ANOTHER ENJOYABLE WEEKEND....YESSSSSS!!!!!

Dear Sisters,

The kiddos and I have really been taking advantage of the nice weather. This past weekend Ray took us and smelly Daisy to BayView Park.  This is another place I would love to take you guys to whenever you all decide to come down.  It has a nice playground and picnic area, docks for fishing and also to stroll on, a fenced in doggie park and it even has it's own lil doggie beach :0) I wish I took pics of the whole place because the facilities was quite impressive. Anyway, I got some pics of the kiddos playing w/ their uncle......

Oohhhhhh, to be young again......

This boy is FOREVER hangin' on his uncle!

Smelly Daisy had a great time @ the park as well =0P

Such a nice time we had..... I wish their Dad didn't have to work that day :0(

So that was on Saturday afternoon.  Sunday was even better because I got to have the WHOLE afternoon aaaaalllllll to myself.  First, I brought Mar and Jr. to church.  After church, we rushed home and I made sandwiches for lunch.  After I inhaled my sandwich, I said my goodbyes to the kids and their father, ran out the door, jumped into the minivan and sped off to the beach. 

That day I decided I wanted to go to a different part of the beach. I usually go to Casino Beach ( where that ginormous pier is located),  but instead I drove 2 more miles down the road to the beach that is next to the Fort Pickens entrance.  The beach area is sweet, but the public bathroom is gaud awful.

Doesn't this pic make you wanna visit me ASAP!

This is the view facing east towards the condos.

And this is the view facing west.  There is no residential development on this side and it seems like you are on a deserted island.  I decided to walk westward in search for a whole sand dollar.  I have been on this quest for the whole summer and I have always came home empty handed :0(

No luck in this pile.......

and no freakin' luck here either.

I keep on finding half dollars...... it's too bad I can't super glue these two together =0P After an hour of walking, I just simply gave up.  I went back to my beach chair and just......

C  H  I  L  L  E  D

It was nice.  I mean really, really nice to just be able to lounge on my trusty beach chair, just reading my book while listening to the waves and not have a care in the world for a good 5 hours =0P. Don't get me wrong, I love going to the beach w/ them, but there's no relaxing there cuz they are  in the water 92% of the time and I can't even turn my back on them for a split second.  Well, that sums up my weekend!

Miss you guys a whoooooooole bunch,

Joy :0)

P.S- Oh and btw, as I was slowly dozing off in my chair, I heard a little girl screaming w/ delight in the water and you know what she found ........  A WHOLE SAND DOLLAR....... UGH.

HAPPY BELATED BIRTHDAY ALYSSA!!!

Dear Sisters,

I just had to post this pic!  This is my most FAVORITE pic of my lil Alyssi taken @ my going away party.  I miss her soooooooo much and I wish the kids and I were there to celebrate her 2nd birthday.  Please do not forget to send me some pics from her birthday party and please give her and big hug and kiss for me!

HAPPY 2ND BIRTHDAY MY LIL ALYSSI!!! I MISS AND LOVE YOU SO MUCH!!!

Miss and love you guys,

Joy :0)

IT WAS A GREAT WEEKEND!!!

Dear Sisters,

I had a fabulous weekend!  Lately I've been feeling down because I've been jobless for a while but that is all going to change.  Yesterday I finally took my CNA exam and I passed both my written and clinical!  The written test was pretty easy because it was all common sense, but the clinical was the part I was very worried about because most of the people  who took it before me (I was the last in line to take it) failed :0(  There were about 15 people there to take the clinical test and only 5 of us passed.  I feel bad for the people who failed because half of them were on their 2nd or 3rd try.  But yeah, I passed and I should have a job in a couple of weeks (I'm hoping).

Today we all went to the seafood festival in Destin (which is an hour away).  Ray felt bad that I missed the one in Pensacola last weekend so he took us to this one.  I've been waiting all summer for this and it was definitely worth the wait :0)

Here's my lil pumpkin sleeping on the way to Destin and yes she still likes to "eat" her blankie.

This was the food section of the seafood fest. The smells coming from this section was so intense that you can taste it! There were 4 other rows of tents which I did not get to visit because we got there an hour before it closed plus I was too busy stuffing my face.

