Over the past 12 days we have had Charly's parents over at our house visiting, as well as his Brother Nate and his wife and five kids, who stayed at my parent's house, for the five days that they were here. We were so sad to see them go but had such a blast with them. We knocked out a lot of home projects while it was just Charly's parents and us and ate at Grills which is still so, so good. Then, when Nate and Marcy came, the party really got started. Here are some highlights:
The first day we had together we hit up the Brevard Zoo- it was a perfect weather day and Eliza mildly warmed up to giraffes after a previous encounter where one of them licked her hand as she fed them a piece of yam (the unthinkable).
We kayaked and fished quite a bit, and the dolphins always seemed to be out. Many people had close encounters and the pelicans always seemed to be diving into the water for some fish near us as well. We even explored Samson Island a little bit, of which I was no help with directions, since I still don't know my way around that very small island. The pool was too cold for me, but for your average Idahoan apparently it was just right! Also, I know that that was an absurd amount of photos, but I just couldn't part with any of them. The rest will come in more appropriate chunks! (Although, not as much so in order.)
We had a bonfire at the beach after we went surfing- including the mandatory hot dogs and s'mores.
Then the next day we went to the Kennedy Space Center visitor center. That place is like Disneyland, like a Disneyland I actually enjoy. So basically it is nothing like Disneyland and so, so much better. Charles and I decided not to get year passes at the last minute, mostly because of me, and I am still regretting that decision.
We also had a perfect beach day. I mean, aside from the fact that we timed it to be there when a rocket went off only for the launch to be rescheduled. Other then that the waves were small and fun, the sun bright and shiny, and the sandwhiches very sandwhichy after a certain toddler dropped hers more than once or twice. Another highlight of that day was the fact that there were a couple of dolphin swimming just offshore. As we waited for the rocket to launch we watched them and saw one jump out of a breaking wave twice! Like it's entire body was in the air with the sun glistening off of it! It was so cool!
And after that perfect beach day the adults went on an ice cream date while grandma and grandpa watched the kids. I don't think I've ever laughed so hard while playing Chinese checkers, it was pretty fun.
On Sunday we saw the rocket finally launch as well as it come back nine minutes later with the sonic booms following. It was an especially cool launch since, from my understanding, they were reusing a rocket for the first time as well as launching it off of pad 39A, which had been used from some other famous missions and previously closed. Then we raced off to church and had a meal altogether afterwards before saying goodbye to Nate and Marcy. We also tried to convince them that they would need this yearly respite from the Idaho cold on a yearly basis...we'll see if we get them to come down again next year;).
