The Thomas Family Travel Diaries

Thursday, February 13, 2014

Santa Rosa Beach, FL

We have been at a beautiful state park in Florida this week- it's called Topsail Hill Perserve State Park. The weather has been fickle- one day it'll be warm and sunny and the next chilly and rainy! We've made the best of the wacky weather situation! There's a gorgeous white sand beach here at the park that we've walked along (and the boys may have taken a dip in the way too cold Gulf waters!) and lots of nature trails that we've been exploring! The kids have made friends here with other homeschoolers - they are actually out rip sticking with their new friends as I type this :-) On the rainy days, we do inside things. We catch up in schoolwork. Last night, Aaron and I went to see The Lego Movie & Bryan and Braden went and played pool. When the sun starts shining, we head outside again - we drink in the sunshiny rays of delightfullness!!! We play shuffleboard, we fish, we take walks...we live life to the fullest :-)

White Sand Beach of Santa Rosa

Sunset

Our campsite-loving our awning!

Aaron ❤️

The boys ❤️❤️

Shuffleboard = Not just for the older crew

Aaron & I Versus Braden & New Friend, Casey... Shuffleboard extravaganza!

Braden's catching fish again!

Patience is sometimes his virtue

Bodie... Not so patient ;-)

On the nature trail today

Gorgeous day in FL

Clear blue skies

We ate at a yummy restaurant called The Donut Hole- the pancakes were obnoxiously ginormous, but oh so delicious!

Working together on a Minecraft mission- I ❤️ it when they get along!

Practicing his keyboarding skills 🎶

Braden is a basketball star here at the park

Wildlife abounds... Deer, raccoons, squirrels, oh my!

It all just makes Bodie sleepy!

Thursday, February 6, 2014

Fulltime Family Rally, Florida

It's February and I am sitting by the pool, watching the kids play, listening to one of my new "neighbors" play the bagpipes. This is the good life and I feel so very fortunate to be living it! We are in Seffner, Florida for the Fulltime Families Winter Rally. About 40+ families have met to spend a long weekend together! The kids wasted no time making friends. They've been playing football, running around outside, making tie dye shirts, riding bikes, playing pool (and playing in the pool!) and of course, playing video games!

Bryan and I have met some amazing new people, too! It's a great group and we are so thankful to be a part of the fun!

Pool time with friends

Tie dye T-shirt time!

Counting this as Art class today :-)

Minecraft with new friends!

Impromptu football game in the yard

Flying model airplanes!

We spent many hours at the Rally Center!

Braden played many, many games of pool! He has even bought his own pool stick!

Minecraft Mania!!!!!

Here's a picture of all our kids!!!! They were all so well behaved and everyone got along beautifully!

On the last night of the Rally, there was a potluck dinner/dance! Here we are in our finest costumes ;-)

Just a quick glimpse into the craziness! It was awesome! Wonderful company, delicious food, lots of laughs!

Putting on our Florida sticker!

Another Florida milestone! We had a new awning put on the rig! We can't wait to put it to good use!

Lights make everything more fun ;-)

Next stop- Santa Rosa Beach, FL!

Seffner, (right outside of Tampa) Florida

Week of February 2nd-9th

This week we're enjoying the amentities at LazyDays RV Resort. The weather has been beautiful- sunny and in the low 80's all week (with an occasional shower here and there!) The resort has a refreshing pool which is attached to a yummy restaurant ( which is designed to look like an RV). We've been enjoying their BBQ Cheese Quesadillas over and over again :-) We're here for the Fulltime Families Winter Rally and the real fun starts today! There are kids everywhere this morning!

Here's a glimpse of this weeks action so far...