Random Pics

So apparently I took some pictures in July when we moved here.  I finally downloaded some pictures that I took on my phone and found some!

Local park.  

There aren't very many parks here in Niceville.  It took me a couple months before I finally found some others.  This is a really nice park (It's enclosed and has a splash pad too!) but it is only opened on certain days and hours.  This is definitely something I miss about California!  There were tons and tons of parks in Vacaville.  

Splash pad next to a shopping center.  I didn't know they had one so we weren't prepared, but I let the kids go in with their clothes anyways.  Dyer's pants got bleached a little bit though...Oops!

First catch for Easton!

First catch for Blair!  

Dyer wasn't very happy that he had to share his fishing pole with Blair while Nathan worked on Blair's!

Dyer's first catch!

Nathan's first crab!

Sisterly love!

The kids love being able to draw on their chalk boards in their rooms.  Easton drew these dinosaurs in the girls room.

Alligators!  

They have a local restaurant over in Destin that have alligators.  You can feed them if you want.  The kids enjoyed feeding them.  Don't worry though you don't get close to them at all.  They give you basically a fishing pole and you drop the line over the railing to feed them.  They also have an albino alligator there too!

Feeding the gators

This one is blurry but cute!  Too bad Dyer wasn't in it.

These two sure love each other!

Valerie came for a visit in August!

Blakely and Dyer enjoying the ride!

While Valerie was here Nathan and I celebrated our 11th anniversary.  We went over to Destin for a weekend getaway.  We went Parasailing!  It was so fun.  We saw a school of rays.  Luckily we weren't the couple that got dropped in the water just feet from some sharks!  Scary!  Before we went we asked the lady at the ticket counter if we get wet.  We wanted to know if we should change into our swimsuits or just stay in our clothes.  She told us that we would probably just get our feet wet when they lowered us down.  We decided to stay in our clothes.  That was a mistake.  We were the first to go and we got dunked in the water.  I was so shocked that I got so much water in my mouth!  So gross!  After parasailing we went snorkeling and saw a bunch of fun fish.  I did better this time than when we were on our cruise in 07.  Later that night we took a sunset dolphin cruise.  It was neat to see the dolphins come so close to the boat.  The next morning we went to the Gulfarium.  I always enjoy aquariums and zoo!

I have videos too but for some reason I can't figure out how to get them off Nathan's phone like it did the pictures.

   

I had to take a picture of this because this is a size 2 outfit that Blakely (not yet two) is wearing and it is skin tight.  She only got one wear out of this outfit!

All dressed up and ready to go!

First day of soccer games.  Easton's team had a bye because they had an odd number of teams.

Blair's game wasn't until the afternoon.

It's blurry but this Chicka is all ready to go with the heels and purse!

Blakely and her horsey!

Watching Easton's game with Daddy!

Blakely

Kelsey Kids (Easton's even in the background!  #5)

Blakely's birthday!

Blakely turned two on September 19th!  She's such a big girl!  Before she turned two I had a lot of people ask me if she was three or when she was turning three!  Haha!  My answer was always, she's not even two yet!  I can't remember now but I'm pretty sure that she was in the 87th percentile for height and 86th for weight.  

Her birthday cupcake ice cream cake!

Such a happy girl!

I think our neighbor was the last to hit the pinata.  It didn't take very many hits before it broke open.  I wasn't very impressed with this pinata.  

Happy Birthday Chicka!  We sure love you!

Dyer soccer

Dyer was definitely one of the youngest kids playing soccer this year.  He barely made the cut off.  I'm not going to lie...It was hard to watch Dyer play because well, he didn't do a whole lot of playing.   He was on the field half the time but I think he was nervous or scared to get in on the action.  He would run up and down the field with the rest of the kids but he was at least a few feet behind the action.  If the ball came near him he would just stand still and watch it go by.  I should have counted how many times that boy yawned because let me tell you it was a lot!  I'm pretty sure the best thing about soccer for him was the after game snack!  That's all he would talk about!  Haha!  Dyer's team was the Eagles!  

This video basically sums up Dyer's soccer season...

