Memorial Day Weekend

Where do you go over Memorial Day weekend when you live in Jacksonville, Florida?? Well, you head about 2 hours to the south-west and hang out with dolphins and other sea creatures, ofcourse!!

We decided to take full advantage of having a 3-day weekend, as the past month or so has been nothing short of NUTS (busy that is). A story for other blog posts, I have just started a new job -- still with Fidelity, but a big promotion that comes with quite a bit more travel and responsibility! We packed up the truck and headed to Orlando to spend 1 day at Discovery Cove, 1 day at Sea World, and 1 day doing nothing but relaxing by the pool at the hotel. It was WONDERFUL! See the attached link to kodak gallery, so you can see all the pics. -- http://www.kodakgallery.com/gallery/creativeapps/slideShow/Main.jsp?sourceID=533754321803&cm_mmc=eMail-_-Share-_-Photos-_-Sharee

Our first day at Discovery Cove was amazing! This was our first visit to the park, and we will most certianly go again. The day was "all inclusive", so all drinks, food, scuba gear, sunblock, and wetsuits, towels, etc. were included! We simply brought our camera and swimsuits. We checked-in for the day at about 8:30, and headed right to the breakfast buffet; eggs, bacon, breakfast breads, pancakes, hash browns, juice, milk, were all on the menu. After a good breakfast, we headed to the lockers to put on our wetsuits and sunblock, and quickly found the lazy river that paths all the way around the park (was HUGE!). We played in that for a while, and then headed to the salt-water "observation" pool where we put on our snorkels and were able to swim with mantarays and all kinds of tropicial fish in a natural reef. Chad and Tylar liked this best... Caitlynn didn't much like that half the fish in there were as big (or bigger than her). Before we knew it, it was lunch-time so we headed back to the cafe for a good meal. Then... the centerpiece of the day -- we were able to spend 45 minutes with a dolphin trainer and got to play, swim and ride a dolpin! See pics below...

Our second day of vacation was spent at Sea World. While we have been to Sea World before, the park seems to continue to grow and the shows get better and better! Check out the link to the other photos to see that day in great detail.

Kenny & CJ the dolphin

Caitlynn kissing CJ the dolphin

Tylar talking to CJ the dolphin

We all got to pose for a family pic

At the begining of of our family vacation -- Memorial Day 2011

Feels like Summer!

I know that Spring has just "sprung", but the past few weeks in Florida have been in the 90's... making it feel as if Summer is already here!

And we love it!! Last weekend was our first official weekend at the beach, and what a beautiful day it was to hang out with friends, soak up the sun, build and dig in the sand, and splash around in the warm ocean. I can't wait, and seems neither can the kids, to go back for round 2... I have a feeling we'll be trying to figure out where to go when the weather is consistently hot -- will it be the beach, or will it be our pool (which is a pretty nice option too)? Okay, so not such a rough decision to make :)

Caitlynn making sure her tan is even -- time to flip over! :)

A few jelly's washed onshore -- kinda scary, certainly have to watch where you step. I've always heard they can sting you even when washed up, I don't think I want to test to see if that is true!!??

Tylar riding a wave in... he says he wants a real board -- perhaps this is the year for surf lessons?

Waiting for the wave to take him away...

(guess I did these backward...) Tylar headed out to catch a wave in.

The boys dug a few holes... even found water as they dug deep enough! The hole then served as Caitlynn's own little "hot tub" :)

Diggin' ditches... hopefully not a sign of things to come :)!!

Monica and Caitlynn playing with the bubble wands -- She LOVES her "auntie Mo"!

Not sure how Caitlynn got stuck carrying the boogie board back to the car -- oh well, she's a trooper!

Mixing business with pleasure! -- adventures in St Pete...

Question... what do you do when your kids are on Spring Break?

Answer... go to St Pete, FL on a work trip with your husband!!

Okay, so probably not what most parents do, but when you've got an adult son and his wife who are willing to play "mom and dad" for an extended weekend, THAT IS EXACTLY WHAT WE DID!! I've been participating in a year-long leadership training endevor, one that has taken me on many trips away from home on about a monthly basis. It just so happened that for the March session, those travels took me directly across the state to St Pete. And the best part, we were able to sync it up with the kids spring break and get Chad some vacation time so he could tag along with me!

So, last weekend we departed Jacksonville, Fl on Saturday morning at the crack of dawn, and arrived in St Pete, Fl in time for breakfast at a local Cracker Barrell :). We then headed to our hotel to check in, change and make a beeline for the beach! The weather was simply gorgeous! After about 4 hours at Anna Maria Island (and a slight sunburn later), we joined one of my co-workers for a sunset dinner cruise into the Gulf of Mexico. Sunday was truly a day of pampering... we spent the morning at the hotel spa getting massages, facials, and manicures/pedicures. Then, yet again, headed out to soak up the sun at the hotel pool.

The week-days (Mon & Tues) were "work" days for me. That didn't stop Chad from enjoying the hotel amenities, and ofcourse we were able to spend our evenings together having great dinners at some local restaraunts. We departed on Wednesday afternoon... and actually felt like we were ready to get home to our kiddos and our own beds. It was a really fun few days to spend together in what felt and looked like paradise :)!! See pics below...

Had to throw a pic in with my work "peeps"... These are 7 of my best work friends, I've spent the past (almost) year working on leadership skill development with... they are an amazing group of people!

The pool at the Vinoy Hotel & Spa (where we stayed)

The view of the marina right outside of our hotel

Chad and I on the Sunset Dinner Cruise

The most beautiful sunset -- Gulf of Mexico, view from the boat

More photos from Tylar's birthday weekend...

Tylar opening presents... this one was from Dave and Monica and was his very own iPod Touch!! Doesn't he have the BEST Florida Family :). Look at Caitlynn's face, her expresion about sums up the excitement Tylar had when he opened it!

Pics from the Bowling Alley.... Brandon and Karol :)

Tylar's friend's (Justin & Erin) and Caitlynn trying to get in on the action!

A good view of the "luxury" lanes!

Caitlynn after bowlng a STRIKE (we had bumpers :))

Kenny, after his strike!

Ty and his friends again

Tylar Turns 13!

Tylar Joseph Martin turned 13 this past Friday on March 18th!

Friday... the fun begins...
A fun filled celebration weekend started on Friday when we suprised Tylar with a round of golf. It was a suprise because we had him get up, as he would any Friday, to get ready for school at about 6am... then, just as he was about to walk out the door to leave for his bus, Chad sprung it on him that we were giving him the day off and that we were scheduled for a 9:30 tee time to go golfing! He was so excited, it was actually one of the things he wanted "SO BAD". Chad, Brandon, Tylar and I made the foursome... was a lot of fun to spend the day with some of my most favorite boys :).

We got home mid-afternoon and that evening we went to Daruma, a local Japanese Steakhouse, for his family birthday dinner. This is the 2nd year in a row he's chosen that venue for his birthday dinner... and if memory serves, is a favorite of Brandon's as well for his birthday dinner. For finiky eaters, they all enjoy the habacci! The only family member missing was Brandon, he had to work.

Saturday... the fun continues...
Saturday morning Tylar was able to celebrate his birthday with is friends at Latitude 30, a new "Luxury" bowling alley alley. He invited his friend Erin and friend Justin. So, with all our kids and the two friends in tow, we headed out for 2 hours of bowling fun!

After bowling we headed home for pizza and birthday cupcakes, and invited a few of our friends (our Florida family) over to celebrate with us SOME MORE!! We opened presents and had an all out competition on Wii Just Dance. So competetivite in fact, that our good friends the Lupcho's went to Walmart this morning to get the game for thier Wii collection!! I am thinking there will be some pretty intense dance-offs in our future :)

Sunday was actually a day of rest... and boy oh boy did we need it!! Below are a few pics from the celebrations on Friday. I have to hunt down my camera to get the pics from Saturday loaded as well... stay tuned for those!

