Gatorland

I think the kids had the best time of all at Gatorland - but part of the reason may be that Todd was able to join us that day.  He and Parker did the zip-line together.

Anndra was so brave when she held the snake and baby gator with her brothers:

Lincoln thought the white gators were pretty cool.  I love his little dance in the second pic:

The splash park was a welcome sight on that hot, hot day:

Anndra & Lincoln taking a break from the splashing to have a slushie with their Dad:

Lincoln and Parker laying on their tummies while they wait for a huge bucket to turn over and dump water all over them:

My wonderful friend chatting with her sweet little boy while we wait for a show to start.  She is such a great mom!

Thanks A, B, R, and E for all the awesome adventures - we wouldn't have had these fabulous times without you - you are too good to us!  We're especially glad that you would come all this way to see us.  Hopefully we can do the same for you very soon.

DisneyWorld: Epcot

I can't believe we made it through almost 4 years of living in Florida without visiting the Mouse.  Well our special moment finally came:

Anndra zonked out just as we were taking her out of the stroller to get in line for the Spaceship Earth ride.  She slept the entire time we stood in line, all through the ride, and for 40 minutes on this bench after it was over:

Seeing countries of the world:

More fun Disney moments:

Look Mom, Mickey's on our cookies!

At one point while we were standing in a line, we noticed how similar Parker's & Ryan's expressions were and snapped a picture (above).  It wasn't until later that I noticed they were also both snacking on goldfish crackers.  What a crack up!

The youngest kids had a blast at "Innoventions" while the big boys went on the Mission Space ride.

One last happy pic:

Kennedy Space Center

Orlando Vacation

Some friends of ours from Oregon came to visit Florida last week and we spent 3 days with them in Orlando.  On Day 1 we went to:

And then Day 2 was Epcot:

And finally Day 3:

We also enjoyed swimming and hanging out with our friends at their hotel.  A couple pics of all 5 kids together:

To make it easier on myself, I'm going to post each day of our vacation separately... but before I jump into those three, I'm going to finish up this post with a few more hotel pics:

 

Anndra and Lincoln with their arms around each other:

Best Birthday Weekend Ever!

I'm normally not that big on birthdays.  It isn't that I don't like them - it's just that I usually don't care about making a big fuss over mine.  But this year a lot of really great things happened to come together to make my birthday weekend extra wonderful!

On Friday afternoon, Todd was able to watch his grand rounds lecture at home on-line, which gave me time to get an hour massage and a pedicure.  It was great to start out the weekend with a happy back and happy feet!

Saturday was a beach day.  I'll let the pictures do the talking:

This towel & mound of sand is Parker.

 

Look at Anndra's tongue sticking out as we bury her!

 

Digging a tunnel under the sand.

Then Saturday night we had a double date with friends.  They invited us out to dinner as a thank-you for loaning them our car while Todd was out-of-town last month.  We had a very pleasant evening and I decided that it is a shame we don't do it more often!

Sunday was mostly a typical Sunday... but then after dinner we got all the kids involved in a little project.  It started out as a hunt for our picture boxes (and a cord that is missing from our battery-charger thingy for the van, but that's a story for another day).  Well our search turned into a massive organization effort that didn't end until long after the kids had gone to bed.  You might not think that was a "birthday present" for me - but it FELT like one because it got us so much closer to being ready for our move... which makes me happy, happy, happy!

Tonight we'll conclude the birthday celebrations with a date at the movies.  Best. weekend. ever.