Inverhuron Beach

The girls and I took a walk down to the beach tonight. It's amazing how much it really does change day to day. I guess the winds and waves change it. After we rode our bike over to the park and had some fun. It's suppose to be 80 by Saturday. We will see if it actually happens.

Daddy~Daughter Day

This is a little late posting but I guess better late than never.....

So last Saturday Grace was not feeling well so Matt and Kaitlyn did some yard work. Matt had decided to trim some trees and do some burning and get the yard up to shape. Kaitlyn decided she wanted to help. It was so much fun watching them outside working together. It was a great day for Matt and Kaitlyn to just have time together. I have to say the yard is just awesome! There is a little more to burn then we can start thinking about planting our garden.

Matt and I bought some Adirondack chairs for around the fire pit with our birthday money. Now it's time to get some marshmallows and do some roasting. Yum!

Sunset on Lake Huron

Kaitlyn has been asking for us take a walk down to the lake to watch the sunset. So tonight we decided was the night. It was such a beautiful day. It got up to 65 degrees today. Matt did some clearing of the far end of the property so we can start planning out our garden. The girls and I rode bikes to the park around the corner. We are really enjoying the wonderful weather. But is sounds like come mid next week we may get a light dusting of snow for a couple days. But then our sunshine will return. We are really looking forward to spring and summer and have decided to plan our first camping trip. Hopefully we will be able to take it in the next few week. We have to see when the the campgrounds open first. We are anxious to start exploring the area.

Easter

I know this is a little late but I figure I should let you all know about our Easter. It was a quiet one with just getting back from Disney 6 days before. The Easter bunny left a scavenger hunt for the girls to find their gift. He brought them a new Wii game "Big Brain Academy". Which they love. He also left plastic eggs all over the house for them to collect.

We went to church and had a nice service. That afternoon we all headed over to the Berkman's for a yummy dinner. There was another couple there and a guy who Jim works with. It was such a nice time.

Animal Kingdom day 2

Today was our last day here. We went back to Animal Kingdom and did the Safari twice, watch the Lion King show-it was awesome!!!, Kaitlyn and I went on Expedition Everest while Matt and Grace went on the Kali River Rapids. We did a bunch of walking around looking at animals. We were so impressed at how Disney has made it so educational for the kids. We went out to the conservation area and got to see the "doctors office" for animal and got to see them feed some of the smaller animals and take care of their cages.

Looking back on this week we all agree it has been better than expected. I figured we would be lucky to get on the bigger rides once but we got to do them multiple times. But I admit I ran the family hard. I researched and planned and I think in the end it was very worth it. We are all thinking about coming back next year and it will be a more relaxing time now we know what to expect and some of the rides we won't do again, once was enough.

We are all packed up and ready for bed. We fly out around 11am tomorrow and land in Detroit at 2pm. By the time we get our luggage and back to our car and drive home it will be around 8. Just enough time to get the girls in bed for school the next day. Lucky for them it's a field trip day. The choir is going to sing in a town about an hour away. I am thinking about just keeping them home since they would be missing school anyway. We'll see!

Aniaml Kingdom

Today we went to Animal Kingdom. We started out with Expedition Everest. Grace was SOOOOO scared but Kaitlyn loved it. Matt and Kaitlyn went again then Kaitlyn and I went. She rode it back to back 3 times!!!! Then we headed into dinoland and did a smaller roller coaster there. Then it was off to "It's tough to be a bug" 3D show. Grace loved it and Kaitlyn was scared of it. Silly girl :) After we went to the Finding Nemo musical. That was AWESOME!!!! Grace and Kaitlyn both loved it, Grace was mesmerized by it. We had lunch and did back to back rides of the river raft ride. Got totally soaked but it was great because it got up to 90 today!! Then it was off to get pictures with Chip and Dale, Mickey and Minnie. We grabbed our seats for the parade. That was fun. We were all tired and decided to head back to the condo and swim and have dinner. Tomorrow is the last day and we will hit Animal Kingdom again and do what what we missed today. We are all getting tired and I think will be ready to go home but not really wanting to leave the sun. We hear that we will be going home to snow, total bummer!!!

