What has been going on??

WOW!

Has it really been almost three weeks since I posted the last time?

So much has been going on - from keeping the 

little ones to working on stuff here

at the house.

Plus, Dan has hurt his knee and his back.

He has been going to the chiropractor every couple of days

(he is there now) and his back is better but

he is still having issues with his knee.

He also went to get his eyes checked yesterday and

found out that he has to have cataract surgery - 

to say that he is not a happy camper is a

major understatement! (I go to have my

eyes checked in July- I'm pretty sure that

I am going to need new glasses since it's been almost 10 years
since I had my eyes checked - YIKES!!!.)

Now, that all our medical issues have been

discussed let's talk about things better things.

Dan really worked hard on the pergola

before he hurt his back.

All the lattice is screwed down and ready for the
baby to play again outside
(now, if the rain storms would allow her
to go outside and it wasn't so
very hot!)

This picture was taken while he was working on the

plantings and the step.   As you can see

he didn't have everything painted

yet, but it is done now.

You can also see the garage sale find that

we picked up for Lorelai.

The playhouse does have a roof - we

had just painted it -

(we are going to paint the entire

house and make it really cute)

and it wasn't dry yet when I

took this picture.

Then Lorelai decided to help "P" with the

new steps.

She LOVES the broom!

Now, the steps are finished and some of the landscaping
is done.  We still have a few things to plant and
we have to mulch everything.  However, Dan wants to
finish some stuff up on the side of the open
porch before we finish this up.
Hopefully it will be done 
SOON!!!

On May 28th we went to Animal Kingdom!

Loved it!!!

All these pictures were taken with my
phone, so the quality isn't the best
but I think you can see
how much we enjoyed ourselves. 

We went early in the morning so we were on the
first safari tour and saw lots of animals.
We rode a couple of other rides -
the river rapids ride and went to a show -
we were going to do the Mt. Everest roller coaster but after
Dan getting a little stomach upset after riding
Space Mountain we decided that we
would by pass it this time.
We have decided that Animal Kingdom
is our new "favorite" park, but
Dan also decided that he is
done until the weather cools off some.

The next week we took off from the parks and decided
to go peach picking instead.

In about 10 minutes (or less) we had picked
this entire box of peaches.
These peaches are not huge but they were really, really
sweet!

The next week saw us with the sweet ones again before
leaving for the weekend.
Where did I go?
Well, to Disney World of course!
See, this past Saturday was this sweet one's second
birthday and we were going to spend it
at Disney World.

Melissa and Justin found a condo off "campus" for a reasonable
price that had three bedrooms, two baths, and a loft.
Why did we need so much room?
Well, Melissa's sister, Aunt "Tul" came in from
Nashville, and the kids dad came in from Georgia - not counting their half sister from Lakeland.

I went over and picked up Justin and the two girls Thursday afternoon and drove up to Avon Park to Melissa's office to pick her up.  Then is was off to Disney.  After checking into the condo and getting the cars unpacked we headed to the park for our first adventure.
We went to Hollywood Studios for the Disney Junior live show where
Lorelai and Ada saw all the characters from the Mickey Mouse Show, Doc McStuffins, Sofia the First, and Jake.  The two girls were enthralled and I don't think Ada blinked during the entire show.
Melissa and Justin were able to ride the Tower of Terror while I watched the girls (I don't do rides like that!) and then we went to the fireworks and laser show.  While it was not exactly what we thought it was going to be the girls really enjoyed it!

Friday we took the girls to Animal Kingdom.
Lorelai was so excited to see all the animals, especially
the giraffe and the elephants.  We did several other activities, like riding the dinosaurs, and "meeting" Mickey, Minnie, Pluto, and Goofy.
Aunt "Tul" also arrived from Nashville to spend 
the rest of the weekend with us.

Playing with stickers while sitting in "Tul's" lap.

Saturday was actually Lorelai's birthday and we attended a character breakfast at one of the resorts.  Minnie, Goofy, and Donald (Lorelai's current favorite character) walked around and "posed" with the birthday people.
This picture was taken in the lobby as we were waiting to be seated.

I do have other pictures of the breakfast - but they are not on this
computer - I'll explain that later and hopefully will post some of 
those at a later date.

Justin's parents, youngest sister, Melissa's half sister, and her dad were also at the breakfast along with Aunt Tul, Melissa, Justin, me and the kids.  The
food was EXCELLENT - much better than I thought it would be since it was a breakfast buffet.  Everything I had was very good - and while the price was high (isn't everything at Disney?) it was a very good meal.

