Birthdays at Disney World

Andy's birthday was Thursday and mine was Saturday, and for once he didn't have school on Friday (his teacher was out of town or something), so we decided to go up to Disney World for a couple of days. Our friends' parents were in town so they all came with us as well. I didn't take my camera so I don't have many photos, but these are the ones the park employees took of us.

The first thing we had when we got there was fast passes for Splash Mountain for Skyler and I, and Big Thunder for Andy and Kylee. Since Ally can't ride either of these, we can get rider swaps so that we can all switch rides later without having to have additional fast passes. Skyler and I got the front of the boat, and he wasn't quite as brave as usual, but afterwards he still said he had fun.

Later Andy and Kylee and I all went on it together. Andy pretended to sleep and Kylee was terrified.

We all had fast passes to go on the Buzz Lightyear ride together. Skyler rode with Andy, Kylee took her own car, and Ally rode with me. She got a whole whopping 100 points, and was super proud of herself.

About 1/2 way through the first day Skyler got a little lethargic. He went on the race cars with Andy and Ally, then the teacups, then the carousel. After that he went into melt-down mode and just wanted to be carried. It didn't help that it had started to rain. We went to It's a Small World (because it's indoor) to wait out the rain, and Skyler fell asleep in my arms really fast. It was all downhill from there for him. He woke up when we finished the ride and Andy was trying to cover him with a poncho. Eventually he fell back asleep in the stroller but he kept waking up and moaning and groaning. Eventually he revived a little tiny bit and agreed to go on Dumbo, but as soon as we were done he just wanted to go back to the "home-tel". We were disappointed because the lines were just starting to die down, but we decided we better head out if he wasn't feeling good. When we got to the car, he climbed in to get into his seat...and puked all over the place. It was gross. Andy cleaned it up while I stripped his clothes off him in the parking lot, and then we left. He even declined "Mackle-Donalds" which means for sure he felt crappy. He ended up sleeping in until 9 the next morning and didn't eat breakfast either. He had a raging fever, and we felt really bad for him. He kept telling us "I'm just a tired little boy."

Normally we probably would have just packed up and went home, but one of our friends had to ride with us because they had too many people for their car, so we stopped at Walgreens for some Children's Tylenol and figured he could spend the day in the stroller sleeping.

Once we got to the park, we rode the train out to Rafiki's Planet Watch to see the petting zoo. Skyler didn't care to see Rafiki. Ally SAID she wanted to see the "gon-key", but when it was our turn she chickened out, so Kylee was the only one to say hello and have her photo taken.

However, a little later we saw Chip and Dale, and Ally was thrilled. She ran right up and gave them a big hug, and then when they crouched down to take a photo (Skyler didn't want to get out of the stroller), she sat on their lap.

Skyler was still being pretty mopey at that point, but when one of the chipmunks poked his tummy and pretended to steal his map, he thought it was super funny.

After we saw Chip and Dale we went to the petting zoo, and Skyler actually revived enough to get out of the stroller and pet some goats. Then we rode the train around a few more times while we were waiting for our safari ride fast passes. After the safari ride, Skyler crashed in the stroller for the rest of the day, pretty much. He didn't get out again. We gave him more Tylenol, and he just slept and slept and slept. Finally when it was time to go home (it was around 6 o'clock and the park closed at 6:30), he miraculously recovered. His fever left, he ate a BUNCH of snacks, and he started listing all the rides he wanted to go on. Poor kid! Good thing we're going back with Grandma Karen in a few weeks! We're not sure what caused the problem, but we're going to keep him off the dizzy rides and see if that helps in the future.

With Skyler sick and Kylee too scared, Andy went on Expedition Everest and the Dinosaur Ride alone. I don't like him to have to miss the rides he likes just because other people can't go, so I don't mind waiting with the kids while he rides.

Later I used a rider swap pass to go on the Dinosaur ride with him again.

