The first day of school she came home and drew her principal a picture and presented it to her the next morning. Her picture made it to the morning news. (at school). Jason took her that morning and she gave her picture to Ms. Pitts, the principal. a.k.a "The Princess" (I think that's why Ashlyn likes her so much). When I picked her up she asked me if I saw her picture on TV. I was confused. I said No, and asked her if the news was at her school today and she said, No, My picture that I drew for Ms. Pitts. They do the school news every morning on the TV. The principal showed it off during the news and said "Ashlyn Goldstein" made this for me. Ashlyn was so excited. She said, "I was on the news, I'm famous!" Seth started on Friday and had a great day no tears at all. When I picked him up he said he had a fun day at school. I was very surprised. That's not him at all. I always have to peel him off my leg and run out.

(upload these later)

Getting ready to have foot surgery tomorrow. I have had plantar fasciitis for a year now, been through all the injections, treatments, exercises, stretches and orthotics so now it's time for surgery.

We are all looking forward to our fall trip to GA. Seth asks about the Pumpkin Patch every day. He can't way to go pick out some pumpkins and ride on the tractor. I can't wait for the awsome weather. Ashlyn can't wait for the deer park and daddy..... he just can't wait.

Hopefully my next update will be sooner than later!

2009-08-29T21:49:00.001-05:00

Okay, Okay, I'll get this thing updated soon!

2009-01-18T18:09:00.004-05:00

New Year! New Look! Well I haven't posted in a while. Found this new thing called Facebook!!!! Well maybe not new, but new to me. Love it! Found so many old friends. If you haven't checked it out.... do so. Anyways, we've been pretty busy since Dec.1 and things are finally winding down. We spent Christmas here with the family then headed to GA and stayed through the New Year. It was cold but no snow. (Speaking of cold. This is Florida, where's all this cold weather coming from. I guess we could be in Chicago..... ) We've started out the new year with 2 new additions. My brother and wife, Lisa had their first baby, Kylee on Jan 13th, 7lbs 1oz. Then my BFF Tanette had her second, Ava on Jan 14th weighing in at 8lbs 7oz. Both are healthy and happy little cuties. Been busy trying to get my eBay store up and running. Check it out when you have a chance. I'll be adding new stuff all week. Okay, gotta get dinner going. Hope all is well with everyone!!

Kylee Genene

Ash, Seth, Auntie Laurie and Baby KyleeSeth just had to hold the baby
Look at the tongue on Ava..... she's so cute. she looks like a little cabbage patch. I have other pics of her but they're on my camera that's at Tanette's house. I'll post more tomorrow.

Cabbage Patch Hospital

2008-11-05T15:48:00.004-05:00

Here are the pictures from our trip to the Cabbage Patch Hospital in Cleveland GA. I haven't been here since I was about 10. Jason was less than impressed. Ashlyn adopted a mass produced Cabbage Patch from the gift store since the ones in the hospital started at $180. Anyway, it was named Jayden McKenna, just like one of her best friends. She was sooo excited!

Ashlyn and Jayden

The actual birthing process of the cabbage patch doll. They do a reinactment and bring it out of a cabbage plant. Cute!

The kids checking out the real babies ($180 & up specials)

Abbi's Pirate Ship birthday

2008-11-05T15:26:00.004-05:00

Are these not the cutest pirates you've ever seen???? This is one of my FAVORITE pics.

Ashlyn, Jaden & Seth

2008-11-05T15:23:00.002-05:00

I meant to post these pics a while ago. These are some pictures from the beach a few months ago. This is my little Calvin Klein model. I should send them to them.... and no he didn't pee himself, it's from the water.

Let's see.........

2008-11-05T14:59:00.004-05:00

The Halloween stuff got put away today, thanks to Tanette for her help or I don't know when or how I would have gotten it done. We have a Lemax Halloween village that takes forever to set up and take down. But the kids love it so it's worth it. As soon as we had it all tore done and put away Seth looks at us and says, "Hey, where's the Halloween Billage?? Put it back!". But don't you know there's always that one thing you forget. We got everything put away this morning, all boxes back in the attic, come home from my errands and look up on the banister and there is my huge pumpkin ghost. It's always the most obvious thing that gets forgotten.

Every year our neighborhood does a Halloween party for the kids. It's a lot of fun. They do games and a pinata and give out prizes. Ashlyn wasn't too thrilled to participate this year for some reason. Ashlyn was a "Kitty", not a Cat a "Kitty" and Seth was a Blue M&M. He was soo cute. Everywhere we went people kept saying they were going to eat him. That freaked him out a bit but he had a great time Trick or Treating. We missed our annual Trick or Treating with our friends Stacy and Kendall but settled for their other halves, Drew and Kate. We also had our friends Mike and Cheri and their son Ryan and niece Shyane (sorry, I'm not so sure how to spell her name. I've had her pic on here before and probably spelled it a little different that time too)Here are a few of our Halloween pics.

Seth and Kate. They both really got the hang of Trick or Treating this year. Kate is 1 1/2. Seth was doing great sharing his candy with her. Kate wasn't too thrilled with wearing her costume so she went as herself.
Seth, Ryan and Ash My little M&M cutie!

The M&M and Kitty. She had to meow for every pic!

Seth loved the gloves. He called them his "glubbies" but couldn't trick or treat with them very well so they got ditched. They really looked cute

"The Billage"

The Happy invite from the Mother-in-law to be......

2008-10-28T21:07:00.005-05:00

This was sent to me today..... just had to share! Some of us may know some people who should have sent out this invite.

Ashlyn and Daddy's golfing trip

2008-10-28T21:02:00.002-05:00

How nice is this scenery???????????

This is one of my favorite pics.

More from GA

2008-10-28T20:44:00.005-05:00

Here are some more pics from our Georgia trip. My aunt and uncle live in GA. We try and visit them every time we're up there. Ashlyn LOVES her uncle David. This time they had a special treat for them. They have been growing vegetables and let the kids pick some. They were so excited. We also had a nice dinner with them. After dinner Ashlyn and Seth gave their Uncle David a run for his money. They wore him out!!!!!Here's some pics from pick.

Seth showing off his tomato he picked

Uncle David helping Seth dig up a potato

Ashlyn picking poatoes

Sooo excited when she found one!!!!!!!!!!!!

Wow! this is a tomato?????

The Wimmers Pumpkin Patch

2008-10-25T21:34:00.004-05:00

Here are some pictures of my brother and my obviously prego sister n law. Is this not the cutest costume idea or what??? They love dressing up for Halloween. Every year Lisa comes up with a theme for the two of them. I think this year is the best so far. Here's a direct quote from her, "Now you all know I could not miss Halloween...it is the only time to dress trashy and get away with it...even with a belly :). This is the cheapest and most last minute costume yet...there are still many more years to beat it though!" I can't wait to see what next year brings. There will be a little one to throw into that theme. Enjoy!

GA - Our Annual trip to Burts Pumpkin Farm

2008-10-21T21:11:00.007-05:00

If you've ever wanted to visit a Pumpkin Patch this is the place to go. This patch has been featured in Southern Living magazine. It's one of our favorite places to visit in the fall!!!!

http://www.burtsfarm.com/default.htm

The Family at the Patch, not one of our better family pics

The Burgetts - they came to GA with us this year. These are some of our old friends from way back. Dawn, Jim, McKenzie and Madison.

My Lovies

Seth loves his tractors

Sissy had to try it out too.

Here's some random pictures of the pumpkins. There are plenty of different kinds to choose from, even Blue!

The Whole Gang on our hay ride.

