of steps, the sea, and sails

one place we had not yet visited in st. augustine was the lighthouse. every year, we'd run out of time, and every year, we'd say we'd do it the next year. well, 2009 was the year for the lighthouse! :) after our day at the pool, we ventured over the bridge of lions to finally see this lighthouse. we arrived as they were preparing to close up shop, but they allowed us to take as long as we wanted to tour the grounds. the kids were not tall enough to climb to the top of the lighthouse, so brian and i sacrificed and stayed on the ground with the kids while kristie got to climb the 219 steps to the top. (truth: we really had absolutely no desire to climb it... kristie was so great to make the climb so we could all have pictures from the top. she is the most fit out of all of us, and she was completely worn out by the time she caught her breath at the top!) there was a lot of neat history to take in at the museum, and i wished we'd had more time to look at everything. we will definitely go back and visit this lighthouse again.

therrrrre goes aunt kristie!

that's a lot of stairs.

a beautiful view on the way to the top

and she made it!

overlooking st. augustine

such a beautiful sight

our red, white, and blue kiddos!

ethan was so happy about this magnet that aunt kristie bought for him.

ethan was not so happy that he was not tall enough to climb the steps. mommy, on the other hand, was very happy! that was an easy "no". :)


the museum used to be the keeper's residence. what a beautiful place to live!

on our way home from the lighthouse, we stopped by the water so that brian could get his annual fix of boat photography. i loved watching him take his time to get the shots he wanted... and he did not expect me to roll down my window and take a picture of him with our camera. :) but i'm so glad i did. here is my man in his element. he's got the telephoto lens on, tons of boats just waiting to smile, and the kids all strapped in the car and out of the way. ha!



here are my favorites out of all the boat pictures he took...





well, that about does it for our vacation. thanks for coming along on our 2009 tour of st. augustine! if you've been to the old city, what is your favorite spot to visit!?

makin' a splash!

i LOVE the pool at our condo in st. augustine. it is a zero-depth entry pool, which made frolicking in the water so easy and fun for our kids. they were confident to play independently while we relaxed within close proximity. my kids are fine as long as they can have their feet at the bottom of the pool. when they get deeper, that floating feeling just unnerves them for some reason! i wish we had access to a pool like this in town. anyway, the kids made great use out of our $1 ring floats from wal-mart...the smaller size of these rings is a perfect fit for our kiddos! more than worth the money! :) every other trip to st. augustine, we've ended up only going to the pool once during our trip due to weather or busyness... well, this year, i was determined to get to the pool every day... and we did! on the two days that we toured downtown, the pool was such a nice way to cool off before a late dinner (so our 4 PM lunch actually worked out great!) we spent the majority of the other day at the pool, which the kids just absolutely loved. there were no other kids in the pool, which was surprising to me. but i guess we went in between spring break and summer! so here are the kids having a ball in the pool...






this one's for pappy... lock 'em and load 'em!

almost a mirror image!




caroline didn't get the memo that she was only in 8 inches of water!
she is holding on for dear life!
and finally, sweet amelia's swimsuit debut. she slept in the stroller most the time that we were at the pool, but she did sit with me and put her feet in the water for a few minutes. it was a little too bright for her out there, so we hurried back in the shade for this picture.


this picture is more evidence that she really did go on vacation with us. i know there's not many of amelia on here lately... but today is her 4 month old birthday, so i will be posting some pictures of her soon!

one more vacation post to go! and it's a good one!

the other three r's: riding, rolling, & ringing

one of the kids' favorite things to do in st. augustine is to ride this carousel. this was where both ethan and caroline first experienced the thrill of spinning 'round and 'round on that oh so colorful machine full of horses. so we always love going back there. :) this year, we let the carousel be the "kick-off" for our vacation. after we arrived and unpacked a little, we headed over to the park just before they closed. the kids were beyond excited... this was definitely a treat after riding in the car most of the day. isn't this a sweet picture of the three of them waiting so patiently for their turn?! we got several great shots of the kids on horseback, but i thought i'd spare you the duplicates... here are my favorites of the carousel cousins:





the carousel is adjacent to a small playground that has the coolest slide. we call it the conveyor belt slide. not sure what it is really called, but ethan and caroline always love going bumpety-bump down it. they slid down this thing over and over and over. cheap entertainment for sure!


we really talked up the slide to karina, but she could have cared less about it! she was more intrigued by this bucking-bronco-butterfly thingy. and in the next picture, you can see a perfect depiction of caroline & karina's relationship: "get out of my face, caroline!!"



