Have You Missed Us?

It seems that I have inadvertently taken a six month hiatus on updating the blog. Since September, let's see...
We spent Halloween on a Disney Cruise out of Miami and the kids had a blast. Vince mentioned earlier in the year that he would like to go on a cruise. We told the kids that if we saved up our money-quit going through the drive-thru for french fries and drinks, cut back on eating out, and other random spending, that we could do it. Vince was the biggest spend-thrift of all. He helped keep us all in line and not buy silly stuff or necessities. "MOM, THAT COSTS!" We had a big yard sale and got rid of lots of random stuff that we have been carrying with us through the last two moves. We sold lots of our sports merchandise, tooth brushes, and lots of other kitchen stuff, and toys. What didn't sell went right to the Goodwill!

Thanksgiving we took the Amtrak train from Tampa to Jacksonville, FL. I FINALLY convinced Jeff that it would be something fun for the kids to do-I had such fond memories of train travel as a kid. It would have been great if the train wasn't 3 hours arriving into Tampa-we figured that the amount of time we spent in the train station, we could have driven all the way to Amelia Island by then! The kids enjoyed the ride and it was a great time in Amelia Island with the cousins and the rest of the family. Jeff and I did a "Turkey Trot" on Thanksgiving morning. It was pretty chilly, but it was nice to get up and exercise. We did have a small mishap that morning when the window crashed into Jeff's face while he was trying to lower it. You may notice a huge cut across his nose in the picture.

G-Mama came to visit for Christmas and became a pseudo "snow bird" for January. Just before Christmas Jeff took the kids over to Disney for the weekend and met up with his sister, her fiance, and their son. The kids enjoyed being with their cousin Eli, and they were able to hang out together. Gary, Lin, and the boys came down the week after Christmas and we spent some time in Fort Myers, then a few days over at Disney World. Their boys had never been, so it was a real treat to go after Christmas and New Years, but still enjoy the Christmas decorations. I think they stayed 12 hours in the park!

G-Mama had friends come just about every week and they spent some time in Naples, Sanibel, Captiva, Sarasota, and downtown Fort Myers. Each group was a little different and wanted to see various things, so it was great for her to be able to do so many different attractions and places-all with people that she knew. We were all sad to see her leave the first weekend in February, but I made sure to call her during the first of several snow storms in North Carolina to remind her that it was in the mid-70s and beautiful in Southwest Florida.

February was our birthday month-I spent my birthday in Birmingham, AL with some of my sorority sisters from Alabama. We had a wonderful time-took a day trip to Tuscaloosa where we were able to tour the Theta house, went to some of our old stomping grounds, saw our old houses, and had many many laughs over the course of the weekend. I am so blessed to have such wonderful friends from college that we can all just pick up where we left off, regardless of where we are in our lives right now. Two weeks after that, I completed my second half marathon at Disney World. My time would've been better this year if I hadn't stopped to wait in line for the bathroom!

The kids agreed to not have birthday parties this year if we could go over to Disney at some point and maybe do a Character meal or special dinner celebration with them. Vince's dinner choice on his birthday was Iguana Mia for Cheese dip. Savannah chose Texas Roadhouse (again) for her birthday night. That child loves some ribs!

Both kids started playing basketball with UPWARD in January. Neither had played, and this was a great program to get them started. The coaches and teammates were awesome, and both have improved greatly over the course of the past few months. Vince scored 3 baskets in his last game, and the last one, his coach picked him up so that he could slam dunk it! He was pretty proud of that one! Savannah will be a good post player. She can hit the turn around jump shot most every time and her dribbling skills have improved greatly. Both are in better shape because of all the running.

Savannah has been active with a Odyssey of the Minds Team at her elementary school and they recently competed in the State Regional Competition here in Fort Myers. Her team won first place out of 17 schools, and they are advancing to the State Competition in Orlando in mid April. She was so excited when her school was announced as the winner. She looked like her name had just been called on The Price is Right and she jetted to the podium to receive her medal!

Things are still going well at Edison State for Jeff and I am still enjoying my job as a real estate assistant for The Fagan Team in Bonita Springs, FL. My drive has been a little longer since it's the season and there is more traffic on the road, but I like the group I work with and the flexibility that the job offers.

We are making plans for our summer already! Just in case I go another six months before I update again, we plan to be here for most of the summer, and in North Carolina for two weeks during July. School starts back for the kids the second week of August.

Friday the 13th!

We have just returned from a long weekend at Disney World. The kids saw a brochure about "Limited Time Magic" on Friday the 13th at Hollywood Studios where many of the Disney Villains would be at the dance party. For the past six weeks, that's all they have been talking about wanting to do. So, we surprised them with a trip over there. We stayed at the Hilton Grand Vacation Club that wasn't too far away from the parks and we enjoyed having the full condo with the kitchen and washer and dryer, as well as the great pool and water slide!

We arrived around 4pm on Thursday and went to Magic Kingdom for several hours. On Friday we hung out at the hotel and played in the pool, rested, then went to Hollywood Studios for the Villain Bash. Jeff found a great spot at the back of backstage, so most all of the characters passed by, and we were able to get pictures with most of them. The kids really wanted to see Cruella Deville from 101 Dalmations. It was getting pretty late and they were getting tired...Finally, she came back there. When Savannah saw her, she started jumping up and down and shouting "it's her, it's her!" Thank goodness she stopped and took a picture with the kids. That made their evening, and we were able to go home at that point!

We slept late on Saturday and then went to Epcot. The crowds weren't too bad and we were able to ride most everything that we wanted. Test Track broke down right before we got in the line with our Fast Passes, so we left out of the park. Jeff was able to trade them in at Customer Service for fast passes for any ride in any of the parks since we weren't going to be there later in the afternoon to redeem them. We figured we would save them for Toy Story Mania in Hollywood Studios on Sunday.

We got back to the condo, changed clothes, and went to the pool for a little while. Savannah really enjoyed playing with all of the other kids there, and Vince enjoyed going down the water slide over and over again. We got to the room in time to watch the Alabama vs Texas A&M Football game and went out to Mexican for dinner. We were all exhausted by 9pm!

Today, Sunday, we surprised the kids with a character breakfast at the Hilton Hotel near downtown Disney. It was a great setup-no reservations, and there were four Disney characters there: Brer Bear, Brer Fox, Minnie Mouse, and Pluto. We didn't wait around for Minnie, but the kids loved seeing the Song of the South characters!

We hit Hollywood Studios from 10am-1pm today, and that was plenty. We stood in line to get some pictures with characters, used our Fast Pass on Toy Story Mania, and rode a few other rides. Savannah loves Rockin' Rollercoaster and Vince loves Tower of Terror. We split up and rode with each of them, then left Orlando.

What a great weekend we had! We really enjoyed the convenience of the condo and the great pool they had there. It was nice to relax and not be so pressed for time in the parks. We will definitely stay there again, if the price is right!