August

August was a happy month for our family. Barrett had just returned home from his deployment, and we all had a few weeks to spend together before life got back to "normal". Barrett's parents came to see us for a couple days during the first week, and we had a nice visit with them.
Barrett's homecoming:


We had about a week to hang out and spend time as a family before we were packing up and heading south for our Disney trip. We left on Friday, August 7, and drove down to spend a couple nights with Grammy and Pappy before going to Orlando. We were about an hour and a half into our trip when I had a sudden pannicky feeling. "Oh my goodness, we left our disney tickets at the house!" I had remembered everything, I mean I had lists that I checked off before we left so that I didn't miss anything- except, of course, one of the most important items that I had failed to put on the list! Well, we pulled over and made some phone calls that confirmed that the only way we could get into the park was if we had our original tickets. Thankfully, my friend was watching our dog for us and had our key, so she was sweet to overnight us our tickets to my parent's house, which we got on time (it was a good thing that we planned to stay at my parent's house that extra day!) So, that was a $40 mistake (it cost extra to overnight on the weekends) I hopefully won't ever make again!

When we arrived at our hotel, we were about to check in when the manager came over and told us that we had been upgraded to a different hotel (they had overbooked, apparently). We had plans to stay at the Carribean Beach resort, but they moved us to the Boardwalk instead. I'm sure we would have liked our original plan, but the Boardwalk was awesome! We had a huge room that included a little balcony overlooking a fountain and our pool. It was in walking distance of both Epcot and Hollywood Studios, and we took the bus to the other parks. We brought our handy Disney planner book with us, and mapped out each day with what rides and attractions we wanted to visit. We wanted to make sure that we took advantage of our extra magic hours and that we weren't wasting time trying to figure out what to do all the time. It was definitely worth the planning, because it made the week feel so much more organized. We were able to do everything and more that we wanted to do. We went to Animal Kingdom the first day, and then Magic Kingdom on Tuesday. On Wednesday we went to Blizzard Beach in the morning and then to Downtown Disney that evening. We made reservations at T-Rex Cafe, and we really enjoyed it. We had good seats and the kids loved seeing the dinosaurs move and the meteor showers every 20 minutes. We even splurged and got the "smoking volcano" dessert, which was a lot of fun to see (and eat). On Thursday we went to Epcot and Friday we visited Hollywood Studios. I could spend all day talking about what we did at each park, but I will just mention the highlights. Caleb is quite the adventurer and went on as many roller coasters as he could! The first one he rode was Mount Everest- the scariest- at Animal Kingdom. He didn't want to ride a second time but he liked it! His other favorite rides were Star Tours, Toy Story Mania, Buzz Lightyear, and the Tower of Terror (even though he was pretty scared!). Isabelle was not into the rides as much-as a matter of fact, she was a little scared of almost everything- but, her favorite part was getting to see the princesses. Her favorite princess right now is Snow White, and she brought her snow white costume to wear in the park. The kids each had their autograph books, so they were able to get their favorite characters to sign their books as well as take a picture with them. Isabelle got Cinderella, Belle, and Aurora's autographs in the same location, but was disappointed that Snow White was not among them. However, we found out where and what time she would present herself, and we made sure we were there. I think that was the highlight for her, because she talked about it nonstop after that.






At the T-Rex Cafe:


We all had such a great vacation together. It was a very busy and tiring one, but so much fun at the same time. The kids were ready to go back to Disney World as soon as we got home! They have not stopped asking when we are going back again- especially Isabelle, because she wants to see the princesses again!

The last week of August brought about Caleb's first day of Kindergarten! He was so excited and such a big boy! I can hardly believe he is already that big! He goes to a wonderful school, Rocky Bayou Christian, and he has a great teacher, Mrs. Harris. He is loving school and learning so much. He is doing great with his reading, too! It is so neat to hear him sounding out the words and putting everything together. He will be reading fluently before long!
First day of Kindergarten:

Caleb with his friend, Cyrus:


I guess we all started to get back to real life, with Caleb in school and Barrett going back to work. Isabelle didn't start preschool until September, so we had some girl time to spend together, which was fun and sweet.

