Quick House update and a hike ~;o)

Hi friends!! Gosh I miss blogging!! Well here is the latest and greatest!! We have finally painted and put up new blinds in all the rooms. New locks on all the doors. New stove and washing machine have arrived and both been hooked up. Whew!! Yeah, kinda ridiculous that it took us this long huh? On a happier note, I am glad to share with you all that we will finally be moving into our new home this Saturday!! Boy are things a BUSY mess right now!

In related news I have a confession to make, instead of moving things into the house last weekend like we were suppose to we decided to take a much needed field trip to the Hillsborough River State Park! Who would have ever guessed that there were moving rapids right here in Hillsborough county! Thats right friends!! The Hillsborough River State Park has two sets of Class II river rapids, now these are not huge cascading river rapids friends, they are smaller ones. But for the Floridian, it is a big deal to see these, as there are less than a handful of these here in and around the State of Florida. There is also a suspended bridge too btw!! The trail is fantastic, even bumble bee hiked half of the trip on her own! She fell asleep in the hiking pack on the second half of the hike back, not bad for a toddler ~;o) I could go on and on about all the fun things there are to do in this park, but I'll just give you a teaser instead this time ~;o) Enjoy the video clips!! And for those of you who've been there done that, why didn't you tell me?! You know I gotta give you a hard time about it ~;o) So if you've been to this park already I'd love to hear what your favorite part of the visit was...I'm all ears ~;o)

All hiked out ~;o)

BJ Reece...a U-Pick Farm!

During our stay in the Ellijays we visited our very first u-pick farm!! Fyi, Ellijay is the land of apple orchards people!! There are many to choose from! We chose to visit BJ Reece Apple Orchards!! Most of the u-pick apple orchards in the area are Saturday/Sunday only, BJ Reece's u-pick is open daily though. They also have a store filled with, ready to buy apples, fried apple pies, apple cider and slushies, honey, maple syrup, and so much more!! They even have a bee observation and a petting farm!!

The Apple Orchards.....

Keep me as the apple of the eye, hide me under the shadow of thy wings. ~Psalm 17:8





Bumble bee was just fascinated with these bright red tasty treats ~;o)





To God who gives our daily bread a thankful song we raise, and pray that he who sends us food may fill our hearts with praise. ~Thomas Tallis (1505-1585)



Thank you BJ Reece for such a wonderful experience!! Your apples are amazing!!

Confession.....

we've been on vacation.....

we have been away for the week enjoying and exploring the Blue Ridge Mountains, the Ellijays, and Chattanooga!! During our time away we did A LOT of this.....

on a lot of these.....



and even across one of these!!!!



We picked tons of these.....

and ate at lots of these!!

There were lots.....

and lots.....

and lots of these around!!

We even rode through the Tennessee mountains on that.....

and this breath taking river was beside us for pretty much all 3 hours of the ride!!

Yup, we even went to one of these!! And we picked the prettiest and sweetest little pumpkin in the patch!! ~;o)

There are way too many beautiful pictures to post, but I will write a couple of more blogs about the trip and add a few more pictures again soon!! Until next time friends ~:o)

Downtown Tampa just got a little more kid-friendly! We recently visited Curtis Hixon Waterfront Park and we were both really wowed by the new surroundings....

Baby's day out ~;o)

Love the angle of the city and the fountains in this picture....

There's the fountains for the children to cool off in, as well as the lighter mist fountains in the back of the park, the new playground, the riverwalk, and of course the new Glazer Children's Museum! I could go on of course ~;o) Have you visited Curtis Hixon Waterfront Park yet? Well worth it!

nature walk....

.....we went back to Upper Tampa Bay Park on Sunday afternoon. If you will recall, we were there during the holidays a couple of years back in November when the park was decorated with beautiful Christmas lights!! Unfortunately the park no longer decorates for the holidays due to budget cuts ~:o( But it is still worth the visit, there is a boat ramp for launching canoes, a playground for the kids, several scenic nature trails, and an air conditioned indoor educational facility with real marine life aquariums, honey bees, and fossils of all sorts....the total cost to visit the park is $2.00 per vehicle. Here is a little bit of what we enjoyed on the nature walk....

This is a neat little park to visit if your a lover of nature and the great outdoors, and are in the Tampa vicinity! Perfect for the kids too!! Until next time darlings ~:o)

on Sunday.......

.......we went to Sarasota!! We first visited the Mote Aquarium, and then we took Isabella to Longboat Key Beach!! This was not her first time to the beach though. If you will recall back in November, we went to the Ruskin Seafood Festival, and then after that we went to Ruskin Beach. Bella was about 2 months old then and stayed in the travel system. But this time was her first time on the beach exploring!!

(First time in the water!)

(First time in the sand!)

Baby loves the beach!

a little pool.

it was just Bella and me for the first half of the weekend because daddy had to work a little overtime, soooooooo we decided to try out Isabella's new little pool!

we splashed.......

we tasted.......

and we played alot!!

We really LOVE our new little pool!! Thank you Grandma ~;o)

Hope your having a fantastic summer so far!! We are ~;o)

Winter Park in the Spring ~:o)

(Kraft Azalea Park and Gardens)

(One of the many reasons we love Florida)

We recently took a family outing to beautiful Winter Park, Florida!! I found out about this Diamond in the rough through the March/April edition of Victoria Bliss Magazine!! I was so thrilled when I found out that this area so close to where we live at was featured in one of my favorite magazines that I just had to visit!! There is plenty to do in this area just outside of Orlando. They have a Winter Park Canal tour ride, The Albin Polasek Museum and Sculpture Gardens, several stunning public parks, and a village of shops for the shopaholics ~;o) Well worth visiting if your in the Orlando vicinity.


On another unrelated subject, I am very happy to announce that my sweeheart and I have recently become engaged!! We will be getting married in about a week and I am going coo-coo with the last minute details!! We are both very excited!! Hoping to blog more as soon as everything settles down!! I am very excited about June and this summer!! Lots of fun things to look forward too!! Got any exciting plans for the summer? Going anywhere special? I'd love to hear!!

I've been a bit behind on my blogging because I recently started back to work part time. I miss being a full time SAHM! We took a family trip to Mount Dora a few weeks back! Lovely area, here are a few pics of the highlights for your enjoyment! Keeping it short this time, cheerio darlings ~:o)