Florida

John, Julia, and I had a wonderful time in Florida. We started our adventure in Tampa with Julia's cousins Taylor, Chase, and Sophia. While it was close to impossible to get a good picture of all 4 of them together they definitely had a great time playing all together.

Julia's first theme park adventure began at Busch Gardens where she spent most of her time splashing in the water. Here she is blowing a kiss... John and I like to think she was blowing us a kiss wishing us a happy six year wedding anniversary!

Asleep at the end of a very long day

We also went to the beach on Siesta Key, where Julia got to splash around in the ocean in a bathing suit (and hot, humid 95 degree weather), rather than in jeans and a sweatshirt in the cold, rainy Maine weather a few weeks ago.

All the daddies with their daughters (Uncle Dave and cousin Sophia, Daddy and Julia, and Uncle Chris and cousin Taylor)

While John attended his actuarial conference in Orlando we headed for a day at Disney. After about 2 hours in the 95 degree weather all the adults were tired and wondering what we were thinking bringing 4 kids to disney on a hot, busy, summer day but after a snack and some air conditioning we were refreshed and ready to take on the park. For me it brought back a lot of childhood memories since my grandmother and cousins lived in Orlando and we visited quite often. Julia had a great time, I think her favorite rides were It's a small world, Aladdin's Magic Carpet Ride, the Jungle Cruise, and Buzz Lightyear. I thought Julia might be scared in some of the rides, but after we went into pitch black on the pirates ride, took a slight drop, and Julia asked for more, I knew we were all set. The highlight of the day was on the same ride she looked up at an animatronic pirate, pointed at him, and signed "Daddy, Daddy". I had to try and explain that daddy was at work, and Captain Jack Sparrow was not her father.

Uncle Dave trying to teach Julia to say "Arrr, I'm a pirate"

At the end of the trip, we said good bye to all the cousins but Julia and I spent a few relaxing days with my Aunt Arlen and Uncle Bill. We had an excellent time at the local zoo and even got to go to a movie on our own whlie Arlen and Bill babysat.