On May 26th we were treated to extra special visitors here in Florida. Jack, Max, Leigh-Emma and Kenny came to visit us for a long weekend and we were so excited! Ellie made this super-cute sign to greet them with in the airport.
There were so many things that we wanted to share with Jack and Max during their visit that it was hard to choose what to do first. We decided to go to the Jacksonville Zoo on our first day since all of the kids love animals and it had a neat dinosaur exhibit going on that we watned to show Jack who totally loves anything dinosaur!
Jack took control of the map when we got inside the Zoo and we were off to see all of the animals. Jack of course just wanted to know where he could find the dinosaurs!
Jack rode the zoo carousel on the most appropriate animal.
The neatest part of our Zoo is where you can actually get to feed the giraffes by hand. It's always my favorite and I couldn't wait to share it with Jack too. Emory and Ellie went first and were all giggles as the giraffes ate out of their hands. To my surprise Jack wasn't scared either although he did drop his leaf before the giraffe got to eat it and I didn't get a good picture of him.
Max was such a trooper all day long! It was a hot day but he stayed in the stroller, enjoyed his pacifier and just took in all of the things going on around him. How did I not get a baby like this ?!?
Near the end of our day at the Zoo, Emory and Ellie convinced us that they needed to show Jack the little playground area. Here they had lots of fun running, climbing and playing hide and seek together and we had to eventually pull them away so that we could go home. Ellie and Jack were all smiles in the huge bird nest.
We all loved getting to spend time with baby Max. At eight months old at the time of his visit, we had only gotten to spend time with him once before at Thanksgiving. He rarely stops smiling and is just so sweet all the time unless he's hungry...and that boy has figured out how to eat and to do it all by himself too!
Here is Jack enjoying his first s'more. When I asked him he didn't seem too sure if he really liked it, but he did a good job of giving it a try. Poor little Max grabbed a cactus sitting on a side table while we were making these and it turned into a bit of a sad night. We were all relieved when he was better in the morning.
Our last day together came much too soon but we made the most of it at the beach! With all of these little red heads we spent lots of time putting on sunscreen and then we were off for a great day.
By the end of a fun day at the beach we all felt like Jack...exhausted but in a good way.
Time flew by during our long weekend together but it was so much fun to see all of the cousins together. We hope that there will be many more of these visits in the years to come. Thank you Kenny and Leigh-Emma for braving the flight with two little ones and spending part of your vacation time with us. We love you all !!!
