Lifes a Zoo...

Especially if you live 10 minutes away from one.

We have a smaller zoo about 10 minutes from the house and it has been a life saver for me.

They have a water play area for the kids to splash around in, and a fishing boat, a petting zoo, kayak rides, dress up areas, and all kinds of hands on activities for the kids.  Just this week, we have been 3 times.  I take the kids sometimes after school for a quick trip to feed the birds, or for a quick romp in the outdoor play area.

Tina "tickling" the Otter.   

Do you have any idea how hard it is to time a picture with those silly otters in the background?   Yeah, its damn near impossible.  

We had a gorgeous sunset the other night.  This is the view from the family room. 

Mickey or Bust!

We finally made it to Disney this week! 

We left the house around 8 and got home around 7.

The weather was simple awesome and we just had the BEST day.  Our camera has taken on too much sand so it was acting up.  Thats why we dont have many pictures, but with the passes we will be back plenty so we just focused on rides and shows this trip and will worry about pictures at a later date.

We ended up riding Buzz Lightyear two times, the Jungle river cruise two times, Splash Mountain, Thunder Mountain (Hunter would NOT get on this one, but Tina went with Daddy and had a blast), Alladins carpet ride, the carosel, Laugh Factory show, Snow White ride (dont waste your time on this one) some 3d show that we all thought was cute ,and a Peter Pan ride.   I feel like I'm forgetting things, oh.. the train got us around the park a few times, and Its a small world.

Tina is all about the thrill rides, Hunter thinks he is, but  then white knuckles the handlebars the entire time.  He HATED the Peter Pan ride while we were on it (all of 3 minutes) but told us afterwards that it was his favorite ride.    I think his favorite was the buzz lightyear ride, and think he would ride that one over and over again if we allowed it.  Mommy and Daddy needed a change though.

I like to call this Happiness :)  

Hunter and Tina locked up with Zurg???  Or is it ZORG???

Tina giving us the thumbs up just before getting on the carosel.

Hunter and Daddy smiling before lift off on the Magic carpet ride.  

And the best picture of the day goes tooo........

Tina shoving her fingers in her mouth because she was "scared" of Mickey and Minnie.   She really wanted to see him and she totally spazzed out when the moment finally got there. She did not cry, but she still went into shut down mode and we had to get her out of there pretty quickly. Hunter LOVED it though. Mickey was messing with Hunters hat and was playing around with him which was pretty cool.   

We cant wait to try out the other parks, and hope to take in a few of the water parks as well.  

Have I mentioned how much I LOVE this assignment to Florida??????

Learning lessons.. Bike riding and Money management

Adam and I had planned on getting the kids bigger bikes for their birthdays this year, but honestly, they needed bigger bikes before then.   So we went out and purchased the bikes while the kids were at school. We also got a few other little things.   A basket for the girl bike and some swords for Hunter to play with.   We came home and Adam set up a "sale".   The bike was priced at $5, the basket and swords for 25 cents and there was also a empty bowl for "poor children".  

When the kids came home we went to their piggy banks and gave them each $6 to spend at the "sale".  Hunter could not spend his money fast enough and purchased the bike and swords.  Tina wanted the basket first and then the bike.  She decided to give the poor children her remaining money.  Hunter wanted to keep his money (are you seeing a pattern here with his giving?)

Adam came up with the idea to teach the kids about spending and saving etc. etc.  We also didn't want to just "give" them the bikes this time, and knew they would never get the whole "its an early birthday present" concept.  They have a chore chart that they also get money for the chores and have been saving that money up so they can go "shopping" again.   So I guess it worked (for now)

After the money spending took place, daddy took the kids to the garage and built the bikes.   Then it was time to ride.  Hunter jumped right on and got used to the bigger bike really quickly, so we decided to take off the training wheels.   He was riding unassisted by attempt 2 and went pretty far by attempt 4 (see video).

He took a  fall and bumped his jewels after a few more attempts and decided he wanted his wheels back on for a bit.  

I tell you what... I am so glad Adam was here for this because there is NO WAY I would have attempted to teach the kids this.  I am such a momma hen and hated watching him wobble on that bike.   

Tina tried a few times as well, but she is not quite ready yet.  Soon enough though I'm sure.

Easter Project

The kids and I made a little craft project the other day.  Paper Mache nests.

Sherrie inspired me to post them for all to see.

It took about 3 days and I had to give up the dining room table for the duration but I think it was well worth it.

Tina wants to send her nest to Aunt Lisa and Hunter wants to keep his for us to look at.  :)

I like to move it move it....

Well they will never be on So you Think you can dance, but it was still funny.
We were watching Madagascar 2. I hate to admit it, but there were some funny parts in it.

We must be doing something right.

