We had a good time on our short trip to Orlando. We left Sunday just after lunch and checked in at the Shingle Creek Resort. I was attending the Just Read, Florida! Convention. So, while I was in meetings the kids and my mom were able to play at the resort. I had no meeting Sunday so Chris came along since he was off work. So, after checking in, we hit the pool for a bit. After the pool we headed to dinner at Fuddrucker's and then to Universal. The boys had been wanting to see the water stunt show and we got there just in time for it. Universal was very hot so we didn't stay long. We arrived just after 6:00 and it was still 102! We left Universal at 8:00 and went back to the resort. Chris left to go home to Hanzie and work.

Will and Noah model in front of the resort.

The boys enjoying the pool on Sunday.
The boys were begging to take pictures with the camera. Here is one of their shots.

Here the boys are playing in the pool while I was in meetings.
Because it was so hot, our evenings were spent at the mall for the most part. Will placed himself right inside of this honey pot at the Disney Store.

The boys favorite stop at the mall- the indoor surfing! One of the stores had an indoor surf pool thing. The boys watched forever. The employees were really good and did some cool tricks. The people doing it were just fun to watch wipe out! We actually brought Chris back here last night to show him. Next time we go to the mall he is going to try it.

Of course they convinced Grandma Ann to buy them some m&m's at the gigantic m&m store!

Chris drove back to O-Town last night to attend the closing conference dinner. We skipped it last year and regretted it after everyone said how cool it was. So, this time we went and were not disappointed. They had an awesome lit up dance floor, a gigantic band, tons of other acts including some cool acrobatics, clowns, face painting, artists drawing portraits, and TONS of food. They had a special buffet for kids complete with chicken tenders, pizza, hot dogs, and french fries. Needless to say, it was a hit.

The clown made a nice hat for Ethan and Chris. You can't tell in the picture, but at the top the balloons are joined so these boys were connected.

Will's crazy hat from the clown.

Noah took a picture of Grandma Ann at the dinner.

Noah wanted nothing to do with the clown. The clown made him a cool sword anyway. Here he is modeling Will's hat and his sword.

Here we are at after the party. We went back to the room, changed into our swimsuits, and headed back to the pool and spa to relax on our last night there. The boys were excited because they got to stay up until nearly 10:00!

The conference itself was enlightening. They had some interesting and funny keynote speakers. Some of the sessions I went to had some innovative ideas in the world of teaching children to read. Others were the same old info that we have all heard over and over again. I think the Just Read, Florida! program is great. They truly try to give teachers the tools they need to help even the most struggling readers succeed.

Painting, near death experiences, and concerts- that was what tonight was filled with. As for the painting part, the boys have been begging to help me paint and I keep saying no. Today we bought some plaster sculptures for them to paint. At 44 cents a piece they are a great way to entertain the boys for 20 minutes or so!
Many of you know that I am notorious for dropping and breaking cameras which is why Chris NEVER lets me touch his. Well, tonight we went to a concert at the Brannon Center. My mom drove the boys and Emily and Chris and I rode our bikes up there. I had my camera and phone safely tucked away in a baggie (see, I take precautions in case it rains) in my bike basket. Well, I hit a bump at high speed and my camera and phone had a near death experience. They went flying out of my basket, still safe from the rain in a baggie I might add, crashing down to the street. Surprisingly, the both still work. Chris noticed that a couple of the buttons aren't working anymore. I didn't even notice because in the years that I have had the camera, I have never used those particular buttons.

Here are Everyday Things playing the Brannon Center. It was a pretty tame crowd. Outside of the boys, I think Chris and I were the youngest people there.
Will enjoying the rockers.
Here they are making their way back to the car. The concert was actually supposed to be outside at their second favorite park, but it rained almost all day so I guess they thought the ground was too wet and moved it inside. The boys were not thrilled about that!
Off to watch Big Brother. I'll be so sad to see my man Nick leave tonight. I love that guy! I mean, we have something in common- we both have Matthew McConaughey at the top of our lists!

