Costume Party

Emerson & Sophie being silly (I told Emerson to say "argh!" and Sophie to say, "yee haw!" before I took the picture.) I should have tried for a more normal pose too. =)

                                                 



Linnea & Sophie

Sophie & Abbie on the trailer bed after the hayride.

                                          

Here's the girls with one of our pumpkins.  Their daddy carved another one. Fun traditions! 

Last weekend, Sophie was busy with parties after her soccer game in the morning.  First, she was able to attend her friend, Carley's gymnastics party.  Then, she came home and changed into her Jessie outfit for Emerson's costume party.  This year, Emerson opted for a Halloween party instead of celebrating on her birthday which was in September.    Their family invited all of us but Abbie ended up taking a good nap that day so she only came for the last part of the party.  The kids had fun playing games, snacking, doing crafts, and going on a hayride around our section of the neighborhood.  All of the kids enjoyed the party and the hayride was a big hit!               

Happenings at School

Sophie playing in the wheat trough at the pumpkin farm

a relay at Field Day where the kids has to put on ski clothes

the dreaded sack race-it looks like Sophie was being coached by one of the boys in her class. That was cracking me up! The boys got really into some of the team events. They were cheering their teammates on! =)

the girls are ready to go!

Last week, the kindergarten classes had Field Day. They needed some extra chaperones. My mom volunteered to keep Abbie for me so that I could help out. Each of the 10 classes at her school was responsible for two different little stations or games. A lot of them were relay race type events and a lot of them were fall related. The kids had fun overall with only a few minor injuries. It turned out to be a lovely day though it started out cold. I was one of the chaperones who went around with Sophie's class. Sophie told me that she did not enjoy the sack race. Ah-a girl after my own heart! I used to hate relay-race type events, especially as I got older because they were never my forte. I also had a lot of knee problems in my teens so I was always afraid my knee would go out during the relay race.

Field Trip to the Pumpkin Farm

Sophie, Samantha & Kendall on the wagon

one of the calves

a couple more of Sophie's friends trying to weave

Sophie's "working" at the grocery store

A couple of weeks ago, I was able to go with Sophie's class to the pumpkin farm. It was their first field trip. We had a really good time! They rode the wagons out to see the calves (there were a lot of them) and we stopped to pick out some pumpkins. The kids also were able to play in the grocery store area in some different stations, see some other animals up close, go through the maze (a big hit) and play in the corn and wheat. It was a beautiful day for it! Sophie's class rode the bus there and the parents met them there.

Fall Vacation-- SeaWorld Day 2

SeaWorld Lighthouse

Katima and her new calf born Oct. 9

We all enjoyed the Killer Whale show.  We sat several rows up so we were out of the splash zone.

The girls loved the rides in the kid's area at SeaWorld.  There were no lines to ride, unlike the Magic Kingdom.

Abbie and Uncle Matt pose for a picture in front of a tropcial aquarium.

Ah! There is a stingray on my head.

We visited SeaWorld for a second day on Tuesday before we headed home.  There are so many shows and exhibits at SeaWorld that you really need two days.  Uncle Matt and Aunt Martha came with us to SeaWorld this time.  Phil decided to sleep in this time at the hotel, but he joined us in the afternoon at the park.  It was exciting to see a newborn killer whale during our visit.  The calf was about 10 days old during our visit.  The baby whale was nine feet long and 350 pounds at birth; it will be a while before we find out if she is a boy or a girl.  After seeing some shows, our family visited the kids' area: Shamu's Happy Harbor while the others in our group rode some thrill rides.  Abbie and Sophie had an awesome time riding the kiddie roller coaster, the carousel, and other rides over and over again.  There were no waits for any of the kids' rides, which was wonderful.  After 1.5 hours of nonstop fun, we headed over to meet Phil, Martha, and Matt on the other side of the park.  The girls enjoyed some cotton candy compliments of Uncle Matt.  We visited one last aquarium with stingrays and tropical fish before we headed back to the hotel.  The girls were tired from three days in a row at theme parks, and they were in bed by 7:30 PM.  Phil gave us a ride to the Orlando airport the next morning and we all headed home.

Fall Vacation--The Magic Kingdom

It was a beautiful fall day at the Magic Kingdom

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Abbie was OK with getting close to Peter Pan.

Abbie loved the carousel.  She wanted to ride it again and again.

Abbie enjoyed Peter Pan's flight this year with Aunt Martha and Uncle Matt.

The whole group at Mickey's Toontown (slated for demolition next year).

