An ultra cool photo

Epcot - Monday, May 24

When we were at Epcot during our vacation, the wind started blowing very hard and then it started pouring.  The streets back in World Showcase completely cleared as everyone ran for stores and restaurants or other shelter.  We were in the Italy Pavilion so we took cover in one of the stores in Italy.  As with many Florida showers/storms, it blew over after about 20 minutes, the sun came back out, and the park was full of people again (out in the open).  Kevin took this very cool picture out the front door of the store we were watching the storm from.  Spaceship Earth (the main icon of the park) is very faint in the distance because of the stormy skies and the "street" is completely empty.  I thought this was a great shot!

I decided to "grab" a couple more pictures to post here because they were also very beautiful and unique shots - I think anyway.  All the countries in the World Showcase part of Epcot are cool anyways because all the architecture and stuff is designed to be like those countries.  Disney even goes so far as to hire young people to come from the specific countries to work in the various shops and restaurants to make it more authentic.  (Some of the workers are already here in the U. S.  but are originally from the countries) 

The "stormy effect" of these pictures is so neat.  Believe it or not when you look closely you can see that none of these pictures were taken in black and white.  You can tell better in this last one because you can see the pink of the flowers but all of the others Kevin just took in color as well.

A few more vacation pictures

I don't feel like blogging - at all.  I don't feel like doing anything really but I thought maybe it would make me feel better if I posted a couple pictures.  If nothing more than just to smile over the memories and a great vacation.  We are home now and with Kevin's help, I have everything unpacked and in it's proper place and the suitcases all put away - amazingly enough.  I normally am not that good about unpacking.  I'm heading to bed soon for much needed sleep but I decided to share a few more pictures with you all first.

This is John, Rach, and Wyatt "flying off to Neverland" on the Peter Pan ride - a very cool ride by the way.  :)

 When we first entered the castle (restaurant) for our character dinner, Kaelyn talked with Belle and we got our picture taken with her before we were seated and started dinner and met the other princesses.

This was one of the funniest things ever!!!  Wyatt always wants big people's food even though he can't chew it yet.  I looked over just in time to see that he had grabbed a slice of turkey from Rachel's plate.  (The sliced meat was not our main course - just part of the "appetizers" from the appetizer/salad bar).  It was hanging out of his mouth.  We were laughing about that and within a couple minutes he had grabbed a roll in one hand and the rest of the slice of meat in the other hand.  He looked HYSTERICAL with meat hanging out of his mouth and both of his fists full of food!  :D

Vacation

A couple fun pictures from vacation

This picture makes me laugh every time I see it.  Kevin took this picture of he and John right after they got off the "Rockin' Roller Coaster" at Hollywood Studios. 

Kevin, John, and Kay-Kay all rode the Tower of Terror together and they had someone take this picture of them after they got off it.

For those of you...

Vacation

These pictures are a few teaser pictures for those of you have been sitting around thinking, "I wonder when Beck (or Rach) are going to show us some pictures of their vacation?"  (I'm sure you have been thinking about it and waiting anxiously).  :)  Truth be told, we have hardly had time to slow down enough to get pictures on the computer, let alone blogged.  We have been running ourselves to exhaustion but enjoying almost every moment of it (I think).

All six of us with Pluto Saturday morning at Magic Kingdom.

Group shot with Pooh and Tigger at MK.

Beginning of the day - Epcot Monday.

Kaelyn's princess birthday cake at our character dinner Monday night at Epcot.  This was definitely a hi lite of our vacation so far.  We got to see five princesses in the "castle" where we had our meal.

We girls (and a sleeping Wyatt) went to see Sorcerer Mickey while Kevin and John rode Star Tours.  This was yesterday at Hollywood Studios.  The photopass photographer had us do the "shhh, quiet" pose since Wyatt was sleeping - so cute!!!