After breakfast some of us headed over to the Magic Kingdom for a very long day.  The kids had such a great time and were so good.

Meeting Goofy and Donald:

Getting a bite to eat:

Ada decided to take a nap and suck her thumb
(Aunt "Tul" forgot her pacifier) while
we watched the show in front of the 
castle.

Oh, I just had to buy her that little hat - didn't want her
head to get sunburned.

And of course we HAD to ride the one ride my
dad (who helped build Disney World in 1970 - 1971)
refused to go on because he had listened to the song
over and over, and over again on his 18 hour shifts during
the final weeks of construction.

It's A Small World

I really don't have any pictures of Lorelai on this ride
since she was sitting in the seat in front of us - but
she would point out all the different things.
She really seemed to enjoy the ride.

Ada was pretty happy for the first part of the ride,
but then she decided she had had enough and
cried and fussed for the second half.
She was NOT a happy baby.
(I'm sure my dad was laughing in heaven!)

Sunday we spent some time around the pool before
the kids dad and Emily left to go home.
I packed up and headed back home around 3:30
leaving the kids and Crystal in Orlando.
Crystal flew out Sunday night and the
kids enjoyed one final night of
"vacation" with no one there but their family.
They headed back home on Monday.

Monday I thought I would be able to sit back and get a little time to recoup from the weekend, but that was not to be.
Dan and I went out for breakfast then headed into Sebring to the grocery store to pick up a few things for Lorelai - you know things like milk, fruit, and the staple around here of Mac and Cheese.
My mom came over when we got back home - she wanted me to check something for her on my computer.  I had just gotten on the website when I hear a bang and my computer goes off immediately.
Figured that was not a good thing and I was right.
It could have been worse but the power converter had blown up.
To make a long story somewhat short we went back into Sebring to get a new one.  However, after much discussion, we decided that I would get a new computer and Dan would take my old laptop.  They only had one in the store - the floor model - and we got an additional 10% off the price (which was on sale).  The biggest problem was it had to be reformatted which meant we couldn't pick it up until the next day.  So, since it was after 5 by the time we finished everything we stopped at Chili's for dinner.  Oh, and in case you are wondering, we did get a power converter (at WalMart) and I have transferred all my pictures from the old laptop to a external hard drive.
That is why I didn't have the birthday pictures on the blog today - I had already downloaded the pictures and I haven't put anything on this one yet.

Well, this has turned into a small book - so I think I will close for now.
I hope to be able to post once a week from now on.

Have a great week and I'll leave you with one more picture.

Here is "P" taking a nap with three of his girls.
Lorelai, Jessie, and Samantha.

Talk to you soon!

Hugs!!!

Busy Saturday, Laid Back Sunday

Good morning everyone!

I hope that everyone out there had a great Mother's Day -

it was a real laid back day around here, but I'll

get to that in a few minutes.

We've had a pretty uneventful couple of weeks.

Keeping the girls during the week and

trying to get things done around the house on the

weekends.

Ada is growing up so fast!

She has such a wonderful laugh and seems

to laugh all the time -

all you have to do is talk to her and

she just cracks up laughing!

Excuse the blurry picture - but I was trying to catch

Lorelai without her knowing I was taking her

picture (hard to do).  Anyway, as you can see, she is

growing up right before our eyes.

Hard to believe, but in less that a month she will

be two years old.

She is talking more and more - but she is also pushing all the 

wrong buttons as she tests her limits.  It's okay, that is part of

growing up to be independent, but it can sure be frustrating and

 stressful.

Friday night Dan and I went into Sebring to pick up some things for "the" project and I needed/wanted some new shoes.  I needed some that didn't hurt my feet as I knew that I would be on my feet a lot on Saturday!

If you are looking for shoes that are perfect for walking in all day I highly recommend "go walk 2" by Skechers.  They are fabulous!!!  They are very light and make you feel like you are barefoot but walking on air at the same time.

I also got a pair of the new Croc sandals - they are really comfortable also and they don't look like Croc's - just regular sandals.  Nice!  After the stop at Lowe's and the shoe store we decided to eat at Chili's and ate off the two for $20 menu (Dan had a steak and I had the ribs).  Yummy!!!

