3...2...1...Happy New Year!

Devin booked us a hotel room in Cocoa Beach for New Years because he wanted me to have a great start to the new year - and that of course means being at the beach. It also was so we wouldn't have to worry about driving back home from the Cocoa Beach Pier which is where we started the new year with their "Rocking the Dock" party and balloon drop. I think this is the first time I have ever been out to celebrate the new year and it was my first balloon drop. The hotel was 2.2 miles from the pier so we had a nice walk along the beach on the way there and back. The pier had a live band, Warehouse, playing most the night and they were pretty good. We spent most of the night at the Boardwalk listening to the band but we did take a brief break to visit the Mai Tiki Bar at the end of the Pier and watch the waves hit the beach. After counting down to the new year we finished our drinks and walked back to the hotel. I had a lot of fun splashing in the shallow waves and Devin had fun taking pictures of me.

I get by with a little help from my friends

I had my friends over for some yummy pizzas so I could catch up with everybody while I was in town. Tuba, Mollie, Shawn, Kathy, Claire, and Casey (Claire's fiance) came over. I got to give them a tour of the new house and we ate pizza (obviously) and cookies, and played Eco Fluxx (an awesome game where the rules and the goal are always changing). It was a new game for almost everyone except Tuba and it was a lot of fun with everyone learning how to play and stealing frogs.

Time with family

Mom invited the family over today so I could see everyone. Almost everyone was there except for Sean and Heather because they had to work (miss you guys!). Jamie and Meghan weren't going to come because Alexis was born less than two weeks ago but they surprised us by showing up (yay). I really can't believe how big all of the kids are getting. Jakob and Josh were both walking around the house. The kids all had fun playing in the sun room and riding the rocking horse that grandpa made a long time ago for Jamie. It was so nice to see everyone. Being far away from family is one of the few major drawbacks to living in Florida.

We wish you a Merry Christmas...

...and a happy New Year! I still had some packing and wrapping to do so I worked on that first thing in the morning. Devin made German chocolate pound cake for breakfast which is a tradition for his family. He used the castle mold that he got me for Christmas and it turned out really well. After we had cake we headed to the beach with Grant. It was Grant's first trip to the beach ever. He had a lot of fun walking at the water's edge and then running away from the waves. I wrote Merry Christmas in the sand so I could send out pictures to make everyone in the snow jealous.
We headed back home and had some lunch and then it was off to the airport. My flight was delayed, of course, but not too long. There were quite a few frusterated people in the airport that didn't seem like they were going to their destination for Christmas so I consider myself lucky.
To be continued...

Christmas Eve

Today was Tuba's last day in Florida so we went on a kayak eco tour through Adventure Kayak of Cocoa Beach. It was awesome! Our tour guide's name was Ed. We saw dolphins playing, flipping their tails and heads out of the water, and one made a really big splash right in front of us. Devin got the best dolphin pictures. We also saw cormorants, anhingas (aka snake birds), a tri-colored heron (Tuba saw it but I didn't), osprey, brown pelicans, and snowy egrets. Seeing the animals was amazing but it was also lots of fun kayaking through all of the mangroves (red, white, and black). The trip has me wanting to look for some cheap kayaks so Devin and I can go more often.

After out trip we grabbed some lunch. Then, sadly, it was off to the airport so Tuba could get together with family.

Cocoa Beach adventure

Even though Tuba's been here since Sunday, today is the first day I really got to spend any time with him during the day. After I got home from Gymboree we headed to Cocoa Beach. We stopped at the shaved ice place on the way for the best shaved ice ever. We were very sad to find that they will be closing at the end of the new year but hopefully opening up another shop in a new location. We stopped at the beach that normally has sea turtles but we didn't spot any today. Then we went to the Dinosaur Store and went to another beach in Cocoa Beach. I found two sea beans which made me very happy. We walked up the beach to the pier where we saw some surfers, some friendly pelicans, and a fisherman who caught a whiting. We headed home very hungry but discovered that our pre-made lasagna was going to take 90 minutes to cook so we popped it in the oven and headed to the Space Coast lights festival in Wickham park. There were people in front of us that were on a hay ride through the park; it's nice to be able to have hay rides in the middle of winter. The light festival was very pretty, my favorite was jaws and the tunnel of lights at the end. When we got home our lasagna had just finished cooking.

Holiday sweets

Devin and I spent most of our day off in the kitchen. I made five batches of peanut brittle to send and Devin made about 150 buckeyes. Everything turned out very yummy.

Making Oyster Mats

Today was a fun filled day. In the morning Devin and stopped at the beach on our way to the Barrier Island Sanctuary. We made a sand/snow man with a seaweed scarf and shell buttons. He turned out really cute. At the Barrier Island Sanctuary we helped with the Nature Conservancy's Indian River Lagoon Oyster Reef Restoration Project. We spent about 2 hours ziptieing oyster shells to black plastic mats. It was a lot of fun and there were a bunch of interesting people there. One of them is leaving in March to hike the Appalachian trail.

On the way home I spotted a huge rattle snake on the road and I made Devin turn around; unfortunately it had already been hit by a car. We ate at Big Island Burrito for lunch and got shaved ice for dessert.

Once we got home I started cooking (stop laughing) because Ryan and Trina came over for dinner. I made meatloaf, green beans, and couscous and Devin made a strawberry/banana sorbet for dessert. After dinner we went to visit Tim and Kim (friends of Devin and Ryan) to watch their holiday light display. Tim spends hours choreographing the lights to play in sync with music that he transmits over FM radio. You can watch some of his videos from previous years on his website: http://www.palmbaylights.com/, and I recommend you do because they are fantastic. After all that excitement we finally called it a day.

Holiday decorations

Devin and I put up our holiday tree today. We were going to use his fake tree because it is more more earth friendly and cheaper but I took one look at it and just couldn't do it. So today we picked out a live (at least for a while) tree and got some beads and bows for it. Now we just need to finish getting all of the presents under it. I think it turned out well, although I wish I had had more lights and bead garland for it. We even got Grant in a Santa hat for pictures.

Winter Wonderland Party

We had our Winter Wonderland Party at Gymboree today. I taught the all ages group and it was a ton of fun. We jumped in snow banks, went sledding, made hot cocoa, and danced in the Nutcracker (all for pretend of course). I realize that I haven't posted any pictures of Gymboree yet so I figured I would now and you can see where I work. I had jingle bells in my hair that Michelle got me.

Devin and I don't have any stockings up yet but I'm wishing everyone a Happy Mikulas (Czech St.Nick) day!

On a very sad note, Blitz (Sarah's puppy) passed away. Thinking about him and his family. I'll miss you Blitz!