Animal Kingdom

Animal Kingdom was a lot of fun although it felt like one of the hottest days. Maybe it was because there were very few places in that park that offered a reprieve from the heat. The Kilimanjaro Safaris was definitely one of the best parts of the day. Seeing all of those animals right outside of our vehicle was so exciting and beautiful.

Nala :)

Drew gazing out at the giraffes.

I love this shot of Ellie looking at the giraffe. It gives you a good idea of how close some of the animals were.

Tree of Life

The Lion King show was AMAZING!! I couldn't get any really good shots in there with the lighting but the costumes, music, dancing, acrobatics, etc were just incredible. It was definitely a highlight of the day also! (plus it was air conditioned!)
Now that I'm getting caught up on some other projects that have been taking up my time, I promise to get my blog caught up. I have so much to write about that it overwhelms me and then stresses me but at the same time, it's a good thing, becuase that means we had an amazing memorable summer! More to come.

Aiden's First Day of Preschool

Aiden woke up excited and ready to go this morning. Which was really nice since yesterday he informed me that he was not going to preschool, he didn't like that school, that's where he bumped his head on the playground, and he was staying home with me. Okaaaay.

Mr. Excited

I made the boys pose again with their little brother. You would have thought I was asking Drew to cut his own head off this morning when I said I wanted him to ride to school with us instead of taking the bus. He has such love for his little brother.
Oh, how he loves his new IronMan, Hulk, & Spiderman backpack.

Big bros walking him into school. This made him feel so big and this is why I didn't want Drew and Noah to ride the bus. Drew finally got that!

This other little boy was crying for his mom and Aiden went and played with him. By the time I left, they were happily sharing cars and having cute conversations. Yep, Aiden might just do fine in preschool.

After school, Aiden and I are going out to lunch with Beth and Ty to celebrate the little guys' first day of school. I'm sure I'll have more pictures to add.

I have such a mix of emotions right now. Sad that my youngest is starting school because there's no turning back now. Happy to have 6 whole hours to myself each week. Empty because I already miss him and our little morning routines together. (Stop it Kelly, it's only 2 mornings per week). Free because I have time for me and what I want to do. Worried because I wonder if he's behaving well and not using words like poopy, idiot, and dumdum, 3 of his favorite words lately. I wonder if he's missing me too or if he's having too much fun to care. I can't wait for 11:30 to hear all about his day!

*****finally got Cocoa Beach pictures posted below!!!*****

Cocoa Beach

I am SOOO glad we took a day to go to Cocoa Beach. It was nice to get away from the hustle and bustle of Disney and just relax in the ocean. The kids had such a ball. Todd and Matt rented boogie boards for "the kids" to ride the waves.....but us adults had just as much fun. I was such a chicken that Drew was trying to show me how to do it. I braved a few waves though and it was a blast. Seeing the pure joy on their faces as they rode a wave to shore was priceless. It was definitely a good day for all.

Everybody is testing the waters.

Noah contemplating something. He's often in his own little world.

Ty and Aiden getting ready to tackle the waves!

Noah caught a wave!

Time to play in the sand and hunt for shells!

Aiden catching a wave.

Blake boogy boarding in....

Ty is the master of the waves.

And....thats it. I know I took more beach pictures. I was going to check my memory card today to see if I didn't upload everything and all of my FL pictures are gone...replaced with 500 triathlon pictures. Not a happy mamma. I wish I had more from this wonderful day but happy that Beth and Mom had their cameras out too!

Hollywood Studios

Disclaimer: My pictures aren't in chronological order and I just grouped them together by theme parks. I didn't feel like messing with all of that. Sorry


Hollywood Studios was one of my favorites besides Magic Kingdom. I don't know if it's all the references to TV and Movies, the shows and rides, the awesome shops, or all of the above. I just like it. Some of my boys' best moments were here. (of course they said that everywhere we went!)

