Second day at Animal Kingdom

Okay so I am finally getting to blog about the rest of our trip. The second day at Animal Kingdom we started off by taking the train over to the wildlife preserve like area. The kids did a little game where they found different animals and marked them off.

At the petting zoo they met some more characters. Jimny Cricket.

Then Timmy met Pocahontas and the monkey from the Lion King whose name just slipped my mind. Sheila didn't want to meet them.

Then we went out to the petting zoo. Ray and I weren't to impressed. It was a large area but only had a bunch of goats and some sheep for the kids to pet. A donkey, llama, and pigs were in different pens but not where the kids could pet them.

This is the only time Ray carried Kimberly in the sling. I carried her for 2 1/2 days like this and he made it only half an hour. But she did sleep through a lot of the parks.

We went on the Jungle Trek at the Asia part of the park. We saw these huge bats.

A huge snake.

This deer.

And the tigers. While I was looking at them and the rest of the family was getting ready to leave this tiger attacked another one and pushed it into the water fountain where it stayed for about 10 minutes. Ray only heard the roar. None of them were hurt but it was quite something to see.

Then after we were done we took the kids back over to the Dinoland where Timmy feel asleep so Ray went on some rides with Sheila while I sat with the other two. We then went to see the parade (blog to follow about that) and then Timmy woke up so I took him on one more ride before leaving. It was a fun three days but I was glad when it was over.

Congratulations, Rachel!

My cousin had her twins this morning. Yippee!! Two beautiful boys. She made it to 36 weeks I believe. It was scary there for awhile but she made it.

Animal Kingdom First Day

We headed for Animal Kingdom the second day. Right before entering the park we met Briar Bear and Briar Rabbit. Once entering the park we headed for Camp Mickey where the kids could greet other characters.

Mickey Mouse

Minnie Mouse

Goofy

Chip and Dale

and Donald.

The lines were not long, the longest we waited was for Mickey and that was only about 15 minutes and part of that time they were switching out the person playing Mickey.

Then we went on the Safari ride in the Africa portion of the park. I was very disappointed since we didn't see many animals and the ride was so jerky that it was hard to get pictures of the ones we did. We saw a good amount of the elephants but no lions and the giraffes were far away. Ray and I both decided that if you really want to see the animals to go to Busch Gardens. Their animal viewing is by far superior. Sea World is still my favorite of the parks, however.

The kids enjoyed seeing the different animals in their aquariums in another area of the park. The first day we did Camp Mickey, Africa, and Dinoland.

After tiring of carrying Kimberly around in the sling and she really was getting hot, she enjoyed being able to sit in the stroller and see things for herself.

This was the best kid ride in the park. We went on it 4 times, Ray twice and me twice with the kids.

The last thing we did that day was meet Goofy (again) and Pluto. They were over in Dinoland. There was also a playgorund like area for the kids to climb, slide, run, and dig up dinosaur bones. The kids like that area. Sheila would fill her shoes with the dirt.

Day 1: Magic Kingdom

We took the kids to the "Happiest Place on Earth" this past week. Although it is funny how many kids have complete meltdowns at the "Happiest Place on Earth."

However our story begins before we make it to the park. The drive down to Orlando, about 5.5 hours, was uneventful with only stopping once to feed the baby and another time for Sheila to use the potty. We even ate on the road since Kimberly was sleeping so well. We got there about 4 p.m. We rented a three bedroom three bath townhouse and the office was closed so we got the key out of the lock box and got the directions to the place. Kimberly woke up and wanted to eat so we decided to go straight to the house. Found it fine and then the key doesn't turn. We both try for over 20 minutes. I start freaking out, Ray gets annoyed with me for freaking out, but the baby is screaming.

We call the office number and I leave a message as we drive back to the office. The guy calls back 5 minutes later and is on his way. I nurse Kimberly in the car while we wait. When he comes to the office he brings out a toy Oscar the Grouch for each of the kids and takes us back to the house with two keys. Yup, the key was bad and so he gave us the two that works. The next morning we have to go back to the office to officially check in.

Right after that we head over to Magic Kingdom. When I checked the weather before we left Panama City it was suppose to be fair wheather so I brought only two pair of shorts for the kids and one pair of capris for me. Well, it was very hot. When we got to the park the "Celebration of Life" performance was just ending so I got a couple of pictures of that.

The kids met Donald Duck. It was amazing that Sheila would even go up to them since in February she wouldn't. He signed their books and then we got this picture. Since she did so good with Donald we decided to try the Princesses this time. She had a complete meltdown in front of them in February. We stood in line for about 20 minutes (not bad since I heard the line to see Tinker Bell and the Fairies was over an hour long.)

