Our beach house is a block from the ocean and I cannot tell you how much we love it! Dylan plays with his ball then buries it. Dylan also buries his feet and loves it when he dramatically pulls them back out. The girls are into body surfing and have gained a love for the salty water. Initially every time it would catch them in the face they would whine. Now they dive head first into the waves and ride them in. We have learned to go at low tide when the surf is gentle. I have oodles of ideas for sea shell crafts so be prepared to see our work.

We are in love with the natural beauty of this place. Just a drive up the coast to the Clearwater library is breathtaking and it feels like an incredible honor to be here. The ocean is healing and powerful. It is an endless learning opportunity too. Workbooks are often replaced by writing words and equations in the sand. The different sea shells and marine life that get stuck in tide pools are endless science lessons.

Grandma and Grandpa are also spending lots of time with us!

We spent the night at their house this weekend and went to Universal. A suspenseful game of Jenga followed a sunset dip in the pool.

Cora is reading Hop on Pop by Dr Seuss. Dr Seuss remains the favorite books in the house. His silliness is timeless. The Dr Seuss land at Universal is the absolute best and by far the kids favorite. It makes the books come alive and even more fun to read at home on the couch.

At the end of our explorations, having this as the close to our day is truly a gift from God. The sunsets have never been better.

For Halloween this year Brooklyn was Hermione from Harry Potter. She actually decided mid Halloween that she was NOT Hermione, her name was Charity Potter and she was a long lost sister to Harry. She took the character very seriously when in costume. Any excuse to drink butter beer….

Cora was a precious fairy princess. She is just all sweetness and sugar.

Dylan was Batman, surfing Batman! When he puts on his costume with the puffed out chest and arms he runs around hysterically saving people.

And I was a genie. I saw these pants at Salvation Army and just had to have them!

We trick or treated at our neighbors house who special invited us. Their golf cart was decorated for Halloween and fun to see cruising around the neighborhood and parked by the beach.

Halloween night we went to a Trunk or Treat with lots of bouncy houses, a petting zoo, and a fire spinning show. The kids bounced their hearts out and ate lots of candy.

We also went to a Dog costume contest parade at Green Bench Brewery with Grandma and Grandpa. We met Elle from Stranger Things! An afternoon rain storm interrupted the parade and sent us under umbrellas.

Our season passes have officially expired, but we got so much use and joy from them. Granny’s visit aligned with the closing of our season passes and we went on an epic excursion of all four parks.

We will miss you Mickey! This is the picture of Dylan when he is released from my arms to hug Mickey. I love this picture!

The characters are always fun to visit because of the kids glee at receiving personal, special attention . The characters do not speak, yet really do make you glow with their non verbal gestures and hugs. We are huggers, and nothing is better to us that a heartfelt hug.

The shows and entertainment are top notch, Nemo the Musical at Animal Kingdom is our family’s personal favorite. We sit in the “shark bait” section because the sharks lunge toward the crowd at a particular point and the other characters inter act with the audience as well. One of the song lyrics to Go With the Flow says “Raising up sons and daughters is like surfing mighty waters; Go with the Flow.” I sing this to myself an embarrassing amount lately.

With Granny visiting, Adam and I got to ride some grown up rides together which is so fun! I love just standing in the lines just the two of us, hand in hand.

Granny took Cora to Disney for an overnight to celebrate her birthday and it was really special for them both. Cora insisted Dylan be brought to the Disney resort to see the Cars movie cars.

Maybe in a few years, once the new attractions are finished we will get passes again. It really is the most magical place on earth.

The next chapter in our family story is going to very magical too. We are very excited to rent a house one block from Indian Rocks Beach! It is a tiny blue house with a great fenced in yard and some of the most beautiful white sands beach in the world. Live where you vacation, right?

we are going to miss Lakeland, however, and the friends we have made here. Saying goodbye to the children’s museum staff and our librarians is especially sad because we spend lots of time at both places and love the staff.

On a lighter note, what’s a pirates favorite letter?

Argh of course. Ahoy matey, onto new awesome experiences at Indian Rocks Beach!

Hopefully they have an outstanding dentist for this cranky pirate…❤️

Brooklyn has been rehearsing hard for her part as a bird in The Lion King Jr. musical. The community theatre provides Brooklyn with such confidence and pride! It is easy to see why she is so proud to be a part of something much greater than herself. The production was beyond expectations, the kids are so talented and the theatre’s costumes and special effects are professional level impressive. It is so good for Brooklyn to befriend kids of all ages; she is such a social butterfly! Before her performance we told her to break a leg, and she informed us that it was break a wing because she was a bird lol. Between Granny, Grandma, Grandpa, Adam and I there was family at her every performance. The show was sold out and standing room only for the final night!

