Friday, February 8, 2008

Weekend Pics with the Pipers

Yeah, Renae finally emailed me her pics from this weekend! Well, I should really say "from Sea World" b/c that's the only day we took any pictures! Yep, no pictures of the 4 of us. . none of the kiddos they never get to see, none of "us girls" or the guys! But, GREAT pics of my kiddos! As I said before, we had a blast. Jon and Renae are some of our favorite people in the world. They are the sweetest couple and now have a super sweet kiddo! They love the Lord dearly and are passionate about serving Him. Jon and Greg get along extremely well. . they are quiet frightening together. . let's just say that Jon could be a glogger! And, Nae. . .well there aren't words to describe her sweet, gentle spirit, compassion for hurting people and passion to see people know and love the Lord! They also LOVE my children. When they lived in Florida, we basically just had Brayden (they moved when Gracie was just a few months) and Johnny and Nae Nae were 2 of his favorites! He was thrilled to see them again and very quickly both Gracie and Davis realized what a gem they have in Johnny and Nae Nae!

Here is the only pic we got of Renae and I! And sweet baby Abe!Johnny and Brayden. Brayden was in "hog heaven" and asked Jon to carry him everywhere. Jon is the only adult who would have obliged with that request at hot Sea World!

Brayden and I! Isn't he so sweet? Yes, my eyes are closed. It's from my mom's side of the family. . .all of us do it! We are squinty eyed Swedes!
Davis kept wanting to hug baby Abe. I thought I'd get involved to protect Abe and also get some snuggling in!Davis and I. . .I love this picture! Rarely do I get a cute pic of me and the kiddos!
The Piper Family!!
Renae and Abe. . .how they have fallen in love with their little guy is just adorable!
My fam! Cute, I guess, but Gracie looks a bit ghetto! Definitely a "we've spend the day at a theme park" look going on!
As you know, we go to Sea World quite a bit! Usually, though, we pretty much stick with the shows and run out of time.. .the nice thing about having annual passes is that we usually only stay till nap time and head home. So, we have never really "done" the Happy Harbor area for kiddos. They have 5 different rides that ALL the kiddos can do.

Check Gracie out on the carousel! She loved it and kept saying, "'nother ride mama"

Davis lovin' life! The protective hand around Davis is Kevin. Our friends John and Kelly went with us to Sea World too (he works at Discovery Cove, so he "helped" us with Jon and Renae). They are a super sweet couple that we rarely get the time to really hang with and are expecting their first little one soon! They also have a super sweet son, Kevin. Kevin is 12 (I think?!) and LOVED the kiddos. He pushed a stroller at all times and was holding one of the kids. He also didn't complain a lick about spending most of the day at the kiddie ride area and rode every single ride! My kids LOVED him right back! He was so cute and protective of Davis on the ride. . . note the above pic where I didn't even have my arm around Gracie!Gracie at the Dolphin Show (my favorite one!). . she doesn't look great, but is still darn cute!
This is Kelly. . you can't see her cute pregnant belly all that much, but click HERE and you will!

Ok, back to the rides! Brayden has always said he DID NOT want to go on the Shamu Kids Roller Coaster. Well, this time he said that if Nae Nae wanted him too, he would. He ended up sitting next to Johnny and loved it. I'll scan in their pic (yep, we splurged and actually bought the roller coaster picture! So did Jon and Renae (which I expect to see framed in their home!). Afterwards, we kept praising him and he just kept saying, "I was scared. I went on Shamu and I was scared." But, yesterday he said he wants me to go with him next time b/c I'll hold his hand!

