We have had one crazy week! Our dear friends, Aaron, Sandra, Mia and Alexa Chetelat were in Florida to baptize Alexa and to visit friends and family. We met them down in Orlando last weekend. We were only there for a day, but had so much fun. They had reservations at an incredible hotel, The Gaylord Palms. Ya, I know. The name is funny, but the hotel was exquisite. If the hotel itself wasn't phenomenal enough there was a cheer competition going on at the convention center of the hotel. It was so fun. Mia and Presley got to play in the hotel pool. Let me tell you. My little Presley is one little fish!! While they played I got to spend some time with little Alexa who was just shy of 3 months old. Alexa is the best baby ever. She literally doesn't cry unless she is hungry or is having a little gas issue. I actually forgot we even had her in tow a few times!! Anyways, after a long day at the pool we had dinner at a sushi restaurant in the hotel. You will NEVER believe what I did to my own daughter. Well, she was eyeing the wasahbi, so I dipped my finger in it and gave it to her. When you see the picture that looks like she is screaming at the top of her lungs and her face it red...ya...that was taken right after I gave it to her. You could barely even see the wasahbi on my finger, but she didn't like it one bit. Aaron and Sandra probably would have called family services on me if they didn't know how much I love her!! The next day we headed back to Gainesville to await their arrival the next day!
While in Gainesville we had the baptism ceremony for Alexa. Dallas was asked to be her Godfather and accepted with honor. They asked their long time friend, Sandra, to be the Godmother. It was such a beautiful ceremony. Sandra and Aaron were able to get the priest they had in college to do the baptism for them. It was very intimate. There were only a hand full of friends, 3 of who did special music for the mass, and lots of kiddos. I think we figured out there were more kids than adults. The priest was so wonderful. He let all the kids get up on the stage when it was time to anoint Alexa with the oil and baptise her in the water so they could get a front row seat! After the baptism we had a dinner celebrating Alexa! It was wonderful. I feel so blessed and honored to have the opportunity to watch both Alexa and Mia grow from infancy into young ladies!
Tuesday we headed down to Miami to visit with Sandra's family. I have heard NOTHING but awesome things about her family and just had to meet them. Plus, who wouldn't want to go to Miami?! Anyways, we stayed with Becky and Mike(Sandra's sister and brother-in-law) and their 5 kiddos, Cassandra, Nico, Jr, Lucy and Ceci. They were such wonderful hosts! I have to say that Becky is my new hero. She didn't even bat an eye that there was now 8 kidds and 3 more adults in her house. She just rolled with the flow! Tuesday evening we got to meet some of Sandra's mom's side of the family. They were so much fun! I was able to meet her cousins Vivienne and Christina too. Christina hung around for about another day and then had to head back to PA. She had a little guy named Jack who Presley adored! They were fast friends. Mainly because he was super patient with Presley!
On Wed. Presley had her first visit to the beach. She LOVED it. Let me say it again...she LOVED the beach. The beach we went to on Key Biscane was so shallow I had to go way out just to get up to my knees in water. It is the perfect beach for little ones, because even when the tide was in the water wasn't higher than Presley's chest-sitting. She loved the sand. She didn't even eat it! The kids were
so gracious to Presley. They were all cautious of her and realized it was her first time at the beach. They would play with her in the water, bring her toys to play with and even made her a Presley size swimming pool. You will understand when you see the pictures!
Thursday we just layed low at the house. Becky, however, put out a water table, sprinklers and a water ball for the kids to run around in outside. It was insane! The kids played out there for hours. Presley absolutely LOVED the water table. She kept turning around and checking us out just to make sure we hadn't gone inside. When she realized we were still there she would go right back to the table-dumping and pouring!! They also played fairies right before dinner. Presley had her cute little pink wings on! How adorable. I wish I had more pictures of this, but my camera had run out of film! We also went out to eat at a local Cuban restaurant. It was awesome. As far as the ambiance goes I felt like I was back in Italy. It was such a family friendly place. Oh, and Presley LOVED the black beans!!!
On Friday we went to a park called Pinecrest Gardens. It is a botanical garden with a small petting zoo, cute little park AND a water park. This water park was awesome. I wish I had some pictures of it, but my camera ran out of film before I could get any. Don't worry-Sandra took some. So, when I get those i will blog them. Anyways, if you thought that Presley would have been waterlogged after the past three days in water, think again. She was easily half the size of all the kids there and ran with the best of them. My favorite thing, however, would have to be that in the middle of all the water fun she found a big blue monster truck and stopped for a good 30 minutes to drive it through all the puddles. That girl loves herself some cars and trucks!! We were also able to see iguanas, swans, ducks, turtles, pigs, goats, fish and even a peacock. The peacock opened his feathers for us. They were beautiful!
I left to come home Sunday morning at 5am. The drive went really good. However, when we got back Presley started to run a fever. She ran about 102.8-103.5 for about a day and then broke it yesterday afternoon. About the time she broke her fever I got a migraine. Let me tell you...I thought I had had a migraine before...but NOPE! There is no thinking to it. When you have one-YOU KNOW! I was literally non-functioning. I had to call D to see how long he would be because I needed help. I NEVER call him home from school. NEVER. It was bad. Anyways, this morning we woke up and all is better. We are on the mend and gearing up for another fun filled weekend. My mom and dad will be here Thursday! Presley will be turning 1 this Thursday. I just can't believe it! We are going to have a great time celebrating this past year! Until that blog-hope you enjoyed all the pictures from our visit with our friends-well our family-Aaron, Sandra and the girls!
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