Our Vacation in Florida

What...A...Trip! 

Our trip to Florida was anything but boring! Let me tell you!

Friday before we were due to leave, Abigail woke up with a fever. After a lot of praying, her fever finally broke on Monday (the day we were leaving). We thought we were in the clear until we stopped for lunch on day one of the drive. Dennis gave Elizabeth a hug and she was burning up! UGH!! The whole way down she had a fever but she kept insisting that she wasnt sick. LOL

When we finally made it to Disney, Elizabeth still had a small fever but it wasnt too high. We just made her sit in the stroller most of the day.

We stayed at Shades of Green, on the Disney resort. It was a really nice room.

We even had a nice view of the pool.

After getting settled in our room, we headed out to the parks: first stop Epcot!!

Right away we see Daisy and Stitch! Even though she wasnt feeling her best, Elizabeth wanted to go meet them and take pictures.

We had a good time walking around and going in some of the exhibits.

Here the kids all got called forward to say the Pledge of Allegiance.

The boys didn't get a chance to go on some of the rides they wanted to but they did get to ride the Maelstrom ride twice!!

 Since it was Sean's birthday, he got to choose where we ate dinner that night. He chose Italy- no surprise there! We even got them to come sing Happy Birthday to him (in Italian)

DAY 2:

We went to Magic Kingdom. 

We have been trying to get Elizabeth to wear her Belle gown ever since she got it for Christmas last year. She willingly put it on this day!! Excited to go meet her favorite Princess Belle.

Right when we entered the park, we were greeted by her first Princess, Snow White:

This was the hottest day for us, and Elizabeth really wasnt feeling all that well. We did find a good watering down station, though. This was set up like Dumbo's train and all the animals spit water on the kids - They loved it!!

The last thing we did before heading back to the room, Elizabeth got to meet and greet with the Princesses. She met the newest princess Rapunzel:

Belle (her favorite):

and Cinderella:

Poor Elizabeth was worn out and feeling awful by this point in the day so we had to head back. The boys didnt get to ride on all the things they wanted to so we promised we would go back on our last day.

DAY 3:

Hollywood Studios

We met up with our old friends from Germany.... we were so excited to see them again!!!

Everyone was feeling much better on this day - though it was AWFUL hot!!!

We split up; the boys (Dennis too) all went to go see Indiana Jones, the Stunt show, and the star wars ride. Oh!! Though I dont have pictures, Sean and dad even braved the Tower of Terror!! A crazy elevator ride that drops them down - Yikes!!! 

Us girls went to meet some characters and see some shows we liked.

First Elizabeth got to meet her favorite Playhouse Disney character Jake from the Neverland Pirates:

She also saw Handy Manny

 and Pooh!

We went to see the Playhouse Disney show - which featured Jake and the Neverland Pirates, no less:

And we saw the Beauty and the Beast show too! Elizabeth loved it!!

Our day ended with a giant rainstorm. We tried to wait it out under the big Mickey hat in the middle of the park but the day was coming to an end anyhow. The boys loved playing in the rain with their friend and it was a nice cool off for the end of the day.

DAY 4:

Animal Kingdom/Magic Kingdom

In the morning we headed straight to Animal Kingdom for the Safari ride.

Elizabeth, Brave Elizabeth even went on her first "big girl" ride - the white water rapids - they got soaked!

The boys went on the Dinosaur ride and then we took some quick pictures with Mickey and friends before leaving to go back to Magic Kingdom:

(photo lady didnt take such a great picture here- they told me not to hide Abby behind Mickey's ears so I'm leaning really far back - LOL)

Magic Kingdom at night was cool!!

It was SOOOOO crowded though. The boys ran off to go ride Splash Mountain, while us girls stayed by and watched the light parade. It was really neat.

Shortly after the parade both girls fell asleep in their strollers - all worn out! We left the next morning to go spend Sunday with our friends. We had such a great time visiting with our old friends and visiting their church. 

