"Andrew's Loose tooth"

        The first week home from vacation Avery was enrolled in a drama camp.   The camp met for 1 hour each day and ended up with a Friday evening performance of "Andrews Loose Tooth".  During the camp the students practiced their parts using loud voices and expression. They also learned  stage placement and the use of props.  Avery was assigned her part of the "dentist" before the camp began.  They wanted the kids to come prepared with their parts memorized BEFORE camp actually started.  Avery was excited to be the dentist UNTIL she got to camp and quickly learned that they wanted her to act like a CRAZY dentist.  Avery was not happy about being crazy.  She does cute and happy really well.  Crazy was another story!  I thought it was a great opportunity for Avery to stretch herself to do something out of her comfort zone!  As much as she didn't like it...she endured to the end.  She acted crazy and silly.  She did it and she did great!  We were really proud of her hard work.  Truly, it was a hard play for her to do.  I am thankful for Avery's "I can do " attitude.

This is a nervous Avery right after finding out she needed to act "crazy and silly".  She wants to go home.

Bravo Avery!  Her 2 besties, Brooklyn and Bryn came to watch the show.   

And, of course no performace is complete without the celebratory ice cream stop.

2 of Avery's biggest fans.

Disney World

We are big Disney fans in our home.  It started clear back when the twins were 3.   They fell in love with the Disney characters (there was nothing cuter than Ellie's love of Minnie Mouse) and we fell in love with happy giggles that Disney brought to our children.  We spent many years vacationing at the Disney Parks.  But, then life got busy.  And, we chose other vacation spots.  This year we realized that Avery doesn't remember much of our Disney days.  Avery spent 3 trips sitting in a stroller, so we can't think she really got much out of her experience there.   It was time we show her the magic of Disney.  After our original disney date was bumped due to the cancelled flight we rescheduled to the tail end of our vacation.  It was hot and crowded. And, happy nevertheless!  While Avery doesn't share the same passion for Minnie Mouse that Ellie did, she quickly became a fan in her own right.  She was in awe of  "It's a Small World"  Immediatly following the ride, she proclaimed it to be her favorite of all time...just like her mama.   So you see, we are STILL Disney fans.  I guess we always will be.


Here a few pics from the day.  If you've seen one Disney picture, you've seen 'em all.  But, here goes anyway...

Did I mention we were hot and sweaty?  I don't think we will ever have one of those famous family Micky shots where everyone looks good.  Oh well.  Here we are in all our glory.

I've got a couple of "possers"  Two girls who love the camera, and a son who can't stand it and will stay 10 feet away from any camera. 

This is one of my all time favorite moments caputured.   No mater how big or small, this is the way we leave Disney, with Zach being carried out.  I remember several  phots that I have in this same scenario different years.  We have different shots of both grandpas, two differnt trips being carried out of the park piggy back style.   This precious boy gets so tired, tries so hard to keep up that at 10:30 he is plum tuckered out.  Take one look at his sweet tired face and your heart will melt.   

Amusement Park Weekend

 Can I tell you how much we loved Universal Studios, Island of Adventure?  Yep, we thought it was AWESOME!   The kids loved it so much because the rides were "thrill" type rides  Big roller coasters!  And, I loved it because the park was so well done.  I mean, it truly rivals Disneyland.  It's creative, well maintained and takes you away to a fantasy place.  I get why the twins love roller coasters.  They are 12.  It's all about speed and thrill.  And, being daring and senseless.  They are middle schoolers for petes sake.  But what about Avery...my 7 year old, soon to be in 2nd grader, she really shouldn't be allowed to LOVE roller coasters as much as she does.   She's tall enough for all the height restrictions and would most often seek out the "front car". So you see, I stand on the sidelines watching my lil family race through the air at record speeds, screaming and laughing with arms in the air.    It's all about the roller coaster for this group.



The Hulk rollercoaster was our first ride of the day. Followed up with Dr. Doom drop.

Thankfully, the park is filled with lots of water rides and little splash park sprayers all around. It was hot, but this was a fun cool down.

Suess landing.   So cute, this land was all about Dr. Suess.  Silly fun.

Zachy with Betty Boop.   Marvel landing. Comic-ville.

The wizardly world of Harry Potter.  This town was spectacular! 

We loved it.  All of it.  Thanks grandma and grandpa for coming with us.

saying goodbye to the cruise

We disembarked the ship on Thur. We were sad to leave but eager to spend the remaining days of our vacation at the area theme parks.

                                                  Avery picked up a little pal.  "Build a bear" a la cruise.

Jeff's parents were in town visiting Debbi and kids. We were lucky to coordinate with them and meet up in our Orlando hotel.  But before we did, we spent the morning in Coco Beach.

  We spent just enough time in this beach town to dip our toes in the ocean and enjoy breakfast at a darling little cafe. 

Really you can't keep my kids away from swimming and slides!  Even here at the hotel in Orlando with grandma and grandpa.