This time Timmy wouldn't go up to them. He was tired and shy. But Sheila loved meeting them especially Cinderella, her favorite princess. I didn't get too many pictures that day because I carried Kimberly around in a sling and often was sitting on a park bench somewhere while Ray took them on rides. I had gotten pictures in February of most of the other rides they went on.

The park was crowded and we stayed until about 4 p.m. It was a lot of fun though and I enjoyed the "It's a Small World" ride that I got to go on. I also talked to other mothers while I sat on benches. I am also over my nursing in public problem since I nursed Kimberly where ever I was at. (Yes, I did have a blanket covering me.) I also learned how to nurse her in the sling. Very nice since it covered me even more.

They do have child care centers at most of the parks with a nursing room. The one at Magic Kingdom was a little bit away from where we were at so I didn't bother walking back there all the time.

Putting up the Christmas tree

We put up the Christmas tree the day before we left on our trip to Diney World, so Saturday the 5th. The kids loved it.
They had to go under the tree with dad while he hooked up the cords and got the base screwed in.

The lights work! Well, most of them.

Timmy putting on his ornaments.

Sheila also putting on her ornaments.

And the finished product. Notice the glob of red ball ornaments all next to Sheila's head. Timmy likes having the ornaments all on the same branches. The back is pretty bare.

Kimberly is 2 months

I can't believe my baby is already two months old. I took these pictures on her two month birthday. She went to the doctor yesterday. She is now 11.8 lbs. and 23.25 inches. She is 80% for length and 75% for weight. Her head is only in the 50%. She has grown almost 3 inches in 6 weeks and gained over 3 pounds.

She is sleeping through the night regularly now and has been since about 3 weeks. She is more alert. And thankfully has stopped eating every hour. During the day she eats every 2-3 hours. She refuses a bottle so all that breast milk will remain frozen for the time being. She also refuses a pacifier. She loves to sit in her swing and watch her siblings play and also loves to lie on the floor and kick her feet. She tolerates tummy time but doesn't like it.

"Calgon, take me away!"

...I exclaim as I throw my hands up and look heavenward. Well, not really but that is the kind of day I am having.

So it is payday and time to buy groceries. I decide to go to the commissary today and Wal-Mart tomorrow. It opens at 9 and since it is payday I know it will be busy. I nurse Kimberly and get the kids in the car. I get to the store about 10 minutes before it opens. Getting the kids out of the car I discover that Kimberly has not gone to sleep but is awake. Oh, oh, trouble. We get to the front of the store where the carts are being stored since the commissary has Christmas stuff where they usually are in the store. Timmy climbs into one of the airplane carts. Kimberly's car seat takes up the whole upper basket on that cart so I have to grab a second cart and pull it behind me.

We wait for the doors to open and then start our shopping. Kimberly soon becomes upset. I am trying to hurry but that's not easy with two carts. I keep missing things on my list. Finally after loading up produce and three aisles of stuff I head over to the bread area where they have a place to sit (and free coffee but of course I don't drink that.) I get Kimberly out of the cart and start to pat her back as I am contemplating whether to nurse her or not. She burps so I think we're good. Put her back in the cart and start to go. She starts screaming again. Out she comes again and after a few more minutes decide just to nurse her and get it over with. I nursed in the middle of the Magic Kingdom, theres not nearly as many people in the grocery store. no one really even notices. She is asleep. I put her in the cart and start off again. Immediately the table is full of the older people that always sit there. I was really surprised they weren't there when I got there earlier. Kimberly is good for about 1 minute and then she is awake and screaming.

Enough, I will just hurry. She screams for about two aisles and then is asleep. Good I can finish and get everything on my list. Oh, wishful thinking. I am almost done and she starts screaming again. I still have a few things I missed so I was going to go back and get those but decided just to get the meat (since I need some for tonight.) I drag both carts back to the back and start to load up on the meat. As I am heading up to the front I run into a lady from the ward. She tries to soothe Kimberly for me. It works until she stops. I get up to the front and luckily lots of registers open. It is then I notice it is almost 11. I have been there two hours. One of the checkers empties my cart while I get Kimberly out and try to comfort her. She promptly spits up, chunky stuff, all down my shirt and her. I wipe it up with the little blanket I use for a burp cloth.

The bagger takes my groceries out and puts them in the car while I get the kids in the car. I gave him a double tip because I had a lot of stuff (and that was only about a third of my stuff since I am getting stuff for Christmas goodie plates and Christmas dinner that I am hosting.) I get in the car and change Kimberly and then start to nurse her. My stomach is already hurting but it suddenly starts cramping and I am afraid I won't make it to the bathroom. I had rolled down the windows so I quickly roll them up, grab my keys, the baby, and get Timmy and I out of the car. We run back into the store and into the bathroom. While running in Kimberly spits up again, this time in my hair. All I have is her blanket so I wipe it up the best I could with that. Kimberly is still screaming because she was nursing when I had to make a quick exit.

