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!

Florida Family

We just spent a week in Florida! Evie has no memory of all her visits in Florida, so it was like her first time riding in an airplane and visiting the people and sights of Florida. We spent a lot of time visiting family and friends, enjoying the sun, and going on lots of adventures.

We spent our first full day in Sarasota/ Bradenton. We started out at Lido Beach. We had a canopy, cooler, beach blanket, and refreshments, BUT, we had a huge problem getting the flimsy canopy to stay up. Each time a gust of wind came, the canopy collapsed. Imagine me holding a crying baby and a pole, Evie holding a pole and screaming she has to go potty, and Judd frantically trying to tie down the sides racing from corner to corner to just have the thing fall over after each attempt. Eventually, after much yelling and shouting at each other, we gave up on the canopy. Judd took Evie swimming so she could go pee in the water. I hung out under a half assembled canopy. We tried to enjoy ourselves, but it was really stressful. The best part of it all was that Judd's grandma, Meaw, lives about 10 minutes from the beach. We went to visit her after we had had enough sun and sweat. It was the first time Meaw met baby Katy. It had been two years since we last saw Meaw. Judd's Uncle Dick, Aunt Jan, and cousin Abby were there too. Evie quickly made friends with Abby. I'm glad Abby was a good sport and indulged Evie.

A perk of visiting Meaw is that she lets you eat WHATEVER you want.

Evie and Abby

Evie looks like Abby when she was a little girl.

After Sarasota, we headed back to Brandon where we ate dinner at my Uncle Mark and Aunt Donna's house. All my cousins along with their spouses and children were there too. It was the first time I had seen all of them in a very long time! It was great because I got to meet baby Eli, who is one month older than Katy, and meet Cooper, who is already 19 months old!

Katy (12 wks & asleep), Evie (3), Cooper (19 m.), Owen (7?), Luke (10), Quinn (4), and Eli (4 m.)

all of us cousins all grown up and married with children

the babies are both wearing blue!

Quinn REALLY wanted to hold Katy!