TIME to Have Fun!

We started our Disney vacation at Animal Kingdom. We were there to see Wesley's favorite show, the bird show. After the 3:00 show on Saturday it closed for six weeks so we wanted to make sure we saw it while we had the chance.

We had lunch at the BBQ place and then went to see a couple of characters. Our kids don't know who the bears are but they love characters.

The bird show delighted Wesley. This year was a real treat for all of us. Instead of the bird who counts by consistently saying "four" there was a singing bird.
Wesley liked all the birds especially the owls and the crown crane. Lydia liked the bird show but not as much as Wesley did.
After the bird show Chris and I were able to ride Everest after waiting less than minutes.

Wesley stood on this bench with Grandma and Grandpa to watch the parade.
Minnie is one of Lydia's favorite characters.
The kids and Wayne enjoyed playing the drums. Lydia and Grandma We ended our short day AK with the train ride to Rafiki's Planet Watch. They kept announcing the park was closing at 5:00 and the animals in Affection Station would go to bed at 5:00. This sounded a little odd to me that they would be making so many announcements about closing when it was over an hour away. After we got off the train, they announced the animals were going to bed in ten minutes. What? I thought it was ten minutes to four. I was wrong; it was almost 5:00. My excuses are that I didn't get enough sleep the night before and there are no numbers on my watch. They funniest thing is that Chris thought the same thing - that is was almost 4:00 - and he has numbers on his watch. The kids got to pet the goats and sheep for a few minutes. Well, Lydia didn't touch them. After the animals went to bed and the park was officially closed, the kids got to meet a macaw. Wesley asked the nice lady a lot of questions about what the bird eats. She asked him, "Do you eat vegetables?" and he replied, "I like grapes." I think we need to talk about the food groups. He does eat vegetables but apparently he doesn't know that. After leaving Animal Kingdom we headed over to the Contemporary Resort to have dinner at The Wave. It was delicious! We love the free dining program!

Fun in Wide Open Space

While staying with my parents, the kids went to a fun playground and had a picnic lunch.
Afterwards they went to Wal-mart to buy these fun balls to play with outside.

All of this outdoor activity wore Lydia out and she wouldn't eat lunch one day because she just wanted a nap.

Wesley had fun rolling a hulahoop and chasing after it.

He also enjoyed catching a rolling ball with the hulahoop.

He even tried using the rake.

Lydia can do a forward roll by herself but she really likes Nana helping her with it.

When my dad doesn't want to walk, this is how he goes to the mailbox.

My aunt and uncle came over for dinner on Saturday.

I was born on my uncle's birthday so it is always nice when we get to celebrate together. (We tried to take the ice cream cake out of the box but it was frozen to the box.)

Wesley showed Chris how big of a piece of cake he wanted.

Chris got a workout playing with the kids.

Lydia likes flying high.

So does Wesley.

The next day, Chris got one of the rockets from the stomp rocket out of the tree.

Of course, his little helpers were right there in case they were needed.

A Wild Time in the Country

Last week, the kids spent some time with Nana and Pawpaw while we had new hardwood floors installed.

I have to tell this story about my dad. I think it is funny and it illustrates how kids plus needing convenience can make anyone compromise their standards.

My parents eat very healthy. They buy almost every organic which means they have to drive a good distance to get it. My dad said to me, "We will cook for them here at the house. We won't take them to McDonald's. We don't even eat there ourselves. ” I probably would have forgotten all about this statement but...

On the first full day together, my parents were out and realized the kids needed food and needed it soon and needed it before they went anywhere else so...they went to McDonald's. (heeheeheehee)

As most parents of preschoolers have figured out, McDonald's is cheap, quick, and easy and the kids love it. My kids love the apples (usually sans sauce), chicken nuggets, and white milk (getting the apple juice is a big treat).


After lunch, the grandparents took the kids to an animal park near their house.

Apparently the goats weren't as aggressive as the ones at Cox Farms so Wesley really liked feeding them and petting them. Lydia was still a little afraid of them.
This goat posed for photos on the elephant statue.

Thanks to the books, I think it will be a long time before I can see a llama and just call it "llama" instead of saying, "llama llama." Wesley loves to tell the story about how the ostrich took the cup of food away from Pawpaw.

This camel's eye looks a little weepy. I remember our horses would sometimes look like that. The camel was rather eager for food and attention which frightened Nana and the kids (and the four other people on the bus).

This is a water buffalo. Thanks to the Veggie Tales I am ready to brust out into song at just the thought of a water buffalo. (It's too bad I can't sing.)

After leaving the wild animal park, they visited the fish hatchery. I remember going there when I was a kid. Of course, the kids liked seeing the fish also.

Favorite Things About Fall - Friend Making Monday

If you want to join in the fun of Friend Making Monday, go here.



I don't love fall; I am more of a summer girl. I am not ready to say goodbye to summer. I feel that we were robbed of the last week of summer. Last week was too cold for the pool and we missed one final trip to a water park.


We are blessed that we will have one more week of summer fun. We will soon be going to Disney World for our third annual September trip. We can't wait. Chris has been counting the days since July (no kidding).


Even though I don't love fall, I do love some of the fall activities and that helps me to like fall. Here is a list of what I am most looking forward to this fall.

1. Cox Farms. The kids ask almost every week when we can go back to Cox Farms. They love the hayride and all the slides. Wesley really enjoyed the rope swings last year.





2. Camping in the cooler weather and sitting around a campfire before breakfast.

3. Costume parties and parades for the kids.

4. Halloween. In the past I never loved Halloween but it is so much fun with kids and now I love it.

This year we are planning to attend Mickey's Not So Scary Halloween Party and the kids will be dressed as pirates once again.

5. Thanksgiving. I like to cook and Thankgsiving provides a nice big challenge for me.

6. Shopping on the Friday after Thanksgivng is one of my favorite traditions! I like to get to the mall before 6:30 AM. I am ready to leave by 11:00 AM when it starts getting really crowded.

7. I love pumpkin spice lattes, candles that smell like pumpkin, and pumpkin pie.

Okay, so now I feel a little better about the fall season. I am even burning a new pumpkin spice candle.

The Flea Market

Today Chris and I went to the 42nd Annual Hillsville Flea Market.

Once a year tens of thousands of people gather in my small hometown.

We walked around for a little over two hours. I had a polish sausage and Chris had a pork barbeque sandwich. The girl at the BBQ stand said they sold over 1000 BBQ sandwiches on Saturday.

The Flea Market is a great place to people watch. We saw a few men moving a giraffe statue. What do you think they did with it when they got it home?

Chris wanted to try an apple dumpling but they had sold out. Notice the man on porch with a riffle. The Hillsville Flea Market started as a gun show at the VFW. It has grown to include all kinds of additional stuff (or junk in some cases) but they still sell guns without a background check. In Virginia, gun stores and Walmart have to do background checks but not gun shows.

Breakfast Date

On Saturday Wesley got to skip naptime in order to run errands with Daddy. When Lydia got up from her nap she asked where Daddy was. I told her that he went to run errands. She asked where Wesley was and when I told her that he went with Daddy she started screaming. She was not happy about being left out.

I realized then that we needed to start letting each kid go on outings with just Daddy. We had meant to start "breakfast with Daddy" when swim lessons ended in May but we were unable to implement it over the summer.

On Sunday morning, Lydia had her first breakfast date with Daddy. They went to McDonald's.

Thankfully, Wesley was fine with it. He will go to breakfast with Daddy the next Sunday we are in town.

Beat Bama - Wordless Wednesday