Party Time!

Hanging with Mimi and Granddaddy!!

Yummy for my tummy!

Mia's 2nd birthday!

Thanks to Cort and Mandy we had a cute Ladybug party. Mia had a great birthday. Mitchell, Abbey, Lindsey, and baby Blaine came. Page and her clan came for the party also. We had a great time, we grilled hot dogs and hamburgers. We also had a Ladybug hunt. Mommy order over two hundred Ladybugs from the internet and we let them go in the backyard and the kids had fun catching them with their nets and putting them in the cool bug cages they decorated with stickers.

Happy Birthday Daddy!

From the last week in May thru the first week in June our backyard recieved a makeover- a new fence, several new trees, a Trampoline for the kids, a new BBQ for Gent and new patio furniture for Me! Gent and I also built a new pergola over the patio that turned out nice we think. Now to find a free weekend to stain the fence!

Mommy got pie for Gent's birthday. It was not a Marie Callender's, but it was ok. This was one of the first times we used our new patio set. Happy Birthday Gent.

Mia is a little monkey, climbing on the picnic table. We decided to have a picnic at the place we hiked, We thought it would be more fun than going back to the POW campground for lunch.

As you can see we can never get a good picture of little Cay Cay. He will never look at the camera. This is the waterfall we hiked to, how pretty!!

For Memorial weekend we went camping with Mitchell, Abbey and Lindsey. We went to Helen, Ga. We camped at Jenny's Creek ( or the POW campground Gentry called it). It was nice but, the campsites were pack in like sardines. We literally could hear the neighbor snoring. Other than that we had a great time. We went for a hike and went tubing down the hooch. The water was very low so we had to get sticks for when we got stuck to push us out.

Brenner is and old pro at the school thing. This is the end of the 1st grade for him. Miss Sanders has been his favorite teacher so far, but he has a few more teachers to go before he can claim his favorite. Miss Sanders will be a hard teacher to beat. I am very proud of Brenner he is a very good student and very well behaved in class. I guess someone has been teaching him manners.

Pre K

Daddy came to my graduation from pre k. My teachers made me that cool candy necklace. Cayden's loves school, but is very excited for the summer break. Rosbery was Cayden good friend in his pre k class. Cayden talked about all the time.

Pre k graduation for Cayden

Cayden's first of many years of school. We are so proud of him. He did so good and he seems to love school. He had a great teacher, her name was Mrs. Trinks. She always said how quiet Cayden was in class. He must be a very different kid in class, because he never has his mouth closed at home. We call him our little churper. Good Job Cay Cay! We Love You!

Happy Mother's Day!

Isn't that just the cutest Mother's Day present ever!! I am so grateful for my three little monkey's.

Goodbye Disney!!

Sunday Morning had come very quick and our Nine days in Florida was coming to an end. All seemed to sleep a bit late this morning and the breakfast pick nick was in Cort and Mandy’s room. After all the bags were packed, we headed to Wal-Mart to get all the trips digital pictures put onto CD. For the most part the “waiting time” was not bad for the trip, this turned out to be our “Wait”, as it took well over an hour to get them done. We all went in on a Disney picture frame and group photo to send back to Grams and Pa, and learned in the process that Wal-Mart was the place to buy your Disney souvenirs (stuffed animals for $5-$10 instead of $15-$30), but what would be the fun in that, right! Our last lunch in Orlando was a Taco Bell. The kids reminisced over all they had done the last week, and the adults while very tired, could not believe it was over. We sat a bit too long and had to rush back to the Hotel to drop Cort and his family of as they were using Disney Transportation to the airport. After Many Spin around hugs and lots of goodbyes we boarded the car and headed for home. It was raining good again and was going too for most of the next week, so our timing was perfect! We waived to Austin and Livy and Cort and Mandy, and then the thought came to me- did we have enough Cherry Goofy Balls for the trip home? The answer was no, so I ran one last time into the Hotel Gift Shop to get two bags of Goofy Balls and a bag of sour Mickey Heads spending the last of the cash in my pocket. This trip was so much fun! We had such a great time with Cort and Mandy and their family. On a trip like this so many wonderful memories are made and many unique learning experiences the kids could never have otherwise. What a Magical time we all had!

