From PC, With Love

We are having a blast at the beach! We introduced Ava Sophia to the beach. She did okay with the sand... although she didn't understand why it stuck to her hands and kept trying to shake it off. I took her into the water and she was having none of it! She loves swimming in pools and adores baths, but the moving water was a no go for this little princess! :) She learned to deal with it being close by though and even tolerated me dipping her feet in to rinse off occassionally.

Bryant is my funny boy! He will go rinse off in the surf, and has gone out in the water with Hank a couple of times, but he prefers to hang out and play in the sand... building castles, playing with army men and cars, and digging with his Sophie girl. We have also discovered that he is our little model... he will sit and pose as long as we ask him to... and he takes darn good pics, if I do say so myself!

Tres L-O-V-E-S the water!! Once we hit the beach, he grabs a mask and runs head long into the water... he likes to hunt for shells and look at fish. He has also learned the joy of body surfing!

Hank and I are just enjoying seeing our kids explore and have fun this week. It's nice to know that they are seeing and doing new things. And it doesn't hurt that we're getting tans while we do! Ha!

The pics are in no certain order, so enjoy!














These are sweet to me... Sophie got tired on the beach one day and the boys weren't ready to go, so I wrapped her up in her Ariel towel and held her. She wanted me to sing to her, so I started singing 'Part of Your World' from "The Little Mermaid." She was so funny, she just studied me and mouthed the words... and made me sing it about 4 times! Even now, Sophie is walking around the condo singing "Ah, ah , ah" Ariel style! It's so funny!

Travel Bug

My friend Sherra just had her third baby just a few weeks before Christmas!! I wish that I could have made some quick las vegas hotel reservations and gone and gave that baby a squeeze!

I want to go to Vegas pretty bad just to experience it. CSI makes it look like 'everyday' things, but I don't want to see that. I want to see what makes it a hot spot.... the hotels, the shopping, the food, and the entertainment.

Before I got married, I was contemplating a trip to Vegas and one of my friends, Mike, gave me a video to see what all was worth seeing and what you could do there. Gondola rides, roller coasters on top of hotels, white tigers, and blue men.

Matilda

Do any of you ladies have a Garmin GPS? My parents have one, and we borrow it anytime we take a long trip. It's super handy when we are in a strange city but need to figure out how to get around. We used it constantly at Disney! Because it's a women's automated voice, the boys have nicknamed her Matilda. Funny, huh?

My friend Mandy is trying to find a good deal on one for her husband for Christmas. She said if she can't find one, she isn't gonna do it, because she knows there will be a good deal eventually. But her husband will be disappointed! He keeps joking around and asking, "Oh, however will we find this place without a GPS?" I guess he'll find where he needs to go just like any other red blooded American man... by not asking for directions!

Christmas Gift

A couple of years ago, Hank and I got some luggage as a Christmas gift. I really, really wanted something that stood out and was really cute, but that didn't happen. Instead we got practical, low price luggage that will do, but doesn't make any statements. Maybe in a few years when this has worn out, we can invest in something sturdy and cute like some Delsey luggage. They have fun colors and cool designs. Nothing funky or anything, more classic and solid!

Maybe when Hank and I go on our ten year anniversary trip to wherever we want, we will travel with some great luggage in tow!

I would like a cruise or maybe a trip back to Colorado! I loved that place.

Disney- The Finale!

So, I know you are all just DYING to know how we ended our Disney vacation! We got up on Monday morning and loaded our bags in the van. Then we went and had a family sit-down breakfast, consisting of Mickey shaped waffles and things of that nature...

Then we asked the boys which rides that just HAD to ride again. Bryant wanted to ride Soarin' again, and Tres wanted to ride Test Track. Thankfully they were both at the same park, so we headed back to Epcot.

This was by far my favorite day of the trip! It was very laid back and fun... full of memories and laughs. Hank went and fast passed Soarin' with Sophie, while the boys and I got in line for Test Track. Hank doesn't do too many fast rides or roller coasters... thankfully Mommy likes them! Hank had the camera, so he and Sophie found her latest obsession, Minnie! I don't have any pictures to share from Test Track, but it was fun. This was another first time ride for Bryant and he absolutely loved it!! He laughed and smiled the whole time. When we got done, we went into the gift shop (where almost every ride empties you out to), and they had a kid craft section set up for the kids. Well, both of the boys decided that they wanted to do that. That was fine with us! The lady at the table told us that they could go to any of the countries in Epcot and there would be a Kidcot section where they could make masks, decorate them, add things to them, etc. And they were all about that!We made a stop in Mexico so that the boys could add to their masks and the boys found some pretty cool hats! These are MY three cabenaros!While we were on our 'worldwide' tour, Sophie passed out... I mean jet setting makes me tired too! So I chilled out in Germany for a little while. I actually think that Germany is one of my favorite countries in Epcot. They have a quaint little cobblestone courtyard with a fountain. They have a toy store set up, a Christmas store, a sweets store, and more. I always check out the sweets store, and bought some fudge and ate it while I waited for the boys.