Ok, then they had this crab ride. It's like the adult rides where the go high in the air and drop you, then raise you up and keep dropping you. Well, kids can ride. . even little ones. Can you even SEE Gracie and Davis next to me? The straps are HUGE compared to them. Gracie got pretty freaked out by the big strap but when we got up there (at least 2 stories) she LOVED it. She kept giggling. I think she and Davis are my thrill seekers for sure. Davis loved every ride!
Oh, I'll miss this sweet boy! It pains my heart that he won't remember me next time I see him. I love him so much! Isn't he adorable?! I'll also miss his sweet parents. We beg them to move back every time and they beg us to move to Siloam Springs, Arkansas. Where??? yeah, that's what we say! Heck, maybe we'll all move to Africa one day! Hey, the girls can dream, right?!

18 comments:

missy said...

How sweet. Great pics of you and your family. I'm glad you had such great birthday. What # was it anyway?
Love,
Missy

Anonymous said...

I love it....you could hardly see David and Gracie in their seats!! I think you're a very pretty "Squinty eyed Swede!!" Love, Denise

Amber G. said...

Sure... post more "ha-it's-warm-here-and-we get-to-wear-tees" pictures! Rub it in!!! :0)

(Actually I spent the day knee-deep in glorious powder flying down the mountain -- so today I didn't envy you ONE BIT!!! But most days I would like to be the one in flip-flops!)

I LOVED the pictures! Thanks for sharing them. I'm glad you had such a great time... Good friends are the best.

Love ya,
Amber

Melissa said...

Hi, you left a comment on my blog pearls from Africa. I love it when I find other people whose hearts beat for this wonderful place. It is very funny that most of the blogs I watch you do to or know the people. I spent many desperate hours trying to locate people who adopted from Uganda and Libera. I pray for these families daily, even though I have never met any of them, they are on my heart every day. You have given me more reading material...Thanks!

Rebecca said...

What an adventurous bunch!! I hope that we remain a family that gets out and does stuff after having kiddos! What a family you have...all cuties :)

Anonymous said...

Great pictures!
What a treat to live close to the theme parks like that!
We went to Disney about 3 years ago and the kids keep asking when we can go again!
Julie L

Karin said...

We did the Sea World annual pass when we first moved down here! And guess where we took EVERYONE who visisted that year?!? It really is such a cool thing for them to offer this!
The picks are so great~

Julie Redman said...

what cute pics of the kids. i love the ones of davis smiling big with his momma. the one where the kids are on the crab ride is too darn cute. they look like they are going to fall out when the ride moves. i wanna come to florida where the weather looks so beautiful right now.
or ya, maybe we can move to AFRICA!
julie

Anonymous said...

Hey sugar punch!!!I want to come...
You better be saving some tickets for your friend in Sweet Home Alabama....

I miss talking to you as much but as I think we ALL realize this job we have isn't easy and I don't have a time card.Darn I wished I did...
You keep on doing what your doing.
Your doing good ....

love you,
Rob

Kelly said...

I'm glad the pictures turned out. What a fun day! By the way - do you have my long sleeved t-shirt I put in Abe's stroller?

Cassie - Homeschooling Four said...

Fun Day!! Now, you need to devote a whole post to Mafia and the inner workings of John!

A Family said...

I'm jealous that you have such cool places to have annual passes to! I would totally live at Sea World!

Chris

Katie said...

Great pics Brandi!!
You guys are a beautiful fam!!!
love ya
Katie B.

Christina said...

Cute cute cute pics!! Your kids are sooo adorable! One of these days, will have to get together!!
Love ya! Christina

steffany said...

I'm so glad you posted all the pics!
What a great Birthday!

Jamie said...

It's so hard to find friends like that- what a blessing! I love all the pics! Adorable!

Anonymous said...

Okay - you are entirely too sweet... you have no idea how much it blessed our socks off to get to spend time with you all! We miss you guys so much and only hope that it won't be too long before we get to hug you all again. I hate that there are so many states between Arkansas and Florida! At any rate I am so thankful for you and Greg and your sweet sweet little ones - and know that God ties us together in a way that is not bound by distance - how good He is. Love you! Renae

mommy zabs said...

thanks for the pics! It is so good to see you guys. makes me miss you!