Last week was a bit stressful for those of us in Florida.  As the week went by, Hurricane Matthew came closer to our beloved town of St. Augustine.  By Wednesday, officials were saying that the coastal areas were going to be under a mandatory evacuation.  Since I work at the beach, that meant no work...for at least a few days.  So, I left work early and got Juliette from daycare.  We packed up the car (including two dogs that don't travel well) and headed north.  We left Daddy behind (not our choice, but he refused).  I drove all night...which I cannot imagine ever wanting to do again...and made it safely to Grams house in KY.  Here's a little peek at out impromptu trip...

The headlines in The Kentucky Enquirer...a picture of St. Augustine under water. 

Monty finally got off my lap to sleep for a few hours in the passenger seat.  He won't be going on any long car rides for a LOOOOONG time,

After the storm passed and we knew our house was ok and Daddy was fine, we had some fall fun at Neltner's Farm.  We were so excited for a REAL pumpkin patch (no church parking lot for us this year!).  It was a beautiful day...it felt like Fall!  We picked some pumpkins, visited their farm animals, Juliette rode their train, we listened to a live Bluegrass band and took a short walk through their corn maze.  We'll have to go back!

We also got to see Granny, Pappaw, Aunt Jenny, Uncle Ryan, Cousin Olive, Grandma Betty, Uncle Andy & Aunt Maggie and a bunch of the Schroeder's.  We made lemonade out of lemons on this trip!  

Unfortunately, St. Augustine didn't fair as well.  Our little town is now recouping.  Lots of folks lost their homes on the beach and the coastal areas.  The houses around the Club on the beach are in rough shape.  Many had major damage...and quite a few are considered condemned.  But St. Augustine is resilient.  She'll be back in no time!

Here's a short video that pretty much sums up my feelings for this place!

After the Grand Canyon, we had two days left to explore Phoenix & Scottsdale.  We stopped by the Desert Botanical Garden.  We spent a good two hours walking around and seeing the native plants.  It's amazing how many types of cacti there are!  Following that, we had lunch at Flower Child with my good friend Amy.  She's been a great friend of mine since our Flagler College soccer playing days!  It is always wonderful seeing her and catching up!  Of course we had to hit up the local Sprinkles too!  Juliette is a big fan of chocolate right now!

​The next day, we took Juliette to the Children's Museum of Phoenix.  The museum is just darling and Juliette LOVED it.  We had a hard time prying her away!  She got to paint a robot pink...and some other kids helping paint the robot were so kind as to paint Juliette's hair pink too.  We had lunch at Matt's Big Breakfast.  Best bacon I've ever had!  Later in Old Town Scottsdale, Juliette nabbed herself a pair of shiny black cowgirl boots.  She's been obsessed with them ever since.  We finished up the day with a trip to Baked Bear.  Matt had told me that we would enjoy this place...and he was right!  I had an oatmeal cookie ice cream sandwich that was delish!  Juliette had herself a chocolate chip cookie eaten with a spoon.  Weird kid.

Poor Jean-Luc

And she's outtttt...we had a wonderful trip!  Thanks Uncle Matt & Aunt Anne for letting us crash with you and for being great tour guides!  Can't wait to come back!

Our next stop, the Grand Canyon!  My first thought when we saw the canyon was, "This is fake"  It honestly is so amazingly HUGE that my brain was having issues grasping that it was a real place.  We spent the whole day traveling around the South Rim.  Every viewing area brought a new sight.  We brought a picnic lunch that we enjoyed at the Desert View.  I have to admit, Desert View, was my favorite viewing spot.  The tower was closed, but the Canyon was just spectacular there.  The first thing Juliette said when she saw the canyon..."So big."  This kid just loves being outside so we could have really taken her anywhere and she would have been happy!  Next time, we'll take Daddy with us!

After leaving Sedona, we headed to Williams, Arizona.  Williams is an adorable little town with proud ties to Route 66.  We didn't spend too much time in Wiliams, but enough time to grab some dinner and walk around some cute stores.  We also stayed in Williams for two nights in an adorable log cabin we found on airbnb since it was a quick 45 minute drive to the Grand Canyon.  Williams is definitely a great little stop while in Arizona!

This is the cute little cabin we stayed at in Williams...

The view from our little cabin...

We arrived in Phoenix a few weeks ago excited to start our Arizona vacation. We flew out of Orlando, picked Grams up in Cincinnati, stopped in Denver and finally into Phoenix (It was a LOOOONG travel day...and Frontier lost our car seat which kept us in the airport really late).  We finally arrived at Uncle Matt & Aunt Anne's house by 5AM EST.  The next morning we got our rental car and drove around Phoenix and Old Town Scottsdale.  Following that, we packed up the car bright and early and headed to Sedona for our Pink Jeep tour.  Before we loaded into our bright pink ride, we got to see some of the local peccary or javelina.  I guess it is not an everyday sight, but we were lucky enough to see about 8 of them!  The picture with Juliette and some pink looking pigs are what javelina look like (minus the pink color!).  We loaded into our pink jeep and headed to the ancient Native American ruins of Honanki.  It was a bumpy and chilly ride, but super fun!  We walked around Sedona afterwards and did some shopping.  Sedona is just GORGEOUS!

