Florida Part 14 - Tracy!!

One of Julia's favorite people on the planet is Tracy. Tracy is a friend of Papa's that until recently worked as a bartender at Ocean Grill. Julia just worships her. She saved her favorite dress and asked me to DO HER HAIR (this child never lets me touch her hair) for the night we were going to see Tracy.

Julia brought her "My Twinn" doll, named, Julia, with her. Julia decided to help herself to a glass of champagne (the doll Julia, not the underage minor Julia).

We will definitely miss Tracy, but wish her luck with her move and her new job!!

Florida Part 13 - Seaworld - Last Few

A few other moments that tugged at the heart. We stumbled on the "arcade" area at Seaworld towards the end of the day (thank goodness b/c Papa's Whack a Mole skills won us too many prizes to count). Julia walked away with a giant Shamu, a slightly smaller dolphin that she named "Baby Shamu" (whatever) and a few Sonic the Hedgehog toys. She also got a couple of penguins (one was a Rockhopper - something I learned at Seaworld). Well, she decided to share one of the penguins (at Neil's suggestion, but she was very willing) with a little boy who hadn't won. You should have seen his face when she gave him the "big" one. One of those little moments when you realize you've got great kids.

Another was Devin, bound and determined to win his own prizes (must be a boy thing) and he tried, and didn't win. But, he tried again and won a couple on his own. You would have thought he won the biggest prize there with the grin on his face.

Also, pix from the coolest merry go round ever - note the fish themed animals to ride on.

Last, poor little pooped out Julia. It was a long, fun day at Seaworld.

Florida Part 12 Seaworld - Journey to Atlantis

So, the highlight of the day for all of us (except Julia who really WASN'T a fan) was the Journey to Atlantis ride. Think large flume ride, but with two parts and a little roller coater action at the end.

It was already a chilly day, so the prospect of getting wet didn't seem tempting, but we had to do it. Neil the kids and I went down first. Julia, barely tall enough, did not enjoy this ride so much. Once was enough for me as I made it off relatively unscathed in the wetness department and didn't want to press my luck.

Neil and Devin went on it 3 times and could have gone all day. Papa was in his glory too as at the bottom you could feed quarters into a huge squirt gun and totally soak the people on the ride. He was wishing he'd brought all his spare change.

I think the pictures say it all.

Florida Part 11 Seaworld

One of the coolest things we did at Seaworld was the diving for pearls. There are these huge tanks (which totally reminded me of Atlantis in the Bahamas) and a person dives for oysters. They bring them up, you pick the "ugliest" one, bring it to the table. The shuckers open them after you tap it twice and yell "Opa Opa Oyster". Then you get to see what treasure is inside.

Julia got a 6.5 mm golden pearl which we're hoping to add to her necklace. Devin opened his and had twins! Two 5mm pearls. Apparently there's only a 3% chance of this, so they rang the bell and made a big deal about it. They were thrilled.

Florida Part 10 - Seaworld

Ok, as Devin said it was "the most awesome day EVER". Kudos to Papa for thinking up this great idea. Orlando is only a couple of hours from him, so it's always very tempting to take a quick day trip or overnight up there. We usually go to Disney for a day or two every other year. This was going to be our "off" year, but Papa thought of Seaworld.

It was fairly chilly in Florida (which I didn't pack for naturally) and when we got there that morning it was almost downright cold, even in the sun. So, Seaworld made their money on fleece that day (please not we ALL bought one).

We did some rides, saw some shows and just "chillaxed". A great day.

Florida Part 9 - Even More DuBois

Florida Part 8 - More DuBois

Florida Part 7 - DuBois Park

Greatest place for family beach time in Jupiter is DuBois Park. Little protected inlet where kids can swim and play without dealing with the (sometimes) massive surf. Plus it's a gorgeous spot and right on the intercoastal so you can go on the bridge and watch the boats.

We swam, collected a million shells, saw a racoon (yeah, thinking that's not cool in daylight) and Neil and Devin almost drowned. Good times! Aunt Bet, Gaga and Uncle Don joined in too.

Florida Part 6 - Indian Creek Park

One from the coolest playscape we've seen next to Jonathan's Dream. A little gem of a place called Indian Creek. Picnic areas, water, bridge, and this great playscape.

Florida Part 5

A couple notable ones from Papa's house. Julia's mission was to hold and carry Harley as often as she could. You can see how much he loved it too in this rare photo.

And even rarer - is that a home cooked meal at Papa's house??????

Florida Part 4 - Lighthouse

One thing the boys got to do last year that we didn't was to climb Jupiter Lighthouse. It's a pretty impressive structure and a pretty site on the coastline of Jupiter.

