last morning at my sister's (aka: a day at the park)

The last morning we were at my sisters we headed to a park so the kids could get their energy out and spend a little more time with cousins. They have lots of cool parks around her city, but this one was my favorite, its ocean theme made it a happy place.

 Ashley ruled over her mer-people from her sand castle and oyster throne.

 Josh beat a shark in a wrestling match.

 The other thing I loved about this park was that it had several misting stations to cool us off on such a hot day.

It was such a nice trip, and we got to see lots of cool things around town. We'll be sad to move away from this beautiful part of the country in a few weeks. But luckily I'm pretty sure we'll be back in several years since we have family to visit, so our goodbye to southern florida is hopefully not forever.

beach day with cousins

 "You been surfin' long?"

(Josh and this boy became BFFs in the few hours they were near each other at the beach.

But the boy didn't share his goldfish...)

 Chris forgot his hat, so he wore my old-lady sunhat that had been squished in the back of the car. Cute!

 There I am, out in the ocean with my old-lady sunhat, successfully not getting a sunburn. Look at the colors in that water!

 This beach had an area with big rocks the kids wanted to explore. Chris was nice and took them to see it.

It was a really shelly, rocky beach. Not so great on the toes. But it was a day at the beach, so nobody complained, and everyone found a treasure to bring home.

picnic in the rain under a big old tree

After we visited the church and hotel, we took a walk along a lake trail to see a giant tree.

 There's nothing better than seeing a handsome man wearing a winnie the pooh backpack in public while holding hands with his daughter :)

  The roots of the giant kapok tree near the Flagler Museum dwarf the kids. According to {this} short article, the tree was planted in 1887. That's one big old tree!

We started our picnic under the massive branches, but it rained too much and we had to move under the awning of the nearby church, where mosquitoes ate us up as we finished our sandwiches and crackers. 

When the rain paused for a minute, we went out to explore the church's gardens. You can see the giant roots in the background, behind the fountain.

After posing like greek gods near the fountain, we ran back to our car as the lightning and thunder rolled in. The joys of hurricane season!

The Breakers Hotel

Just down the street from the Church of Bethesda-by-the-Sea is a beautiful historic hotel, The Breakers. We wandered around inside for a while, cooling off and checking out the ballrooms, gardens, ocean view, and beautiful architecture.

 Since this is an expensive hotel, I told the kids to look rich. David has the expensive-catalog-pose down, while Ashley worked on the famous-lady duck lips. Not sure what everyone else was trying to do.

We also walked to a giant tree, but I'll have to post those pictures tomorrow. Our internet has been super slow again recently and I'm done sitting here :)

the church of bethesda-by-the-sea

While visiting my sister last week, we decided to be tourists around her town. One of the places she showed us was The Church of Bethesda-by-the-Sea. I took too many pictures, but the architecture and gardens were incredible and I want to remember them.

We told the kids to look like saints. I guess saints hold their hands like that.

This picture doesn't do the chapel justice. I love being mormon, but it's always nice to be able to walk into other churches and feel reverence and spiritual peace there, too. And this place was so peaceful.

My favorite stain glass window was with Peter sinking in the waves as he tries to walk on water.

"At such times when we feel the floods are threatening to drown us and the deep is going to swallow up the tossed vessel of our faith, I pray we may always hear amid the storm and the darkness that sweet utterance of the Savior of the world: “Be of good cheer; it is I; be not afraid.” (Matt. 14:27.)"

~ Howard W. Hunter

The long skinny pond behind the church was filled with Koi, and they even had a little machine with fish food, so the kids went back for several little handfuls to feed the excited fish.

This angels face looks so soft, and almost alive. It was one of my favorite things at the church.

If you're ever passing through Palm Beach, stop and take a look. It's worth it.