The Hicks Family

florida vacation - day 4...

our last full day in florida...and daddy's birthday!
we decided to start with a trip to the pier.

max really enjoyed wearing gg's sequin visor.

max and daddy got started looking for dolphins...

they're were about 3-4 hanging out around the pier.
it was awesome to watch!

a quick photo of the guys before we headed down to the beach.

i love this picture!!!

we didn't realize we were hanging out on the beach...so we didn't change.
max walked right in...oh well!

he loves everything...seriously, the kid is too much!

he had sand EVERYWHERE!

he got in some serious playing with grampa mark...running, jumping, and playing catch with the football.

after some fun in the sun, we rinsed off and put his clean/dry swim stuff on of course!

and we made a stop at a local music store to check it out with the birthday boy!

i was pretty impressed with his efforts here...not bad for a 4 year old!

we headed back to gramps and gg's house, showered and then headed to go out for a birthday dinner for drew! when we returned, we asked max how he wanted to spend his last night.
his answer....THE POOL!!!

and drew, gramps, gg, and i ended our night...like the other 3 before...with a hot game of fast track! :)

florida vacation - day 3...

we decided wednesday would be the perfect day for a morning trip to the zoo before grampa mark arrived to join us for a few days.

max got himself ready...notice the socks and sandals! adorable!

not sure why i'm getting a salute here?

max wanted a picture by this tree because it looked like a pineapple.

we got to feed some animals...

various birds and ducks

and giraffes too!

it was awesome!

then we took a boat ride to check out the monkey islands

our monkey.

their monkeys...

after the boat ride, we checked out a few other animals...

a sleepy tiger

at the bear exhibit

and the playground.

we had max convienced that this tiger was real and he had gotten out of his cage.
he quickly realized we were full of it...

we took in a few minutes of the tiger show,

made a souvenir and then headed to the parking lot for our ride.

and we ended up back at the pool of course...max's favorite place!

catching a ride with grampa!

and we ended our day with gramps' famous fish fry!

florida vacation - day 2...

we woke up ready for a day of adventure.
drew and i went for a jog, we had some breakfast, and played outside.

max also played some music on gramp's keyboard.

and pretended gramps' bike was his motorcycle.

gramps had lined up a boat ride on one of his friend's boats.

thumbs up from the littlest sailor.

max and gramps rode in the front on the way out.

we decided to stop here.
it's where the fresh water and ocean water meet...
there's a nice little island for walking and shell collecting.

just cute.

collecting treasures.

main mans.

me and my love.

seriously the cutest boy EVER!

the three of us.

max's shell collection.

he was obviously in the middle of ordering someone around or telling a story here...

max got to do a little fishing with gramps and gramps' friend who we called "captain dick."
max caught a sheephead and a whiting.
he thought it was the coolest thing!

sneaking in some snuggles on the ride back.

i made up this game one day waiting in a restaurant. we hide our hand and put up a certain number of fingers and the other person has to try to guess. it's provided hours of distraction and redirection! :)