soaking it in

on saturday night we had one of the craziest thunderstorms ever. at around 2am i was awakened by the rumbling of the thunder AND the flashes of lightning. it lasted for over two hours and i was so sure that the kids would wake up screaming and scared to death, but they slept right through it! as i lay in bed, it was like watching a light show. our bedroom curtains were drawn but this lightning was so bright, it was lighting up the whole room, and it was one after the other! along with the insane lightning, there was the constant rumbling of thunder that didn't seem to end! i was a little frightened (more so i was terrified that our AC would get hit by lightning, which actually DID happen to us about a year ago!) but what a magnificent experience altogether!

as if last night never happened, sunday was one of those glorious spring days -- another one of those "perfect park days", so guess where we headed...

one of our favorite parks in the beautiful san marco area of jacksonville, right across the street from the river:

peek-a-boo natalie

i wished i could take this gorgeous magnolia tree home with me

i love this old school slide!

russ was imagining all the things he could build onto a tree like this!

rose garden inside the park

we walked over to the river

it was extremely windy so the water was very choppy

the beauty of jacksonville truly lies in its waters