Orange Blossom Parade

The weekend of February 25 found us riding in the Town of Davie's Orange Blossom Parade. Marty has been riding in this parade since he was first elected, so this event will always be special for us. This year, it was even more special because Brianne got to ride with us!

We got a really cool car to ride in for the parade - a steel blue Mustang convertible. I could definitely see myself in a car like this, except for the fact that there is no room for anything. It was a miracle we were able to fit Brianne's car seat and ourselves in it at the same time. But we sure did look cool once we were packed in! Here is Brianne soaking in the coolness.


Before the parade, we visited with our friends also riding/walking in the parade. Here we are with our good friend Lori Parrish, and her granddaughter Kaylie.


A quick family shot before piling back in the Stang.

While Marty and I sat on the back of the car, Brianne had to settle for sitting in her car seat. She still had a great view of all the action! She even helped us throw out candy! It was the cutest thing ever - she would throw it a piece at a time and each piece barely cleared the side of the car. But as soon as she ran out, she'd look back at us and yell "more candy please!" She was a great little helper.

The parade had a bunch of different groups riding in it. Here we are riding past the clowns. Brianne wasn't sure what to make of this clown, so she gave him a piece of candy. This parade is definitely one we will remember for a long time!

Ye Old Renaissance Festival

Marty had a few hours off from walking door to door on President's Day weekend, so we thought we'd make the most of the beautiful weather and take in some historical culture. And there's no better place to do that than at the Renaissance Festival! This festival comes around once a year, and has local people dressed up as knights, lords and ladies, fairies, witches, gypsies and more. They have booths selling all kinds of neat items like historical clothing, weapons, and even elf ears (prosthetics you can put on your ears to make them pointy).

There are also carnival games where you can throw or shoot almost any kind of medieval weapon - think axes, cross bows, knives, regular bow and arrows and more. You could even throw tomatoes at a jester (which Marty did - twice).

Since everyone else was dressed up, we let Brianne come as a princess. She LOVED being able to walk around with other people all dressed up. And the many characters there loved her, calling her "mi-lady" and "princess". She was in heaven!


Playing with a water balloon launcher with Daddy.


Meeting a "real" mermaid. Brianne was shy, and didn't know quite what to think of the mermaid.

It was pirate weekend the weekend we were there, so of course, we had to find a "real" pirate! Brianne was getting tired of being out in the sun, so we left shortly thereafter. But we had a great time!

Pools and Pirates

On a recent Saturday, we went over to Granddad Steven and Grandma Janet's house for a visit. It was a beautiful day so Brianne wanted to take a dip in the pool.

I didn't feel like swimming, but Granddad Steve jumped at the chance to take Brianne swimming.


Granddad Steve is pretty buff for being a grandfather. He was throwing Brianne high up in the air. Brianne loved to say "ready... set... go!" each time he tossed her. But Brianne got greedy and tired poor Granddad out. She could have played in the pool all day. Granddad was a good sport and played with Brianne in the pool for over an hour.


After the pool, we went up to Grandad and Grandma's condo. The adults chatted and Brianne played cruise ship. Mommy and Grandma Janet were so proud :o)


After relaxing some, we went over to the Pirate Restaurant next to Granddad Steve's house for some lunch. This place has tons of life size pirates hanging out around the restaurant. Here is Brianne showing this pirate her pirate hook. Aaaargh mateys!

Happy Valentine's Day!

Even though our #1 Valentine was up in Tallahassee on the actual day of Valentine's, Brianne and I did our best to celebrate. And we definitely made the most of it!

Mi Ma Debbie got us a special Valentine's gift - matching heart shoes! Brianne was super excited for us to be matching. She even had to roll her pant legs up for this picture so she could be like Mommy, who was wearing capri's :o)


Making a special Valentine's gift for Aunt Casey and Uncle Scott, who take Brianne to school almost every day while Marty's gone.


Brianne's completed master piece (with a little spelling help from Mom).


