Our Week in Florida - Closing Remarks.

It's been a few weeks since we got home from our week in Florida and we've had time to get back into the swing of things here. Ruby did so well being away from us for 8 days! Her grandparents are awesome. She spent 4 days with each set and had the time of her life... I'm not sure she even realized we were gone until we came home and picked her up! So thankful for the time Ryan and I had together before baby girl #2 is born.

In closing, here are a few more random pictures from our time with Aaron and Tracy. They were incredible and let us sleep in their house and eat all of their cereal all week (and let me tell ya, I eat A LOT of cereal!)

Here we are eating lunch at an awesome little place called Flavors Eatery in St. Augustine. It was seriously good food - we are going to have to eat there again sometime because it was such a memorable and enjoyable experience. Look how much Ryan loved his meal when it came. His face is so priceless.

Here's Tracy, getting work done. She was finding all the info we needed for our day in St. Augustine - she is awesome.

And here's Ry, smelling the pretty rose that was in the middle of our table.

When we were in St. Augustine we purchased these red trolley stickers that gave us unlimited access to the sight-seeing trolley. We could hop on or off at any trolley stops and covered a lot of ground in just a few hours.

Here we were on the sight-seeing trolley. It was so nice of everyone to pretend like they wanted to ride the trolley instead of walking around all day. I was one happy pregnant person enjoying the breezy ride as well as the wealth of information gained from our tour guide trolley driver guy.

Are you seeing these popsicles? These are specialty gourmet popsicles from a place called The Hyppo that were ridiculously delicious. I don't even understand how delicious they were. You can order them and have them shipped to your house (or to my house if you're so inclined... I like the Pink Grapefruit flavor) - learn more about that HERE.

On sleeping on the floor

Remember a couple of months ago when I moved Ruby out of her crib and into a twin bed? Well, Here's how it's been going...

Yep, pretty much every day she takes her nap on the floor. Luckily at night it's dark enough in her room that she doesn't get out of bed, but nap time is a whole different story.

I put her down for her nap, we say prayers, then I leave the room and close the door. She immediately gets out of bed, reads books for awhile, knocks nicely on the inside of the door, and eventually collapses from exhaustion on the floor since (like a good mother) I totally ignore her for hours on end until she finally falls asleep.

So that's how that has been going. haha.

5 things...

So much is going on right now! My to-do list is getting longer by the day, mostly because I would rather go to the park with Ruby than get anything done. This will become a problem very soon.

1. Ruby went to her friend Parker's 2nd birthday party today - and I was the mom at McDonalds who took her daughter's shirt off before letting her dig into the Elmo cupcakes with red frosting...
2. Ryan took me to see Ra Ra Riot in concert at Hope on Monday night. I really liked the opening band, Scars on 45. We were the oldest people in the crowd, and my extreme pregnancy most certainly frightened many college students throughout the evening. I'm thankful for a hubby who takes me on dates. He's so awesome.
3. We have a "For Sale" sign in our front yard. Our landlords are going to sell the cutie house we've been renting for the last few years. If you're in the market for a single-family home in Alger Heights, click HERE to check it out!
4. I am going to have a baby really soon! This morning at my ultrasound they discovered that she's not breech anymore, which is a total miracle since she's been head up since my 20-week appointment. Needless to say, I am THRILLED to not have to have a c-section at this point. (hopefully she won't turn back!) My due date is May 12th and our move date is June 13th. WHOA MAMA!
5. Life is glorious!

Spontaneous Grill-Out with Luke and Lindsay

One of the things we will miss most about living in Grand Rapids is that so many of our friends live within a few hours and have family in the area. Yesterday afternoon we got to have a spontaneous grill-out with Luke and Lindsay and their girls Isla and Emmy since they were driving through GR on their way home.

The sun was shining and it was warm and pleasant out, so we spent some time out on the porch.

The boys grilled delicious brats, dogs and burgers for us - a true summer meal.

The ladies - I am looking 46 weeks pregnant, as you can see.

And here are the girls, since it's so fun to see how much they have grown since the last time they played together.

