Last Day of Vacation

We decided on our last day to hit the ocean for a dolphin cruise. It was just us and the captain on an hour and half cruise. For most of the trip we seen other boats and snow crab traps. In the last 10 min Eric spotted a dolphin along side the boat. I thought for a second I won't see him for myself but the captain turned the boat around and found the little guy. The dolphin followed in the waves of the boat. Giving us a little show. Jumping and turning around in the water. It was a great ending to a great vacation!!

Thanks to Jack and Patty for letting us stay at your great place. It was perfect and such a great location. We hope to bring others with us next time to help fill the place up.

Chase did better on the flight home. He slept for almost an hour so that was a nice treat. Not much room for a highly active little boy. We arrived back to MN at 4:00 pm on Saturday. Now it's back to real life dishes, laundry, and work. Thankfully it's only 3 days for me this week.

Here are some photos from the dolphin cruise, the Bjorgaard's at the beach, and Chase (his fav new toy his bus) and I on our last night out for dinner.

Beach Days

We have spent the last couple days of vacation at the beach. Chase gets us up early each morning and we eat breakfast and play on the deck. Than around 10 we head to the beach. He's really enjoying playing in the sand, running in the water, and kicking a ball around. It's not crowded so he can run free!

We head back around nap time have a bite to eat and than take naps (Chase and I do at least). Eric rented a scooter one day and drove around the island looked pretty darn fun but no room for a baby on those things. We have also found some parks too so we have checked those out a couple times. We mostly head out for dinner and end the evening with a swim in the pool.

Can't believe this is our last full day already. Tomorrow we are doing a dolphin cruise before heading back to Tampa to the airport. Back in Minny around 4:30 tomorrow.

Here are some shots from the last couple days. The parks, mini golfing (he didn't get this ideal), Eric's scooter, Chase burying Eric in the sand, Chase kicking the ball around, and a shot of our mornings on the deck.

Busch Gardens-Tampa Bay

We decided Monday morning to head up to Tampa and go to Busch Gardens. Since it's only an hour drive we figured it would be better than the 2 hour drive to Orlando. Since we have a little one there wasn't much riding going to be happening. There was plenty of other things to see at the park. A lot of different birds, tigers, zebras, and other things you don't find in MN. Chase did really well all day. He mostly naps for 2 hours in the afternoon but he decided to nap on the 40 min train ride we took around the park to see the animals. It worked out perfect. The only melt down was when we went to the 4-D pirate show. We thought he was getting scared so we walked out but I guess he wasn't scared because once we left the tears came a flowing.

Chase mostly enjoyed chasing all the birds around the park. But our other favorite was the white tiger. He was right at the window for us all to see. I put Chase up by the glass to get a closer look and he got scared. It was pretty funny.

We stayed at the park until close which was 6. We had a bite to eat and than headed back home. Chase even stayed up for the hour drive home. He did so well all day long!! I'm sure he slept extra hard that night. I know Eric and I did.

Here are some photos from the day at Busch Gardens.

Vac Day 2-Sunday

We had the nice fortune of Chase sleeping in on the official 1st full day of vacation. We are thinking he was a little jet lagged. We spent Sunday morning looking for sandals for Chase. You would think it would be easy to find sandals down here but we had 2 strikes against us. It was early Sunday morning nothing was open and the kid has wide feet so what we did find really didn't fit well. We found something for a temp fix.

Sunday of course means football to many (not me). So Eric's boss told him of a bar a couple blocks away that would put the Vikings game on for him. So he headed there (he even walked there) and Chase and I headed to the back yard for a little pool action. But even with the warm sun the pool was to cold. So we kicked some beach balls around for a while and than Chase had to take a nap. I took the opportunity to lay out and catch up on some gossip magazines. I fell asleep in the sun after about 10mins of reading my magazine. No burn or tan though. Darn sunscreen!

Eric returned from watching his game and took a nap. Chase and I headed to the beach for a little sand fun and to catch the sunset. The sunsets around 6 here which is 5 MN time. So that sucks it would be nice to catch a little more sun each day. We had dinner at home and headed out for some ice cream. A nice relaxing day!

Here is Chase poolside kicking around his ball. My pool side music entertainment. (no longer a band and drinks now a kids toy and juice). Look Chase spelled his name out in the sand!! Chase and the sunset and Chase and I on the beach.

