New Bicycle

I tried to do this post last night but I couldn't get all my pictures to load.  I finally got them all to load today so here is the "story" of Kay's new bike in pictures.  :)

#1 - Perfectly princessly complete with a little princess bag on the front and a princess water bottle that attaches to the bag!  :)

#2 - This was an attempt at a "thumbs up" over the new bicycle.  However, the thumbs up takes so much concentration and coordination for her that it kind of loses the affect of a quick thumbs up pose.

#3 - Getting on.  (She rode around a little bit back by the garage at Wal-mart because we were waiting for the car to be done.)

#4 - A picture I've already posted (but part of the "story")  :)

#5 - Trying to get going.

#6 - And off she goes - sort of.

#7 - Riding it for the first time after we had gotten home.

#8 - She is learning pretty quickly.  Her biggest problem is that her attention span is short.  We get her started and she can pedal but then she just rolls along and kind of forgets to pedal.  Also, she just looks off at things all around her and doesn't really watch where she's going so she just rolls until she runs into things.  :)  She hasn't quite totally caught on to how to steer or stop either so it makes her "bike rides" amusing and interesting!  :)

Picture(s) of the day

A favorite picture and a fun picture from our day at Animal Kingdom the last full day of our vacation.

Kaelyn with Chip and Dale.  They walked over and got her when it was her turn (she was having a bit of a meltdown and wasn't wanting to walk up to them because we were switching the order around of characters we were seeing because of the length of lines).  As you can tell, she was just fine as soon as they walked over to her.  I love this one! - just the way it strikes me for some reason.

One of the attractions at Animal Kingdom is a 3D show called "It's Tough to be a Bug".  It's based off the movie "Bug's Life" and the 3D glasses are made to look like bug eyes.  This picture makes me smile every time I see it - I think you can probably see why.

P. S.  Both pictures are better when you [double click on them and] see them up a little closer.

Picture of the day

The end is in sight for my scrapbooking project.  I hope to finish the pages tomorrow and then get them in page protectors and in an album Wednesday (if not tomorrow).  I'm still not sure I won't chicken out of giving it to Miss Marilyn in the end but at least it should be done in time.  In the meantime, I'm done working on it for the night so here are my pictures for the day:

My cutie kiddo. 

 This was one day toward the end of April when she and I were goofing off with the camera.

I'm not sure why she thought she needed to pose like this but she wanted me to take a picture of her like this.  :)

Picture of the day

Once again, no "real" post this evening so I'll go back to my pictures of the day until I get a chance to post pool, vacation, or other pictures.

This was 3 weeks ago.  We had walked down to the playground out at the camp (at Rach and John's).  Rach and I decided that we ought to both get on the tire swing since it's way off balance if one person tries to get on it.  It was rather amusing to say the least then Rach did something to her finger and it was bleeding badly enough she had to get off and take care of it.  Notice Rach's face - I believe she was saying something like, "I'm not on yet, I'm having troubles."  :D  Great times!!!  (Happy and sad all at once looking at these pictures)

Quick Pic.

Hey everyone.  I'm on for just a few quick moments.  I am in the middle of a "scrapbooking frenzy" right now.  I am [trying] to make a small scrapbook for Kaelyn's teacher as an end of the year gift.  School ends next Thursday so I'm working on it like crazy.  I barely ever like the work I do on my own scrapbooks let alone for someone else so combine my second guessing with my worry that it's a bad idea and it's making the whole process ESPECIALLY slow and tedious.  I have e-mails to reply to (the 2 of you who have just e-mailed me recently know who you are :D ) but I've spent the past couple days "scrapping" so hopefully soon I will get my e-mail replies sent and will also start in on some serious picture posting (blogging).  For now, enjoy this quick snapshot for the day:

The kids carried Buster all over in his bed Sunday evening and he was perfectly fine with it.  He didn't seem to be bothered in the least and they were gentle moving him around.  When they had to leave, they carried him, bed and all, over to the loveseat and an hour later he was still there - in his bed on the loveseat!  :)

The Weekend

The past 2 weeks have been pretty crazy busy for us and in some ways a blur - both a really great blur and a really bad blur.  I have SOOO unbelievably many pictures that I would love to share but I'm not sure people really want to see them and I'm not sure I will get around to it anyway.  I posted quite a few here that kind of give you a clue as to various weekend activities starting with Saturday.

On our way back from Orlando Saturday afternoon, we stopped by Rachel and John's.  Net and Aaron and the kids had arrived the night before and we're helping pack and load a trailer.  I was able to entertain Wyatt for a little while while Rach did other things.

 

I just LOVE this!  Emily wanted to go down to the playground and of course Kaelyn was all for it as well so Kevin walked down there with them and got some cute pictures of the two of them.

Based off of the pictures Kevin took, it looks like they had a great time playing together.

Then there was beach fun for Kev, Kay, and I and Net's family.  Her kids were SO excited just to be going to the beach but I think Kaelyn was equally excited that we were going with THEM!

It was beautiful weather and we couldn't have asked for a nicer "beach day".

Then after everyone got the sand and salt off themselves, it was time to relax and they watched a good bit of Snow White.

A special picture before some sad goodbyes Sunday evening.  :(

And after such a let down feeling with everyone else leaving Sunday night, the three of us headed to town Monday since we didn't have work/school.  Guess who got a new bike?  I had already decided if I made enough cash off consignment items (I started consigning with a place back in Feb. or March) we would get Kay a bike for her birthday.  I easily had enough by a few weeks ago so we decided to go to Wal-mart and get the bike yesterday.  It's quite interesting to watch Kay as she tends to have an attention span problem while trying to ride but more about that later.  :)  For now that at least "fills you in" somewhat on what's been happening here and hopefully you enjoyed the pictures as much as I did.

P. S. Kaelyn got a huge "shiner" right under her eye while we were on vacation.  It was quite a bump for the first couple days and then after the swelling went down she had a horrible bruise.  I noticed in the picture at the very top of my blog, it looks like she has "matching makeup" with Snow White but really the color in Kaelyn's cheek is just a bruise!  :)

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