The Old Fort - St. Augustine

One of the stops on our sightseeing tour of St. Augustine was The Old Fort or Castilla de San Marcos, built by the Spanish starting in 1672. It's in remarkable shape for being so old. (I hope someone says that about me someday.)

We got to see a historic weapons demonstration where they blasted one of the old cannons out into the bay. I don't think a cannonball actually came out, but I'm not positive. It was quite a loud explosive experience which Ryan genuinely enjoyed, as you can see by the look on his face.

Aaron and Tracy, looking like they should be in a tourism magazine.

This is the man that I love.

Ryan and Aaron keeping watch for enemy vessels at one of the towers. They are too funny together.

In closing, here's a picture of The Bump... as of 2 weeks ago. I feel like she's growing faster than my body can keep up. She's over 5 pounds and 18 inches long right now.

Orlando Magic Game

Friday night we got tickets to the Magic game - and we were so excited to see the new Amway Arena... we kinda felt like we were supporting our local economy since Rich DeVos is a Grand Rapids guy.

The arena was awesome, Dwight Howard is Superman, the Magic won the game and we got to see Lisa and Noah sitting across the court from us. It was a great night!

Beach Day

Balanced the camera on a pile of beach gear for this pic... love the self-timer option.

Family Dinner

Thursday night the Hunter Clan came over to Aaron and Tracy's for dinner. We had so much fun catching up with the Florida relatives.

One of the most hilarious parts of the evening was Bailey and all the little cousins. Jada and Ella kept yelling, "Stand Down!" which is not a command that Bailey is familiar with... but they used it all night. So funny. Also, Lincoln was laughing, squealing and running from Bailey while simultaneously being completely terrified of her all at once. A little boy filled with a blend of terror and happiness is quite a sight to see!

Here's Aunt Becky with Joel and Lizzy's little Luke. He's too cute for words.

The ladies (featuring a really weird angle of my face)

Aunt Becky and the kiddos - they're all so awesome.

Such a great time with such a great family.

Ponce de Leon Springs

We drove up to Ponce de Leon Springs one afternoon to check out the trails, do some paddle-boating and swim in what is thought by some to be "The Fountain of Youth." We planned to eat lunch as soon as we got there, and heard about a pancake place called the Sugar Mill. We decided to go there first and discovered there was a 2.5 hour wait, so while we waited we rented a paddle boat.

The boat rental guy was very concerned about us renting a paddle boat on such a windy day. Of course, Ryan and Aaron saw it as a challenge and signed the release forms stating they'd been warned of the dangers. After that, the four of us put on our snazzy life jackets and loaded up the boat.

You can't really tell from this picture, but the frustration level at the quality of our boat was very high. Aaron felt he had been duped by the rental guy who said it would be difficult because of the wind. Actually, it was difficult because the paddle boat was really crappy and didn't work no matter how hard the guys peddled. Tracy and I were riding in style in the back seats - wish I could have captured a pic of all 4 of us. We were laughing a lot.

Love this pic of me and my brother. He's just the best.

Get this - The water that flows from this spring spends 30 years in an underground cave system before it surfaces... so Ryan and I were potentially swimming in rain water that fell in 1980 - the year we were born! Isn't that crazy? 14 million gallons of water flow from the spring every single day! It was REALLY COLD!

The sign Tracy is sitting on says the water varies from 2 to 30 feet deep. Talk about useful information.

After waiting for over 2.5 hours for a table we FINALLY got a table at the restaurant

The Old Spanish Sugar Mill Restaurant was awesome - well worth the wait! They bring out an unending amount of batter and you cook it yourself on the griddle right in front of you!

Ryan's face perfectly describes how we felt by the time we used up the last of the batter on one huge pancake.

Hunter Vision

Ryan and I got to swing over to visit my cousins Joel Hunter and Josh Hunter and check out the unbelievably beautiful Hunter Vision offices. Last time we visited they hadn't even put walls up yet. What an amazing place!

I can't wait to get Lasik from Joel someday. He is amazing.

To top off our time there, Josh gave Ryan this sweet Hunter Vision camo hat, which Ryan wore pretty much everyday for the rest of our vacation. If you think you might want a Hunter Vision hat, stop thinking that, because they're not even a thing. They don't even exist.