First trip to Gator Land

I know, I know....how many vacations as a child did we take to Florida? and how long have Jim and I lived here? but we made our first visit to Gator Land when invited by some friends spur of the moment. (the discounted offer to Florida residents was what reeled us in).

We were afraid the weather wouldn't hold out for us, but it did and we got to see everything we wanted! The kids were so excited to see all the alligators as we walked in!

I always think of my brother when I see alligators. His childhood dream was to own an alligator farm when he grew up......

Our first stop was the jumparoo show where they feed the alligators and get them to jump into the air. Here's a picture of Jacob watching the alligators below the deck. I decided not to include the others from the show because they feed the gators fresh chickens and personally I think it's a little gross! The second is a piture of 3 of the kids at the photo op gator!

We then went to see the white alligators, birds, petting zoo and snakes. Oh, by the way, if you do decide to tour this place....DO NOT LEAN AGAINST THE RAILS!!!! Bird poop is everywhere and doesn't wash out of your shirt! Just sayin'. And thank you Erin for letting me wear your jacket for the rest of the day! I'll spare you that picture too. Here are Megan and Kate checking out the snakes.
The next show of the day was entitled "Upclose Encounters." Oh, yes, you know I'm already praying to not be chosen from the crowd to participate in the touching of ANYTHING in this park. Remember how you always avert your gaze from your teacher when you didn't know the answer so as not to be picked???? That was my strategy--well, that and wrangling a 2 year old....surely they wouldn't pick me! Well, Jim was not so lucky and was chosen along with 3 other audience members to hold this:
He was truly a good sport! Better him than me! (That's him with the white hat on)

We took a stroll through a conservation area and then stopped for lunch. (they will let you out to eat a picnic lunch in your car, but don't allow food into the park, although their prices aren't too terrible.) Our final show was to see the alligator wrestling. Here's a picture of Megan and Jim waiting for the show to start. There was a film crew there from "Freakiest Vacations" doing a taping for the Fine Living Network. The episode is set to air later in the spring! It was fun to watch the show and see our friend's little girl participate in the taping of the show. She was picked from the crowd and got to choose the alligator that he wrestled for the show. Because of her bravery, she also got to have her picture taken while sitting on the alligator's back! Way to go Kate!!!!
Because the little boys were ready for naps we chose to call it a day. We'll have to try the train, play area and kid's water park on our next trip! Definitely glad we went and that we waited until the kids were old enough to enjoy it!

Long time, No post

Hello friends and family! I promise we're still here. It's been way too long since my last post and I promise to try harder to keep you up to date on what's going on in our lives!

Since I last posted we have done the following:
celebrated Halloween
hosted Jim's parents for Thanksgiving
drove to TN to celebrate Christmas with all sides of the family
Megan rode her first roller coaster (kiddie size)
visited Gator Land for the first time

I promise posts to update you on the highlights of these in the coming days.

Currently we are living life. Megan is back in school and preparing for her dance recital. We are getting excited about Valentine's Day and preparing to celebrate Jim's 35th birthday (on the 19th). We are also awaiting word on an offer we have made on a house here in the area, and yes, we hope this is the last move for a long time. Things with our church family are exciting and going well.

Here's a recent fun picture of the kids dressed as Buzz to tide you over until I can get some updated posts and pictures on the blog! Thanks for loving me enough to let me take a blogging break!

Halloween Spooktacular

October begins Halloween Spooktacular at Sea World, so we headed out with our sweet friend Cinnia to do some trick-or-treating! The kids wanted to dress up despite the 90 degree temps. Here they are...Megan in her dance costume from her recital earlier this year and Jacob as a monkey! He was so cute, but we only kept him in that costume for a while since it was SOOOO hot!We headed off to see Sesame Street's Count show. Here are Meg and Cinnia heading in to find a seat.As you walk into the treat area you walk through many bubble machines....the girls just twirled and chased bubbles!

Here's Megan with a Sea princess.

And Jacob and Cinnia checking out their treats.

Cinnia and Megan pose by the pumpkins.
and meet the butterfly princess

Megan was all about posing for some pics this night.....so here she is....
on the rocks.
with the pumpkin.
with the polar bear.
and a final run through the bubbles.
Anyone notice anything about this picture? like the blue color of Megan's mouth? Air Heads are her new favorite candy. We have plans to go back at least one more time with friends, so keep your eyes open for more pictures!

