Bienvenidos a Mexico!

A quick visit to Grammie Jean before we made it to Miami

Her dear friend Billie,   no relation but what a doll he was and such a good friend to Jean.  We loved getting to see him again,  he turns 100 this year. :)

 I absolutely love this field behind her house.  I have pictures of the Bit running through it in years prior.

 So good for the girls to stretch their legs after hours and hours in the car

 They love quick hotel stops.

 Brian was behind me doing lord only knows what to make them giggle this wonderfully!! 

 DCL here we come!  Here's the changing of the guard so to speak,

 only 5 kids between all of us....but sometimes it felt like so many more :)

 Run for your life Goofy! 

 confession,  I wanted her to bring this toy...just so I could have this picture right here!!!

 The incredible kids club.  It makes all the difference when your kids are so happy when they are not with you.  

 sweet Caroline!

 Now that's a happy Bit! The Sail Away party ROCKS!

 Abigail always gravitates to the cast members :)  And they love her for it!

 After the show was over most people left the deck,  our kids took over the stage and loved the pumping loud music.  Caroline was right in there.

The cast members gathered in the side wings to watch and laugh at the kids.  One came up to me after saying how much they enjoyed watching all our kids and remembered being that age when they fell in love with Disney.

 A big stage and loud music, she was in heaven.  Though she had true dancer blisters on her feet from tearing it up for so long.

 Miami was a beautiful port to sail out of

 Sunrise on Deck 10 the next morning,  daddy helped secure "La-La" so she didn't fall overboard

 The sunrise was beautiful

 Brunch was amazing,  they gave us a private dining room totally unexpected, no extra cost.  We were in heaven. And yes, that's caviar on my plate.   At least I can say I've tried it.  Now we all have. 

 Disney Diva

 Chloe's favorite slide all week long.  The twist and shout

 our sweet buddies, Nick and Tara

and our other buddies and partners in crime for the week Ryan and Alisa

 I was having a good hair day,  I told Brian to take my picture :)

 I promise you,  Chloe rode that slide no less then 15 times in a row this night

And poor Brian trumped up that huge spiral staircase right along with her all 15 times,

 Ahh,  Cozumel!!

 Random cave under a tree,  very cool. 

Yup, that's a look of love.  A man who allows his wife to put him in stupid hats and take his picture,  every trip since our honeymoon.  

 visiting turtle nests on the far side of the island.  They were empty but still cool to see

 cutie patootie

A weird wonderful hilltop bar called Coconuts we climbed up to. 

 time to head back to pick up the girls,  family shopping time in Cozumel!

 ha ha!!   My family tradition spills down to another generation!

 We had some name bracelets made for the girls. I absolutely love these people. We walked through the market and I loved talking to them in my best Spanish (which isn't saying much but I try and the locals get a big kick out of my efforts)

We should all crab walk to our rooms every now and again

 That would be a worn out baby butt!!!

 "Arrrrrgh!!"  Time for our favorite pirate night.   "Yo Ho"

 Look at all our adorable scally wags

 Deck party and fireworks show,  seriously this was the last of the Bit's strength.  5 min after this she was limp in my arms exhausted.   So fun,  so tiring!

Cohen now a seasoned pirate,  last cruise he was passed out asleep.  Not this year, he was into the party scene!

I love this shot of Lydia,  it's one of my favorites.   She's being so adorably 3 yrs old and biting her plate. That look of proud mischief  in her eyes is just perfect!

 Not our favorite meal but the spider desert was an all around hit!

 This is why we love Disney,  our waitress for the week bonded with these kids.  Here shown serving desert while Abigail straps her Pluto dog to her head.

 I love catching the parent paparazzi  in action!

Our own little porthole Halloween angles

 Love this,  Nick with Chloe's hat, Caroline's wings and Minnie Mouse Lydia on his hip.  Feeling the fun and being a good dad!

 Halloween deck party,  Disney style!

 Yeah Castaway Cay!!!  Other then our sweet little home,  our 2nd favorite place on earth!!!

 The great thing about being a Disney family, is you return to favorite places with in that world and see your kids grow up in them.  I have the same picture of Abigail dancing to the music in front of that gazebo at 2 yrs old wearing my hat.

 Is it just me,  or does she look awfully grown up holding his hand on that gorgeous hallway!?!?!

 We bought the girls matching dresses in Cozumel and they looked like bonita little senoritas wearing them our last night there. 

All tucked in for our last night,  Chloe actually was already asleep by the time I realized I had no bunk bed shots. 

