Friday: Mom, Dad, Babi, Grandma, and Grandpa all came to visit me over 4th of July weekend. Their flight got in in the morning and they came over to the house for lunch. Devin and I made
tacos. Since Dad was already falling asleep on the couch after lunch we went to the Sea Scape so they could relax a little before heading to Pizza Gallery for dinner. Instead we went down to the beach and went swimming in the ocean. Then we had a delicious dinner at Pizza Gallery while Devin was hard at work in the kitchen.
Saturday: Saturday we went to the Merritt Island Wildlife Preserve. We stopped at the Wildlife Center and did some of the walking trails. I
saw a wild boar for the first time! We also saw soft shelled turtles, banana spiders, a snake (which I didn't see), a giant grass hopper, and of course lots of lizards. After the walking trails we went on the auto tour and we saw some birds and alligators.
Sunday: Happy Fourth of July!!!! We left the Sea Scape fairly early and headed up to
Cocoa Beach to go kayaking. We got three double kayaks so Mom, Dad, and I could paddle the
grandparents around. Ed and Micky were our very awesome guides. It was overcast so it was relatively cool and there weren't as many animals out as other times I have gone but we sti
ll saw manatees, dolphins, pelicans, horse shoe crab shells, and a red rat snake which I spotted.
After kayaking we headed to Pizza Gallery's 1st annual 4th of July picnic. We missed the beginning of it but there was still a lot of
really yummy food left over. Devin got a game of volleyball set up because I love volleyball and I
haven't played in years. I was also coerced into doing a three
legged race with Devin which was hilarious. I think we had the lead for a little bit but we came in second or third. I had to go to work at the Sea Scape in the afternoon so the family had dinner at one of my favorite restaurants, the Jungle, and I saw them when they got back to the motel. Devin came over after he got off of work and we got to spend some time just chatting together. Grandma bought everyone scratch off lottery tickets so we had fun seeing who won. At dusk we watched people doing fireworks on the beach and we set off the ones that Devin brought over. One of the groups on the beach must have spent tons of money in fireworks because they were shooting off huge professional looking fireworks for a long time. Devin and I both worked all day Monday so at the end of the night I said goodbye to everyone. The next day they went up to the Kennedy Space Center before flying home and meeting Greg at the O'Hare Airport.
a slushy at Dells to enjoy on the drive down to the museum since it is in Vera Beach which is about an hour away. When we first got there the place was empty and we watched a movie about the ships of the 1715 Spanish treasure fleet and other ships that wrecked off the coast during the 17th and 18th centuries.
It talked about all the treasure hunters that have discovered gold, silver, jewels, and other historical artifacts, one of the most famous being Mel Fisher who has his own treasure museum which I'm sure we'll go to someday. The trip had me wanting to get a metal detector because amateurs have also found lots of really neat and valuable items that have washed up on shore after a heavy storm. The rest of the museum had different items that were found from the wrecks. It was a very nice day.
etails. I worked on things like burning the DVDs with the pictures of the bachelor/bachelorette parties and changing pictures to be portrait and sepia while Devin helped Ryan with all of his last minute shopping and keeping him calm before the wedding. Even though the wedding photographer had 2 assisstants they wouldn't split up to take pictures of both the girls and guys getting dressed so I got to tag along with the groomsman and I even got to ride in the limo to the ceremony and reception. I had fun getting them to do fun poses like holding Ryan up and then pretending to drop him. I think one of my favorite parts of the day was watching Ryan open the gifts and read the note Trina left him. When he got to the part about getting Trina's grandfather's cuff 
links he started tearing up. On the way to the wedding site we stopped at Trina's parent's house where the girls were getting ready. Ryan stood outside the door where Trina was changing so they could talk before the ceremony. Everyone got the flowers they needed and then it was off to Ballard Park. The wedding ceremony itself was very nice. Ry
an and Trina's vows were so touching they had me tearing up. Trina looked absolutely beautiful in her dress. The real photographers took lots of pictures after the ceremony but I got got some cute ones of the wedding party playing basket ball (the guys who were playing there very graciously let us steal there ball for the photo op.) I missed the wedding group entering the reception because I was on a important mission to get the car decorations out of Angela's car. I got there right as they were about to enter the room so I got more cute pictures of Ryan and Trina. The reception had lots of dancing which I mostly sat out of because I was exhausted. At the end of the night we lit giant sparklers down an aisle as Ryan and Trina made it to their get away car. We finished gathering and packing presents and tux rental stuff and then headed home. I crashed pretty much immediately.
to spend nearly enough time with them because both Devin and I were running around like chickens with our heads cut off trying to get things ready for the bachelor party and help out with wedding craziness. Devin and I spent the day picking up last minute items like table cloths for the bachelor party as well as picking up the keys to the building and 
getting it all set up. Devin has been planning a poker party for months now and made veggie chili, pulled pork, and brownies as well as having purchased a bunch of snack food.