Labor Day Camping at Ginnie Springs

After Julian's soccer game we decided at the last minute to go camping at Ginnie Springs near Gainesville, Florida for Labor Day weekend! We had a blast hanging out, tubing down the river and canoeing back up! My sister Kate, drove down from Georgia and our friend Adam drove over from Orlando. I was very impressed with Kate's spontaneity as I fully expected her response to my text to be "No way, are you crazy??" We aren't exactly known for our ability to just pack up and go on a trip so it was pretty amazing that she showed up and it sure was great to see her!! :):):)

We made S'mores, of course!! Julian just liked the marshmallow part and wasn't really interested in the chocolate and graham cracker part of it...

It rained on Sunday afternoon and everything and everyone got pretty muddy!!

On the way to the boat ramp to drop in the canoe and jet ski so we could get pulled up the river and then float back down.

The water at the springs is pretty chilly... it stays at 72 degrees year round!!

Once it rained, Ashlee couldn't see out of her foggy glasses!

Busted...digging in the cooler!

Kate, Julian and I took her car up the little store they have on-site to get some ice and when we got in the car, Julian said to Kate "Wow, you have enormous buttons... (see below). However, he said the word "buttons" rather quickly and it sounded much more like "buns" so Kate was quite insulted until I stopped laughing long enough to explain what he really said!! I guess no one wants to hear that they have "enormous buns!!" Ha Ha!!

Julian's 1st Soccer Game

Julian's school offers sports within the Elementary School so it is nice because they have practice there on campus once a week and games on Saturdays. His first game was on September 5th and he was super excited to be back on the field since he wasn't able to play last year with everything else we had going on!

Here they are warming up!

Still warming up...what is going on in the background with that kid in the red jersey?? :):):)

Goalkeeper!!

Yeah!!

Nice and sweaty after the game!

Star Student of the Week

Julian was selected by his teacher to be the first Star Student of the Week for his class. This meant that he and I had to fill out a big poster all about him and turn it in so the teacher could display it in the classroom! It also meant that he got special treats all week at school and could go read in "The Pond" whenever he wanted!

Las Vegas Trip & Wedding

At the end of August, Mike and I went to Las Vegas with our friends Luke & Traci. Luke is a lawyer and had to go for a conference and they were nice enough to invite us to tag along. Mike had been out there a couple of times with them before but it was my first trip and we had a great time!!

For those of you who don't know the story by now, when Mike and I got married 7 years ago someone (who shall remain nameless) convinced us to skip the whole marriage license through the state. So while we have considered ourselves to have been married for the last 7 years, the state of Florida does not see it that way. Since we were headed to marriage capital of world anyway, we figured we might as well make it legal! Below are the photos and notes from our trip!

We stayed at Mandalay Bay and our suite was absolutely gorgeous. There was a shared living and dining room with huge separate bedrooms and bathrooms on either side. My favorite number is 29 so it was neat that our room was on the 29th Floor!!

There isn't anywhere in Vegas that you can't gamble, there are even slot machines in the airport!

The Marriage License Bureau sure is a busy place! Apparently they used to be open 24 hours a day but have recently changed their hours. Now they open at 8:00 AM and only stay open until MIDNIGHT!!

On our first day, we went and took care of the paperwork end of the marriage license so we would be all set for the wedding the next day!

It doesn't take much to get married in Nevada - 2 completed forms, a photo ID for each person and $60.00! What a bargain!

Traci was our photographer while we met with the license lady to get all of our stuff into the computer system and get our actual license!!

Oddly enough, the address of the marriage license office is on Clark and 3rd!! How appropriate!!

On our second day, we decided to "gamble" on the buffet in the hotel where you can eat all day for $35. Definitely the budget friendly way to eat in Vegas and the food was excellent. They had everything you could think of for breakfast, lunch and dinner!!

Mike after breakfast...think he got enough to eat??

The world's biggest slot machine...

Great view of the neighboring hotels from the Tram Station

New York, New York was right next door...

On our second day, we spent the morning touring down the Strip and visiting the other hotels and casinos...

This is at the Venetian

Club Tao at the Venetian...the tubs are filled with water and rose petals and smelled amazing!

A statue honoring Sigfried and Roy outside of the Mirage.

Traci and I at Caesar's Palace

I loved how the turned the entire side of a hotel into a gigantic billboard!

We got frozen drinks from Fat Tuesday's while we were at Caesar's and I got the giggles after about 2/3's of mine. I don't remember what I was laughing about but it sure was funny!!

Before we had to get dressed for the wedding, Mike and I went down to the pool area and took a few laps around the lazy river. The photo below was taken was the hotel photographer...

The wedding chapel sent a limo to pick us up for the ceremony ...

On our way...

The wedding...

Luke was nice enough to walk me down the aisle

We did lots of other fun stuff while we were there...we saw the Cirque show Zumanity at New York New York and had dinner at the Wolfgang Puck restaurant that was in our hotel. We also did some gambling and I did pretty well at the roulette table. I am not really that great of a gambler though because as soon as I win $2.00, I cash out and act like I just won the biggest jackpot ever!!