Our Own Fresh Tilapia

We have a pond in our back yard and the boys have spent countless hours fishing in it since we have arrived. However, we never had any worms - they were just using rubber worms, or fishing lures and they had not caught any fish. Today on our way home from Sebastian we stopped at the bait shop and purchased some worms. The boys had a fabulous time and caught 12-15 fish in the short time that they were out there fishing. Eric was stumped at what type of fish they might be... thanks to the internet we now know that we have a pond full of our very own Tilapia!
Levi caught this one - it was about 14 inches long! We didn't keep any of the fish today because we didn't know what they were - but I am pretty sure Eric is going to be getting his filet knife out the next time the boys go fishing!


Levi caught more "big" fish then Justin so Justin was very excited when he had a "big" one on his line!


Just a little guy - at first they were happy with this size! Until of course they started catching the bigger ones!

The boys had so much fun! I am pretty sure I am going to hear "Can we go fishing?" quite frequently in the days to come!

Saturday at Sebastian Inlet State Park

This morning we headed out for a picnic at Sebastian Inlet State Park. Eric's instructor had recommended it. It is about 20 minutes north of our house. It was a very nice park. There is a tide pool that you can swim in and the manatee's swim right up to the buoys. Here we are at the tide pool the boys are in the water on the right side of the picture. It was really shallow for quite a ways. (The swimming pools that we have used here in Florida all use salt instead of chlorine so the boys didn't think the salt water was too bad!)
Miley watching the boys swim... she's such a honey!
The boys looking for fish, crabs & manatees... they were a little nervous...
While we were eating lunch a crab came scampering under our picnic table... thus the reason that Justin is on top of the picnic table!
After lunch we walked the pier to check out all the fishermen. Justin spotted a manatee swimming along the pier!
There was a surfing contest going on and Levi thought it was fun to watch them "catch the waves!"
I am not quite used to the wildlife here in Florida. Their are lizards every where around our house, the ants love to bite my feet and legs, the gnats bite, the crabs scampering across the sand are creepy and then we had to encounter a Red snake!! It was over 4 feet long.... YUCK!! This guy greeted us as we were unloading our car at the tide pool!

The park was very nice and overall we had a very nice time!

Miley's Shoes

Miley has a lot of shoes - the problem is that she has very narrow little feet so she hasn't worn any of them. The other day I couldn't resist putting her crocs on that matched her outfit. The boys LOVED it! They really expected Miley to just walk away on her because of course now she had shoes on and if you wear shoes you must be able to walk!
When I told the boys she couldn't wear her crocs - because they fall off - they ran to her room to find a pair that she could wear. These are tiny Ked like shoes with flowers embroidered on the toes and little "diamonds" in the flowers. The boys thought she was quite the pretty princess! She too was intrigued with her shoes as you can tell!

A Tour of our Home

Several friends have asked to see pictures of our new house! Well, now that we are a bit settled here is the tour!
The backyard - this was taken right after we arrived and shows the truck and trailer full of our belongings!
The "play room" - the camo box is the boys "fort" it is a big generator box that we had all of our misc. stuff in, in the trailer.
The boys room.
Miley's room.
The office and school room.
The boys work stations.
Our room.
The family room from the kitchen.
...from the slider - our bedroom door is behind the couch.
...looking towards the hallway where the kids rooms are.
Laundry room, utility and entry to the garage.
Kitchen & dining room

Our makeshift kitchen table - two card tables.

We really are enjoying our home here and hope you enjoyed the tour. It is very simple, and very white. We are still working on hanging up more pictures and adding a bit more color!

Space Shuttle Launch

On Friday, August 28 at 11:59 p.m. we watched the Space Shuttle Discovery take off and what a sight it was! These pictures were taken from our backyard! I would have never guessed! It was amazing and beautiful!

Our First Week in Florida

The boys LOVE the pond and spend many hours in the sweltering sun trying to catch fish. They have yet to catch anything - but that doesn't slow them down!
Quality time with little sis!
They love the "hot tub" - it doesn't have jets but that doesn't bother them! They would take a bath every night if we let them!
Eric's parents were staying at Treasure Coast RV Park so we had Sunday dinner with them and then went swimming in their pool.
Bathing beauty!
Justin could spend all day in the pool!
The rest of us waiting for Justin to get sick of it!... Not gonna happen!
Eric mowing our lawn - it is really spongy and makes it difficult!
Miley just chillin'!
More fishing...
You know you live in Florida when your baby enjoys playing with a space shuttle!
Haircuts! I have never seen Justin's hair so blond! I hated to cut it off!!
In the Waiting room of the ER in the Indian River Medical Center!!
Eric is some serious pain after dislocating his shoulder (as you can see it doesn't look quite right!) after slipping on decorative floor tile outside the Utilities Commission Office. It was raining and when the tiles are wet they are worse than ice! Who would have thought!?
Relocated and waiting to be discharged!
Back at Grandpa & Grandma's pool.


Smiley Miley!
Saying Good-bye to Grandma before they head back to Michigan.
Grandma's buddy - put these two together and they are SO silly!
Miley working on her leg muscles!
Hanging out with Daddy - he can't lift me - but I can sit by him!
Tubby time!
Talking on the web cam with Uncle Rob, Aunt Mary, Tessa & Lucia! The boys love seeing their friends! They do get pretty silly though! Technology is great!