Quick Trip to Animal Kingdom

I'm going back to work on Friday. So my last week is kind of like my "Bucket List Week."  One of the things I wanted to do was to go back to Disney during the week.  We still hadn't taken the kids to Animal Kingdom, so I decided that we were going there. 

We did the safari, and the kids loved it. Autumn kept trying to find all the animals on the visual aid. It was so fun to see the animals up close, like the giraffes and the hippos.

I just love this tree!

And we still hadn't been to the Rainforest Cafe, so I wanted to go there for lunch.

When it started thundering inside, Autumn was a little perplexed....had no clue what was going on. lol. It was fun to watch their reactions. And the food was pretty good too!

Then after lunch, we went to see the "It's Tough to be a Bug" show and the "Finding Nemo" musical. They were both super cute. The bug one was pretty quick. It got a little dark in the show, which scared B - with the spiders and bad bugs coming out, but she couldn't look away! Lol. She was sitting on Ron's lap crying but she wouldn't turn her head away. lol.

I needed to feed Caroline, so we found the Dino playground and let the girls run around for a while. They were really diggin' it - ha!

Me and Caroline just hanging out waiting for the girls. (just look at her eyes!)

Finally got a family shot! That's pretty much how Caroline stayed the whole day, unless we were at a show. It's like she knew when we were somewhere with lots of colors and music for her to watch and listen to and she would wake up! 

Since this park closes pretty early (I think, 6:00?), we decided to head to Downtown Disney to walk around. My kids (husband included in that) LOVE Legos, like to the point where an entire corner of our living room is dedicated to housing Legos, so of course we had to stop in the Lego store Downtown.  Each girl got to pick out a "set" to get, and they were happy.

I mean... Autumn might be in Lego Heaven here. lol. 

After dinner, we headed over to the other "toy" store. We didn't get 5 feet in the store and we saw the big "build your own potato head" display. Needless to say, my husband is a big kid and just HAD to get the big Potato Head...the one where you can stuff as much stuff in it and you pay a flat price? Yeah. We were there for like 30 minutes and he was strategically stuffing the bin. lol. Brooklynn was so excited about it. The thing is almost bigger than her! ha!

By that point, it was about 8:00 and it was time to go. Oy! My body was tired of carrying Caroline and my feet were done for the day. It was a nice family day. Glad we got to do it before I went back to work.

Baby Caroline is Two Months Old!

My sweet Caroline is two months old now!   She looks like a baby now, and not a newborn. I just love this sweet girl.

Two months old

11 pounds 1 ounce

23 inches long

So now at two months old, here is some things about her:

1. She is talking a lot! The girls love it when she talks. They get all excited thinking she's having a conversation with them.

2. She smiles all the time.  I wish I could capture her smile on camera, it's so cute!

3. She spits up...a lot!  The doctor said it's just happy spitter since she's not really fussy with it's happening, and she's still gaining weight.

4. She is still sleeping through the night! I am so grateful for this. I've heard of legends of the sleeping newborn, but I didn't think it really exsisted!

5. She might sleep through the night, but she doesn't really like to sleep during the day. She'll take cat naps, but long 2-3 hour naps are rare. Although she's done them a few times the last few days, so maybe it's a new thing!

6. She still doesn't really like car rides. That is a hard one. Can't exactly stay home all the time.

7. She is such a snuggler! She would love to be laying on my chest or in my arms whenever she can or I will let her! 

8. She had her first bottle the other day.  Ron and I went on a date and left her at the sitter's house for a few hours. Of course she needed to eat while we were gone. Kim said she was confused a little bit in the beginning, but once she realized that milk was coming out, she guzzled it down in no time! 

Next week is my last week home. I go back to work on January 30th. And while I know that I can go back to work and all will be okay in the world, as it was with my other two when I went back to work, I will definitely miss snuggling this sweetie whenever I want!

Just Another Day in Paradise by the River

One of the great things about my parents moving back? We get to do things with them on a whim. The girls absolutely love them and I'm pretty sure my mom likes me too. lol Hard to tell anymore though, since the grand-kids always seem to take the place of you, am I right? Ha!  That's ok. I'm really glad the girls have their grandparents around now.

So today we went down to Sebastian to an Art Festival. At the end of it is the "food court" where Autumn spotted the ice cream sign from a mile away. So we decided to have some ice cream and beer. Seems to go together, right?! Yep. And we just happen to be by the river and Autumn wanted to go sit and watch the water. My kind of girl. So we did. It was relaxing. A beautiful day on the water.

All the girls with my mom.

And of course, the girls had to play on the rocks. Why not? It's nature's playground, right? And Woody loves to climb rocks, so he was perfect for being B's guide...because you know, she's a lot like me and would have definitely found a way to fall and bust her lip on one of the rocks. lol

So that was today. Another day in paradise, relaxing. 

A Day in Daytona

Last summer, my cousin moved down here from Ohio.  I love having them here. She and I have always kind of been close... I remember following her around like a little puppy when I was a little girl. lol.  When they moved down here last summer, they lived in our town for a few months - which I loved having them so close. Then they moved up to Daytona area, so we don't get to see them as much, but we do get to see them way more than when they lived in Ohio. 

Anyway, they are moving again at the end of February, so I wanted to make sure we got up to Daytona to see them before they left. 

If you're wondering why they move so much, it's because they live in an RV. She has a blog you can follow, Roadhouse 4 Us.

So anyway, we went to spend the day with them. 

We had lunch at this yummy taco place, The Taco Shack. It reminded me of a local place, Da Kine Diego's. Contrary to what the picture looks, the place was pretty busy the whole time we were there.

Then we went to the Sugar Mill. It was a nice place to walk and let the kids run around.

The place was really  nice with tons of big tree with moss and lots of coverage.

They do actually have sugar mills 

 There were also lots of dinosaur statues and footprints all over the place, which was pretty exciting for the kids. 

Then there was the human sundial. It was kind of amazing how accurate it was, as long as the sun was out, which it really wasn't.

There... can you see my shadow?? It was 2:50 and it was right at that mark! 

Found a cute little bridge to make the kids take a picture on....wait a minute, poor B...lol

There, that's better. Now we can see your pretty smile!  And Scott's too :)

Then we headed to the beaches. I wanted to see the girls' expressions as we were driving on the beach. Needless to say, they were pretty confused! ha!

Ross, Party of 5 on the beach.

It was really windy and pretty cold, but the kids really didn't care, as usual. 

So, this could be the last time we see them before they leave FL. But hopefully, we can convince them to move back in a more permanent way after their year of travels.

Fun at the Zoo

Just a little fun at the zoo today with some friends.  

No matter how many times we go, there are still the favorites to do - feed the birds, feed the giraffes and deer, head to the petting zoo. Never gets old for them.

Trying out the wind tunnel.

Always fun to pet snakes! 

They always love the zoo... maybe because they belong in the zoo?? My little wild childs ...lol