Camping and The Zoo

On Monday we went to the Jacksonville zoo.  We had a good time but Seth was starting to get sick so our trip was cut short.  We did however have time to stop at a nice cafe and have lunch.  Jed waited in line to order our food while the boys and I sat outside at a table.  Acrossed from us was a family and the mom had her back to us.   Evan, my observant child, starts pointing at the woman and saying something that I couldn't understand, he yelled it 3 or 4 times before I looked over and it all made sense, he was shouting at the top of his lungs, "Mom, look its a BUTT!"  The woman was wearing low rise jeans and about 3 inches of her bottom was exposed for the whole world to see.  As I was comprehending this Evan continued to shout the word "butt" about 5 more times before I could tell him to stop.  Fortunately the lady was so wrapped up in her own conversation that she didnt notice.  So I changed the subject and we waited for Jed, I had pretty much forgotten about the incident until he walked up and Evan announced, "Daddy, I saw that lady's butt." Pointing to the woman as she was walking away from us.  I explained everything to Jed and we both laughed and Evan was pretty proud of himself for being so funny. 
We also went camping this weekend on Amelia Island.  It was beautiful!  The campground had access to both the intercoastal and the ocean.  We were on the intercoastal side and were less than a hundred yards away from the beach.   We had a blast going for walks everyday, throwing rocks and seashells into the water.  At night we sat around the fire and roasted marshmallows while also trying to defend our campsite against racoons and armadillos or as Seth and Evan call them, "cartoons" and "mr. jellos". :)   Other than the unwanted intruders, it was by far my favorite place we've been to here in Florida.  I told Jed that if he could get a job in the area I would move in a heartbeat! 

Seth and the big kids hanging out on the dock.

Running on the dunes.

Walking to Fort Clinch

Evan in the fort.

Cute.

Big Guns.

I didnt realize I was taking this picture but it cracks me up.

Mr. Dave caught a Mr. Jello

He brought it over to our camper so the boys could see.

At the zoo.  The gorillas were our fave and no I didnt get a picture of the lady and her waredrobe malfunction. :)

Looking Forward

Our time in Michigan is over.  We enjoyed spending time with Jed's sisters and their families but it was chaotic with 10 kids in one house.  I dont think we'll be making many more trips up north in the middle of winter since there isnt much to do and you end up trapped indoors.  Maybe when the kids are older we'll do another winter excursion to get in sledding, skiing, ice skating and whatnot.   We'll see.  My dad's funeral was yesterday morning.  It was a good funeral and I think my dad would have felt honored by it.   It was nice to spend time with friends and extended family that we haven't seen in a while.  Thank you to all that came!  It meant a lot to my family and me.  After the funeral we packed everything up and drove over to Pennsylvania to stay with Jed's parents for a couple days.  Today we relaxed and rested and tomorrow we're going to a science center in Pittsburgh.  I'm sure I'll have some good pictures to post when we get home.  I'm looking forward to being back in Florida, I miss the warm weather and I'm looking forward to life getting back to "normal".   We're bring home our dog Ally.   We got Ally as a puppy before we moved to Florida and we had her for over 2 years but after Seth was born it seemed too chaotic in our home for two dogs.  It just so happened that Jed's sister Jessie was willing to take her so it worked out perfectly.  However Jessie's daughter has Asthma and dog hair seems to irritate her condition so they couldnt keep Ally anymore.  I guess we've forgotten how crazy it was with two dogs because we offered to take her back and picked her up this week while we were in Michigan.  She's still as hyper as ever but we're glad to have her back!

Camping

On the coldest weekend we've had all year we decided to drive three hours north west to go camping!   We were just too excited about our new camper not to go so on the first night we endured temps below freezing.  It wasnt too bad with the camper heater plus the space heater we brought with.  Instead of spending the first evening hanging out by the camp fire we locked ourselves in the camper to read and hang out as a family and instead of getting up early in the morning on the second day and hanging out by the camp fire we again stayed in the camper.  Finally around 11am I ventured out taking the boys on a hike.  We explored a dried up river bed and then had lunch.  The second night was still pretty cold but we were able to spend some time by the fire roasting marshmellows.  Sunday was a very nice day so we went on a long hike to the Suwannee River, it was beautiful!  In the afternoon it rained so we played some dominos before going to bed.  Monday we went on a hike and then packed up to head home.  I was very excited to get home because we had left Kane with my mom due to the chilly weather.  It was nice to be able to focus so much of our attention on Evan and Seth but I really missed my baby! 

The boys on a hike.

Dried up river bed.

Me and Seth climbing on a log, you just cant see the log...

Silly boy.

Adorable.

Sethy and Uncle Jay on a walk.

