Crazy for baseball!

The day my Dad left ended up being a super busy day. Nolan had a baseball tournament and we had tickets to a Rays game for later that night.  Nolan's team hasn't had the best record this year so we figured he would be done way before we had to head down to the rays game. But of course, since we were planning on his team losing, they won 2 games in a row, and so had a third game Saturday evening. 

We had already paid for the Rays tickets and didn't want to waste them so we had to split up. I took Aidan, Zoie and Logan to the Rays game while Jim took Nolan to his game. Luckily, Nolan's game ended early enough that they were able to come and meet up with us during the 7th inning. It was a fun day, but suuuuuuper long and we were definitely all baseball-ed out by the end of it.

Here is Zoie at the second of Nolan's games. We were not expecting it to be chilly so she was trying to stay warm by wrapping up in a towel.

Nolan batting

At the Ray's game, before Jim and Nolan got there.

I was a little freaked out about trying to control these 3 at a baseball game, but fortunately they were all pretty good.

Love these faces

Finally, Daddy came to save us!

After the game, getting ready to head out.

It's always fun when Grandpa comes!

My Dad came to visit from Nebraska and spent 4 days here with us. It was so great (he hadn't been to visit since we moved 3 years ago) and the kids loved seeing their Grandpa Taylor. He brought lots of fun stuff for the kids, which they loved, and we had fun hanging out, gardening, going to the beach, Nolan's baseball game, and catching up.

We also decided to head up to Tarpon Springs to the Sponge Docks since my Dad had never been and we hadn't been there for several years. 

There was this cool tile mural of a sponge diver on a wall.

  And we found this area that we hadn't been to before.

 The kids loved playing near this boat (the one in the background). They even found a few sponges on the ground under an overhang where we were sitting.

We also ate at a really yummy Greek restaurant, but I didn't get any pics of it because Logan was not cooperating.

Then we went on a boat ride out to Caladesi Island.

Island wildlife

These two bird kept hanging around while we were eating lunch. Once of them didn't have a foot (we nicknamed it gimpy) and the other followed it around and gave it food. We figured they must have been mates because they were always together. I'm normally not a bird fan but it was cute.

It was so great spending time with my Dad, and the kids were so sad the morning they woke up and he wasn't there anymore, but hopefully we'll be able to talk him into coming back sooner next time!

The (no) Citrus Festival

We live pretty close to downtown Palm Harbor and every now and then there are small festivals that come and set up shop there. We had never been to any of them, but the kids always wanted to go and so we gave in and took them one night when Jim's mom was in town and could stay with Logan.

It was called the Citrus Festival so I was excited thinking there would be some citrus there that we could eat and/or buy (seems logical since because of the name right?). Once we arrived though we quickly discovered that there was not a fruit in sight (not counting people that is, ha!). It really was just an expensive carnival, but since we were already there we bought a few tickets and let the kids go on some rides and play a few games.

Here is the Ferris wheel. It was pretty big for a carnival ride.

The kids all tried this one but couldn't do it. Pretty sure it's rigged. :)

The kids won 2 goldfish. 

 I'm sad to say that they aren't with us anymore. Apparently I'm a moron about goldfish care (Who knew taking care of goldfish was so hard? Probably everyone but me). I felt SO bad because the kids were really excited about them. We would go buy some but I'm too scared of killing more.

So other than the fact that we couldn't get any citrus and I killed my kids fish, it was a fun night.

Sunset Dolphin Cruise

Back in September we bought tickets for a sunset dolphin cruise through one of those deal sites. We figured we could use them when my Mom came to visit but it ended up being too cold. So we waited and waited and then forgot about them, and then realized they were about to expire so we invited our friends Austin and Ginny and went. 

It still ended up being pretty cold out on the water but we all took coats and had a great time.

We saw a lot more sunset than dolphin, but oh well. I think we did see one (although I didn't get a pic of it.) 

Here is our boat going under a drawbridge.

There was another boat behind us almost the whole way.

The sunset was so beautiful out on the water...

going...

 gone.