I got the jumbo shrimp skewer and crab fritter platter from this booth.  Stupid me did not take a pic of my food because I dove right into it :0)

Ummmmmmmmmm..........

look @ all of this fried goodness!!!

I did however remembered to take a pic of my second plate which consisted of fried crab legs, sausage gumbo and seafood jambalaya.  Man, that gumbo was insane!!!!!

Daddy had a headache, but he was still able to enjoy his food :0)

Shown in this pic: a very happy me after committing gluttony.  Not shown in this pic: my stomach busting outta my pants ;0)

Poor kiddies, I was not paying attention to the time and they were only able to go down the slide once (which is shown deflated in the background).

After eating, I wanted to check out the beach because I heard the beaches in Destin are gorgeous.  Man, the beach we went to was SWEEEEEET.  The sand felt like baby powder on my feet and the water reminded me of light blue sea glass.  I can't wait for my next visitor to come down because I will be taking you to Destin!

And again more beach pics. At least the children are wearing something different ;0)

I wish we had our bathing suits because the water felt really nice.

The brats got their shorts wet..........

especially this one here and that is why she is not wearing any pants in this pic.

So, I hope you guys had a nice weekend as well.  I really wish I was home for Alyssi's bday party.  She must have been so cute blowing out her candles.  Please send me some pics of her bday party via Kodak Photo Gallery or something like that.

Miss you guys sooooooooo much,

Joy :0)

UNCLE RAY, THE HUMAN JUNGLE GYM

Dear Sisters,

It is again soccer season for lil Miss Mar and she seems to be enjoying herself.  I think she has a lot of potential, but the poor thing is still a little timid when she plays.    You see, she is so scared of the ball hitting her face that she practically lets the other player take the ball from her! Geeezzzz, I have to help her get over her fear cuz she's just letting the other players fly right by her.  I think I'll do some dodge ball sessions in the backyard to show her the ball doesn't hurt that much, plus I think it would be lots of fun throwing a ball @ my child ;0)

Ray has gone to a couple of games w/ me and the kids. He's been really patient w/ them and I just don't know how he does it because you guys KNOW how loud and obnoxious they can get! When he's home, the kids tend to swarm around him and I always tell them to let their uncle breath but he always says it's okay. Anyway, here are some pics from her first game, including pics of the kids smothering their uncle ......

Here's my super star player in the making posing in her soccer dress.

These are the Jaguars ladies and gents.......

I told Ray to put them down for God's sake, but he never listens to me!

This has got to be one of my most fav. pics of my lil pumpkin :0)

And of course the boy had to have his turn, too.......

My gosh, patience can only go so far and I just don't know how he does it!  I can only imagine what is going through his head when the kids are attacking him. I hope you enjoyed the pics..... I  just had to share them w/ you guys because they are just so ridiculous!

Love you lots,

Joy :0)

HAPPY BIRTHDAY TO MY LIL PUMPKIN!

Dear Sisters,

It's been a while since my last post and I guess I've  just been plain ole' lazy.  Well, the weather for the past 3 weeks has been INCREDIBLE.  It's been mid 80 during the day and 68 @ night. The kids and I actually went to the beach after church and it was soooo gorgeous out.  No Diana, I did not take any pics today cuz all of my beach pics look the same ;0) The gulf was nice and calm and the kids spent their whole afternoon in the water.  Ohhhhhh that water......... the water was a nice greenish aquamarine color today..... so gorgeous! I just don't think I'll ever get over how nice the beaches are down here :0)

Anyways, I can't believe my lil pumpkin is already 3 :0(  THANK YOU SO MUCH EVERYBODY FOR ALL OF THE NEW CLOTHES! She has a whole new wardrobe for the cooler season and I REALLY appreciate it, foreals! I don't even know what Floridians call this season. It's not Autumn or Fall.  Maybe they just call it the "cooler season". If a fellow Floridian happens to read this, could you please tell me what this season is called :0) 

So, for my lil pumpkins birthday, we went to Chuck E. Cheese and just had cake and pizza @ home... nuttin' too fancy.  Well, WE had pizza, but the celebrant had pizza crust because of you know what and she was content w/ that.

Here's my big girl wearing Lola Evie's outfit.

She really loved the rides!