Picture(s) of the day - Oldie Goldie Day

Tomorrow, we are headed to Orlando for a week's vacation.  We will pick Kaelyn up when she gets out of school and then we will head up straight from there.  Tomorrow is Kaelyn's birthday so it should be quite an exciting birthday for her.  She doesn't know it but Rach and John are meeting us up there and will be vacationing with us until the middle of next week.  We are taking up quite a few presents that have been shipped from here and there and from various family members.  Not sure when "that" part of the birthday will happen but I'm sure we will have pictures to post.  I decided that since we are going on vacation, I would do an "oldie goldie" post of our first "real" weeks long vacation as a family.  Kevin and I went to Scotland in 2006 but Kaelyn was only 10 months so she stayed in Fl with Nana.  In July of 2007, we exchanged our timeshare for a cabin in Virginia within driving distance of Washington D.C.  We packed our days pretty full and really enjoyed it.  So... here are a few "oldie goldies" of vacation 2007...

We actually all flew up to Delaware first and rented a car where Kevin worked for 4 days and Kay and I just hung out.  Then we headed for Virginia.  On the way we stopped at Ft. McHenry in Maryland (the fort where a battle in the Revolutionary War inspired Sir Francis Scott Key to write our national anthem for you non-history buffs).  :) 

We spent a couple days just doing things at the resort in Viginia but most days we headed into D. C. to see the sights.  This picture was taken in front of the Lincoln Monument but facing away from it toward the mall and the Washington Monument.  I love history and tend to be very patriotic so this vacation was totally my thing - and Kevin's too for that matter.  We're both a little nerdy like that.  :)  If you double click on the picture to make it bigger you can see that Kaelyn has Jr. Asparagus from Veggie Tales "dangling" from her mouth.  :)

This was a picture I took of the three of us on a sidewalk out near Ford's Theater.  Look at little Kay-Kay.  She still looked like a baby there - okay she was two but she sure has grown a lot in three years - so have Kevin and I!  : D

And Ladies and Gentlemen...  (drum roll please)..... I do believe I have actually just done a complete blog posting.  Fortunately or unfortunately, my pictures of the day have kind of given me the itch to start blogging again but you know what that means - too much blabber about things no one cares about.

Picture(s) of the day

May 1, 2010

Okay.  This is actually a picture that is supposed to be part of the slideshow of pool pictures I keep intending to put together but... I haven't done the slideshow yet and this picture is JUST SO CUTE!!  :D

I think she was just "taking a break" here.  I believe she got back in for awhile though I could be wrong - this could have been when she was finally done after several hours.  (Kevin was out with her while I was inside cleaning so he is the one who took the picture.)

Picture of the day

Tuesday, May 18, 2010

Kaelyn and her teacher Miss Marilyn on the playground today.
LOVIN' this picture - and yet, so sad that in a few weeks pre-school at JBE will be all done for Kay and she will be moving to a different school and different stage of life this fall.

Picture(s) of the day

One cool kid  -  May 14, 2010

 Kaelyn just loves my MP3 player.  I hook it into the car stereo sometimes when we're riding so we can hear it better.  She loves to hold it and she just watches the screen (with a picture of the CD cover) the whole time a song plays. We jump from song to song (even though many of the songs are actually on CDs that we keep in the car).

So Many Good Pictures - So Little Time

Kaelyn and I did "Muffins with Mom" at her school Friday morning.  I snapped this quick picture as we were leaving the office headed off to her classroom for the day.  (Double click on the picture to see the cheesy grin up close)  :)

We asked John to take some pictures of us this afternoon when we went out to their house.  We had two or three that turned out amazingly well of all three of us.

Oh I can't even tell you how much I love this even though it was kind of taken of her "on the run" (she was ABSOLUTELY done with pictures after the first five minutes!)  Mostly 'cause I love the dress and sunglasses.  I just found the dress 50% off with another 30% off clearance prices.  She wasn't terribly thrilled about wearing it but I thought she looked cute!

