Back to Navarre Beach!

Dear Leah & Logan,

Wow! when we do Spring Break- we go all out!!   We just spent Spring Break 2017 at Navarre Beach, which has quickly become our family favorite.
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Logan's Big 5th Birthday

Dear Leah & Logan,

March 5, 2017, was a BIG, big day for the man in the house.  Logan turned 5!  And with Leah's Disney trip still fresh on our minds, I thought it was only fair to go big your birthday!

I did ask you where you wanted your birthday, but I knew the answer before the words even came out
of your mouth: GO U-S-A!  So me and you got there around 10:30am that morning to start decorating.

The crowd started to arrive at 11:00 am, and Wow! people came from everywhere!

Let me see if I can name them all:

The Fontanetta's (AJ & Aria)
The Graham's (Elerie & Fletcher)
The Cannon's (Cooper)
The Prather's (Cooper)
GiGi, Grandma, Grandpa, Uncle Mike, Aunt Daniela, Uncle Caleb
Daddy, Leah
The Tuckers (Brady)
The Floyds (Ava, Jack, and Nancy)
and last but not least The Chiltons (Liam, Claudia, and Olivia)

You kids devoured pizza and ice cream, but not before an hour hitting all the video games in the place.

Please note the dinosaur themed decorations...even the cake and napkins came sporting their own dinosaurs!

After cake and ice cream, there were at least 20 presents waiting for you...including 2 nerf dart guns, puzzles, and some action figures. You cleaned up!!

After the kids started to leave and go home, you were able to get some good family time in. You and Uncle Caleb must have played Jurassic Hunter for 30 minutes...and you also got a Go-Kart ride in with Grandpa!

A great day was had by all!!  We're very blessed to have such supporting and loving family and friends.

I can't believe I have a 5 and a 6 year old!

Love,

Daddy
3/6/2017

Ralphie

Dear Leah and Logan,

One thing you've already figured out for yourselves is that life isn't always smiles and rainbows. Last week was a really sad time for our family as we said good-bye to our loyal dog Ralphie.

Ralphie has had a few health issues the last couple of years, but gosh he sure was a good dog.

When I first met Ralph in 2009, I remember he was considered more than a 'best friend' to your mom and Layne and Julia....he was part of the family. I spent countless hours throwing miscellaneous food at him to get him to sit, shake, and lay down. He'd also sit patiently in the car on roadtrips- just happy to be part of the family.

When you 2 were born, he was like a gentle giant to you both. He would rest on the floor patiently as you both used him for a pillow.  You both went through phases where you wanted wrestle and bounce on him, and he would just let you without even flinching. He protected us and our house- always letting us know when something wasn't right. And he'd hover around the table or at the backdoor just waiting for the possibility for any and all left overs- which he'd polish off in 2 minutes.

When he was in the house, he just wanted to be near somebody. He'd wag his tail and look at you as if to say, "feel free to pet me or give me attention." :)  He was a true family dog.

I know your mama already has Oliver, but nobody will also replace Ralphie.

You're ages 5 and 6 right now, so hopefully you'll grow up with a few memories of a really great family dog.


R.I.P. Ralphie.

Love you both,

Daddy
3/10/17

Christmas Season 2016

Dear Leah and Logan,

We survived another Christmas!!  Christmas 2016 will always have the side-note that every one of us got sick at one point during the week, but we're all fighters so we gutted it out for a great holiday.

First, there was no shortage of Christmas parties at each of your schools. Santa even made visits to both Rockvale and to Stonebrook. (I'm not sure if you told him you were Naughty or Nice??)

Next stop was Christmas Eve, where you 2 jumped in with your cousins at your Uncle Shane and Aunt Amanda's house. They just moved into their brand new house in Franklin, so I'm sure you weren't allowed to touch anything. You came home with lots of presents.

Next....Christmas Day!  Santa decided to show up at Muirwood, and gosh- you 2 sure are lucky. As it turns out, you must have been on the 'Nice' list.

I was actually surprised that both of you took time to open each present nicely and even give each
new toy or game some attention (last year was just a mad dash to open everything in 20 minutes.)

After the grand opening, Christmas morning was spent being lazy and even playing family games like Pop the Pig, Hungry Hippoes, and Twister.

Once we had enjoyed all of our gifts for a bit, we got dressed and headed to Grandma and Grandpa's house. Again- you guys were spoiled. Uncle Caleb and Uncle Justin were there, and it was basically a lazy night watching movies and stuffing our faces with food that Uncle Justin made.

We're very blessed and fortunate to not only have a great families that love us, but also for all the things we're able to get each other for holidays. Thousands of people out there don't have any family to lean on or much money to spoil themselves with. I just want you two to embrace the foundation of family and always seek opportunities to help the less fortunate.

I love you both.




PS. New Years Eve was jsut spent at the house telling each other we'd stay up until Midnight. Leah, you fell asleep at 10pm. Logan, you made it midnight after playing Wii all night!

Love,

Daddy

Birthdays at Disney

Dear Leah and Logan,

November means that it's time to celebrate Leah's birthday!  Big #6!  I thought that #6 needed something extra special, so I designed the best Daddy-Daughter date I could think of, especially while you still believe in Princesses and Unicorns.

Our date started at 4:30am on Sunday, November 13, 2016, where I woke you up to tell you we were going to the airport.  Our destination was Orlando, Florida- home of Disney World!

We landed in Orlando at 9:30am and went directly to the Animal Kingdom.

From there, the week never slowed down.

Our intinerary was as follows:

Sunday- Animal Kingdom

Monday- Magic Kingdom

Tuesday- Hollywood Studios

Tuesday Night- Mickey's Magic Christmas Party

Wednesday - Magic Kingdom until 2pm.

