It's strange how fast 11 years of marriage go by! We celebrated together by going to a new restaurant in Cedar Lake called The Lighthouse! The food and atmosphere was wonderful!! We didn't even mind the hour and a half wait since we were enjoying just having time alone. Mom and dad watched the kids so we could have the night to ourselves. Can you believe we didn't even mention the kids' names for the whole evening??? Wow, what an accomplishment for us.
Madison and Austin are going to different schools this year since Austin is now...in...gulp...middle school!!! I was able to get a picture of them together before they went their separate ways.
Is she the best brown noser on the first day, or what?? Really we went to the flower shop to get one daisy to give to her teacher, but my friend was working there that day and put together this elaborate bouquet instead. Oh well, never too early to chalk up some brownie points. :)
Madison walks to school with several kids everyday, including her best friend Taylor!
Our first stop was a super healthy dinner at the Indiana State Fair. If you've ever eaten at a fair, you know that it is pretty much impossible to eat healthy food at the fair. I think we started off with deep fried candy bars and cookies. Between six of us we consumed: shish-ka-bobs, BBQ pork, corn dogs, fried taters, ice cream, root bear floats, elephant ears and a couple rounds of fried candy bars. Did I miss anything girls?? Then we were off to the Kelly Clarkson concert right there at the fair. Our seats were great and I was super excited about that because I'm a HUGE fan of Kelly Clarkson. I was actually able to sing along to EVERY song she performed because I love her music.
The next day Tiffany met up with us and we visited...er...Melinda's...um...aunt's condo right on a lake that has a nice pool. Ok, so really it is a condo that Melinda is in the process of designing right now and happened to have the key for, so we had access to a pool that made for a great girls afternoon of relaxation and bonding time.
Then we spruced ourselves up for dinner at St. Elmo's in the city. Good thing Melinda had a $100 gift card because our total bill was $190 for the 4 of us ~YIKES!!! I must say it was the best Filet Mignon I've ever had. We all had a good sinus clearing too with their famous shrimp cocktail appetizer. When they said fiery cocktail sauce...they weren't kidding!
I tried to talk her out of it, but Madison decided she wanted bangs. She looks cute no matter what!
Turner Field in Atlanta, GA was a really nice stadium to visit. We were part of the biggest crowd they had there all season. The number was somewhere around 51,000. I was happy our seats were in the shade because it was super hot that day.
I liked being a brave fan for a day. They unfortunately lost the game...but since it wasn't the Cubs I guess I didn't really care too much.
There was a free concert right after the game that we stayed for. All American Rejects aren't exactly a family friendly group, so we didn't stay for the whole concert. Madi kept asking me why that guy was so weird.
We stayed in Kissimmee for a few days when we first arrived in Florida. It's a very tourist type town with tons of stuff for families to do. Our hotel was right next door to a big carnival. So we spent one night there riding go carts and riding the rides. I even enjoyed a funnel cake or two...or three....I don't know, I think I lost count. It was too tempting when it was right outside your hotel door. 
My friend Karen met us there one night since she lives in the Orlando area.
The go kart tracks were pretty cool. 
We spent one day at the John F. Kennedy Space Center. Look closely behind the kids and you will see the sight of one of the launch pads located there.
I learned a lot that day about our history in space. Pretty cool stuff!
Awhile ago I saw that Rascal Flatts was coming in to concert in Chicago at Wrigley Field. We were both pretty excited about it until we realized that the day they were in Chicago was the exact day we were leaving town for our road trip. We eventually figured out that they would be in concert in West Palm Beach while we were in Florida. Brian's mom and sister offered to watch the kids for us so we could have a weekend getaway. 
It was an outdoor theater so we were hot...but had SO MUCH FUN!
The concert was better than I expected. Rascal Flatts is, by far, my favorite country group. Darius Rucker opened for them and we liked him a lot too. Didn't realize how many of his songs I actually knew.
The next morning we packed up and went to the beach for some snorkeling. I'm not the best swimmer and have a bit of a fear of deep ocean water. Brian held my hand to get me out to the snorkeling area. WOW...it was AMAZING! Some of the best snorkeling I've ever done. I just felt like I was in a different world when I was under the water.
The boat went faster than I was expecting! It was so much fun! There were tons of tropical birds and a few gators to look at. I was in awe of the beauty of that area. We would drive through tall grass of the swamp area and just enjoy the scenery.
The kids spotted a giant gator. We were sneaking on him to get a better look.
This gator was 3 years old. His mouth was taped shut so we could hold him.
Don't let my smile fool you, I was a little intimidated to be holding him.
We had so much fun with our beautiful niece Kylee. We've finally got to the point where we don't have to reintroduce ourselves to her when we visit. She knows who her Aunt Stephanie, Uncle Brian and cousins are now.
Grandma bought all of the kids matching shirts to wear to the beach that day!
