car show

The boys all went to the car show to check out the shiny cars, race some mini cars, and meet some kiddie characters.

air and space

Back tracking through all the photos, here are some from the Open House Behind the Scenes event at the Air and Space Museum… The kids were into the special exhibits where they could make planes and learn to stitch a plane wing.  The opportunity to go behind the scenes into the restoration area was fun and they had all hands on deck to talk to visitors.  Riding the giant elevator back there was a favorite.

tradition travel

This is our sixth January in a row that we have headed down to Florida to see my family, stay at my grandpa's good 'ol timeshare, and celebrate his birthday.  It is such a tradition and it's amazing that we've added two kiddos to the mix in that time.

It had been a while since we'd traveled on an airplane, but the boys were excited.  Keaton clearly remembers flying and hopped right on the plan and asked the flight attendant if she can bring him a "lunch in a box."  They are both masters of the airplane now.  Keaton and I played puppets, color, and read, while Aiden completed another Which Way USA book - this one was about Florida just in time for our trip!

Both boys remembered the timeshare and especially the furniture.  There was a new chair this year with another ottoman that hides under it and creates a really cool reading nook/cave/hiding spot.

discovery 2

We were excited to have nearly the whole museum to ourselves.  We easily had a chance to ride the simulated air boat ride, the 7D experience, and PopPop had a ride in the real flight simulator.  I think my favorite were the big bubbles and watching the kids deliver oranges in the kid zone.

week

What a contrast between this week and last week!  Today is another snow day!

discovery museum

What a cool museum in the heart of downtown Fort Lauderdale… The additions since we'd been there were extra fun - a whole area for otters!  It even had a little slide into the viewing area so that your kids were sliding around just like the otters.  The giant prehistoric animal area was really something too.

more beach

A few more from the beach on a morning where it took a while for the clouds to burn away… but the beach with a little wind and clouds just makes for good cuddling...

beach

So many pics from the beach... Thanks for helping make the fun castle Liz and David!  

boating

In addition to our fun sail on the big boat, this year we took over some of the little boats too.  The ocean kayak was a big hit!  The boys loved to motor around the canals on the dinghy. Thanks to Lulu and Scott for getting them in the water for us.  Thanks to PopPop for taking the boys on a paddle.

swimming

This was the year of swimming in Florida.  Keaton was able to enjoy the water with and without floaties and Aiden can pretty much swim (even if it looks like thrashing he's still moving along).  Both boys loved being "splashed" by Uncle David which really meant thrown into the air.  Keaton enjoyed jumping in and letting his head go under.  Aiden can hold his breath under water for a long time and float around (sometimes so long that you get worried).  I'm so glad we got to enjoy the water so much this year.  Thanks for heating up that pool for us in your nice shady spot Lulu and Scott!  Thanks to my dad and David for swimming with the boys too!

93rd bday

Happy 93rd Birthday to Poppy!  

sailing

One of the highlights on the FL trip is always taking a fun and relaxing sail with my aunt and uncle.  This year they had a new boat with so much luxurious space for all of us.  The boys took a tour of each of the three spacious beds on board.  Then Keaton picked one to promptly fall asleep on and Cameron and Aiden followed him shortly after.  The bounce of the sailboat is just so, so relaxing!  The costumes are always good entertainment, but this year we snuck on a little crafting in the open air too.  Our four hours out on the water flew by...

Thanks to Captain Scott and Lulu for the wonderful sail!

fl video

Keaton was talking about "making a movie called the Adventures of Keaton in Florida" while talking to his dad on the phone before we headed home to our snowy VA. So today he helped me pick out this pirate theme and the snippet videos he calls the "best of the best"… So here are Tales from Florida:
Tales From Florida from LB on Vimeo.

insta fl

More FL instagrams:::

The prompt was "friends" -

Even pirates have friends - Sailing with these pirates was fun and surprisingly relaxing...

Trying to make a new friend with the dock iguana 

Gumby loves Pokey

The prompt today was "red" - here are my random red shots that captured a bit of our day.

Looking for more red leaves and flowers

The FL Science Center was a hit... More coming soon.

splash

The prompt for the #captureplay photo challenge today was Splash!  I couldn't pick just one photo from today...such a fun time at #covecrazytown2015 with #cousinbuddies!

tidbits

This week's tidbits are brought to you with a side of over 1,100 photos edited, an out of town trip for dad, a snow day, and 6 tours given during the preschool open house… whoosh.  

This guy has the trifecta of dog pillow pet products he's always dreamed of!  That initial pillow pet was given to him right after Keaton was born and he cherishes it.  The smaller one is a dreamlite that projects that same cute dog mug on the ceiling every night (he prefers it in blue, not rotating).  And to wear those same guys on your feet as slippers…woah doggie!  Excitement I tell you.

We hosted a playdate with some of Keaton's school buddies.  The cutest was the nice sharing on the piano, which was tuned and is in really nice shape!  We are so lucky our neighbor passed it along for a new generation to play.

Mr. Bubble and his marker cap fingers…

I Spy with My Little Eye Fox jammies… It's going to be a sad day when they don't fit in matching jams.

This Beta skating guy does almost all of his lesson exercises backwards now.  It's amazing how these noodle kids catch on to all the moves.

Not sure where Aiden got the idea for a quote of the day, but this one is pretty classic.  This is what you get when you ask dad about puberty… Keaton was wondering what a bikini was?

Keaton started with a really great, new to us instructor at swim class.  She keeps them all happy and this giggle guy comes out of the pool to warm up at the end.

games

Another day off from school for a powder sugar dusting of snow on well treated, nearly dry roads... I'll take it!  And we still made it to piano lessons and picked up donuts - the best type of snow day is when you aren't actually trapped at home!

We have really been swimming in games new and old during our extra together time!  Here are some of the new favorites:

This Creature Clash deal is great because it fits well with the Mish Mash Animal Challenge for the Destination Imagination team we are hosting.  It's also a great math game.

This create a story game is super fun for both the boys.  My favorite part is hearing the stories created by the winner.

Another fun animal mixup game...we used this in a create your own game challenge at a recent DI meeting.

This pirate memory game also incorporates a scope decoder and a sword for balancing the cards you hunt for when you make a match.

A new wimpy kid tie in game where you try to guess who answered what to funny questions like what's the best superpower...

The lego games take up tons of time which is usually a good thing on our calm cuddle days... This one has a Minotaur that chases you around.

This medieval castle is perfect for improvised games.

Making puzzle matches with babies and their mamas...

Both boys were immediately attracted to building shapes with these building discs (I still don't really know what they are called - amazon has something called 'slot-together translucent building toy' and Lakeshore called them 'crystal climbers' but those names seem so generic).

There was a lot of Sequence because it's fun for all of us and Keaton really gets it.

The ninja den building and training was in full effect around here.  Even notes on the board for official business.

natural history

We treked to the Natural History Museum. The draw was a Q'rius program called Genes in a Bottle.  We collected some DNA from our mouth, used a solution to clump it together, and put it in a funny little vial necklace.  We poked around the research collections and the rest of the Ocean and Mammals floors.