July

On Thursday, July 2, the kids and I headed down to Largo to visit my family for a couple weeks as we awaited Barrett's return at the end of the month. I wanted to get there on the 2nd so we weren't traveling during the 4th of July weekend. On Saturday, to celebrate the 4th, we went to the local community center for some free food and air jump inflatables for the kids to play on. While we were there, I ran into an old friend of mine from my childhood years, Paulina. We were good friends and neighbors during elementary school and I hadn't seen her in years. It was nice to visit and catch up a little bit.

While in Largo, we did a lot of our usual activities like going to Largo Central Park. The first weekend of each month they do free train rides, so we were able to go and it was a lot of fun. Isabelle only wanted to ride once, but Caleb went on it 2 or 3 times. We went to the beach, played at Nana's pool a couple times, went to the "banana park", played at parks, went to the library, played in the inflatable pool at my parent's house, and went to an aquarium and the children's museum!!! We also played miniature golf, went to the Seabird Sanctuary, and did as much garage saling as we possibly could. The kids LOVE to find bargains, and we found lots of them. Grammy gave them each a dollar or two when we went out and they had a blast.

At the Banana Park:



At Nana's pool:


Watermelon seed spitting contest:


At Chuck E. Cheese's with my two little mice:


We filled the time with so many activities, but it really helped the time go by faster for us, and the kids had a great time. Oh, I almost forgot- our regular trip to Chuck E. Cheese's! We absolutely cannot go to my parent's house without making a stop at the famous pizza place! We also had a watermelon seed spitting contest in the backyard. It was hilarious to watch the kids' faces as they tried to spit the seeds. Caleb got really into it and looked really focused!

The time there was a little more relaxing for me, too, because I don't have too do the cooking or have too many other responsibilities. So, I was able to do a lot of reading, which was nice. Nana got to do many of our activities with us as well, and it was so nice to get to spend time with her.

Toward the end of our time in Largo, it was sounding like Barrett could possibly be getting home a little earlier than was planned, so I decided to come home with the kids on the 18th. It ended up that Barrett came home the exact day of his original itinerary, but it was actually good the have the week and a half here before he returned. I had so much to get done in preparation! Barrett finally made it home on Thursday, July 30. His flight got delayed a couple times, but he walked out into the airport around 2pm. As soon as Isabelle saw her daddy coming out of the terminal, she got down out of my arms and ran straight for him and gave him a big hug! It was so precious to see! Caleb was standing right behind her and gave him a big hug as well. It felt wonderful to be reunited again!

We had the next week to relax and spend time as a family (especially since it rained most of that time) and begin to unpack all of Barrett's stuff.

June

Well, I obviously have not been keeping up our blog very well, to say the least. It has been almost five months since my last entry! To put it simply, life has just been very busy and a little crazy over the last few months, and I got out of the habit of updating everyone on our family's activities. So, I am going to do monthly recaps of the past few months to get back to speed. Here is a summary of June this year:

The second week of June was VBS at our church, and we did the curriculum from Answers in Genesis: Operation Space. I was the main teacher for all the elementary age students, so I taught my material three times each morning! It was very rewarding and fun, but very exhausting as well. I had a wonderful assistant who made my job easier and more fun, too. Caleb and Isabelle really enjoyed it and had a great week. All the children in our church sang the VBS theme song "Blast Off" for the church one Sunday morning, and it was so cute. They all learned the motions that went with the song.

The week after VBS, I had a few days to recupperate before I was packing our bags to to go Jackson, MS, for a week. Caleb was a day camper at a camp called Twin Lakes, which is just outside Jackson in a city called Florence. We stayed with our good friends, the Fowlers, whose son went to camp with Caleb the same week. The boys had a ton of fun swimming, horseback riding, camping, going on the ropes course and rock-climbing wall, as well as other fun activities. They even got to spend the night the last night of camp in their cabin. Parke and I and Isabelle and Caughran, Parke's three-year old son, got to hang out at their house and swim at their pool. It was so much fun to get to see my Jackson friends, and one evening a big group of us went out to eat at Keifers, which was a lot of fun. The weekend after camp ended, Barrett's family was in Jackson for their family reunion, so I stayed with them and went to the reunion on Sunday. After heading home through Biloxi, I had about two full days to wash clothes and repack for our trip down to Largo to spend a couple weeks with my family...