I was feeling especially crafty and made pink heart shaped rice crispy treats for Brianne's class! I thought they came out adorable. I even individually wrapped them in pink cellophane, and attached each kid's valentine to it with a heart sticker. My one day to feel like super mom :o)

Here we are on Valentine's Day. Brianne got a special surprise from Daddy - balloons and a teddy bear. I got a beautiful bouquet of flowers.

Brianne being silly - a basket on her head and about 40 heart bracelets on one arm.

Baby Shower for Baby Bowe

We were excited to celebrate a new addition earlier this month! Baby Girl Bowe will be the first child of our friends, Eric and Nel Marie. Eric and his family are some of our oldest friends that I grew up with back in Homestead. This will be the third baby for the kids of Homestead (Brianne was first, the super adorable Hadley Binder second, and now Baby Bowe). I love getting together with old friends to reminisce about the past and get excited for all that the future holds!

Brianne came with me to the shower and was the perfect little party girl. She got to wear a new dress and have her hair in not one but two poneys (her choice, it had to be two that day). We were glad to see another little girl about Brianne's age at the party. They immediately buddied up and hung out throughout the party. Here is Brianne and Sam dancing.



Taking a dance break before lunch.


After lunch, Brianne and Sam do what all little girls do at a baby shower and tried to "help" the mom to be open her presents. Nel was very gracious and was happy to let them help. Brianne did very well and carefully opened the presents Nel gave her, then promptly handed them back when open. There were a couple times I was afraid she'd make a run for it with one of the toys, but she didn't even try once! I think she was just happy to be part of it.

Getting a little silly after most of the presents were open.

At the party, Brianne loaded up on sugar with lollipops, cake pops and more. I am amazed she didn't bust out of her skin! But she wasn't too hopped up on sugar to stop for a picture with Mi Ma Debbie. We had a wonderful time at the shower and can't wait to meet baby Bowe in April!

Bake Me a Cake

Brianne has become quite the happy helper, and wanted to help make a special treat - banana bread!

Brianne assisting with organizing the ingredients, with a little help from Minnie Mouse.


Measuring the flour. Most of it made it into the bowl.

Admiring her handiwork. The banana bread was delicious!

The Family That Bounces Together...

Saturday, February 4, was one of those strange weather days where it looks like its going to rain, but doesn't until you try to walk out the door to go do something. We were itching to get out of the house, so we decided to play it safe and go to an indoor bounce house playground called Little Javas in Weston. This place had some seriously big bounce houses, and from past experiences with similar places, I was a little nervous that Brianne wouldn't be able to fully enjoy it.

But Brianne was ready to climb inflatable mountains, and ran right up to the first big slide. Even though there were bigger kids jumping all over the place, she still had a blast scaling each bounce area.

Here is Brianne coming down the big slide. She climbed right up the middle stair case and jumped right down like a big girl!


All smiles and slides! This slide was her favorite. She must have climbed it at least 20 times.


Even though there were tons of awesome bounce houses, Brianne wanted to make a pit stop in the ball pit. This little boy kept taking all the balls and stuffing them down his shirt. Brianne did not like this one bit and felt the need to report him.

Building a fort in the tree tunnel.

We got a surprise visit from Daddy! Marty was walking door to door all day, but wrapped up a little early to come bounce with us. And lucky for me he showed up when he did. Brianne wanted to tackle the mother of all bounce houses. This was more of a bounce fort, with things to climb over, climb under, and then up really high to fly down a big slide. Combined with 30 other 4 - 6 year olds running through, it would have been too dangerous for Brianne to do by herself. But she had no fear with Daddy around. Marty was a champ and ran the bounce fort with Brianne at least 10 times in a row. No need to go to the gym - Marty was exhausted afterwards.

Exploring another bounce fort. Brianne had no fear!

After about 3 hours of bouncing, mommy and daddy decided we'd had enough. Unfortunately, Brianne was still not ready, and had to be dragged out. But we soothed the fury with the promise of ice cream. So we made a family trip to Dairy Queen.

Brianne wanted her own strawberry ice cream. The below was a kids size, believe it or not. She ate about half, and I managed to sneak the rest away and toss it out. It was a great day of bounce houses and ice cream, and we can't wait to do it again!