We also visited Norway, where I found the most divine perfume!!I loved the way it smelled on me! I almost asked if they would take ECB's for it, but decided I might need those later. Wink!

Then we headed through China and Japan (where I snapped a cool picture on my phone of their Koi pond), into Italy and France. Then we headed over the bridge into England, where Tres ate his lunch of fish 'n chips, and we end our tour by strolling through Canada. By then we were close to Soarin' and our fast pass time, so the boys went and rode while me and Soph (still sleeping) chilled outside.

When the boys got done, we went back to the Magic Kingdom one more time. We took the Monorail over and the boys got to ride up front with the driver! They thought it was super cool, and even got a co-pilots license.At Magic Kingdom, I got Tres to try his new ride for the trip. I had to do some special coercion to get him on it, but that's a story for another blog! Plus the video is on our video camera. At any rate, he rode Splash Mountain with me and liked all of it with the exception of the final drop. Then we road the carousel and played in a couple of more areas before hitting the road back to my in-laws house!

Disney- Day 3

My in-laws came down to Disney with us, but we pretty much did our own thing and they did too! We enjoyed a meal at the Sci-Fi theatre Drive-In in Hollywood Studios the day before with them, but I think they were enjoying their own time! We saw them in the mornings and at night though, cause the boys and Hank went and stayed in their camper with them at Fort Wilderness!

On the third day of our trip, we started out first thing at Epcot. Bryant wanted to try a new ride, Soarin'...

We encourage the boys to try a new ride every time we go, and Bryant had talked himself into not being scared of this one. Turns out, he was right! He loved it! He ended up riding it about three or more times before we left. Here we are waiting in line... Momma and her boys! Awwww!And I just couldn't resist snapping a pic of my boys taking care of each other. They didn't like not being able to find one another, so they just held on!
After that, we headed back over to the Magic Kingdom. Hank wanted to make sure that Sophie got to ride a lot of her kind of rides. So we started out with the Winnie the Pooh ride...She was slightly transfixed!

Then we let them play in the Winnie the Pooh playground. Sophie loved the freedom of not being held or strapped in a stroller! And her brothers loved playing with her too.We headed over to ToonTown again for another ride on the Barnstormer and to Mickey and Minnie's House, and decided to take a little ride on the train. It takes you around the perimeter of the park and is a nice break from walking and the sun!It was such a nice break, that Sophie decided to catch a little shut-eye!So then it was the boys heading to the rides and I chauffered... I mean strolled... around a while.Tres took pride in being able to ride anything by himself! He's getting to be such a big boy. It makes me happy and sad.

Tres and Bryant fought almost every time about who would ride what ride with Daddy. They took turns, but heaven help if they forgot, or someone got a back-to-back turn!
Bryant takes Dumbo for a spin.And of course, we had to take multiple trips on the Blue Line! And what would any vacation be without junk food and candy, right?

After a full day in the parks, we went back to the room where I bathed both boys, and then they headed back out to Hollywood Studios with their dad. Soph and I were too pooped and called it a night! The boys stayed out pretty darn late again, and then went and crashed!

Disney- Day 2

We got up early the next day and headed over to Hollywood Studio's. We didn't think we would spend almost the whole day there... but that's exactly what ended up happening!

We went and rode the newest ride, Toy Story Mania.
Sophie slept through Toy Story Mania, but had fun with some of the 3D glasses when she woke up!
We also went and caught a showing of the Playhouse Disney Show that features Mickey Mouse Clubhouse, My Friends Tigger and Pooh, Little Einsteins and Handy Mannie! It was great!All my kids loved it! But Ava Sophia was transfixed!She wanted to get up and walk up on the stage. We had to get creative to keep her close to us without getting her diva attitude on!

We also hit the Star Tours ride, and Bryant wanted to see the Movie Car Stunt Show, but Tres didn't. So I took Soph and Tres over to a the nearby Bug's Life playground while Dad took Bry to see the cars.Tres is such a helper with his sister. So is Bryant for that matter... but Tres seems to take pride in helping her learn and try new things. Just like this slide! It was small, but a big accomplishment to our little sweet pea!We met a lot of our favorite characters at Hollywood Studios, too!Bryant actually waited in line for Buzz and Woody but at the last minute decided not to get a picture with them. And Sophie wasn't exactly thrilled to meet life sized Disney characters.Even Bryant liked Lightning McQueen, though!

We ended up our day over at Epcot. We did a few of the easier rides with minimal lines, like Nemo and the Three Cabineros. We also did Turtle Talk with Crush. But the lines for everything else were so long, we decided to go to Downtown Disney and let the boys play at the Lego Store.
They always love this store!! The last couple of times we've gone to Disney, we'vr told them that they are allowed to get one nice souvenir at the end of the trip from Downtown Disney (where you can find everything that would be in the parks). This helps us keep down spending in the parks and keeps them from asking for stuff! When we finally left there, it was after 10 and we were all pooped!