Mommy and Ash

The boys

Mickey's Not so Scary Halloween

2008-10-21T21:02:00.004-05:00

Here are some pics of our trip to Mickey's Not So Scary Halloween.... you can tell who was in charge of taking the pics..... me.

Ashlyn on the Carousel

My candy junkies. These two boys just love Candy!!! Seth feeding daddy one of their favorites.... candy corn. I have a huge candle jar full of candy corns or should I say had, they can't keep their hands out of it.

Ashlyn and Shyanne on the Pirates of the Carribean

Are these two handsome dudes or what?

My little lovies

Bowdacious Bling is back up and running

2008-10-18T14:03:00.003-05:00

Finally got my store back up on line. Slowly but surely I'm getting the pictures taken and the items posted. Check back often as I will be adding new things every day... I hope. http://stores.ebay.com/Bowdacious-Bling
Anyway, Sorry I haven't posted in a while. You know what, forget that. I think I apologize everytime I post for not posting so I'll just skip that part. We've been crazy busy as usual. Nothing new here we're always crazy and busy! Ashlyn started playing soccer, Jason is coaching her team, and I'm the team manager. So that takes up our Wed and Fri nights. Ashlyn is loving it. Jason is wondering what he's gotten himself in to. It's hard to keep the kids attention for very long so it's driving him crazy. We just got back from GA last week, had a great time. Weather was AWSOME! Went to the deer park of course. http://www.rainbownation.org/ But the deers were in a rut (mating season) so they weren't as friendly as usual. It was a different experience this time. We got two sets of deer horns too. Ashlyn can't wait to take them to school for show and tell. Everyday she asks if it's her show and tell day. Of course we went to the Pumpkin Patch and visited Hillcrest Orchards http://www.hillcrestorchards.net/. It was Apple fest when we were there so there was a lot going on. As soon as I get some time to download the pics I'll post them. We are heading for Orlando tomorrow to go to the Mickey's Not So Scarry Halloween. So I'll have pictures of that as well. Okay. got some stuff to do but check back soon.

Mother, Sister, Daughter, Friend..........

2008-09-08T14:16:00.008-05:00

I found out on Saturday a really good friend of mine Heather, passed away on Aug 5th. I had been trying to get a hold of her for weeks but nothing. A friend of mine from highschool called me early Saturday morning to inquire about her but I had no answers. She said she heard from another friend that she had passed away. I hung up the phone in denial and disbelief and frantically ran to my computer to research but found nothing. I spent the whole day Saturday in shock and disbelief where I remain today. Saturday evening a cop friend of mine confirmed that she indeed was deceased. I wanted to post this brief blog in memory of my "invisible friend" as I called her. We spoke about once a month on the phone but rarely saw each other. Here are a few pics and an excerpt from one of her favorite songs. She has 4 children, Corey the oldest son, Bo the second oldest, Olivia, and Stella. I will truly miss her. She was one of the funniest people I ever met. She and I shared some great times together.

IN MY DAUGHTER'S EYES... In my daughter's eyes I am a hero I am strong and wise and I know no fear But the truth is plain to see She was sent to rescue me I see who I wanna be In my daughter's eyes In my daughter's eyes everyone is equal Darkness turns to light and the world is at peace This miracle God gave to me gives me strength when I am weak I find reason to believe In my daughter's eyes And when she wraps her hand around my finger Oh it puts a smile in my heart Everything becomes a little clearer I realize what life is all about It's hangin' on when your heart has had enough It's giving more when you feel like giving up I've seen the light It's in my daugter's eyes In my daughter's eyes I can see the future A reflection of who I am and what will be Though she'll grow and someday leave Maybe raise a family When I'm gone I hope you see how happy she made me For I'll be there In my daughter's eyes. MARTINA MCBRIDE

"Cherish every moment with the ones you love, for you never know how long you have."

Busy...........

2008-08-27T07:36:00.006-05:00

Okay, school has officially started and we've been crazy, crazy, crazy trying to get into a routine/schedule whatever. Ashlyn goes to school every day now, Seth goes Tuesday and Thursday. Mommy goes to the gym M,W,F mornings. Daddy's playing golf and going to the gym. So trying to get who's taking who and picking up on what day has been a little crazy. Hopefully we'll have something figured out soon.

Ashlyn loves school. Her teacher said she is doing really well and is one of the smarter kids in the class, surprise surprise. I asked if she meant smart mouth or actually smart. Seth started yesterday and did great on the drop off. Both daddy and I dropped him off and he was fine. He got right down and started playing, kissed us both goodbye and said he would be a good boy. When I came to pick him up I found him whimpering in the music circle. He saw me and came running and crying. The teachers said he cried off and on. He did fine during one on one but once it was group time he would just cry. When I asked him what was wrong he said, "I'll be all right mommy, I be big boy in Ms. Nadine's class". It was so cute!! So we will see how Thursday goes.

Seth's first day. Giving daddy hug bye and playing in his new class. The boy loves anything with wheels.

On top of school starting we've been and still are crazy packed with birthdays. I'll post some pictures below from the one we attended this Friday. It was a Barbie Rocker birthday. You were supposed to come dressed as a rocker. Moms and Dads, any musicians from the 60's, 70's or 80's. I chose Madonna of course! Daddy came home from golf to find us all dressed up for the party and couldn't stop laughing at me. Here are the pictures. Enjoy! Hopefully can post sooner next time.

All ready for the party

The Birthday Girl, Jessi and Ashlyn and Elijah (her new boyfriend)

Ms. Dinah (the birthday mom in her best 80's get up)

Luke, Elijah's little brother, Paul and Dana's son, all dressed up, tattoos and all. He looke so cute.

Daddy and Seth rocking out at the kids Jam session

Ashlyn rocking out. She was really talented holding the guitar and microphone and singing..... I was impressed.

Georgia Trip

2008-07-27T11:24:00.018-05:00

We had a wonderful 3 wks in GA. We loved our time we had there and discovered some new places. But it was nice to get home back to our normal routine.... if there is such a thing anymore. The first week it was Jason, Tanette, Aaron, Ashlyn, Seth and I. The second week Jason flew home and it was just Tanette, I and the kids. The 3rd week Jason and Aldo flew up and Tim drove up later.

Tanette and I had our work cut out for us while we were there so we tried to equal out the work time and the play time to keep the kids busy. We had to clean the cabin from top to bottom. It hadn't been really cleaned out in about 10yrs so you can imagine what we found.

Our play time included bug hunts and rock climbing on the rocks in the front yard, rock throwing in the Turniptown Creek, shopping in Elijay square and excursions to new found places. We found a new indoor play place with bouncies, games and indoor batting cages in the main part of town. We spent half a day there.

We celebrated the 4th of July in the towns' squareAshlyn getting down to the band

This is how CoCo felt about the fireworks.

We found a new Deer Park called Amicalola Deer Park. It was super cool. We got to feed deer and Emu right out of our hands. They had other animals there as well, pigs, horses, turkey's and more. We had so much fun that we went there twice. Ashlyn is going to be a vet when she grows up I just know it. She loves animals and is so gentle with them. She wanted to go the deer park everyday. That was the first thing she asked every morning when she got up.

http://www.rainbownation.org/

We also visited Amicalola falls and had a picnic lunch there.
At the top of the fallsAshlyn and Aaron with his infamous cheezy grin.

We went shopping at the outlets in Dawsonville, shopping and tubing in Helen.

A train ride from Blue Ridge to McCaysville, GA and Cooperhill Tenessee. The train stops right smack in the middle of the two.

