Downtown Disney, fish, school and storms

Yikes, where has the time gone?  Seems like just yesterday, we were in the final weeks of school and cramming for the state tests.  Well, that time has come and gone.

Before school started, we decided to try to have one weekend of fun before the hectic school schedule started.  So we decided to head over to Downtown Disney again and see what kind of fun we can get into.  It was a hot but fun day for sure.  Busier than normal but enough of a gap to move around and see the stuff.  Of course, the Lego store and anything jewelry were the hits for each kid.  We were able to have a quick lunch at the Rainforest Cafe, so the kids could enjoy all the rain forest effects and all the fish tanks and animatronics.

But we didn't fill up too much on any food because we made sure to save room for supper.  We wanted to search our a Buca Di Beppo's resturant.  While it isn't a Biaggi's (oh, how we miss that), it was a blast going to Buca's.  Fun times and LOTS of food!!

The next day, on the way back home, we decided to take the kids to a fun, and hopefully educational, trip to the great Tampa Bay Aquarium.  We were able to snap some pictures from everything from the stingray tank, the swamp area with great birds, ducks, turtles and more.  After heading down into the deep past the deep sea fish, lobsters, sea horses and of course, sharks, that's when the camera died.  Poo.

Either way, it was a fun weekend that hopefully, they will remember down the road.  Sure we'll be hitting the T.B. Aquarium more and more, such a fun place.

The pair started school two weeks ago.  Cody moving into the 7 grade and Amberlyn into the 3th.  We went through the open house to meet all the applicable teachers and classrooms.  Hopefully this year goes as "smoothly" as last year, even without all the move.

This past weekend we had a great chance to work at the Grace Church Community Center and help with their food donation and community service day.  Each 3rd Saturday, the church will host an open center for those folks in need during these tough times.  Thankfully the whole family is able to find a part to help out when we can.  It is very rewarding and very eye opening at the same time. 

As we prep for the upcoming storm (Hurricane Irene), we're watching the TV and hoping it pushes to the East out to the sea.  We can handle the storms and the rain, it is the heavy stuff that we're not really thrilled with.  Of course, who would be? 

**Sorry to all for the delay in updating.  Hopefully a post-storm update will come soon!**

Oh, and GO BROWNS!!!

Has it been that long???

Holy cow, it has been awhile.

Well, yes, most of the delay is on our part.  Realistically, it is all our part, not most.  After a hectic week prior to our vacation back to the great state of OH, the long drive commenced.  Thankfully, the kids were good for us in the car.  Making the long, loooooooooooonnnnnnnnngggggggggg drive up we ran ourselves around and around.  After the looooooooooooonnnnnnnnnnnngggggggggg trip back, in which the kids were again great, we got back to the house.  Still standing, still maintaining and we all never realized how sleeping in your own bed will do wonders.  :)

The first week home, the kids got through a week of vacation bible school, Amberlyn attending and Cody volunteering during the week.  Both kids got the chance to shake the summer vacation up a bit by playing some fun games, learning some things, helping with other kids and making new friends.  Unfortunately, Cody managed to pick up a nasty sinus cold out of it.  Thankfully with a down week for both of them, they both have a week to recover from all the travel and excitement.

Mom and dad still feel like we are running at top speed after all the vacation prep, the vacation itself and then the dreaded week(s) of recovery just trying to make up from the time off from work.  We'll get there.  Thankfully these last few weekends have been catchup cleaning, haggling with the A/C unit (geckos plugging up the condensation line causes it to fail....note to self....not fun in the FL summer) and just fighting the rainy season for the yardwork.  But we'll still take it.

No new pictures to post this time.  Hopefully we'll get some up after we download the camera.

OK all, sorry for the delays in posting.  Promise we'll do better this month!

Not so crabby!!!

Yeah, yeah, it has been awhile.  Add a crippled computer, some hectic weeks and some nasty colds, that'll add up to some lengthy delays in getting some posts.  The last few weeks have certainly been busy.  Both of the kids have been gearing up for the end of the school year.  Sometimes that means lots and lots of projects to complete.  Coupled around field trips and such, it has been eventful.

