A Look into a Day at the Nix': A visit to Grandma's and Papa Art's

Sorry, that its been a while since I last posted. You will see that we have been very busy. I planned to go and visit my Mom after the Fourth of July weekend, but plans changed. Jaron for second year in a row got duty on the fourth. This year he wasn't scheduled, but fourth in line and some how got it anyways. So being the fourth was Friday (and he has to stay up for over 24 hours), then he would sleep all day Saturday and then study all day Sunday. So I decided Wednesday late afternoon to pack up and leave Thursday morning for a 10-11 hour drive to my Mom's. The drive went extremely well. The kids were super good!!!! Oh yeah, I want to mention Jaron started flying that week. So we have 2-3 months before starting our move to Hawaii.

Here's Elijah at a Fourth of July Concert. My Mom plays the flute in a local community orchestra.

Here's Elijah, Grandma, and Papa Art watching the fireworks. It was pretty cool. We went to local park with tons of soccer fields. It was like daylight in when the lights where on, but when they went out it was pitch black!!! SO we had to hold the kids in our laps so we didn't lose them.

Here's the newly weds. My Mom and Art wedded in March of this year!! Congrats to you both!!!

Mom bought this cool splash pool for Ava and Elijah to play in while they visited. They really liked it.

Here is the entrance to Gatorland. Gatorland has been open since 1949 and I have to say was very nice thing to do with young kids. Most of the park was covered boardwalks which keeps you cool in the summer heat. They of course had lots of alligators and other reptiles. They had a petting zoo which Elijah liked and well lets just say Ava isn't fond of fluffy furry things coming towards her. They also had a splash park and playground, but it was closed that day for unknown reasons. They had a couple of shows to educate about alligators and other reptiles. We did the train ride, which was perfect for my kids! We had a really good time!!!

Elijah petting a baby alligator. He also, petted a ball python (snake) and even wanted to hold it.

The gator got him!!

Okay, Ava didn't like the alligator....But she liked watching them in the water.

Ava and Elijah watching the baby turtles and alligators. Elijah is now dressing himself. He likes to wear his shirts backwards. It drove grandma crazy!!

Another day while visiting Grandma we visited the Bravard Zoo. It was not the biggest zoo I have ever been to, but for sure worth visiting. The animals appeared to be in great shape and well taken care of. Almost every exhibit the animals where moving around and they're habitats where pretty big.

There were many opportunities see the animals up close. Elijah got to feed a giraffe and a bird. I think he fed something else, but I can't remember. We rode the train, ate some ice cream and overall had a very good day.

Our train ride, before we left the station. As you can see Ava's the only one looking and smiling. She is actually saying, "cheese".

Elijah feeding the giraffe!!! He was so brave!

Ava's favorite exhibit. We spent about 20 minutes watching the otters. They kept swimming right up to the glass. She loved it!

Elijah feeding the birds some nectar. He really liked this despite the look on his face.

Grandma and Ava feeding a bird. I was surprised that Ava wasn't scared. She actually tried to touch the bird, but we were warned by the zoo keeper they tend to bite little fingers. So we had to kinda discourage her from touching the birds.

Elijah was actually eating some crackers and the deer walked straight up to the fence and tried to get one out of his hands. So Grandma bought some deer feed and fed the deer.

Ava received her first haircut while at Grandma's. I finally got brave enough to cut bangs. She liked looking in the mirror while I did it. It has made life so much easier. She doesn't have to wear her hair up all the time.

Ava saying, "Ta Da".

Elijah helping Papa Art take out screws. He did a great job and took out many screws all by himself.

This concludes the visit to Grandma's. I think this picture speaks volumes. Ava fell asleep after eating lunch one day. I think we were all tired after and long exhausting week.

We had some rocky times while visiting Grandma, but we all came out unscathed. Elijah is starting to communicate better, which leads to him saying funny things. One day while getting ready for bed after bath he shook his little hips and said "naked boy". All I could think to myself is starts early. We are still working on potty training. One day I had him sit on the potty and when he couldn't go he declared that his "pee pee was broken". TOO FUNNY!!! I just thought these little stories where funny.

So after a week visit at Grandma's we drove up to Jacksonville (on Friday) for a whirl wind visit. I drove into town ate lunch with Dad and Liza at work. Then drove to Jennifer's house. Jennifer is one my old neighbors and good friend that I met while Jaron was in flight school. Her husband is in the Navy and is stationed at Mayport. After the GPS lead me way astray and wanted to take me on a ferry, we finally found her house. Jennifer has two children Ethan who is 22 months and Zee who is 3 and half. and well just had her third a few days ago. The kids loved playing!!! It was so good to see them again. I meant to take pictures, but just totally got caught up talking. After leaving Jennifer's I went to my brother's for dinner and to hang out. I ended up staying the night there, because I was to tired to go anywhere else.

The next morning after Audrey (my brother's girlfriend) made an awesome breakfast, I took my nieces Faith and Hope to go visit our Aunt Michele and Uncle Joby. It's funny cause as soon as we walked in the door, Elijah was looking for Joby. We hung out at Aunt Michele's for a while and then visited the park. After the park we went to Chick-Fil-A for lunch, then back Aunt Michele's. After visiting Aunt Michele and picking up Becca (Audrey's daughter) we went out to Jennifer (my cousin) and Justin's house . My brother met us there for dinner and it was so much fun. Actually, you wouldn't think that I would be able to see any other family members right. Well my father-in-law Dayne was at NAS Jax for business and drove out to see me and the kids at Jennifer and Justin's place. As you can imagine we stayed at Jennifer's house that night. The next morning we met up with my Dad (and his crew) to drove back to North Carolina. They visited for a few days and that will be my next post.

So all I can say to everyone who made time for me and the kids.....THANK YOU THANK YOU THANK YOU!!!! I know that we were all over the place and unpredictable. So thank you for bearing with me and creating memories.