Us boarding the train in Blue Ridge

Daddy and Seth checking out the sceneryAshlyn waving to the tubersPosing with the Indian in McCaysvilleHere is the line that runs right through the middle of the town dividing the two citiesEveryone catching a nap on the ride back. Including Aldo who refuses to pose for any picture. Gotcha!!!

The Group picture, excluding Aldo of course.

We even went to the monthly Kids Workshop at the Blairsville Home Depot.

Seth's 2nd Birthday

2008-07-27T09:28:00.015-05:00

The Cake - "Goldstein Construction Site"

I can't believe my little man is already 2. That's exactly what he is too, a little man. He's so polite and grown up. His birthday was a hit this year! We had a Digger/Home Depot party (thanks to our friend Jim). He got us aprons and home depot kids projects for all the kids. Homer even made an appearance at the party too. It was a lot of fun!!! The projects put the parents handy skills to the test as well. THANKS AGAIN JIM! We also owe a special thank you to our chef, "Uncle Mike". He was working his butt off in the blazing sun trying to keep up with the burger demand. No matter how hard he tried, every time he came inside for a break and a dose of air conditioning the plate was empty. THANKS UNCLE MIKE!!! Here's some pictures of Seth's big day.

Here's the two people that made the party a hit... the chef, uncle Mike and Homer Jim.

Home Depot Workshop

I think the kids did a better job than the parents.... & uncles

Homer's visit. Poor Homer, it was 100 degrees out. He had to be 110 in his suit!!

Ashlyn hugging Homer. Seth wasn't so sure.

Lauren and Homer

Mommy finally got Seth to pose with Homer

Getting ready for Cake

Aunt Laurie, Uncle Chris, MiMi and Aunt Lisa

Eating cake and ice cream with Aunt Lisa.

Jason's cousins Daryl and Jared, Jared's wife Dana and Grace and Jesse.

Uncle Mike.... does he look beat down or what???? We love you!!

Anna & Asif (aren't they lovely????)

Dana and Dawn

Aaron cheesing it up for the camera

Opening presents

Saying Goodbye!

Trying to find Jesse's face through her hair so he could give her a kiss. It was too funny.

Giving Liam a hug goodbye. Liam and Seth are 2wks apart.

Busted..... Ashlyn and Kendall stealing their 4th helping of chocolate rocks. The girls were on a sugar high for the day.

Falling behind.

2008-06-10T14:55:00.007-05:00

Okay, I'm starting to fall behind but I've had a lot going on these past few weeks. Ashlyn had her first dance recital. She was a little nervous but did a great job. Somehow, she managed to sneak past her teacher and stage mom on stage with gum in her mouth. She had her last day of school and now she's doing summer camp at her school two days a week. The kids together are driving me nuts at home so I've been working on getting together some activities to keep them busy. Seth's birthday is just around the corner so we're trying to prepare for that. I'm also trying to crank out a large order of flip flops for Bowdacious Bling. But I wanted to take a few minutes to post a few quick pics. I will get back on track with Alaska tonight or tomorrow. Enjoy!

Getting ready for the recital in the car.....

All dressed and ready! Took me about 10 pics to get her to look at me for this pic

Catherine, Anna and Ashlyn goofing around at rehearsal

Ashlyn and JesseAshlyn and Sara

Tanette and I took the kids to the Florida Aquarium last week...

Alaska - Sitka

2008-05-12T08:26:00.008-05:00

Okay here is one of my favorites - Sitka. Sitka is a beautiful little seaside town on the Southeastern part of Alaska, sprinkled with tiny islands. Another place I could totally live, without the cold. The ship wasn't able to dock here due to the size of the ship. We were anchored off shore and the life boats tendered us in. It was a different experience. I think our driver was driving for his first time. It took him about 20 times to dock the little think, no joke! At Sitka, we saw an amazing number of Eagles and baby Eagles. We visited a Raptor Center, a Salmon hatchery (part of the Sheldon Jackson Museum/Aquarium), did a little walking around the Sitka National Historic Park and downtown and some shopping. This was probably one of the most expensive places as well. We went into the local grocery store to purchase diapers and they were exactly double what I pay here as well as wipes and a few other items.

Here are a few pictures of Sitka. We didn't get too many!

Okay, Here's our ship anchored in Sitka. That little tiny boat beside it was the tender or lifeboat that shuttled us to the dock. Below is the tenders at the dock.

Here's some pictures of us at the Sheldon Brown museum/aquarium/salmon hatchery. Ashlyn wasn't cooperating for our family picture but later decided to join us for the group picture. With us is our friends Cheri, Mike, & their son Ryan.

These are the Eagles that were perched all over the rocks just outside the hatchery. You have to look closely and you can see a few white heads on the rocks and some on the polls.

Wait a minute... aren't Eagles on the endangered list??? Actually, they aren't anymore. I wasn't aware of this. But after visiting Alaska for the second time I was informed. It's amazing to see so many of them.

Here we are getting ready to walk through the forest. Again we had to drag Ashlyn into the picture with us. She has all these stipulations to appear in our pictures. She wants them taken when she is ready.

The kids each found hiking sticks and used them to climb and bang on everything. There were some really cool trees and logs in the forest. Here's one of them. Here we are at the Raptor Center. This center has a minimal contact area where most of their birds go. There is one way glass so we were able to see in but they could not see us. The majority of the birds here are able to be returned to the wild after rehabilitation.

The kids were passing around and actual bird foot. Yuck! This is Cheri's mother Marriel (sp), Ryan and Ashlyn, proudly displaying it.

Seth wasn't quite so impressed with it. Can you tell???

Here is the one an only Harbour seal we saw this trip. He was teasing us. He kept swimming up to the ship and taking off. So this is the best picture I could get.

More to come. I skipped around a little bit. I think I'll do Juneau next.

ALASKA!!!! - Seattle

2008-05-12T07:40:00.026-05:00

We are back!!! Of course it was Awsome, but nothing compares to the first time. Welcome home to the Florida heat. It was a cold 42 degrees in Seattle. The kids had a GREAT time! Seth was just about perfect, Ashlyn had her moments..... atleast 2 tantrums a day, but that's just her. She would have been the exact same at home. Of couse we started off this morning with one. Anyway, I'm going to post this trip a little at a time since there is so much to say and sooo many pics. It would take me too long to do it all at once. We had 13 total with us on this trip. Our very good friends Cheri and Mike (we took this trip with them last time), there 3 kids, Ryan, Chloe and Holly. Cheri's parents, Herb and Muriel, and Mike's parents Jim and Diane. Our cruise left from Seattle and visited, Juneau, Hubbard Glacier, Sitka, Kethcikan and Victoria, BC. My favorite stops this time were Sitka and Victoria (even though we didn't have much time there).

We started off with a two night stay in Seattle. I LOVE Seattle. This is a place I could definitely live. The flowers are unbelieveable and my little flower child couldn't keep her hands off as you will see in the pictures from here and throughout our trip for that matter. She actually picked one right in front of the Space Needle. I thought we were going to get arrested. Here we visited Pikes Market, took a Duck Tour (absolute blast), the Seattle Aquarium, Seattle Center Kids Museum and the Space Needle.

Here are some pictures of us having dinner ath T.S. McHugh's Irish Pub.

Doesn't daddy looked thrilled....... long airplane ride!

Cheesing it up for the camera

Here is Ashlyn showing off her pick in front of the space needle and some other random tulip gardens we passed in our journeys. Flowers are everywhere!! Like I said before there are flowers everywhere. They are beautiful. There's flower trees, bushes, beds and planters everywhere.

