February Fun (LOTS of pictures!)

Early in February Halie and I made a little Valentine's game to play as part of her school time.  She helped me cut out the hearts, then we numbered them, and taped them to the floor.

I put rice into a double layered ziplock bag and that's what we used as our beanbag.

She really enjoyed playing it and she won a couple of rounds, but it was also a good opportunity to teach her that sometimes other people win and she still needs to be a good sport about it.

Robert and I had a little anniversary of sorts.  14 years ago he asked me to be his girlfriend and we've been together ever since.  I made a heart shaped pizza for dinner to celebrate.

Halie helped me bake some heart shaped sugar cookies and we had fun decorating them together as a family.

Burl just enjoyed eating them.

My sweet grandpa went to be with the Lord, so the kids and I made an unexpected trip to FL for the funeral.  We were thankful for tax return money and a good deal on tickets that made it possible.

At the airport wishing Daddy could go with us.

Halie loved being with Emma again.

And playing with all her cousins.

"Cheese!"

Burl really took a liking to Bobby and would just chatter away with him.

Relaxing and visiting on Nana and Papaw's carport.

So good to be with family again.

And so good to be in shorts and bare feet again!

Being silly with Uncle Rob.

"Hey!  I wanna color too!"

The Three Musketeers.

Visiting Great Grandma.

Dee Dee and Martin invited us to go to Sea World with them one day while we were there.

On our way to Sea World!

On our way there I happened to think about my military ID and figured I'd ask if we could get any kind of a discount with it.  I only expected maybe $10 knocked off or something since Robert's technically not "active" anymore, he's on an inactive status.  Plus, he wasn't with us, so I wasn't sure we'd get any discount at all.  But....they let Halie and I both in for F.R.E.E.!!!  I could not believe it.  It was such an unexpected blessing!  And boy was I glad I thought of it!

Dee Dee's in-laws were visiting from England.

Halie really enjoyed watching the dolphins.

Waiting for the Shamu show to begin.

Halie loved seeing the baby whale.

There was a really great "under the sea" type acrobatic show and the girls were fairly mesmerized by it all.  Halie's favorite were the "jellyfish" so she was happy to have her picture taken with one.

Lookin' for fishies.

The one thing that Halie really really really wanted to see at Sea World was the sharks, so she was in awe of the shark tunnel.

Feeding the sharks.

Riding around in luxury all day!

On the carousel. 

Both girls really enjoyed all the rides.

This one was one that took them up high in the air and then dropped them down.

I love Halie's expression in this picture!

She laughed and laughed!

On the Shamu roller coaster (kiddie coaster).

This was both girls FAVORITE and we had to ride it 3x!  : )

Enjoyin' the ride!

They got to have a few minutes of play time after all the rides.

Cotton candy!

I didn't make any plans for our last day in FL.  I just wanted it to be a relaxing day to do whatever we wanted with no time constraints.  We decided to visit the beach and they enjoyed it.

The water was pretty cold.  Halie loved it and didn't mind one bit, but Burl was not impressed.

This was his opinion.

He wouldn't leave my side and he did NOT want that cold water touching his toes!  : )

Enjoying the view from a safe distance away.

That evening my parents came over to Bob and Gina's for dinner and the kids enjoyed playing with both sets of grandparents one last time before we had to head home.

Ignore that date on the pictures.  We had to take the battery out of the camera and it reset and I didn't realize it until after a few pictures.

The Papaws solving the world's problems over coffee.

Having a blast in Meemaw's toy box.

Tickle time!

Halie really enjoyed curling up on Nana's lap and hearing "stories without pictures."

Burl fell in love with both of his Papaws!

We got a family picture done at the church for the directory and this is the one we got for free.

I thought it turned out pretty good.

One evening at the dinner table, Burl had Halie and I laughing so hard our stomach's hurt.  He was making the most hilarious faces and just being down right funny.  I couldn't believe it when he kept making some of the faces even after I got the camera out.

This one is my favorite!  Love it!

Late in February we made a little day trip and just spent the day together as a family.  We drove up just across the Michigan border to Cabela's.  The kids really enjoyed seeing all of the animal displays.

"Gonna shoot me a deer."

Checkin' out the fish.

Halie had done so great that week and got all of her stickers on her chore/behavior chart so we told her she'd get a surprise as a reward.  We found this big indoor play land near Toledo and knew she'd love it. So we stopped in for an hour of play time after lunch.

They had 5 big inflatable slides/bounce house type things, 4 different wooden swingsets with slides and swings and things, plus a toddler play area.  It was a perfect place to visit during the middle of winter!

Burl LOVED this little roller coaster ride.

They both had so much fun and afterwards Halie said that she LOVED her surprise and wanted to go back again some time soon.