sea world

We started our Florida trip with a visit to SeaWorld this year!  First up...the arctic penguin exhibit. After a little ride, we went into the penguin area and it was cold (about 30 degrees)!  Some people actually had parkas on just for this exhibit..but we toughed it out with short sleeves on. 

 

 After that, Adam ran off to ride one of the big roller coasters and Savannah pouted a little because she wasn't all enough. So..we checked out a few exhibits and even ran into a flock of flamingos going for a walk!!

We caught up with Adam again for the dolphin show, where we got a litttttle bit wet because we sat in the splash zone.  The show was great -- they loved it! 

 

 Next we went to see dolphins up close (really close) but I didn't get any good pics. The stingrays however, loved Savannah. I think she touched about 100 of them. Gage was happy after he touched 1 :-)

 Shark encounter!!  This was in the tunnel... that guy seems to think Gage looks tasty :-)

 

We also saw a sea lion show, which Gage really loved. It was super silly.

 

 

 Most of the rides for kids are in one section, so first up was the undersea carousel.

 

 The kid in charge of the ride came around to check seatbelts and made Adam put a seatbelt on because "everyone who rides must wear one".  I don't know how he got that kid-sized belt on...it was rather amusing!!!!

 Here Gage is being "brave" riding with NO HANDS!

 Guess who he got that idea from?!

In the afternoon we saw the Shamu show -- the killer whales.  Savannah insisted we sit in the soak zone --- I got worried when I saw all of our neighbors putting on rain panchos!! I was right to worry.

 We got SOAKED.  Savannah LOVED it. Gage was miserable.

We rounded out the day with a few more kids rides, but there was a BIG storm heading our way so we called it a day.  Everyone picked out a stuffed animal and we made a break for the car before the storm hit.  So, SeaWorld was fun.

first lost tooth

Savannah (aka snaggletooth) has been wiggling her loose tooth for weeks now. She was determined to lose it at Disney because she thinks tinker bell will pick up her tooth there (because tink is the head fairy in Disney world, you know). Here she is on the ride down to Florida - it was barely hanging in! And here she is about 10 minutes after we checked into our room!  Adam pulled it for her and let me say it was a little traumatic. She cried because it bled for a few minutes.

But, tinker belle DID come to get it and left her $5, 2 Disney dollars, and a tinker bell pin.  There was also a trail of glitter from the window to Savannah's pillow and although mommy was quite proud of herself for this magical touchy, savannah was quick to point it lit that pixie dust is "always" yellow and this was silver and pink. Touché little girl. Mommy tried, though. 

Quite the sister, savannah offered to give gage her $5 so he could buy a pin for himself! Well....gage looked under his pillow and found a Disney dollar and a jake the pirate pin!! I don't think that gage will get something when his sister loses teeth in the future, but special things happen in Disney ;-)

santa's almost here!

Christmas is so close...the kids are going nuts!   Here are a few of the ornaments we made this year. We turned their handprints into santas...

 we did some felt tree ornaments...stuffed with cotton balls because we had to improvise!

 we made popsicle stick trees

 and cornstarch ornaments - I love how they turned out so simple and bright white

 we made gingerbread houses...and more gingerbread houses!

and ice cream cone xmas trees

 and...we reached the end of our countdown calendar.  I pin red envelopes with numbers on them to the pantry door every year. Every morning when the kids open them, there is an activity to do. 

 And...we baked gingerbread cookies for Santa because those are his favorite. But...Gage may have snuck in to eat a few of Santa's cookies on Xmas eve ;-)

christmas!

They slept in until almost 7am -- Adam was going crazy! He likes to stay in bed until they come and get him to let him know Santa came.  That's about 2 hours later than he usually stays in bed ;-)

First up...stockings!

 Next up...everything else :-)

Looks like Daddy has a birdhouse to build with this serious builder!

 Yeah....I would not have ordered that Frozen castle if I had looked at the measurements first!  That's a little bigger than I had expected!!

 Oh boy...this just looks like trouble

 Little Woodzeez...and lots of them!

 Octonauts -- he is SUPER excited about his Octonaut toys!

 and his new handsome tie :-)

 and savannah's dogs...or dolls...or dog-dolls...whatever they were...she was excited!

 It was a great day. It just disappeared on us. Suddenly it was 7:30 pm and we didn't know where the day had gone!   We had our traditional lobster dinner with Belgian beer while the kids had baked macaroni and cheese. We built legos. We played games. We played. And they passed out that night. A good day :-)

snaggletooth

Savannah has a really loose tooth, so her new nickname is "snaggletooth"! It's just hanging there and it wiggles like crazy, but it's not quite ready.  I think she will lose it whole we are at Disney :-)

Holiday odds & ends

Gage digs wearing the Santa hat this year. He keeps putting presents under the tree and asking me if I thought he was Santa...

We are crafting like crazy!

Aunt Karen sent us this idea and it came out cute!

We decorated a whole Santa's village of gingerbread houses

And... We have has birthday and Christmas parties galore!

And we still have 9 days left!!

shepherd Gage

Gage had his Christmas program at school today and he was a shepherd.  He said he liked wearing the costume, but it was "a little itchy".   When I dropped him off this morning he asked where I would be sitting -- he was worried about finding me in the crowd.  So, when he came out today he was looking and looking and then he spotted Daddy and his face lit up. I love the smile on his face when he finds us (the first picture) :-)  They sang about 8 short songs, but his favorite was the last one -- they sang We Wish You a Merry Christmas, and when the say "now bring me some figgy pudding" the kids stomped their feet really hard -- and then when they say "we won't go until we get some" they cross their arms, shake their heads and look stubborn (yes, yes, I know....that's a standard look for him!).

 

 

 

He did a great job!!  And...tomorrow he gets to do it all over again! Since he's in the 5 day program he gets to perform twice :-)   

elf antics

Snowy has been up to trouble again this year. One morning blue toilet papered the doorway, got himself tangled up in toilet paper and sat in a little tree (behind gage). Oh- and he wrote on the toilet paper "snowy was here"!

Well, later that day gage tried to pull the tp off of snowy. Well, the tree fell forward and landed on him. Gage broke down I tears because he touched snowy and you know what that means...snowy loses his magic and can't fly back to the North Pole every night. G was devastated! So, I emailed Santa, and he told us to be on the lookout for an emergency elf recovery kit. He said he also saw the whole thing happen and knew it was an accident, so gage was not going on the naught list (gage was worried).  A while later an envelop arrived at our door with sparkles all around it and a pack of magic medicine inside. We put it near gage and a whole later, we found snowy sitting up, so apparently the medicine was working!

Well...another day I was messing with the lights on the mantle and I touched snowy by accident. But, gage saw me and called me out. So, Santa delivered another elf recovery kit addressed to me this time. Gage took care of giving snowy the medicine (glitter) this time. I really need to be more careful with that elf!!

He got in trouble with daddy one day by hanging on Leonids' spear. 

He wrapped the potty!!

And he also made marshmallow snow forts with the elf and my little Swedish gnomes on one side and the superheroes on the other side.

Yes, snowy reindeer is just as mischievous as last year!!