Here's some pictures from Pikes Market. Again, flowers everywhere. You could get a huge bundle of Tulips for like $10. Ashlyn was absolutely terrified of this fish. She started screaming when Jason put the stroller anywhere near it. And to make matters worse the guys had tied a string to it through the ice and could scare the s*#@ outta of people by making it move.

Here we are at the space needle.
Pictures from up top.

We took a Duck tour (it's a boat on wheels or a car shaped like a boat that goes on land and then drives right into the water) through the Seattle down town. We saw pioneer Square, Seattle Waterfront, Seaco Field and took a ride into Lake Union. We had an absolute blast. Of course our driver had everything to do with it. On the tour we learned that they're are like 400+ Starbucks' in Seattle. How much coffee could one need???? In Lake Union we saw these teeny tiny houseboats that cost a small fortune. 300sq ft for like $400K. The Sleepless in Seattle houseboat is currently up for sale for $2.5 million. This particular house is 2075 square feet. We also saw some head guru of Microsofts 3 story houseboat which I would say it was more like a house. Anyway it originally had a cement basement in it but he had the whole thing raised and had the basement glassed in so he could have an underwater view. Most of the houseboats that have basements have I guess normal basements but then there are some with cement. To me the whole idea is crazy. They call them houseboats because they fit in your standard boat slip.

The DuckDaddy and Seth hanging out on the tour

A lot of the boats from "Deadliest Catch" come out of Seattle. Here is one. The driver called this fountain the hippee shower. He said the bums showered here.
Here is the Sleepless in Seattle houseboat
The little tiny green one on the right just sold for like $375K.These are the bigger ones with concrete basements and all.More flowers hanging all the walls all down the street

We took a very quick visit to the Seattle Aquarium. Here daddy is trying to convince the kids to pet the starfish in the picture below. They were not interested at all.

The kids playing in the arms of the octopus in the kids area.Ashlyn goofing around in the gift shop.

Pictures from the Seattle Center Children's Museum. This one is Ryan and Ashlyn

Ashlyn acting like a lizard

One last picture to end the Seattle portion. Jason said he's chaging his sign to this........... this was a sign in downtown Seattle.

So it's been a while...

2008-04-08T12:42:00.008-05:00

It's been a crazy busy couple of months. February we took a trip to Georgia to PaPa G's Moutain house with our neighbors. The kids haven't stopped asking to go back ever since. We are going to try and go up for about 3 wks over the summer. Jason will fly back to work and the kids, dog and I will stay up for the duration. So let us know if you'd like to come up for a visit while we're there. March was super crazy! Jason celebrated his 34th birthday. Ashlyn turned 4. We had Easter Egg hunts, Birthday Easter & St. Patrick's Day parties at school. We took a trip to Lowry Park Zoo with PaPa G.Then Ashlyn and Daddy got some type of stomach bug, Seth had a really bad Ear infection and I am just getting over some type of soar throat/sinus thing. Hopefully April will be a much more laid back healthy month for us all. Uncle Chris (the old fart) just turned 31 yesterday. HAPPY BIRTHDAY Uncle Chris! XOXO

Getting ready to go on Alaskan cruise first week in May. We are going to spend a few days in Seattle prior to bording the ship. Can't wait!!

Here's a few pics to catch you up. Not sure why I can't post these in the right order but they are a little mixed up.

Ashlyn, Seth, Bryce and Angelina at Amicalola Falls

The Birthday Girl

Grandpa's 80th Birthday Bash

2008-03-02T22:08:00.006-05:00

Here's some pics of Grandpa's 80th Birthday Bash and the entertainment.

Grandpa posing with the dancers The girls loved the dancers.... Seth too...

These are some pics of Ashlyn and Seth's new favorite past time.... wrestling. They love beating each other up.... atleast they kiss and make up afterward.

More pics....

2008-01-30T12:27:00.001-05:00

Seth had Bronchitis over the holiday. This is him and mommy during his breathing treatment (don't I look like I could use a breathing treatment), sitting there nice and quietly holding it like a big boy. We were so proud of him. Usually we have to do everything in our power to get him to sit still and take the treatment.

And here is him after...................... what a maniac. Don't worry we have plexi glass on the raling.

Sleeping peacfully. CoCo loves to sleep in her bed.

OUR ANNUAL XMAS PARTY

Tanette, Tim, his sister Lisa, my sister in law.

Aimee and Asif

The Boys (Liam and Seth) at the party. I bet you'll never see them sitting so nicely again...........
Dawn and Cheri at the party

Santa came to visit Ashlyn's schoolAshlyn's school Christmas Program

CHRISTMAS MORNING AT OUR HOUSE Barbie Fairy Island Princess

Ashlyn and Seth having a tea party with her Princess Tea Set

CHRISTMAS WITH GREAT GRANDMA
We made her a person with the kids' handpraints on it and the purse said "Grandma the Great". That's what the kids call her or she likes them to call her.

This is what Ashlyn came down in a few weeks ago when we told her we were going to the beach. She always has to be dressed like a Diva and a purse and spakley lipgloss are now always a part of every outfit. If you open her purse you'll find atleast three tubes of lip gloss. She's always plastering it on. It drives daddy crazy.

pictures finally posted

2008-01-30T10:53:00.000-05:00

Okay....... here they are........Xmas dinner at our house. Michelle, Travis and John (our cousins)

Aunt Lisa reading Seth and Elmo story, Aunt Laurie and Uncle Chris and Ash
Aunt Lisa, Ashlyn and Uncle Chris Ashlyn giving Papa G a head rub
Us of course

Papa G Nona, Ashlyn and Seth

Mimi PaPa Ashlyn and Seth

I know, I know, I know

2008-01-27T23:20:00.000-05:00

I'm sooooooo lame!!!!!!!!!!! I haven't posted forever. With the holidays and getting everyone back into their routines and my new venture. I just haven't had the time to pull all the pics together. We've had so much going on these last couple of weeks. Let's see what have we been up to....... We celebrated Christmas about 4 different times. Went to the Jingle Bell Run with the family for an annual event. Ashlyn had her first little dance recital. She had a school party and school music program. We spent New Years quietly at home. Went out for a little while but got home early (before all the crazies hit the road). My grandfather celebrated his 80th birthday. It was a blast. They had Hula dancers and great food and Mai Tais. We had a wonderful time! I got some great pictures too. We went up to our friends' in New Port Richey and Ashlyn got to go horseback riding again. She LOVED it! We started up a new little playgroup and the list goes on and on and on. I will post a ton of pics tomorrow.

Here is a link to my new venture I mentioned above.

http://stores.ebay.com/Bowdacious-Bling

Puppy Love

2007-12-14T22:37:00.000-05:00

Seth loves his puppy!!! They are so cute together. They both love to stare at the lake and watch all the Cormorant ducks. He hugs her and says, "Love CoCo". It's sooooo darn cute. Here's some pics.

3 kids

2007-12-10T15:45:00.000-05:00

Okay, so it's been a while. With a third child in the house (CoCo) there's not a moment for me to sit down and update my blog. Every time I try I have Seth climbing up and down on the chair I'm sitting on, banging on the keyboard, slamming the drawers all the while checking to see what CoCo's chewing on every few minutes. Currently he's preoccupied with his big sisters black patten leather shoes. Doesn't he look adorable! Jason hates it when he wears her shoes. But he's obsessed with shoes right now, heels and all.

Ashlyn had her first sleepover last weekend with her friend Jaden. It went really well! She hasn't stopped asking to have another one. Here some pics. We all went down to Straub park to see Santa and the lights. Jaden was a little scared of Santa so she opted not to sit on his lap.

