24th of July and such

There is so much I want to post about.  We have done so many fun things this summer- but it will have to wait till after the 24th of July.  Cause It's midnight and I've got a big sewing project.   See, I was sitting in primary on Sunday and looking at this cute pioneer outfit our Primary President brought and thought, "hmm, we should have a 24th of July party.  I could make an outfit like that for Ellie. I have a day to make it.  I'll do it!"  So today we went to the fabric store, (which is heaven to me, I can feel my heart sing anytime I go into a fabric store). Ellie and I chose out some fun fabrics.  We came home and I made a bonnet for her.  Then I made a bonnet for her friend.  Now it is almost midnight.  I still want to make a skirt, and apron for her, but I need to go to bed.  We've got dentist appointments and the party tomorrow.  Every night when the kids are asleep and it's all quiet I wish so badly I could pause time and get some stuff done.  Fun stuff- sewing and painting and blogging.  But no, time must go on.  So instead of time pausing, it keeps going and I just end up staying up late.  hmmph.   So it will be a few days before I get some serious blogging done.

On a side note the other day my 7 year old Kyle said a funny thing.  He said, "you know, 6 year olds, and 7 year olds, and 8 year olds- those are my kind of people.  3 year olds, and 4 year olds, and 5 year olds, their just to babyish for me."  Ok Kyle, glad to know, I won't make you hang out with any 3 year olds:)

Summer Time Summer Time

I wasn't really looking forward to this summer.  I am not sure why- I pictured myself laying on the couch in curlers and pajamas with sweat dripping off my nose trying to fan myself to get cool.  I could just see all the kids jumping all over me with nothing to do and nowhere to go because of the heat.
It hasn't been like that at all!  It has been great! In fact, it has been so fun I haven't blogged for a month! The weather here has just been AMAZING.  I mean, just absolutely beautiful and so much fun.
Typically our days go like this.  We get up- semi early.   I go to the gym while the older kids do jobs.  Then we do something fun- like the pool or Children's Museum or library.  Then we go home and Gabe takes a nap from 12-3 and I clean up, make dinner, surf the internet and search for jobs for Darren while I let the kids have quiet time- usually electronics or a book.   My kids have read a TON this summer which I am so happy about.  I won't lie, they have watched a ton of movies too.  But it's fun, I don't mind.  Then when Gabe wakes up it usually rains, so we just hang out.  Then Darren gets home from work and we have dinner and then go to the pool till it gets dark.  Then we come home and have what I like to refer to as "2nd dinner".  Which usually consists of a bowl of cereal or a sandwich.  Swimming makes us hungry- what can I say?    Then Darren usually has to show the kids something funny on the internet which usually leads to something else funny and we are all watching funny videos till it's way past time for bed.  I have had a hard time putting my kids to bed early (except Gabe) because we are usually having a fun time together! So lately we have all been going to bed at the same time.  And then I sneak out of bed and look for jobs and dream of houses in the peace of the night till the wee hours of the morning.  It's fun!
Some mornings all the kids climb in bed with me and we spend an hour just playing with Gabe trying to make him laugh, or talk, or point to his nose.  He is the center of everyone's attention.  He is so cute!  Sometimes I think, "what did we used to do before we sat around Gabe all day just playing with him?" This summer has been one to remember.
We have also done a lot of fun activities- but my favorite thing of all is just laying in bed in the morning nursing Gabe and snuggling with my kids instead of rushing them out the door to get on the bus.  Wait, maybe that is similar to me laying on the couch with my hair in curlers and kids climbing all over me.  I guess in Florida, the air conditioning makes all the difference.

Look What I Found...

The other morning I was upstairs and Paul was "watching" Gabe downstairs. When I came downstairs I was going to throw something away when I noticed something in the garbage can.  I looked inside and this is what I saw.  

Good thing it was a clean garbage bag!

A couple of games on the floor

Lets get a closer look there.  Oh boy.  I wonder why stuff goes missing at my house?

Alligator Facts

There are an estimated 1.6 million alligators in Florida.  And only about 170 trappers. So it's no wonder this little guy showed up in one of the ponds in our subdivision.  Thankfully, Ray, one of those 117 trappers came and caught him.  He was really nice and we got to get pictures of the kids holding Mr. Alligator- and didn't have to pay the usual $5.00 places charge to get your picture with a gator!

