East Coast Family @ Disney World

Andrew has his last leave from the Marines before he ships out for his first tour.  With Mandy working this summer at Disney World, Trish planned a GREAT trip for all of us to be together in Florida for a few days.

We were all to arrive at the airport within an hour of each other.  Delta delivered as I walked off the plane on-time.  Toyota also delivered (guessing the vehicle) as Mandy was dropped of by her roommate to the airport on-time.  JetBlue on the other hand made a real mess of the others flights as they landed about seven hours after the first two parties arrived.

So Mandy and I hung out, visited, read books, shopped and ate a meal or two at the Orlando airport killing time.

EVERY one accounted for we are off!

Riley, Mandy, Trish, Andrew and Tina

Day 1 - Animal Kingdom

This is the park that Mandy works at.

We look bright eyed and ...

EXCITED as we tram in!

Entering the Rain Forrest.  Disney goes all out with reality as it was already pouring rain on us.   

The pictures with the white boarders were taken by Disney Cast Members.
I would say, Disney Staff but I learned from Mandy that they are actually called "Cast Members".

Tree of Life, we have arrived!

OK,  It wasn't Disney that provided us with the rain it was Hurricane Debby.  She made sure we thought of her ALL DAY LONG!

Nemo was cool and surprisingly dry.

I accidentally used the flash on this photo (oops) but  I got a GREAT shot!

Did I mention the Debby yet?

So much rain was coming down that the park was quite empty of two legged animals.  How many people do you know of that have take a photo at Disney World and they are the only ones in the picture?

Dinosaur Ride

We planned on looking cool and calm on this ride.  I think we achieved this.

Ok, Riley and Andrew did, they almost looked board.

We would step into stores to browse but mostly to get out of Debby's rain.

Hats are always fun to play with. (Riley wasn't too happy with us)

Stopped and grabbed some hot drinks at this point.

And found some cover in this stationary cart.

Meet and Greet!

It's a must if you don't have to wait in lines.

Pooh, Eeyore & T-I-double G-ER!

Mount Everest ride!

We decided to do the DUCK "O" sign while Riley did the "C" for Riley.  Ok, I think the "C" was for Connecticut.

Bugs Life in 3D

The glasses made us look like we were coming right at each other!

Lion King show is where Mandy works.

Last stop was the Lion King show with VIP seating.  Oh, I should say that we had many VIP seating with some of Mandy's connections.  Sweet!

We are soaked but yet still smiling!

Andrew was chosen to help our section learn the Elephant call.

He did a great job and we got some good laughs at this!

Simba!

Debby brought so much rain that some of the things Mandy arranged for us to do got canceled, darn it.  She had us watch the last showing of the Lion King so we could do the Meet and Greet with the cast.  Mandy also had arranged for us to dress up and participating in the Animal Kingdom Parade.  Both would have been a chance in a life time, darn you Debby!

We finished off the evening with a wonderful meal. (yes, still dripping wet)

Riley was most excited about his cow.

We ate as one family, sharing bits of each others meal and also stealing when one might not be looking if it was tasty enough.

What an AWESOME first day!

A fun June

For Jo's birthday this year Tracy n Martha gave her a creative pancake making kit.  We finally had a wonderful down time day at home so Jo and I decided to see what we could do with pancake batter.

The goal?  A monkey!

First: Cooking all the parts.

Second: Assembly.

And voilá!  A Monkey!!!

Cole and Oma wanted eggs and bacon for dinner so Jo and I made them all out of pancake batter.

Both were quite surprised at this. (yes, all pancakes)

The book also showed an awesome lion pancake so we made that too.

What a fun evening we had.

We also learned that eating a meal this way does take quite a long time but well worth the fun.

What do you do with waffles that have been left in the oven for, oh...one week?  Ok, maybe it was two weeks? (The oven wasn't on)

Jo maked bird feeders out of them!

And then she was hoping that if she sat very still a bird might come and eat out of her hands.

Well, if we didn't have all the outside activity, and then there is Doug...ok, it's not going to happen.  However, her dreaming is a wonderful thing to watch.

Backyard baseball.

Summer looks bright!

Baseball

Cole's team has done a fair job this season ending the regular season with a loss but it was a very close game against the #1 team.

Oma became the hitting coach and worked with the boys before every game.

