First Orchard Visit of the Season

We love going to Center Grove Orchard.  We got season passes last year and knew we'd do that again!  After going twice, it pays for itself.  Here are a few snapshots of our first visit this fall.

 The cider donuts are a hit.

 the jumping pillow

And we ended the day going on a hayrack ride.  We squeezed onto the trailer packed full of 2 kindergarten classes!  In this photo Lily is enjoying roaming around while the other kiddos got off to pick out gourds.

Siesta Key: Last Day

Our last day consisted of traveling home bright and early in the morning.  We were greeted by my mom and Lily at the airport in Des Moines which was fun.  Much to our surprise though, Lily was super shy towards us!  I don't think she knew quite what to think about the whole situation.  After having lunch though, she came around and was her usual spunky self.

 We'd never boarded a plane from the outside before!

 Our welcoming crew.  

We were a ways off and Justin zoomed in so I don't think Lily had spotted us yet. :)

 She's smiling here but she did not say one word til about 15 minutes later.  We were so glad to see her!

 Very clingy with Daddy

Home sweet Home!

Siesta Key: Day 3

This was our final day in Siesta Key so we tried to get in as much beach time as we could.  In the morning, after breakfast, we hung out at Crescent Beach, right by our resort.  I think we both walked about a mile along the shore, it was so peaceful.  Then we enjoyed lunch at Siesta Key Oyster Bar and headed back to Siesta Beach.  We could barely bring ourselves to leave that afternoon to head back to Clearwater!  But it was a very smart idea...since Siesta Key is about an hour drive from Clearwater (where we flew into), we figured it would be probably be best to stay close to the airport our last night in Florida before our early morning flight.  It was sooo nice to be nearby and not have to wake up as early and/or risk running into traffic or traveling problems and possibly miss our flight.  Good on us!

 Breakfast at The Good Egg

 Yoga on the beach!

 The whole outside of the restaurant was covered in dollar bills - I can think of better ways to spend that cash.  Silliness.

 You can see by this photo of how far out the water was waist deep.  We were easily 200 yards out at one point and still, only to our waists.  Also, the sand is 99% quartz so it's never hot.  That in itself was awesome!  It was very fine and white, looked alot like powdered sugar.  Ahhh, heavenly.

 It was much less crowded the two previous days

 On Clearwater Beach.  We ate at Frenchy's Rockaway Grill.  When we checked into our hotel, the guy at the front desk asked where we were having dinner.  When we said on Clearwater Beach, he responded with "Oh, you're eating at Frenchy's then?"  Needless to say, it's a popular place!

It was overcast most nights of our trip but we were still able to see some splash of color as the sun set before the rain started this night.

Siesta Key: Day 2

This blog post will be mostly pictures and a ridiculous amount of them - you have your fair warning!  The scenery was so beautiful that we just kept snapping away and it's too hard to narrow them down, so forgive me. :)

 Think I could make it as a maternity model?

Yeah, me neither.  But let me tell you...the salt water was Ahmazing to float in and feel weightless!

 We had a couple of different people offer to take our picture for us but we were having way too much fun using the tripod. :)  It always makes us laugh.

 Lunch!

 Before going out for dinner

 29 weeks along

 Our tapas spread at The Cottage

This is the view of the outside of our room and the deck that we shared with our neighbors.  It was fabulous to sit in those loungers at night, enjoying the ocean breeze!

Siesta Key: Day 1

Well, we had our first trip away from Lily and we survived!  I was so nervous the couple of days before we left but the Lord was faithful to give me peace about it and once I was down there in the sunshine, it was all good!  Plus, Lily was in good hands so that helped too.  We tried to do face time with her on the iPhone but she didn't have a clue what to think about it and barely said one word to us.  It was still fun to see her face while we were gone though!
So on Day 1, we arrived in Clearwater, Florida around 2:30 pm and then drove about an hour south to Siesta Key.  We got settled into our resort and then headed just up the street to get some food - we were so hungry!  Captain Curt's was said to have the best clam chowder in the world and after tasting it ourselves, we'd agree for sure.  After that, we pretty much hung out on the beach for the rest of the night and then went out for ice cream.  While we were sitting outside the ice cream shop, we witnessed a lady stumble to her car, clearly intoxicated ( Me and the girl sitting nearby us were telling our husbands we shouldn't let her drive away) and then proceed to hit a truck in the parking lot and drive away.  Justin thought it was only proper to call the cops and report it so we had to stick around for a bit.  Other than that, our first day was pretty uneventful and low key!

 We were pleasantly surprised when we got to our room to discover they had upgraded us to a King without us even requesting it!  On the other side of the room was a kitchen and dining table.  We totally could have saved money by utilizing it but decided to enjoy the luxury of eating out every meal!

 on the deck outside our room

 Best Clam Chowder!

 the path at our resort that led down to the beach

 The water was so warm.

Nothing better than sitting on the beach at night, just listening to the waves crash.  

Ahhh, makes me feel peaceful just thinking about it. :)

Jesus Loves Me

Sorry it's dark and you can't see us but Justin just quickly grabbed the camera so he could capture Lily singing this sweet tune before I laid her down at bedtime.  Precious!

Whit's 30th Birthday

A couple weekends ago, we ventured down to Seymour to attend our friend Whitney's surprise birthday party.  And surprised she was!  It was honestly one of the best reactions I've ever seen, tears and all.  We had a great time and were so glad to be a part of celebrating that God made her 30 years ago!

 SURPRISE!!

 Lily had fun dancing the night away with cousin Ali.  

She's really become fond of hanging out with her every time they see each other!