More Seaworld and Downtown Disney!!

The second day at Sea world we enjoyed much more than the first. We left the first day with a bit of disappointment, but Sea world delivered the second time and we really enjoyed it in the end (It is not fair tocompare any other park to Disney, as Disney is truly the best of the best!) One of the first stops was at the Dolphin Encounter, The dolphins where very fun to watch to say the least! It seemed to be mating day in the underwater viewing tank. Brenner- Daddy, what is that hanging on the bottom of those dolphins? Daddy- I think these dolphins have extra fins!?! Brenner- it looks like a piece of pooh! Needless to say all the dolphins that day "got some", the adults were mesmerized, and horrified. Next it was off to the "Search for Atlantis" and the "Kraken", the two big rides in the park. Mia had been practicing her Kraken handclap for over a month! The Search for Atlantis was fun and similar to Splash Mountain. Next the Kraken, and Brenner was ready- until he did not "measure up" and was turned away. Never have you seen such a sad boy, he was very disappointed- but the Adults had fun riding it! It was a great coaster! Brenner resumed looking for lizards and was happy again. The Sea Lion and Otter show was fun, as was the Shark tank and walk through shark tube. After a unique Cirque du Soleli style show and a walk through the Budweiser Clydesdale Stable (amazing horses), we rode some fun rides in the Kid Area. Although Cayden was very brave and rode some rides beyond his age, one of his favorite rides was the Baby Shamu Roller coaster with Mommy in this area. As it rained quite hard in the afternoon and did not look like it would be letting up anytime soon, we decided not to stay for the evening show. We waited out several smaller storms but as we walked towards the front of the park, a really big one hit. We all took shelter in a covered Smoking Area. The rain came down in buckets, and the lightning and thunder, one in particular, was very close and loud! As it let up, everyone seemed to be going home for the day and just before the front gate we had to wade through about 6 inches of standing water to get out of the park, everyone's shoes were wet, much to Brenner's delight! We ate that night at the Olive Garden and had a great last dinner together. After dinner we had a shopping stop at Down Town Disney. Brenner and Cayden spent their last bit of vacation money on... what elt's, "LEGOS". I am sure those will give them fond memories of their trip to Disney World! Mommy and Daddy found a neat Christmas Ornament for the family collection and little "I Shop" Mia got a fun Disney Memories Book to help her remember some of the things she had seen. This was a great ending to a really fun and Magical Family Vacation that built many fun memories for everyone on the trip! It was Awesome!!!

Sea World

It was Friday and we had been going at a good pace for a week, needless to say, feet were tired, faces a bit sun burnt, body's a bit restless, energy a bit spent, and patience hard to find at times. This day turned out to be a comedy of errors! We had a slow start, all needed a little extra sleep. After one very expensive McDonald's breakfast (no dollar menu in Orlando) delivered to the room by Gent, we were off to Sea World. Once in Sea World, extra energy was still hard to find and everyone was a bit irritable, it was a hot day, and lines seemed to be very long. The Adults commented that we were not in Disney anymore. We did some stingray petting and bought refillable(?) drink mugs to help with the heat. We caught two shows this day, the first was a whale and dolphin show that was nice and then the Big Spectacular Shamu Show called "Believe". We all left as partial believers, as it was not that great. The Killer Whales were neat but the show was lacking. The best part was watching Cort get into the Shamu Hand Cheer, it was silly!!! =) We left the park early this day to get a good start on Saturday. We stopped by Bennigan's for dinner on the way back to the hotel as we were all very hungry. Pulling into the Parking lot the Armada began to smell like burnt rubber and as I got out to inspect the car, noticed smoke coming from the hood. We went in and sat down, but I was no longer hungry. All I could think about was being eight hours from home on a Friday night with a broken down car. I thought it might be a belt to the air-conditioning, and halfway through the meal I decided to drive it around the parking lot to see how serious the problem may be. Much to my relief, the smell and smoke were gone and never returned! Some prayers are answered very quick! The meal from then on was great and the kids all had balloon animals made by a storytelling Florida local (Know the number one choking hazard for kids? Balloons, would your kids like one?). Austin got a bear, Livy a pink kitty, Brenner a Florida gator, Cayden a motorcycle and Mia a butterfly that turned back into a caterpillar before the end of the night. Back at the room the Mommies and little ones headed for bed, and the Daddy's and the boys headed for the Pool for a night time swim. The kids truly loved the pool!