Saturday was my birthday - and we had very special plans.  After some coffee, Dan and I took our shower and got dressed then jumped in the car and headed for Orlando.

Guess where we went.

Actually, we had purchased annual passes the beginning of the month, but had not picked up our passes yet so we decided to go up and pick up the passes and spend theday at EPCOT!  We had not been to any Disney park since before we had retired from the school system in Polk County and moved to North Carolina.  It was about time to check things out again.

On of the new things at Disney Parks is a thing called

Fast Pass - it is wonderful addition!

To get a "Fast Pass" you go to these special Kiosk throughout the park and decide what you want to ride and the time frame you want.  You can only choose three things at time but once you use all three of the passes you can choose three more.  Actually, you can do the Fast Pass on line - but because I did not have our tickets yet I couldn't do it before we went up on Saturday.

Anyway, the Fast Pass is wonderful - at each ride you have your own entrance and you are able to pretty much just walk right into the ride instead of having to wait in the "stand by" line.  For example, the regular line for Space Ship Earth was at 60 minutes, but we walked straight onto the ride by coming at our designated time.

We had lunch/dinner reservations at the Coral Reef - they were at 3:15 so I'm not sure what to call the meal.  To say that we were ready to eat by the

time we got served would be an understatement.

We learned that we need to eat before going into the park!

The meal was very good even though there was a 

very limited menu.

I did get a surprise at the end of the meal - 

a free dessert since it was my birthday!

(I don't know if you can see my "Happy Birthday"

button - but I was wished happy birthday all day long - 

not just by staff but by visitors to the park as wee!)

Dan and I shared the dessert. It was very good, but 

I sure wouldn't have ordered it - so much food!!!

After spending so much time in the heat it was nice

to spend some time in the cool relaxing restaurant and aquarium.

Sweet dolphins!

They do not do any type of animals shows but being 

able to watch the fish is so very relaxing.

While we were eating, a diver was in the water feeding the fish.

I didn't have my camera out at the time, so I did not get a picture

of him - but he had quite a little show that he "performed" 

for us.

My big guy enjoying the aquarium.

I think I walked Dan's little legs off so, after our meal, we decided it was time to head for home.  We did do a little side trip and rode the monorail over to

the Magic Kingdom, but decided not to transfer to the other monorails to see the rest of the park and just go back to EPCOT and go home.

We had a wonderful time at the park and we have already set up another trip in a couple of weeks - Animal Kingdom which neither of us have been to before.  This time I have already set up our first three Fast Pass locations and we will see how it goes there (plus our lunch reservation) with a really cool app that goes on your phone.  Since I had our passes I was able to set up our account and get the everything done through the app.  I have also ordered our "Magic Bands" but I don't know if they will arrive before our next trip.   We both spent the evening with our feet propped up - a lot of walking and Dan complained about his legs hurting - my shoes did their job - neither my feet or legs hurt at all.  We have decided that if nothing else, walking around the park is good exercise for both of us.

On Sunday we spent a quiet day at home "recovering" from our Saturday adventure.

Remember those little ducks I showed you a couple of weeks ago?

Well, look at them now!

As you can see, they have really grown.

You can also see that we have lost a few to predators.

I don't know if it was a gator that got some, but Dan says that

it was probably some big turtles that got them when they were small.

That just breaks your heart, but it is part of nature.

Dan had some bread that he threw into the water and

they swam over and would eat the bread - but they wouldn't get

too close.  If Dan didn't throw the bread out far enough they

just let it float in the water - until we walked away then they came

right up to the sea wall.

So, what about the big project that I haven't shown you.

Do you think Dan got it finished?

What was "the big project"?

Well, he did get it finished, for the most part - there are still some

last minute things to do - but we did have three days of rain that sorta put a damper on working.

Ready for some pictures??

These were taken during the construction process.

Any idea yet??

(oops - there is Sam photo bombing the picture)

Well, are you ready to see what it looks like this morning.

Remember, it's not quite finished - like all the painting -

but I think you can tell what it is.

How about a fabulous pergola???

I am so excited!

Now, "we" still have to put the 2 x 2's across the top and finish the

painting.

Then we have to complete the steps down into the yard and 

bring the flower bed all the way around -

plant the Jasmine on the "trellis"

and the rest of the azaleas.

It will still take a little while to get everything done, but like I said, the

main construction is complete.

Anyone surprised?

Well, I'm going to close for now - got an almost two year old calling me!

Have a great week!!!!