Our day out with Mommy

We went to the children's museum last Sunday while Chris did his homework for a couple college classes he is taking. I think I had as much fun as the twins did. On the way there I was a little worried about taking the two of them by myself. BUT... I really liked the way the exhibits were set up, I felt like I could contain my wild 2 year olds and keep them in one area. I only had to chase Makenna down one time. I sprinted after her while carrying Carter under my arm like a football (of course I had to carry the heavier one) she was laughing the whole time.  Mommy did not think it was so funny.  Other than that the twins did great!

Makenna enjoyed playing dress up at every exhibit she could, I wish they didn't have hats for dress up. I tried to keep them away from her, but she got to the fire helmets before I could and she was so darn cute I didn't have the heart to take it away.

Driving the tug boat.

Makenna had so much fun diving into the ball pit head first...silly girl :)

Carter climbing the wall; he made it all the way up the the second board with his hands.  I'm amazed everyday by what my 2 year olds can do.

This was probably one of my favorite exhibits. The kiddos love animals and spent probably 20 minutes playing veterinarian.  It was adorable!!!! I wish I would have had the video camera for this! They called the little beagle Maggie. They checked her ears and did something with the sissors (scary) and gave her medicine.  Maggie is my parents beagle in Michigan :)

We ended up playing in the sand pit.... twice :) The "sand" was ground up rubber mulch. Even though it wasn't real sand we still ended up bringing some home with us. Just yesterday I found little pieces in Carters cup holders in his car seat.

Kenna the firegirl! She made a friend and they drove to the fire wearing their fire hats..Kenna was the driver and her friend was the siren-button pusher.

After Kenna's friend left Carter crawled up into the front seat while Kenna drove..... All I could think of was this is what its gonna look like 14 years from now..... 14!!! YEARS!!!! thats not long enough, I should probably tell them now they are not driving until they are 18...haha.

After driving the fire truck they got to drive an airplane. The picture on the screen is of Tampa Bay and that is the Skyway Bridge. Very cool. I sat in the back of the plane while they drove and I really liked watching the screen. They were great pilots :)

After all the driving we were hungry so the twins made me a sandwich. Carter helped bring Kenna all the toppings and Kenna did the cooking.

It was such a fun little day trip with my babies, next time we are excited to bring along Daddy.  Growing up I loved the science center and museums.  I hope my kiddos share the same love of science and learning as I do.

We were supposed to run a 5k this morning, but it was too cold and windy for the twins to sit in their stroller that early in the morning (in the 30's); so we will go on a walk later when it warms up a bit. Our next 5k is in March at the ZOO!!! Other than our walk later, I'm not sure what else we are going to do today. 

I plan on making paella for dinner. I've never made it before, wish me luck! Happy Sunday!

Home

We had such an eventful trip home this past weekend! We got to see both sides of the family, a new baby made her way into the world, a fabulous wedding shower, a day with my dad and brother :) I'm tired just thinking about everything we did in 3 days.

Sunday = Family Fun-day! (part 2)

The Magic Kingdom has awesome "not so scary" Halloween decorations.  I loved walking down the fall decorated Main Street.  All of the orange and yellow leaves made me miss the beautiful trees back home in Michigan. 

pumpkin Mickey

All of the leave garland was beautiful.

The designers made sure to cover every little detail.

The band walked by and Carter started dancing and clapping in his seat.  His love of music and singing definitely comes from Chris.  He might want to be in a band when he grows up....

My Kenna girl looking so grown up...like a little girl not a baby anymore.  I am both excited and sad at the same time.  

Being silly :) I love her laugh and funny sense of humor.  Lately she has been a little diva and everything is "EWWW or Yuck" or she points out the "Buggys" (bugs)

Carter smiling big waiting in line for Winnie the Pooh ride. 

My handsome little boy!

LOVE!

Out! She is tired after a long day at the happiest place on Earth :) So sweet! 

We had such a fun weekend trip to Disney World. I know I am going to pay for it this week in lack of sleep but it was well worth it to see how excited the twins were.  I can't wait to go back.  We are planning a trip with our good friends for sometime around the new year. 