Disney Studios

Thursday in Disney Studios- This day we got up early to get ready for Disney Studios and also to change hotels. As the dinning plan was part of the hotel reservation, we did not want it for the days we were going to be at sea world, so we moved from Pop Century to Disney's All Star Movie Resort. It was fun to have a new and different room, although the beds did not get any softer or bigger, they were not very comfortable throughout the trip, but other than that, Disney Hotels are great! They where great with keeping track of our bags, the grounds were immaculate and fun, and the kids loved the nice pool areas. We said good bye to the Bowling Pins, Big Play dough Cans and "BIG" Wheels of Pop, and Hello to Herby the Love Bug, Sorcerer Mickey and Giant Movie Click Boards. Disney Studios was a fun surprise, of all the parks, this one was the least anticipated but turned out to be really fun! Once again the kids found a playground but this time it was "Honey I Shrunk the Kids" themed and very fun. It was as if they were as small as bugs playing in giant blades of grass, with slides and hiding areas and a giant Spider Web in one corner, a giant garden hose squirted water and Brenner once again got very wet! That boy and water are magnets, much to Daddy's frustration at times (His shoes seemed to be wet most of the trip). We had Wraps and Hot dogs for lunch at the Back Lot Catering Co. and headed for the "Stunt Spectacular", a fast pace fire and action filled stunt show that all enjoyed. The look on the boy's faces said it all, they loved it! Mia's turn was next with "The Beauty and the Beast Musical", She was dancing and singing in Mommy's lap, while Brenner looked at the floor and plugged his ears because he thought it was a Girl Thing, he lost out because it was very neat. Before the day was done we had been on the movie sets of Indiana Jones, The Little Mermaid, Star Wars, and the adults went on the Tower of Terror, Brenner decided to sit this one out- Chicken, Bock, Bock, Bock!!! To use up our daily "snack" we got two huge pretzels and two frozen lemonades. Fantasmic was the nighttime entertainment and it was truly "Fantasmic"!!! It was raining again by that time and we all had rain ponchos on in attempts to stay dry, but the rain could not put a damper on the show. The boys liked when the Giant Dragon shot fire from his mouth into the lake and the lake erupted in a gulf of flames, the Girls loved the floating Princess Boats and everyone liked it when Sorcerer Mickey and his dream prevailed in the end. Really a great show! We ran after the show to go get dinner at Down Town Disney and ended up making a show of our own. After sitting down at a very fancy floating seafood restaurant and Cort and I all ready to order up a $45 plate of King Crab, Mandy found out it was not on the meal plan (an embarrassing oops on Gent's part!). We all got up and headed for the door and that was the end of the show! We ended up across the bay at Captain Jacks Seafood, and yes they took the last night of our meal plan, whew! After a ferry ride back to the car, the Mommy's and Kido's left with grand intentions of coming back to Down Town Disney for more much needed shopping, after all- we did pass a Giant Disney Store, a Lego Store and a Disney Christmas Shop. On the way to the room the kids all loved to push the buttons to the elevator, and each had to have their equal turn. "whose turn is it this time?" Oh, oh, it's mine they would all say! Maybe we should have stayed home and just found a random elevator somewhere and pushed the buttons for a week, we could have saved some money! =Þ The boy's also loved to try and race the adults to the room by taking the stairs as the adults took the elevator, trust the kids to find the "Free fun" in Orlando!!!