Overall we had a nice weekend. We feel bad that Skyler struggled, and I had a little migraine incident that caused my friend to have to observe me puking in a bag in our car (yep, that makes two people puking in the car in one trip)...but all in all, we're glad we went. Wouldn't be as memorable without *fun* things happening, right?

Spring in Naples

Spring in Southwest Florida is basically the same as Fall...and Winter. It's been 80+ degrees outside pretty much every day for 2 months. However, the humidity has mostly stayed away, so it's not too hot to play outside yet. The other day we decided to go for a family outing to look for some alligators. Skyler thought he was going to take his bike to the dirt alligator walk that we usually go to, and was a little disappointed when we told him we were just going to go along the canal across the street from our neighborhood.

We ended up going about 3 miles (and he rode his little bike the whole way!). We didn't see any alligators, but we saw a couple of cool birds and several turtles. These photos were after we got back.

The next day Andy had to leave for church an hour early for a meeting, so the kids and I had a bunch of time to burn before it was time for us to go. I got them all ready and realized we still had like 45 minutes, so we went outside in the yard to take some belated "Easter" photos. Ally wasn't thrilled, so she ran away after just a couple, and this was the best one I got.

Skyler always has to bring cars to church to play with when he gets bored.

Kylee got this beautiful dress from grandpa Rich and grandma KD for her birthday, and it's the perfect Springtime color!

Random Happenings

I have a bunch of random photos of things that have happened or things we've done recently, but none of them can be their own post, so here's a random one. These are again ALL cell phone photos, so the quality is low.

Kylee has made a BUNCH of friends in our neighborhood. There are so many kids here it's crazy. This little gal came over one afternoon and we did glitter toes and made paper dolls.

On Free zoo day in March we went to the zoo again. It was much cooler than when we went in November, which was nice. Ally wanted her picture taken by this cat thing, and Skyler joined her.

Ally's new favorite thing to do is take off her diaper. ALL THE TIME. One day I found this in the kitchen. Yes, that is POO. EEWWWW!!! Now everytime Skyler scrolls through the photos on my phone he says, "Look, mom! There's the poo!" He thinks it is so funny.

Ally has also discovered the joy of makeup. This is mascara, and it is NOT the first time she has done it. This one was not nearly as bad as the first time, though. Luckily, baby wipes make excellent water-proof mascara removers.

I got Skyler and Ally puddle jumpers from Costco, so now I don't always have to swim with them. I can just chuck those kids in the pool and watch from the sidelines. It's great! Ally loves it, and kicks herself all over the place saying, "I swim! I swim!" Skyler doesn't love it, but he's doing better. He likes to hang out by the side mostly, where he can hang on to the wall. Usually he warms up to it and wants to swim around more right when everyone else is ready to go home.

Ally has a habit of breaking into the pantry to get all kinds of snacks (twice I've caught her drinking syrup straight from the bottle). One day I walked into the kitchen and found this. Skyler said, "Mom, I put those there to keep Baby A out of the pantry." It actually seemed to work, so perhaps I'll let him create door blocks more often.

Since we live far away from our families now, our kids don't really know all the cousins. Shutterfly sent a code for free magnets, so we made one for each cousin to put on our fridge. I realized after I got them that I spelled Shaun's name wrong (whoops! Sorry Shaun), but at least now the kids can sort of remember the cousins. We quiz them on it frequently. They think it's a fun game.

We went to Burger King one day for lunch and the lady there gave the kids crowns (we've actually never been offered crowns, in all the years I've been going to Burger King, so I forgot they had them!). Skyler then proceeded to wear his EVERYWHERE for the next two days. He wore it to eat at Bajio, he wore it to shop at the Outlets, he wore it to bed...I think people thought he was a little strange.

Kylee is taking tennis lessons at some courts next to her school, so sometimes we go play at the park while she is there. Skyler and Ally love the baby swings.

