Vacation Bible School

This week has been a very busy and extremely exhausting one, but all in the name of fun! The girls and I had VBS at Brooke's old preschool, St Peter's Church in Lake Mary. The VBS was titled Studio GO! and had a game show theme. Brooke attended all week and I was in charge of her and 21 other kindergartners. I have a new-found appreciation for all teachers, especially preschool and kindergarten teachers! Ali spent VBS time in the nursery and the girls there fell in love with her. The week was a lot of fun, full of wacky and crazy antics to keep the kids entertained. I really liked this VBS because it had a strong emphasis on service and ways that kids can be serving others. Here are some pictures:

Here are the kindergartners getting crafty

Brooke dives into a whipped cream eating contest! On Thursday, the kids all brought in money they had collected for a little boy at the church named Matthew who has a very rare condition. Then they played carnival games to help raise more support. As of today, the kids raised $725!!

For more information about Matthew, you can visit:

http://www.miracle4matthew.com/

Each day had a theme for the kids to participate in. For example, crazy hat day and inside out and backwards day (see below Brooke is wearing her shirt inside out and backwards). For favorite thing day, Brooke wore her art apron filled with all her art supplies like paint brushes, scissors, and markers.


And Friday was wacky hair day. Brooke and I were twins. I gave us each some pig tails and then braided them with pipe cleaners so they stuck up straight. She looked so cute!

Pixy Stix and a Pony

Yesterday Steve went out in the morning to run some errands. He had to help a friend move a horse and check on our cows that we keep in Eustis. He came home with Pixy Stix and a pony. Needles to say, the girls were thrilled! How can I compete with that? Pixy Stix and a pony??!! I'm just trying to do my very best to avoid getting the Meanie Mom of the Year award! Alas, my girls love their daddy and I guess that is the most important part. He treats them like princesses and we want them to know that they deserve to be treated with the utmost respect and love. They will have a hard time finding a husband who treats them this well though!

The pony is actually on loan. Her name is Ginger and she belongs to a friend whose children are all grown and have lost interest in the pony. Ali calls Ginger "the pony horse" and Brooke loves leading her around with the lead rope and feeding her treats. Here are some pictures of the girls and their doting father. (Oh my gosh! I just looked up doting in the dictionary to make sure I was using is correctly and I just had to laugh at how perfectly the definition describes Steve: to be lavish or excessive in one's attention, fondness, or affection. He loves his girls!)

Indoor Camp Out

The girls have been sleeping in the same room almost all summer. We haven't had to worry about getting up early for school so it hasn't been a big deal if they stay up talking for a while before they fall asleep. They love being able to sleep in the same room and Steve and I figure it's great for their relationship. Tonight they are sleeping on Ali's floor under some sheets that we pinned here and there. It reminds me of tents we used to make out of sheets and clothes pins when I was a kid. The sound of their little voices giggling downstairs makes me smile. I'm so thankful they get along well.. most of the time!

Mrs. Roseberry

Somehow in our family silliness today, Brooke learned what a wet willie is. And for those of you who don't know what a wet willie is, it's a disgusting prank to play where you wet your finger and stick it in your victim's ear. I told you it was disgusting! Anyway, Brooke got her first wet willie today and was thrilled to start passing them out. She had me in her sights and I was doing a good job of keeping her off me. I finally told her that if she was going to get me she'd have to be crafty and sneak up on me later. I was busy working on the computer and she unsuccessfully tried sneaking up the stairs a few times. She was gone for a few minutes until I heard footsteps coming up the stairs again. I turned around and this is what I saw.

"Who are you?" I asked. She said he name was Mrs. Roseberry, in a very formal, yet squeaky voice. She said, "Close you eyes and I will grant you a wish." I was suspicious and rightfully so since every time I started to close my eyes, she moved her finger to her mouth.. a sure sign she was getting ready to hand out a wet willie. I finally told her that my wish was to not get a wet willie! She finally realized it wasn't going to happen and said, "But mama, you said if I could sneak up on you I could give you a wet willie so I went and put on a disguise!" So funny, that kid. She's always finding a way to get what she wants.

Fourth of July

On the Friday before the Forth of July, the girls and I went to visit with the residents of an assisted living facility. We went with a few other moms from our church group and paraded in our red white and blue. The kids passed out flags and pinwheels and the mom got to spend some quality time with some otherwise lonely people. It was a fun morning. Here are some pictures, the first being one of the girls in the wagon, squinting in the sun!




On the Fourth, we went to the Nielson's house for a good old American cook out. The food was amazing! Lobster, conch fritters, and their delicious hamburgers from their grass fed organic beef.. yum! The kids got to feed their fawns too.

We did our own fireworks there after sunset and Brooke must have gone through 40 + sparklers all on her own.. one after the other!! It was a fun Fourth and we love our country!

TWINS!

Lately, the girls have been wanting to dress alike a lot! Even if they don't have identical matching outfits, they will try their best to find outfits that are very similar. I have had nothing to do with this and what you see is all from their efforts.

Father's Day

Father's Day was Steve's day to plan the whole day anyway he wanted. I guess I wasn't too surprised that it involved eating every single meal out. I was thrilled that I didn't have to cook, yet sad that there isn't anything I cook that he finds worth asking for. I did not inherit Mom's cooking gene. Our first stop was to Hardee's drive-thru (yes, even Hardee's is better than a Lori Breakfast). His latest guilty pleasure is a sausage biscuit there. Then we drove down toward the Waterford area of town for Firkin and Kegler. This is a family entertainment complex that we've been wanting to check out for a while. Dad met us there for some fun bowling and games. The highlight was their mini-bowling allies. They were so cute and just perfect for the girls. Steve's idea of a great father's day is spending time with his kids and watching them have fun. This was the perfect place for that.

