Mini Golf Sunday

Here are a few pictures from Justin's trip to The Winter Summerland Mini Golf Park over at Disney with his Sunday School class. Justin got three hole-in-ones! Maybe we should sign him up for golf lessons...

Snip Snip

Quite a few of you have asked why I have not posted anything about Roger's recent vasectomy... so here it is! It's been a week now and he's feeling pretty good.... maybe 90%. Another few days and he'll be good as new. If you can believe it, I brought a camera to the surgery! The nurse (who is pictured here with Roger) said in all her 16 years of working with a urologist, no one has ever brough a camera! They wouldn't let me take pictures of the surgery, but I did get to watch. Very interesting! I'm sure that's a little how Roger felt watching me give birth to the kids.

Monkey Joe's

Took Chase & Carly to Monkey Joe's today since Chase was out of school on a Montessori holiday. My friend Kristin and her sons, Walker & Clayton, came too. The boys had a blast racing around, jumping in all the bouncy houses and sliding down all the slides. They were red in the face and sweaty by the time we left! Carly June really liked it too. She even did the giant slides sitting on my lap with a huge smile on her face!

Update on Blake

Here's a quick update on what's been going on with Blake lately...

Being a senior in high school, he is quite busy with school, homework, extracurricular activities and planning for college. He is currently taking 3 AP classes (Calculus, Physics and Literature) and managed to pull off all A's and B's on his latest report card. Way to go Blake! He is also on the staff of the school newspaper (called The Dome), writing articles and taking the occasional photographs. His favorite thing by far though is playing his guitars and practicing with his band. They've played a few times at a restaurant for a decent size crowd. Last I heard was 50 people. Blake said they played well, but they need to work on their stage energy. Well, now that I think of it, playing the XBox 360 he got for Christmas might rival playing the guitar...

He also makes time for other things like snowboarding at their local mountain (Mad River) and snow shoveling since it is winter in Ohio. He said he made $50 shoveling two driveways last weekend, which is nice spending money, especially when gas is over $3 per gallon. He also went to a couple school dances recently. One was a funny techno dance and the other was a Turnabout Dance where the girls ask the guys. Check out the pictures below!

And now for the exciting news... Blake was accepted and plans to attend UCF in Orlando this Fall. Congrats Blake! We are so proud of him and excited that he will be living in Florida again. He'll be living far enough away that we won't bother him, but close enough to offer a home-cooked meal and a free washing machine when he needs it!

Blake ready for the Techno Dance
Blake's Fender guitar
Blake & his date Lindsy.

Boat Races

Back in late January, Roger's parents took all the kids for the day (God bless them!) so Roger & I could get out together, run some errands, etc. While Sharon took Carly to their house to nap, Roger took the boys to the Giant RC Boat Races. He thought they might stay for 45 minutes to an hour, but the boys were having so much fun, they stayed for a few hours!

Camping at Disney's Fort Wilderness

Thanks to our friend, Rob Zollinger, we went camping at Disney's Fort Wilderness this past weekend. He reserved the "green" group campsite, which held all 45 of us (20 adults & 25 kids) among 14 tents. The site was great... it had some open areas and some trees, 6 really nice picnic benches, 3 grills and a huge bonefire pit surrounded by four log benches. It was surrounded on two sides by a wooded area and grassy hills, one side by the common area sand volleyball court & tether ball and the other side by another group campsite. The kids really enjoyed playing in the woods, climbing trees, swinging on tree vines and roasting marshmallows around the campfire. Surprisingly, none of the kids got hurt or lost and the adults were able to hang out and enjoy themselves without too much concern for the kids. Even Carly had a great time crawling around in the dirt, going on walks, etc. Although sleeping in a tent left something to be desired for both her & me. When we returned home on Sunday, I think I went to bed at 7:30 pm... two nights of not much sleep left me exhausted!

Thanks again to Rob for making all the arrangements and for putting in our reservation for the same campsite at the same time next year!

Chase's Creativity

Here is a picture that Chase drew a couple weeks ago of a "boy with lots of muscles." You probably can't see it, but the drawing starts with the word "boy" -- the left eye is the "b", the right eye is the "o" and the right side of the face & the hairline form the letter "y". Check out this website for how it's supposed to look. Chase defintely adds his own creativity to it!

Sandbox

I thought this picture was cute of the kids in our little sandbox. Carly loves playing in it and never tries to put the sand in her mouth. She did it once and realized it was not a pleasant experience! I can't wait for the beach this summer!

Fire Station 72

Justin's Cub Scout Den (and Chase too) went on a tour of Fire Station 72 here in Celebration yesterday afternoon. They got to see where the firemen watch TV, cook & eat meals, sleep and work out. Then they got to check out all the equipment and the trucks, inside & out. The best part was hearing the call come in for the Rescue truck and watching it take off from the garage out to help someone!

Radio Disney

Justin's Cub Scout Den (led by Roger & me) went on a tour of the Radio Disney studio here in Celebration a couple weeks ago. They learned a little bit about how radio works, who pays for it, etc. but were more interested in the sound booth and recording their voices. Sounds right for a group of nine 7-year olds. Tomorrow we're going on a tour of the fire station where they will probably enjoy sitting in the fire truck the most :)

Dry Ice

My aunt, Priscilla, who lives in Sunnyvale, CA so generously sends us packages from Omaha Steaks with yummy steaks, burgers, twice baked potatoes, etc. It's a celebrated event in our house when the big styrofoam cooler arrives, not only for the steak, but for the dry ice!!! It's amazing how a big chunk of ice that you can't touch with your bare hands can entertain my two high-energy boys for an hour or two... :)

More Soccer

Here are a few more pictures from Chase's season on the "The Fire" soccer team. I can't believe how quickly kids learn. After the first couple games, Chae was running in the right direction, getting in there to get the ball and most importantly, scoring some goals! Go Chase!!!

He is already practicing his batting for the fall season of Little League though. After many years of watching Justin, he is excited to play! It will be interesting to see if the pace of tball is okay with him or if he gets bored. Time will tell!

Monster (Wet) Jam

Roger & Justin attended the Monster Jam show (this time in Tampa) for the third year in a row. Chase was supposed to go, but was pretty sick that night. Anyhow, the kids look forward to it every January and have a blast. The adults too. This year, it was absolutely pouring rain, so these are the only shots Roger got at the pre-show tailgate party in the parking lot. Check out the website if you want to see pictures & video of the monster trucks.

Burning Down the House

Well, not the house, but the Christmas tree. This video of us burning old Christmas trees in the bonfire pit at Roger & Sharon's is from early January. I am really behind with my posts! It's amazing how quickly & how hot trees burn...

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