Myakka River State Park- Gator Gal

We visited one of Florida's oldest and largest state parks the Myakka River.  When we think of Florida we think of Alligators so we took a ride on the GATOR GAL to see some Florida Gators!  The boat ride was long and VERY cold.  But well worth it, I have never been so educated about alligators before.

Nash was a pretty good boy for how cold it was.  

Once we crossed the lake we found a pod of alligators.

They were everywhere...even peeking up out of the water in some places...

We also learned about and saw A LOT of birds.  This bird in the next pictures is called something like a serpent bird where they look like snakes coming out of the water.  I got a picture of it catching a fish...

More Myakka River State Park Pictures to come!  Sorry our Florida trip is taking so long to post about. 

Siesta Keys Beach

Darin's conference was from 8am - 12pm Monday - Friday.  I woke up early (5am) every morning and hit the motel gym (plowing through the weight loss challenge!).  The first few days in Sarasota, Nash and I spent most of the morning and afternoon doing this...

Poor little buddy, he just wasn't feeling well.  He didn't like the sleeping arrangement of the pack and play and decided our king size bed was big enough for the WHOLE family!  That didn't last long it is supposed to be a restful vacation...so I made Nash a bed on the floor and that is where he slept the entire week.  (By the way this rug is not the bed I made him.:)

Tuesday afternoon we made our way down to the Siesta Key Beach, which is known for its white beautiful sand.  I am a big fan of running on the beach and begged Darin to run with me.  This is the purpose I wanted to bring the jogging stroller with us!  We ran for 4 miles and FROZE our buns off.  There were a ton of walkers and all of them dressed for a blizzard...NOT US! BRRRR.....sheesh we left Pennsylvania for the sunshine state....WHERE WAS THE SUNSHINE?!?

There are A LOT of pictures of Darin and Nash but I couldn't throw them out, I LOVE THEM ALL! :)

Darin and Nash loved all the shells on this beach.  This one still had a little critter in it...

Alright this picture isn't very flattering, but keep in mind we did just run 4 miles ON THE BEACH and we are FREEZING!!!  I think we loved every minute of it.

Sick Little Boy...

The day before we flew to Florida, Nash woke up from his nap gasping for air and then began barking.  He had a high fever and just did not feel well.  Darin checked him out in the ER and told me it was croup.  I of course wanted a second opinion...I know, I know Darin IS a doctor but he still just seems like my husband Darin and who knows where or what he does everyday! :)  So we asked his attendee to examine Nash and well....he told me the same thing.  GOOD JOB DADDY DOCTOR DARIN!  The flight to Florida was fantastic because Nash did not feel good and just wanted to be cuddled.  Although this is what he looked like the first few days of our stay in Naples...

He had some great babysitters (Carly and Halle) who were willing to read him stories....

and cuddle with him while they watched some TV specifically Tom and Jerry...

Nash loved Carly and her snuggles.  Right before this next picture he was asleep on her shoulder.  Rachel said something about ice-cream and Carly jumped with excitement right when I took the picture, and his eyes opened...

Uncle Trevor was also a favorite.  We often saw him toting Nash around.  I think Nash thought Trevor was Darin for a while. :)

Television is always the best when you have family to share it with...especially when you are not feeling good.  Thanks Trevor, Rachel, Carly and Halle for letting us stay at your house with a sick child.  I am so happy everyone stayed healthy.

Little Boy in a Girls World...

Our trip to Florida was for an ER-Pediatric Conference for Darin in Sarasota. Darin's brother just moved to Naples for school. We were able to spend our weekends with them. When we first arrived Nash didn't know what to think about all the GIRL stuff! His cousins Carly and Halle were so nice to share all their toys with him.

Playing with a doll house is fun as long as animals are allowed in the house!

Carly loves to perform and Halle is willing to take part in just about anything her big sister is doing. Carly put on her dance costume and Halle followed suit. They then had the whole family sit in the kitchen and watch the performance. Too cute!

I thought it would be fun to have Nash join in on the dress-up fun....

I think he liked it! ;)

At first glance in the mirror he thought he looked rather fashionable...it was the double look that got him...

Next it was time for Halle to try on her moms shoes. This little girl has better coordination then I do in heels!

Darin thought Nash should try some on too...

Then it was time for all the adults to have shoes on...

Nash survived two weekends of dance recitals in the kitchen, dress-ups, doll houses and shoe parading and had so much fun in the process!

Florida here we come!

On Saturday, February 13th we had the opportunity to begin a fun vacation to Florida. It began a bit stressful since Nash the day before came down with the croup out of no where! We had to take a trip to the ER to see Darin. It is nice having a daddy for an ER doctor, the visit was in and out in 10 minutes.


We woke up at 4am on Saturday morning to get us to Philadelphia on time to make out plane. We got there late and had 20 minutes to get our bags checked, get through security and on the plane. The baggage line was incredibly long and I seriously just counted ourselves out of a Florida trip! But somehow with the faith of Darin we made it through. The baggage people forgot to give me my ticket back and I was in such a hurry that I thought Darin had it. Somehow we got through security without being asked for a ticket...does anyone else find that scary! When our belongings had to go through the metal detector thing, they made Darin take off his hoody. He didn't have anything under but his garments and so he was standing in the middle of the airport feeling pretty naked! Once we got through the embarrassment and security check we loaded Nash into the jogger and ran as fast as we could to our gate, which of course was at the end of the airport. Good thing we are in great shape! :) We made it to the gate right before they were closing the doors. We were happy to see that there were 2 seats open in the back of the plane where we love to ride with Nash. I am positive we were being watched over in order to make it in time. Nash was a gem on the plane. Didn't make a peep. But he had everything a little Nasharoo could want, dvd player, snacks, his favorite toy cow,books, blanky and a BINKY (yes we brought it back just for this trip!)

Story Time...

Nash has a HUGE LOVE for books. Most often when I cannot hear him, he usually is sitting in a pile of books "reading". I have wanted to take him to story time at the library but the Emmaus library told me he was to young...BOOO! So the Macungie library had a private story time for our meetup groups. This library was so kid friendly, and Nash LOVED it. He sat and listened the whole time. Looks like we will be joining the Macungie library. :)

Thanks to Jenae again for the picture.

Super Bowl South Mountain Family Adventure Kick-off Party!

The South Mountain Family Adventure group had a kick-off super bowl party last night. It was a lot of fun. We met MORE families and ate a TON of food. All of these pictures are compliments of our friend Jenae. I forgot my camera AGAIN!

What a group....this is only some of this group. There are 30+ families in this group.
Darin spent most of the night running around torturing the kids. Poor Nash doesn't know that he is about to be attacked by a BIG PINK DOG!

I spent most of the night stuffing my face with all the YUMMY food!

As well as enjoying the relaxing time with friends, while Nash followed Darin around.

Brook (from the ward), Jenae, and I. Two of my favorite ladies in PA.

Nick and Darin the 1st year resident LDS doctors.

This woman is Kathleen. She is one of the sweetest people I have ever met! Kathleen was one of the first people in our other meet-up group "Club Mom" that took me under her wing and showed Nash and I genuine friendship.

Our friends have become our family out here. I love them ALL very much and I get so excited to meet more great new families!