Here is our project in the works. Above is the not so magnetic, magnetic chalkboard. Ethan thought I should stand with it so you could see how big it is. Below is the trim in the middle of being painted. I painted a coat this morning and will do another this afternoon. I think Chris needs to put one more coat of chalkboard paint on and then it will be ready for final assembly. Unfortunately, the magnetic paint isn't a strong as we were hoping for. We followed the directions exactly. The can said to put three coats on a 4' X 4' area for the size can we got. We determined the size of the project based on the can. Had we known, we could have done a smaller board with more coats of magnetic primer. Oh well! Hopefully it will hold up some art.
We are off to run some errands including meeting Chris for lunch at Moe's and signing the boys up for soccer. Noah says he doesn't want to play. I'm bringing his birth certificate in case he changes his mind while we are there. I'm hoping he decides to play.

It stormed most of the afternoon today. The boys have been begging to go to Treats on the Beach to get Sponge Bob popsicles for days. We kept telling them we'd go and last night we finally promised them we'd go today. Of course the weather was yucky, but they still insisted that we keep our promise. It was cloudy and muggy without a breeze. All in all, not the type of weather to make beach going enjoyable. Chris and I rode our bikes there and my mom drove the boys and we all met up on the beach.

Noah is the only child that enjoys posing for me!
Ethan indulged me for this shot.
Here they are convincing Chris that they do, indeed, need to swim and then get in his truck all sandy and wet. Why they would want to swim at dusk, aka sharks' feeding time, I have no idea. Luckily they changed their minds and decided to head off for popsicles with just getting their feet wet.
Finally, they get to enjoy their Sponge Bob popsicles! They were fruit punch and cotton candy flavored with bubble gum eyes! Disgusting!

Will was happy. On my way home I found a feather for his collection on the bridge. He said it was lucky that I saved it from falling in!

Well, not too much going on around here. We are in the normal summer time craze, or funk, however you want to look at it. We made some progress on our magnetic chalkboard project, then some obstacles, and then more progress. You see, I primed it Saturday night and applied a second coat Sunday morning to get it all ready for Chris to prime with the magnetic primer. Well, the magnetic primer cannot be applied in humid conditions. In Florida, that means no chance of doing it in the garage or outside. So, Chris had to bring it inside to do it. He set up a tarp in the area between the living room and family room to do it. I took the boys to Bobbie's to swim with the girls. Hanzie just plopped himself by the front door waiting for us to return. When we got back it was decided that I would go bike riding with Melissa, while Chris took the boys and Hanzie on a walk to get them out of the house and away from the paint. Well... you can guess that before he got out the door Hanzie ran across it! So, Chris cleaned the carpet while I cleaned Hanzie. I locked Hanzie out on the lanai and then went for my bike ride. When I got back he was still out there looking awfully depressed. He was following me into the bathroom to get some water and suddenly took off across the project- AGAIN! Well, Chris fixed it again and now it is just waiting for the chalkboard paint and trim work.

Ethan had a dentist appointment yesterday and he remains cavity free. Today I met up with some teachers from school. Our meetings are turning into a lot more "school talk" than normal talk with the school year quickly approaching. On Saturday, I get a chance to be a Wal*Mart worker for 4 hours. Just what everyone wishes for, right?? Actually, I'm representing Crayola as a Star Teacher. I have a green Crayola apron to wear and my role is to assist parents in finding the supplies on their lists. It is the first day of the tax free week so I imagine it will be a bit crazy. But, after taking a survey I get $100 gift card to Wal*Mart to buy school supplies with so it will all be worth it! The boys are actually excited that their mom will be working at Wal*Mart. See, so in the eyes of 5 and 7 year-olds, working at Wal*Mart actually makes you cool! On Sunday we are off to the Rosen Shingle Creek Resort in Orlando for my conference. The boys and my mom will be playing by the pool while I am in my meetings. We check out of the resort on Wednesday morning and take my mom to the airport on our way home.

I have been tagged by Jennifer at This is Now. So, here we go...