Ashlyn and Jaden

Seth, Ash, Jaden and CoCo

Seth hitching a ride looking at the "Pitty Lights"

Seth is into and on EVERYTHING. There isn't a drawer or door or closet he can't get into. There isn't a table chair or anything else for that matter that he doesn't climb. He is so mischievous!!!! Such a boy. Totally unlike Ashlyn. She wasn't really in to stuff and was very clean. We go to the dog park yesterday and he hands me a piece of dog poop. Lovely!!!!!

Here in our house we celebrate both Hanukkah and Christmas. The kids have been taking turns with daddy every night lighting the candles. They love it! We celebrated the 2nd night of Hanukkah with Jason's brother and the cousins at PaPa G's house. The kids had a fun time exchanging gifts.

The Christmas tree and decorations have been a challenge in our house. Seth and CoCo can't keep their hands off them. I only decorated the top 2/3rds of the tree and sparse at that. They keeping yanking the lights off so I may just move those up to the top as well. Seth loves Christmas lights. Every evening when we are the car he is a maniac yelling, "Wow, uuuhhhhh pretty lights". He can't get enough.

Opening Ashlyns Parrot - she loves it

Michaela helping Seth

The Goldstein Boys - Unlce Adam, Seth and Michael

We just got back from Mickey's Very Merry Xmas party last night. The kids loved it. Seth was an Angel. He went till 12:15AM with just a 20min nap yesterday. I couldn't believe it. His favorite ride was the "Small Word". He just starred in amazement. Ashlyn said her favorite was the "Pirates of the Carribean". She swore the pirates were real. She wanted to go on the ride a second time. She was also very happy to get her picture taken with Snow White and Prince Charming. She wouldn't stop posing and look at the camera for the picture. My favorite was the castle. It was beautiful. Seth enjoyed the character dance. There was a little place called "Ariel's Grotto" where different characters came out to dance while the DJ spun the records. We happened to catch Cinderella's step sisters and the step mother. Seth LOVES to dance so he jumped right in. Ashlyn on the other hand wanted no part in dancing with the Step Sisters.

Seth cuttn' rug with Cinderella's stepsister "Anastasia" I think

How could I forget an update picture of our CoCo

Our New Puppy - CoCo

2007-11-03T09:24:00.000-05:00

Here's our new little puppy CoCo. She's a Brittany Spaniel. So far she is an Angel. She's great with the kids. Hasn't pottied in the house and so sweet and lovey!!!

What's new with us???

2007-10-21T02:46:00.000-05:00

Well, as I mentioned in my last post, we visited Georgia with our friends Tim, Tanette, Aaron and Tana the first week in October. We had a great time but it could have been cooler. It was Florida hot. We all packed for cooler weather. Maybe next time. As well as visiting Burt's we went to Hillcrest Apple Orchards which was great. All kinds of things for the kids to do. Petting Zoo, milk the cow, slides, tricycle races, contests. It was a lot of fun.

Seth enjoying the hayride at Burt's

Aaron and Tanette on the hayride

Ashlyn holding a baby chick at the petting zoo

Ashlyn was being licked by the baby cow. The goats were eating her hair as well. That really scared her.

Jason was just going to take Ash into the petting zoo but Seth had an absolute fit that he couldn't go in. He was outside screaming, "Doggies, doggies!" All animals are doggies to him.

Tana wanted to pan for gems and gold. We went to the Grisson's Gold mine in Dawsonville. It was fun but the kids really weren't into it.

Tana and Tanette panning

The kids playing in the stream at the bottom of Walnut Mtn. (where the Goldstein house is in Elijay)

We also were lucky enough to visit Tim's sister at the Chatahoochee Nature Center. The kids got to see all kinds of animals, eagles, owls, beavers, snakes.... I think their favorite was the snake.

Jena showing Ashlyn and Aaron the snake

Tanette giving Jason "the horns"

The Beaver

Daddy and Seth looking at the Beaver

Seth is turned into a little smarty pants.... talking up a storm. He's like a little parrot repeating everything I say, also glued to me. His pediatrician is amazed by how well he talks and communicates. He can say 3 word sentences all ready. He's also starting to recognize places that we go. We'll pull up at Jason's office or just drive by it and he'll say, daddy, Dinah, Cheryl and start listing everyone that works there. Or we'll get near Uncle Chris and Aunt Lisa's and he'll start naming them and there dogs. Also, if you name a person he'll name the rest of the people in the family. And....... he started to sing the ABC's. He was playing on the stairs the other day and just started singing "EFG, QRS". So we've been singing them to him and he'll either sing along with us or fill in the gaps. He's also living up to his "Seth the Destroyer" name. He is into just destroying anything that Ashlyn is playing with or building. Jason says Ashlyn will be the Architecht and Seth will be the demolition man. Enough about Seth

Ashlyn is doing great in school. She loves it. We were out for vacation and she missed about 2 wks. When I brought her back. Her teacher commented that it wasn't the same without Ashlyn and her humor. She's always repeating little comments and phrases she hears from daddy. I'm so glad the teachers find it humorous. I never know what she's going to say and am so nervous everytime I pick her up and her teacher says, "Ashlyn said.....". I always cringe and hope it's not too bad. So far it hasn't been. She still taking dance and asking to go back to Karate. She also has Spanish and music in school. Let's just say she definitely doesn't have a singing career ahead of her even though she sings her little heart out all the time. She's growing like a weed. It seems like everything she puts on is too short or tight. I feel like were getting rid of clothes every day. I went to wipe her hands with a wipey the other day and said, "When did your fingers get so long?" Where did those little chubby toddler hands go.

The kids are sooo looking forward to Halloween this year. Ashlyn's going to be a Cheerleader and an Angel and Seth is going to be a Spider and Devil. We have a couple different things to go to this year so since she can't make up her mind what she wants to be we'll just use both costumes. One was a gift for her birthday and the Angel costume I got at the consignment shop for $4.50, so what the heck. We have our usual Ginormous spiders up on the roof and in the house, webs everywhere and our Lemax Haunted Village set up. Seth is constantly walking over to the village and screaming, "See it, See it!" He wants to be picked up so he can see it. We've been lucky that he hasn't pulled it all down. We've had a few close calls. If you don't get over to it immediately after he starts yelling see it, he starts pulling on any dangling cord or backdrop he can reach. Eeeee!!!!

Jason had a golf accident a couple weeks back. He was hit by a golf ball, in the head, while driving the golf cart. For those of you who know Jason and how much of a baby he is when it comes to pain and needles can just imagine how this went down. For those of you who know our friend Mike K, you'll have to have him tell you the story... absolutely hysterical.. wish I had it all on tape. On a more serious note, he is really lucky. He was hit on the Left side of the upper head. He had to have 4 staples. They did some neurological testing and a CAT scan in the ER and everything checked out. It could have been a lot worse. He could have been hit in the face or eye or even the temple. He/we were very lucky!!! Ashlyn was very worried about daddy and still is. When I was driving her to school the morning after it happened (daddy usually takes her) she said, "Daddy's never going to be able to take me to school again. He has a big boo boo on his head and I want him to get a football hat so he doesn't get hurt anymore!". She insists that he wears a football helmet when he golfs so he doesn't get anymore boo boo's.

Tana and Tanette removing Jason's staples. When we left the ER here letting them know we would be out of town when the staples were due to come out they handed us the staple remover and said have at it.

Well I've talked about everyone else except me. Nothing exciting going on with me. Just being mom.

Wild Turkey on Walnut Moutain

There were wild Turkey roaming all over Walnut Moutain

Happy Fall Ya'll!!!!

