there's a girl in my room

Cast of characters today - Cooper and Hadley. Playdate commenced and I grabbed my camera just to mess around with it and many smiles were had by me watching these two.


Cooper still in 'learning to share mode' kept his eye on her playing with "his" stuff for a quite a bit. It cracked me up.


And the careful watch continues. Hadley just kept playing and finding new things.


He finally got comfortable and the fun ensued.


They chatted and chased...


...shared some drinks


...gave me some smiles


...shared a kiss, oh my


...Hadley returning the moves (love Coopers face in these)


what a great afternoon this turned out to be, she'll be back I'm sure

bubbles, seagulls, and high sixties

The real draw for me and Coops to join the bike week trip was for the beach. Although it wasn't as hot as I was hoping for, we still enjoyed a few hours of rays even if it was only high 60s.


After a few minutes of sandtoys Cooper was headed for the water.


We got to hang with cousin Benson and the Olsons. Benson was being buried while he also enjoyed eating handfuls of sand (unfortunately not caught on camera). Kurt was a brave soul and jumped fully into the ocean while also dragging Paige in halfway - crazy brother.


Paige and Benson enjoying some licorice.


Cooper liked chasing the seagulls until he noticed the bubbles in the ocean. The bubble fascination is alive and well in this boy.


He would run out with the waves and let them chase him back in. Classic childhood game, very fun to watch.


He didn't mind the temp and played around with the wet sand for a bit as well.


Licorice and the beach, good combo.


Steve met back up with us at the end of the day to see the fun he was missing at the beach. Cooper was his little sidekick right away.


Me holding the three boys, not a glamorous pic but I was holding Benson and Cooper wanted up too and the baby inside was already included in the deal so we snapped a photo.


The Olsons took off to Orlando and we hit up dinner on the river at Aunt Catfish's. Cooper loved the toys in the waiting area and pier before we were sat.




Yummy fish, hush puppies, and cinnamon rolls made it a great end to the day.

east coast kids

Kurt and Paige happened to be on their way to spring break in Orlando and made a stop at the beach in Daytona since we were going to be down there at the same time. We enjoyed lunch at Subway before the bikers took off for more fun. It was nice being able to meetup with my new east coast sibling even if it was just for a few hours.

bmw, steve, and ewan

Coops and me strolled the shoreline playing with rocks while waiting for the guys to get back from their BMW demo rides.


Apparently that is one of the big draws to bike week, being able to test drive the new models. Steve was really looking forward to driving some new BMW's (since that is what his bike is).


The bike Steve wanted to drive wasn't available until hours later so he went for his second choice, the BMW R1150GS Adventure ridden by Ewan McGregor on their world bike trip back in 2005. They made a documentary of the trip called Long Way Round which we saw about a year ago and loved.

Long Way Round documents the adventures of film stars Ewan McGregor and Charley Boorman on their 20,000 mile motor bike trip around the world. Departing from London on 14th April 2004 the pair travelled through Europe, Ukraine, Russia, Kazakhstan, Mongolia, Siberia, Alaska, Canada arriving in the USA just over 3 months later. Seriously give it a rent if you like motorcycles, travel, or Ewan ;)

night riders

The cool thing to do at night is drive main street. All the bikers chill here for the evening and hit up the shops, bars, and bands with the best part being the people watching.


Steve loved showing me around and having his lady out on the town, haha.


I still cannot believe how many people show up for this 10-day event. MotorCyclers everywhere!

bikes, bikes, and more bikes

Coops and I met up with the guys on bikes (Steve and his dad) for a manly-filled afternoon at the Daytona International Speedway. All the big bike vendors were there with their new lines. Love my free bandana from the t-shirt shop?


Seriously everywhere you looked there were bikes parked for miles, all these people here to check out the latest and greatest.


This little boy was in motorcycle heaven. He liked looking at the bikes more than sitting on them (phew for now ;) The bikes came in all colors and sizes.


An F-650 truck? whoa, who would drive this thing?


Cooper feeling pretty awesome hanging with his pal grandpa.


Pitstop for lunch and Steve could not pass up the turkey leg.


I mean, are we starting something at too young of an age here? I guess I can put the blame on my mom who bought him his first toy motorcycle when he was about 13 mo. He really liked checking out the parts of the bikes.


I had to hop on one for the photo-op, totally me right? The Honda tents were deluxe.


And my favorite snaps of the day, these two playing on the grass together. Cooper was all about the guys this weekend and wanted to be everywhere they were.


Cooper thought this was one great vacae hanging out with his dad.

just his size

We made the road trip down to Daytona and Cooper was a champion in the car. I thought he was going to have a meltdown by the time we had dinner around 9pm but this kid got his second wind. We found this awesome mini bike at the pizza joint we ate at. Feeling super cool right?

daytona newbies

With a few years of bike weeks under their belt, Steve's Dad thought he'd extend the invite to Cooper and me too this year. Steve and his dad have typically ridden their bikes all the way to Daytona but this year they are trailoring them down so we'll hitch a ride in the truck too. They are pretty excited to show us around. And Cooper LOVES motorcycles so it should be quite the adventure. We'll see how this previous man-trip turns family-trip this year.Daytona Bike Week here we ALL come!

a sushi first

Sushi thumbs up? or sushi thumbs down?


Kate wanted to venture out and try sushi on this trip so I tried to hook her up with some safe rolls - california, shrimp tempura, eel and crab. The sequence of faces unveiled after trying 4 pieces, which ended there. We give sushi thumbs up in this house but Kate voted a thumbs down for now. Seaweed is not on her list of favorites. haha. It was a fun experience though, go Kate!

hawks vs knicks

We rounded out the weekend with a basketball game - Hawks vs Knicks.


Cooper thought eating popcorn was the best part.


Our $40 a piece view from the upper deck, BB tickets not so cheap these days apparently. I mean really? We were expecting about half that price but no dice. We were already there and just had to go for it.


Cooper and Steve enjoying the game.