Back to December....

It's a great blessing for Jake and I that our parents just happen to live 10 minutes apart; not to mention, each set of grandparents live within a 45 minute drive. So, we were able to have a wonderful 11 day visit with almost both sides of our entire family. The only one missing was my brother JT who is serving a mission in Brazil. Some of the highlights were: Christmas (of course), visiting with the NY Crosbys, going to the Florida Aquarium, watching my Dad shoot off fireworks, and my new favorite.... the Dillards New Years Day Sale. That will definately be a tradition from here on out. For those of you who do not know, from now on ask your husbands for a Dillards gift card for Christmas and one day of babysitting. Then, get to Dillards as soon as the doors open on January 1st because all of their clearance is an extra 50% off! Plus, they bring out all of the stuff from the back that needs to go on clearance. The Brandon Dillards is HUGE and almost everywhere you looked there were extra racks pulled out into the aisles to allow for the insane amount of merchandise on sale.

Between Christmas and the Dillards sale, the Crosby clan definitely made out like bandits over the holidays! Our poor Subaru was packed to the gills on our drive back to Tallahassee. Kaitlyn was surrounded by stacks of pillows, toys and luggage while in her car seat.

We thought Kaitlyn would have been a little more into opening gifts this year.... but she wasn't. She'd open them, but only after we coaxed her too.

A few days after Christmas, we went to the Florida Aquarium located near the Port of Tampa. The Aquarium is home to over 20,000 aquatic plants and animals from Florida and from other places around the world.

One of Kaitlyn's favorite things in the world is water! So, her favorite exhibit was the "Touch and Feel Tank." She splashed all over the girl next to us. Those poor starfish and sea urchins didn't see what hit 'em!

One of my favorite things to do is to pet the sting rays. I had the camera out and was about to snap a shot when this guy decided to pop up for a kiss.

Kaitlyn, again, loved trying to splash in the water. Never mind those cool fish swimming under the surface.



Gwen was a little bit tougher to impress. But then again, she's only 9 months old and she didn't have a very good nap. However, Gwen was still able to keep herself together better than her crazy cousin wanting to go, go go!



Every now and again, the Aquarium has fiberglass sculptures that the kids can jump on. They're perfect for photo ops if your toddler is willing to participate.

Needless to say, we had a very fun afternoon with the fam!
If you're ever in Tampa, you should plan a trip!

Also, on a day I was helping my family with some stuff, Jake and his brood took the grandgirls to Parksdale Farms. I totally hate that I missed it (and I definitely want copies of those pictures Ashley) but you should most certainly see what took place there!