Yesterday,we loaded up the car for a day trip to this place called Jacksonville :)

​Our first stop was a magical bakery called, Sweet Theory Bakery.  We arrived about an hour after opening and they were jam packed.  After one bite of my Lavender Latte doughnut, I can see why.  It was heavenly.

I also had an iced coffee with lavender vanilla syrup...AMAZING.  We walked away with $30 in coffee and baked goods (a doughmuffin...seriously.  a gluten free cupcake for Juliette, an original glazed doughnut, a piece of carrot cake bread with pineapple glaze, and a snickerdoodle doughnut).  We may have eaten all of that in one day.  

After we bought the store of all their baked goods (we really didn't), we headed to the Jacksonville Zoo.  Juliette had watched The Penguins of Madagascar earlier in the morning so she talked about penguins for the first hour of our zoo visit.  She got to see the penguins and all the others animals, she rode the train around a couple of times and she got to splash around the splash park for a while.  We had a great family day!

Last but not least...my favorite picture of the day...the one I borrowed :) from the Jacksonville Zoo's professional photographers...isn't she cute! 

This past weekend, Juliette & I took to the road with Auntie Em.  On a journey to meet up with our good friends Mayleen, Myalee and Mara in Atlantic Beach, NC.  We headed out early Saturday morning.  The trip there was broken up by a brief visit to the tackiest tourist stop that there ever was, South of the Border.  AND I LOVED IT!  We got ourselves some ice cream and walked around to view the sights.  I honestly don't know why, but I adore tacky.  I could have stayed a few days there easily.  If you are ever on 95 driving through NC/SC, you should stop and see Pedro.  

After a 2.5 hour delay in Wilmington due to a six car pile up, we made it to Atlantic Beach.  We were excited to see our friends!  On Sunday, we visited Fort Macon which was a short five minute drive from our hotel (BTW...Hampton Inn's have THE best FREE breakfasts!).  The fort is free to visit (SCORE!).  A nice little history lesson.  After that we went to Beaufort to catch a ferry to Shackleford Banks to see the wild horses.  Juliette loved the boat ride and could have cared less about the wild horses.  Go figure.  While the girlies napped, we drove around Morehead City and took turns (Emily & I) running into stores to shop.  We ate at a fun place called Dank Burrito.  It was delish!  

Those were the highlights of the trip cause we left early Sunday morning...a super duper fast trip...but so much fun!

Yesterday was Father's Day so we took Daddy to Juniper Springs since he loves visiting all of Florida's springs (did you know that there are literally a TON of springs in Florida to visit?!??!!  See them all here)

We had not yet ever been to Juniper Springs so we thought we'd check it out!  We started off the day by making Josh his favorite breakfast: Biscuits & Gravy!  We then headed to Juniper Springs.  The springs are about an hour and twenty minute drive from our house.  We went swimming first (Juliette and I floated in our awesome new inner tube...thanks Daddy!)  We followed that with a nice picnic lunch and then a walk on one of their nature trails.  Juliette was so excited to see the wildlife...fish, turtles and an alligator!  

We had such a great day!  We are so lucky to have you (Daddy/Josh) in our lives!  You are such a great Daddy!  We love you!

Yesterday, we went to visit Silver Springs...Florida’s first tourist attraction and one of the largest artesian springs in the world!  The springs are about an hour and a half drive from our house...the perfect day trip.  The park is renowned for the Glass Bottom Boat tours...so we had to try it out!  And we are so glad we did!  I highly recommend the tour!  We had so much fun!  We took the 30 minute boat ride, but I would have gladly signed up for the 90 minute version!  As soon as we got on the boat, Juliette's eye lit up!  Everyone on the boat, sits around a giant piece of 1/2 inch think glass floor.  Between looking through the floor and peeking around the sides of the boat, you see all kinds of fish & other wildlife (like alligators chilling on the side of the river!).  We were on the hunt for the monkeys (click here for more "monkey" info)...but never saw any.  Guess we will need to go back! 

p.s. Juliette is wearing a Naartjie size 3-6 month DRESS as a shirt :)  We sure have gotten our $ worth out of that purchase!

Last Sunday, Auntie Em & I took Juliette to the Clay County Fair.  I think I was more excited than Juliette at first.  Until we saw Rosaire's Royal Racers...otherwise know as "fast pigs" to Juliette.   "Pigs run fast."  We also watched the Disc-Connected K9's (also known as "Dogs jump high").  I think Juliette (and Auntie Em & I too!) found her happy place!  Juliette got to eat ice cream while Autnie Em and I had a pulled pork sandwich and some Filipino food from a local food truck called Cely's.  We were totally planning on eating a bunch of good ole fried fair food...but that didn't happen.  Anyone for fired bubblegum?  Guess we'll need to go back next year!

By the way, Juliette LOVED all the animals.  From the white horses (white cows) to the Easter Bunnies (all rabbits and bunnies are "Easter Bunnies" to Juliette).