Disney Day 5

Today was a mellow day for us. We slept in after having such a long day yesterday. We went off to Epcot and went to Ellen's Energy Adventure, had lunch, walked around a bit and went to Space Ship Earth, which we liked to call "the big golf ball". After we went back to the condo and went swimming, it was 85 today. Then it was off to Cheesecake Factory for dinner. It was nice to have a bit of a "down day". Tomorrow we will hit it hard again, going to Animal Kingdom. The girls are doing awesome and are just loving every minute. We are so proud of them and how mature they have been this whole trip. We had a melt down today but that was to be expected, my goodness we have been going non-stop for 5 days!! We are excited for tomorrow and can't wait to see what awaits us!

Epcot

Today we celebrated Matt's birthday in Epcot. It was a 13 1/2 hour day but we did it. The girls were amazing. Uncle Bob met us there and spent the day with us also. We got to the park early and while we were waiting to get in there was a down pour. We all got soaked but that was the fun of it all. We did Sorin, Turtle Talk with Crush, and Test Track. Grace and Matt got to talk with Crush, it was pretty cool!! Then we headed off to The World Showcase. We hit most of the countries before dinner. For Matt's birthday was ate in Germany. When we got there, there was a band playing. It was so cool! We had great food and Matt even got his "birthday German beer". After, Bob needed to head back home and we finished the rest of the countries. The girls stopped at all the KidCot stops where they decorate a mask and get a "card" to attach to it and a stamp saying they visited that country. Then it was time to pick our spot the the fireworks. What an awesome show!!! It was a great day and one we were very tired after. Saturday we will go back to Epcot and do the "big ball" and hopefully Ellen's adventure, it was down yesterday. It will be a shorter day. The girls are tired and we want them to just hang out, play in the pool and just have some down time before we hit Animal Kingdom.

Cocoa Beach

Today we headed out to Cocoa Beach. What a beautiful day!! I just loved being at the beach. The girls had a blast jumping waves and playing in the sand. We really didn't want to leave. I told Matt he needed to buy us a house at the beach. HA! The sun was shining so bright and it was about 82 degrees. All our freckles came it. It's so fun to see them again. I hear we will be going home to snow so we will see how long they last :(

We also met up with Uncle Bob and his friend Steve. We had dinner at a Mexican Restaurant then walked around Downtown Disney. It was such a great time laughing and catching back up.

Tomorrow is Matt's birthday and Bob is going to meet us at Epcot for the day. We are really looking forward to it.

Disney Day 1 & 2!

Well, here we are. Monday we took the girls out of school about noon and drove down to Port Huron. We did a little shopping for those last minutes items. We stayed at a hotel next to the airport. Tuesday morning our flight left at 9:22. We were in Orlando by noon. Once we got the rental car and drove to the condo we could check in early. So we got settled and headed to Magic Kingdom.

We got there about 4:00 and secured our fastpasses for Space Mt. While we were waiting we went on Buzz Lightyear, It's a small world, Haunted Mansion, and few other smaller rides and had dinner. Then it was Space Mt. Grace was so scared and Kaitlyn rode in the very front and LOVED it!!! We ended our day watching the end of the light parade and then the fireworks from the parking lot.

Today we woke up early and got to the park. We were able to ride Thunder Mt 2 times in a row. Then Splash Mt and got a fast pass for Splash Mt also. Then off to the rest of the rides for the day. We were so amazed how getting to the park and being there early how fast and simple it was to get on the rides. By 10:30 the park was a zoo.

We had some lunch and rode a couple more rides, Thunder and Splash again ( with fast passes ). Then we were all done. Matt and the girls went swimming while I have been downloading pictures and updating the blog.

We are off to Downtown Disney now to walk around and have dinner at House of Blues. Missing everyone and wish you all could be here with us!!

More to come tomorrow! We are off to Cocoa Beach and to have dinner with Uncle Bob and Steve tomorrow.