Madison turned 16 this past month

How do I already have not one but two 16 year olds??

 

Madison is a light in the world, music maker with both her voice, piano and clarinet

A snappy, smart, loving sister and daughter

We are so happy to have her in our family 

 

        

Both her Dad and I are so proud of the choices that she is making

and the places she is going

It's fun to watch your kids grow up and make decisions and become young adults

She celebrated the big day with a few friends, pizza, games and fireworks

Happy Birthday Sweetie!

Samantha's Sweet 16

Happy Birthday Sam

Samantha celebrated her 16th birthday last month

What, she's 16!!

  

My lover of llamas, succulents, exercising, playing countless instruments

We are so happy to have this spunky, spitfire, loving girl in our family

 

 

 She's growing into such a wonderful young woman

Her Dad and I are so proud of the choices that she is making

She celebrated the evening with a few friends over for pizza, fireworks and cake

Gwen was just as excited to blow out the candles as Sam was!

Aubrey made her a chocolate sheet cake with chocolate llamas and flowers

We sang quick before the chocolate melted away in the hot Brazilian weather

Girlfriends celebrate the big day

Goodbyes

All good things must come to an end

That meant saying goodbye to cousins,

my adorable niece

parents and siblings

We had a great time in Florida

and so many things are changing for my extended family...

moving, heading to medical residency, having babies

Hope for a reunion sometime soon!

Sad to be missing 2 of my siblings...

Goodbye to bitty Belle

The saddest goodbye of all...the "twins" had to once again be separated!

Catch me at the beach

As our collective families were sitting on the beach all week long

we realized what a great week we enjoyed

relaxed, gorgeous weather

kids loving to be with each other

Hope it can happen again, sometime soon!

Forget Snowmen, I'll take sandmen any day!

Is that a Gator???

During our week in Naples we took one day away from the beach and drove south

About 1 hour south our giant crew boarded an airboat

I felt like no trip to southern FL is complete without an airboat tour

It was a chilly overcast morning,

not the best time to view gators but we did see a lot of birds and a little glimpse of a gator

Little did we know later in the day how many gators we would get to see

Lovely ladies hanging out on the boardwalk

This little guy is a rental from a local gator farm

Don't totally agree with him being in a cage all day long with not much to do besides being held by guests but my girls totally loved holding him

At one point they were scratching the top of his head and he would point his snout up into the air loving every minute!

Mounted behind the kids is the largest alligator ever caught in Florida

Glad we didn't run into any that large on this trip

Mangrove forests

Stay close little one!