Florida Trip - Days 2 and 3 SEAWORLD

Let me back up a little and show a few more photos from our shark fishing trip...

This pelican just begged to have his picture taken...



Julia could not wait to get on the boat....this was her first fishing trip...



and.....her first fish she caught in the ocean!



isnt she cute?

A little up close photo of Dana's shark....



And all that adds up to this.....



that is also known as a "shark happy meal".....

We also took some time out to enjoy the resort.....  Here's a family of friendly ducks

Julia practices her modeling skills.....

Mariah too!...

Okay on to sea world........

One of the highlights of the day was that Julia was tall enough to ride ALL the rides...which meant she got to ride the Manta...a roller coaster that you lay down - face first soaring like a mantaray..

Shamu was a hit with the kids....

I would so not want to be these people....



manatees....a face only a mother could love.....



We all loved shark adventure

soooo coool!

Hey look kids...a Dory fish...




Free FROG HUGS! any one in???



Mariah and I taking time for a self portrait while we're waiting for the sea lion show to begin...



And then Alex come up to me with this and said...Here Mom...here's a key ring for you...



Awwww....

More pool time yesterday....massages for everyone...POOLSIDE!..

Family Photo time...

.Dana and I had date night....and today is..

M - I - see.....Kay -eee -Y? - M O U S E!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!

Off to Disney.....

On the road again! Florida Trip Day 1

Takin a break from the crafty scene to bring you highlights of our family vacation. Mostly bloggin for all the family at home so they can see what we're up to while we're away....


It's been YEARS since we took the whole family on a vacation...bits and pieces of us go.....but it's been a LOOONNGGG time since we all went at the same time.  So Friday we loaded up the truck and we took the family on a road trip to Florida to see Mickey Mouse....

Here's a few highlights along the way....  It was an awesome road trip full of luscious quietness because everyone had their own computer and could watch their own movies...Ahhh peacefull Bliss...Highly recommend this if you're roadtrippin with a carload of kids!  However, we did take time out to play road games and a game from "whose line is it anyway" where each person says one word...the first word that comes to mind to make up a story.....this was FUNNY and Julia kept us in stitches with her words...

We spent the night in Opelika, AlaBAMA!  Good nights rest...woke up and headed down the road for a leisurly 5 hour trip......that took 8 hours...because we had a few stops along the way...

When I travel I try to look for the humerous side of things....and so check this out...

This was Gus's Drive In.....now notice the sign...Happy Hour $1 cold beer....okay...great deal...but if you put DRIVE IN with HAPPY HOUR together you soon realize that this is DRINKING IN YOUR CAR and DRIVING AWAY....seriously.....um....okay..enuf said.  Hopefully they limit the happiness??? I dunno...but struck a funny ...not so funny cord...

Next the search was on for Fried Peanuts.....and boy did we hit the jackpot with this roadside stand...

Not only did they have peanuts.....they had sweet Watermelon...canteloupe...and peaches ..... and

Check out the sweetcorn!

MmmmMMmmMmmm goodness....

About $35 later we left there and continued on....Now the search was on for BBQ...

Found that at Fat Boys BBQ in Sylvester Georgia



Delicious and to die for.....bout as good as Big Daddy D's in Ozark, MO!



Julia and Dana had a little bit too much fun at the BBQ place...I think Dana is eatin this up!


Okay....we gotta hit the road or we will NEVER get there...

Next Stop...the FOUNTAINS in Orlando Florida
Ta-Da! We're Here Julia Says!



Here's a pic of the resort...



Kids are totally diggin the waterslide:



Grabbin a little lunch at the Wakoola Springs Grill



Then it's pool time....



Monday night we headed to Coco Beach for Nightime shark fishing...

Here's what we used for bait...a baracuda...CHECK OUT THOSE TEETH! This is one seriously wicked fish!







This was an amazing adventure. Alex caught a big huge mantaray...but lost iit after it bent his rod in half and broke his line. Dana caught a 5' shark...but it broke the line. Julia and Elise both caught lots of whitings....and We ended the night with Mariah 2 sharks, Alex a keeper shark, Dana one..and Me one.







apparently Alex was less than impressed with my humor...



and Elise wanted some shark sushi....



It was sooo late when we got back to the resort...but the kids were all wound up! Alex said he could stay there all night just to catch another one.....

This morning we all got to sleep in....had biscuits n gravy for breakfast...hung out at the pool...