*******


when asked what his favorite part of our vacation was, ethan's first answer was, "the school house". he is talking about the oldest wooden school house in america. i think ethan enjoyed watching the animated teacher and students inside... i knew he'd either love it or be a little freaked out by the moving fake people, so i was happy that he found it interesting.



after we exited the schoolhouse, i earned my "brilliant mom of the year" award. amelia was asleep on me in the baby bjorn, and we were standing right by this bell. i encouraged ethan to ring the bell, and i wanted caroline to be close by in the picture. you know where this is going, right!?



BONG! BONG! BONG!


stupid, stupid me. but at least i got my picture. :)

well, i'm truckin' through these st. augustine posts. just a few more to go!

jail birds and fancy birds

this was the first year for us to visit the old jail in st. augustine. i was always curious about the tour, and we thought the kids would have fun playing in the jail cells. plus, their pappy is a sheriff deputy, and caroline loves to say that "pappy shoots the bad guys." we're working on editing that exclaimation to be a little more accurate as "pappy catches the bad guys", but it's a work in progress... anyway, we thought the kids would love to see where the bad guys actually go. well, the tour of the old jail was a little more "guided" than i thought it would be, so we all the kids kind of melted down by the end of the tour. but we were able to see several interesting things before we skipped out early... we saw where two men were hanged, actual jail cells, and the sheriff's quarters. (how'd you like to live at the jail!?) we also saw these "jail bird cages" where they would hang lawbreakers in a tree for 24 hours. with no potty breaks. i think miss ida said that this is where the term "jailbird" came from, but i could be wrong. we were chasing three kids around, so the details are a bit fuzzy. but it makes sense to me. :) the kids loved playing in this cage. i asked miss ida if we could just keep them in there and come back in a couple of hours, but apparently that is only a part of the deluxe tour package.

here is our tour guide, miss ida. she carried that wooden spoon around the whole time. and i had to laugh because before our vacation, we altered our discipline tactics to include the use of a wooden sppon. and here was miss ida. at the jail. wavin' that wooden spoon around. as you can see, caroline was not too happy about the presence of the spoon. as she says at home, "no fanking with a foon! no fanking with a foon!"


ethan looks way too happy to be in jail. meanwhile, the girls are still thinkin' about that wooden spoon...



can i get one of these made for my house!? (ok, you all know i'm just kidding. in case a stranger is reading this blog, i do not punish my children with bird cages and stockades. but they may have just had somethin' goin' back then...)



this picture makes me laugh really really hard. apparently, i am being arrested for cutting off the sheriff's ear!



this statue is a life size depiction of the sheriff from back in the day. we were told that he was a very intimidating man. my kids didn't get that memo. :) i have another picture of ethan standing there with his finger up his nose.




one of our favorite spots in st. augustine is the fountain of youth. the whole "fountain of youth" part is pretty hokey if you ask me, but the grounds of this park are wonderful. it's shady and green, and there are peacocks everywhere. this was our final destination on the day that never ended around town. we arrived just in time for perfect photography lighting. while i fed amelia, brian took the following pictures of the kids. the first picture represents the typical scenario on our vacation: me nursing amelia (not pictured!), brian taking pictures, and kristie entertaining the older kids! i wish i was kidding. kristie really is amazing. :) the kids enjoyed climbing on the rocks and dancing around the statue.




and here we go...

to find this guy!

the peacocks here are just gorgeous. as you can see below, the kids were enamored with the beautiful birds. or they just liked climbing up on the fence...





this last picture is one of my very favorites from our whole vacation. seeing those two little girls walking toward the cross reminds me of what it is all about. the Cross. may our faces be ever turned toward it.