On our way home - unfortunately - Dennis caught the same cold the girls had.... SIGH! We made it back safely though and funny enough his cold is better. Good thing we took a few extra days off school and work to wind down after our exciting "vacation".

Vacation Bible School

 We are having a very busy summer!! 

This week was Vacation Bible School at our church. The theme is "transformed"... as in 

"And be not conformed to this world: but be ye transformed by the renewing of your mind, that ye may prove what is that good, and acceptable, and perfect, will of God." 

Romans 12:2

 We had a great time!!

This was Elizabeth's first real year for VBS. She couldnt wait to get to church each night!!

 

Here she is helping to hold up part of a Bible verse that the kids were all learning.

Sean posing near a transformer poster.

 

Dennis helped lead game time. This was a fun game that they had to eat a donut on a string - no hands!! 

After games, song-time, and snacks came the offering. There was a little girls vs boys contest and the losing team's  representative got a pie in the face! Unfortunately, after a 2 year in a row winning streak, the girls lost to the boys.

 

 I have to brag on myself a little bit. I had my very first baking success! LOL!! I'm a TERRIBLE baker but decided to put all those days watching "cupcake wars" on TV to the test and bring in some mini cupcakes. They were all gone in the first night, so I suppose they turned out pretty good! *giggle*

Few more pictures from Oklahoma...

I forgot to add these pictures to the last post.

One of our days there, PopPop was working on a pontoon boat for us to go out on the lake. Ryan went out and spent the day with him working hard!

He got filthy, like a hard working boy does!

They had a great time bonding in the 100 degree heat!!

Our Visit with Nana and PopPop

We had a great trip to Oklahoma visiting with Nana and Pop Pop! It was nice to get away from the power outages and storms for a while. LOL Who'da thought that going to Oklahoma was a "safe haven" from storms?! Our flight over was nice and smooth but we had many hiccups with the airline (both coming and going) but, by God's grace, it all worked out in the end.


We arrived at Nana and PopPops around midnight on Tues (we were supposed to be there by supper time Monday night). So after saying quick "hellos" we all went straight to bed - LONG DAY!

We were all nice a refreshed for the next morning.... kinda!

 Pop Pop and Daddy took the boys and Elizabeth swimming, while Nana, Mommy and Abby stayed home and relaxed.

The boys got to play on Pop Pop's bike. They didnt get to go for a ride but maybe another time when they are a bit older.

On our last full day Pop Pop took the kiddos to do something Elizabeth was asking to do every day - FISHING!!!

They caught  a TON of fish!!

Elizabeth like to play with the minnows! No fear!!

We're back home now. We made it in at almost 3am on Monday morning (ack!) but at least the house has power. Now that I've finished my coffee, I have to run to the commissary to go restock our fridge!

Arlington National Cemetery

Last weekend we took a trip to Arlington National Cemetery. The sun was shining brightly and BOY was it hot, but we slathered on the sunscreen, brought our small cooler filled with water and enjoyed a nice dose of Vitamin D!

(as always, click on the pictures to enlarge and see more)

This is the sign greeting us on the way into the cemetery. We made the boys read it and make sure they knew this was not a playground but a place to show respect. All three of them did a real good job.

I think the boys got a lot out of seeing all the different tombstone markers noting which war(s) the person fought in. 

We made our way to the Kennedy grave site and the Tomb of the Unknowns.We would have liked to have seen more but the sun and heat kept the trip short.  Maybe we can go back on another day when the weather cools down a bit more.

I think this robin was posing for the picture. He probably thinks of himself as some sort of celebrity, all these tourist coming to see HIM.

Probably the most impressive thing we got to see was the changing of the guard and some wreath laying ceremonies at the Tomb of the Unknowns. Unfortunately I didn't get a great picture with the crowd. I just held my camera up and "clicked" hoping I might get something worth looking at. LOL

Abigail was there too. We had to keep her covered up from the sun.

I caught this glimpse on our walk back down to the entrance. It's a little over exposed but you can see the Washington Memorial there in the background.