Picture(s) of the day

May 5, 2010

Kaelyn wanted me to take a picture of her when we were at the park with Rach and John the other day.  So I said, "Sure" and then she gave me this fake, cheesy grin for the camera.  :)

And Wyatt was quite willing to ham it up for the camera as well!  :)

Picture(s) of the day

Epcot, Oct. 12, 2009

Some of Disney's photomagic - we posed for the shot and the Mickey balloons were added later.  Didn't Kay Kay do a great job pretending she was holding balloons (since she wasn't actually holding anything)?

The two of us posing with Kevin's Spaceship Earth hat.  :)  Just kidding of course - but it does sort of look like it's on his head.

Picture of the day

Sunday, May 2, 2010

Family Feud - the game :D

Picture(s) of the day

Kay's school picture for the spring semester 2010.

Last Sunday

Picture(s) of the day

May 2010

We had sort of a "mini picnic" last week after Kaelyn got out off school for the day.  She and I met up with Rachel, John, and Wyatt at a park.  There were just a couple things in the bigger cooler so Kaelyn "helped" John carry it over to the tables.  It was so cute to watch them

Picture(s) of the day

May 2, 2010

I have tried at different times to let Kaelyn help me when I'm baking [fun] stuff like cupcakes, muffins, etc.  I usually suggest it, pull a chair up, and have her do different things but she ususally just kind of humors me for a few minutes and then runs off (which is fine and I've just not really tried having her "help" lately).  A couple Sundays ago, I had put some frozen berries in a bowl and added some milk and sugar so we could have some over Angel Food cake.  I walked back into the kitchen a few minutes later to see that Kaelyn had pulled her step stool up to the counter, grabbed the spoon and was attempting to stir the berries.  She did this several time for a few minutes and seemed to be having fun.  She said she was "making dinner" (or breakfast).

Mother's Day Pictures of the Day

Pictures for Mother's Day

Here are some pictures to help "celebrate" Mother's Day.  The first three pictures are of Kaelyn and I.  I feel very privileged to be Kay's mommy though I don't feel worthy of the job and don't feel like I do a very good job as her Mommy.  I love her to pieces!

The best out of several attempts to get a good picture of Kaelyn and me on this mother's day.

I'm not windblown here but Kaelyn's eyes are closed.

And we finally got Kaelyn to smile (sort of) and keep her eyes open at the same time - but I have a weird expression.

And a couple pictures of my own mom, whom I also love very, very much!  I always wish we lived closer on days like today... but from hundreds of miles away - Happy mother's day Mama - love you lots!

My mama and I.  I believe I was giving her a helpful push up a hill on a hike through the woods.

My mom and her girls on a mini vacation somewhere around 10 years ago.

Picture(s) of the day

April 2010

The last time we were at Disney, we were looking around in the "Pooh" store right by the Winnie the Pooh ride.  Kaelyn found a book that interested her and she sat right down on the floor and looked at it for awhile before she had to put it back.

Picture(s) of the day

April 6, 2010

Lynette and Leah (with a couple "little friends" nearby) lookin' beautiful.

My brother and I.

[Sort of] Oldie Goldie Day :)

 I don't know if these pictures can really count as "oldie goldies" - they are only from two years ago - but in some ways it feels like forever ago.  Where did my "toddler" go?  I think she has turned into a little girl sometime in between when these pictures were taken and today.  And since I have been feeling especially emotional about her turning five, I decided to share a couple older snapshots of her.

May of 2008

Picture of the day

This was last Saturday and I have a bunch of other pictures from this day since there ended up being 3 other little girls who joined Kaelyn. Hopefully I will get a whole post done on this within the next few days.

Picture(s) of the day

April 2010

Buster after he got a hold of some orange sidewalk chalk and had chewed a bunch of it before I discovered he had it.

He was holding it between his paws and chewing on it.  Thus, the orange paws and lips.  He also had it on the top of his head though I'm not sure how that happened.