Friday, April 29, 2011

The Big Boat!

On our Spring Break Jamie took us on a Carnvial Cruise to Freeport Bahamas and Nassau Bahamas. The girls and I had so much fun and this was our first vacation ever to have daddy completely to ourselves! No cell phone and no 2 day vacations! We loved our time as a family and made a lot of fun memories together!
I was so stressed getting to the boat I forgot to take a picture of the harbor in Cape Canaveral or pictures of us boarding! LOL! (I was running behind as usual and I got us lost once we ran through a sun pass toll and we don't have a sun pass (Yikes) so I was on a mission and forgot how I would love to blog our trip from beginning to end! Ha!
It has taken me half the day to upload all these pictures and somehow I got them all out of order so hope you can make it out.

Night 3 Bear towel



Putt putt golf is the first thing we did after we found our room!
We had been talking about our upcoming trip on a big boat...When we finally found our room after our life preserver lesson and fire drills! Caroline looked at us a bit aggravated and said "When are we going to be on the boat" I said "Caroline we are" and she said "Well Mom this is NOT a boat this is a HOTEL" We all liked to have fell down... Poor baby! We had some explaining to do...She was ready for a boat ride!
So we quickly had to take her to the top deck and show her we were surrounded by water and we were on a big boat! lol
At this point all I could think about after the drills was Titanic and I was stressing about what I would do in an emergency! Just relax and enjoy your trip is what I finally convinced myself to do... and the fact that Jamie's Granny Pat was scared to death we were going to get tossed overboard didn't help my crazy what if's ..(That was her first words when she was told we were going) "O God I hope they are careful they are throwing people overboard left and right" "I just saw it on the NEWS" I love Granny Pat and she defiantly makes us all smile but at the moment on the trip I couldn't help but hear her fears in my head. We walked around the first day on the ship holding hands. LOL
Lauren on the front of the ship! She was loving every minute! Me...I was still scared and ready for us to all hold hands again!
Daddy O relaxing by the pool! He defiantly deserves to relax!
What a sweet heart he is!
Playing Putt-Putt golf. The wind was blowing hard at sea
Florida is behind us! lol
notice the cruise ship approaching us....We left the port 30 minutes before them and they passed us like we weren't even moving! lol
"Little embarrassing" Jamie says! Ha!
My precious family!

Freeport, we woke up here on Day 2 of our cruise!
We visited the straw market and spent the day on the ship at the pool.
The girls really wanted play at the pool and slide down the slides
Also it was the captains dinner so I knew that would take awhile to get everyone ready.
Getting Ready for the Pool
The Captains Dinner!
The girls looked forward to seeing what towel they made for them each night after supper
Monkey was the last night of our cruise! He was hanging and the girls thought that was super cool.
A Tug Boat in Freeport
Ready for the slide! Caroline was alittle unsure of the twister! lol
Loving the pool
The pool
The girls all dressed up.
Poor Caroline had her eyes closed! :(
A couple we sat with at dinner took a picture of us on the stairs however we got ran off.
Our friends we met on the ship. They sat at the same table as us.
Sweet family.
My Sweet daughters
Day 3 Nassau, Bahamas
That morning Lauren and I went snorkeling! It was so much fun. Lauren had never been before, she got to see a coral reef and take pictures of different types of fish and coral. We got back from our excursion around 11:30 and went to the boat to get Daddy and Caroline to go explore the straw market and go hang out at the beach! Our cab ride was a bit scary but we made it to Cabbage Key ready to get in the beautiful clear water.

We were right next to Atlantis so after taking to a couple at the beach beside us we decided to sneak in and check it out! WOW! It was gorgeous and defiantly on my bucket list of places to go. It was very kid friendly and the girls loved seeing all the animals. Lauren was a little worried we were going to jail because we kind of snuck in and the officer whom I begged to let us go in said you can only go in for in minute...(Which turned into an hour)
Glad to let you know we made it out alive and with two Pina Colada's that I bought...which was the best I have ever had! (Yum!!!)
We walked around the path and checked out all the marine life.
Caroline got to see a shark!
So brave swimming with her sister
Love that water and sand! It was Beautimous
Night 1 Towel Crab!
Jamie being the funny person he is asked the girls if they would like to see a flying crab??? They were slow to answer....and Jamie got in the bed under the sheets and kicked the crab across the room making caroline cry! lol She really loved the towel animals so we laughed and teased her the rest of the trip. Lauren however thought it was very funny and attempted to remake it to help her sisters sad feelings
Night 3 was this special Monkey!!
Jamie asked who wants to see a flying monkey and the room filled with NO!!!!!!!

