Spring Break Day 3

Our first Disney day was spent at Animal Kingdom.  We had never been there before so we were totally relying on books and reviews from friends.  When you go to Disney with our crew, you just can’t do everything and you have to be flexible.  That means very few reservations because you never know when someone is going to need to eat, sleep or go potty. And we have to be strategic about what we REALLY want to do and what we can skip this year.  All of the kids were really excited about meeting the characters and we had heard that this is a great place to do it because the lines were short.  Let me just add, this was Avery’s year.  She was SOOO eager to meet, hug, and get everyone’s autograph.  Our favorites from the park were the Safari ride where we got to see a bunch of very cool animals very close up (Alli was super scared of the alligators and it didn’t help that Cole told her they might eat her) and the dinosaur play area.  Day 1 was a success but the best part was getting to play with Mimi!

Ready for Safari

Spring Break Day 1 and 2!!

We loaded up the kids and drove down to Florida…again!  This yearly trip has provided us with some wonderful family memories.  We have made the drive the past three years, once pregnant and unable to climb back and forth to the backseat of the car to meet every demand, and twice with still nursing babies who have to stop ALL the time.  Every year I am anxious about going and year after year these kids continue to amaze me. Getting there is half the fun! This year we decided to drive through the night so that Cooper would sleep more of the trip.  We stopped a couple of times during the night and then made it to Florida around lunch time the following day.  Alli was amazed with the palm trees that look “just like movies.”  I guess she doesn’t recall ever having seen one before. Cole promptly started explaining to Jim that we ought to move to Florida because it’s spring and everything is green and sunny- not like NY.  One day he’ll figure out that Army tells us where to go. We spent the first night enjoying the pool and resting and getting ready for our next day at Sea World! 

 

Sea World is Cole’s absolute favorite place.  I think he may like it even more than Disneyworld.  He can feed his fish obsession there. We fed dolphins, watched Shamu, and saw sharks and penguins.  Best of all- it was totally free. Sea World does a Salute to the Heroes program and all active duty military and their dependents get free admission.  Can’t beat that!  I got the kids to bed early that night so they could rest up for their first day of Disney and while they were sleeping, Mimi arrived!

Mickey Mouse kids room at the condo

Reading up on Animal Kingdom

Father Daughter Dance

CYS sponsored a father daughter dance last month.  Jim and a few other friends got together and took the girls on a big princess night out.  Alli talked about going to “the ball” with her Daddy for two weeks and pulled her dress out to look at it every day.  The day of the dance, Alli and I had a special girls day complete with manicures, curled hair and makeup. You know she just loved that.  She also asked if I bought her any high heels!  How old is this child.  The boys all look very nice in their dress blues and all brought corsages to their very special dates.  Their coach was a minivan and they had a very fancy dinner at Chili’s.  I was a little worried that Avery would be jealous since she was not old enough to go along but likes to believe she is ever bit as old and entitled as Cole and Alli, but she had a great time with the other moms who stayed and hung out.  She painted all of their nails and enjoyed talking to “the ladies.” 

Another One Bites the Dust

So, you may ask, how is the once a month blogging going?  You know, that New Year’s Resolution to update regularly?  FAIL. Here we are well into February and I haven’t posted since before Christmas.  And I might add that most of the other resolutions have bit the dust as well.  Isn’t that always the way it goes? So over the past couple of months we have ridden on the Polar Express, had a wonderful Christmas with my mom, sister, and military family, survived a blizzard, entertained many hungry cadets, and enjoyed watching the kids’ sports. 

This is Cole getting ready to go on the Polar Express.  He had been “wishing” for tickets for weeks.  He’s just a tad excited.

The girls are in awe of the hot chocolate mug juggling.

Jim turns 32!!

I just love this picture of these two guys,

My mom, sister, and I in NYC.

Some serious cookie making

Christmas was so much fun this year.  We had a great visit with Mimi and Aunt Chrissy.  Chrissy is a superstar around here.  I don’t think she ever got a minute to herself because the kids were so demanding of her attention.  We hope she moves to NY after she graduates.

It took the kids a long time to fall asleep on Christmas Eve between the Santa anticipation and the handfuls of sprinkles each of them were eating while they decorated cookies for Santa.  Thankfully, we had 4 adults putting 4 kids toys out after they went to sleep so it didn’t take all night.  Chrissy was in charge of our scavenger hunt clues.  Santa left clues leading the kids to each room of the house and ultimately to the garage where a new giant moon bounce was waiting.  A place to jump and go crazy is is a necessity around here over these long winter days.

 

Merry 1st Christmas, Coop!

We didn’t have a white Christmas for the first time in a couple of years this year.  The snow decided to come the day after Christmas.  Oh so pretty . Oh how fun.  Until it turns into a blizzard.  We went from barely any snow to feet and feet of snow.  My mom and Chrissy ended up stuck here for an extra few days as all of the airports were closing.

Apparently Jim and I have a knack for moving to places with record breaking temps or snowfall each year.  We watched Boston receive that title last year and managed to make it to New York for the most snow January has seen in more than 100 years,  Awesome. We just had our first full week of school this week since Christmas. The rest are pictures from some of our many many snow days.