Daddy turned 30

Daddy's birthday was this past Monday, and he turned the big 3-0. I had a family party for him at the house on Sunday, and we were excited to host our first real gathering ever! Our last house was just too small to entertain people in!!

All of our local neices and our nephew came over, and the kids and the dads spent the majority of the day in the pool. We also had a cookout, and after a few hours of pool time, we celebrated with cake and ice cream.

I thank God every day for bringing my husband into my life. He is so gentle and kind. He works very hard to provide for us, and always puts his family first. I am so proud to be his wife and I look forward to celebrating many more birthdays with him!!

Ocala Trip

For Memorial Day weekend, we went up to Ocala and stayed for two nights. Daddy's brother owns a property up there, and he let us stay in their large trailer for the weekend. Daddy's brother, his wife, and their daughter met us up there and stayed at their property, which happens to be just one mile from where we stayed. Daddy's mom rode up with us as well, as she had never been there before. We took Maggie too. The trip was a little bittersweet for me because we took both dogs up there last year and they loved it. Daddy and I had talked about taking them back again over the next year, and we just never got around to it. It made me sad because I know how much fun Thomas would have had...man I miss him!! Anyway...

On Saturday night, we went over to Tim's brother's place for dinner. They eat seafood every year for Memorial weekend, so they had steamers (either raw clams or raw oysters..I can't remember), and they fried up some fish. I wouldn't go near the raw food, and Daddy ate one, but T gobbled up four of them. They were so gross looking, and he just scarfed them down without a care in the world. I tried to get a picture but he was done before I could locate my camera.

On Sunday, we went to a place called Silver Springs. It is kind of an amusement park, but a much smaller scale. We rode on a glass bottom boat, which allowed us to see what the springs look like from the inside. We did a jungle safari in a jeep and saw some animals. We watched a bird show. T went on his first amusement park ride without us-boats that go in a circle. He went on with his cousin and loved it! Then he saw the Merry-go-round and was running over to it shouting "Hooray." He rode on a horse with Daddy behind him. They also had a nice jungle gym for little ones to play in, and he liked that too. We were there for about half the day, then went to eat at a BBQ place.

Once we got back, T and Daddy rode on the quads and the tractor. Daddy's family came back over to hang out and we had a BBQ that night at the place where we were staying.

We had a fun Memorial weekend and are so thankful to all the men and women who died for us and for our freedom!