2007-10-12T16:28:00.000-05:00

Here's some recent pictures of us at Burt's Pumpkin Patch in Dawsonville, Georgia. I love this place!!! The kids did too. They have every kind of pumpkin/squash you could imagine. This place has been featured in Southern Living magazine. If you ever get a chance to check in out.... you should!! I'll post more later but just wanted to get a few pics up here. It's been a while. I see some of my other friends are slacking too.... Michele uhum..... I see the McKinley's are back on track. Check back soon. Maybe I'll get some more stuff up tonight.

Ashlyn wins the award yet again.....

2007-09-09T16:40:00.000-05:00

Strangest place to fall asleep....... Today Jason and I were sitting on the couch watching the Bucs game. Ashlyn was up in her room having a little concert with her new microphone that her PaPa G gave her. It was AWFUL!!! About 30 minutes or so went by and we realized it was a little too quiet. So I snuck upstairs to see what was going on. At first I couldn't find her. I looked under her bed and in her closet but did't see her. I knew she was in there and her room certainly isn't big. It's funny how I can never find her in her little room. Finally I saw her feet and found her passed out.

This is what I saw when I walked in her room. The pink tubular thing onthe left side of the bed is her hamper.

I moved the guitar off of her feet to take the picture. Her feet were barely showing and her legs were covered with a pink blanket which blended right in with the bed. I noticed she even has her Aerial pillow inside.

Sorry, I haven't posted in a while

2007-08-30T14:53:00.001-05:00

We've been crazy, sick, busy, you name it. Ashlyn started preschool on the 17th. She goes M,W,F 8:30-11:30. It was a rough start but it's going good. She went from having about 10 kids in her class to having about 18-20 so it's taken a bit of getting used to. We took a break from dance for a few weeks but are starting back after Labor Day. Seth is finally walking!!!! Yippee. I'll see if I can figure out how to post a mini video. All of us have been sick. Jason's over it. Ashlyn's close and Seth and I are trying to get through the coughs. We've been to sooo many party's this last month. birthdays, baby showers, batz mitzvah's.....Jason has taken up golf again!!! He's been getting some coaching from a friend of his who's an Ex Pro.

Ash wearing daddy's golf hat

Seth is getting so big he's sitting at Ashlyn's big girl table now. He likes to eat with her

Here's Seth pushing his sister around the house on his truck

I learned a valuable lesson today

2007-08-21T09:28:00.000-05:00

NEVER, NEVER, NEVER put Seth to bed in just a diaper!!!! Seth pulled a Chris (my brother) today. I put him down for his nap like I usually do. About 15mins later he started fussing but he usually goes right to sleep shortly after he started screaming (not like him at all). He usually goes right to sleep. So I decided to go upstairs to see what was going on. Well when I reached the top of the stairs I was overcome by a nauseating smell. When I got to Seth's room I discovered him naked and covered in poop from head to toe. His bed was graciously painted with poop as well. He probably thought it was fun at first and then realized how awful the smell was. Uggghhh!!!! I quickly opened all of the windows and wrapped him in a towel to dump him in the tub. He was not happy. Nor was I!!! I gagged the entire time. I'll spare you from pictures since I couldn't bear to leave him to grab the camera downstairs.

My brother surprised ME with the same masterpiece when he was little too. I walked in his room to find him and his bead covered in poop I started screaming for my mom. I think that mess was worse then Seth's though.

Two Babies

2007-07-27T16:39:00.000-05:00

Everyone says Seth and Ashlyn look exactly alike. I just don't see it.

Ashlyn has started taking Dance

2007-07-27T16:22:00.000-05:00

Ashlyn started taking ballet and tap about a month ago with one of her best friends Jaden. She loves it. Currently there's just 3 little girls in the class. They are absolutely adorable!!! Here's some cute pics. Of course, Ashlyn had to do a few poses for the camera. Little does she know modeling is just not in her future. She just doesn't have that model frame or height for that matter. Enjoy!

Belated 4th of July

2007-07-19T20:36:00.000-05:00

We had a great time celebrating the 4th of July this year. We spent the night with our friends Stacy and Drew and their daughters Kendall and Kate on Madeira Beach. We played by the pool, avoiding the rain during the day and then headed to the Baynard Beach Cottage for the evening fireworks. My uncle Greg conveniently has a condo directly next to the beach cottage so we paid a visit to my family over there before hitting the beach to watch the fireworks. Here are some pictures of our day and night.

Kendall and Ash decorating their beach visors

They decided their bodies were a better place for the stickers

Seth playing in Kate's carrier Papa playing with Seth and Ash
Papa Seth, Ash and MiMiJason lighting up the kids sparklers Drew, testing one out... Jason got a little irritated with the sparklers so he decided to light them all up and make his own finale

Seth is 1

2007-07-06T08:33:00.000-05:00

Well the little man is one already. I can't believe it. He had a great birthday. LOVED the cake as you can see from the pics. Uncle Chris was worried that he was going to puke. He ate the entire smash cake. I figured he would. He LOVES cake. Okay, here you go.

Blowing out the candles with mommy and Ashlyn Getting started on the cake.....
Stilll eatingand eating.......20 minutes later still eating

Finally finished

Opening presents with daddy Hanging with Asif

Playing with LiamSara and Ash playing on the picnic table after the party

2007-06-23T20:56:00.000-05:00

Okay. Check out the size of Ash at 14 months compared to Seth at 12.

Ahhhhh the good life...... boating!

2007-06-23T20:18:00.001-05:00

Just wanted to share some pics of the kids at Shell Island today. We had a good time... as you can see.

Seth watching the girls on the boat next to us. We parked next to the "Girls Gone Wild" boat... literally!!!

Still watching.... and thinking about having some of daddy's beer.

Aaron and Ash goofing around. Showing the love.

The kids all sharing for once.

Seth driving daddy's boat. We have the exact picture of Ash somewhere. I'll have to locate it and post it here as well. I'm tired and headed to bed. Night Night!

Sorry, Sorry, Sorry

2007-06-22T16:16:00.000-05:00

I know it's been a while. I've been slacking... Can you believe Seth is almost one???? Tuesday the 26th. I CAN'T believe it. Here's some recent pics from Father's Day

Here's Ash playing with her babies and eating Spaghetti. We started her in Karate last week.... again. She went 2 times and decided she didn't want to go again. I think she was intimidated by the class size the 2nd time. The first time it was just her and another little boy with 3 instructors. The 2nd time there was about 17 kids. She did a great job. They are always amazed at how well she does for her age. The teacher asked if she could count to 10 and she said yes and started counting in Spanish, then French, then English. So he started to teach her Korean. Since Karate we've decided to try dance. That'll be next week. We'll see how that goes. She'll be in class with her friend Jaden, so that might make it a little less intimidating for her.

Here's some pics of Seth picking his nose... this is his new favorite thing to do, clapping, and throwing a tantrum. These all happened in a matter of a minute. He's a real drama king.

Memorial Weekend

2007-05-29T14:05:00.000-05:00

We had a great Memorial weekend, swimming, beaching and boating. Seth went on his first boat ride and had a great time. Didn't cry once. Loved playing on the beach too. We had some friends over for a cookout on Memorial Day. Here are some pics.

These are pics from the beach. Daddy and Ash built a sandcastle with mote and all. Seth was only interested in wrecking it. I had to keep him distracted. I bulit him a few of his own to destroy. He really just enjoyed eating sand and sucking his thumb. He kept dunking his thumb in the bucket of saltwater and sucking it.

Ashlyn wrecking the masterpiece.

