1st Snowfall of 09/10 Season

A few weeks ago we had our FIRST (I say this optimisticly) snow of the 09/10 season. After a day and a half of rain and a little sun, dusk ascended on the Hampton Roads area and the snow began to fall. The snow we did get (a whopping 3-4 inches) came hard and fast. I just prayed that it would still be there in the morning. When the little sleepy heads awoke the next morning, they were so excited for a SNOW DAY!!

Alexis is all dressed and ready to go. And not real thrilled about having to wait for the boys I might add!

Finally, Zack is ready and they are all heading out.

I tried to crop this picture so you can see the details. Yeap, thats my daughter LICKING her snow covered glove!! I promise we did feed her that morning.

Wink was more than gracious enough to form snow balls for the kids and then encourage them to throw them at me. Apparently holding a $800 camera does not exclude you from snowball fights!!

Zack and his Bugilla!! He still cant say Gorilla:)

Alexis throwing snow at me. Again, holding the camera isnt helping me out.

And its not that their throws really hurt. It's just they have absolutely no accuracy at all. I am waiting for the day I am looking through the viewfinder to see a snowball coming right at me.

The first snowman we have ever built!! So what if he is small.

Oh look, I have arms. But wait...I cant see!!! Help.

I can see, I can see. Thank you Alexis for finding me eyes.

Zack and Mr. Snowman. I told you the snowman was LITTLE.

Alexis loves the snowman no matter how small he is:)

There are two things they always want to do when we go in the backyard after it snows. The FIRST...slide down the slide!! The SECOND is get on the trampoline. (I didnt post any of those pics, sorry.)

Oh yuck, its hard to believe we will be swimming in this pool in 6 months. It had a very thin layer of ice on top.

Even Titan joined in on the fun in the snow. He loves catching and eating snow balls.

So the kids tried to drive their Mustang and Lightning McQueen power wheels through the snow. After getting stuck a few times they went in and grabbed the big battery powered 4 wheeler. Now they had fun with that.

Chirstmas Town Busch Gardens 2009

For a couple of weeks now Wink and I had been talking about taking the kids to Busch Gardens for Christmas Town. Since it was mostly outside we needed to select a night when it wouldnt be to cold for the kids. My theory was to pick a day when it was a little warmer during the day, and it would be a little warmer that night. At least it was good in theory!! We set out last Wednesday with all of our heavy winter gear in hand. The kids were so excited. I dont think they even noticed the cold; at least not at first:)

Here they are when we first walked in.

There were so many real Christmas trees all over the park.

Wink and the kids.

My turn!! I was the only one without a hat.

This had to be one of the biggest snowman I have ever seen. I couldnt even get the whole thing in the picture.

The park had a couple of Penguins on loan from Sea World in CA. It was really neat the way they had the path leading to them decorated.

Isnt this one cute!!

And now the real ones:)

The kids were so excited that they really "won" these stuffed penguins. It was a game that basically everyone wins, but we didnt tell them that!!

Oh WOW, we made it all the way to the North Pole!!

And who lives in the North Pole...Santa of course!!! Here they are telling them what they wanted.

This was the view walking back across the bridge headed to Ireland. The whole park had this feel to it. It was very well decorated and just added to the Christmas spirit. By about 9:15 the cold was setting in and we headed back to the front of the park. It was about 36 degrees when we left. We all really enjoyed the visit and cant wait to see what they do next year.

Fall Fun

Right before the first leaf pickup in our neighborhood, the whole family went out to tackle the front yard. Even with A LOT of playing we still managed to finish it in about an hour and a half.

Alexis was having fun playing in the pile...

while Zack was off pouting!!

He did not care for the leaves being blown in his face.

She on the other hand, LOVED it!!

I really wanted to try and take some good pictures of the kids in the leaves. This is my favorite one of her. Such a sweet face:)

Here she was posing for her shot!!

Zack did not want to smile!! Thats alright, I got him a little later on that day:)

The kids had fun burying me in the leaves. It was until they sat on me!!

I really didnt want to be on this side of the camera.

Yeap!!! This is my little girl!!

CHEEEEZZZ!!! Look at my dimples:)

Although this picture turned out a little blurry, it is still a cool idea that Zack came up with.

Now this is my SWEET little man!! I love this smile:)

Almost done for the day.

Zack pretending to sleep in their leaf bed.

