Just because Christmas was over, did not mean spending time with family was. Nor was my basketball playing!
As a matter of fact, when we were at my Uncle Paul's place, we decided to go check out the indoor court they have there! So much fun! It's here that baby
Da-
Da helped Mommy hold her bottle for the first time! Way to go Sara!
Then it was back to Auntie Lisa's place where Daddy and cousin Lauren played their traditional Dr. game! I believe she was getting stitches here!
The next day, Mommy and Daddy were super excited to head to Sarasota for the night. Super excited, except for the fact that they were going to have to leave Sara and me. But they sure were excited for us to spend time with Grandma and Grandpa.
However, they couldn't head out before taking a picture of Sara in her Yankee uniform. Taken special for Auntie The Great!...payback for the Red
Sox paci she made us take to Fl!
When they got home, Grandma showed them how she introduced me to Benji! It's my first, real life, show I've ever been interested in. And I watch it from beginning to end, each and every time! Just ask everyone who was there...they'll tell you!
After Benji, we headed out to the
Choo-
Choo train! I'm not sure why Mommy even had to ask...I want the RED car!
"Too Loud!" " Too Loud!" I believe that's what I was saying at this point!
And I believe Mommy was saying, "...but Eric, we picked the RED car! You're not really leaving me by myself in this train...are you!?!"
After Mommy got off the train, everyone went shopping, while Daddy and I walked around. When everyone came looking for us, they couldn't find us. That's because we got to go inside the huge tree that we watched light up!
When the very nice man saw how excited everyone was to know we were in the tree, he asked them if they wanted to come in too! It was beautiful! Unfortunately, there was no capturing it in pictures, but it sure was a special experience to go inside! Thanks nice man!
Speaking of the tree, I wanted to watch it light up one more time, so Daddy and Grandpa hung out with Sara, while Mommy, Grandma and I headed back to the tree!
Once we got home, it was playtime!!!
The next day Sara and Lauren had some girl time! They are going to be the best of friends! I look up to my cousin Lauren so much, I just know Sara is going to do the same!
And cousin Tyler was so nice to give Sara his toy when she was upset! We have the best cousins in the world!
One of our Christmas gifts from Grandma and Grandpa was for all of us to go to Bush Gardens! We couldn't wait! Unfortunately, things didn't go as planned and at 2 am, Grandma got the stomach bug :( And cousin Tyler and Lauren were recovering from their coughs.
Knowing how quickly the bug spread during Thanksgiving, the Downs family was out of there! We packed our bags and booked a room in Sarasota!
But before we headed there, we spent all morning and afternoon with Uncle Paul at Bush Gardens! It sure would have been nice to have everyone there, but we still had a great time together!
I got to see just how big Big Bird really is!
I got to be part of the Elmo parade!
And I splashed in the Elmo pool all day long!
Daddy and Uncle Paul couldn't wait to ride this insane (according to Mommy) roller coaster! Unfortunately, we somehow picked the most crowded day of the season, so the wait was 1 1/2 hours. So they decided against it. Thankfully the tickets Grandma and Grandpa got us are good all year round, so it's back to Bush Gardens we go the next time we visit!
"I stuck!" "I stuck!" That's what I'd say over and over again whenever Daddy would put me down in the sand! "I stuck!" "I stuck!" It was cracking Mommy and Daddy up!
Once I finally made my way out of the sand, I had a great time swimming with Daddy! Night time swimming is our favorite thing to do, and we do it each time we stay at our hotel! I even made a friend! He kept jumping in the water and I'd say "m-
oooore!" and he'd jump in again to make a huge splash for me!"
This is also where Mommy has never laughed harder! When Daddy and I first went in, Daddy was fooled by the fact that steps were all along the pool. This made him think it was going to be shallow. But when he stepped off and couldn't find the bottom, panic set in. With huge eyes, he kept throwing me in the air while he frantically searched for the ground. Mommy panicked for a second, but once she realized what Daddy had done and everyone was OK, it was laughing and laughing and laughing for the rest of the night!
We absolutely love coming back to Sarasota! It's where Mommy and Daddy met, and married. We love our special hotel, and feel so blessed to always be able to visit!
2004
2009
2010 (April, Mommy was pregnant with Sara here!)
2010 (December!)
It was New Years Eve, so we knew we wanted to head back home the next day whether Grandma was feeling better or not. We definitely wanted to ring in the new year with family! Unfortunately, it would have been too much with everyone being sick for cousin Lauren and Tyler to spend the night.
Uncle Paul and Kelly were able to sleep over and introduced us to the game Apples to Apples! Sara and I were sleeping, but boy oh boy did everyone have a great night filled with lots and lots of laughs!
Yes, Grandpa was wearing gloves because he didn't want Grandma getting him sick!
The next morning, cousin Lauren and Tyler came over!!!
Mommy fell in love with Lauren's shirt! She got to write her 5 favorite things on it.
1. Candy Store
2. Hanging with my family
3. Beach
4. Red Roses
5. Keeping our Earth clean
We all celebrated Daddy birthday with some of his favorite cookies and some ice cream!
To our surprise, there was a second GRAND FINALE!!! Grandma felt bad Kelly wasn't able to be part of our first one, so she wanted to show her what our Grand Finale's are all about!!!
Poor Sara caught the cold that was going around. It was her first time getting sick, but she handeled it like a champ! Her poor little eys looked so sick :(
Watch out for the basket ball heading your way!!!
Mommy was a bit sad it took her so long to post these pictures so her family could finally see them, but it worked out best this way. It was SO MUCH fun going back through them and re-living everything! We had the best time with each, and, every, one of you!!!!
We love and miss you all!!!