We go free passes for the Children's Museum again right when Kylee was on Spring Break, so she finally got to go with us. She spent a lot of time in the "8+ ONLY - Parents not Allowed" room, so the other kids and I played elsewhere. Skyler and I made this huge house with the blocks.

Then we went to the vet and he took care of his pet dog.

Finally Kylee finished all her crafts and we went to the space area (my favorite!) to shoot some rockets. Kylee put on the space gear to shoot hers.

Ally was the cutest little astronaut you've ever seen. Skyler refused to wear the clothes but I finally got him to at least try a helmet.

Andy and I made it to our 12 Year Anniversary. Yikes. We are getting old.

Ally has been trying to ride the kids' scooters when we go outside, and it's too hard for her because she is tiny, so we let her use some of her birthday money from the grandparents to get a three-wheel princess scooter. She's amazingly good at it, and loves to go out and ride.

She also got this Minnie Mouse outfit. She chose it out herself, and wants to wear it pretty much every day. She walks around telling me, "I Mimmie! I Mimmie!"

One day Skyler really wanted to go to the playground (at like 10am), so we walked down there. It's like .25 miles from our house. We got there, and I sat on the bench and texted Andy to tell him that just walking to the playground made me drip sweat all over the place. About 8 minutes later Skyler came to me and said, "Mom, I want to go home." I asked, "Why?" He said, "Cuz I have sweat dripping on my shirt and it hurts my eyes." It was sooooooo humid. If you look close, you can see at least five streams of sweat on his face and neck, and a drop pooled on his eyelashes. So sad! We might have to just buzz his head.

Andy got nominated to run for class president, so I made him this awesome campaign poster. He ended up winning, and he attributes it solely to his poster. I told him it has more to do with his winning personality. :) Either way, congrats to Andy - Wolford Class of 2018 President! Woo hoo!

The other day Skyler was having bread and grapes for breakfast, and out of the blue he says to me, "Look, mom! I'm making the Walmart sunshine with my grapes!" Ummmm, okay?

Ally really loves skirts right now, and the other day she decided that Andy's bike shorts from the laundry pile made a great one. Of course, when she realized that they didn't really "twirl", she took them off. Skirts aren't fun unless they twirl.

In other news, she has FINALLY figured out how to smile for the camera instead of scowling!

And she likes to walk around in daddy's shoes. Fun times.

Easter

So I've discovered that I'm really terrible at actually taking photos when we do stuff. Many of my photos are just taken with my phone, and they are really bad quality! I've decided cell phone cameras just aren't up to snuff. Anyway, the week before Easter while Kylee was on Spring Break, we went to our friend's house and dyed Easter eggs. Kylee was with the big kids out on the patio, so I didn't get a photo of her, but the kids all loved it.

While we were dying the eggs Skyler dropped one of his on the floor. I told him he should just eat it, and helped him get the peel off. He took one bite and then handed it back to me and said, "Here, mom. You can eat this one. It's not tasting very yummy right now. And it doesn't smell really yummy, either." I guess he doesn't care for boiled eggs!

On Saturday our neighborhood had an Easter Egg Hunt/Easter Party. I volunteered to help plan it, and ended up being like one of three people on the committee. So, I asked Andy to take pictures of the kids finding their eggs while I was running things, and he didn't do it, so we have no photos of that. Ah, well.

The Easter Bunny came...

and Kylee got an alligator preserve painted on her face:

The Easter Bunny is not super frivolous at our house. He filled the kids' baskets with a few candy filled eggs each and a coloring book, and then just hid them in our living room. That slacker didn't even include Easter grass! He left a note at the bottom of the stairs telling them they had to find them. Ally's was under the computer desk, Skyler's was by the couch, and Kylee's was under the sink in the bathroom. It took them like two whole minutes to find them, but they were super thrilled with their new coloring books.

Somehow I didn't even take a picture of them in their Easter church clothes...so...whoops!