Orlando City Soccer!

We had an unexpected fun event when we were invited to go to the Orlando City Soccer game with the FH team in the suite.  We are blessed, and we try and be sure that the kids understand how unusual this is!  We had never been there before, so we didn't know what to expect.....but it was SUPER FUN!  The arena has a lot of  energy, as one side of the arena is standing the whole time and they have a drum corp over there that keeps beating a steady rhytym and the fans sing a song in Spanish the whole time, waving flags.  The athletes were amazing to watch as well, so it was a really fun time!

Outside of the FH Suite

The fun is about to begin!

At the one end of the stadium, there are NO SEATS - people just stand the whole time!  And there is a drum corp beating the drums the entire time with the crowd singing a song in Spanish about winning the game.  They are waving flags, jumping up and down, singing - it creates a lot of energy...and a lot of noise! :)

In Kaleb's words - that is a lot of ruckus! :)

Speaking of noise - lovely noise, the boys have started piano lessons! :)  It has been really fun to listen to them playing - and we're doing a "Simply Music" approach, which means that they are learning how to play songs right away without yet learning the notes (that comes later).  With the fact that they are playing songs vs practicing scales, it makes it much more fun for them and thus so far, so good!  Karis is even sitting down and learning along with them for fun!  We got a digital piano so that we have the luxury of turning the volume down low enough that we can practice without it bothering the rest of the family.

Zachary practicing his song

The kids finished the Adventurer year - the club had a hard time figuring out a time for investitures so combined it with the year-end pool party!  It worked out well, and the kids had fun with the picnic lunch.

with the end of the school year also came the end of football.  The boys were in a different league (same team, just switched leagues), which is a bigger league and they did not "crush" the competition this time - coming in third though is still pretty good!

Grandma's sitting on a lumpy chair! :)

Random pictures:

After gymnastics, Addison was having fun with the bubbles at Miss Jennifer's!

This picture reminds me of Karis - Addison reminds me the most of Karis out of our kids

Final video of Addison's last swimming lessons - she did pretty well!

Memorial Day Stay-cation....Or Work-cation

We usually head off to the beach for a long weekend, but this year we just couldn't seem to get our act together to get a place and finalize plans....and while that was brewing we also were becoming more and more convinced that we needed to stay here at tackle some projects around the house that have been on the 'to-do' list for waaaaaaayyyy too long.  So we stayed at home for a stay-cation with a few fun events thrown in!

On Friday, both of us had to work which was a sad state of affairs, but then that evening we had a fun time celebrating Sarah's 8th grade graduation - she is such a sweet girl and Addison just loves her. The boys play on their son's football team, so we have enjoyed getting to know their family.

The next day, the whole family including Grandma went to Merritt Island to have a fun outing on the Intracoastal to see dolphins up close, and then we headed to the beach.  We went through a neighborhood on our way to peacock beach....and now we know why it is called peacock beach - they were EVERYWHERE - walking through people's yards, under their trees, walking across the streets .  We even saw a mommy with 5-6 babies!  So cool!

So precious!

A male and his lady friend going on a walk to the near-by convenience store

We headed out onto the sand, when Amy's sandal broke.....and WOW, she can attest, the sand there is SUPER HOT!  We set up our canopy and started to dig in the sand.  Before long, certain members of the family were laid out taking a nap!

Addison usually ends up making friends wherever she goes, and before long we had several kids over playing in the sand with us

She's a mermaid!

Sunday was a workday around the house as we put up long-awaited curtains and other house projects.  It is good to get one thing done, but the list is almost never-ending!  We need a whole week off most likely!

In other news, the three kids all started karate this week.  Addison jumped in like a natural, she loved it!

Random pictures:  These are just great pictures that Jennifer took , so great that we had to load them up on the blog!

Phrase of the week:  Addison was coloring an Indian elephant one day and Miss Jennifer said "Addi, you're doing such a nice job!  Your elephant is beautiful!  Her reply "Oh yes, I am an artist, I know how to color!"  Well.....so apparently we've taught her how to color but we haven't taught her to be humble! :)

Tampa Zoo

Normally Amy always tags along with the kids for the Tampa Zoo field trip but this year we switched and she went to Epcot and Karis went to the zoo, so that he could experience the fun of the zoo!  It really is a great zoo, especially when you feed the giraffes and the birds (which they ran out of time to do...boo! :(  Grandma went along this year as she hasn't been as well, to partake in the fun!

Big enough and brave enough to do it on her own now!

Riding the tiger roller coaster - Addison apparently did not love this one as much as Shamu!

As school was winding down, the boys had their FLEEC soccer league again, which we always enjoy very much.  Karis coached Kaleb's team again, and they came in second with a nail-biter at the end!  Such a good game!

Zachary was on his friend Cristian's team, much to his delight, and they had other good friends Cole, Matthew and Deanna - they made such a good team together and came in first!

Addison and Kaleb finished up their swimming lessons at Lake Brantley - always so good to have them refresh their skills but thankful to be done and have the time back each evening! :)

Random Pictures:

Love their smiles!

What is this - a pink tiger?  A child?  Addison!?

All dressed up for church!

Umm, I think he ate something....

Before we know it, he'll be taller than Amy - we have to treasure these years!

love this crew - and love this bench to take pictures on!

Dress-up time, going back to the Roman era!

Every day Addison complains when Amy leaves her at Miss Jennifer's, so we took a picture together so that she could look at it throughout the day to see Mommy's face.  Oh to win the lottery and stay home...

The fun on this bull just doesn't end....