Yay!!!!!! Tickets!!!! That is what Chuck E. Cheese is all about!

Oh my!  My lil pumpkin rode on this virtual roller coaster ride 4 times in a row.... she couldn't get enough of it!

Here's the strawberry Littlest Petshop cake I made for her.  It was really ugly until I added candy hearts to it :0)

My big girl w/ daddy blowing out the candles.  She is too freakin' cute, man.

So yeah, we had a fun day, BUT it wasn't the same because the cousins were missing :0( Birthdays were always fun back @ home.  Man, I really do miss you guys!!!!

Miss and love you lots,

Joy :0)

PERDIDO KEY

Dear Sisters,

I think the best part about living down here are the beaches.  My goal for the summer was to visit different beaches that are within an hour drive from me. I've been to all of them on the map below except for Fort Pickens, as the roads to that beach were never repaired from Ivan back in 2005.  If you actually click on the map, you can see where we live (Myrtle Grove) and how far the beaches are from us. I think a lot of people think we live minutes away from the beach, but actually it is the same distance as driving to Nantasket Beach back home. 

The kids and I usually go to Casino Beach but for the past couple of weekends we've been going to Johnson's Beach in Perdido Key.  

I'm not quite sure if Perdido Key is actually part of Pensacola, but it is so beautiful over there or shall I say,  "the grass is greener on the other side" if you know what I mean ;0) It actually feels like I'm on vacation when I'm over there because they have all these different pastel color houses and picture perfect palm trees (which I don't have pics of) when you first enter this little town.  I wish there were picture perfect palm trees all over Pensacola.  Before coming down here, I used to think that the whole state of Florida was all tropical with palm trees all over the place and I'm assuming a lot of northerners think the same, BUT here in good ol' P'cola I've only seen them in:

1. Fancy neighborhoods

2. In front of hospitals and 

3. In front of banks

Anyways, here are a bunch of pics of the kiddos in the "public" part of Johnson's beach.....

Most of buildings on this beach are condos....... I think I will retire here :0)

I think for the next beach season, I will buy 3 bathing suits for each child because I just realized that most of my beach pics I have taken look like they were all from the same day.

I love this "Bay Watch" running pic.

Here's my lil pumpkin enjoying my bag of Munchos......

Mmmmmmmm, soooooooo goooooooood!!!

I think there are only 4 to 5 more weeks of beach weather in this part of Florida :0(  I am going to try to make the most of it and try to go 3 more times.  I am REALLY going to miss my exotic tanned skin and I'm not looking forward to turning back to my original pasty beige color :0(

Miss you guys sooooooooooo much,

Joy

P.S- You can actually click on all the pics to take a better look if they are too small.

ED'S VISIT PART II

Dear Sisters, 

I can't believe it is already September!  Hurricane Gustav has already arrived and fortunately all we are getting in this part of the gulf region are spurts of heavy rains.  

I REALLY need to get used to tropical storms and hurricane warnings, as the season runs until mid October.  I was a bit worried when tropical storm Fay was making it's way to our area last weekend because the news was flashing flood warnings on TV.  Thank goodness all Fay did was make big waves for the surfers @ the beach that day the guys went fishing @ the Pensacola Beach Pier.

This is the pier the guys went fishing @ last Sunday.

The boy caught his very first fish!

Hey, you know if they were fishing @ Wollaston Beach, they would've caught a tampon instead ;0)

I think Ed was a lil sad that I got there too late w/ the camera to take a pic of the 22" fish he caught (which he had to set free cuz it was too small).

Ray was happy to be there :0)

That day they went fishing, Fay was making the waves really big and there were signs posted to stay out of the gulf.  Here's a pic of the beach on a good day.......

Here's a pic of how ruff the water was last Sunday.

A beautiful day on Pensacola Beach (Casino Beach) ........

Ruff waves that would've carried the kids off to sea........

There's a beach right across the street that faces inland called Quietwater Beach. That beach has zero waves and is great for the lil ones to swim in. I could've brought the kiddos over there that day, but it's not gorgeous like Casino Beach, which faces the gulf. It's okay though.... instead of swimming in the beautiful gulf, we went seashell hunting ;0)  Well, I hope everyone had a wonderful long weekend.

Miss you lots,

Joy :0)