And tonight we enjoyed the fruits of our labor with a friend shark dinner! MMMmmmMMMmm Good!

We went to family game show night in the club house and played "Are you Smarter than a Fifth Grader"...and guess what? We won a virtual MILLION DOLLARS!!! One had to use one "save" and won a free day in a pool Cabana worth $70...how bout that?? OH YEAH!

Tomorrow we're headin to SeaWorld!

Summer is ON!! CARRIE UNDERWOOD rocks Springfield!

This is the BUSIEST summer we've had in years...but a great one.  Tuesday evening the whole family headed out to the JQH Arena for the Carrie Underwood Concert.    What we didn't expect was three great concerts.  Sons of Sylvia rocked the house followed by Craig Morgan.  Loved the "Red Neck Yacht Club"....It's gotta feel great when 15,000 people sing along to your music!

I knew his music and now I know he sings it.  Im a fan!.  He ROCKED...or Countried...or whatever it is you would say for the Country-rocker!  He worked the crowd!

Carrie's first song was Cowboy Casanova.  She came up thru the center of the stage on a chaise lounger....

Singing a beautiful duet off her latest CD called Play On with the lead singer of Sons of Silvia...

I can't remember the song she sang with this...but she said she wanted to see the audience and so she immediately thought of this retro truck!  Was pretty awesome as it flew around the room....

And here's the familia waiting patiently.....sort of....to get into the concert...

To me the most stirring part of Carrie's concert was her song "Temporary Home" ... Such an emotional song and you could hear and see the emotion on her face as she sang it.  It was very moving and sad...
She sings just as good Live as she does on a CD...so if you get the chance to see her....Worth every penny of it...especially when the kids will talk about it for years to come!

Now we're out the door to F- L - O - R - I - D - A!  Come on Sunshine!

Whew! I made it through!

Whew! is right! I've done lots of TV before and I have lots of experience producing segments and working with producers - making sure all my steps are in order and the process is well thought out and timed...but let me tell you...I have a whole new appreciation for the Hosts of the show!
Yesterday I was guest host of the Cool2Craft Live show with Tiffany Windsor. Tiffany has been living it up in Puerto Rico at a Scrapbooking event this past week and was on her way home. I was very excited that she asked me to be her guest host...but wow! the pressure!!!

I was the host AND the control room all at the same time. But, luckily we have such wonderful guests and viewers on the show that overall it went just great! THANK YOU INTERNET for cooperating and having a little mercy on me during my first time at the controls!

If you missed the show....WOW - you missed a great line up of guests:

Heidi Borchers - aka ecoHeidi featured paper napkin applique. She also offers a get aquainted kit featuring loads of beautiful napkin patterns.

Brenda Pinnick  talked all about the color purple. I dubbed it PURPLE DAY based on her demo. I love this lady and her sense of color! If you get a chance to take a class from her....do whatever you need to do to take it. I know it will totally make you look at color differently.

Ann Butler from www.creativitystirsthesoul.com  shared beaded bookmarks with some ideas on how to sell them at craft shows.  These are great - fast and make great gifts!

I demo'd metal embossed pendants from my Metal Jewelry 101 book.  If you love metal jewelry but just don't want to buy a bunch of expensive tools...then check out the projects in my book.  I will also be teaching a class based on this book in July at CrafTECH University so check out the calendar of events located at the top of the homepage.

Eileen Hull was our "that's2cool" segment and she created a project based on something she saw that inspired her. So check out her metal frame.  Visit her blog at www.eileenhull.blogspot.com.  

So if you missed the show - you can view it by clicking here and be sure to drop by all of the links and visit each guests blog.  Leave a comment for them too!

Thanks again Tiffany for the opportunity to host the show!  You have a wonderful audience and I'm so appreciative of the hard work you do each week to put the show together and make it great!  Invite your friends!!

Cool2Craft Monday Line UP

Im especially excited about tomorrow because.....Tiffany has asked me to guest host COOL2CRAFT live!!!

Along with that I'll be demonstrating Metal Jewelry 101- an easy way to create metal jewelry with no special tools!

Im also excited about my guest line up:

Brenda Pinnick * Ann Butler * Heidi Borchers and Eileen Hull

It's a great line up and a great way to ward off the Monday work week blues!

I'll be featuring my Metal Jewelry 101 Book where you can get instructions on how to complete the pendant Im demonstrating plus a whole lots of other great fun metal jewelry

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