It’s no secret that our family loves chocolate.  So, while in St. Augustine we visited the home of Whetstone Chocolatiers.  Oh my people!  Is it safe to say that all eight of us (Malachi doesn’t count…he gets mom’s milk), loved it.  The samples were so worth the tour of the chocolate factory.  Of course, the history lesson and information the kids received were wonderful too. 

Ace took the pictures for us and I have no idea what this machine does.

Or this one.

However, I do know that some of the samples included dark chocolate to which I almost didn’t try but am so glad I did.  I’ve never tasted a smoother or more rich dark chocolate than I did at Whetstone.  Oh yummy!  And yes, we did leave home with some of it too…which I have to hide from Bryant.

Just a side note:  Apparently, Whestone didn’t have any oompa loompas much to the disappointment of the kids.

We ventured into the city one day with the kids and all our crew.  Ace took over camera duty when we made it into the Castillo.  Wow, this structure was amazing…but don’t take my word for it.

Here is Zoe’s first ever post!  Enjoy (oh the joys of homeschooling and making your kids practice their writing skills for all the world to see).

Castillo De San Marcos in St. Augustine, Florida was very interesting. It was never taken by force. Instead, it was handed over in peace treaties. Castillo De San Marcos, which is pronounced CasteeO DE San MarcOs, was first occupied by the Spanish, then it was handed over to the British, then the British to the Americans. The Fort was made of coquina, which turned out to be surprisingly strong. The British changed the Castillo De San Marcos name when they occupied the fort to Fort St. Mark. Castillo De San Marcos still stands today in St. Augustine. by Zoe, age 9

Dad’s favorite shorts.  Great shot, no?  All pictures provided by Ace.

We took another trip on our Bamapalooza ventures to the Alligator Farm.  Charming fella, isn’t he?

It’s been over three years but the “gang” all came together again. Bamapalooza is the gathering of all of Mark’s friends/roommates from college. There are five guys total. Then the wives (each just has one though) and the kids. So, for a head count, ten adults and fourteen kids. Now, keep in mind that half of them were ours. And all of them were nine and under.

We had a wonderful time. Mark and I both said that was the best vacation we’ve ever taken. We stayed in a mansion on the beach and enjoyed the ocean, pool, and trips in to St. Augustine, Florida.

I’m starting off this series with our beach and pool ventures. I wish I had gotten more pictures of the house because it was just wonderful.

The last time we were at the beach, Bryant was a baby (a little bit older than Malachi).  He loved it!  He kept talking about the big wata.  When we went back in the first night, I told him we’d be back tomorrow.  He looked at the beach and ocean and said, “Bye wata, see ya morrow.”  And that bump on my front is Malachi.  He helps to cover up my mommy tummy.

Josiah found some digging buddies.

We may or may not have had some issues with the hurricane shutters (the switch for them was placed right near the light switches…instant kid toy).  Luckily, two of the engineers figured out how to fix it.

A view from the third story!

Uncle S enjoyed cuddling with all the kids.

And building sand castles.

One day, I had the smart idea to have Ceili Rain get the clothes out of the dryer (I don’t know what I was thinking).  About 30 minutes later, we all realized the door to the laundry room was closed and had been for quite some time.  This is what we found when we opened it.  What you can’t see is that Bryant is covered in clothes on the floor.  The peek-a-boo head is Big A who is Ceili Rain’s age.

Ceili Rain got a stuffed monkey as a souvenir.  Here she is feeding it (yes, she’s breastfeeding it).

The rewards of building with Dad.

This is how I spent most of the trip, cuddled up with Mr. Malachi.  I didn’t mind it one bit though.

Uncle M was all alone building a volcano for his boys…

Then the boys all came to destroy it.