Visiting with family

After Blaise's graduation, Grammy and Pappy, and Aunt Jeanne and Grandma came back to Fort Walton Beach to visit us for a few days. Aunt Jeanne and Grandma had never been to our house before, so we got to take them to a few places in the area. Aunt Jeanne finally bonded with the kids before she left, and they enjoyed her animated story readings!

Blaise's graduation

We went to Fort Benning, Georgia, to see my cousin Blaise's graduation from Army basic training on April 24. We left town after the kids got done with school on Thursday, and then we drove through the afternoon and got to the hotel in Columbus in time for dinner. It was great to see Aunt Jeanne again since it had been a few years since I had seen her, and Caleb was too little to remember her. Isabelle had never met her before, and it took a little while for Isabelle to warm up to Aunt Jeanne, but then they were good buddies! We got an early start on Friday morning to make sure we got a seat in the bleachers for the graduation. It was a good thing we did because it was packed out. The ceremony was great and I'm glad we were able to make the trip to support Blaise. After his graduation, the whole family was able to go out to lunch together and visit for a little while before it was time for us to begin heading back home.

Blaise is in the 3rd row, far right:

Easter

The day before Easter I ran in the Resurrection Run 5K out in Destin. Several of my girlfriends participated in it, so it was a lot of fun and I was pleased with my time. While I was running, our friends the Drowns brought Caleb and Isabelle to their church's easter egg hunt, and I met them there after the race. They had a lot of fun collecting as many eggs as they could fit into their baskets, and then eating it afterwards (the best part!).

For Easter Sunday, we went to church and celebrated our Lord's resurrection, and then we went to a new friend's house, Kristi Coil, for an Easter brunch and another egg hunt. I met Kristi through my friend Amy Drown, and Kristi's kids go to Rocky Bayou Christian School, which is where Caleb is going in the fall. It was a nice time of fellowship and good food, and once again the kids had fun gathering those candy-filled plastic eggs. We enjoyed getting to spend the day with our good friends, the Drowns, as well, because we had to say goodbye to them the next day. They moved to Ohio, but we are planning on visiting them in September.

Isabelle with Sarah Kate, Emily, and Anna Drown

Spring Break

We spent our Spring break this year at Grammy and Pappy's house. It was the longest drive I have ever made with the kids by myself, and I was amazed at how well it went. Movies entertained them for the morning, and then we listened to an audio CD in the afternoon. I was definitely tired by the time we got there, but it was the easiest trip ever with kids.

We had a lot of fun doing activities in the area and even taking a day trip to the sponge docks in Tarpon Springs and one to see the Lipizzan Stallions in Myakka City. Of course, we had to go to Chuck E. Cheeses, and we went on a week night without a lot of traffic so the kids got to do more of the games and they had a blast. Caleb's favorite game was the snow mobile simulator arcade game. I don't know how many times he played it! One day we went to the "Banana Park" and let the kids explore down on the beach. Pappy took them on an expedition along the beach and helped them climb up the enbankment on the other end. The kids had a lot of fun climbing on the low branches of the live oak trees, too. Another evening we went to the library for a theatre production for children about the alphabet. It was put on by a local theatre company and was very cute and creative. We went garage saling on Saturday and Grammy gave Caleb and Isabelle two dollars each to spend. They had so much fun chosing what toys to buy at each place. We had great weather for most of the week while we were there, and we also missed out on a lot of bad weather that came through here at home, so I was thankful for that! We all had a great time in Largo, and it was a nice vacation for me since I was able to get away from the day-to-day grind at home and also have some help with the kids. It was a much-needed refresher for me!

Caleb and Isabelle with Uncle Heath:

Playing at the park:

At the sponge docks:

Off on their beach adventure:

Lipizzan Stallion: