First Day of School

Nathaniel, 8th grade

Emily, 5th grade

Andrew, 2nd grade

Daniel, 1st grade

Jonathan, Preschool

The kids are off to a great start this year.  Everyone seems to be happy with their classes and their teachers.  I am grateful to have a few hours of quiet every day, but I sure do miss them when they're gone. 

Summer!

As the summer started winding down, we tried to fit in some fun activities for the kids. 

 

Here we are at Gigi's Cupcakes.  They had some July deals and the kids had fun picking out their own cupcakes.  They mostly just ate the frosting, though.

Popcorn!  No, we don't want to share, Mom!

Nathaniel and his friend completed their Mountain Biking merit badge.  They had to ride for 22 miles in less than 6 hours.  It only took them around four hours, and they were exhausted!  

Here is Jonathan at his first day of preschool.  He loves it!  He's a little sad that his best friend Annie Mae isn't in his class, but he loves his teacher.

Daniel had been craving some one-on-one time with Mom and Dad.  I took him to lunch one day, and he chose Jacks.  He talked and talked and talked and we had a wonderful time.  The other kids got a Mommy/Daddy date, too.

It was a wonderful summer!!!

Family Fun Day at the YMCA

Our YMCA had a Family Fun Day on Friday.  Once the kids saw the signs posted, they couldn't stop talking about it.  We had to go!  It was actually pretty cute.  They had a number of different games and activities.  The bouncy house is always a big hit with my kids.  They also served lunch and gave out prizes. 

Jonny liked seeing Mickey Mouse.  It took me a few minutes to pry him off of poor Mickey's leg.

He was also excited about meeting Cookie Monster and Elmo.

 
They were all pretty excited about Sponge Bob.  Andrew was off playing in another part of the gym with his friend from school.

Nathaniel was too cool for Family Fun Day, of course.  I dropped him off at the movies. :-)

Summer Fun

It finally stopped raining, so we took the opportunity to do some fun things outdoors this week.  On Tuesday, we went to the park.  Poor Emily was the odd girl out (so what else is new, right?).

 

On Wednesday, Nathaniel went to a friend's house, and we took Emily's friend with us to the zoo.  The girls were so sweet to Jonathan, and he was thrilled to sit between them.

We always have to make a visit to Parakeet Cove!

On Friday, Nathaniel had his friend over and we went to Chick-Fil-A's cow appreciation day.  We dressed up as cows and we all got a free entrée.  Michael had no interest in dressing up, so he had some peace and quiet at home. 

 

Oh, in other news, I got a haircut.  It's shorter that I had planned, but I like it.  :-)

July 4th

We spent our rainy July 4th holiday cleaning up the house and playing Monopoly.  Andrew was the winner.  By the end it was down to Andrew and Mommy, and the rest of the family chose teams and cheered us on.  By the time we finished our game, we decided to skip the grill and order pizza. 

While Michael, Nathaniel, and Jonny went to pick up the pizza, Andrew and I threw together this fruit pizza.  It was yummy!  Emily, Daniel, and Jonny wouldn't try it, but the rest of us loved it.

Thankfully, the rain stopped and we were able to go downtown to watch the fireworks.  It was a fantastic day!

Gathering of Eagles

One of the wonderful things Michael was able to do in his job with the Air Force was to be the advisor for Gathering of Eagles.  It is a program where they honor the men and women of the military who have shown bravery and honor in serving our country.  This year, for example, we met one of the Tuskegee Airmen, Colonel Charles McGee.

Here are Michael and the kids with Scott Fales and Ramon Colon-Lopez.  Both of these men received commendations for their bravery in serving as Pararescue Jumpers.

A Visit and a Surprise

We had the opportunity to make a trip down to Florida this past week, and it was wonderful!  Michael had a business meeting to attend in Tampa, which is very close to my dad and stepmom--or Papa and Nana, to the kids.  We drove down on Sunday.  We only had a short time, but it was totally worth it.  The kids had been begging to go to their house for a while, and they hadn't seen Nana in far too long, as she has been caring for her mother and stepfather and can't always come up to see us when Papa does.  We also got to see my nephew, TJ.

The next day, the kids thought we were just driving home, but we surprised them!  We went to Disney World Magic Kingdom for the day!!!!!!!!!  They had so much fun!!!  They almost didn’t believe us at first, but they were thrilled.  We asked them what was the one thing that they really wanted to do that day.  Nathaniel was so funny because he let everyone else tell what they wanted first.  I think he knew they would choose his favorites anyway.  He chose Mickey’s Philharmagic, which I thought was so cute.  He didn’t like it when I later said it was cute, though.  Emily chose Splash Mountain, which Jonny called “Crash Watermelon.”  Andrew chose Space Mountain and Daniel chose Big Thunder Mountain.  Jonny was asleep, but we assumed he would want to meet Mickey and ride the teacups.  Michael wanted the Haunted Mansion and Pirates of the Caribbean.  I wanted to go on the new Ariel ride in Fantasyland.  It was basically like the Haunted Mansion ride, but “under the sea.”  We also got to ride the railroad, Barnstormer, Dumbo the Flying Elephant, Tomorrowland People Mover, Buzz Lightyear’s Space Ranger Spin, and we went to the Monsters, Inc. Laugh Floor and Enchanted Tales with Belle.  Thanks to Fast Passes, we got to go on everything and we had very little wait.  The longest wait we had was to meet Mickey Mouse!  It rained in the afternoon, but that was fine because I think it scared some people away because the park was less crowded after that.  We stayed until the park closed, and the kids all fell asleep in the car on the way to the hotel.  We left as early as we could the next morning, and we made it home just in time for Emily’s Achievement Days party. 

 

 

 

 

What a wonderful trip!