The only time he actually touched the ball was if his coach told him to take the kick off or throw the ball in.

Dyer with his Pre-K friend Avery

Awarded "Best Teammate" 

Blair soccer

Blair started off the season kind of shy and timid but gradually she started to come out of her shell.  By mid season she was playing aggressive and was getting in on the action.  It was fun to watch her!  By the end of the season her heart didn't seem to be in the game anymore.  She got pretty sick (hard cough for over a month) and I don't know if that was the reason why her heart wasn't in it anymore or if she was just tired of playing.  In any case she was very distracted/not paying attention on the field and she was more than happy when it was her turn to sit out.  Her team was in last place (10th) at the end of the regular season but they ended up 2nd in the tournament.  They kicked butt and almost won the championship!  Way to go Highlighters!  Blair was awarded the "most shy" highlighter!  I really hope that she enjoys indoor soccer and that it gets her excited for outdoor again.

Lining up for the Championship game.

See what I'm talking about....distracted!  She's either making a heart shape with her hands or singing one of the songs from school!

Easton Soccer

I had a lot of fun watching Easton play this year.  His team name was Hustle!  Even though he was a lot smaller than most of the other players he was aggressive and worked really hard.  He was one of the younger kids in his division this soccer season so I'm excited to see how well he plays next season.  He played defender most of the time.  Sometimes he would move up to midfielder or forward.  Easton's team won the first round of the tournament, but then they lost the second round to the team who ended up winning the championship.  I just signed the kids up for indoor soccer which will start in May.  I'm excited for another soccer season!    

First Day of School

So we moved to Florida on July 7th and apparently I didn't take a single picture until the kids started school on August 17th ....Interesting.  Either I was too busy unpacking or too lazy to bring the camera along.  Probably both.  I know there were times we went to the beach but I didn't want to get the camera ruined so I didn't bring it.

Anyways, Easton started 3rd grade, Blair 1st grade, and Dyer Pre-K.  Here in Florida Pre-K is free!

Video of what the weather was like on their first day of school:

I drove the kids to school on their first day. I was trying to figure out how it was going to work to get Dyer to school around 8:30 for free breakfast (which is usually the highlight of his day-two breakfasts!) and the older two to school around 8:40.  The bus for the older two comes at 8:30 so I thought if I dropped Dyer off at 8:30 I would have plenty of time to get the older two to school between 8:35-8:45 (drop off time) since it is just down the road.  Well, we dropped Dyer off no problem, but when we were on our way to the elementary school, traffic was almost at a stand still.  It was probably because it was the first day of school and also because it was raining outside.  We probably would have had better luck walking from Dyer's school to the elementary school.  By about 8:40 we finally get to the front of the line but we have to make a left hand turn into the school.  Traffic on the other side of the road is backed up as far as you can see which basically means that unless someone is super kind and will let us in we aren't going anywhere anytime soon.  Not only that but the cross walk is right in front of my car so the crossing guard is crossing tons and tons of kids across the road so anyone trying to get out of the school parking lot can't!  Everyone was at a standstill!  At about 8:49 (mind you the car riders ramp closed at 8:45) Easton and Blair are freaking out because they are going to be late on their first day of school and they weren't entirely sure where their classrooms were (we visited the week before but they still weren't sure).  Since we hadn't moved for almost 10 minutes and we were right in front of the cross walk, I told the kids to hop out and walk across (with the crossing guards help of course).  Boy did I get chewed up one side and down the other from the crossing guard!  Sorry lady, but I wouldn't do anything I felt would endanger my kids!  It was another minute or two of her screaming at me before she finally started directing traffic and cars were finally able to move!  I was so annoyed!  The next day the older kids caught the bus at 8:30 and I drove Dyer to school shortly after.  Dyer still gets his second breakfast and the older kids get to school on time so it is a win/win for everyone!

Some cute videos of Blakely (These were taken before she was two...):

Skidamarink song:

For a while Blakely kept adding extra sounds at the end of some words (those with a p and k ending sound).  If you notice with up she says, "up-p".  She didn't do it for milk but usually it would be "milk-k".  I just had her say her name because I think it is cute the way she says it.  "Bakey"