Kenny, Tylar, Caitlynn and Karol after dinner at Daruma

Tylar, excited to be 13!

This was the golf scoreboard after 9 holes... yea, we stopped keeping track on the back 9 :)

Chad & Ty headed out to the course

Brandon & Ty chillin' in the cart

My little Tiger (golf comparison only...)

Showing off the driver

A few fun videos... the first is Tylar catching a shrimp in the air, the second is his "Happy Birthday" song and blowing out the candles (hopefully this makes everyone feel like they are able to celebrate with him)!

After 11 years in Florida... the Martin family has a BOAT!!

Okay, okay... so it isn't a yacht, it isn't a sailboat, and it isn't a rowboat, BUT it is a boat nonetheless!

I guess the official kind of boat that it is, is a "Pelican Bass Raider". Not sure what that really means, but I DO know that it is about 8 feet long, 3 feet wide, has seating for 2... and MOST IMPORTANTLY fulfills Chad (and the kids) need to get out on the water to do some fishing :).

They've already taken it out twice since getting it on Saturday, and lucky for us they don't have to travel far as we have about 4 small lakes right in our neighborhood!

Chad, Tylar, Caitlynn and Kenny right after buying the boat

Tylar striking a pose... we are in the process of naming the boat -- Tylar's suggestion "BASS HUNTER".

Gander, where boating dreams come true...

Home Improvements...

Our beautiful new mantle and mirror

Spring has officially sprung in the Martin house... starting with some good old fashion spring cleaning, followed by Chad's latest woodworking project in building us a new mantle for our fireplace! Yes, for you Colorado kin, Florida houses do have fireplaces... we don't use them, but we have them :) Completing the whole fireplace "wall" we found a beautiful mirror to top it off!! We had our good friend John Carter helping to pull the pieces of the mantle together -- who knew it was so complicated to put 5 pieces of wood together + the 1 that hooked it to the wall? Certianly not me -- my idea was to get two brackets and put a nice shelf on it. Good thing I'm not in charge of home improvement installments! And, good thing I have a husband who insists on doing things the hard (I mean right) way :)

Next on the list is to refresh our landscaping around the house. The weather is finally steady in the upper 60s and 70s with little chance of freezing, so we figure we are safe to start planting our spring/summer flowers.

After the very, very, very cold weather we had this winter, we are all very happy for the return of the warm sunshine!

CHEERleading!!

Caitlynn just finished her first season as an Upward Cheerleader, and to my JOY, loved every minute of it!!

She did such a good job, so much so that she is anxious to get onto another squad to do some more. Just so happens the pop warner teams are starting to gear up -- and with that we'll be signing her up to join a squad with that league! The Upward squad she was on cheered for a local basketball league associated with a neighborhood church... and over the past few months, she had practice every Thursday, and a game every Saturday morning.

Caitlynn's good friends Adison and Ashley (my good friend Stacy's daughters) were also on the squad and Stacy was the assistant coach -- so made it nice to have good friends in it as well. I posted a few of my fav pics, and a video, from her season...

Caitlynn & Jordan playing with the megaphones on the sidelines

The whole Upward Squad, and coaches (Caitlynn is in the bottom row, far right)

Adison, Ashley, & Caitlynn before thier first game

My bug

Short video clip from one of her games -- This one is titled "Jammin' in the Stands"... Caitlynn is in the back row, middle.

Our little missionaries

What could possibly bring us more JOY than to have our boys doing missionary work??? The answer -- dunno, because it is a pretty cool thing!!

As a part of the Youth activities at church this month, the Young Men and Young Women were called to serve as a missionary in the Florida Jacksonville Mission. And served they did, for about 6 hours in total between their training earlier this week and the ministry to other ward members this evening.

