Fishing Derby 2013!

 We made it home from the Trout Lodge just in time to join our neighborhood in its annual fishing derby!  But I had to bring in reinforcements to help me this year, which means both grandpa's made a stop by to assist :)
Unfortunately I did not get very many pictures of the kids fish they caught.  This is actually the only picture I took of Joey with his catch.

But the kids did amazingly well!  Andrew caught the biggest fish, Joey caught the third biggest fish, and Adriana caught the smallest fish.  They were all super excited and the Weber kids did fantastic!
Here is Andrew with his trophy and new fishing pole!

 Adriana and her trophy!

 And Joey with his third place ribbon!

So proud of my kids!  This year Andrew did everything almost completely on his own including baiting his hook, casting, and walking his fish up!

Trout Lodge!

Sheboygan, Wisconsin!

 With all the stresses of being a single and working mom, I love to take lots of many vacations just to get away from life and enjoy my kids.  And I'm always trying to find new fun places to take the kids.  So needless to say, I was very excited when I found the Blue Harbor Resort in Sheboygan, WI!  It is just an 8 hour drive away from St. Louis, which is manageable with three kids in tow.
So the first weekend in May my mom, kids, and I headed up north for some fun. 
Here is a picture of the hotel from the back of it....

 And a view of our room inside.  It had a set of bunkbeds and a separate day bed all snuggled into the kids own little "room".
 My mom and I had a queen size bed to share in the main sleeping area.

 Inside the resort is a huge waterpark.  Of course we spent most of our time here :)

 But Sheboygan isn't a town to be forgotten.  It is a quaint little town and extremely clean.  We spent part of our days visiting in town where there was many fun restaurants on the lake, some very cute little shopping centers, and my kids favorite.....an old time ice cream parlor which was walking distance from the hotel.
There was also a light house that you could walk to and go inside.  It was closed the first time we went but opened in the evening, unfortunately we didn't make it back over.  But we did go down the pier by our hotel and got a closer look at the lighthouse. 
Here is the kids on the pier heading out...

 And a closer look at the lighthouse!

 Our hotel from the pier......

 The kids in front of Blue Harbor....

 We had a great time and will definitely keep this place in mind for future trips!

 And just a silly picture of my boys in the bathtub :)

 So today we are getting pounded with a huge snowstorm, a week before Easter!  The kids are very excited and the dogs are more excited!
At least the views are pretty :)

 The kids all playing in the snow :)

 Their swing set is even covered!

 And our crazy dog barking at a truck!

I would take more pictures but the snow was coming down so hard it was hard to stay out for any length of time.  I will try to get more later!

Busch Gardens!

 On our last day in Florida we decided to take the kids to Busch Gardens before flying out early the next morning.
Adriana and one of the entertainers!

Joey feeding a kangaroo, and no it wasn't a joey :)

 Adriana feeding a kangaroo.....

 And Andrew feeding them....

 Your never too old to get a hug from Super Grover!!!

 Adriana with Super Grover and Zoey :)

 Adriana, Andrew and Big Bird :)

 Joey driving a train....

 Being silly with the truck!

 My sweet babies!!!!

 And my crazy, silly boys!!!

I'm so sad our vacation had to end!  It seems like so long we looked forward to it then with a blink of an eye it was over :(  Can't wait to see

Clearwater Beach

 Today we spent the day at Clearwater Beach.  The first thing we did was go on Captain's Memo's Pirate ship.  This was something I thought the boys would love, but Adriana loved it too!
Here is MaMaw with Adriana and Joey waiting to take off.

Then they gave the kids water guns and let them fight off the bad guys......meaning all the parents :)

 The kids getting directions for the treasure chest...

 More water gun fights!

 Mr. Cool....

 And we ended with a dance party where the kids were right out there for the action!

 Joey and his certificate!

 After the cruise, we headed to the beach!  Sadly I was too busy playing with the kids and this was the only picture I got.  But they had lots of fun playing in the sand and on a huge playground they had right on the beach!  My mom and I also snuck off to do some shopping while my dad played with the kids.

 And finally before we left back to our condo, my mom and Adriana decided they wanted to go parasailing so off they went!  My brave little 9 year old had a blast!

We had a great day spend on the beach!

Visiting Winter!

 Ever since my kids have seen the movie Dolphin Tale, they have wanted to visit winter.  So since we were in the area, we took the day and visited Winter!
Here is some fun shots they took of us

 Then the kids and I went down on the deck with a rescued dolphin and had our picture taken...

We also got to go on a boat ride out to a private island to collect seashells.   We had a great time and I learned a lot about rescuing sea life!