Ash had to wear her goggles to swim. She thought it was the coolest thing that she could see sand and shells on the bottom and pick them up. She is a regular mermaid.

Here's Seth on his first boat ride.

Aaron and Ashlyn enjoyed the ride with Aunt Nette and laying on the bow on the way in to Shell Island.

We barried Seth in the sand at Shell Island..... we decided to add the tail and make a little merman. Isn't he cute????

Seth enjoying a cuddle with Aimee and gnawing on his corn cob.

Busy, Crazy, Fun

2007-05-28T20:37:00.000-05:00

This past week has been busy, crazy and FUN! We've been going nonstop. We've been spending lots of time with friends and outdoors. Sorry I didn't post our Orlando stuff sooner. I came down with the stomach bug.... not fun. We've taken sooo many pictures over the past week, I have tons to post. I'll start with Orlando. We stayed at the Sheraton Vistana. It was really nice. I highly recommend this place. We stayed in a 2 Bed, 2 Bath villa. Full kitchen dinning and living room. The place has 7 or 8 pools, putt putt, restaurants, bars, and even a little grocery store. They had activites for the kids throughout the day too. We definitely will be going back!!

I'll start with they boys.....

BOYS

Okay, here's Seth and Liam figuring out the entertainment system for us in the room, Seth eating a chocolate chip cookie by the pool, the boys playing together "sharing", Seth up to his usual mischief, Seth sitting in the "License to Chill" chair at Margaritaville and Seth taking a ride on daddy's shoulders.

GIRLS
Now for the girls. Here's Gabriella and Ashlyn posing by the fountain in Downtown Disney, Ash on the motorcycle in the Harley shop, Gabriella and Ashlyn drooling over the Candy Apples, the girls partying in Margaritaville in Universal City walk, Ash on the race car in Downtown Disney and Ash and mommy hamming it up.

OUR FRIENDS

(from left to right) Scott, Kim,Cassidy and Kennedy

Michele, Loui, Gabriella, & Liam

Us (of course)

Okay, this took me way too long I will upload more pics tomorrow...... yawn

Our "things"

2007-05-24T08:08:00.000-05:00

Just a quick pick from our Orlando trip. I'll post more when I get more time but couldn't resist this one. These are our friends Gabriella and Liam that went with us. We bought these shirts for our little "things" at Universal. Liam was born 2 weeks before Seth. Seth looks so tiny compared to Liam.

Silly Kids

2007-05-15T14:38:00.000-05:00

Well, yesterday we had our first "Summer Thunderstorm". Ashlyn said she was scared so we discussed it for a little while and she was fine so off she went to play upstairs in her. A few hours later I noticed it was very quite up there so I went to check on her. I didn't see her anywhere but she has this new hiding game she likes to play so I looked in her closet and she wasn't there. I decided to walk around the far side of her bed and low and behold I saw her foot sticking out from under the bed. So I bent down to look at her under the bed and found her sound asleep. I ran down stairs and grabbed the camera to take some pics and this is what I got.

And then there's Seth leave him alone for a minute and he clears my drawers literally.

I haven't posted in forever.....busy, busy, busy!!!

2007-05-08T14:20:00.000-05:00

Gosh it's been forever since I've posted. Sorry!!! We've been busy these last few weeks. We celebrated my moms 53rd birthday on May 2nd. HAPPY BIRTHDAY MOM!!! We actually had a lot of birthdays this past month. I think we went to one every week. We've been living in the pool..... literally spending all day in the pool on the weekends. Ashlyn is swimming like a fish. She can even to a flip off the side of the pool. She was really excited the first time she did it. Weather here is starting to feel like summer. Ugghhh!!! Hot and Humid. We've had a smokey day here today though. Worst it's ever been. There's tons of fires burning around the state and the weather today was foggy so it was like a cap holding down all of the smoke. It was terrible to go outside. It has cleared up..... THANK GOD!!!

Seth got tubes put in his ears yesterday, Monday. He was a champ. Didn't cry once, even though he had nothing to eat since midnight the night before. He cried a little when they brought him out of recovery. Other than that he's back to his normal self. Hope this cures all these ear infections we've been battling. I have some really cute pictures of him on my phone but have to figure out how to send them to the computer so I can post them.

Ashlyn had one of her friends over from school (Jaden) a few weeks ago. Here's some pictures of the girls playing dress-up. They had a great time. She hasn't stopped asking for her to come over since. Everytime I pick her up from school Jaden asks if she can come home with us too. Here's some pics of her and daddy mowing the lawn. It didn't last long, they kept running into each other.

Seth is a mad man. He is EVERYWHERE!!! I can't keep up with him. He finally started to crawl (on his knees) last week. He is into everything..... my kitchen cabinets, my drawers, the toilet, the fireplace, the trash, catfood, you name it. Stairs, last week Jason and I were in the kitchen cleaning up after dinner. Ashlyn and Seth were playing in the other room. Jason walked out of the kitchen to check on them and Ashlyn was halfway up the stairs coaxing Seth who was a qrt of the way. He about died. Since then we've been locking the place down. We made two trips to Babies r'us this last weekend trying to get the right gate for our stairs. It's got the spindles on oneside and the wall on the other. Needless to say it's been quite difficult trying ot find the sturdiest way of blocking them off. I've had my fill of this stuff already and it's only been going on for a week or so. I dont' remember Ashlyn being near as bad. I told Jason forget all the safety contraptions we'll just stick Seth in one of those giant plastic Hamster Balls and he can roll around the house in that. LOL

Here's some pictures of "Wild Seth" aka "The Destroyer"

Here's Seth wearing his Papa's firemen hats...

Okay. Gotta get dinner started. Hope everyone is well and we'd love to hear from you!

P.S. We're going to Orlando in two weeks anyone have any input on what theme park we should visit? Something Ashlyn would really enjoy? We were leaning towards the Animal Kingdom.

What we've been up to

2007-04-17T14:30:00.000-05:00

Well we FINALLY got Ashlyn's bed and dresser in yippee!!!! Here's some pics of it.

I also got the kids bathroom decorated. It's not totally finished but here's a sneak peak.

Time Flies

2007-04-15T20:47:00.000-05:00

Well this week and weekend have flown by. We've been busy FINALLY working on the upstairs bathroom. Got the walls textured and painted and a new toilet put in. Still need to paint the ceiling and get the tile up. Sorry no pictures this time. We also FINALLY got Ashlyn's dresser and bed. We've only been waiting for 7 weeks. I'm happy to finally have a place to put her clothes. Now It's off to shower and get ready for Monday. Argghhhh....

Hoppy Easter

2007-04-08T20:51:00.000-05:00

Hope everyone had a good Easter. We did!!! We went horseback riding at some friends' in New Port Richey.

It was Ashlyn's first time and she did great. She was quick to catch on to all the commands and when to kick and tug the reins. She did a really good job! Her horses name was Sweet Pea. Of course she wants a horse now.

Seth hopped on for a quick sit and Daddy even did some riding himself. Mommy of course opted out to be the photographer, videographer and babysitter.

We also got to meet the newest foul at the stables. Her name is Lily and she is 4wks old. She was sooo pretty. Her mommy was very protective over her. She is a very rare horse. If you notice in the picture she has like a brown cap on her head. Back in the days..... the indians called it a medicine cap. These horses were given to the medicine men of the tribes.

Feel free to drop us a line. We'd love to hear from you!!! Bye!

Easter Egg Hunt with our Friends.....

2007-04-05T08:53:00.000-05:00

We had a little Easter Egg Hunt yesterday at Millenium Park. The kids had a great time. Ashlyn was fighting over eggs and Seth was just exited to find baby snacks inside. Here are some pics.