Saturday-Travel Day

We were up early to hit the airport on Saturday morning. We got there at 7:45am took about 5 min to check out bags another 10 min to get though security and we were home free. We had a bite to eat at McD's and headed to our gate. We kept Chase off the plane as long as we could. We were one of the last to board which worked out well.

The flight went pretty good. Chase was really squirrely but that was to be expected out of an 18 month old. We read books, ate snacks, and attempted to watch a movie. (he was to busy hitting the keyboard on the laptop.) We were hoping he would nap but no such luck. The flight was ahead of schedule so we arrived in Tampa at 12:45 (11:45 MN time). We took a quick shuttle to baggage got our bags which were already on the belt and crossed the street to get our rental car and we were off. So overall a really good no delay trip and ahead of schedule.

It was a 40 min drive to our place. We got in before check in time but since we had the key we let our self in and unpacked. We were really hungry by than so we headed to the beach and found food and the ocean. We decided to get some groceries so we did a little shopping than retired back to our place for the night.

We were all a little tired from the travel day. We all crawled into bed and watched "Up". Chase lasted about 20 mins and Eric 40 mins.

All in all a good day. And it was sunny and hot!!!

The photos are Chase at the airport, a cool bridge we crossed, Eric's huge fish sandwich (still not sure how he ate the thing), Chase's 1st view of the ocean (I was 25 when I seen it for the 1st time), and Eric and Chase running from the tide.

FLORIDA HERE WE COME!!

Eric's boss was nice enough to give us a good deal on his home in Anna Maria Island in Florida for a week. It's about an hour south of Tampa. We tried to find others to go with us since it's a 3 bedroom house with a pool and on the beach. But it's just going to be us Eric, Chase and I. We are leaving Manny Russ and Fonzie home too. We are praying for sunny weather with no hurricanes!! Planning a day trip to Orlando to visit the famous whale at Sea World. Other than that it's pool and beach relaxing. Chase's 1st ride in an airplane. I believe I was 22 years old when I took my 1st plane ride. We also pray that the trip in the plane goes well. 3 plus hours in our laps is a long time.

Below is the website of the place we are staying at. So Picture us here from 11/14-11/21!!!

http://annamaria.com/villas/holmes-beach/seawinds-cottage.html

I'm hoping to do some blogging while we are there.

Chase's 1st Trick or Treat night

The weather was good enough for Chase's first time out. We met up with his cousins in Saint Louis Park to go out. He couldn't really say "trick or treat" but looked so darn cute people couldn't not give him candy. He really didn't get the whole ideal that we weren't going into these people's house. He kept trying to go into every one's house. It was pretty funny. In true kangaroo form he hopped between the homes. He filled his little pumpkin up and we headed back to have some candy!! I have to say though with all those candy bars and other goodies his favorite treat this season is candy corn. Every day he asks for more candy corn. And in his cute little voice says "Please" and once you give him a piece "Thank you".

Here are some shots of "Fonzie the Bee" and Chase. And Becka, Brita, Deb, and Chase.

Fall Pictures

Here are some pictures we have taken over the last month. Just been slow at posting them.

Chase loves to be outside so any chance it's nice out we are out there. He's enjoying raking the leaves over and over. Here are some shots of that.

Also Eric carved Chase's pumpkin for Halloween. We kept it in the garage for a while because once we put it out the squirrels were right over and helped themselves.

18 Months (AKA 1 1/2 years) Already

I'm not sure where the time has went. But Chase is in the full swing of being a toddler. He had his 18 month check up last week. Everything went good and Daddy said he took the shots like a man.
Here was his 18 month stats.
27 pounds (65%)
33 inches tall (75%)
20 inch head (99%)-this is a Bjorgaard thing

Every day brings a new word or sound. He's copying you now which can be pretty funny. He's jumping, running, and climbing a lot which can be a little annoying at times. He has now learned to climb on the new table and chairs we got for the living room. They are a pub set so figured with them being higher he won't attempted it. But that is were the computer is so in a flash he's up a chair on the table if you let him. He's also trying to enjoy the cold outdoors. He can open doors now and unlocks the front door (deadbolt too) and the screen door and steps right on out. We are just glad he hasn't tried climbing out of the crib yet. Than we will be in for some real trouble.
I have pictures from Halloween and a ton other to post hopefully this weekend.