Happy 4th of July!

We tried something a little different this year for the 4th of July. We went to Coke Zero 400 Nascar race in Daytona. We packed up about lunch time. Drove straight into Daytona on back roads - no traffic! We tailgated with our new mini-gas-grill. We squeezed into the stands with some very enthusiastic fans (when "Jr" crashed out of the race halfway through, lots of people were so mad that they left!). We stayed for the entire race straight through to the huge crash at the end! We watched the fireworks as we were walking to our car and drove home - no traffic again! We made it home about 2am and checked the Daytona experience off our list!

The Kocas come to O-town!

We had a wonderful week-long visit with a house full when Grandma, Grandpa, Julia and Katie came to visit for week. We celebrated went to the Pirate's Dinner Adventure, celebrated Father's Day & went Bowling, took a boat-trip for the day to Disappearing Island and, of course, never missed a day at the pool (even if it was only for a couple of hours...the temps that week were in the 100s!)

Pirate's Dinner Adventure...a pirate picked Ashley out of the crowd during the pre-show for a little participation....


Cassie making her "pirate face"











Father's Day and Bowling. Cassie got a strike. Ashley and Grandpa did not. But, Ashley still beat Grandpa...that's what counts. We all should have been nicer to him since it was Father's day....but the scoreboard proves we were not...
















Our boat trip to the Intercoastal was overall...an adventure. When we got out on the water, it was high tide. The water was gorgeous and blue. The dolphins were swimming. There were no wakes from big boats to jump (it was a Thursday morning). We found a great place to park where we had Disappearing Island to ourselves (almost). Things then took a slight turn...We found a gash in the boat from taking it off the trailer too hard. The tides started going out so we had to keep moving and re-anchoring. 4 dogs showed up with the only other people on the island and tried eating our food and pooped by our stuff. But, the water was warm, the breeze was cool, the kite was flying high and we were having fun. Then, the tides continued going out. And, we tried to leave. And, the water took control of the boat and we beached ourselves on a sandbar and Ashley sliced open her thumb on the gash in the boat. No wonder Cassie and Katie zonked out on our cruise back home! It was a GOOD adventure...in spite of what Grandpa may say... (just look how happy we are in the pictures!)


















Fun at the pool!! With Julia and Katie's help, Cassie finally overcame her fear of her power wheels truck. So, every morning, they loaded up the truck with the pool toys and supplies and cruised around the block for a swim!

Memorial Day in Chicago

The Cassie-the-chicken-wisperer post was from a long weekend visiting our too-far-away family in Chicago. But, there were lots of other fun pics from that weekend, too. I didn't want to leave them out.

Cassie the speed demon with Uncle Rick on the motorcycle. I took this picture just as he gave her control of the gas...he looks a little surprised!




Katie and Cassie on the trampoline










Playing in Grandma and Grandpa's back yard





Waiting for our airplane where we learned that Nintendo DS isn't just fun for Daddy - its lots of fun for Cassie, too!

Sunday on the Intercoastal

We tried to have a boat outing on Saturday. We packed up, smeared on the sunscreen and headed out about 10am. There are many, many lakes in Orlando. But, not many public ramps. We drove around for about an hour and the launches all had 5 boats in line, waiting on someone to leave before they could put in. So, we came home and started making plans for Sunday. We decided to go to the Intercoastal. The breeze is better on the coast, anyway. There is a nice marina in Daytona and a 20 minute cruise to Disappearing Island. You just beach your boat and hang out. And, we did, for several hours. On the cruise there, we saw dolphins twice (the water is icky and shallow and brown so we only saw them when they came up for a breather). But, on the way home, we happened on 4 little guys who were playing tag. All we had was the cell phone camera, but, the footage is still pretty good. You are looking at the front of the boat and our dolphin friends.

Cassie the Chicken Wisperer

After her great success at Green Meadows farm in Orlando...she cornered a little ugly chicken and picked him up and carried him around and has been telling the story every day since...we were a little concerned that she wouldn't be able to recreate the moment at Green Meadows farm in Wisconsin. I tried to help her. But, my chicken started flapping its wings and scared the crap out of me and so I gave up. But, Cassie set her sights on a brown spotted chicken and practiced patience until the perfect moment came. And, once again, she caught a chicken.



We had a great day on the farm with the entire Koca gang! Cassie got to hang out with lots of cousins and we all played with kittens and bunnies and puppies and goats and pigs.
















Seriously, if Jack isn't part Goldendoodle, part llama...I captured a picture of his twin llama brother...complete with the same goofy haircut.

New picture of what stupid looks like

Well, its close to 2 weeks. Rob is getting along a little better. Almost normal, infact. Except that no one can touch his right calf muscle. But, travel over Memorial Day was sucessful, in spite of a little discomfort. And, hopefully, he will back to normal really soon! Looking back, we really are thankful that he still has legs. And, they aren't broken. We thought we wouldn't be able to see the bruises through the hairy legs...silly us.

Happy Birthday to Ashley!

It was a low-key birthday this year. 20-11 isn't such a big deal. I guess you know you are getting old when going out on Cinco de Mayo doesn't sound fun because the crowds are too big and you have to be up early the next morning. Ah, but, what a wonderful night of margaritas at home! We had already celebrated the weekend before with Cassie. We had cake and I got to open my new camera.
Here are the birthday pictures (not with the new camera).













Here are the other pictures, with the new camera. Even if you can't tell a difference, you should be really excited with me so Rob will beleive that I will carry around the massive thing and use it just as much as I did the other one!! So far, so good!! The first picture is a self-portrait on a timer...ooooo, ahhhhh. :)