Disney World: Day 1

After many months of planning and waiting, the day of our big trip came! We woke up early to get to the airport, but not before taking off the last chain link on our Disney World Countdown.

Getting the kids and all their gear and all gear checked and through security is always a bit a a process. But Anna and Isaac were troopers and were super excited to board the first ride of the trip-the airport train.

We arrived in Orlando in the late afternoon. After meeting up with Grandpa Larry and Grandma Marlene, we checked into our hotel and headed to Downtown Disney for dinner and browsing. Anna was already on the hunt for a souvenir to take home and we did our best to convince her to wait a few days before making any decisions.

We tried to settle in pretty early so that we could arrive at the Magic Kingdom right at opening the next morning. Anna was so excited to sleep in Grandma and Grandpa's hotel room. I don't think she got the best nights sleep with the anticipation of the next day.

A Family Portrait: Updated

Two BOYS are headed our way!

First Day of Preschool

Anna's first day of preschool went so well. She was beyond excited and ran right into the classroom, found her cubby, and sat right down. I was such a proud mama.

Anna and her friends. She's been doing a playgroup on and off with these kids for the last two years. Kaitlyn, Anna, Lucas, and Robert.

One last pose. Very natural.

Governor's Park

Anna and Isaac have the best dad. Can you tell they adore him?

Best picture ever.

Governor's Park is one of our favorite places to go. I've posted about it before. It's not much more than a neighborhood park downtown, but the kids love the playground and all the dogs running around the hilly grass. I love all the mature trees and plenty of shade. Good times had by all.

Berry Patch Farm

We had such a fun time at Berry Patch Farm, a local "buy what you pick" farm. The weather was perfect and we've been enjoying our harvest ever since.

There were a few animals hanging around, but this beauty was definitely the star of the show.

Anna was very meticulous about which berries to pick. She took the rules about only picking the ripest berries very seriously.

Isaac, on the other hand, stuffed his face with whatever morsel he could get his hands on. He was a picking/eating machine.

I loved the farm store. You could store your berries while you milled around and until you were ready to purchase. They were roasting fresh picked chilies and I couldn't help but pick some up for dinner.

Waiting for the wagon ride out to the strawberry fields.

More of our spoils.

Isaac did his best to keep up with the big boys.

The boy has personality spilling out of him.

I'm already looking forward to returning. It was such a lovely time.

A New Camera. Hurrah!

I realize that there is a major gap in the blog. Pretty much all of summer. I'll get to that. But honestly, my picture taking the past couple of months has been more than pathetic. Which really is a shame since we have had one of the busiest, most fun summers.

Thankfully, I lost my piece of poop (excuse my french) camera which left me a beautiful excuse to buy a new one. And I have happily been taking billions of pictures again. Here are a few of the first from my new toy.

Morning beauties.

Geeking out with goggles.

Their authentic smiles. A rarity.

Morning ritual: cartoons and playing outside.

Goofing around and Anna with her constant companions.

Love these kids.

A Family Portrait

This isn't much of an announcement since we've basically been shouting our news from the rooftop since we found out, but yes, TWO babies are making their way into our family January 2011.

The kids are always playing with rocks outside (the ratio of rocks to grass in front of our house is about 3:1) and this was Anna's latest rock creation. She ran in shouting for me to come see our family. So sweet. When I went to call her in about ten minutes later she was pretending she was a giant eating each member of our family and then chucking the bones back into the rock pile. So...disturbing?

Before the carnage began.

Real life carnage.