Elsie's 9th Birthday...

...what we can't believe she is that old already! But she is and she turned 9 in Florida! We actually had a friend over to our house on the day school got out for a small celebration. Elsie had invited two friends but one got sick and could not come which was sad! They painted paper mache bowls and played with water balloons and ate treats. It was a fun day.

Elsie's actual birthday was when we were in Florida. We snag to her, ate cake and ice cream, and just had a fun day! She is so BIG now!

Trip to Florida 2016

We left the day after school ended and spent a week in Florida. It was great! We rented a house in a little community on the Gulf Coast that had private access to the beach with protected forests on either side so we had very little competition for space. We went with Will's cousin, his wife and 4 kids. The kids got along great and the grown ups had a lot of fun too. We spent our mornings on the beach which was a five minute walk away, then came home to eat and hang out by the pool in the back yard. The sand was super soft and white and it was perfect. One day we went into a near by town to go for a dolphin cruise. We collected shells and saw three dolphin fins come up out of the water. The problem was Elsie felt motion sick and the water was too choppy to go out of the bay to try and see more dolphins. But on the first day we got there our little family went to an aquarium that had dolphins and dolphin shows it was "a dream come true" quoted from Elsie as we went to find our rental house. 

It was so much fun. We are hoping to plan another trip sometime soon.