Fantastic Trip to Florida!

We had a fantastic trip to Florida for a long weekend over the 4^th of July!  The kids had so much fun, and we had a great time as a family getting to spend some quality time together playing games, swimming, building puzzles, coloring,  and hanging out with John and Claudia who we love SO much!!  Before we left for the trip, I told Jacob and Gwyn to get their backpacks and pack up the stuff they wanted to take with them on the airplane, here is what Jacob packed:

I had to confiscate the harmonica and the star wars trooper gun (which makes several different LOUD noises), I thought those two items wouldn’t make us any friends on an airplane.  He did manage to take a Frisbee without me or Brian knowing about it, and he got that while we were on the plane.  Brian looked at him like he was crazy…did he really think we could play Frisbee on the airplane???  Here is what Gwyn packed in her backpack:

I guess you can never have too many fairies and figurines to play with!  Jacob’s big adventure while we were there, was going with Brian and John to Disney’s Hollywood Studios to the Star Wars attractions.  It was something special that John and Claudia got for Jacob for his birthday, and I’m really glad he went...Claudia was right, who knows if he’ll even still be into Star Wars when we take the whole family to Disney in a few years.  He LOVED it, he was in awe…and he REALLY thought it was all real.  He got to see Jedi training with Darth Vader and storm troopers, he went through the Star Tours attraction spaceship a couple of times, and he got to design and make his own light saber.   If you ask him about it, he will tell you he saw the real C3PO and the real R2D2, and the real Darth Vader.  Brian said he is pretty sure that Jacob really think they went to the Planet Tatoonie (that is the planet that Anakin who later becomes Darth Vader was born on – oh yes, even I am a Star Wars expert now!) when they went on the ride.

While they were there he also went to the Toy Story and Muppets attractions.  Poor kid was worn out after about 5 hours!

Brian would have stood in line to get his own picture taken with Phineas and Ferb, but they stopped taking pictures with people right as they walked up…too bad for Brian, he’s a big fan!

Gwyn and Annie got to go on their own adventure with Claudia and myself while Jacob was gone to Disney for the day.  We had fun doing a bit of shopping, stopped by the book store where Gwyn really wanted to pick out a Star Wars Wookie book for Jacob (too sweet!), picked out some fireworks, went to Chick Fil A, and then back home.  We had a great time together!

I think we swam at least twice, sometimes three times each day while we were there.  The kids love the water, Jacob is a little fish, and Annie likes to keep busy by making soup in buckets.  We went to the neighborhood water park / splash pad, and Jacob swam by himself 25 meters down the pool and probably made it 18 meters back, Brian couldn't believe it.

 Annie loved this floatie, and did not like it when Jacob wanted to get in it:

Jacob in that same floatie 4 years ago!

Jacob’s other big adventure was catching some frogs and lizards.  He had remembered the last time we were there when he was 3 catching a TON of frogs, and he was prepared this year.

 Contemplating their next move to capture some lizards and frogs:

The girls loved playing in their little courtyard, Gwyn constantly opening up one of the gates for Annie after she yelled “Sissy!”

Jacob’s awesome Yoda puzzle:

Who knew they made special markers for writing on windows?!?!  We’ve definitely left our mark on John and Claudia’s house!  Gwyn loved doing it, and would say, “Here Annie, come scribble scrabble right here.”  And Annie would do it. 

Loved this picture of all three of them on the piano bench with room to spare!

Claudia, John, Jacob and I had a great time with fireworks.  Annie lasted all of about 5 minutes.  Gwyn and Brian lasted about 15 minutes, apparently they don’t like the ones that say “reports.”  The rest of us had a great time!  The best was this green floating lantern that was a huge hit!  Jacob loved the sparklers, the roman candles, and helped John light one of the bigger fountains.   He kept wanting me to take pictures of the fireworks!

 The Floating Lantern:

 This is how Gwyn watched with Brian after Annie went to bed:

Another huge announcement...after 2.5 months...my new dishwasher is being installed sometime today between 12-4 pm, which probably means today at 5:30!  It is almost like my birthday around here today, I was so excited about doing my last sink full of hand washed dishes last night!!

Our neighbors moved in last week, and we are so excited!  I watched the kids for a couple of hours during the move in…easiest babysitting job ever…they were mesmerized with the loading/unloading from the moving truck:

Here is what happens when I don’t get a shower before Brian leaves for work…I left the kids at the table doing crafts and come back to Annie having drawn all over her face and eaten the tip of the marker!

Gwyn and Annie playing with some Care Bears toys during Jacob’s reading class…they played together for an entire hour while we waited for Jacob.  I had a thought that I should buy this Care Bear set since they love it so much, but I’ve learned…once you do that, they won’t play with it at home, and it loses its appeal other places at the same time!

Funny things the kids said this week:

Jacob comforting Annie after she had to sit in time out:  It’s okay Annie, we used to do stuff like that when we were little. (yeah, like 5 minutes ago!)