Julia was too short last year to climb it, but thanks to her massive growth spurt this year, she was old enough and tall enough to climb. Even I put my fear of heights aside and decided to give it a go. (Here's a hint, climbing up was actually far less scary than climbing down.)

We got some history, some great views and a few photo ops too. And we got to meet Larry at the top!

Florida Part 3 - Pet Do's and Don't's

Well, I think these will say it all, but the bumper sticker's for you, Big Daddy! Harley's well loved and tortured all at the same time. In Florida, even the dogs need sunglasses...

Florida Part 2

Day 3 continued...

Surf, then big family dinner at Schooners. Uncle Don, Aunt Bet and Gaga joined us for dinner. Check out Julia's cake!

Florida Part 1

Ok, in the first of what will likely be a multi-part series...

Day 3 photos (I guess it takes me a couple of days to unwind to the point of wanting to take out my camera...). We had breakfast at Juno Beach Cafe, hit the newly refurbished Turtle Center and then hit the beach. Massive surf that day. Kids really wanted little to do with body surfing due to surf and shells that hurt your feet (I ended up with a lovely collection of scrapes from the day). As Dad H. put it "You couldn't get Neil and Kelly out of there." Lots of fun body surfing and getting crushed by waves. Good practice for the Outer Banks this summer I suspect.

For Katherine and Bruce

As I dilly dally in uploading the hoardes of photos I took on vacation in Florida I'll add this funny thing from tonight.

Getting Julia into bed, reading stories. She loves George and Martha (two hippos, think Babar look alikes). This one story was about Martha trying to walk a tightrope. Julia didn't get that this was a difficult thing to do. I tried to explain the need for balance (strike one for me) and comfort with heights (a big strike 2 for me) and that finally started to sink in. She couldn't get over the fact that she was HOLDING something (the pole to balance), how easy could it get??

Well, after a satisfying discourse about tightropes she announced that she knew someone who could ride a unicycle. I said, I do too! I reminded her of the wedding we went to in Thailand and the bride and groom knew how to ride them - and play hockey!

Well, I wish I could have had a camera on her face, you would have thought I told her that Hannah Montana was downstairs waiting to take her shopping in a limo. Her mouth was wide open, matched only by her wide eyes and she said in her best cool 6 year old voice, "No WAY!"

Oh yeah, way. So Kath and Bruce, that one's for you!

And in the land of monkey see, monkey do...

Well, you had to know this post was coming. Julia insisted that we remove her wheels as well. So, no sooner were they off, and off she went. No hesitation, no fear. The idea of her teen years scares the heck out of me.

Devin went out today and looked like he's been doing this his whole life. He had about a half day of ramp up and bang, off he went. I was astounded by his rapid progress. I guess they just decide it's time, and then that's it.

They each had a good spill to cause tears today, but we talked about how there will be many of those, so just expect a few good scrapes and bruises.

There are no more training wheels at the Hartzog house today. Snif snif.

BIG Day for Devin

It's a day every parent dreams of and every kid can't wait for. After trying and trying (and then getting a brand new bike for inspiration) Devin decided TODAY was the day he was going to ride a two wheeler! A few stop and starts and HE DID IT!!!!!! (I wish I had photos, but I was running madly next to him.)

The biggest thing is that he was convinced he couldn't do it, so this has been a huge confidence boost. I suspect we'll be seeing his tail light in the distance come June...

Purple Belts!!

The kids made a big leap forward yesteray in their karate training by earning their purple belts! Moving from the orange to the purple means a few things. First, you are officially no longer a "beginner". You take classes at a different time with the upper belts, and (most importantly to the kids) you begin sparring. Sparring is where you wear all the crazy protective gear and actually start making physical contact with your opponent. (Yes, I'm cringing as I type that.)

This graduation was with Master Dickman, who the kids have had for graduations before. It was definitely not a touchy feeling day like their last belt. This was their first look into somewhat hardcore discipline that was a little startling at first. I'm pround to say the kids handled themselves amazingly well against the added pressure. They were on their A games and showed excellent respect, self-discipline and self-control.

To give you an example, there is a karate tournament coming up in May. Both the kids are signed up for it and are excited about their first tourny. When you take class, you use your class Kiyah (the loud yell you make when you yell, for power) but you use a different, louder one for a tourny. Master Dickman demonstrated this louder kiyah (releasing the tiger from its cage as he referred to it) RIGHT in Julia's face, about 4 inches away. She didn't even flinch. That's our girl!

Stipa, Mima and Auntie Heather came to cheer the kids on. Mima got so into it that she showed us some "moves" afterwards. Picture also with one of the instructor's assistants, Jessica, who we all adore.

It was a good look at what's ahead as they work towards their black belts, and we still couldn't be prouder!