a little bit of everything

 Nico getting ready to grill some of dad's butchered cow

 Everybody loves crab legs EXCEPT ME!

 I hadn't creamed corn since I was probably 12.  My dad could cream about 50 in the time I could do 5. He was so fast or I am really out of practice.

sweet dreams

I just love this picture and these girls got a long so well I hope it last.

 3d at Neannies

  wiped out

 Pili painting Lia's nails

We should've slid them down the stairs!! haha

Results from Tropical Storm Debbie

 catching fish in the ditch

 retention pond

Making christmas ornaments and Neannie also taught the kids to sew.  They all made several wallets/purses

 Pili's first time bowling, I couldn't really tell that she cared for it much

A new ice-cream shop in Macclenny highly recommended

Through out the trip every so often Mati would say he needed some family time, meaning he needed a break from his cousins.  Before picking up Nico from the airport one day we spent a few hours at the zoo.  We had a great time just the two of us, especially since it was 98 degrees and we were able to go pretty fast.

Flea market, wasn't really worth our time, but the kids got some cheap toys out of it

 We got a flat tire on the drive back home.  It set us back about 3 hours.  Luckily our insurance sent help within 20 minutes, and Firestone was able to get us a new tire in less than 2 hours.   It was definitely an inconvieniece but it could have been a lot worse.

Independence day

Like I mentioned earlier, the 4th was the best day of the trip for me.  We spent the morning on Daytona Beach and the evening at the lake.  We almost opted to just watch the fireworks around the lake but last minute I insisted we go into Starke to buy a few to do ourselves to have for the kids.   We made a little purchase of barely 70$ worth and not one firework was over 10$ but Nico and I were so giddy about it.
We couldn't even wait until dark to start.  The kids started with smoke bombs, sparklers, mortars, roman candles and were really having the time of their lives.  We would point out all the beautiful fireworks around the lake but they could've cared less.  We had a decent grand finale and called it a night!  Everyone very happy about our little show which Nico did a very good job managing.
Dad promised next year he'll make the purchase for the fireworks so I'm hoping he can afford a little more than we could.

Daytona Beach

We had a very scary moment when we were swimming and saw a huge shadow in the water.  Jessi started screaming shark and we all got out as quick as possible.  The shadow was moving against the current and we were determined it was about to attack.  We ran down the beach yelling SHARK and got as many people out of the water as we possibly could, to find out it was just a harmless MANATEE!!
Who would've figured.

workin it

 building a "zoo castle" with Neannie

Matias really enjoyed the beach this year.  He didn't mind the "big" waves or salty water.
Pili went in without hesitation but quickly realized "I have something in my eyes"  which was salt.  She didn't like that to much and avoided getting her face wet as much as possible.

The board walk.
 We were all very shocked and proud of barely 7 year old Leila who decided to do the Slingshot with absolutely no fear.   Wish I had a picture to post of that.
My kids just stuck to the tilt-a -whirl and when we attempted the go-carts we crashed pretty bad and both my kids ended up with bruises on their backs, and Pili in tears.  It was funny watching everyone else bump into each other but getting bumped wasn't so cool.

The zip line at "Papa's spring place"

After spending the day at Bob's river place my brother George was inspired to make the spring come alive in my parents back yard.   My parents built there home 12 years ago and came across this natural spring.  My mom has always aspired to make it something beautiful but it really hasn't been given very much attention until now.  The Zip line and Rope swing kept the kids in the spring for hours.    Mati and Pili were really to little for the Zip line but they enjoyed riding on our backs as we swung over the spring and hoped for a decent landing.  Nico and Matias got pretty scratched up a few times, and decided they were better off to drop in the water.

George setting things up

Davis the daredevil to try everything out first to make sure it was safe for the rest