Things They Say Thursday--July 28

     Since I started doing an in-home daycare I have done a circle time.  It has kind of morphed over the past few years, but we always do one.  Mikayla has been home with us every day since coming back from vacation, and man has she been watching what I have been doing.  A few times now she has led circle time without me.  The last time being a few days ago where she got all the circle time stuff out, picked a helper, did the date and weather, went through flashcards {even creating sentences for the sight words}, and sang songs giving each child a choice of what they wanted to sing.  I was in such awe that I just sat back and smiled as she led circle time.  She loves to pretend that she is a teacher, and maybe one day she will be...if she ever moves past only wanting to be a mom when she gets older. :)

Days Seven and Eight of Our Vacation

     Let's just say that day seven was a bust.  I had it all planned in my head from the day I heard about the release of Cars 2 that we would spend one day of our vacation watching the movie.  So we went to the movie theater with high hopes and Noah all pumped to see Cars.  Uh, yea, not so much.  Not sure what exactly happened, but the lady who was selling tickets said that the movie hadn't been sent to them yet but they would have it later in the day.  They offered us the opportunity to go see a different movie for free instead and since we wanted to let the kids swim some more at my mom's house we took them up on the offer.  So no Cars 2, but we did get to see Mr. Popper's Penguins.  The kids weren't too excited about it, but all was better when daddy bought them some candy.  The movie itself was okay, just not good enough to hold the kids' attention spans.  After the movie we stopped to have lunch at a local chain called Hurricanes.  The food is yummy.  Then we headed back to my mom's house and let the kids swim before a storm came in.  Did I mention our vacation to Florida was during their rainy season, but they were in a drought?  Yay for us, we missed out on the daily afternoon showers and rain was only in the forecast for the last two days of our trip.  I kept thinking we for sure would have a washout of a vacation.  But the sun gods were shining {warmly} down upon us.
     Day eight pretty much was spent with us driving back to Orlando to catch our flight.  We did manage to get a few {blurry} pictures of the kids with some of the statues at the airport.  
     Finally I have finished chronically our trip to Florida.  Maybe now I can get back to posting some other things...If I can find that crafty feeling, maybe there will be one of those soon. 

She was showing us how she practiced going under the water.

Getting ready to shoot the water at daddy.

A little timid about jumping in, but she finally did it.

Did I mention that he is a daredevil?  No fear what. so. ever.

He loved swimming with the noodle by himself.

Day Six of Our Vacation

     After a good night's rest we were up and ready to take on the next adventure.  It just happened to be a little smaller than I expected.  We took a trip down the same road to the beach, but this time we went to the Florida Oceanographic Coastal Center.  The kids were able to see a variety of marine animals up close and they had a few touch tanks you could touch or even hold some of them.  I personally have always liked stingrays so I was really excited to do that touch tank.  Their nature trail was closed off so we did not get to see all there was to see, but the kids did still have a good time there.  On the way back we stopped to take a picture of a Spiderman who was on the outside of a restaurant. 

Meet Squirt.  He was part of the inside exhibit.

A really close-up shot of Noah touching the stingray.

Mikayla liked holding all the different creatures, but I only got a photo
of her with the starfish.

Mikayla Ray.

Noah Ray.

A fish from the inside exhibit.

Cute little seahorses.

They had lots of hermit crabs.

I don't know if you can tell, but there are turtles, dolphins,
and walruses on the statue.

Spiderman!

Things They Say Thursday--July 21

     The other day Mike and I had taken Noah to the store.  Mike was carrying Noah while I was looking at some food.  I just about to move forward when Noah started singing "Take Me Out to the Ballgame."  Mike and I both stopped where we were and listened as he sang the whole song.  I so wish I would have had my phone out so I could record it.  Instead I just stood there enjoying the moment.

Day Five of Our Vaction

     Day five of our vaction was spent mostly relaxing at my mom's house.  It was nice to have the day to recoup.  In the evening we planned a picnic at the beach.  My mom said that she had herad of this beach called the Bathtub Reef, she said the waves were really calm.  When we got there we were wondering where the bathtub was with these calm waves.  Sure the waves there were calmer than some of the other beaches I have been to, but still I would not have considered it a bathtub.  It wasn't until we had been swimming for an hour or so that we decided to take a little walk down to where there was an inlet.  As we walked down there the water got clearer and clearer.  It got so clear that we could actually see the bottom of the ocean and lots and lots of seashells {wish I would have had the camera}.  When we got to the inlet there were no waves and Mikayla could walk really far out since the water was only about two inches deep.  We thought about telling Mike about moving down there, but by the time we walked back Noah and Mike were ready to go.  The down part of that beach was that we did not find any showers.  It made for a very sandy ride home where we immediately went and jumped into my parents' pool to rinse off. 

