my birthday week

Since the kids were away, I decided to celebrate my birthday all week while they were gone.  

I went out with some friends from church on Monday night.  One of the girls and I met up before dinner for drinks and then we met the others for drinks, apps and a yummy dinner.

I just love these ladies.

We couldn't resist walking down the street for dessert.  They have the best ice cream!

We went out with our neighbors on Wednesday night. Jason's cousin's husband is a bartender at a fun French restaurant so we stopped by there for drinks before going to dinner.

We had dinner at a yummy Mexican place I had been wanting to try.

Instead of a birthday serenade or dessert, we got tattoos, ha!

Thursday night I had a little shark week fun with a friend from church.

A local winery had shark week slushies and we just couldn't resist.

Saturday was my actual birthday!  

Jason and I had breakfast with my mom and Nanny before heading to the winery with some girl friends.

We went to Upper Shirley Plantation and their food and wine were amazing, as well as the views!

Saturday night we helped prepare and serve dinner for Caritas (a local homeless ministry) at our church.

In all of the celebrations, there wasn't any cake.  Jason put some candles in a couple of brownie bites when we got home from church and sang to me.

And the best birthday present, was the kids getting home in time to tell me happy birthday!

We had a family lunch and party on Sunday to finish off the birthday celebrations.

I'd say this was a birthday to remember.  I'm looking forward to what 36 holds!

Florida - part 2

The kids got to stay an extra week in Florida with MeMa and PaPa after we left.  

The first night we were gone, they headed to a Tampa Bay Rays game.  The giveaway was a big head of their mascot DJ Kitty!

It was nice getting pictures of the kids throughout the week.

The invention of face time is also pretty great when you're states away!

JUMP!

Fancy sand castle building. 

A friendly competitive game of wiffle ball.

Kelly took the kids to the Florida aquarium for a fun day.

Brave kiddos at the Clearwater Pier.

Shark week drinks to round out the week! 

They had tons of fun, but we sure did miss them!

FLORIDA

After two days of traveling, we were glad to be at the beach!

The kids had more fun playing on Jason's paddle board.

Cousins

We went to a Threshers game one night.

Jason caught a little fish in his net.

We played a fun putt putt course one morning.

Skyline?  Yes, please!

Jason planned a fun boat ride for us.

The dolphin jumping at the back of the boat was so fun!

There was no shortage of ice cream on the trip.

Last day on the beach calls for lots of pictures since we didn't take many during the week.

Daddy is the best at playing in the sand.

We had lots of fun vacationing with the Comps this year!

We had a great week at the beach.  Jason and I headed home on Saturday and the kids got to stick around for another week!

They went to a Tampa Bay Rays game the day we left and sent us this picture.  They were stoked about the giveaway that night!

They are clearly still having fun without us!

I'm glad they're having fun, but I sure do miss them and I can't wait to see them on Saturday!