Christmas Vacation 2012-- Florida

So, I have gotten wayyyyyyyy behind in our family blog, but I thought I would be better about updating it in 2014 and what a better way to start that than to share our wonderful family Christmas vacation that happened in Dec. of 2013. We had 2 weeks off of school so Jeff and I decided to do something special for our family. We decided to go to Florida and see Magic Kingdom, Sea World, Lego Land and Gatorland and try and hit both coasts beaches in a weeks time. We also got to see two awesome families that we haven't see in a long time, and two sets of Aunts. We were exhausted by the time we got back almost two weeks later, but have a ton of memories. 

We left Friday night after Kaylie's dance class and started our long drive, got there late Saturday night. The best thing was when we walked into our condo the kids said, "This is not a hotel room this is an apartment!" The next morning we went to sacrament meeting which was 5 min. from the condo we were renting for the week, than came home and took a nice long nap. After our nap we head to the beach which was a 5 min walk from our condo. We all got to enjoy the Gulf of Mexico for the afternoon (see last collage for photo). Daniel also lost a tooth while we were gone. He was worried the tooth fairy wouldn't find but she showed up, as did Santa Clause.

On Monday we started the week of with Magic Kingdom at Disney World. It was 85* and muggy, so not NY in Dec. We had a blast. The very first ride we went on was Space Mountain. Everyone loved it and it started our day out great. The one down side was that we didn't get to meet many Disney Character because they all have special homes and you have to wait in line for an hour get your picture taken with each one. Other than that we had a blast and wore everyone out as you can see in the bottom left hand corner. :)

The next day we did Sea World. It was 62* and overcast, I was loving it!!  One of the first things we did when we got there was feed sting rays. Everyone was having so much fun we forgot to get pictures. We were also soaking wet within 10 minutes.  Here are a few pictures of that day. Another neat thing we did was reserve a table at the Shark restaurant. We got to sit and eat our lunch while all these huge sharks and fish swam by us the entire time. The kids also got gummy shark sundaes. We also got to see the dolphin show, the Orca show and a Nativity Show that day. The Nativity show really made it feel like Christmas!! The kids loved seeing all the animals and the rides. :)

We took Christmas Day off and had a relaxing morning and than spent the afternoon with Jeff's Aunt Carol and her husband.



Thursday we went to Daniel's favorite place; Lego Land!  By this time Peter knew what rides where all about and got really upset when he wasn't big enough to go on one. He'd say "I big mommy, I big," it broke my heart and made me laugh at the same time.  It was so cool to walk around and see everything built out of legos: people, animals, star wars characters, cities. I have a picture of Peter's favorite ride at Lego Land; it is the one where you are raised into the air and then dropped strait down over and over again. He had the biggest grin and was laughing so hard everyone watching was laughing. Below is a picture of Jeff and the kids getting ready to ride this ride. They also had an amazing tropical garden there that they have grown Lego Land around. All in all if was a great day.

Our last full day in Florida we went to Gatorland, visited my Aunt Jeanie and Tim, and tried to hit Daytona Beach but a storm blew in and we didn't get to the beach. It was so cool at Gatorland!! They have alligators and crocodiles there. You can feed all the gators there with turkey-hotdogs, and sit on a real alligator and get your picture taken with it. They also had some cool shows were they got the gators to jump out of the water and gator wrestling.

This last collage is a conglomeration of the first day, Christmas day and our last day with our friends in VA.  All in all it was a wonderful trip. Now the kids want a bunny!! Thanks to all who helped build all the memories!!!

June 2012

Most of Daniel's games I chased after Peter and didn't get to see a lot of playing time. However one Saturday there was a huge dirt pile and Peter and Kaylie played in the whole time and I actually got to watch the entire game. You can imagine how dirty Peter by the end.

Where's Daniel??? This is Field Day at his school. The kids get to participate in a lot of fun out door activities. This picture is right before everyone got into groups for a relay dash.




Here they are playing some sort of parachute game.

Daniel playing spin the bat.




Daniel's last game of the season.





Run, run, run!!!


Daniel and his head coach, Coach Matt and his trophy for the year.  Way to go Washington National's!!!!



Daniel and Jeff.

May 2012

Peter is getting used to the feel of hard sole shoes. Up to this point I have had him in soft moccasin shoes. It was pretty funny to watch him stomp around in them.  

Here is a video of him testing out his new shoes.

My thirsty boy figuring out how to unscrew  the lid. 

Peter feeding himself. Just a little messy. 

All three kids have enjoyed this rocking horse. Peter is enjoyed the warm spring day and taking a ride. 

Over a week after that video was taken and his first tooth if finally out. 

Better picture of the missing tooth. 

My pirates. 

Peter throwing his ball. Too funny. 

My dare devil child. He is going to make me completely grey before I am 40 at this rate. He is just barely 18 months old and has amazing balance. 

