Frankenstorm

We made it through our first hurricane last night.  Hurricane Sandy starting sweeping through the east coast:    (here)

Colton's school was closed both yesterday and today, and Blake's was closed just today (his daycare provider was not feeling well today, so he is chillin' at home with the rest of the fam).

Yesterday, Eric and I took Colton bowling.  We got to the alley around 10:30 and paid for 2 games each.  Thankfully we got a chance to finish up right in time, since they decided to close at noon in preparation for the storm to come through our town.

How cute is my little bowler?!?

The bumpers automatically came up the sides each time he bowled...  so convenient!

Colton and Daddy looked outside to feel the heavy winds...

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And here's Blake trying to check out the weather as well.

Luckily, we didn't lose any power, but millions unfortunately did along the east coast.  Well, we have a day at home to chill out, make crafts, work on Colton's workbooks, and Blake has his 15 month doctor appointment today.

Hope you and your family stayed safe!

Fall Vacay

The fam and I just took a(nother) trip down to Florida.  I really didn't think the trip would be in the cards for me, since I just started my new job 2 months ago.  But, thankfully I have a really cool principal who let me take 2 days off.

Blake and I spent 2 days at our favorite friend's house in Florida, who I will call the A's (Colton and Daddy were still at home.  They planned to fly down a day later in anticipation of me not getting to come down to Florida at all...  and poop on Air Tran for their $75 change of flight fee in addition to the higher flight cost!)  The A's, consist of my girlfriend, Juanita, her husband, Steve (who Eric and I call "the nicest guy in the world"), and their six children;  Ainsley (9), Isabelle (9), Phoebe (7), Schuyler (6), Tripp (4) and Sebastian (2)...  oh and their new doggie, Rusty.

The kids want another baby (which is not happening according to J and S), so they gave Blake a huge welcome when we first arrived.

top row left to right:  Sebastian, Ainsley, Phoebe
middle row left to right:  Isabelle, Blake, Schuyler
bottom row:  Tripp

They A's just bought their home last month, so my mission was to help them unpack as much as possible and offer any decorating tips if they needed any.  They have been living in homes less than 1/2 the size in the past, so this was a fun project to help out with!

This is their new home.  It is GORGEOUS, besides my little economy car parked out front!

Saturday evening, Eric and Colton came in town, and we checked into our hotel.  Since we have season passes to Universal Studios/Islands of Adventure, we decided to stay on their property.  Our hotel gave us early entrance admission to Islands of Adventure and Express Passes throughout the day (and I got to ride the new Harry Potter ride and only waited 5 minutes!)

Our hotel was built to resemble Portofino, Italy

We went to the amusement parks a few times (and Colton was 42" this time, even without his special shoes from a previous blog post (here)), our pool (The A's minus Sebastian and a sick Steve even met us one day) and hung out with Eric's twin brother and family who were also staying at our hotel.


Here are some more pictures:

Schuyler (Colton's 'crush') and Colton

Tripp and Colton

Isabelle cooling down in the pool

After the pool, the kids played in the piazza before heading to dinner

Tripp, Colton and Phoebe heading up to the restaurant

...and stopping on the steps to pose

Colton even had Spiderman sign his shirt at Islands of Adventure!

Blake and I, and Erika (my s.i.l) and Keilan flew home early, while the hubbys and older boys stayed for a few more days.  Here are the brousins at the airport on the way home.  Do you see any resemblance?

What FUN place have you been to lately?

Six Flags

I LOVE spending one-on-one time with my oldest superhero.  Now that summer is over, we don't have our Tuesday "dates" anymore together.

Blair invited us as her guests with herself and her family (mom, 2 sisters, nephew Carson (4) and niece Emily (19 months) to Six Flags on Sunday.  Eric decided to stay home with Blake (thank you hubby!), so that Colton and I could ride all of the "big boy" rides together.

Sunday morning, the fam spent time making an airplane out of Toobies, before we left to meet Blair's family to carpool to the amusement park.

