November 28 - 986 Miles [Stage 1, Houston to Tampa]

Stage 1: Houston to Tampa
Left: 3am CT
Arrived: 7:30pm ET
Stops: 2 (breakfast and lunch)
Total Hours of Travel: 15.5 hours
Miles Driven: 986 miles

Our Florida vacation extravaganza was so fun filled I'm splitting it up into multiple posts. We traveled a total of 3 days and spent 9 days on vacation-I have A LOT of photos to share with you all. 

The first leg of our journey took us from Houston to Tampa. We left promptly at 3am (as planned) and we were hoping the kids would sleep in the car for a few hours. Julia was in and out until 6am but Luke was awake from 3am until around 2pm (at which point he took a short nap). The girls (Julia and Amelia) were great in the car the entire trip. Luke was pretty difficult. We only stopped twice though and it was great to finally arrive in Tampa Wednesday evening!

The kids had an amazing time at Grammie's house. They especially loved all of her cats (feeding them treats was a huge hit), watering plants in the backyard and playing with Uncle Chad. We happened to be in town for Uncle Greg's birthday (yay!) and we had a nice birthday lunch together. Julia and Grammie made a delicious ice cream cake together before the fiesta and the kids had fun with their cousin Leah. 

While we were in Tampa, Julia went to visit one of Grammie's friend's and neighbor's, Ms. Miller. Julia took an instant liking to Ms. Miller, even coloring a picture for her. Ms. Miller was super sweet and got Julia a cute little purse and dog. Julia actually wrote her a thank you note, her first time ever writing so many words. I know it's small, but as a mommy, I was so proud of her! 

Grammie and her grandbabies

Aunt Nicole and Leah

Happy Birthday Uncle Greg!! 

Bottle Fun (Luke LOVED playing with the spray bottles)

Luke really wanted those fruit snacks

Feeding the cats

Uncle Chad makes the coolest living room tents

Fun with Uncle Greg

Julia and Ms. Miller

Grammie and Julia made a delicious ice cream cake, yum! (layer ice cream sandwiches, cool whip and chocolate topping...mmm)

Next up: Stage 2 to Disney World!! 

November 25 - Happy Halloween...A Tad Late

Sorry Dimpled Munchkin readers-work has been insane lately (as in working until midnight almost every night prior to our Florida vacation) that I am SO FAR behind on posts. We just got back from our crazy fun Florida vacation (Tampa, Orlando and Miami!!) but before I blog about that, I have to catch you all up on Halloween and early November. 

Julia's school had a parade for all of the preschool and elementary students on Halloween that was really cute. Every child was introduced individually and Julia did a little curtsy in her princess dress and shoes-it was beyond adorable. For actual trick or treating, her friends Jewel (also dressed as Belle) and Evey (pumpkin) came over. The girls literally sprinted from house to house  (I'm not sure if they were purely excited about the candy or wanted to be the first one to the next house to ring the doorbell). Anyway, Luke quickly caught on to the whole concept of trick or treating and had a great time as well. After going down a few roads, the kids came back to our house to check their spoils. Jules and Luke then helped me give out candy the rest of the night. Just like last year, we had a lot of trick or treaters in our neighborhood. Unlike last year, everyone who came was wearing a costume. 


The weekend after Halloween, Julia attended her first ever Build a Bear party and sleepover for her friend (and our neighbor) Jenna. The girls and Luke had a great time building their pets and it was pretty stress free until Luke started throwing his new puppy like a football around the store. Fun adventures with a toddler! The girls stayed up late watching a movie and eating popcorn and went to bed at a reasonable hour. She had so much fun she is already begging me for more sleepovers!

Luke also participated in his first gymnastics class and he LOVED it. Especially the trampoline!!

Evaluating their spoils

Waiting for Trick or Treaters (the cauldron of candy is sitting in the chair on the left)

Julia washing her new bear (bear was initially named Rosie but is now known as 'Holly Bear')

Build a Bear (about 2 sec before he went crazy and started tossing his new dog like a weapon) 

Mr.Gymnastics

Kids, just want to have fun