florida or bust

so sweet cheeks and i took our first long road trip together. we left on thursday for a 6-hour drive to florida, a first for sweet cheeks. we went to visit my girlfriend, molly, of 20 years (holy cow do i date myself) and her family. she has 3 children, evan-4, elizabeth-6, and ethan-7 1/2.

i was pretty nervous heading out on to the road with a toddler. not just any toddler. my toddler, an only child who needs a constant playmate! how on earth was i going to entertain her and drive at the same time! in the end, i didn't have to. she really did an amazing job of writing, coloring, playing, and watching a few movies. when she did get antsy, we would just take a pit stop for some gum. it buys me some quiet time and puts a smile on her face. well worth it. i was quite impressed with how well she did traveling. she was just as brilliant on the return ride, which consisted of car trouble and 1 hour in traffic.


while in florida, we did lots of playing, playing and more playing. ok, well the kids did. molly and i did lots of sitting and chatting. i will treasure that time.

on friday, we took the girls out for a birthday treat. sweet cheeks turns 4 this tuesday and elizabeth turns 6 on thursday. we took the girls out for lunch, shopping, and a movie, which we didn't finish as it was a bit spookier for sweet cheeks than we expected. elizabeth kindly volunteered to leave the theatre with sweet cheeks and i, telling her mother that she could stay to finish the movie if she wanted to. (we were seeing 'race to witch mountain.' too funny!) the girls then exchanged birthday gifts. it was a great girl's day out.


here they are at the outside play area. elizabeth would gladly stop for my pictures, while sweet cheeks gladly ran away! (notice the new necklaces both girls picked out for themselves from gymboree, our first stop in our shopping trip)



elizabeth is a beautiful girl who did such a great job playing with sweet cheeks while we were visiting. she even gave up her bedroom for us for the 4 day visit.


we had lunch at johnny rockets. the girls enjoyed their shakes-




molly and elizabeth-



saturday morning, the kids all rode their bikes outside. i wish we lived on a quiet, flat street so sweet cheeks could ride her bike more often.




this was the best i could get of all 4 kiddos together on their bikes-



bubble time for sweet cheeks, evan, and elizabeth-



sweet cheeks and evan. he is only 6 weeks older than sweet cheeks, but a good 2-3 inches taller and about 10 lbs heavier! what a cutie he is with such beautiful eyes.


thank you so much molly and family for having us down for such a great visit. we will definitely come back (if you'll have us).