June Vacations

After our visitors came for the weekend and headed to NYC, we played a day with Kim and her family and then sickness set in at our house.  The whole week Kim was here after Memorial day Jane had a high fever and was throwing up.  It lasted 5 days.  We quarentined ourselves and watched lots of movies.  Alice was in heaven.

Once the fever left, the in-laws came back and it was party time again.

A little "hide and roar" action.  Kevin hides and when the girls find him he roars and chases them.  They all love it.

Grandma Terry and a very happy Alice

Katie dancing around

And helping her doll do the same

My sister Beth and her 3 kids got into town on Sunday, as did my Uncle Larry and Pat.  So Monday we celebrated Alice's 4th birthday (early) with all the cousins.  However, I thought I had lost my camera and thus Beth's camera took all the pictures.  You can go to her blog and see them if you want to.  Then Tuesday Bob, Valene, the girls and I headed down to see the Jupiter Lighthouse.

It was pretty cool, but the girls were not tall enough to go up inside, so we had to wait at the bottom.

Jane and Alice looking so cute

A huge banyan tree at the bottom

Kate in pigtails

I hiked up the lighthouse once Bob and Valene came down.  I tell you what, I have never been so sore.  My legs hurt for 2 days after hiking up those stairs.  I am so out of shape.

Wednesday morning we headed to the zoo with Beth and Kim and their families.

Kate, Alice, and Hazel have matching suites.  So cute!!!!

That afternoon we headed to Weeki Wachee Springs

Kate started the fever the night before.  Not excited for that, but we headed out anyway.

The weather was great when we got there

Kate not petting the alligator

Jane braving it

Grandma Terry also braving petting the tail

The fun peacocks.  The girls recognize their call now.

This one cracked me up.  It was like he posed for the tourists to take a picture with the sign in the background.

Mermaid Jane

Mermaid Alice

Mermaid Kate

She was hilarious.  As soon as she got in the tail, she just sat there and was ready for her picture.

Kevin and the girls

Such pretty girls

Kevin the merman

Love it!

And I get a turn to be a beautiful mermaid

Oh, Weeki Wachee Springs is known for their mermaids, which is why we came.

Jane and Alice (there were a lot of half naked mermaids around the park, fun stuff)

A whole royal sea family!

Jane and an owl

One of the mermaids in the springs.  It was a pretty cool show.  They did the story of the little mermaid!  Amazing how talented these women are.  The tube in her hand is her oxygen.

Us and a mermaid

During the photo shoot a storm rolled it and was there to stay

Jane was so excited

We made a run for it through the rain to get some lunch.  During lunch Alice started acting a little cranky and of course, also started having a fever.

Kate thoroughly enjoyed the rain and all the puddles

And she started doing this crazy walk thing.  Cracked me up.

Enjoy the video!

What the stage looked like.  We sat in a room and when the curtains opened the springs were right there in front of us.

We watched another mermaid show on the history of the show and then they performed a patriotic routine.  Pretty cool.

Despite the rain, thunder, and lightning, we still got to go on a boat ride and saw a pretty cool cyprus tree.

And some deer.  No gators though.  All in all it was a pretty good trip and the girls had a good time.

Kate still had her fever so she got to ride in just her diaper.  Tylenol and Motrin are wonderful things.

The rest of the tired passengers on the way home.

Since now Kate and Alice were sick, we once again quarantined ourselves.  I did take Jane to meet up with her cousins at Pump it Up so she could play for a bit.  She had a blast.

Friday night was Kim's last night in town, so we had a ladies night out at a local frozen yogurt place.  It was fun.  Me, Kim, and Beth.  Mom took the picture.

The last day Kim was there, I pumped the kids full of medicine (except Jane who wasn't sick anymore) and headed over to my mom's.

Fun in Gramma's pool

Look at all those cute kids.

A smile on Alice's face!!!!

Kate's fever broke Saturday afternoon, so her first Sunday of nursery, she was able to go.  Currently Kate is the only active nursery child.