I enjoyed being a parent volunteer and serving as usher and concession stand attendant. Cora was shocked; she had never seen me WORKING before! The part of volunteering I enjoyed the most was observing Brooklyn with her fellow cast members both onstage and backstage. She is so confident and able to relate to kids of all ages. She really looks up to the older cast members and came home squeeling each day one of the leads of the play became her friend! Her best friend from Sleeping Beauty was cast as Simba, the star of the show, and he did an amazing amazing job too!

The birds before and after costuming:

The whole family got to enjoy Brooklyn’s beautiful flowers.

Brooklyn is more gorgeous every day.

Five years ago Cora Hazel Yates was born at 2:12 a.m. in our home in Indianapolis, IN. From day one, her hair stood on end. She loved her swing so much she burned out two swing’s motors by 6 months old. She is incredibly attached to her KiKi, a pink and white hand-knitted blanket. She wants to be a fairy princess when she grows up. She is our roller skating love bug and snuggle bunny!

Here she is opening her gifts today.

She is an incredibly sweet big sister and teaches Dylan his ABC’s.

After presents, we went to Disney for a special birthday treat and to ride the Frozen ride! Cora wore her new princess dress and Dylan completed his Mickey Mouse outfit with his new big boy underwear!

At the Plaza Restaurant, we bought Cora a Minnie Milkshake complete with donut, ice cream cone, two Oreos, and a chocolate red polka dot bow! As the milkshake was brought to our table, the table next to ours gasped, it was THAT awesome! We have had the reservation for several months and the suspense was fun for us too. Cora shared her birthday treat generously.

Cora embodies the most important qualities of a princess: absolute kindness, compassion, and a generous nature. Sweet dreams of beauty and true love, Cora!

For our family vacation we went to a resort in Orlando for two nights and explored the brand new Star Wars, Galaxies Edge at Hollywood Studios. The Star Wars area was designed to the smallest detail. The imagination that goes into designing these worlds is so detailed it really makes it easy to believe you are transported. Star Wars has it’s own money system, greetings, and cast which never breaks character. There is not a single Disney logo to be found and the park is patrolled by storm troopers searching for rebels. The Millennium Falcon spacecraft is just incredible in it’s detail and size. At night time the park is lit spectacularly and gives it even more mystery with the night time sounds projected. Very glad to see it before our passes expire.

The park was particularly deserted one day because of the threat of hurricane and we could literally walk onto rides with no wait. We had a ton of fun with special dining reservation at the beast’s castle where we splurged on fancy cupcakes.

Disney is just plain magical for kids. We are nearing our season pass expiration and really appreciate the year of experiences we have had.

And all the great beer and treats like this apple pie slushee.

After Disney, we spent two nights right on Clearwater Beach and swam a lot. Dylan is now completely free of his floatie and able to swim underwater to the stairs and wall. We are very proud!

The energy of the ocean, feeling of aliveness with the sun and wind swept hair really penetrates the soul. The power of the ocean and expanse has healing. We just love it.

Adam and I found a tiny house for rent with a fenced in backyard across the street from the ocean. We did a self guided tour, applied, and put money down on it the next day. We are celebrating moving to Indian Rocks Beach, FL beginning October 1st! I can’t tell you how excited we are to have our morning coffee and nightly walks on one of the most beautiful beaches in the world! Celebrate!

We took a road trip to Fort Myers, FL this weekend to play at the beach! Sanibel Island is a 33 sq mile island with gorgeous sandy beaches. We saw dolphins playing really close to the beach!

We went to a gigantic shell store called the Shell Factory. Along with great photo ops, there was a display of all the shells identified that was really interesting.

We spent hours at the Marriot’s pool. Dylan is learning to swim without his floaters and he is fearless and proud! He says he is like a sea diver.

We ate ice cream at the Love Boat and Adam visited the Point Ybel Brewery.

We drove up the western coast of Florida to Sarasota where we stopped for a picnic at Circus Park. The kids played hard and as we left Dylan called out “I love you Circus Park!”

During our picnic the banana phone kept on ringing.

Circus Park was a sweltering 93 degrees, but had mister fans running full blast.

Dylan flexing his biceps. He trained this stout tiger real well.

This road trip Dylan figured out how to undo the chest belt and get his torso out. He was so impossible to keep in I removed my hemp cord necklace and had to tie the belt harness shut….He worked endlessly to break the cord then pretended he was wearing a necklace with the end of the knot. Houdini lives.

Today we took a trip to Tampa to visit the Florida Aquarium.

This fish lives in freshwater Florida. I could not figure out what type of fish it was, honestly, but I do know this image will haunt me the next time I venture in swimming anywhere not chlorinated.

Go bravely into the unknown…

The girls kept an Observation book and wrote down the names of interesting creatures along with a sketch. Even Dylan did some sketches!

After a day of schooling at the aquarium the kids played at the aquariums awesome splash pad.