5 Things I Was Doing 10 Years Ago...

1. Attending University of Maryland. I was about to enter my senior year as an elementary education major.
2. Going to the movies far too often.
3. Engaged to Chris.
4. Wedding planning with my personal wedding planners Steph and Lori.
5. Playing spades with Bill and Steph far too often!

5 Snacks I Enjoy...

1. Quaker Apple and Cinnamon Rice Cakes
2. Strawberry and Banana Smoothies
3. Any type of coffee drink
4. Popcorn
5. Chex Mix

5 Songs I Know All the Lyrics To...

1. It's Not Easy Being Green
2. Just about any George Michael song.
3. The Cradle Song (others I know claim to draw a blank to these lyrics)
4. No Sleep to Brooklyn (Catherine, Anna, and I sang this song about a million times on our drive to Boston)
5. Material Girl (Anna and I had a nice dance routine to go along with this song.)

5 Things I Would Do if I Were a Millionaire...

1. Travel, travel, travel!
2. Buy a second car so I wouldn't always have to scoot around town in a minivan!
3. Have a personal hair stylist.
4. Upgrade my bike.
5. Be a full time student. My first new major would be sociology.

5 Bad Habits...

1. Having a messy desk.
2. Reading gossip magazines. (Just US Weekly, I'm not as bad as some.)
3. Watching too much reality TV.
4. Not showering until after noon in the summer. (Hey, we have a system- beach, pool, shower.)
5. Letting Hanzie sleep in my bed.

5 Things I Like to Do...

1. Hang out with the boys.
2. Read.
3. Ride my bike.
4. Exercise with Chris (hike, bike, etc.)
5. Go to the beach.

5 Things I Would Never Wear Again...

1. 2-toned jeans!
2. Layered socks.
3. Stirrup pants.
4. A bikini.
5. Short, shorts.

5 Favorite Toys...

1. Any Cranium game.
2. My bike.
3. Gertie balls.
4. Pool.
5. LCR (It's a fast, easy game to play with the boys.)

5 Things I Can't Stand...

1. Smokers.
2. Rude people.
3. Biting insects.
4. Stains on my clothes.
5. Grease- it grosses me out!

There is my list as boring as it may be. Now, for the fun part, tagging people...

Them Vans

The Donegans

Mike and Lydia

Christie & RJ (oh, my scratch cards will be mailed soon)

The Eagneys

Have fun!!!

Today the boys went to Wet n' Wild with Kyle for his final birthday celebration. They all said that they had a blast there! I'm not a big fan of water parks, so I did some shopping with my mom in O-Town while they were at Wet n' Wild. I got some great deals at the Gap outlet so the boys got lots of new clothes. I made out there as well! Chris got the obligatory t-shirt! We also went to the mall and had lunch at P.F. Chang's. I most enjoyed watching all the tech dorks playing around with everything at the Apple store. Normally I have to go in there with Chris and the boys and suffer while they fiddle with all the iPods, phones, computers, laptops, etc. This time I got to walk right by it!!! It is only 4:00, but feels like midnight to me. I think I may need an iced coffee from Dunkin' Donuts go give me a little charge. I mean, I do need to fill up my punch card, right??

Jennifer, I got your tag. I'm too tired to think now, but I'm paying attention!

The last couple days have been all about the boys, their friends, and the pool. Oh yeah, there is also the ice cream making! They have been making ice cream and playing around with the mix-ins. They seemed to enjoy last night's Nestle Crunch mix-ins on sugar cones. Will said he wants to try to make something different tonight to be sure that the Nestle Crunch really was his favorite! Yesterday afternoon it thundered and lightninged for the longest time. In the end, it barely rained. I couldn't go biking during the storm so Chris went with me after we put the boys to bed last night. (Don't worry, we didn't leave the boys alone- my mom is here!) I must say, biking at night freaks me out. I'm not big on seeing armadillos and raccoons running around my neighborhood. Not to mention, they showed no fear of us and casually crossed the street right in front of us!