Day Four of Our Vacation

     Did I mention before that we saved all of our souvenir shopping for a day at Downtown Disney?  If you ever take a trip to Disney World, you should definitely save some time for Downtown Disney.  Did I mention it is free?  No fees for parking or admissions to shop.  They have quite a few little shops there as well as a few shops that are filled with Disney souvenirs.  One of our favorite shops was the Lego store.  I don't what it is, we never buy anything there, but we just have a lot of fun going in the store and seeing all the different types of legos they have.  Cirque Du Soleil also happens to be at Downtown Disney.  If we would have planned it better, we might have taken in a show while we were there.  But there is always next time...Alas we spent a lot of money there and have a variety of Mr. Potatohead costumes to show for it {okay, so that was only a small portion}.  Again it was another good day and final day at Disney.  That afternoon we made the drive down to wear my parents live and spent the remaining days there.  {Sorry about all the blurry pics.  I am not sure what was up with our camera.}

Mikayla and Cinderella.

Mikayla and Princess Aurora.

Mike and Noah with Malificent {Noah talked about her a lot}.

Noah and Cinderella.

Mike and the kids with the pirate skeleton.

Mikayla and Buzz.

They had fountains outside one of the stores which helped keep
the kids cool.

Mikayla and Noah with Mr. Potatohead.

This was just before Noah slipped and fell.  I think it will take a
few more times before he gets that you can't run in the fountains/pools.

Mikayla and Noah with Mickey and Minnie.

Mikayla and Noah with Donald and Daisy.

We have this same photo from two years ago when we went to Disney.
{less blurry though}

A couple was nice enough to take a family picture for us.

Things They Say Thursday--July 14

     To say the least Noah is a little bitter about his Papa not coming for a visit and to his birthday party this year.  He continues to bring it up even though we are well past a month since his party.  We were all looking forward to seeing him on our vacation, but he ended up getting sick and not being able to come home for the weekend.  I think this may have reminded Noah of how his Papa did not come to his birthday party.  So the other day Mikayla was talking about how her kids would be my grandkids and my parents great-grandkids.  Noah goes on to say:  "Next time I see Papa I'm going to spank him on the bootie for not coming to my birthday party!"  Yea, I would say he was definitely a little hurt by not being able to see his Papa.

Day Three of Our Vacation

     Day 3 of our vacation was spent at Magic Kingdom.  The place really is magical.  Where else does a grown-up get to act completely like a child and it be okay?  The day was definitely packed full with fun.  Since we did most of the character greetings at Hollywood Studios, we were able to spend the day enjoying the rides and other attractions.  Prior to leaving for our vacation I had printed personalized maps of the attractions I thought we would most likely want to see or do.  It was a huge help when we were looking for where we should head next.  The kids loved all the rides, but Mikayla really enjoyed the Star Wars simulation ride.  I wasn't able to go on the ride since Noah was not quite tall enough but it provided him the opportunity for a  much needed nap.  She still talks about how she got to go on the Star Wars ride and go into outerspace.  At the end of the day we did take the time to go and get the autographs of some of the princesses.  After the autographs we headed straight outside to catch the Electric Parade.  We headed back to the hotel after the parade for some much needed sleep.  But we already thinking/dreaming of the next time we will visit.

We took the Ferry to the park and this was our view.

Another pic from the ferry.

Mikayla insisted on stopping to take a picture here.

The castle.

The show we caught as we first walked into the park, princesses and Mickey Mouse and friends.

Ahhh, they have been trapped with Evil Emperor Zurg.

The Teacups.  I love their faces in this picture.  Mike had them spinning pretty fast.

Just before we got on the Dumbo ride.

Noah and Pricess Aurora.  He had a nice long talk with her after talking about
 her the whole way through both of the parks.  Definitely enjoyed this.

Mikayla and Princess Aurora.

Mikayla and Ariel.

Noah and Cinderella.

Beginning of the Electrical Parade. 

Dopey.

Cinderella in her carriage.

Alice and Wonderland.