Our FUN Family Weekend

We had a great family weekend. It started out by spending Friday night under the lights at a home football game.  The Cobras played like a completely different team this past week.  We lost the game in the last 27 seconds, but I was so proud to be a cobra.  The boys played hard the entire game, most of the players play both sides of the ball, so they were on the field the whole night!  The article on our school website said it best (and Vince Lombardi), "We didn't lose the game; we just ran out of time" Check out the article on our website HERE.

On Saturday the kids stayed home with Chris and I went over to my friend Lisa's house for dinner.

On Sunday we decided to take a day trip to Disney World!

 We went to Epcot first and rode in a clam shell to find Nemo.  Then took an adventure through out imagination with Figment. AND the best part of the day was meeting Mickey Mouse and all his friends!!

Here Kenna is giving Mickey a kiss on the nose. The twins were so excited to meet Mickey they were yelling his name while we were in line before it was our turn to go.

Here they are in awwweeee.. So happy to be with Mickey.

Here is Carter and Pluto. He called him puppy the whole time. Kenna didn't want to hug pluto, she just wanted to go back to Mickey. 

It's Minnie Mouse!! Carter fell in love. Arms out for a BIG hug and.....

He kissed her about 3 times on the nose!!!! It was love at first sight!

Of all the characters he knew Donald's name right away and said it a few times before it was our turn. Again Kenna was being a little shy. But Carter walked right up and shook Donald's hand.

Here is our family with Goofy.  He was a great sport when both kids were knocking on his head at the end of out picture.  I apologized and mentioned that it was probably loud in there with the twins knocking on his nose.  Sorry Goof!

After we took pictures with all of the characters it was time for lunch.  We went to Chris's favorite place, The Rose and Crown Pub.  It has British food and good beer, whats not to love.  We each got fish and chips and a beer and the kids got their own order of chips and apple juice.  I had a Golden Fox which is Boddingtons and Bass Ale mixed; I really liked it.  

After Epcot we took the Monorail to Magic Kingdom to check out the Halloween decorations and ride a few favorites before we went home.  (check out part 2)

Family Photos

We had our family photos taken this past month. THEY ARE OUTSTANDING!! Ashley Hamilton is our photographer and she went above and beyond my expectations.  She even did a little blog post about our pictures, you can check it out here blog and see some more shots.

Happy 4th of July

This year for the 4th of July we took a trip to Pensacola Beach to see my sister's husband Eric.  He was in AIT at Corey Station in Pensacola. Paula had not seen him in MONTHS (since his graduation from basic)  We all piled in the car for the 7 hour road trip, me, Chris, Paula, and the twins.  We had dvds, books, and toys.  It was an easy drive. For Paula 7 hours probably felt like an eternity! They were finally together at last!!!!!!

 The first night we stayed in downtown Pensacola so we could walk to a few restaurants and outdoor bars (pretty early of course) We went to Hopjacks for pizza and beers. They have over 100 beers on tap!  I had the Triple Purple Haze Abita beer, it was good.  Then we walked around downtown, it was a fun area! We found a outdoor wine bar with live music. 

The twins love dancing!!!

On the way home we found an Army pelican, of course we took a picture with it!!

The next two nights we moved to the Hilton on Pensacola Beach. 

The hotel was perfect! It was right on the beach with two pools. One big pool and one splash pool for the babies :) They had a blast! The waves were a little too big (yep big waves in the GULF) to go in the Gulf of Mexico.  We really don't see waves that big down at the beaches by us, maybe because of all the barrier sand bars and islands?  Paula, Eric, and Chris went in the ocean and played in the waves while the babies and I collected shells in the sand. 

The first night we went out for sushi. (a favorite for all of us) Everyone ordered something different and we tried all the rolls, then we all ordered again!! Between all of us, we tried at least 8-10 different rolls.  Paula ordered the best roll, but I can't remember what it was.  I guess we will have to go out for sushi again! That night we wanted to go down to the beach to watch the fireworks, but the babies just couldn't stay awake.  All that swimming really wore them out.

We spent the next entire day at the beach and pool. It was the place to be!! Then went out for a nice dinner at Hemmingways.  It was a beautiful restaurant and had fabulous food.  The lobster bisque was one of the best. 

Happy 4th of July.  It was our last day in Pensacola.  We had a wonderful vacation with Paula and Eric.  Goodbyes are never easy.  but this time Paula knew she would see him in just over 2 weeks. We all piled back into the car and headed back home.  The last half hour of our drive we were able to watch fireworks while we were driving :)