Luca and Layla

Sunday afternoon Charlie flew in with Luca and Layla. We met them at Lowry Park Zoo. We ate a picnic lunch out of the back of our cars and then headed into the park. After being there for less than 30 minutes, the classic Florida down pour started. It rained off and on for about an hour. By that time we were nice and sweaty with frizzy hair. The temps cooled off, so that was nice. Later it felt like a sauna, but that's Florida. Although, it's much more tolerable than the 100+ temps in Texas. After it stopped raining the kids had fun on the kiddie rides. Even though it's a zoo, we never even got over to the animal side! Judd and Charlie "snuck" the kids on to the flume ride before the attendants could measure the kids. Lets just say Evie was maybe not quite tall enough, and Luca was borderline! They had a blast!! They didn't care that they were wet the rest of the day either. But, Evie's favorite ride was the banana ride that went around in circles similar to the Dumbo ride at Disney.

Friends in Florida

We made it a point to see some special friends when we were in town. We've known them for a decade or more!!! We can always pick up a conversation like no time has passed with us being apart.

We had a play date at the Greens' house. Evie had a great time playing with Michaela and Everett! It's hard to believe we have been friends with Eliana and Michael for 10 years! My first year of teaching I first met them at a laminating machine at Lakeshore. Little did I know that Eliana was a teacher at my school, and they lived 5 minutes away from us! I'm so glad we have kept in touch.

Less than a year ago I was in Shauna's wedding! Now she has a wonderful bundle of joy, Owen, who is 8 weeks younger than Katy. Judd and I have been friends with Shauna since college. I wish we could hang out more often!

We had some down time between visiting friends, so we took Evie to a shopping center that has fountains for kids to enjoy. Evie had a great time. The rain clouds that loomed overhead made for good shade and cooler temps! As you can see in the pics, Evie made some friends. They had a group hug. Evie makes friends wherever she goes. She's not afraid to strike up a conversation. I hope she will always have that gift!

The MAGIC Kingdom

We had a once in a lifetime opportunity to go to the Magic Kingdom for FREE, thanks to some very generous friends of ours! We made the hour drive to Kissimmee to spend the day where "Dreams come true"! We really did a lot in a short amount of time. We were inside the park by 10am and left at 4:30pm. It really wasn't that crowded. The longest we waited in line was 30 minutes. We also used Fast Passes when we could. We had a great time! And YES, we took the baby! She was absolutely perfect. She slept most of the time and was content when she was awake. We brought a cooler (yes it's allowed) packed with lunch, water, Dr. Pepper, and snacks. We spent the entire day in Fantasy Land. When we got tired, we rode the train around the perimeter of the park. We also spent some down time in the Baby Care Center where Evie watched tv and read books while I fed the baby. Disney really knows how to cater to families!

The "Classic" shot of  Cinderella's Castle, as we started our day.

Evie met LOTS of characters, Ariel, being the first!

We happened to be on Main Street hunting for some ice cream when the parade started!

It was a little cloudy, so some of the pictures look ominous with the rain clouds looming overhead!

OF COURSE- a family shot in front of the castle!