Wakulla Springs 5K Race

Wes and Kasey have only a few more days left in Crawfordville before they take the big step and move to Birmingham. For one last hurrah in their house Kasey hosted the family for a 5K run, picnic and birthday cakes for Gracie and Joe Joe. Kasey and I are like running twins so I was really looking forward to running with her and we made it our goal to cross the finish line together. She has been a good encouragement for my running and I can thank her for getting me into it and making it fun! Another reason this race was going to be fun was that Hester committed to running her very first 5K with us on this one! To motivate, I made t-shirts that said "Hollington Running Club." It was sweet to see Hester's excitement and nervous jitters and we were all proud of her! Running is becoming something that is tying a lot of people together and Kasey has a lot of good friends she regularly trains with. A lot of them have kids that run too so we put a good number of them in the 1 mile "fun run." That race started at 8 am and Justin Cardoza took home the 1st prize ribbon! He ran against his brother Jacob, Zac, Winter, Abbie, Justin, Cameron, Clara and Sierra. I took it upon myself to be Justin Hollington's drill sargeant and was proud to see him trot through the finish! Running the 5K, we had Corey, Karen, Melissa, Donny and his brothers, Kasey and I. Jason had to work this weekend so I was on my own with a 2 and 3 year old (Thanks Grandma Terry!!) Because I forgot Hester's t-shirt and was stressing last minute with sprinting back and forth to the car, sending Jenny after it-I think it really messed with my pre-race preparation! I picked up my bib probably 3 minutes before the race started! Better preparation will help me run better but Kasey was gracious to stick with me the entire race and we finished with a time of 26:12. Corey sprinted past us right at the finish and that was the extra push we needed to finish stronger! Every 5K I have done has been on my own, by myself so I enjoyed this one so much! And it was sweet to have Wil and Elsie cheering me on at the finish line in their double stroller! Our picnic was delicious and the water was refreshing. We packed it in around 1 and headed back to Kasey's for naps. Later that night we celebrated and early Gracie birthday and a belated Joe birthday. Birthday cake and ice cream! Kasey and I got up early Sunday for a quick run and then me and the nippers headed back home to Daddy!

Cinco De Camdo!

Becky and Kevin threw Camden an awesome 5th Birthday party with a Mexican theme. Cinco De Camdo was held at Cam's physical therapy clinic called Progressive Pediatrics. There were padded jungle gyms, indoor slides, monkey bars, different types of swings, sensory toys and mats to tumble on! We feasted on tacos and everyone enjoyed the cookie cake! A homeade gator pinata was tore into before Camden tore into the gifts! Happy Birthday to our favorite amigo Camden! Can't believe you are 5!!

Home is where the heart is!

Here are just a few random cute images of what we do around the house! In case you are curious, there is one picture of a deceased piney wood rooter I discovered on the side of the road not far from our creek. Other than that you'll see some good pictures of cute kids!

Sara's professional Hollington pics

I realized that I had not posted the pictures taken by my buddy Sara for us the weekend of the Medeivil festival when we had the Hollingtons over. Sara met us at Lake Alice and we took a few framable pictures of all of Terry's children. Hope you all enjoy these, we have looked at them so many times already!

Miami Mothers Day

Jason attended a weekend long CEU class offered in Miami which happened to be located very close to the beach! We decided to make a vacation of it and have some fun in South Beach! Friday we found a bunch of local parks and went park hopping! The kids are getting so big and athletic. It was fun watching them climb, slide and hang. Elsie watched the big girls at the monkey bars and before you knew it she was getting a little more adventurous-now she hangs on everything! Wil made friends at every park- I love how easy it is for kids to make friends with each other. We got so chummy at one park with a sweet little girl that we called it "Mary's park." Her father told us iguana come out during the day to sun and we should try to come back to see them. Saturday we hit the beach armed with our SPF! It was beautiful and the kids were very well behaved which comforted Daddy! We left on Mothers Day and I thought it was the best Mother's Day in a long time!

Sexy Scuba Diving Trip!