I find myself questioning my parenting skills every so often.. You know when the kids are bickering at each other over EVERY LITTLE THING, when it takes them umpteen million tries to go "find your shoes", and when they cry because we will not purchase them every single toy in the store.
I think to myself that I have raised two little pint sized monsters.

Well the past two days my little monsters turned into little angels.

Yesterday, Tina was in her room playing with her Ponyville stuff. We started collecting these around Christmas time and the most recent purchase was when we moved into the new house. We wanted her to have something to play with in the room while we waited on the household goods to arrive. We also thought it would help make the room special to her and would keep the kids from fighting over rooms.

So, Tina is in her room playing with her toys and I stop in to talk to talk to her, and she says to me "Mommy, I have too many ponyvilles, I think I need to wrap them up and give them to some children that do not have any toys." ((be still my heart))
I asked if she was sure she wanted to give these toys (I mean.. really?? We just bought the silly things) but she was pretty set on wanting to help the kids. She even mentioned that we should go to the store and buy them some other toys.


Then today on the ride home from school slugger , aka Hunter was talking about his friends at school. I asked him if maybe he wanted to invite one of his friends over one day for a playdate and asked him which one in the class was his best friend. He tells me "Damien" . Now this confused me because Damien is the little boy that Hunter punched in the eye a few weeks ago. For those that do not know the story, "D" as I will call him, torments Hunter on a daily basis and Hunter finally had enough and clocked the kid. D has not messed with Hunter since, but Hunter still tells me all of the naughty things D does at school all day and how he is usually in trouble.
Ok, so back to the story. Hunter says he wants his friend Damien to come home with us. He then proceeded to tell me that even though D is a naughty boy he wants to make him a Happy letter so that D will feel better, and that the letter will help D like Hunter. That even though D does not like Hunter that he likes D.
(((Aweeeee)) See?? I knew Hunter was a sweet kid deep down :)

So even though they fight over who is sitting behind mommy in the car and who is the first one to take a bath every night, they still are sweet, caring little kids and we must be doing something right as parents to have them think of other kids instead of themselves all of the time.

Shameless brag over :)

Finally Time to update

I had such grand blogging hopes of documenting the entire moving process, but time got the best of me and all I could do was snap a few pics here and there.  

 Adam was gone during the process (surprise, surprise.. how does he manage to get out of this everytime?) 

The 1st day of packing, the packers actually packed my car key AND the spare.   To their defense, the key does not look like a car key and it was on the china hutch but it did cause a little drama as I had to go pick up the kids from extended day.  I ended up having my neighbors daughter drive me out to get the kids.  

Adam said I should have left the key in the car like I always do and I said he should let me have a key chain so it would be more recognizable as a car key.  Ha.  Both of us are right I suppose.  

Thankfully, the packer knew exactly which box he packed it in and we were good to go the next day.   In the picture below is why I could not look for the spare.. it would have been in one of those boxes.. or one of the other dozen on the other side of the room.

Just a few pictures.

Ok, so now we get to the new house.  Here is a view of the family room before our junk got here.

Adams crap. i.e. cables and cords.

Now all put together.. minus paint and some wall art and the rug (which came in the other day)

View of the kitchen from the family room.

Kitchen from the pass through.

View of kitchen (can you tell it is my favorite room?), view is from the dining room.

Kitchen Nook

I will have more pictures of the bedrooms , formal dining and living area soon.  

The kids are doing great.  We have them in a wonderful school.    There are quite a few catholic schools in the area so it did take a little trial and error to find the right fit, but I am very happy with our final choice and the kids are thriving.  

The dogs have an invisible fence for our non-existant back yard and that is taking some training.  They do great in the yard until they see someone.  Daisy has been popped more than Parker, and man oh man does she pitch a fit.

Poor dogs are going nuts everytime someone walks by, which happens quite frequently as the weather is perfect and the neighboorhood is very family oriented. 

I have been taking the kids for long walks around the lake and to the playground.  I dont know if I'm ready for the pool just yet, but soon.

We have seen more wildlife during this short time in Florida than we did in Georgia.   I'm sure it has something to do with the wildlife preserves all around the neighborhood.   Armadilla running through our yard along the patio, HUGE  turtles (Adam brought one home and the kids wrote their names on the back of it).   Birds out the wazoo, and I hear that there is a bobcat family close by as well.  I'm cool with all of it until I see a snake.  Then I may start to dislike florida.

The Neil hotel is open for business as well.  We have already had visitors and the spare room is booking up fast so hurry to reserve your spot.  We are about 10 minutes from the beach.  

Lastly,  Adam is up in Georgia right now.  We really wish he could be here with us.  He is hoping to come down for a long weekend in early April, and then will come down for a week or so when his parents are here.   Both kids have this sixth sense when Daddy is gone and like to creep into bed with me around 4-5am.  I actually dont mind it and love the extra cuddles and kisses I get from them.  They are always so sweet when they are tired. Ha!

That is about it for now. I'm blogged out.