It was an amazing week and another awesome adventure with my family.   We packed it up on a wing and lots of prayer to take our family vacation to Mexico with our dear friends.   We love us some Disney and our goal last vacation was to add a family each time we go.  We succeeded by taking 2 families this time. (Mwaa haa haa)  We all had a blast and when I'm rested and caught up I'll reopen this blog to journal all our awesome memories for my books.  But for now, I work tomorrow and I'm tired so I'm going to keep it short and sweet.  I know our dear families want to see some pictures so here is a sample.  We have so many more for the family blog book I print annually but for this I tried to keep it short.   God was more then good to take us all safely down all the way to Cozumel Mexico and back again with these sweet little girls.  We are so grateful for more good memories to enjoy and happy thoughts to soak our spirits with for weeks and long winter months to come.   We never take a single happy time for granted.  Enjoy the photos and I will work on all the fun sweet details later on.  

Season #2!

Her bull buddy for the year, Brianna

 getting her swag on in hip hop

We had a special day in October this year, a Day of Dance in a neighboring city.  It was an all day of workshops for the company kids.  It was the first event for Abigail and I'm happy to say she did great.  I was worried sick about her making through 5 hours straight of classes with out breaks.   I had no idea if she would rebel with exhaustion,  melt into tears or surprise me and push through.  Well, she went with the latter.   They started at around 1 oclock with a 30 min warm up then moved into class after class of ballet, tap, jazz, lyrical and hip hop.  They didn't even give the kids a chance to eat (I wasn't thrilled about that) but between classes she would rush to me out of breath and smiling as I would literally shovel food as fast as I could into her mouth. Each class she would return to the floor still chewing.    By the last class of the evening she was exhausted.   She had dreaded the hip hop class all week knowing it was coming.  It is her least favorite genre of dance.  I was worried that since it was last she might try to get out of it.  I just don't give her enough credit sometimes.   She blew me away with the fun and swag she brought to that class.   She loved the teacher, a dread locked young man with one of those flat billed ball caps was too cool for school to all those little girls.  It wound up being her favorite class of the whole day.   I have no idea where she found the energy for it but boy did she prove she had what it takes.   She bounded out of there after awards and was high as a kite from it all.   As promised I took her to Cracker Barrel and let her order the moon with more moon on the side to recharge her little body.   I was proud as peach of her....again.   The way home we had a sweet heart to heart.  It was exhausting for me since the day also took it's toll on me, but she was frustrated that she didn't know it was all to earn scholarships at the end.   I figured she knew when we taped a big number to her chest but she didn't.   She was mad at herself for not trying harder all day.  Then the exhaustion kicked in and she got down on herself.   I didn't tell her about the scholarships on purpose.  My goal was set lower,  survive the day with out tears and make it through the hip hop class.    My mistake.   Never under estimate Abigail Grace.  I assured her she put plenty of effort and gave it all she had through the day.   It was good to get the hour drive home to hear her heart and give her all my attention.  I love those times in our relationship.   She barely drew a breath the whole drive.  Luckily we ended with lots of laughs and silliness rolling back into town before we relayed it all to Daddy back at home.
   Our school swept all 4 awards that day so I know we are in good company at this school. We were proud to be a part.   She had so much fun and learned a lot once again from professional teachers.   It's going to be a big year full of challenges for her and for me.   I never want to ask too much of her but I have to balance this young little life of hers.   You're only a child once.   I don't want her to have any regrets later.   It's a lot to juggle.  Homework,  dance, play with sister, social needs, spiritual needs, emotional needs.   Brian and I have our work cut out for us.   One day at a time.  One year at a time we'll see what her wants and desires continue to be.  For now, she wants it all so we run, race, drive, and play.   We do our best to make our memories and soak it all in.  We put her in places with opportunities and watch her grow and shine.   A day of dance was a good start to the year.   Who knows what God has in store for her this go round.  I'm sure glad He's in charge!!! 

fall catch up

 the only way to get a good natural smile out of Chloe sometimes is to catch her in mischief,  she was throwing grass at my camera and it made her happy.  

 Dancing to something playing in her head I guess.....always.

 Home sweet home with a big moon bonus to set our scene for the evening!

Well the weather is turning colder finally.   The leaves are beautiful and have peppered our yard with color.     I took some pictures of a night when we did a back yard fire pit.  We made s'mores and enjoyed the cool evening air together.   I enjoyed bugging the girls with a few photos.   Luckily they love me anyway.  It was a very nice night.

Our baby is starting school!!