Seth is making leaps and bounds these last few weeks. He can't stop babbling. He can say a few words, none of which are "MaMa". He will repeat the words I say to him that he knows but whenever I say to him "Ma Ma", he ALWAYS says "Da Da" back to me. He can say Kitty, Aldo, Turtle, Ash, No No and of course Da Da!!! Little turkey. He understands alot of words to he knows No No, when he or someone else says it he shakes his head No. He also knows Ba Ba (bottle), bath and night night. I can't believe he's already 9 months old.

He starting to crawl. He does a good pull and drag himself across the floor and can move out pretty fast when he wants to. He loves to stand. It's really hard to get him to sit down. He wants to stand on everything.

Crazy week

2007-03-29T13:18:00.000-05:00

Well, it's been a crazy week or so. Ashlyn is the Big "Free". We're working on learning how to say Three. It's so cute!! She tries to put her tongue between her teeth but it just doesn't seem to work. It slips out and turns to "Free".

Wednesday we had Ashlyn's 3yr well visit and Seth's 9 month. Ashlyn has her usual sinus thing and Seth..... has Strep Throat for the 3rd time, Ear infection for the 8th time and Bronchitis. We now have our 2nd appt scheduled at the ENT. He'll probably be getting tubes and possibly his tonsils out. Poor little man. He's soooo good even though he is sick. Hopefully we'll get through this phase soon.

I'll post some pictures soon!

See what the little man is up to..............

2007-03-23T22:28:00.000-05:00

Seth loves paper, any paper, especially toilet paper! Any time he gets his hands on paper he loves to shred it. He was left to sit near the tp while mommy went potty. Turned my head to talk to Ash (mommy never gets to go potty by herself) and turned back and Seth had ALL the toilet paper off the roll.

2007-03-23T22:26:00.000-05:00

Hi Cheryl!!! Thanks for my Swim Suit. I LOVE IT!!!

Closet Done!!

2007-03-22T14:14:00.000-05:00

Okay, sorry for the delay in posting the closet pics but here they are. We are still waiting on the bed and dresser. Should be here any day.

2007-03-17T12:01:00.000-05:00

Ashlyns photo shoot.

First Steps to Getting Organized

2007-03-17T11:51:00.000-05:00

Well we started Ashlyn's closet last night. It looks good so far. I cleaned everything out while Jason assembled the shelving. We layed it out last night and will be attaching everything together today. Ashlyn decided to put on her flower girl dress from Uncle Chris and Aunt Lisa's wedding from a year and a half ago. I was shocked to see that it still fit around her. It was a little short as you can see but she didn't mind. She wanted me to take pictures of her in it. She said her new white closet matched her white dress. Her one picture turned into a photo shoot. She couldn't stop posing. I'll post new pics of the finished product tonight.

Our Wild Animal Kingdom

2007-03-17T11:34:00.000-05:00

I'm begining to think we live in the Wild Animal Kingdom. Last night we had a bat pay us a visit. It flew right into our pool screen enclosure and started climbing to the top. Jason ran and got the camera and started snapping pictures. It soon after fell to the ground and then started climbing back up again. I thought there must be something wrong with it since it was allowing us to get so close. It was strange. I have never seen one in the wild up so close. There usually kind of skiddish. After I looked closer at the pictures Jason took I noticed it had an abcess on it's stomach. Strange little thing but cute.....

2007-03-15T08:36:00.000-05:00

Well, Seth and I were up at 6:15 this morning. (He FINALLY slept through the night!!!! Hope he keeps this up.) I decided to get up and be productive for once, so we headed to Walmart to pick up the usual supplies. What a great time to go shopping. There was nobody in the store. I was in and out lickity split. I just put him down for his morning nap, instead of doing my chores, I find myself here at the computer, playing with my new toy.

Seth is getting soooo big soooo fast, I can't believe he'll be 9mos old!!! He's a very happy baby. His face just lights up when anyone talks to him. He starting to play shy and burry his face in my shoulder but is quick to go back for more. He loves it when people talk to him. He's really ready to be mobile. He's kinda at the age of frustration. He wants to move around but can't. Hurry up already!!!! Here's a picture of how I occupy him while I'm folding the laundry. He loves the basket and poking his fingers through the holes.

Ashlyn too is growing like a weed. Her legs have just seemed to have sprouted over night??? Her 3rd birthday is just around the corner and she can hardly wait. She's having an Ariel party this year. Actually an Ariel and King Triton party. She's sharing it with her daddy. She reminds us of it daily. We've just started redoing her room. We've gotten the quilt, waiting on the valances and just purchased her a new bedroom set which we are still waiting on. I'm hoping it's here before her birthday..... we are also getting ready to reorganize her closet so her room is pretty much in shambles at the moment. Can't wait to get it organized.

Okay, I must go get some stuff done before Seth wakes. We would love to hear comments from you all. Feel free to leave some!

Our little visitors

2007-03-14T09:47:00.000-05:00

Yesterday evening we had our little otter friends pay us a visit. This time they had 3 little babies with them. We tried to feed them some of our $10/lb scallops but unfortunately they weren't interested.

Pool Time Pics

2007-03-13T09:53:00.000-05:00

Pool Time

2007-03-13T08:59:00.000-05:00

It's definitely pool time here. We decided to turn on the pool heater and take advantage of the gorgeous weather we're having. Both the kids LOVE the pool or should I say all 3???? Ash is swimming like a fish of course and this was actually Seths first time in the pool since being a newborn. He loves splashing and pounding on everything. Here's a few pics from yesterday!!!

HAPPY BIRTHDAY DADDY!!!!!

2007-03-11T12:29:00.000-05:00

Today is Jason's 33rd Birthday! Can you believe it??? Ashlyn will be 3 in just a few weeks. Where has time gone? You never realize how fast time flies until you have kids.

HAPPY BIRTHDAY DADDY!!!!!

2007-03-10T13:31:00.000-05:00

Trying to figure out how to post pics.....

2007-03-10T10:39:00.000-05:00

Okay, I think I've figured out the picture thing. Feel free to leave comments. Thanks for looking.

2007-03-10T10:14:00.000-05:00

We just got back from our Chicago trip. It was great. We visited Jason's cousin Eileen and her husband Dave and kids Ryan and Rachel. There was plenty of snow and Ashlyn LOVED it this year. We couldn't keep her out of it. She enjoyed playing with her cousins and sledding. Seth wasn't to fond of the cold weather. He much rather kick off his shoes and socks and stay inside.

We visited the Hancock Observatory, the Shedd Aquarium and the Museum of Science and Industry. I would recommend all of these places to anyone visiting Chicago. The MOSI was unbelievable. You could spend days there. The view from the Hancock was breath taking and the aquarium was quite nice too. Of course we had to go shopping. IKEA was on the top of the list. We found loads of goodies there. I desparately wish they would build one here. We also hit H&M and Kohl's. Did some damage there as well.

Ashlyn loved spending time with her cousins. For some reason she seems to warm up to men and boys quite easily. She loved playing with Ryan and couldn't stop flirting with Dave. Dave would be working on his laptop at the table and Ashlyn would be teasing, "Daaaaaavid, Daaaavid", until he would look at her. She's going to be quite a handful when she's older.

Okay, my little man is up from his morning nap. Will drop some more lines later.

All new to me

2007-03-10T09:51:00.000-05:00

This blogging is all new to me. My friend Michelle got me started. She has family in England and this is a great way for her to keep up with everyone and not going crazy with email.