White's Beach Part 2

I can't remember the last time I saw my cousin Tony.

  I'm sure its been around 20 years. 

 He's the guy on the far right. 

This is the cousins picture. 

Me, Josh, Amber, Michelle, and Tony 

This was the best party ever. 

All of the family together, celebrating Mom and Josh's birthdays. 

Terry's brother Tim hired a great band that played fun music for a couple hours.

Several people brought campers and motorhomes to spend the night.  The kids and I stayed in Josh and Allison's camper. 

We started the morning getting ready.  Getting the tents up and food ready.  Most everyone brought a dish to pass so there was tons of food.  Mom made alligator stew and it was SO good.  I'd say the party went off without a hitch. 

Great timing for me, surrounded by family, a whole lot of fun!

Mom and I got photobombed by two weirdos! 

And then there's the sisters.  When I see the three of them together I sincerely wish I would've had a sister.  It makes me so happy to know that my mom has so much support and love during this time.

There were so many people there telling her that they would be there for her.  Telling her that if she needed anything that they would help out.  She's got a long road ahead of her but after this weekend I feel confident she's going to be ok. 

This was the band that played.  Tim thought he was being funny and told everyone he hired this old polka band to play.  Not so much!

These guys were great.  They played a lot of rock and roll, the good stuff.

It was awesome to see Terry sitting out in the yard in a lawn chair talking to everyone.  Once in awhile I would glance at him and see him just looking around.  He's such a hard ass but I know he had to have felt great to have everyone there.  In the long run we said we were celebrating the birthdays but I know that most everyone was there to see Terry.  How many people can say that they were able to have a send off like this. 

Terry's doing ok now, they are on the way back to Fl and hopefully he'll get into the dr and we'll get an update on how he truly is. 

The Drive

See we made it, everyone's smiling and happy!

We decided in order for us to be able to afford a trip to FL and be able to do the things that we wanted to do on vacation that we needed to drive......well we've never driven before so we were all pretty concerned about how long we'd be in the car.  I think due to the fact that we were so concerned we were all pretty shocked when it was pretty enjoyable.  I think if it were something we did all the time it would've been miserable but I actually had a great time and think we'll definitely do it again.

Sarah in Tennessee, so beautiful!

 

Beautiful Tennessee

Early in the morning on Day 2 in the car, a lot of naps.

Scooby Doo building, is it supposed to look like Scooby Doo

 or am I crazy?

Another first for the kids, Chick-fil-A.  Thankfully they love it just as much as I do.  We stopped there on the way home too.

Thank God for games, snacks, and ipod/iphones

I can't say enough how great the kids were.  I know they're older and should be good but honestly I was worried that they would get a little crazy.  On the way there we didn't hear one time, "are we there yet?" 

Definitely not every year for spring break but I can see us doing more car traveling in our future. 

Vacation Pictures

A couple vacation pictures. I've been needing to blog but haven't been motivated to do it.  I'm hoping to do a day to day blog about our week in Fl.  Mainly so I can remember what we did each day.  

Stay tuned.....

On our way there!  I've always wanted to stop at the FL welcome center for FREE JUICE!!

The girls at Epcot!

Our first night in Hudson at Sams Beach Club.

Jacobs favorite day, living it up springbreak style in Clearwater Beach.

We love the convertible

Island Livin

Please don't make me go to work tomorrow....

I am so tired I can't believe I am not already in bed.

Just waiting on the load of laundry in the washer to finish so I can put it in the dryer and then go to bed.

I've uploaded all our photos already, including the ones from our photo pass.

I'm really happy with them.

I do look forward to taking the time to edit them, crop them, add some fun borders and get them ordered. 

I've added a few of my favorites.

 

 

This one is of our first day in Tampa.

We had gone to the Tampa Bay Brewing Company and walked around Ybor a little bit.

We were all so happy to be there.

 

This one is from our afternoon at Pine Island.

I said if we lived where mom does, we would go here all the time. 

Small little park with a lot of waterfront.

I bet it does get packed when its officially warm in FL.

We were warm enough to swim but there weren't many people in the water. 

 

And this one is from last night, on the Magical Express to the airport.

So very sad to be leaving....until next time Mickey!!

 

 

If you've read any of the past weeks post I apologize for the spelling, punctuation and any other grammar errors.  I was blogging from my phone and most nights I was just too tired to go back and make corrections.  A few of you are picky about your grammar so I just wanted to throw that out there.  Not that I would even know if you cared since NOBODY ever comments on any of my blogs...

why is that????  haha

More and More Disney

I can't blog I'm too tired.
We have to set an alarm for tomorrow. Breakfast at o'hanas.
I know it will be worth it but right now I just want sleep.
Animal kingdom, lots of walking. Finally pics with Mickey.
Took mom to downtown Disney. Big mistake. 3 hrs and lots of $ later we're finally falling into bed.
I'll write more details later.