Today my friend Debbie from school and her son Bryce came over to play. It took a bit of time for everyone to start talking (the boys were all being shy), but in no time they were playing just as wildly as ever! They all had a good time and spent 2 hours in the pool. Tomorrow we are headed to the beach. Not too many days left of summer! The ending is coming near way too fast!

Well, the boys have had a busy day. They have had various play dates in and out of the house today. They were kept entertained and content. They started their day with a little Criss Angel magic. They decided that if Noah could get out of this mess, he would be the new Criss Angel. I'm not entirely sure how that all turned out.
With all the kids going in and out today, they decided to have a little impromptu pool party. They all had loads of fun playing in the pool together. Will especially enjoyed being the first one to dig into the popcorn!
A pool full of kids. Will isn't pictured because he was too busy chowing on popcorn!
Chris found yet another snake skin in our yard. It was in the exact same spot that I found one a couple months ago. Hopefully it is the same snake and it only visits to leave skin to scare the daylights out of me!
The boys have several more play dates scheduled for the week so they are excited. I'm happy that it keeps them so busy and reduces the amount of fighting that goes on!

And for all of you BB8 fans out there, here is to hoping that Jen doesn't win any sort of veto tonight! She "Jenuinely" needs to go!

Okay, I finally conquered the bridges! I have been afraid of looking like a complete dork crossing over the bridges to the beach so I have avoided them. Tonight I finally convinced Chris to do it with me. My thinking, if I have to look like a dork, I might as well have a fellow dork with me! Here I am on the North Causeway. It is by far the less intimidating of the two bridges.
We crossed over the North Causeway and rode down Flagler Avenue to the beach. Here Chris is riding in front of me.
Here I am working up a sweat!
We rode along the beach to 7th Street and then Chris convinced me to ride along Saxon and try to go over the South Causeway. I would have been more than happy riding back to the North Causeway but decided that I might as well try the other bridge. This is a view from the top of the South Causeway looking down at the boys' second favorite park.
Me at the top of the South Causeway bridge. My biggest biking fear is behind me and I now know that I can easily cross the North Causeway. The South Causeway was not nearly as easy, but obviously doable.
On the way home I didn't keep up with the peloton (aka Chris). He decided to ride 25 mph home to go see the boys. I decided to just go my normal speed and didn't try to keep up with him.

Today we have been hanging out around the house doing chores. I took Hanzie for a walk while the boys were watching a movie with my mom. We were walking along the sidewalk and suddenly heard the unmistakable sound of buzzing bees all around us. I looked over to the palm tree that was literally less than 2 feet away from us next to the sidewalk and saw this! Luckily we didn't upset them and neither one of us got stung. I tried knocking in case the people living there were unaware of their bee issue but their was no answer. Next walk we will use the sidewalk on the other side of the street!

Yesterday I was thinking of the Schrader's while I was cooking. With lunch we made Dan's guacamole recipe and for dinner we had Steph's grilled pizzas. While we were out at the store the boys BEGGED us to get them the cereal straws. They have been asking for weeks but I have been able to say no. Yesterday they were on sale and we finally caved and bought them. They LOVE them. The kids had them with their milk last night. By the time I grabbed my camera, they had all devoured them and only Sophia was left at the table! Here she is enjoying the cool new straws. They got the Cocoa Crispies flavor.
This morning my mom and Chris took the boys bowling. I am a terrible bowler so I stayed behind. Within seconds it was eerie quiet. I decided to bike over to the bowling alley to watch them play for a few minutes. Will won. I guess all that Wii bowling has helped his game. Although, when I got to the bowling alley the first thing I noticed was that Will had two right bowling shoes on. Maybe that helped his game as well. We went and swapped one of the right ones out for a left one! Then he was set. The boys enjoyed driving by me on my way home and yelling at the car windows.