Cody got the great chance to go to DisneyWorld for his band class.  He got the chance to perform at a band workshop at Disney Music Studios.  He spent a couple of hours at the studio where they got to play some of their songs for the instructors but then they learned to play some of the Beauty and the Beast musical score.  Then he got to spend the day in the park for the afternoon.  Evidently Thundermountain was a hit.  That was a long day however, at the school at 4:30am and back at 11:00pm  Yikes.  Added to that was a field trip the next day for school.  By the weekend, he was a worn out boy.  He worked on two big projects that took over two full weekends but turned out good grades for each of them  And he questions why his mom and dad have to hound him on his work all the time.  His choice of course would be to half @$$ the work.  :)

Amberlyn has been finishing up on her school activities, taking some of the Standford 10 standardization tests.  As we figured, she's not having any issues with school.  Yippee, one less battle!!  She's one of the few kids that actually enjoys school.  Her reading skills were where we were happiest.  She's reading about a 4th grade level right now.  She's finishing up work and programs at school for the end of the year.

Other than that, we've been very busy at work and trying to get things aligned for summer vacation and a trip back up to Ohio to visit everyone in a couple of weeks....wow, is it that soon?  The kids are looking forward to the trip!  Be a long drive but hopefully uneventful.

Onward and upward.

Easter, Teenager and assorted fun!

Well, today we officially entered a new stage of parenthood-the teenage years!

So, today we went to Easter Services at Grace United Methodist but then the rest of the day was hanging out at home and fixing one of Cody's favorite meals.  Burgers, oven baked fries, baked beans, angel food cake with cool whip and lots of strawberries!  Yesterday we ate at Cici's pizza with Lee, Lyndi and Drew and then stopped at Toyz R Us and Cody used his birthday money for LEGOS, Star Wars characters and an XBox game.  So, he will be entertained for the upcoming Spring break.

The Easter Bunny Loves the Beach too!

The kids found boogie boards and squirt guns and buckets of stuff to help them in sand and shelling adventures.  So, next weekend for are planning our next trip to the beach.  Hopeful that it will rain but that just has not happened in awhile down here.  So, I am sure we will be able to work on our tan again!

Here the kids all ready for church.  Amberlyn has made lots of new friends at Grace Place.  And
Cody is enjoying seeing his Octane friends at services.

Yesterday Amberlyn was able to go an Egg hunt at the church.  They had a huge service before the hunt and the kids were loud but they sang and danced and just had so much fun!!!!

Last week we had another visit with Grandpa Chester.  Hopefully it will not be the last this sesason, as he is itching to get back to Ohio in time to help plant the beans.  He wanted to stick his toes in the water at Howard Park while we were up.  It was another great weekend on the gulf.
Hope that everyone had a great Easter weekend. 

The title of the sermon this morning rings true everyday-the outrageous love of God never fails us.  Something we usually do not think about daily-but if we did it would certainly make each day better!

Downtown Disney, dolphins and more

Whew, what a couple of weeks we've been up to.  Yes, the blog has remained silent but our schedule didn't.  Started a couple of weeks ago when we decided to make the hope, skip and a jump over to Orlando to hit the MegaCon Comic Convention.  We got to see lots of comic stuff, see some old friends and great people.  The crowds were high and the space was limited but we were able to squuueeeeeeezzeeee in a fun time.  Amberlyn was really impressed by all the artists doing sketches and drawings and was intent on picking up some of their skills.  Lookout world.

While we were over in that area, we decided to jump on over to Downtown Disney.  Not interested in chunking out the money just yet for Disney, we still wanted the kids to have some fun.  Downtown Disney was perfect.  We got there right as stores started to open and there was lots to see. 

Toy stores, candy stores, Lego stores galore!  Of course, Cody immediately wanted to hit the Lego store but he had to wait his turn.  Once we got there, both kids had plenty to look at.  Amberlyn spotted a pretty cool Woody made out of Legos.  The other cool think was the dragon that was in the lake around the area.  Made entirely out of Lego bricks.  Pretty darn awesome.