Aiden could NOT wait to meet Buzz Lightyear and Woody. It took me back 7 years ago when we stood in the pouring rain with a 3 year old Drew to meet Buzz and Woody. I was hoping they'd be out and about. (I tried to convice Drew to do a picture with them so I could put it with his 3 year old one but he said no).

Noah was strapped to a firecracker while they were waiting in line.

The big moment!

The Pooh characters at the Playhouse Disney show.
The Klauser family with Sulley. I wish Mike had been there! I would have loved to throw that little one eyed green guy in there.

Ty sliding down a big leaf in the 'Honey I Shrunk the Kids" playground.

"Posing" with a Power Ranger

Watching the Jedi Training Academy. My nephews wanted to be picked so badly to be one of the kids that get to go up and "train" to fight agains Darth Vader. It broke my heart that they didn't get picked but they handled it like big boys. I think all of the kids enjoyed the show though. Drew,Ty and Blake all custom made their own light sabers after the show.

My mom and I just hanging out in the shade.

The 4 youngest grandkids getting their picture in front of the Mickey's blue magic hat.

My boys talked Uncle Nate into riding the Tower of Terror with them and their dad. He rode it 7 years ago and said he'd never do it again so they started calling him "Sally". He rode it. What a great uncle! My boys loved it!

***Magic Kingdom and Epcot/Downtown Disney Posts below***

Epcot and Downtown Disney

For some reason I didn't take many pictures at Epcot, maybe because we were there only a half of a day or maybe because it involved a lot of standing around and waiting. But I did get a couple of cute pictures.

Aiden and Noah with Stitch

"You're Never Too Old To Get Your Picture With A Character" Nate and Stitch

The Finding Nemo ride was fun and afterwards we got to walk around and look at all of the aquariums. Ty, Aiden and Ellie got eaten up by a big shark.



That night we went to Downtown Disney, our of our main places to hit down there was the Lego store and all of the Lego sculptures. We saw that last time we were there and with our boys being Lego fanatics, I knew they'd love it. Noah and Aiden both spent some of their vacation money at the Lego store.

A Sea Serpent made out of Legos. I love this one. There were so many cool things made out of thousands of Legos, just amazing.
Everything in these pictures is made out of Legos. We enjoyed walking around looking at them all.

Can you spot Todd with the Lego family and their dogs??

A beautiful sunset on a beautiful night!

***Magic Kingdom pictures in the post down below***

Magic Kingdom

I have SOOO been procrastinating on my blog. I have over 600 pictures from the month and a half. I just get too overwhelmed when I sit down with them. Good news, all are edited and now I'm finally gonna start randomly posting.

Today I'm starting with our first day at the Magic Kingdom in Disney World. This is one of our family pictures at the entrance. I had posted this one earlier but I just love this picture.

The afternoon parade we caught by accident on our way out. It had so many of the favorite Disney characters, the boys just loved it and we must have too since we stood in the sprinkling rain for it!

My brother Matt is enjoying his magic carpet ride a bit too much.

My mom look so happy as she videotapes the Grandkids.

Aiden was soooo excited to meet Pooh,Tigger,and Eyeore all at once. He had to hug every single one and he scored all of their autographs.

Another family picture when we saw the castle for the first time. I swear everytime you walk into the Magic Kingdom for the first time, you can't help but get all swept up in the Disney fantasy world.
My brother's family. I didn't get one of my parents and other brother and I wish I had.

My niece Ellie was happy as a clam!

First Day Of School

Eagerly waiting for the bus.

Noah 2nd Grade/Drew 5th Grade

Seriously when did they get so big??

Aiden starts preschool next week on Thursday so I will have more first day of school pictures. I know this will be a great year for all 3 of them. They have a great teachers, a great school, and a love for learning that I hope they never lose. I look forward to hearing about their first day (and filling out the millions of papers and reading through all of the notes!) Tonight we are using a gift certificate to Kelly's to take the boys out to eat to celebrate the first day.