Maddy and Mike's Beach Vacation

Mike and Maddy had a perfect relaxing time at Longboat Key for their Spring Break...

Jen and Mya joined them to finish out the trip...

Those sunsets...

And beautiful beach hikes...

And now to finish out High school:)

Our special cruise :)

To celebrate our last year before Maddy goes away to college we have been enjoying special mom/daughter weekends together every month. This one was a big one - Maddy and I took a cruise to the Bahamas! We went with Royal Caribbean for the first time on the Majesty of the Seas and it was great!

For the first day in Nassau we booked a Dolphin Encounter on Balmoral Island which was amazing...

The sting rays there were huge!

After we were done we relaxed on the beach for the rest of the day...

The towel animal when we got back to the room was a dead-ringer for Bryce!

Back on the boat we took in shows, karaoke, dancing and movies on the deck. We did exactly what we wanted to, whenever we wanted to:)

The next day we went to Royal Caribbean's private island Coco Cay.We docked offshore and took a boat from the cruise ship to get there which we thought was very cool...

We booked the Kayak Adventure which was amazing! The tour started first thing in the morning when the iguanas were still sleeping in the trees...

Then our tour guide took us out on the ocean for about 30 minutes to a completely untouched part of the island to see some marine life...

We saw sea cucumbers...

Which grossed everyone out and made Maddy laugh...

Vibrant Starfish...

When we got back, the iguanas had woken up and were everywhere!

We did some shopping at the straw market...

And then it was time to take the boat back to the ship...

We totally enjoyed the excursions, weather, entertainment, food, people and most importantly each other. I love you so much Maddy and I'm so happy we are spending time on building these precious memories together:) 

Caring for Giants

Animal Kingdom launched a new backstage experience about their elephants program called 'Caring for Giants' so we made reservations to check it out on opening day...

It's a 90 minute experience and they take you to the backside of the savanna ride area so that you can see these amazing animals up close.

Sasha is their 3 month old baby and she is so stinking adorable!

We couldn't take our eyes off her!

While we were viewing the elephants, the tour guides shared some really interesting information about conservation programs and ways to protect these beautiful creatures in the wild. This is a statue made from from genuine snares recovered by a former Disney Cast Member who is making a difference back home in Africa...

It was interesting, inspiring and informative - we all loved it!

Once we were done with the tour we went to see some of the other animals and I got some great shots!

But this was my favorite photo of the day - I loved this guy. I think he's my spirit animal:)

It was a lovely day as always at Animal Kingdom:)

Cuddles at the shelter:)

I love my Sunday morning cuddles at the shelter:)

IB Art show

We were so proud to see Maddy's work at her Senior IB Art show...

Such a beautiful and talented group of artists!