Elder Martin and his companion Elder Powell

(the other) Elder Martin and his companion Elder Hayes

The St Johns Ward "junior" Missionaries

Kenny thought the whole experience was pretty cool -- hence the thumbs up :). All of the kids were invited to share their testimony from their experience. While we didn't get to hear it ourselves, several of the sisters who were there said that Kenny's was very sweet. We were told it included something about the dinner he had before doing his lesson (it was Ratotuie), and something about Jesus as a baby. When we asked him about it on the way home, he said "Yea, I was talking about that guy, his name starts with a J...". CRACKS me up!!

Had to snap a pic of the boys before heading off to the church, I really must snap more of these sweet moments!

It was a pretty neat experience to have the boys prepare for this evening. Starting last Sunday when they received their letters. On Monday we helped them to prepare for their discussion about the Restoration in our FHE, and on Wednesday they were asked to report to the Youth Missionary Training Center Jacksonville South Stake Center in St Augustine, where they further prepared to preach the gospel (complete with lessons on leading a discussion and an obstacle course)!! Come today, I think they were ready to go!

I am so thankful that we had this experience together as a family. Missionaries have always played a big role in our lives, making sure to keep us connected to the church as we've moved all over the east coast. We love missionary work, and know that the boys will be ever so blessed for being able to participate in it!

Joy in Scouting...

Ty and Kenny are starting to get into the scouting program, and this evening a few of the other boys from their troop came over to visit, along with one of the scoutmasters. They learned that a BIG part of this scouting program is camping, which they are so very excited about!

They will get to go on their first camping trip next weekend and will be camping near Lake City, Fl, which is home to the largest Civil War battlefield in Florida -- The Battle of Olustee. It just so happens that the Olustee Festival is that weekend and they will get to watch the reenactment of this Civil War event! I think I am more excited than they are, it is so cool they get to experience a historical event... but realize they probably won't find value in it until they read about it in their history class sometime in the distant future :).

The scoutmaster then started talking about the fact that camping was one of the major ways the boys earn their badges. This part of the conversation was much more intriguing than the first part. Tylar perked right up and started firing off questions about this "badge earning process". His first question was:

• "Is there a badge for bows and arrows?"... scoutmaster responds by saying "you mean archery?"... "Yes", Tylar says "that is what I said."

Another fav question

• "Is there a badge for widdeling?"... scoutmaster responds by saying "like woodworking?".. "Yes", Tylar says "I don't want to brag, but I am pretty good at widdeling."

I'll have to write more after their trip next week -- I am sure there will be plenty of stories to tell!

Joy in Song...

Anyone who knows our family knows that we love song... just about any music that we can sing and dance to. Our newest addiction is the Wii Just Dance game -- so fun, and so good for Chad and I who are trying to loose a few lbs before summer sneaks up on us! We also often find ourselves singing along to the radio in the car, as Chad and I compete to "name that tune" first :). I could go on about the joy we find in music, but today two things struck me that brought not only a smile to my face, but filled my heart so completely...

We've started to go back to church regularly, as a family, and today as we were finding our way to find a seat, a ward family member came over to greet us and handed Kenny a Large Print hymn book (to match his Large Print Book of Mormon). I wish, I wish I had a camera to capture the smile on that boy's face! I am so thankful for such loving brothers and sisters in the church, and appreciate how much they care for us and our family. Now, Kenny has never been one to not sing in church, but to have his own hymn book and one that he can read, just made his (and my) day. A few times I glanced over at him to see him holding both his Book of Mormon and his hymn book close to his chest. Again... I wish I had a camera to capture that sweet moment.

The second thing that filled my heart today also happened at church, and that was hearing Chad sing the opening hymn - Count Your Blessings. Chad usually doesn't belt out in song at church, but I suppose when the spirit moves you??... I made a point to tell him how much I loved hearing him sing, and his response was too funny -- "It was one of the 3 songs I remember, and I like that one."

Our closing hymn today was the song Testimony. As if the joy in seeing Kenny's happiness with his new book, or hearing my husband sing at church wasn't enough, my heart was most full as we sang the third verse of that song:

My eyes are wet; my heart is full.
The Spirit speaks today.
O Lord, wilt thou my life renew
And in my bosom stay.

Amen.