This afternoon, we went to help Kyle celebrate his 6th birthday. We met up at All Children's Park. That is the boys' favorite park. They played for a long time and then Papa John's delivered some pizza. From pizza, they moved over to the tire swing. Aaron pushed them in a fast, crazy patten until Noah finally announced he was going to get sick if he didn't get off that second. After a quick show of them trying to walk after getting off the tire swing, it was pinata time. They were nice and dizzy from the tire swing ride so not a lot of pre-spinning was required. Also, Colleen and Aaron couldn't find a mask so the kids have the thug pinata look going on with the ski mask! They whacked and whacked and whacked until Chris finally took the bat. He gave it a good whack and then, on the second hit, the bat split in half! Luckily the pinata broke before the bat broke!

Kyle's first attempt.

Will's first attempt.
Ethan's first attempt.
Noah's first attempt.
Here is the birthday boy ready to blow out his candles. They were sparkling trick candles. They couldn't trick Kyle though! After a few attempts at blowing them out and having them reignite, Kyle decided to spit on them to put them out. Luckily they were in a cupcake and not a sheet cake!
I have Chris working on yet another home project. I'm thinking, the fence is done, he's got to be bored, right??? Well, now he is painting a magnetic blackboard on our wall. I really wanted a magnetic wall to hang the boys' art work on. The blackboard was his idea. It was less than $40 for all of the supplies. All of the magnetic boards I was looking at through Pottery Barn were well over $200 so I think it is a steal! I'll post pictures once it is done. On a final note, Will has continued his feather collection back in Florida. We rode to Blockbuster together tonight. On the way home he slammed on his brakes and did a 180. I freaked out thinking that something was wrong. He jumped off his bike and said, "Look, a feather for my collection!" He was then impressed by his accidental 180 turn!

Today we decided that despite the heat we needed to get out of the house! We acted like tourist and went browsing at the shops on Flagler Avenue. We are still investigating surfboards for the boys. Chris, the guy that helped me design Chris' board, chatted with us a bit and gave us some advice. We were going to get them a 7' or 8' soft board, but he recommended that we get them a 6'4" board so they will be able to paddle out on their own. So, now we just need to commit to make the purchase. They are so expensive! It will end up costing almost as much as Chris' real board! We saw a teacher from Will and Noah's old school. Her son goes to my school so it was nice chatting with them.

You can't see it very well in this picture, but there were some sort of strange boats all up and down the coast line. I'm not sure what they were. Mrs. Susie told us that there were dead fish all over the beach in one small section, so maybe it had something to do with that.

Hanging out at the beach. Ethan was counting how many people he could see reading the new Harry Potter book. There were lots of people reading them all over the beach!
Ethan and Chris checking things out.
Ethan was also fascinated by all the birds on the roof at Breakers.

A childhood milestone... their first cereal box order arrived in the mail a couple days ago. We finally took the fine Shrek inflatable in the pool today. We had to save a lot of Shrek tokens from our Eggos, cereal, and Pop-tarts to get this! Next on their list, Shrek helmet hats!

Today was a good day. I got to do three of my favorite things. We started the day by hanging out by the pool. I was able to sit and read for quite a while. Then, when the storm clouds moved in, we headed off for a shopping trip to Target! I spent entirely too much money, as usual, but I was able to get some gifts that we needed to purchase. After dinner Chris and I took a nice, long bike ride. I wanted to ride my bike to Wal*Mart to buy Shock for the pool. Chris only let me ride to the light at the end of East Canal Street and wouldn't let me go any further. He was convinced that I would get hit by a car crossing all the busy streets that lead to Wal*Mart. As a compromise, we turned around and headed to Publix. Our pool really needs to be Shocked so I didn't want to wait another day. While there we picked up some milk and cream to make homemade ice cream. Unfortunately, we were too late. When we walked in the door all the boys were busy eating ice cream sandwiches. Say what??? Store bought ice cream sandwiches! How appalling! Now we have all the stuff for tomorrow night. Now that we perfected the recipe I'm ready to make it again! No big plans for the weekend. The boys want to go bowling on Sunday and we are meeting up with friends Sunday night for dinner. It is Kyle's birthday so we are helping him celebrate.