Colton is proud of our airplane! (check out the little superhero playing ball with Daddy)

Here are pictures from our day.  I wish I had taken some of Blair and her family, but we were so wrapped up in the kids!

Colton loves sitting in the front of mini roller coasters.  I couldn't stop laughing for some reason getting bumped around the track  ;)

Colton "winning" his prize...  a Flash cape

Colton and Emily...  yes, she really is only 19 months!

Colton and Carson playing the piano at our restaurant in the park

Me and my baby in the sun...  drying off after getting soaked on a water ride

My pilot taking me for a ride on a Batman helicopter

The kiddos on a train ride w-a-i-t-i-n-g for the ride to start

And dinner at McDonald's.  I was STARVING and felt like I could eat any amount of calories running around the park all day.

Thanks for reading about our day!!  In a few weeks, the fam and I are going back down to Florida to Universal Studios and Islands of Adventure.  Until then, this was a great local park to have some fun at!

http://www.sixflags.com/national/index.aspx

Dutch Wonderland

Yesterday, we took Juliana and Colton to Dutch Wonderland, while Blake spend the day in his new daycare.  Dutch Wonderland is an amusement park I used to go to as a kid, with rides good for ages 8 and under (PERFECT!!)

The kids (and Eric and I) had such a fun day.  Juliana and Colton went on all kinds of rides, and even spent time in their watermark going on many watersides.

Here are some pictures from our day...

(or... here's Juliana at our house the day before we left for the park...  golfing with Colton)

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They rode this coaster at least 15 times!  And LOVED sitting in the front and putting their hands in the air.

I rode these swings with them once.  I don't have it in me anymore for  rides that go in a circle  ;)

Dutch Wonderland is located in Amish Country Lancaster, Pennsylvania:

http://www.dutchwonderland.com/

Summer's Almost Over ;(

Well, a lot has happened since I blogged last.  It takes me about an hour to compose a new post, so I've been a little lazy lately to say the least.

The fam has been busy over the past 4 weeks, having a visit from Grandma and Pop Pop, spending 10 days on the west coast of Florida, and just hanging around and enjoying the summer sun.

Here are some pictures with descriptions of our last few weeks:

The kids and I have gone about 3-5 days a week to our gym.  Mommy gets to work out, and the boys play in the KidsSpace

My FAV machine at my gym!  http://www.expresso.com/

Grandma and Pop Pop came into town, and we went to the Nature Center on a Saturday morning.  The weather was BEAUTIFUL, and we had a great time looking at the animals and the gorgeous flowers.

We spent about 10 days on the West Coast of Florida....

So many sea shells at Sanibel Island!!

Sanibel Island with the superheroes

On Sunday night, we went to King Richard's Amusement Park in Naples.  There were really cute rides for the superheroes!

 And Naples Zoo with the fam...

Boat ride at the zoo

We stayed at the Waldorf, Astoria in Naples and were BUSY, BUSY, BUSY!!

We collected sand dollars on a sand bank.  They were EVERYWHERE!!!

Daddy and Colton watching a dolphin on a beach in Naples

There it is!

Brotherly love!!

On August 7, one of my good friends came to stay at our resort with her husband and 6 kids!  It was also her birthday!!!

Sebastian playing with a snail

Isabella and Blake

Floatin' on the beach the Aycocks!  (Juanita's fam)

and playing Duck, Duck, Goose after dinner

Slumber party in our room with 3 of the Aycocks (Ainsley, Colton, Tripp and Isabelle)

Tripp and Colton watching Power Rangers ;)

Schuyler, Tripp, Colton, Isabelle, Blake, Moi, Juanita (Happy Birthday!), Ainsley, Steve and Sebastian (Pheobe and Eric not shown)

After our yummy Strip House dinner...  Steve, Juanita, Me and Eric

If you are planning on going to Naples, Florida, I would highly recommend our hotel, and King Richard's if you have small children.

http://www.waldorfastorianaples.com/


http://kingrichardspark.net/