Cole became quiet a bit more serious this season wanting his team to be more serious as well.  He is always cheering his team mates at bat and watching the game when others are visiting and catching bugs.  He is much more focused.

I had the pleasure of making the team trading cards again this year.

I sure enjoy doing graphics.

Cole & Piano

He is learning to play the piano this summer as the kids now have back to back lessons.  Cole Strings class this past school year has taught him quite a lot about music so he has been able to jump right into some of the music.

Watching him concentrate on playing is interesting.  His whole body moves about like his brain is having an argument with his body to sit still and play.  I think piano is going to be a great thing for him.  He is having to sit and concentrate, play the pieces over and over and slow down reading each note.  Quite opposite of how he does his school work. Fast, once and moving onto recess/PE or another social activity.  Yes, I think piano may just help him in school.

And Summer Begins

2012 Transit of Venus

We remembered this time to look at the sun and see Venus passing.

Picture of the sun through my welding glass.

Passing clouds made our view a hit and miss but with the help of my old welding helmet we all got to see Venus.

 

It took a moment for our eyes to adjust and find the planet but well worth digging through my welding box for the hood!

Fort

We decided to build forts using the old fence piled in our yard with a few new pieces of wood too.

I'm a good helper (I think/hope) but really I don't know "how" to actually construct a building on my own.

We went for it anyway!

First, had to buy a new saw.  (Jill said I could, see me smiling?)

Laying out the floor.

Cole & Jo did a ton of work and I passed along all the knowledge I knew. (Some one in the future will give them all correct information I hope.)

The chalk line helped both follow the 2x4 when pounding the nails into the floor.

Does the roof come next?

I don't know.

It did for ours,

and yes, it's flat,

and yes, I know it shouldn't be.

But there you have it.

It covers their head and that is what matters.

Attaching the walls to finish it up.

And here we have it!

Our fort in the back yard!

What an awesome experience this was for all of us.

I was able to point out to the kids every thing I did wrong in planning and building and what we will do differently next time.  We will not be making these mistakes again because I learned why not but there are many more mistakes I don't know I'm going to make and those new mistakes will be just as educational and Ah Ha moments too.

The best part? The kids have a fort!

(door and window will come later)

Oma's last day of work!

This is where I found her when I got home.

Feet up, beer and computer in hand on the back porch.

GOOD JOB RELAXING OMA!

Oh, wait...what is this?

A list of to-do's for the summer?

NOOOOooooooo......

 And our BS Summer Begins.

2012 Recital

Wrapping up Jo's second year of piano lessons, she has come a long way BS Groupies!

After going through all her dresses and narrowing it down to four, this was the chosen recital dress.

 

 She didn't seem nervous at all and was actually quite chatty this day.

Waiting for her turn to perform.

Will she play?

Did she play?

Why yes she did and just beautifully too!

(If your getting our blog updates through the email please go directly to our actual website to view the video, it's just over 2 min. long.)

She did a wonderful job and seemed to really enjoy this whole experience.

And she even had a small fan base watching this year.

The Jo Fans, grabbing some burgers after the recital.

This year we have noticed that Jo sits down and plays off and on just about every day.  She has grown in leaps and bounds this year and really is enjoying the music.

One of the kids at the recital played Fur Elise by Beethoven and Jo said she would really like to play that song.  We look forward to hearing her play it too!

Field Trip Plus Other Things

Going to just caption some photos this go around.

Gma Marie & I  helped chaperone the 4th grade school field trip to the Hatfield Marine Science Center at the coast.

Gma Marie and Jo sucking up shrimp.

 

Cole and Julian doing the same.

Look, not a fryer but good bait!

We all got to try this and keep count of what we found for research.

Inside to do a "search and find" for some school work.

 

Very good time and educational.

Cole and his iTouch

With the help of some

birthday cash and his

savings Cole was able

to finally join the rest

of the family by purchasing

his own iTouch.

Good Job Cole!

 

A boy and a dog

Early A.M. hanging out before school.

Cole was able to perform again with his Strings group at a retirement home.

It was a short 1/2 concert where each kid got to play a solo as well.
This Strings class sure was a wonderful experience for him and he looks forward to doing it next year though he says he plans on choosing an instrument that is smaller than the bass. (he's doing piano over the summer)

No Sew Blanket from Gma.

It's a family & friend job to get it all done.

Gma & Gpa were here for Jo this day.  Next blog post with share why.