Once in the bathroom I am shaking, sweating, and having kimberly screaming I nurse her while I am sitting there. Timmy keeps opening the bathroom stall door. After several minutes I exit the bathroom and hope I can make it home this time. I get everyone back in the car. Kimberly whimpers all the way home. I get home and get everyone out. Now I have about 20 bags of groceries and a screaming baby. I just throw everything in the house. Dump the perishables in the fridge and freezer. Then I settle in with Kimberly. By this time it is well after noon. Finally about 1, just an hour ago, I got her asleep in the swing and I was able to eat lunch. My stomach still hurts but at least the worst has passed. Hopefully my trip to Wal-Mart will be less dramatic and eventful.

Back from Vacation

We're back and I am glad. We had lots of fun but am glad to be home. Will be posting pictures and details in the days to come as I have time.

Oh, the Mayhem

So things have gotten really crazy around here. I haven't even had a chance to turn around and think.

Thanksgiving: Timmy gave himself a haircut. Ray left the room for a minute leaving the kids cutting paper and the next thing I knew Sheila came running into the kitchen where I was baking pies and exclaims, "Timmy cut hair." I fixed it the best I could but now that it has grown out some I see I will need to do some more fixing. Traveled out to Destin, about an hour from here, to Ray's uncle's house. His aunt and uncle hosted Thanksgiving this year. I have done it the last three years. Ray's parents, brother, and niece also joined us. I made two pies: pumpkin eggnog and apple berry crisp. All the food was delicious.

Friday: I made it out to the Walmart sale at 7:30. Went to the brand new super supercenter. I parked close and thought they must have been out of everything. But surprisingly I got a few of the things I was interested in. One was a GPS for Ray for Christmas, which we decided to use that day and also on our trip to Walt Disney World in December. When I got home we had about an hour before we had to leave for Tallahassee for Ray's family reunion. We headed out and I am starving. We met up with his parents just before the freeway about 30 minutes from our house. We followed them until we hit one of the first exits where there is a McDonalds. Ray phoned his father but of course his cell phone is off (he never has it on unless he has to make a call and they don't have voicemail on their phone.) We pulled off and got some stuff to eat. His brother called to find out what is going on and we tell him that we will catch them (his father drives slow) and that we have the GPS so not to worry.

We drove back on the freeway and as soon as we got on the road we heard from the back "I have to pee." So we drove to the rest stop 10 miles or so down the road and Ray took Sheila to the bathroom. Kimberly slept on so I waited in the van with her and Timmy. As soon as Ray got Sheila in the car. "I'm wet!" Ray unbuckled Timmy to change his diaper and discovered that Timmy wasn't kidding. His jeans are soaked front and back, his car seat is soaked, and his diaper is beyond soaked. And of course this is one time I didn't bring towels or a change of clothes. We put him a diaper and have him like that until we can get to a Wal-Mart. Well, we don't see any on the way until we made it to Tallahassee. We figured Ray's parents will be there for 20 minutes or more by this time. We arrived at the home and no one is there. Ray rang the bell. It is the right place but no one has shown up yet. Ray asked his relative (I think it might be his mom's cousin but I am not too sure) where a Wal-Mart is. We drove there and I run in to buy Timmy some pants. Only pants in his size are some sweatpants. It's the smallest supercenter I have ever seen.

We got back to the house and everyone has shown up and food is being brought out. Kimberly finally wakes up and I nursed her. Ray's aunt asked to hold her and as I am handing her over I noticed that Kimberly has had an explosion out the back of her diaper. So in I went to change her. (Luckily I had two changes of clothes for her.) We had a nice visit. I nursed Kimberly again about 2 hours later and while Ray and I are sitting there my mother in law came in and asks for a change for Sheila. She had an accident. She is soaked. Ray put her in a diaper (no change of pants) and it is getting cold. We packed up and left. Back to that Wal-Mart where I purchased some panties and some pants for Sheila. Luckily we get back home without further mishap and Kimberly slept on.

Saturday: Ray and I cleaned almost the entire house, vacuuming, dusting, putting things away, because the carpet cleaners were coming. Ray's parents are supposed to pick Sheila and Timmy up at 10:30. At 10:30 Ray's brother called and told Ray that they were still at the clinic and didn't know when they would get there. Good thing the carpet cleaners were late since both them and Ray's parents showed up at 11:45. I took Kimberly in our bedroom to nurse her while the carpet cleaner set to work. At 12:20 Ray came in and told me he was done. We got our living room, dining room, and the kids bedroom done. The carpets are wet and everything is piled in the kitchen from the dining room so we go out to lunch. We tried to call Ray's dad and the phone is off. They called us after lunch and we picked up the kids. Carpets were still damp so we only moved some stuff back so we can use the kitchen and the nursery.

