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!)

How I survive the summer :)

Jacob actually did this to himself, and I thought it was just too funny because my immediate thought was, “what a great idea!”  Ha, just kidding, I LOVE my kids:J  What a fantastic week we have had!  We have had swim lessons, a few days of Vacation Bible School, from which the kids and I have been jamming in the car to a great cd to which the kids know all the hand motions to, swim lessons, playdates, swimming, a birthday party to see Cars 2, a birthday party at Chuck E Cheese, and a weekend with Sue! 

Jacob, Gwyn and I went to my friend Julie’s son birthday party to see the 3D movie of Cars 2…this was much anticipated, and we were excited.  We had to get a sitter for Annie because she doesn’t “do” sitting still for 2 hours in the dark and being quiet.  Jacob never took his eyes off the screen, and didn’t move the entire movie.  Gwyn got a little restless towards the end and ended up sleeping on my lap for the last half hour. 

 Here are all the kids from my little group of Mom…can’t believe how fast everyone is growing up!

Sue came in Friday night and flew back to Tulsa on Tuesday night.  The kids had a great time spending time with their G.  She taught Jacob how to sew, he even thread his own needle...a real one!  Gwyn likes to play musical chairs and make up rules as she goes along, play Elijah, Elijah, fire (very similar to duck, duck, goose), and make up games.  Her funniest game that had Brian, Sue and I on the flooring laughing was a game where you had to say something to Gwyn, and if she liked what you said, then you got to go sit by her.  Sue also watched the kids for us, so Brian and I could get a night out to go to Jason's dinner party, which was awesome!

  Jacob (especially) and Gwyn are big into crafts these days.  We took a trip to Hobby Lobby, and Sue let the kids stock up on some new crafts…here are their hats they made:

Annie didn’t decorate hers, she thought it was much more fun to pull off all the stickers from Jacob and Gwyn’s hats.

It is getting HOT here in Houston…we are swimming almost every single day.  Jacob is getting to be a stronger swimmer every day, he is ALL over the pool.  In and out, from one end to the other, he’s all over the place.  He’s working on side breathing during freestyle and backstroke. 

 He's just getting so big...he's always walking around with a water squirter...BEWARE!

Gwyn is getting much braver with her new goggles, she’s working on front floating, back floating and swimming underwater…I’d love for her to be able to swim by the end of the summer!

Annie is just working on bossing people around.  She wants in the floatie, she wants out.  She wants to swim with me, she wants to swim with Brian, she wants to swim with Sue.  She wants to get on the steps, she wants to spin around in circles.  She is a bit high maintenance in the pool right now!

Sue also brought down lots of fun things for the kids, Annie was particularly interested in the chapstick that Sue gave her.  She smelled like strawberry chapstick for a couple of days because she would rub it ALL over her face and then she would dig it out with her finger and eat it, ha!

Maddy had a little birthday party at Chuck E Cheese on Monday, so the kids and I went and gave Sue a little break to eat lunch with Brian.  The kids had a great time and got a record 270 tickets!  We walked out of there with 3 pieces of candy and 3 toys that I think broke before we even got home.  Jacob and Maddy had fun together.  They are 3 weeks apart, used to have weekly playdates when they were 1 month old, and now they are starting Kindergarten in the Fall!!

 We learned that Gwyn's fear of Chuck E Cheese has NOT gotten any better!

 Annie likes to people watch.

Funny things the kids said this week:

Jacob:  Why is Annie the only one who gets to eat chapstick?  (Uh, do you really want to eat it??)

Jacob (while practicing his reading):  I really like words that only have one letter like a or I, those are really easy.

Jacob:  How did you find Daddy to marry?

Me:  God showed me that Daddy was the one.

Jacob:  Okay.

Jacob:  Why do adults not cry and fuss when they get shots?

The dermatologist to Jacob:  Are you going to be a doctor when you grow up?
Jacob:  No, I'm going to be a baseball player.