Thanksgiving Florida Style

This year we made a rather impulsive decision to travel to St. Augustine, FL to visit Rob's brother, Glenn and his lovely wife Annette. We were excited that Ruthie agreed to join us for the ride.

The kids were excited to see their cousins, Courtney, Alexis and Jacob

Aidan was especially excited to meet Yankee. He called him "Stinky" and was constantly playing with him. His favorite game was to pick up a ball and say "Ready, get set, FETCH!"

Glenn and Annette were the perfect hosts and our stay was so relaxing and enjoyable. On Thanksgiving Day we just enjoyed getting to know each other.

Alexis is so loving and fun to be with.

Aidan enjoyed snuggling with everyone.

Kirstin and Courtney were always cooking up something. They played piano, put on a Thanksgiving play, made friendship bracelets--they never ran out of things to do.

Robbie thought Glenn was so funny and enjoyed joking around with him.

Caleb and Jacob played Playstation 2 every chance they could get.

On Friday we walked around St. Augustine, the oldest city in the US. They took us to Fort Manzanas (Castillo de San Marcos) built by the Spaniards to defend their city and the Spanish territory. It's an incredible structure and we really enjoyed exploring the fort. When we were walking up to the fort Aidan said, "Look Mommy, castle!" Later when we saw men dressed in period costumes, he said "I see the pirates!'' Who knows where he gets all those ideas!

Caleb felt extra exploratory and we had a hard time keeping tabs on him because he wanted to see everything!

Courtney, Kirstin and Alexis were inseparable on this trip.

After walking around town, we went to the beach. The temperature was close to 70. So the kids enjoyed splashing around and playing in the sand. The sand on the Florida beaches is much finer and softer than Virginia beach sand.

There was a huge pile of rocks there and Aidan could not resist climbing all over them. I would try to follow him around and he would say, "No, mommy, GO!" and would climb even higher. Sometimes he would fall but would reassure me with an "I ok."

Robbie couldn't resist taking a little dip.

Caleb couldn't decide which to tackle first--the sand, the rocks, the shells or the water!

The trip took us a total of 20 hours to make (10 down and 10 back) but it was totally worth it. We had a great time and it was a wonderful opportunity for the kids to get to know their relatives. The best part of the whole trip was that the kids behaved perfectly in the car. We were amazed that Aidan didn't fuss for a minute! How come he can't do that in sacrament meeting?! Maybe we'll try Chicago next year......