Daddy Shamu!

We decided to celebrate Father's Day last weekend with a day at SeaWorld.  It turned out to be a great idea, because there were very few lines anywhere!  Amy and Zachary hit Manta rollercoaster when we first got there, and waited a total of 5 minutes for the FRONT ROW!  The Johnsons joined us, and we also did the aquarium, the penguin exhibit, the Pets A-hoy show, and then a yummy lunch.  After lunch, the Johnsons and Karis & Addi went home while Amy the boys stayed to continue playing.  By that point the weather was blistering hot, so we did the Shamu rollercoaster three times, the Jazzie Jellies (after which Amy wanted to hurl), the nets, and the splash zone before calling it quits to head on home to Daddy.

Nemo!

Miracle - everyone is actually looking!!

Addison is "pushing" Zachary with her head like a bull-dozer as we walked along!

Stingrays are always a favorite!

Stingrays from another view - we're standing under a viewing tank as they swim above us

The first of three rides!

 Grandma has been a lifesaver...AGAIN...this summer taking Addison to swimming lessons every day - and now Addison has graduated!  She has learned how to turn over and float, and how to swim to the edge and pull herself out.  She was none-too-happy about the experience, crying each and every time except for the one time that Karis was in the pool with her.....reminds us exactly of Zachary at this age!  She does seem to like getting into the water though with Karis and the boys to play.  She is about six months younger than the boys were (just based on April vs August birthdays), so it'll be interesting to see if she picks up swimming this summer as much as the boys did during their 2nd year.

All ready to go swimming folks!

In another "Zachary-like" memory, Addison found that she has a love affair with diaper rash cream, and quick as a wink she covered herself in it.  It brought back memories of finding Zachary in a similar situation!

Last weekend we had the pleasure of celebrating Amy's cousin Jeff's birthday.  We were so happy to be able to join them, and we had the most delicious pistachio cake (Amy is still thinking about it! :)).  Addison as always took to Jeff right away (it appears that Addison has a 'thing' for tall men.....she definitely prefers men over women and the taller they are, the better! Ha!)

A new "greeting ritual" - instead of a handshake it is a foot-touch! :)

Phrase of the week:  Someone taught Addison how to say 'dude' so she has been walking around saying "duuuuuude" over and over!  She also added "home" and "chuch" (for church) to round it out this week.

Random pictures:

Painting with Devin!

Zachary reading in the morning to Addison

Brief Sightings of Dear Friends

We had the pleasure of visit that lasted about a second (okay, maybe it was longer than a second, but that's how long it felt like!) with our dear friends the Gruias.  Carmen and Amy were high school roommates and best friends, and have kept in touch all of these years.  We have had the pleasure of vacationing together with their family and just love both Carmen and her husband Erin.

They arrived here in Orlando with their good friends from Portland as they made their way to a cruise to celebrate Carmen's 'big' birthday (same age as Amy...do the math! :) ) that was leaving from Port Canaveral.  It was fun to meet Rebecca and Lee as well, and later after they had all left, puzzle pieces fell together and we discovered that Lee is a first cousin with Amy's first cousin, Alan!  I guess Lee's mother and Alan's father are siblings.  Go figure - small Adventist world!!

The kids adore Ervin, but who wouldn't love a man who gets down on the floor and plays with you on the same day that he meets you!?

After they left, we were green with envy but life goes on, so have been enjoying the fairly nice weather with the kids and spending some time outdoors.

Phrase of the week:  Kaleb still talks about our old house as our "real house" - so Amy asked him after he mentioned this one day what he liked about our old house.  He replied that he liked the jack-and-jill bathroom between Zachary and Addison's room (why would that appeal to a 6 year old??) and he missed the half-walls that were separating the foyer from the dining room (get that one, because he used to climb up there and sit on it!).  It'll be interesting to see how long he remembers his first home!

Addison's language continues to expand - this week she adds "Done", "Dirty" and "cookie"

Random pictures:

Trying out Kaleb's old bike with training wheels after church one day

Ready for the big Rip-Rider 360!!

Zachary and Luke watching the bagpipe player

Reading time!

Come on.....just come a little closer....I promise you won't get wet!!!

Mastering the climbing wall at the park

A threesome sliding experience!

Memorial Day Vacation

Last weekend, we headed off for a family vacation to the St Pete beach and the Tradewinds Resort.  The Deininger family joined us, and our long-time friends the Hicks from Chattanooga came down as well.  Karis had to work for the Friday morning, so he rode down with Deiningers in the afternoon while Amy took the kids to the Tampa Zoo (still loving that place!)

Amy and the kids had a grand time - they were so well behaved, it was awesome!  We headed off to do the highlights, although the birds weren't feeding when we were there so it was a small disappointment - but the rest of the time was super fun!

A selfie as we got onto the safari caravan to see the animals (this was with a camera, hence it was "blind" and the bottom of poor Addison's face was cut off!)

About to feed the giraffes

Slurp!

They were so pleased that they could sit three in a row!

The black tongue - loving that Icee!

There was an inflatable slide that they could go down as well

Very thankful for the shade where they could play in the sand!

Afterwards, we washed off the sand in the little fountains on our way out.

Seeing if he could jump over the water spouts...

The kids decided though by about 4-5 hours that they were ready to hit the beach, so we piled into the van and got started - it took us 90 minutes to get there (a normally 40-50 minute drive) with the holiday traffic, but it worked out well as Addison slept most of the way.  She didn't sleep well much of the rest of the weekend (unless she was sleeping in bed with Mommy at night and naps....so Mommy was good and exhausted by the end of the weekend too!).  Oh well, now that we're at home everyone is catching up on their sleep!

She was loving carrying water over to dump on the sand castles!

Sickening - look at how dark Addison is (and let's be clear, she was slathered up with 70 sunblock multiple times each day!!) and how WHITE Amy is!!

Loungin' on the beach...

Playing "catch" with Auntie Rhonda with Uncle Rob's help

Luke, Zachary and Leah - with the huge inflatable water slide on the beach behind them - Kaleb and Leah had a blast on this thing all weekend!!

Yes Addison, your bathing suit BOTTOMS really don't go on your head!!

Kaleb flying down the slide...

Soon followed by Zachary

The male Z-s bonding on the beach (Addison in the pink in the background)

Ahh, what a Kodak moment! :)

There was also an inflatable playground in the ocean, and this was the group before they headed on out (sans Addison of course). 

Karis waving to us from the climbing pyramid

As Mommy and Addison sat on the beach and watched..

About to try and run across the balance beam...

.....and not gonna make it!!

Kaleb about to jump off the jungle gym....

The two ladies finally decided to watch from the water where it was cooler!

Erik and Adam burying Addison's legs in the water

The whole group...

The D family

And the Hicks' family

In addition to the water slide on the beach and the ocean inflatable playground, they also had paddle boarding, paddle boats, pools, and mini-golfing.  We enjoyed the mini-golfing when we came in from the beach each day, and it was easy enough the kids really had fun with it.

A few other highlights from the weekend included ending the weekend with Memorial Day fireworks - they were REALLY good - it was a fun way to cap off the final evening that we were there.   We let Addison stay up to watch them even though it was at 9P, and she jumped with the first boom but once Amy covered her ears, she was really into them.  It was quite the show!

 The last memory that we'll share is a kids activity that we were watching from our balcony.  They have a "Redbeard Pirate" that puts on shows and activities for the kids, and they had a singing concert right below our room one evening.  Addison totally got into the show and started dancing as she watched the show - it was so cute so we are sharing a video (and let's be clear, a parent is ALWAYS within an arm grab of her).