The balancing rock.

Before I was pregnant with Kane my average weight was 110lbs.  In the hopes that I can get back down to around that weight we're getting back into our "diet" here in the Cusi house.  I have to say that until the last month of my pregnancy I was eating very healthy but as I got bigger and bigger, more and more uncomfortable, sweets were my favorite way to distract myself.  :)  Then after Kane was born, I just didn't have the time or the energy to prepare healthy meals or snacks so I grabbed what I could when I could.  And of course the holidays and traveling didn't help.  So when we got home from up north we pledge to get into phase one of the South Beach diet to drop some weight.  Well, first our neighbor shows up on our doorstep with chocolates and fudge which of course we had to try!  Then life got very busy.  Jed has been working hard to clean up our camper, I've been putting Christmas decorations away and cleaning up the house and we've had company drop by a couple of times.  Before I knew it, it was Thursday and I still hadn't gone grocery shopping!  Anyway, I've been on a modified version of phase 1 and I've lost 3 pounds already.  I'm quite pleased but my goal is not so much a weight as it is being able to get into my pre-pregnancy clothes.  So for the time being, I'm eating lots of low fat meat and cheese's, salad, veggies, and eggs.  I sneak a piece of chocolate, a whole wheat cracker or a banana here and there.  I'll do this until next friday and then I'll go back to a mix of good carbs and low fat foods.  I'm gonna miss Skittles! :) 
On an unrelated note here are some pictures:

Kane's new favorite place to hang out is in his exersaucer.  He loves being able to stand up and the toys are very entertaining.   By the way does he look like he might have red hair to you?  In some pictures he looks like that to me, its freaking me out! :)

Look at how chubby he is!  I love it! Roll after roll after roll. :)

I love his smile in this one.

I went to put Kane down for a nap today and this is what I found.  This is just one of the many places I'm surprised to find Church on any given day.  A few days ago I had left one of my dresser drawers open a bit and he had made himself quite comfortable on top of my tshirts.

Ok, so Jed and I are having a disagreement and I asked him if he minded if I post about it on my blog and he said it was fine so here goes...  Before Christmas Jed found the above light switch covers on sale at Lowes and brought them home for the kitchen.  Usually my husband has good taste and we're in agreement about decor but this time I'm sorry, this is HIDEOUS!  We have been arguing about it and he thinks I'm over reacting but I really really don't.  So what do you think?  Jed never reads the comments and I wont be upset so feel free to be as open as you want.

Testing

I wanted to test out blogger to see if I liked it better than xanga, it certainly seems more popular. We'll see.

That is Evan's new word.  I gave him some raisins for a snack today but not enough apparently because he polished off the bowl and wanted more.  He "asks" for more by jamming the bowl in my face and yelling, "MOE".   Lately I've been wanting to teach him to be more polite but I wasnt sure how to do that because he barely speaks.  So I made my first attempt today at teaching him to say please when he wants something.   I told him to say please if he wanted more.  He continued to hold out his bowl and smile at me.  I told him that I wouldnt get him raisin until he said please and he kind of frowned for a minute and then said "moe".   I said, "No."  He got a little upset and then asked again.  I said, "Say please."  He said "yeah!"  I said, "Say please or no more raisins."  He scowled at me and started whining.  I sat quietly for a few minutes while he threw a small fit.  Then he pulled himself together and asked again.  I didnt respond and wouldnt you know it the next word out of his mouth was "please!" Well, I guess it was "pease" but close enough.  I told him he was a good boy, grabbed his bowl and gave him more raisins.  A few minutes later,  the bowl was in my face and "pease" was shouted.  Now, "pease" is apparently the magic word for everything. :)  I think it was a good thing though because I learned that he's capable of speaking and he definitely understands most of what I'm saying, he's just choosing not to speak unless its necessary.
Also yesterday was Jed and my anniversary!  I cant believe its already been 4 years!  This is what we did to celebrate:
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Jed got a great deal on annual passes last week and we both love theme parks so we thought, what a fun way to spend the day.   We spent most of our time at Universal Studios trying to see and do as much as we could.  We went on almost every single ride except two because the lines were so long.   Then at the end of the day we headed over to Islands of Adventure.  We didnt get to see much because we got there at 6:30 and the park closed at 7.   We'll be going back though!  Gotta love the annual pass! 
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Yum

We had crab legs for dinner tonight and decided to give Evan a taste and he LOVED it! 

 Yum Yum.

Then the boys took a bath together.  Seth has learned to pull himself up on the side of the tub and stand.  We have to watch him very closely so he doesnt slip. 

 Look at me mom, I'm standing. 

I'm going to climb out.  

Evan and I were wrestling and somehow this happened.  :)