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Here’s a collection of a bunch of snow-play pictures from the last few months. You can tell we never got that much snow, but that didn’t stop us from enjoying what little we had! Here are the girls showing off the ice chunks they grabbed from the partially frozen stream:
These pictures make me laugh – here are the boys fording the stream via a fallen log and a pole. They did make it across without getting too wet! One day while the kids were frolicking in the frozen backyard, Becky came bursting into the house requesting to use my phone camera. I hesitantly agreed, after extracting promises that she would not drop it in a snow drift. A while later, she came in proudly and declared that she had documented a new animal. I was skeptical, but after looking at her photographic evidence, I wonder if there’s something to her idea! What animal do you think makes these tracks and climbs elevated logs? Please don’t tell me there was a bear wandering my yard! Winter weather appears to be behind us for the season (at least, I hope that’s the case!), but I still have some cute snow pictures to remind us of the good times the white stuff can provide! Here’s Jimmy sliding down head-first: Danny resting on his snow chair: The boys had a ball whacking down the frozen weeds with sticks: Here’s Jimmy mid-kick as he gleefully destroyed his snowman: I thought this scene in my backyard was beautiful (and no, that’s not a UFO in the sky – just a reflection in my kitchen window pane, as I much prefer to appreciate winter beauty from the comfort of my heated home): Dinners are our house are always on the lively side. We’ve tried various tactics to get the kids to settle down, but it seems the combination of food, sharp utensils, and siblings within arm’s reach is a recipe for high-energy antics! Someone is forever falling off a chair, spilling water, poking a sister, jumping up to get more water, etc. etc. The one thing that does seem to keep everyone’s attention – for a little while at least – is storytelling. And even though I LOVE writing, I’m not a gifted impromptu storyteller and I prefer to be in the audience. So fortunately, I have four eager narrators to entertain me. Here are my girls telling their stories one night after dinner. You’ll note that they each feature their favorite animal du jour (pandas for Becky, wolves for Susie). And be cautioned that the girls have not yet grown out of the rambling-style of storytelling that has characterized their fictional accounts since toddlerhood. Their conclusions may seem a bit abrupt, since I am frantically motioning them to wrap up their tales before we lose the audience (that is, before their brothers mutiny and split from the table). So even though their stories may not be fast-paced, they make me smile and I hope they do for you as well! Oh, and please excuse all the ambient noise – this house is never very quiet!
I had never seen the inside of a Disney resort before, so for fun we decided to take a peek at Disney’s Boardwalk Inn Resort. We were not disappointed! We loved the long boardwalk around the lake, and hope we can all go again next year to enjoy the scenic stroll.
Later that day, I took Becky and Danny on the little train that circles the condo complex, and each of them got a chance to sit up with the “conductor” and ring the bell as we drove around the buildings. They were so tickled! These are some of my favorite pictures of the trip! We also made sure to get in another round of shuffleboard and a game of mini-golf before we had to leave sunny Florida. We packed up our stuff from the condo we shared with my in-laws – it was such a perfect rooming situation this year. We had four inter-connected “lock-offs” so we had four complete kitchens and bathrooms and sitting rooms to share between the 12 of us – amazing! We piled into the RV and headed North. The kids entertained themselves with lots of books and movies and snacks, and the trip passed by so quickly! (Of course, I wasn’t driving, ha!). Here are my road-tripping girlies!
As much as we loved vacation, it was good to be back home – especially since it was almost 60 degrees that day! Jimmy was so happy to be back home that he plopped himself down to roll around in the snow. Guess he’s definitely a Connecticut boy! Look who was all tuckered out the next day from the wonderful week! To distract our kids from their despair over their cousins leaving, we rode bikes! And played arcade games! And rode go-karts around massive tracks! And got balloon animals! And played on monster truck wheels! And ate Krispy Kremes! Well, the kids still missed their cousins terribly, but at least we tired them out!
We had to say goodbye to our Arizona family mid-week, but we made the most of every minute we had together!
The kids liked some rides and shows at the park more than others, but they always liked being together!
Everyone promised the safari was worth the wait – and they were right! We couldn’t believe all the animals we saw! We stopped long enough to fuel up on ice cream, and headed over to the park’s petting zoo, where we picked up a snake or two. Beautiful end to a beautiful day! No trip to Orlando would be complete for us without a trip to Downtown Disney, which is now called Disney Springs. We went to Rainforest Café, the Disney Christmas store, and of course, the Ghiradelli ice cream parlor!
The next day, we went to Disney’s Animal Kingdom. I had never been before, and we all had so much fun! The girls really got into their Wilderness Explorer badge collecting.
The highlight of the day for my older kids was going on the Everest rollercoaster– they’re still talking about it! It was the first high-speed rollercoaster Susie and Jimmy have been on – maybe their last, given how fast it was (although they don’t look too traumatized in this picture, which was taken right after the ride)! More Animal Kingdom pics coming up! Westgate (where my in-laws have their timeshare) has a new waterpark on site that we thoroughly enjoyed! Even little Danny was going down the big-kid slides over and over (and over and over)!
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