And finding a candy store that had a silly mirror, well, it was too good to pass up.

So it was neat to get to the area to see the fun stuff without having to pay a ticket price and just walk along and see the  neat stuff.  Sure plan on getting back to Disney for some fun down the road.

The last two weeks however, we've kind of been beach bums.  We've found a nice beach out on Sanibel Island, a bit down from Jenny's work place.  Not as crowded as the normal Spring Break beaches but still, lovely beach, great water and incredible scenary.  Both Saturdays we've been able to luckly spot a dolphin or two at the beach.

This past Saturday however was the best.  Both kids were playing in the water and about 25 feet out, here is a dolphin trolling for his lunch.  The crowds certainly flock when these beauties make an appearance.  And we can see why, just amazing!

Needless to say, it never gets old when we can see this wonderful product of nature.  We'll be going back as much as we can!

Which is good we got to spend some relaxing time in preparation for a full week ahead.  This week will be filled with FCAT tests (state standardization tests) for Cody and a busy week for Amberlyn.  Hoping to get up to Grandpa Chester's place this coming weekend to get some landscaping and trimming done for him.

All in all, been a busy but fun few weeks.  Ones we hope the kids don't forget for a long time.  Special times!

Times...they are a changin'

No weekend camps, no youth group adventures, no sleepovers this weekend but one hour lost.  Wouldn't think that would make that much of a difference but man, it sure seems like it.  Of course, Saturday was filled with lots of walking and traveling in one day, but it was fun times all around.

We wanted to make a trip back up to see Grandpa Chester since he has a visitor for a couple of weeks, great aunt Zoanne!!  Zo was glad to get over and soak up the FL weather...although that isn't too much different than TX.  So we made it up and had a good time visiting.  It was Saturday so it wouldn't be a true weekend for Grandpa unless we hit up a flea market or two.  He already had one trip around the block for garage sales but his buying hours were still young.

Went to an outdoor flea market and ended up getting some good deals.  Amberlyn was thrilled to find her colored Tupperware bowls.  First time she saw those.  And with a good price, they got added to the collection.  Couple more other things were bought, just because we'll roll them on eBay!  :)  But the colored bowls will be staying at home.

We finished up by having a nice supper with grandpa and Zo.  Always good to see her and glad we were able to make it up while she was down visiting.  Kids tried some new seafood items and got their bellies full.  Made the long drive home, had some small snacks and crashed.

Sunday will be about doing some chores, cleaning up and prepping for the upcoming busy week.  Hope to post more this week as we move along!

Sponged, BBQ'd, Flea'd and stuffed

Wow..what a weekend for all of us.  The planned trip for a mini-vacation went off right out of the weekend.  As a partial, late birthday gift for Amberlyn, we decided a fun trip up to the Sponge Docks in Tarpon Springs.  After a quick stop to a flea market on Sat. morning (the first of more this weekend) we headed to the docks to move in and out of the stores.

The kids were able to see lots of natural coral items, different kinds of shells, and of course, all sorts of sponges.  The day was perfect and the crowds were surprisingly light so we were able to move in and out of what we wanted without too much hassle.

After making a couple of stops, the kids really wanted to see how some of the divers actually got the sponges.  So we made a quick trip out on one of the docks where Sponge Diver Travis Jewel showed the kids how he got in a full diving suit (weighing 175 lbs.) and made the dive.  Both the kids loved seeing how this worked.

After a full day, we managed to make a quick trip down to the Clearwater Beach so Jenny and the kids could see the great, white sands of Clearwater beach.  It was packed but we managed to get in to make a little visit and allow the kids to dip their toes (and after a bit of playing) and eventually bodies in the waves. 

On Sunday, it was all about Grandpa Chester.  86 years young on Friday, it was going to be his agenda to set.  So we goofed around at the house, hit up a long flea market, did some poking around at the house and then hit up some BBQ ribs for his supper.  We even managed to get a little chocolate cake dessert and song arranged for him.  Thankfully the kids were more than happy to help him polish off "his" cake.

Now is just the recovery for the week.  Cody has his first youth group sleepover for the whole weekend so big times ahead!