Ellie, Ray, and Mr. Alligator

Kyle, Ray, and Mr. Alligator

Paul, Ray and Mr. Gator

Ray had this big guy in the trailer behind his truck.  He had caught him earlier in the day at a different subdivision.   

The trappers only get paid $30 per alligator.  Would you catch a gator for $30??!! Not me, I have nightmares about my kids or me getting eaten by an alligator!

It's a Beautiful Day

We went to the beach the other day and it was so beautiful!!  It is nice here frequently - but it was particularly beautiful this day.  The water was gorgeous.  Check it out.

Look at that water!  Notice how there aren't really any waves- that is pretty typical for here.  I love it for the kids- Darren thinks it's boring.

Ellie and her friend Caroline

Kyle fishing with the scouts

Darren and Gabe

The kids finding all sorts of sea shells and treasures. The beach here is so fun because it is shallow for so long you can go out a ways and still touch.  And there isn't really a undertow or any waves.

Paul with his cast net.  We caught lots of fun fish with that thing!

After Paul get fish with his cast net, he puts them in this bucket and uses them for bait fish. If you can keep the birds from eating them!

It was so beautiful- Dolphins were all over the place!

Hanging out!

Gabe's face cracks me up

Playing with dad

The kids playing in the sand

I enhanced the colors in this picture- but I think it is pretty cool. Beautiful day right?!

Animal Kingdom

Well, our 4 day Disney passes were going to expire, so we decided to use up our last day to go to Animal Kingdom. Darren still is not a Disney lover- but he was a good sport and we were all super excited just to be together as a family!

  Disney World is HUGE!  From the time we drove under this sign we drove on the road for about 10 min- passing Hollywood Studios, Epcot, Magic Kingdom, and Blizzard Beach to get to Animal Kingdom.  I was starting to think we  missed it!

We made it!  We were there right at 8 as they open, only to find out that is the Disney Magic Hour, only for the guests staying in the Disney Hotels.  They wouldn't let us in till 9.  We were really bummed.  So we went into this really cool restaurant to hang out for an hour to wait till we could go in the park.

This is the Rainforest Cafe- at the entrance of Disney World.  It was incredible.  There were huge salt water fish tanks everywhere.

It had animatromics of monkeys swinging from trees, elephants, giraffes, birds.  And then it would thunder and lightning.  The ambiance was incredible.

We watched this guy get in one of the tanks and feed the eels.  It was pretty cool. 

We goofed around in the gift shop waiting to get into the park.

Cute Paul!

Isn't she a doll?!

Cool Kyle!

The second 9 o clock hit we went in Darren and the kids headed for the Safari Ride while I ran to get fast passes to Everest.  Then I ran and met them at the safari.  It worked good, but I was so sweaty!

Here we go!

Warthogs are so ugly!

Notice the ostrich eggs.  I had to wonder if they were real, or just "Disney Magic".

Cool Birds and nests.

In front of the roller coaster Everest, that wasn't that scary.  I loved this part of the park- the decor was awesome.  I think it would be so fun to go to Tibet.

Peddle faster Ellie!

We had to explain to our kids that people in other countries really use rickshaws.

One of my kids took this picture- and I really like it!

The tree in the center of the park!  We had fun playing I Spy here for a while.  This tree is amazing- Disney Artist's are incredible- they are the best of the best!

We went to the Lion King show- it was great!  They had Paul and Kyle come up at the end to dance around.

Just goofing off.

We loved this part of the park.  It was the Asian zoo- with huge bats, and tigers.

I thought these Tibetan Prayer Flags were so cool!  Wouldn't they be cool in a garden or something?

There were 2 bird aviaries that were, of course, amazing!

Ellie trying to get close to that really cool blue bird.

I'm telling you.  Disney pays attention to EVERY detail.  They do such an amazing job.  Here is a random tree- Look up at the orchids in it!

I loved the style of this hut.

Anyone else feel like traveling the world right now?

Look at that carving! I want some!

My beautiful Ellie!

That's all folks!  We drove home that night.  It was a great day!