The Bahamas

We spent several days in the Bahama Islands.  Our first port was Freeport Island. Not our favorite island and definatly less than desirable.  Infact, it's very industrial, NOT friendly and an overall tacky island.  With that being said..."show us a beach and we will show you a good time".  After an expensive cab ride, we played in the small town, and enjoyed our day at the beach.  At the beach itself was beautiful.

I spy a tourist...

Thankfully, the island of Nassau was much nicer.  And, it was one of those days where everything just "works out" for the best.  We  orginally planned on the dolphin excursion at Atlantis.  But, after talking to well informed lady we decided to take the ferry over to a small island nearby.  We caught the ferry just in the nick of time.  Wow, the dolphin experience was incredible.  I am so glad we did it.  Avery loved it so much she suggested changing her dream career from veternarian to dolphin trainer.  To save money, I didn't do the excursion...being that I just did  the dolphins last year in Punta Mita, I was fine with it.  Unfortunately, that meant I really couldn't snap any photos either.  I snuck a few while watching on the dock.  Wish  I had more.  The remanider of the day we played at the beach.  I personally loved the hammocks stretched between 2 palm trees lining the beach.  But, the kids loved the water park inflatiables in the bay.  We were so happy with the little island, Blue Lagoon that we stumbled upon.  What a pleasant surprise!

We love combing the beach for seashells.   In this case, a huge piece of coral.  Time to run and catch the ferry back to Nassau...and then cruise back to Orlando.

What a vacation

What can I say about a vacation that lifts you right out of the post winter blues and into the warm ocean breeze and bright sunshine.  Except it was perfect and exactly what our family needed! 

It was the middle of May and just one day before school let out for the year.  It also marked the end of our time in the temporary twin home which we were desparate to see end.  I've come to love these 4 little words that come out of Jeff's mouth..."let's take a vacation".  We arranged to take the a family on a cruise to the Bahamas.    Omaha to Orlando to Bahamas back to Orlando.   I was beyond excited, the timing was ideal and it was the perfect get a way.   

 We drove to Omaha, spent the night and planned an early morning departure flight to Omaha.  Only to find out our flight was canceled due to weather and we were bumped to an available flight the nex day.   Not the end of the world...we spent one unexpected day in a city close to our hearts.

We moved on to Orlando, one day short of the original plan.  We spent the day the remainder of the day swimming instead of Disney.     It was really hot so the pool suited us just fine.   

 


How do you explain a cruise ship to your children? At this point their only reference is that of Disney channel's "Zak and Cody on Dek" ..They really had NO idea what was in store for them. And we couldn't wait to show them the ship in all it's grandeur. 

They were in awe.  They were in heaven.  You should of seen them.  Big eyes and even bigger smiles.

We boarded the the ship and hit the lunch buffet.  Let it be known cruise food is not my favorite.  But, it was enticing to the children.  Anything and everything...they liked it all.  I must say, I prefered the dining room to the buffet.  Most nights however, the girls were at their clubs and didn't join us in the dining room.  I think this was the only night with all five us at dinner. And it was my favorite night. 

Boy, the girls sure loved the clubs.  What a new experience for them.  They spent the evenings with their age "club."  Many activites, games and crafts were planned.  We couldn't pry them away.  One night, Ellie got up on stage and did some kareoke. "  Really, Ellie did what?"  Like I said, new experiences.   Zach and I would tuck in the cabin early each night while Jeff and the girls enjoyed midnight buffet.   Neither Zach nor I cared much to miss it.   Zach was so exhausted by the evenings and I was happy to snuggle him to sleep.  And lucky for him, he was first to meet the new towel buddy each night.   Zach loved 'em!


 Boy oh boy, did we ever soak up all the fun the ship had to offer. So many activites to keep us busy.

of course, we love water slides.

A new game for Zach.  Shuffle board. 

swimming.  at twillight. 

golf on the top deck

Ahh, relaxing together, on deck,  in the sunshine    The best of it all .  

stay tuned for the islands...

on the road again...

Since we were driving to Denver to surprise Papa, we took advantage of the drive and  soaked in the sights.  Jeff had work to do in Rapid City which is 5 hours from home AND on the way to Denver. The timing was perfect and we all tagged along.  While Jeff worked, we played.  We went to the pool to pass the time.  The kids will always love swimming.  A hit everytime.  

and Zach's favorite spot, the hot tub.

The next day we became "tourists."  Off to Mt Rushmore we go.  It was truely an amazing and awe inspiring sight.  The mountains made such a picturesque backdrop for the masterpiece. We appreciate them more now as we are away.  The unpredictable March weather cooperated with us.  It was warm enough to enjoy but still cool enough that we were alone in the park.  We had the whole park to ourselves.  We like it that way.
Sadly, I don't think Zach could really see the Presidents heads in the mountain  But, he did master the binocular  looky thing.