It just seems like yesterday that I was waddling up to take Abigail to her first day of preschool 8 months pregnant with Chloe.  Now I blink and my baby is in her first year of preschool.   Man that went by fast!   We took Chloe to her first day of school and she was fearless.  Just like Abigail my girls love to try something new which makes it so much easier for me!  I don't have time to be sentimental or sad because they are too busy being excited about the newness in their lives.  Why would I pull them down?!   She got a wonderful teacher who has been teaching preschool for 15+ years.   Chloe settled right in and made some new friends.   She loves grabbing her bag and proudly walking out the door in the mornings off to her own world.  Finally,  she gets her own place, class, schedule, friends and stories that are all hers.  No more sharing the rest of the familie's activities,  she now has her own!  And being a last child myself I know that's a good feeling.  I'm proud of my girl and so happy she's having such a good kick off year to school! 

 Can't go into class with your shoes on the wrong "peet"

 First time meeting her and Chloe was already giving her kisses!

some sweet special times

I am getting into a bad habit in the past couple years.   Facebook is such an easy venue to spill some creative juices that I let sweet memories slide into a status update and then not journal them into this blog for safe keeping.   I wanted to back up a quick memory into storage before time erases it.
     I had a very special time with my Abigail Grace last night.   She started the 2nd grade yesterday.    We were disappointed that she got into a classroom apart from her 3 closest friends and into one with only a couple of familiar names.   She is such a trooper though.  She dealt with the disappointment and anxiety so briefly at first but then got excited about the possibility of making new friends for the year.   She can be fearless sometimes.  She does NOT get that from me!    She had a wonderful first day.   When she got off the bus our Mommy/Abigail time was interrupted by little Chloe waking up excited to see her sister again after rest time.   Abigail treasures this one on one time with me after school so I promised we would squeeze it in before days end.
    We decided to take an after dinner walk to a park in walking distance to our neighborhood.   She bobbed and bounced as we strolled off down our street.    I remember, as  a child I hated to have my heart to hearts interrupted by my sweet but chatty sisters.   Being 3rd in line to share possible repeats of their own life experiences I hesitated to open up to my mom.  But sometimes she would come into my room after 9 at night and just sit down to listen. I knew she was so tired at that time of day but she must have learned it was the only time I really opened up.  Only then would I know that life interruptions were minimal and proceed with sharing my heart.    I think Abs is like me in this. She craves that private uninterrupted attention.
   As soon as we walked 20 feet away from the house her heart was open and pouring like a river.    I listened intently as she shared her day with me.   It took time for all the highlights to surface and even some hard struggles she'd had.    A quiet lonely lunch by herself,  a hard comment from a desk mate, but she let it all spill and I was so proud of her for not over dramatizing anything and how she handled it all bravely and was optimistic for tomorrow's newness.    We walked hand in hand down the scenic walking trail and I felt so incredibly blessed.  
     Mom always taught us,  you will have a lifetime of friends but only one mom.  Most of the time these early years are peppered with parental corrections.   "Don't touch that!",  "please use a tissue",  "ladies don't behave that way!",  "you won't speak to me in that tone"  and " sweetie for goodness sakes clean your room"!   But there are moments, as they grow up where I believe God gives us a hopeful glimpse into the future.   A glimpse, that if you persevere look at the friend and companion I will give you later.   Last night was one of those glimpses for sure.   She is such a developing Godly woman in a tiny bit size body!   A young woman who wants to please God and her parents.  She wants to do the right thing so desperately but learning that life brings out the best and worst in all of us at times.   Humility comes with the honest realization of how hopelessly flawed we all really are.     But I tell you what, I was proud of Abigail and the day in the life of her in this world she shared with me on that walk.
     Yesterday we went to run some errands and at 2 different times 2 different strangers asked her if she was starting kindergarten this year.   She smiled graciously and shook her head no, and explained to them she started the 2nd grade.  She's such a peanut.  She tries not to let it show but I know it hurts her feelings.  She hasn't worn a dress in days and she told me she wants to wear her hair down and pierce her ears so she will look older.    As soon as she opens her mouth she is so obviously not a 5 year old.   I love this kid.   It will be so fun to watch God work in her life and make her who He wants her to be.  I don't know what His plans are for her but I know he has some special ones for our Little Bit.   What a girl, what a young lady,  what a blessing to my life she is already and what a friendship I look forward to with every day we spend together!    Whew,  I make myself cry on these posts sometimes.   Ok,   another little lady is anxious for my attention right now.   She's wearing her Hello Kitty bathing suit and building a tent in our living room.    Our # 2 is an awful special lady as well.   Must keep at it,  my buddies in training need me and who am I kidding I need them too.   :)