A crazy trip to Sea World

I know I have a lot of posts about Sea World, but for now it's been the economical entertainment option for us to have annual passes there. Maybe one day I'll be posting about weekly trips to Disney, but I'd probably have to go back to work for that which would leave no time to play at Disney......so alas more pics of Sea World!

I got to enjoy a girl's day with Megan and met her sweet friend Matti whose mom is my sweet friend Kari. We had a great time and enjoyed letting the girls have a fun day together. Our first stop was to see Allure. It's a show filled with drama and acrobatics and dance and gymnastics and we knew the girls would love to see all the dancing! Here they are getting ready for the show.

About half way through the show (here's the crazy part of the trip) the power went out! Just as the performers were spinning and climbing and swinging through the air. We tried to wait it out, but noone came to tell us how long it would be or give any further directions, so we headed over to ride the kiddie rides. Well, evidently it was a sporadic power outage, so no carousel, no rides....what to do? Thank goodness for a giant sandbox!
The polar bears had power, so we got to see them and walrus and beluga whales!
We then went to check out Shamu.....because you can't go to Sea World without seeing Shamu at least once right? Well, the ropes were up and it was almost show time! What? No Shamu? And then they opened the ropes.....A nice cool treat of Shamu bars for the girls and frozen lemonade for Kari and baby Michael!
It really was fun to see the trainers interact with all the whales without all the music and lights to drown everything out. I never realized just how loud it was in there! We could hear them calling out commands and talking with each other and hear the splashes so clearly. So even though it wasn't what we expected it was a fantastic trip to Sea World!

New Season of dance

Megan had so much fun last year taking dance that she asked to do it again this year! I loved seeing her confidence and excitement. I remember all too well the sacrifices my parents made for me to take piano lessons and the encouragement they gave to me over the years as I practiced and I want to foster those desires in Megan too. Here's a picture from the beginning of the year.

While Megan is busy with school and dance Jacob is still pretty much along for the ride.....Here's a picture of him in his most used seat....yep, the car seat! I feel like I'm always in the car dropping off or picking up or taking here or running there.....but you know, there's no place I'd rather be. I think of working and then I think of all that I'd be missing! So for now, we'll tote along toys to keep us entertained in the car rider line and dance studio waiting room!
Here's a picture of a rare breakfast out while Megan was at school. It's fun to see his little personality come out and to spend that time with just Jacob around. He's a fun little boy!
Yummy biscuit!

West TN portion of our trip

So after some R&R on my part at my mom's we headed to see Jim's folks in West Tennessee. The kids had fun chasing Chloe and playing hide and seek outside.yep, he's hiding in plain sight behind that tree!



The weather was absolutely gorgeous and we headed to the park. I think the kids seriously ran a circle up the stairs and down the slide for about 30 minutes straight!
It was then off to the mall for Jacob's first Build a Bear! He chose a black lab and we named him Tiger. Jacob gave him a bath and we picked a football outfit for him to wear. Thanks Mimi!
We also got to meet our sweet friends who moved to Memphis and have lunch with them. Here's Megan with Stacey and their foster baby.
And one of Jacob being silly on the car ride home.....both the kids pulled out these seat covers in Mimi's car and used them as toys.That night we headed out for ice cream.....check out poppy's chin...silly man!
Jacob peeking through the window--Jim took him outside to run around.
The next day we headed back to the West Tennessee drive through safari. Jacob wasn't quite sure what to think about all those animals coming right up to the car.
Jim decided to feed Jerry the Giraffe again this year.
Then Mimi took a turn.
While Mimi was feeding Jerry, Jacob turned around, grabbed a carrot and walked right up to feed Jerry. He fed him the rest of the carrots!
He then bottle fed the sheep....
and gave the goats their food too!
Here's a rare shot of Meg on this day...she was not digging the animals like she did last year and hung back for most of our time there.
We headed out on our last night for another dinner out....yummy Red Robin then over to the Old Country Store (a local Jackson place) for hand scooped ice cream (yep, that's twice in one week, but hey, we're on vacation right?). Jacob poses with his silly face.
Megan and Jacob try a game of checkers with Poppy.
We had a blast and as you can see we ate a lot! We love visiting family, but then it was time to head back to Florida! Jim had a meeting late that night and Megan had to get back to school. We hope for another visit soon!