Kyle's 5th birthday and stats

 Kyle had a great time celebrating his 5th birthday - at school with parent reading (although he chose to do the reading instead!) and then with a party with friends at Rainbow Play. He enjoyed pancakes for breakfast and a toilet paper roll craft for his activity (luckily Grandpa Ed had saved them for a while!) His sisters enjoyed helping by putting together the present scavenger hunt with fun clues, passing out pizza and dessert at the party, and getting his balloons from the store (although it was so cold outside that the yellow balloon only made it long enough to take a quick picture!). We had abe's cupcakes for the party and ordered way too much pizza that we had leftovers for days. He opened his presents at home and did a great job writing his thank you notes!

His stats:

3ft 9 inches (90%)

41 lbs (57%)

Gulf Coast Trip

 We checked off Mississippi and Alabama for Eric and the kids as we road tripped from New Orleans to Ft Myers for the 1st week of the year when the kids still had off school. We enjoyed seeing so many friends in New Orleans and then had lunch at the Shed BBQ in Mississippi. Cecilia sang Karaoke and the BBQ was delicious. Then we stopped in Alabama for the afternoon to see Steph and Matt and Scarlett where we enjoyed king cake, zip lining, 3D printers and catching up and then had to swing by Buccees for some snacks/dinner. We then stayed in Pensacola Beach and while it wasn't that warm, the pool was heated and the kids had fun there playing in the sand. We also enjoyed mini golf and good food. After that we drove along the Florida panhandle and stopped along Highway 30A in Blue Mountain beach and saw a gender reveal on the beach and then had delicious Philly cheese steaks before we made the trek to Tampa. We stayed overnight in Tampa to see Elizabeth and Stephen and Hadley, Clare, and Charlotte. We packed a lot in to that day - eating food, playing on the beach, eating pizza by the pool and walking around the park to see lights and go on rides. It was a great way to ring in the New Year!

On our way down to Ft Myers we stopped for lunch at Venice Beach - home of the most shark teeth and found a few there. That was a fun stop!

Then in Ft Myers Jan and Steve took over and did so many activities with the kids- an early birthday celebration for Kyle, an eco-tour to see so many cool animals, bowling, mini golf, and cooking at the house. We got to enjoy the weekend activities at the Naples Zoo and sunset on Bunche beach.