Do they really stink?

Ok, I know this is pathetic but....I hate those stink bugs! Most of you that read this, know that. They are known to completely freak me out (yes, even in church). Recently when we were in Florida there was one in our car. So, our assumption is that it traveled all the way from WV!

So, this morning while getting ready for work the one that has been on the ceiling for days suddenly dropped onto the counter in front of me! That did it; I had to kill it and guess what? it really didn't stink! Is that because it's old?

Happy Birthday to you!

Happy birthday dear Adam, happy birthday to you!!

Are you ready for an emergency?!

Well, the Webelos are. They had their 2nd session of "ready-man emergency training" tonight. From the looks of it, Chase needed alot of attention!

The farm is now complete -

The last of the animals has now joined our 'farm'. Cierra's 2nd lamb which was originally referred to as #947 (most of you will recall) has a name now! The sire of this lamb's name is Lefty and the dam is Minnie. He was born on Valentine's day. So...put all that together and she came up with Morty - that is one of Mickey Mouse's nephews. Shew.....it's all in a name :-)

A happy, happy birthday!

Chase had a great 11th birthday! He received lots of cards and calls wishing him a Happy Birthday! He enjoys playing basketball in the evenings so what more could he wish for but a new portable basketball system! They put it together and spent a few hours shooting hoops....so "Crockett's Court" is ready for action. He also got some spending cash and a new baseball bat.

Happy Birthday Chase!

Kaylee and Adam were the first to give Chase his birthday present :-)

It's hard to believe my baby is going to be 11 tomorrow!! Time sure flies...

Woohoo! 2nd place - Cal Ripken in-house tournament..

It was an exciting, action packed game and the Braves did a great job! Final score - Orioles 11; Braves 10.

'lil Miss Sunshine is enjoying this weather, too!

latest addition...

Chase's goat doesn't have a name yet but we picked her up tonight after his game. She was born on December 10th and is a Savannah/Boer mix. Her and Poundcake are getting to know each other; should be interesting!

Tomorrow morning is weigh-in so they will be really close during transit :-)

Too cute!!

Crockett's farm has been 're-stocked'! Poundcake was picked up tonight and he is just too cute - very loveable and friendly with Cierra. He is even very patient with Java :-)

By the end of the weekend we should have a full house; two lambs and one goat - woo hoo! Let the games begin...

Did you "Take Your Child To Work" today?

I have been very fortunate over the past several years to work for a company that honors national Take Your Child To Work Day. Each of my four children have been able to experience my typical work day at least once. There have been many changes throughout the years so in most cases each visit has either been in a different building or completely different site. They have met many people over the past years which I know will help make a difference in their future. I enjoy spending the day with them and it makes the commute a lot more fun!!

Harpers Ferry field trip -

I have never been a fan of field trips (the joke is I 'don't play well with others which isn't true :-) but Ronnie is always a trooper and goes just about every time - love 'ya Ronnie!!

Today's outing was not your typical field trip....Cierra along with 60 other classmates were selected for this outing as a reward for their academic accomplishments as well as attendance and behavior. Good job Cierra!

Harpers Ferry has so much history and it's another one of those towns that is so close yet we just don't go there. The class and chaperones hiked several trails, actually got to walk across the train bridge and visited numerous buildings. The weather also cooperated - sunny and 60!!

Changes....

Kayden will be three months tomorrow, it's hard to believe! She is changing so much; she coos more, sleeps longer at night, smiles alot, eats more but a bigger change is happening tomorrow. Kayden will go to her new daycare provider. Today was Aunt Brittany's last day as 'babysitter'. She will make a new friend tomorrow and be fine.

Good luck baby Kayden, we love you!

Minnie Mouse, is that you?

Ronnie has always enojoyed entertaining our children with puppets so....Poppy just had to get Kayden a Minnie Mouse puppet. She stayed with us last night but today was the first chance he had to play with her. She wasn't quite sure what to make of Minnie but we did get some smiles!! I'm sure Mommy and Daddy are glad Minnie is staying here :-)

Braves off to a good start...

Yesterday was opening day for Summit Point. We were not at the actual ceremony since we were travelling home however we did make it back just in time for the 4:00 game. The team did great! They played the Twins and won, 11 to 3. Chase did a nice job catching but still needs to work on his batting. He got a new bat (came while we were gone) so now they just need to work together :-). Grandma & Butch, Donna & John, Britt, Ash, Kayden & Cierra were all there. It was a beautiful afternoon.

Scarey or lots of fun?!

So....Chase said the Hollywood Tower Hotel wasn't bad at all; what do you think?

House calls....a thing of the past?

Not for 'Ma' - Now that we have a 'beautician in the house', Britt makes regular stops to keep Ma's hair trimmed. It is getting harder and harder for her to get out so it not only lets her stay in but also allows her and Britt to spend some 'quality time'.

One last photo..

Yes, I am a nerd but I just had to get the tripod out and take a 'partial' family picture before we left..

Wrapping it up....

Let's see, what did we do today? Well, we actually slept in. Everyone was really tired so we started off with brunch. Nothing beats eggs, sausage and pancakes on the grill!