After Kaylie's first dance recital. Ins't she adorable. She was so excited to get to wear a little bit of mom's makeup. She was also so surprised to get flowers after her performance. I do have video of it that I hope to add soon. But I have to have a special cord for our video camera that I didn't know about. 

Her she is with one of her best friends. 

Peter playing in the sprinklers Memorial Day weekend. 

Kaylie and Peter loving the warm weather and the chance to play in the water outside together. 

April 2012

Family Bike ride April 6th

Easter Saturday. Peter's first Easter egg hunt. 

Kaylie looking for her eggs.

Daniel with some eggs. 

After the hunt was done. 

Easter Sunday. My handsome boys in their matching outfits from their Grandma and Grandpa. 

A little bit of a rough morning. Peter fell the day before and has road rash all over his nose and Kaylie had just stopped crying. 

He is getting so grown up. 

Peter's close up. 

Daniel's team running out onto the field for the first time  together.

A picture of Daniels team opening night. 

Daniel's first practice. 

Daniel and Jeff working together. Jeff was one the assistant coaches. 

On first base. 

Daniel's teeth like to stay in his mouth till there is nothing left to hold them in. He is also a late teeth looser, so he was really excited that he was finally loosing his first tooth. Although it didn't fall out for a few more days after this video was taken. 

March 2012

 So March was such a fun month!! We got to celebrate Peter's 1st birthday, not only once but twice because the stomach bug hit our family the night before Peter's birthday. I was just getting ready to start decorating Peter's cake when he puked all over himself. So I put the cake in the freezer and Jeff and I took care of Peter. By the next evening he was feeling a little bit better so we had him open his pictures and sing to him.


Peter didn't quit know what to think about his gifts, so we stuck some cheerios on one and then the fun started to happen. He climbed right up, sat down and started eating his cheerios. And then he started to check out the funny sounding paper under him.





Peter starting to rip off the paper that is hiding what he wants to see.




Ohhhhhhhhh!!! What is this that makes noise and I can move ??
I love his lips he is always puckering them out, it is hilarious.



Daniel and Peter enjoying one of his new toys. Jeff looks like he is enjoying himself too. I love the look of concentration on Peter's face as he tries to figure out how it works.

How does it open?????



Oh, I twist it and an animal pops up. How fun!!!



See my lips, I am getting ready to tell you something.



Are you listening????

Birthday morning. I had the dinning room and his high chair all decorated before he got sick.

Later that evening on his birthday we still sang Happy Birthday to him. I had made cupcakes to go with his cake, and they were all decorated before he threw up so they couldn't go in the freezer. He was so fascinated with the candle.



The kids out back enjoying a nice spring day.



Can you say cheeseeee!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!



I am such a happy guy, unless I am tired I always have a smile on my face. It can get even bigger if I am playing with my brother or sister. How he loves his family.



This pictures is for you Megan. Hope you enjoy it.



This year St. Patrick's Day was on a Saturday. The kids got invited to a St. Paddies Day party their cousin was throwing. The kids went on a treasure hunt and used clues a lepracone left behind. Part of those clues were costumes. Daniel got a top hat and bow tie, while Kaylie got a green tutu and cute green tiara.



Peter even got  green bow tie. They were so silly that is was hard to get a picture of them sitting, or even standing together.



Close up.



So a week later I got Peter's cake back out and made him a frog cake for his birthday. I had a lot of fun decorating it and he lovvvvvved it.  The body is a round cake, the legs are cookies I cut out with a pattern, the eyes are marshmallows, the tongue is a red star burst, and the frogs hat is a sugar cone with yellow melting chocolate spread on it. Got the idea from Wilton's homepage.



My hand was cramping by the time I got done frosting the entire frog.






Daniel said it needed a fly on its tongue. He made me laugh.

Second time we sang Happy Birthday to him.

  

Here I am showing Peter his cake. All he wanted to do was touch it. He caught a glimpse of it earlier in the day while it was still in the fridge and got so excited. Its funny how much he loves frogs. Every time he sees one in a book or where ever he tries to rib-bit like a frog.

No poking fingers at the cake to see what it was, he just picked up the piece of cake and put it in his mouth.

Here he is trying to use a fork like a big kid and digging into his cake.

Okay so I can't type below the picture for some reason. Here is Peter reading a book. I love his face as he talks to himself. He can sit in my lap and listen to books for a good 1/2 an hour, and I get tired of reading long before he does. How I love this little boy.

Before Daniel gets much bigger I wanted to get a picture of the kids having a blast in the bathtub together. Lets just say the floor and I were both extremely wet by the time they were done playing with each other.
I love seeing the three of them interact with each other. I hope their love for each other continues to grow with them.  Three of my best treasures in this life.

Peter is trying to blow through some plastic whistle lips. If you listen closely you can hear him do it once.