Giving Thanks

We got just enough boxes unpacked to hostess Thanksgiving here! Great Grandaddy and Thomas came down from Port Charlotte to for lunch, G-Mama was in town from Charlotte to help with the move, and Aunt Jean and Uncle Harold came over for the weekend from Orlando. We had our traditional Thanksgiving meal, and boy was it great! G-Mama and Aunt Jean/Uncle Harold stayed over at our rental house and prepared many of the dishes there. It was great for them to have their own space, espcially since any of our "extra" space was filled with unopened boxes and Christmas decorations!
Friday morning, Cousin Mary Beth and her three girls "surprised" us by coming over for the weekend from Orlando. Savannah loved having her cousins over to visit. We went to Fort Myers Beach to the Sand Sculpting Contest, Sanibel Island to do some shelling, and enjoyed homemade ice cream from the Love Boat!

We were very thankful that our family came to Fort Myers to spend it with us!

Happy Fall Y'all!

We've had a busy few weeks with Fall Festivals, Trunk or Treats, and Pumpkin Patches! Savannah dressed as a cowgirl and a beauty queen, while Vince was strictly a cowboy on each occassion. He won the costume contest at Savannah's old school, Rayma C Page, during her fall festival there. She has transferred to Allen Park Elementary School which is closer to our new home. That Fall Festival is tomorrow night, but thank goodness, it's not a theme/dress up one.

Great Grandaddy Stewart arrived in Port Charlotte for the winter earlier this week, so we went to visit him last night. Savannah and Thomas went trick or treating in his neighborhood for a little while and Vince manned the door at Great Grandaddy's house. They were both super excited to see the two of them. We hope to make weekly trips up to visit since it's only 45 minutes north of Fort Myers.

 Savannah is now a Yellow Belt in Tae Kwon Do!

We are planning to close on our new house a week from today! We have enjoyed our current location because of the proximity to Fort Myers Beach, Super Target (and Starbucks), Publix, and the dry cleaners, but we are looking forward to being closer to the schools and church. Jeff will have less than a five minute drive to work at Edison State College each day, so that will be nice. We are having the interior painted and some sheetrock work done before we move in; which will be super nice since we lived through a major renovation at our last house! Thanksgiving will be here before we know it. Have a wonderful November! Gobble Gobble!

Lots of Surprises!

We picked Savannah up from school early on Friday afternoon and drove to Orlando for another weekend in the parks. Friday night we enjoyed a few hours at Hollywood Studios riding the roller coasters and trading some Disney pins. Saturday morning we were up and out of the hotel early and went to the Magic Kingdom. It was going to be a busy weekend because of the Columbus Day holiday. Our kids are out next Monday, not tomorrow. Anyway, we stayed at Magic Kingdom for three hours, then back to the hotel to get out of our soaking wet clothes (the kids LOVE Splash Mountain and insist on sitting in the front few rows) and to take naps.

 

We went over to Sea World for an hour or so (Jeff just surprised us with season passes for that and Busch Gardens) and took a look around. After that, we enjoyed dinner at Hard Rock Cafe at Universal Studios and the big surprise for the kids were tickets to the Blue Man Group. They both have seen them perform on TV and thought it would be cool to see them in person. We already had decent seats, but the usher upgraded us to the "poncho" seats, which were about 3 rows from the stage. We all enjoyed the show and were able to meet one of the Blue Men and have our programs "autographed."

Hell on Wheels

When Savannah was three, Santa brought her a princess bike for Christmas. She rode it a little bit, but our driveway was pretty steep and she was more interested in riding in her princess car than learning to ride a bike. When we moved to Monroe County and lived on Estes Road, there was really not a good place to ride there because we fronted a "major" street and we didn't feel comfortable having her ride up and down the driveway and potentially going into traffic. We did buy her a scooter that she has enjoyed riding. A friend of mine told me it really helped her son with balance and that after he rode that for a few months, riding a bike was pretty easy.

Last weekend I found a nice bike on Craigslist for her and we bought it. She was so excited to ride without training wheels. I worked with her the first night for a little while, then Jeff worked with her for two nights, and got her up and going. Vince still enjoys riding his bike with training wheels, but he will probably be riding without training wheels in the next year or so. Our neighborhood is great for bike riding because it is gated and we live on a cul-de-sac. Here are some pictures to document her success!

Church Choir

Vince attends school at Bright Beginnings, which is at Cypress Lakes Methodist Church. Since he felt comfortable there we decided to visit and let the kids get involved in the children's programming. They have been attending the Wednesday evening program and have enjoyed the choir. Today was the first day that they sang in church...all three services. We had to be at the church at 7:30 this morning for the 8, 9:30, and 11am services. By the last service Vince was completely over it. I have a couple of videos that you can see him in. Nonetheless, he was still cute :-)

Savannah continues to do well in school and has reached her Accelerated Reading goal for the first quarter already. She recently read The Adventures of Huck Finn and The Adventures of Tom Sawyer, and I think she finished each of them in one night. Needless to say, she loved them. The library system here is wonderful and they have so many great books and dvds that the kids love. Vince would rather go to the library than get in the pool!

 Vince wanted to sleep in a box the other night. He lasted until about 5am

 Vince likes the barber, Marco. He even wore a cape this last time (a huge step)

 Vince at his choir debut

 Vince and a watergun out by the pool

 Savannah tested for her advanced white belt and broke this board with her hand!

The kids at Lake Park

 

The top video is part of the middle service when Vince was "on his game". The next is the video of the last service. Vince is just "there", not participating at all!

 

 

We found a house that we like and are supposed to close on it in Mid-November. The kids are excited about it and Jeff and I are ready to be in our own place and get the storage units unpacked.

Disney World!

It's so nice that we are only three hours away from Disney World. We can leave after work on Friday afternoon and be at the park by 8pm to do a few rides at the park, then head to the hotel, and get a good night's rest before doing a full day on Saturday. Vince isn't quite 44 inches, so there are several rides that he can't ride yet (Space Mountain and Everest), but we are hoping in the next month or so he will be tall enough.

He will carry on about not wanting to ride a specific ride and we finally talk him into doing it. As we depart the ride he says "that was awesome, let's ride it again!" Savannah and Jeff have enjoyed lots of Pin Trading, and Vince is starting to catch on as well.