Sunday: Church. The carpets are still wet in spots.

Monday: Wake up, put Sheila on the bus, go for a walk, Eye Exam, shopping, drive home, lunch, get Sheila off the bus, fed the baby, fix dinner, and fed the baby the rest of the night. Kimberly has what I call feeding frenzies in the evening. She sometimes nurses every hour so I don't get much done in the evening. We were going to put up the Christmas tree and have FHE at the same time (talk about the symbolism of Christmas) but it was raining.

Tuesday: Wake up, took Sheila to school, paid Sheila's lunch money, home for breakfast, Doctor appointment, home again, lunch, fed the baby, paid bills and updated budget, got Sheila off the bus, fed the baby, Ray home, made dinner, fed the baby the rest of the night. Again no tree because it is raining.

I tried and failed

I tried to copy and paste the friday fill ins like I usually do but for some reason it won't let me paste so no friday fillins today. Since my parents have gone home we haven't done much. Just trying to catch up with things at home. We had Sheila's IEP meeting at school and she has mastered all her goals from last year and has new ones. In March we will meet to discuss whether to put her in half day regular kindergarten, half day in an ESE classroom or just a full day in an ESE classroom. She is afraid to do things wrong and instead of asking for help she will just shut down and not do anything so she might need a little more one on one attention next year as well until she gets to the point where she can ask for help.

Kimberly is pretty much sleeping through the night. Most nights she goes down at 9 and is up at 5. So nice to have her already doing that. I figured with a fully breast fed baby I would still be getting up 2-3 times a night at a month old. She actually slept through the night quicker than my other two children who got both formula and breast milk.

Timmy is still my huggy kid. I have to remind him to be gentle with his baby sister since he loves to kiss and hug her and sometimes his hugs are a little tight.

I am looking forward to seeing New Moon this weekend. We plan on going to an early show tomorrow since Kimberly sleeps best in the morning and early afternoon. I just checked show times online and today they have shows starting at 10. Not sure if they will tomorrow so we will have to wait until then to see when we are going.

The Primary sharing times are changing for next year. No longer will they be in the Friend but the sharing time booklet is more detailed. The President volunteered our Primary to be a test one for this format so she will be doing Sharing Time this week and I get a break.

Butterflies

We also took my parents down to Saint Marks lighthouse to see the butterfly migration. Ray's parents joined us. Unfortunately the big swarms had already come through but there still was several around. This is a resting place for the butterflies before they make the trek across the Gulf to Mexico for the Winter.

Timmy enjoyed rolling around in the sand on the small beach there.

We try to go every fall and somehow we always miss the swarms. Next year we will start calling in early October. Sheila loves butterflies and I know she would love to see them when they just cover the trees.

Falling Waters Picnic and Park

We also took my parents out to Falling Waters state park for a picnic and to do the nature walks. The kids also played in the park. When we got there two buses full of elementary students were there swarming over the playground so we decided to have our picnic first. I nursed Kimberly first in the van so my family picked out the table. Once I got over there a bee attacked me and wouldn't leave me alone. I am not fond of bugs. Usually I don't mind them when they are outside because I can just move away from them. But when I am eating it is not convenient to have to move. Needless to say I didn't eat much. My plate got picked up by a rogue wind and dumped my salads on the table. My drink got invaded by the bee. My family laughed at me when I would run away from the table. I finally just threw away the rest of my food and we took the kids over to the playground to play. They had to compete with all the students for about 15 minutes and then the students left. The kids enjoyed the swings most. And wouldn't you know it another bee started to terrorize me while I was watching the kids play.

After awhile we talked the kids into going on the nature walks to see the sink holes and the waterfall. I went back to the car to nurse Kimberly and then laid back while they went on the other nature trail out to the lake. Afterwards they let the kids play again in the playground. The weather was nice and besides the bee attack it was a fun day.

Miniature Golfing with Papa and Grandma

My parents wanted to go miniature golfing while here since they don't have any around where they live and we have tons of courses. We went to one of our favorites, Pirates Island.

Timmy and Sheila enjoyed playing. They would play the hole first and then go on to the next hole while the adults played. One hole was multilayered so the hole went through to the next level. When Sheila saw that it had no bottom and didn't realize that the ball would go through but that it would be lost forever she came to us and said, "It's broken. It's broken. Sorry." Then proceeded to block the hole to prevent us from losing the ball. We had to show her that the ball would go through to another level. Then Sheila and Timmy couldn't get enough of that hole.

Kimberly enjoyed the time in her car seat. She slept the first half of the course but then she was happy during the second so we were able to play the whole thing before she decided it was time to eat.