Day 1, Hudson

Oh what a day!
Jacob woke us at 458 am cause he was ready to go.
The flight was bumpy. Bumpier then I have ever been on. I was ok with it, Sarah was a little nervous. The lady in front of us was crying eesshhh.
It was great to see mom. We both cried. Her accident made me a little happier than normal to see her.
We went to Ybor to eat at Tampa Bay brewing company. It was so good. My calzone was the size of a football. Jeremy had a beer sampler with about 10 beers on it. I wanted to go there since Jeremy likes craft beers so much. I think he enjoyed it.
We walked around Ybor a little more. Not really a town for kids lol
We drove to moms house. It was equally as good to see terry. He looks good, healthy. We sat and visited for awhile, checked out moms beautiful landscaping.
Then off to Sams beach club. Finally oysters for me, yum. It was cloudy so not a great sunset. Rained a little bit. Took some pictures, got tshirts, saw a dead duck.
Everyone's ready for bed!! Great day!

Disney Favorites

I just enjoyed taking a ride on a blogorail all about Disney.

Apparently there are tons of blogs out there about Disney, I just can't ever seem to find them when I'm craving a Disney fix.  Anyhow I really liked seeing everyone elses Disney favorites. So here are a few of mine.

 

Starting with my kids favorite characters.
Stitch is always such a funny guy when he poses for pictures. 

My absolute favorite characters are Chip and Dale.  Even if my kids don't want to stop and stand in line for pictures with them, I make them lol.  We have so many photos with them and they are all so funny.  I couldn't find the picture of Chip pulling on Sarahs piggy tales the first year we went when she was only 2 1/2 yrs old.  She thought they were pretty silly.

Feb. 2010 My Favorite Characters

  

My favorite ride at Magic Kingdom is Splash Mountain.  I love the characters from Song of the South.  I love Zippedee Do Dah and I love the last big drop.  The only thing I don't love is getting wet.  I try to sit where I think I won't get wet but it seems like I'm always wrong.  

 

March 2011 Magic Kingdom Favorite Ride, Splash Mountain

March 2011 Hollywood Studios Favorite Ride

The whole families favorite ride at Hollywood Studios is Toy Story Mania.  We try to head right back there, get a fast pass and then get in line.  That seems to be the only way to ride it twice.  I really enjoy the queue so I don't mind waiting for a little while.  The first time we road we waited for 2 hours.  Good thing we loved it.  I tend to get a little competitive with whoever I ride with. Probably best for me to ride with Jacob since Sarah seems to get her feelings hurt when I beat her.  

March 2011 Epcot Waiting for Soarin, our Epcot Favorite Ride

My favorite ride at Epcot is Soarin.  I don't have any photos of anything at Soarin, how is that possible?  I have at least a thousand photos of varies trips over the last 6 yrs and none of Soarin. 

I so love this ride.  I can't explain it, it really just makes me happy.  I love the feeling of flying, the smells, the music and the smiles of everyone around you when the ride is over.  I picked the above picture because we had just ate a huge meal at Le'Cellier we were stuffed and we were waiting for our fast pass for Soarin.  I was a little worried that my mom was going to hurl from the flying sensation on the ride but nope we were all just fine.

March 2011, Favorite Meal Ohanas

 

My favorite meal is at Ohanas. 

 I love the breakfast and the dinner.

  I love breakfast for several reasons.

  We love Lilo and Stitch, the kids love the waffles, and I love the juice. 

It's a great very filling meal so its a wonderful way to start your day.

I love dinner simply because I love the food. 

Something about meat on a stick, hahaha!

Seriously the food is delish.  

 

Sept. 2008 Favorite Non-Park Activity Bibbidi Bobbidi Boutique

 

There are so many extra "things" to do while you're at Disney.  I think you could vacation there and never go to the parks, although why would you do that?  I love to go to Downtown Disney.  One of these vacations I will get a whole day there all to myself.  It seems as if we're always in a hurry when we're there.  Off to a dinner reservation or like the above picture off to the Bibbidi Bobbidi Boutique.  This was my favorite extra thing we've ever done with Sarah.  It was kind of pricey but totally worth it.  At this age she hated for me to brush her hair but this little princess let the "fairy godmothers" brush her hair for so long and so tightly I couldn't believe it. 

If you have a daughter between the ages of 3-8 I would say definitely do this. 

Totally worth it. 

 

Sept. 2009 Favorite Disney Outfit

Really not related to the parks at all but this was my favorite thing that Sarah wore on our Disney vacation. Nana made her this Minnie dress for Halloween and it fit her perfectly for our trip. 

It was so hot on this day and she never complained once. We got a lot of compliments on it.

How sweet is she!! 

Sept 2009 Favorite Disney Picture

Lastly my favorite picture I've taken of the kids on a Disney vacation.

Nothing at all related to Disney other than I took it at Downtown Disney.

As many Disney outfits as my children wear while we're on vacation this day they happen to be wearing nothing Disney related except for Sarahs bracelet.  

 

So these were some of my Disney favorites.  I hope you enjoy them.  I've already thought of several more for next time.
















My Favorite Michigan Town

South Haven with mom, Jacob, and Sarah

Mom was in town from Fl and we spent the day in South Haven.  I absolutely love this place.  The stores, the lake, the smell, the lighthouse, and especially the onion rings at Clementines.

Sarah wouldn't stop making cross eyes at the camera, brat!

The bookstore with the fun hats and sunglasses. 

Stopping traffic in South Haven.  I could live here!

So many photo opportunities.

The kids were sick of the posing.

Apparently the water was pretty chilly.  I didn't even go down there and put my feet in.  I told them to pretend it was refreshing but Sarah was freaking out cause her feet were numb.