After that, we headed to catch the boat then the monorail to Epcot. Our goal was to get a fastpass for Soarin' but we weren't successful. Everyone must gotten the e:mail, LOL! But, we did see some beautiful flowers (the 2009 Flower & Garden Festival was underway) and ran into Chip and Dale. They put on quite a show, trying to put Chase's shirt on and getting people in the park to fill up Cierra's bag. They were very interested in my bag, looking for snacks. Chip even took my cell phone and tried to make a call :-) We took a ride through The Seas with Nemo and Friends (makes us want to put our salt water tank back together). We had a great afternoon in Epcot then headed back to the campground. Ronnie went to pick up our new tire from Goodyear while Cierra and I did laundry and went shopping. Chase of course, was out and about with his friends.

After going to the pool for a while we stopped by the Sing-along Campfire then at Cierra's request made our final visit to Wilderness Lodge for some last minute pin trading.

No one wants to leave but all great adventures have an end. So, we'll pack in the morning then head north - another great vacation in Disney!

worth every minute...

100,000 people (some of them rude), tons of strollers and more than 110 minutes in lines but none of it mattered once we saw Cierra's face when she met Tinkerbell! Yeah, I have to agree that the Magic Kingdom really is the happiest place on earth. Tinkerbell had her typical 'attitude' and even picked on Chase. She tried to tell the other fairies he looked like Terrence, lol. Cierra is so happy she got to meet Tinkerbell and two of the other fairies; Rosetta and Iridessa.

After breakfast we headed to Magic Kingdom where it was already really busy. We quickly got in line for Stitch's Escape (which by the way completely freaked me out :-) then headed over to Mickey and Minnie's house to ride the Barnstormer. Ronnie and Chase got fastpasses for Space Mountain. The rides we were interested in had really long lines so we opted for more fast passes. By 5:00 we were heading back to the RV to chill out for a while, hit the pool and eat dinner.

Around 9:30 we headed back to catch the boat at the marina and were hoping to make Tinkerbell flying at 10:00. The boat mate tried but we got caught up in the water show so just missed seeing her actually fly. We did see the fireworks which were beautiful.

Once we made it through the crowd,we found a good spot to watch the Spectro Magic parade, LOVE IT!! By midnight we were on Thunder Mountain Railroad (never done it in the dark) and we all loved it. If the line wasn't still 40 minutes we would have ridden again. We shopped a little then headed back to the dock. We rode the first boat coming back to the campground and were in bed by 2:00 a.m. Shew...

Believe...

Mickey, Minnie, Donald, Goofy & Pluto; Oh my!

Another busy but fun day -

We started off with breakfast at the O'hana and ended with Dinner at the Contemporary. Lots of good food and great company :-)

Chase & Cierra decided to get autographs on a t-shirt and canvas bag instead of the normal 'autograph books'. It really was a cool idea and I'm sure they have started a trend, LOL.

We read some reviews about the Chef Mickey experience and weren't quite sure what to expect. It sounded like you either loved it or hated it, nothing in the middle. Luckily we loved it.

Here's some fun pictures of them enjoying the moment.....

Priceless...

Pin Trading...

After swimming for a while, Cierra decided she wanted to take the boat over to Wilderness Lodge for some pin trading. Once we got there, she not only was reunited with Ignez (a lady who has worked there for 7 years at the pin trading kiosk and we have seen year after year) but she also met a little girl named Jessica who just got into pin trading. Jessica traded a 2009 Tinkerbell pin that Cierra has not been able to find, woo hoo!

Love the Lazy River...

We hit Typhoon Lagoon today. This was our first time visiting this Disney park. It was as expected; beautiful! Completely tropical and twenty times the size of Seacrets in OC. The wave pool was so powerful it was scarey. Chase and Ronnie had lots of fun but Cierra and I ran when the wave started. When the roar souned, we were outta there!!

Cierra and I spent a lot of time in the lazy river, just floating along with water hitting us at just the perfect time :-) We did go down Gangplank Falls which was the family white water rafting adventure. Oh my, yes we got soaked!! We all liked Crush 'n Gusher which was an intense water coaster.

Chase is off playing basketball with his buddies and we're heading to the pool. Campfire starts at 7:30 then "Finding Nemo" is on the big screen.

It was a great day in Disney today!

Sunny and beautiful - we started off a little later than planned but had a delicious breakfast at Trails End - lots of Mickey waffles. After that we headed to Hollywood Studios (I didn't realize the name had changed from MGM). Chase and Ronnie rode the Tower of Terror - I'll have to post the picture later of Chase's face :-) They also rode the Rockin' Rollercoaster while Cierra and I enjoyed ice cream and the sun. Chase had the idea to go see the "Lights, Motors, Action" - sports show. The next show was not until 5:30 so we weren't sure if we were going to stay. While we were trying to figure it out, some Cast members approached us and asked us to be the CELEBRATION FAMILY! How cool is that!? So, they told us to come back at 5:00 and tell them who we were. As part of the deal, we got front row seats and got to be on 'the big screen' to say "LIGHTS, MOTORS, ACTION". It was great!!

We wrapped up the evening swimming in the Meadow Swimming Hole then had steaks on the grill!

We miss you guys, Britt, J, Ash and Kayden! btw Britt - the Easter Bunny did find us :-)

Happy Easter from Sunny Florida!!

I couldn't resist....

There is one thing that Ronnie and I just don't agree on (there aren't many :-) but...he loves 'blow-ups' for every holiday and I just don't like them! I don't even like Mary, Joseph and baby Jesus at Christmas.. but, today during our travels, we discovered this particular site within Fort Wilderness that was amazing. Not only do they appear to be obsessed with 'blow-ups' but they are major "stuffers"!!! OMG!