Pa Pa agreed to keep the kids in Perry for us while we took a much needed romantic getaway trip to Pompano Beach for scuba diving! Jason introduced me to this awesome sport and it had been 6 years since we dove together! We took the trip with a group from our Gainesville dive shop. On board every trip out was a buddy named Mike who happened to dive with us 6 years ago and checked us out for our open water certification. We were a little rusty but Enzo, owner of the dive charter volunteered to be our dive guide on the wrecks and reefs. We dove Friday night at dusk and Jason did a night dive (I don't do night dives yet!) On Saturday we dove a wreck and drift reef dive. We were back to the dock by noon so we showered, napped and ate lobster at the hotel restaurant. They advertised lobster specials so we compared a whole Maine lobster and Florida lobster tail! Pretty cool eating it after seeing them earlier in the day peeking at you under coral perches! After lunch we headed to Gary's beach house for the afternoon and chatted over a drink around his pad. We got back early because our last two dives were another wreck and drift dive in the morning before heading back. We saw eels, lionfish, wrasses, angelfish, butterfly fish, groper, snapper, lobster, barracuda, schools of beautiful fish on awe inspiring coral. It was good to get away and also good to come home just in time to tidy up before Dad and the nippers got back! We had dinner together and told Dad all about the trip and he told us of adventures on the farm!

Easter 2011-"He's Alive!"

Because we had 14 of Jason's family with us Easter weekend, we were able to have a good Easter celebration complete with a Sunrise service, Easter Egg Hunt and Easter Ham cooked by Chef Jake! I woke up early for the Sunrise service at my church and feeling so inspired by it, I came home, gathered my Mom in law, and 2 sisters in laws for Church of the Durango! We sipped on coffee and listend to Easter praise music before having our own little prayer service! I have such strong women as prayer partners and I feel blessed by God to have them! Our service ran a little over and by the time we got back inside everyone was up except for Abbie! We had the big kids take the little ones upstairs so the Easter bunny could deliver baskets to the back porch where we found them and tore through then! After a very sugary breakfast of Easter candy, we fed the kids cinnamon rolls while the Easter Bunny hid the Eggs. Everyone found a prize egg and then it was time for Easter dinner! Ham with pineapple chutney, sweet potatoe cassorole, egg salad, brocolli/cheese cassorole and sauteed spinach and mushrooms! Jake, Hester, Winter and Justin stayed with us Sunday night after everybody left. Hester, Winter, Justin and I took advantage of naptime and ran and worked out while Jason and Jake stayed at the house having manly discussions! We had a great Easter and He's Alive!

Wil's 3rd and Elsie's 2nd Birthday Party!

We threw Wil and Elsie a colorful birthday party to celebrate Wil's 3rd and Elsie's 2nd! We were happy to see so many friends-old and new there as well as a lot of helpful family! Pretty good turnout for the day before Easter! We made it a "colors" themed party and everyone was to wear a specific color. Helana (Wil's friend from school) won the prize for most colorful. She had on a pink shirt, pink shorts, pink sandles, pink bow and pink toe and nail polish! I tried to have every color of the rainbow for food and there were a lot of colorful sprinkles on those cupcakes! We got into the pool a little and played on the playground and played basketball and caught up on everybody! We are blessed with so many loved ones that mean so much to our little ones! Thanks for everyone's help and thanks for being there for us!

WE's school Easter Party!

Easter and Wil and Elsie's birthday party happened to fall on the same weekend so on Good Friday Jason allowed me a little more house cleaning time by taking the kids up to their school Easter parties! He told me it was a lot of fun to see the kids scramble for the eggs and chow down on party food! Happy Easter, A Child's Academy!

5K Run for the Vets with Becky!

Becky's workplace, Veteran's Village hosted a 5K run for the Vets recently and I was proud to be a part of it! The best part was meeting all the noble Vets and thanking them and meeting the friends Becky's working with. This run was on FSU's campus and it started at 9:00 am sharp! I rolled in from Gainesville around 8:52! I decided this race was for the vets because it sure wasn't my finest hour! I don't think I will drink coffee before a race again! My time was 25:36. After the race I helped Becky break down and we had breakfast at Waffle House before I headed home to help Jason with the trees! Awesome day!!

Adyson's Zebra Striped Minnie Mouse Party!

Adyson sure showed us a wild time at her 3rd birthday party! She wanted a Minnie Mouse bounce house and Sara threw in a little animal style and created a Zebra Striped Minnie Mouse 3rd Birthday bash! We watched the children go crazy while we caught up with good friends. We enjoyed touring the new house and breaking in the backyard properly! We bounced, rode Ady's gator, climbed, gifts, ate cake, and swam in the kiddie pool until Wil peed in it! Ady's a great friend though and didn't hold it against Wil!