This morning we went to the beach for a bit. It was already hot when we got there! We left at 11:30 and it was already 95 degrees! No worries, we stopped at 7-Eleven and got Laffy Taffy Blue Vanilla Slurpees. They spent most of the 2 hours that we were there in the water.
They found the only shady spot on the beach and set up shop there for when they left the water to play in the sand.
Will and Noah hung out in the chair with their feet in the water. At one point a bird going after some fish in the shallow water started walking right up to them. They quickly put their feet up and watched the bird.
After lunch we perfected our ice cream recipe. It was PERFECT! We reduced the amount of cream it called for as well as the amount of sugar. Now we can just experiment with our add in ingredients.

The last couple days have been hot and muggy. Ugh... Yesterday my mom took the boys to see Transformers. The boys all said that they loved it. Well, word on the street is that Will slept through most of it! They have been very tired and grouchy since we returned from vacation. Today was so bad that I made them take a nap. They were in much better moods after they woke up. We have been basically staying in the pool and playing board games. Tonight I met for dinner with some of the teachers from school. It is so bizarre to go from seeing everyone every day to not seeing anyone for months. I'm not suggesting that I'd rather be going to school every day rather than having my summer! It was nice to see everyone and we are meeting up again for lunch in a couple of weeks. That is a much better solution. Chris stayed with the boys and made them French toast for dinner. They are always begging for French toast, but they always ask after they eat breakfast. I'm sure they were happy to have it tonight. Tomorrow morning we are aiming for a trip to the beach. The plan is arrive early and leave early before we melt! I'm quite sure the boys will be begging for a Slurpee run after the beach!

Chris completed a nice gate system for Hanzie. We can now control where he potties outside and let the boys have the rest of the yard to play in worry free of stepping in something. I don't think the system will get much use until it cools down a bit, but I'm very excited to have it! Good job Chris!

Well, it is hot! Today it was so hot that we did very little for most of the day. We went swimming this morning and then came inside to do chores. The boys starting squabbling since they were bored. After cleaning some, we headed over to play with the girls for a bit. After dinner, Will decided to try the 10 mile bike ride that Ethan had already accomplished. Chris and I took them on our normal route. Will did fine the first half, but started to tucker out the last 2 miles. He pulled through and made it home! Although we were really proud of him, he just wanted to be in the AC and barely cooperated long enough to snap a photo of his triumph! Here the boys are after our arrival home. (It didn't storm this afternoon so it was VERY hot and sunny when we went for our ride.)
Noah wasn't ready to try the 10 miles. His bike tires just aren't big enough yet. He did whip up a batch of homemade ice cream for the fam as an after ride treat. Tonight we made vanilla with mini Reese's peanut butter cups. We still haven't perfected the milk to cream ratio so it was a bit too sweet for me. I have a feeling that tomorrow's batch will be perfect!
Since Chris and I didn't get much of a workout on our bike ride tonight, we are going to go for a jog in a bit. Last night wasn't so bad. It had stormed and cooled off to the mid-70's. Tonight will be a bit more of a challenge since it hasn't cooled off any.

Here are some pictures from our vacation. They are in no specific order. We spent our first night in Annapolis at Lori's house. Immediately after arriving we left to pick up our first dose of Baja Fresh. Aidan had his 2nd birthday party while we were there. From Lori's we went to my parents' house in the mountains of Western Maryland/Pennsylvania. Lori came up for a few nights with Aidan and Alina. On Friday night we left for Bowie. We stopped by Anna's to say hello and then met up with Chris and Kate at Chris' parents' house. We of course worked in another trip to Baja Fresh. We left on Saturday morning for our week in the Outer Banks. There were 45 of us there. We all had a fantastic time there and miss everyone! The following Saturday we dropped Chris off at BWI and then headed back to my parents' house. Lori came up for a few nights again. The kids all had a blast playing together. Yesterday we left the mountains just after 3:00 am and arrived home just after 5:00 pm. When we left the mountains it was 53 degrees! It was slightly warmer than that when we arrived in Florida.

Noah created a new art form. He calls it Moss Art.
Hanzie intently watching Noah make his creation.