What the grownups did. . .

The parents of the girl children all went out for dinner while the girls were at Cousins Camp - thanks Dad and Jayne!! We went to a great restaurant in Tampa followed by an English-style pub and had a great time sans children.

Pre-dinner drinks at Lindsey and Bill's

My dinner - lobster roll and grits.

Pub fun - Brian and I had to have water because we were driving but it was still a good time.

Cousins Camp 2013

This year's Cousins Camp theme was drama and Christmas in July. As always Mimi and Big Daddy's work and effort paid off - the girls had a great time, learned a lot and loved hanging out with their girl cousins.

Ready for camp to start!

Making "Wish Lists" for their secret Santa gifts.

Making their own Christmas trees.

The secret Santa gifts.

Bed time!! 

Breakfast at the table decorated with their trees.

Ready for the gift exchange.

Making masks for the evening performance from Kipling's "Just So Stories".

One of the crafts was to make a frame.

Show Time!! 

After performing the Kipling show the girls went on to perform a modern take on the Nativity that they wrote and directed themselves.

Singing the camp song.

They also performed a show in the pool.

To end the evening we enjoyed a delicious Christmas dinner.

Meggie and Lilly won the "Best All-Around Camper" medals this year.

Thank you again to Mimi and Big Daddy for a wonderful camp - and for sharing your photos, at least the ones rescued from the broken camera!! Thanks to Stacy for the great photos from the presentation to the parents.

Spa Day and out with friends

For Mom's birthday this year Ali, Lindsey and I treated her to a gift card for the Safety Harbor Spa and she finally got to redeem it, six months later, when we all spent the day out there during our visit to Florida. It was such a treat to hang out together all day exercising, relaxing and getting pampered. Big thanks to Stacy and Lisa for looking after the kiddos.

Post exercise classes - circuit and stretching - and pre facials and massages.

Relaxed and happy.

We had a fantastic lunch but we were the only ones eating in our robes!

The end of the day.

I also got to have a night out with my dear friends from high school Amy and Nancy. Both drove down to Clearwater to visit and it was such a fun evening, I love these women.

Me and the girls.

I got my seafood fix, so good!

I LOVE these oysters - with a little cocktail sauce on a Saltine, nothing better. 

My morning walk

We got to see Amy and the boys once more before they headed back to Georgia, we went to the beach and then dinner at Rockaway. Unfortunately Meggie was sick but we still enjoyed catching up with Carter and Harris. While we were eating I got a text on my phone saying there was a tornado warning and sure enough one had just touched down near Lilly's gym and they all had to be evacuated. Thankfully nobody was hurt and it was just all very exciting. We drove home in pouring rain, only to have it all stop and clear up as soon as we were safely inside. Murphy's law.

Not a great picture because it was pouring outside so we couldn't go out but it was really dark inside. Oh well, you can still see how cute they all are.

Hanging with the cousins. . .

Our first few days in Florida were spent just chilling - the girls went back and forth to Ali and Lindsey's and we had dinner at mom's one night and the girls put on a show (of course). Another night we met up with Dad and Jayne and Brian and Shannon and Samantha and ate at Hulk Hogan's new restaurant. The draw for us was that it advertised a mechanical shark - like a bull, but a shark - but sadly they had moved it for the evening in order to make room for the band. It was also 80's night which Ali and I wished we had known ahead of time, we totally would have dressed up!!

Concert at Mimi and Big Daddy's.

Chilling at the movies.

Steak and Shake

Ellie spending the day with Mari and Baker

Lilly did all the girls' hair before dinner.

At the Hulk's restaurant.