Hollywood Studios

Dale sprained his ankle pretty bad last Friday so I took the 4 kids to Hollywood studios for the day on Saturday. We haven't explored this park so I made the kids go to some of the shows. This is them on the playground. We saw how they did stunts and made sets for movies.
We met Prince Caspian. We walked into his area and the kids hesitated because it was just a guy - they're used to costumed characters.
After the 40 minute tour of how to make a set, this is K waiting for the Ariel show. He wanted to ride some rides and was not very happy about seeing another show. We left after this. Next time we'll have to ride Tower of Terror and the Rockin' Roller Coaster. This park doesn't hold a lot of interest to the younger kids.

Happy Happy Birthday Maxwell Dear

Yeah - Max turned one today. He has a slightly confused look on his face and was disturbed that we put fire in front of him.
He quickly got over this and ate two pieces of cake. He looks like he's eaten his limit.
On to presents. I bought him color bath tablets and a tub toy - we simply have enough toys. The kids did wrap up some toys that were in the toy room - he'll never know.
Amy and Summer were clever and made this snake in the grass. It was a cute idea, but quickly went into the garbage after the kids went to bed before grass got all over the house.
Back to more Florida wildlife. This is an Armadillo that we found by the road by our house. It looks like it got hit by a car so we examined it.

We turned it over and were fascinated by the long claws and snout. It was actually softer than we had imagined. When it started to stink, we quickly left and the vultures came a feasting.

Happy Birthday Shelby!

Yesterday was Shelby's 4th birthday. This is a picture of her eating her birthday cupcake. She got a pack of balloons, a new ball throwing toy, and a chew bone. We love you Shelby! Dale just got back from golfing with his brothers in Utah for 5 days. This is a picture of them with their dad. We decided we missed a few things in Utah - Family, good corn on the cob, crisp fall weather, big houses, our friends, churches on every corner, not feeling out of place with our herd of kids, soft silky grass, and family family family.

Utah Trip

I just got back from a 9 day trip to Utah. This is Max with my parents at Thanksgiving Point Gardens. The weather was beautiful (except for one freezing day) and the grass was like lush carpet. I had forgotten how nice grass could be with this weed grass we get down in FL. I don't think I would fly with Max again though. It was close to torture to try and keep him happy on the plane. I ended up drugging him with Benadryl to get at least an hour of sleep out of him.
Max started to really take off with his walking skills while we were there. Check out his long hair. He loved the grass too. And here he is after his first haircut. He is such a big boy now. He didn't entirely enjoy the haircut as you can see. I actually got my hair done thanks to Dale's mom for treating me to a salon day. I told the hair dresser to make me light and bright. Well I got what I asked for except that I felt like a rock star and it looked very fake. I went back and had her put some darker color back in and I feel a lot better about it.

Disney, Gators, and Salamanders

After being cooped up in the rain for days while Fay slowing crept across the state, we decided to hit Disney hoping the crowds would be down. It was pouring, but we got a lot of rides in. Max is totally in his element there - outside and completely entertained. This is the kids on the Tea Cups.
Max on the carousel.
Because we had so much rain (9 inches in one day), our ponds were full. This gator was out sunning himself so we were getting a good look. He was probably 5-6 feet long. He heard us and hurried into the water - wooo they move fast!
Then the boys took a jaunt down to the stream behind our house and found two giant salamanders. At first they thought it was a snake, then an eel, then they saw the two tiny legs in front and (Dale thought it was a giant bull frog tad pole) then I told them it was a salamander. I had never seen a salamander in real life and definately not one ever this big. Oh the adventures of Florida.

First day of school

The girls were so excited to go to school that they put their clothes on, made their bed, and then fell asleep - shoes and everything.
This is Taylor's first day of middle school. He's waiting at the bus stop with our next door neighbor.
It's just Max and I at home now - yippee!

Summers' End

Our Disney passes are good again so I offered to take the kids to Disneyworld today - one thing though - Dale is with the Scouts on High Adventure so we could only ride the rides that Max could go on. They turned me down and begged to go down to the stream behind our house of all things.

I have to admit it looked inviting, but I had assumed that gators or snakes lived in it so we hadn't explored it before. It was kid heaven!
Here they are trudging up and down the stream while Max and I waited above.
Amy found little fish
And they also discovered a bank full of clay. Because I was bored I told them to grab a hunk and bring it home to make a sculpture. This is what Taylor made - a turtle. We're letting them dry outside except it's so humid right now, I don't think that will happen. We'll probably have to bring them inside.
Here is Max's new toy from grandma - the older kids push him around on it which he loves. Thanks Grandma!