Matt V. had the highest score on Buzz Lightyear's Space Ranger Spin thanks to Abbie's skillfull maneuvering.  He obtained the rank of Space Ranger 1st Class.

Abbie is decked out with glow-in-the-dark stuff for the night parade.

The Main Street Electrical Parade is back at the Magic Kingdom.

In January, we participated in the "Give a Day, Get a Disney Day" program by volunteering at a thrift store one morning.  By doing so, we received two certificates for admission to a Disney theme park for one day.  We finally used our certificates to take the family to the Magic Kingdom this past Monday.  Uncle Phil came with us, and we met Aunt Martha and Uncle Matt at the park.  We started off by riding the Dumbo ride, the carousel, and Peter Pan's flight.  We alsosaw Mickey's PhilharMagic movie before moving on to the Tomorrowland Speedway, and Monster's Inc. Laugh Floor.  Surprisingly, Sophie really wanted to ride Space Mountain with her uncles and aunt.  She survived.  Our family returned to the hotel in the afternoon for naps.  At night we returned to see Mickey and Minnie's house and we watched the Electrical Parade.  It was a fun, LONG day.  We didn't get back to our hotel until very late!

Fall Vacation--SeaWorld Day 1

We met Abby Cadabby at SeaWorld.  Our Abbie is still scared of people wearing costumes.

Sophie met some old sea hags.

SeaWorld had all kinds of photo opportunites with different characters.

Sea Lions

The Penguin Encounter

Sophie at the underwater viewing area for dolphins

On Sunday afternoon, we drove from the beach to Orlando to visit SeaWorld.  On the weekends in October, SeaWorld has a Halloween Spooktacular program, where they have all sorts of Halloween festivities including trick or treating.  We spent most of the afternoon letting Sophie get pictures with different characters and getting candy.  Abbie is still scared of people dressed up, so she stayed away.  In the late afternoon, we visited the penguins, sea lions, manatee, and dolphin exhibits.  The girls loved the underwater viewing at the dolphin area. We had a great time, and we saved some attractions and shows to see with Aunt Martha and Uncle Matt Riley on Wednesday when we would go again to SeaWorld.

Fall Vacation--Clearwater Beach

Sophie and Abbie on our hotel balcony at the Clearwater Beach Hilton Hotel.

Sophie on the beach.

Abbie loved playing in the sand and chasing sandpipers

Sophie and Matt built Cinderella's Sand Castle.

Sunset on the pier.

The whole family posed for one last photo before checking out.

Fall Vacation--Dolphin Cruise

Here we are about to embark on a three hour cruise on the SS Minnow--I mean the Little Toot.

 We picked Sophie up from School on Friday afternoon before her Fall Break, and we flew to Tampa.  Paula's brother, Phil, decided to go on vacation with us at the last minute.  So Phil drove down to Florida and picked us up from the Tampa airport.  We drove to Clearwater Beach and checked into our hotel.  The next morning, we decided to walk down to the Clearwater Marina and go on a dolphin sight seeing cruise.  We decided to go on the Little Toot cruise, which is a small boat (at least compared to some of the other ships at the marina) that resembles a tugboat.  Abbie kept saying we were going on a "baby" boat ride. 

Skipper Phil, Sophie, and Abbie

We cruised by the Clearwater Marine Aquarium and mansions owned by John Travolta, Hulk Hogan, and Tom Cruise on Clearwater Harbor.  We then set sail for the Gulf of Mexico, and we looked for dolphins In the gulf along Clearwater Beach.

Yeah, we just saw Hulk Hogan's house!

Sophie and the beach

The nice crew gave us this photograph taken on another cruise.

The Little Toot makes a big wake, and dolphins love to jump and play in the boat's wake.  We saw several dolphins jump out of the water, but they are difficult to photograph since they are out of water for about a second at a time.  The nice crew of the Little Toot gave Sophie and Abbie some pictures they took on different cruises.  Overall we had a great time on the cruise.

All Aboard

                                                        Abbie's waiting in line for the train

                                                          Abbie & Sophie riding the train

here's one of the trains that they used

This past weekend, we were able to go to Train Day for the first time.  It's an annual event that a couple from Crieve Hall hosts.  My mom has told me about it for the last few years but we've never been able to go.  There was a great turnout, plenty of food, and the girls rode the trains several times.  Both of the girls had a lot of fun and they were able to see some friends too!  One of the trains operated on steam and they used gas for the other train.  My mom had an old engineer's cap so she let Abbie borrow it.  =)  The next morning, Abbie woke up with stomach problems again so we had to keep her home on Sunday.  Now, she seems to be doing just fine again.