I had set our Fast Passes based on mostly Princess and Character visits. However, you became such a big fan of roller coasters, you just wanted to keep riding bigger and faster ones.

Highlights from each park included the following...

Magic Kingdom- Ariel's Grotto, Seven Dwarfs Mine Ride (we rode 4 times), Space Mountain, Mickey and Minney, lots of fireworks, and getting your face painted (twice).

Hollywood Studios- Finding Nemo stage show. Disney Jr. stage show.... you weren't a big fan of Tower of Terror, so I quickly got you some ice cream after that one!

Animal Kingdom- A Bug's Life.  African Safari. Expedition Everest.

Logan- don't worry, bud.... Your 5th birthday is in a couple months, and I'm thinking you and I will do something extra big for your #6 (in 2018)!

It was a perfect 4 days, and I enjoyed watching how brave you were on each new ride. In fact, you didn't even want the kids rides- you wanted the REAL rides.  And don't worry- even though they aren't listed above, we did all the traditional Disney Rides like Pirates of the Caribbean and It's a Small World.

I hope you'll never forget our trip, and I can't wait to ride roller coasters with you again!

Here's a video to sum it all!!!   Daddy Daughter Disney Date 2016

Love,
Daddy

Halloween and Pumpkins 2016

Dear Leah and Logan,

The Halloween season arrived and left in a hurry, but, as always, we had a great time. Plus, it was October and the Summer weather never really left. It's still 80 degrees!!

We hosted our annual 'Pumpkin and Pizza Party', and this year it got bigger and better.

Attending this year were the McCartys (Ian, Tiffany, and Cadence), the Fontanettas (Tony, Jody, AJ, and Aria), and the Grahams (Greg, Kim, Ellerie, and Fletcher).

You kids actually did more scooping of pumpkin guts than you did carving. After 15 minutes of scooping, you kids were done with pumpkins and on to making the house into a giant playroom. The adults made the best of it, though, and got some good inner child time in as we chatted and did the carving.

We went costume shopping at Sprit Halloween, and neither of you wanted to leave because the place

was decorated like a creepy Haunted House. A Sparkly Witch and a Donkey Kong. Both costumes were perfect and matched your personalities- especially the fact that Logan has played 1,200 hours of Donkey Kong Country Returns in the last 2 months.

Then came Halloween. October 31 came on a Monday this year, so we started ramping up as soon as

we got home from school.  After the costumes were on, we did a quick trip to Sonic to get us fueled up for the walking....Then it began.  I had every intention of going to 3 neighborhoods, but you guys hit Blackman Farms so hard, we didn't need to! Mommy met us there after she got off work. You guys were champs, and you made out like burglars with sooooooooooooooo much candy!! 


We tried to save Grandma some Whoppers, but Logan ended up liking them and ate every one in site.


You guys make parenting so much fun, and I look forward to the fun costumes you'll choose next year.

By the way, as the night went on, you guys got tired of wearing and carrying your costumes. So guess who ended up carrying them? (see below)

Love,

Daddy

10/31/16

Fall Break 2016: Navarre Beach

Dear Leah and Logan,

We just got back from one of the greatest vacations I've ever had- Navarre Beach (near Destin and Panama City).  Grandma and Grandma first started planning this trip a few months ago and wanted us all to go. After all of my brothers cleared their schedules, Grandpa got us a Beach House.

So after Logan's Soccer game on Saturday afternoon, we packed up my Jeep and headed to the coast! It was about a 7 hour drive to get to the gulf beach, but you 2 have always done road trips well! I packed lots of snacks, things to draw with, and the Nintendo DS...and we were off!

We got there Saturday evening and you could hear and smell the ocean as we got out of the car. My entire family was there: Grandma, Grandpa, Uncle Mike, Uncle Justin, and Uncle Caleb....and we even had a surprise guest....Aunt Daniela surprised us for a couple of days because we thought she'd be in Germany.

The week was amazing!  We got 7 days of perfect, 80-degree sunshine, and barely saw any rain the entire week.  Just 400 miles away on the East Coast there was Hurricane Andrew causing havoc and making people evacuate...we got lucky...all we ever felt was strong winds.

Starting on Sunday, you 2 wasted little time getting to the beach. It was a quick walk from our balcony. Daddy also went and got his fishing license and a bunch of night crawlers, and we fished every day. Both of you caught several fish throughout the week, and Uncle Justin cooked one of Leah's catfish for dinner one night.

On Monday night, we got 2 more visitors in the house: Gigi and Cousin Courtney decided to fly in for a couple of days and join the fun.

Throughout the week, Uncle Justin put his chef hat on and cooked us giant meals.  You guys helped him make homemade pasta, and both of you got to watch him cook up the shark he caught in the water.

One of your favorite thing to every day was 'wave jump' with your uncles. The gulf was getting a lot of the hurricane wind, so some days with waves were huge. Uncle Mike and Uncle Caleb entertained you 2 for hours.

 

 

On Wednesday night, we all put on goofy Hawaiian beach shirts and ran down to the beach to take a

bunch of crazy family sunset pictures. We got there a little late because we ran out of daylight, but that didn't stop us from having a

bunch of fun.

On the last night, me, you two, and Grandma and Grandpa took a walk on the Navarre Fishing pier. We saw all kinds of stuff- including people catching flounder and mackerel, a bunch of sea turtles, and our last sunset from the water. It was a great ending to an incredible week.

I hope we are able to go on several vacations, but we'll all be lucky if we ever get a week that was as perfect as the one we got in Navarre Beach in the fall of 2016.

Thanks Grandma and Grandpa!

You 2 are amazing, and you're very fortunate with all the things we get to experience!!

Let's pick a new beach soon!


Love,

Uncle Justin's shark

Daddy

October 2016

Beach view from our balcony.