We had a lot of fun and made a lot of fun memories as a family! I love and cherish my time with my husband and my girls! This was the best Spring Break Ever! Thank you honey for taking us and making memories with us.

~Franne


Friday, April 22, 2011

On your mark...get set....Hunt!!!

We love Sunday's! That is the day we spend with Papa and Nana! We go to church and then run home, change clothes and go to Papa and Nana's house for lunch! Nana always cooks the best fried pork chops, mashed potatoes, broccoli....etc
Papa grills sausage on the grill and we dip it in Cane Syrup! Yum and weird I know but it is good....You really should try it sometime!
Jamie's brother comes and sometimes one of the great-grandma's too.
Last Sunday was Palm Sunday and since we are going to be gone for Easter we decided to do our egg hunt then! Well, let me back up....Saturday, when we went to see the chickens we drove up to the house to eat lunch and papa was bringing dirt into the yard and covering the grass everywhere! Nana had read or seen on HGTV that you should do that to fill in the dead spots in your lawn and also the moles had been really bad so they had two reasons. However, we didn't think about having to hide eggs in the sand! Ha! It felt like we were at the beach/farm! lol
The girls had a lot of fun and Nana and I sat on the porch and watched.

Uncle Jerry stayed to watch his two nieces hunt eggs!
Poor Caroline was having trouble finding them!
Lauren was getting all of the easy to find eggs.
Note: All of the sand Papa brought in the yard! :)
It looks like a new construction home?
Well, don't worry soon....
(I hope! The grass will grow back through all the sand and be thick and beautiful)
Caroline trying to listen to directions. She missed an egg and we are yelling trying to tell her where to look for it!
Alright she got the egg and is off for others!
(We laughed because she just ran where Lauren was going)
Lauren is off to a good start! I hide some really hard tricky eggs for her!

Papa's Chickens!

Caroline loves to ride to the chicken house with her Papa!
Today after eating lunch we all went to see Papa's new chickens he got this week!
When Caroline opened the door she said look "Mom it's 100 chickens"
Papa then said "No try more like 9,986 chickens" I am just thinking lets make that an even 10,000. While in the barn I was trying to imagine Jamie having to pick up eggs as a little boy with his brother Jerry. I also thought about when he was a baby having to ride on the cart with his Grandma to pick up eggs and how long that must have took them. Even thought he experienced it and I didn't I am amazed at the whole experience. (I also think it looks somewhat fun) Jamie has always told me as a little boy his memories of the chicken houses that his papa and daddy had and how the chickens didn't stop laying eggs because it was Saturday morning or Christmas morning. I love hearing stories about him growing up on a farm and his family being "chicken farmers". Jamie has a wonderful family and they are all very close! I love to hear them laugh and talk about all of the memories they have had. Papa laughs know but, when he caught Jerry and Jamie having an egg fight it wasn't so funny then!
Behind Caroline is when the chickens lay their eggs and to the right is where they eat and get water.

Chickens are everywhere! Caroline is clucking like a chicken! Ha!

Palm Sunday!

Easter Palm Sunday!

I need to get all of my old Easter Pictures out and post!
I love, love, love Family Pictures!
I always get Easter pictures of our family every year!
But this year we are going to be heading to Orlando to board a cruise ship for our Spring Break. When Jamie and I made the reservations we didn't consider the Easter picture we always take...so I decided to take one on Palm Sunday!
Really no one has to know it was the Sunday before Easter!

Monday, April 18, 2011

4 Dozen Eggs!!

4 Dozen Easter Eggs Dyed!
I love Easter!
The girls had a lot of fun writing on them with a white crayon!
I love the little chick aprons!
This was Caroline's first year we really trusted her to help out! Ha!
We also made a batch of Cupcakes for Sunday School at Church while we were dyeing eggs! lol
Now back to our Easter Eggs! Lauren was writing all of our names on the eggs before placing them in the dye!
Caroline checked them to see if they were the color we wanted! lol
They also had a fight over the egg dipper! Lol
The box only came with one so I had the get thongs out for the other!
Why, Why, Why can't they just put two in the box! Ha!
However, they shared for the most part!

I love having the girls in the kitchen with me and I love to make memories with them!
I remember dyeing Easter Eggs with my Grandmother and I loved every minute!
I also love making and keeping traditions with my girls!
I am truly blessed that God gave me two daughters to share my life with!
Happy Easter!
Love,
~Franne, Lauren and Caroline