We also played "big people" bowling and hit the arcade. Steve is such a kid at heart when it comes to arcades. As long as I've know him, he loves playing games like air hockey and ski-ball.

After Firken and Kegler, we said good bye to Dad and drove back towards Sanford for lunch at Olive Garden. We took Ali back home for a nap and then Steve chose to work on projects around the house. While he was occupied doing that, Brooke and I made dirt cups for dessert, another one of his fave's (I told you he was a kid!). We ordered in Don Pablos, watched a movie with the kids and then Brooke had prepared a special puppet show for her daddy. By the time that was all over, it was at least 10 PM. A late night, but a fun day for daddy!

Tarpon Videos

Here are some videos of us feeding the Tarpon at Robbie's Marina in Islamorada in the Florida Keys. First, Steve shows us he doesn't mind losing a few fingers when it comes to tarpon feeding..

And this one is just plain embarrassing. I am a big sissy in this video and I can't defend myself in any way. The fishies made me squeal like a little girl. Sad.

A Week in the Florida Keys

Once again, we had the pleasure of staying a week in the Florida Keys this summer. Mom and Dad rented a great house on a canal and we had a great time relaxing and running around being tourists. The canal was great because it was perfect for fishing. We spent quite a few hours out there on the dock catching fish and the kids reeled in quite a few with their Barbie and Spongebob poles.

Mom and dad celebrated their thirty nineth wedding anniversary while we were in the keys. We surprised them on Sunday night with a little skit put on by the grandkids. Samantha was the nararator, Brooke played the role of "Pamela" and Leann was "Roger" (complete with eyeliner moustache.. what a sport!). Sam read the modified story of how mom and dad met and fell in love and the girls acted it out. It was really cute. I got it on video, but the file is way to large to share on here. Afterwards we celebrated with cake!

One cool new thing we did this year was a conoe trip through the mangroves at Long Key State Park. We rented a few conoes there and they have markers in the water that you conoe to and read the corresponding guide points on the map. We got to see a lot of cool oceanlife, like anenomes, horshoe crab, starfish, birds, and the other canoers even saw some sharks!

The best part about visiting the keys is of course Jeff and Laura. The kids have a blast with them and take every oportunity to tackle Uncle Jeff. Here is a picture of Jeff holding three of his nieces at once (Leann is hidden behind Ali).

Steve's friend Frank, who has a house in the keys, was visiting at the same time as us, so Steve got to go spend a fun day of fishing with him. I had to drive him to Big Pine Key that morning (very very early) but got to catch this sunrise on the Seven Mile bridge which was so beautiful!

The rest of us went to Hawks Cay, where Jeff works, to visit with the dolphins. Some of us got to go out on the docks with him to do a meet and greet with the dolphins. This usually includes feeding them, petting them, watching them do tricks, and basically ooo-ing and ahh-ing over Jeffrey and all he's learned! Steph and I both end up in tears whenever we watch him at work. We are so proud of our little brother and all he's achieved. This picture is pretty fuzzy, but it's the best one I have to share until I raid mom's camera.



Check out my silly girls and their fish lips! Notice the super-fashionable Dolphin Connection t-shirts, a gift from Uncle Jeff.


After our time with the dolphins, we headed over to the Hawk's Cay splash park. It's a pirate ship with water guns, slides, and more.. very fun for the kids! When we got there I saw a giant checkers set laid out and was so excited! Excited over checkers, you say? Brooke has really gotten into checkers lately. She plays checkers on our checkers board at home, in Webkinz world, and on our iphones and I must say, she's pretty good! So Papa challenged her to a game. It was a looong game. Neither one of them were giving in.. Papa asked a few times if she wanted to call it a tie, and she refused. She's very persistent! Finally, after enough back and forth, she agreed to shake his hand and call it a tie. It was so fun to watch her!

Here's a cute shot of the two little ones playing with the giant chess set.

And some shots of the girls playing at the splash park.

That evening, the girls and I drove over to Big Pine to meet Steve and Frank for dinner at the No Name Pub. This is now my favorite place to eat in the keys. The food was great! The walls are covered in dollar bills that customers have decorated and stapled to the wall. The girls had fun decorating their dollars and finding the perfect spot to hang them. One the way back to Marathon, the sun was setting so we pulled over at the Seven Mile Bridge just to take it all in. Sunsets in the keys are the best.

The next day it was time to pack up and head home. But not without first making a stop at one our favorite Keys tourist traps, Robbie's Marina! Robbie's is a fun place where you can feed giant tarpon, right off the docks. We've done this a few years now and it's just so much fun to watch these giant fish jump out of the water to grab your bait. Steve is much more brave than I am and will dangle his whole arm over the dock. I prefer to go sissy-style and toss from a distance. We got some great video that I'll post in a seperate blog post, but here are a few pictures.

And of course it would't be a trip to the keys for me without getting the famous key lime bar on a stick. These are TO DIE FOR! In fact I love them so much that my sweet husband has ordered them and had them shipped to our house as gifts on two occasions. This trip I had four! The other great thing about the key lime bar is that no one in my immediate family likes them, so I never have to share!!!
So another Keys trip is in the past. We'll be heading back down there in March of 2010 to watch my baby brother get married. Jeff and Laura would like to move north in the near future, so the keys trip might becaome a thing of the past. I guess Steve will have to order me a box of key lime bars every summer just so I can remember how much I will miss the keys!