Sea World, FL

After landing in FL and checking into the hotel we headed to Sea World. What a neat place. Sea World was having a trick or treat Halloween Spooktacular special the day we were there. The kids got bags when we entered the park and they collected candy as we walked around. The thing I found funny was that Sea World gave out a more "healthy" type of candy. At one stop they were actually giving out bunches of bananas!!

The kids just had to climb up on this polar bear for a picture.



The park was decorated throughout with Halloween and Fall decorations. I liked the pumpkins that looked like fish.

This was one of the two rides we rode that day.

Wink rode with the kids because this spun around in circles. I dont like things that spin fast!!

The other ride we all rode was the Sea Creature Carousel. Alexis rode the dolphin.

Zack was on the hammer head shark.

This was inside the shark exhibit.

One of the shows we watched was the Sea Lion and Otter Show.

This was the pirate sword fight. Zacks favorite part.

At one point the Sea pushed the pirate off the boat and into the water. The pirate pretended that he didnt know how to swim.

And the sea lion had to jump in and save him.

The walrus at the end of the show. He was HUGE!!

The last thing we did that night was watch the Shamu Rocks show. This was great.

One of the few jumps I was able to catch. (and it was still a little blury)

Shamu at the end of the show. These animals are amazing.

Up next, our adventure to Downtown Disney.

The Hotel, Orlando, FL

The Tyler Connect 2009 conference was held at the Gaylord Palms Resort and Covention center in Orlando, FL. This place was amazing!!! So much to see and do. The first night we were there we all went out exploring. The hotel is designed with 4 different themes inside it and each area is decorated accordingly. We were in the Key West wing. Very bright and colorful.

This picture was taken looking out over the kiddie pool. The area in the background was the convention center. That was about the size of most normal hotels!!!

This boat, The Gaylord, was in our wing of the hotel. Wink said it had to have been over 100 ft in length!!

A full view of the boat taken with my cell phone.

This was like a castle or fort. It was in the St. Augustines wing.

What do you suppose was in an area around the castle?? Yep, you guessed it...turtles and Alligators!! Oh and alot of beautiful Coi fish.

The kids relaxing in our room. Zack fell off the bed the first night we were there. It was around midnight and Wink and I heard a thud and I looked up and there was only 1 kid in the bed. It was really funny. When I went to scoop him up off the floor he was still asleep!! Wink said that Zack told him that his head hurt the next morning when he woke up:)

Bear just had to make the trip with us, and Shamu came home with us.

A cool picture opportunity in front of the sailboat. The kids liked taking their pictures with the fish.

More pictures to come!!!

Alexis' Birthday Song

At the Magic Kingdom Mickey's Not So Scarey Halloween Party we were approached by 4 "dead" people while we were waiting for the parade to start. It turns out the group was a quartet. They sang us a song then Alexis told them it was her birthday. (she told EVERYBODY that all night) The guys then sang Alexis two versions of the Birthday song. I managed to catch the tale end of the second song. It was so SWEET!! Everyone was singing and clapping for her. It is truely something I will remember for ever.

After the song the men let her cross the rope and take a picture with them. I think she might have been a little scared of them at this point. Very serious look on her face:)

Happy Birthday Alexis & Zack

On Friday, October 16th we celebrated Alexis and Zack's birthdays. The kids had a lot of fun. They really didnt seem to mind that it was just family and close friends either. The present theme for this year was:

Barbie's for Alexis

And Boats for Zack.


This is my best friend Magen with her daughter Alyssa. You may remember the Pregnancy photos I took of her and Jimmy and the post of Alyssa when she was just a day old in the NICU. Alyssa is now 4 months old and just beaming with joy and happiness!!

A few weeks ago I took the kids to Walmart and let them pick out their cakes this year. Zacks choice...Batman!! This cake was really cool.

Batman shooting out of the cave!!

Alexis' choice...The Little Mermaid. Very pretty cake.

Very girlie:)

Isnt she so sweet??!!??

What I sweet little boy!!

It never fails that every year we pick out cakes that have some CRAZY color icing. It always ends up with people having colored mouths and tongues. Here is Magen showing off her blue Batman tongue. (See I didnt put it directly on FB hehe) Sorry little inside joke!!

Alexis showing off her tongue.

Zack showing off his tongue. He said it was red from the flames from Batman and we just let him believe that:) Zack does not like cake, but he did eat a few bites of the icing.

Alexis was so desperate for another piece of cake (more icing) that she ate the icing off of Zack's Bat Cave.

This is what happens when you give a little girl blue icing!!! And a little encouragement from the Grandma's!!

HAPPY BIRTHDAY Alexis and Zachary. I love you both very much!!!