However we had a fun visitor, Lucia, so Kate had a friend in nursery that first day.  I stayed with her first hour and second hour I was supposed to go and play piano for primary, but Kate screamed so much, that I had to let someone else fill my shoes while I stayed with her.  It's been a rocky 4 weeks, but this past Sunday, she actually made it through one hour of nursery.  Thanks to Sister Von (she has 12 kids and a bunch of grandkids, so I'd say she is an expert and Kate loves her!)

Monday night we spent the night at my mom's house.  It was Alice's last night with the fever, but it was a rough night.  She was crying and coughing so hard she broke blood vessels in her eye, which made it start bleeding.  My mom wanted to rush her to the emergency room, but Kevin had given me a blessing the night before he left for the week to go to scout camp and in the blessing he said that I would know how best to care for the girls.  I said, it was ok and that her eye was fine.  The next day she had no more fever and her eye took a few days to return to normal, but she was fine.  That Tuesday I had my 8 week OB appointment and would have an ultrasound with it.  Since this was my next pregnancy after the miscarriage, I was not getting my hopes up.  I even told Alice that the baby might not be ok, but it might also be fine.  I took Alice with me so maybe Dr. McTammany could just look at her eye and confirm my thoughts that she was ok.  The ultrasound started, but there was no baby, and no explanation as to why.  I was disappointed yet again, but having Alice with me helped distract me a bit.  I am still a bit sad, but after my D&C and my body has returned to normal and the pathology on the D&C was normal, my hopes are high again.  Baby number 4 just isn't quite ready to join our family yet.  Or maybe my sanity level isn't ready for another one just yet!

That evening we headed to City Walk with Beth and her kids and my parents.  Oh, but before we went there, My Dad, Beth, and I got to do some sealings in the temple for my dad's family.  We sealed my dad's brother, Lee, to my grandparents and then my grandfather to my grandmother.  It was neat and a bit emotional for me.  I'd had a long day already.  So after the temple we headed to City Walk.  And we were finally fever free and good to go.

I love this picture of my dad and Alice

Jane and Morgan ready to take on the town

We ate at Margaritaville and once again a storm rolled in.  You gotta love Florida.  This time though I think I missed the memo on the Tropical Storm

Alice was a bit scared.

Hazel, Beth, our temple babysitter, and Pepper

Gramma and Papa (after the storm we finally got to eat).

And shop!

Alice the princess

Kate so serious for the picture

Surfer Jane

Jane and Kate

Wednesday was Beth's last day, so we hung out with them all day.  We went to a concert that evening with all the kids.  It was fun, but we didn't last the whole evening.  We said goodbye and went to bed on time.  Still Daddy was out of town, but was coming home soon...

just in time for Alice's 4th birthday!

Jane stayed up with me the night before and helped me decorate and just make Alice's birthday super special.  I think Jane was as excited for this day as Alice.

The picture frame Jane made for Alice

Daddy still wasn't back, so we took a little shopping spree to Toys R Us.  Alice was so excited.  She picked out a little doctor's kit.  We pulled into our driveway just as Kevin did.

Love it!

Of course we had a dance party too.

Kate is all about choreography and Jane loves to teach her.  So fun.

Alice loves to dance too, but she normally gets a little more embarassed.  This time we get to see her in action too.

That evening we spent at a co-worker of Kevin's house for a pool party

I made a cake and we all sang to Alice

Kate enjoyed it.  She had so much frosting on her.

The next day was Father's day.  We made breakfast in bed for Daddy and gave him fun cards, ties and shirts.

We love you Daddy!  Thank you for being such an awesome dad.

I caught Kevin wearing Alice's crown and just had to take a picture.

Jane's first loose tooth

And since Alice missed out on the Pump it Up outing the week before, we took her there for Family Home Evening.  We all loved it.

And for the first time, Alice actually did the obstacle course.  Such a brave 4 year old.

Once again, some awesome cloud formations in Florida.

Well, I will try and get more pictures soon.  We have so many good ones!