Disney World

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What can I say?  We had the BEST time.  I know Morgan will not remember the trip much (if at all) but Tessa loved it and it was such an enjoyable vacation.  We enjoyed visiting all four parks, meeting many characters, good dining, many fun rides and exciting shows, and making memories that will last a lifetime.  Now I want to go back!  By the way, this is only about a third of the pictures.  I am going to make a photo book soon and will post the finished product here so you can check it out!  For now, these were some of our favorites!

A Day with Grandma

My mom watched the kids Monday, Tuesday, and 1/2 of Wednesday so we didn't have to pay daycare for the week.  They had a blast...so much so that Tessa asked all day yesterday to go see Grandma.  Monday they ventured to Kings Island with my mom and dad and Tuesday the day's venue was the butterfly show at Krohn Conservatory. My mom took a ton of pictures, and though I wasn't there, it is clear the kids enjoyed themselves.

They both have been talking about the butterflies ever since.  Thanks, Mom for watching them so I could finish up work and save the daycare money for Disney!

As We Speak....

As I write this, the Palmers are somewhere in Walt Disney World (I wrote and scheduled a few posts to be published while we were away).  We are probably eating ice cream,

 riding rides,

 and enjoying being in each other's company for a week.

(And probably meeting a lot of characters, eating a ton, and spending a lot of money).  Can't wait to post pictures when we get back!

Home Depot Kids Camp

I heard about the Home Depot crafts from a Facebook friend and finally tried it out this past weekend.  It was awesome and we will most definitely be going again.  Every other week or so, they have a craft.  On your first visit, you get your very own kid-sized apron and each subsequent visit, you receive a pin to add to your apron that is specific to that day's craft.

 This week, the craft was jewelry boxes/father's day catch-alls.  Tessa ended up decorating hers for herself, so Morgan's became a part of Daddy's father's day gift.  I took the kids by myself while Nate did yard work, and it was actually quite manageable.  Everything for the craft was prepackaged and all needed materials were laid out in a very organized fashion. 

Tessa enjoyed hammering her box together.

 Morgan preferred the painting and sticker-decorating part.  But really, they both had a blast the whole time. 

Can't wait to see what the next craft it!  (And if you're interested in taking your own little ones, the schedule can be found on their website).  Lowes has a similar program we may check out as well, but I was impressed with Home Depot!

First Two Days of Summer!

In backwards order....last night we kicked off Daddy being off work for vacation for a quick trip to Graeters before heading to Disney World (in about 2 hours - ah!)  What a fun surprise it was that it was Dog Night at Graeters.  The kids had a blast playing the piano and watching all the dogs eat ice cream.

 The kids also had their first day of gymnastics yesterday at Kids First.  Tessa did soooo great!  I was proud of her.  Considering it took her about 6 weeks of dance before she actually participated, she jumped right in at gymnastics and did everything.  It was so nice for me to see her interacting with the other kids and teachers.  She was not shy at all.  Morgan, on the other hand, didn't do so great.  He is probably the youngest in his class, as it was for 2-3 year olds and he just turned two.  But he did not really want to follow along and stay on the same circuit as the other kids.  He preferred to run around and wanted to do pretty much anything his class wasn't doing.  We changed the class time to earlier in the day for next time, hoping he might be more focused if we go first thing in the morning instead of nap time.  Hopefully that works, or he will be unenrolled pretty quickly.

 My little gymnast.  It was nice her dance leotard could double as a gymnastics one, though we may have to buy her another.

 And our first 1/2 day off we headed to the zoo!  We hadn't been in awhile, and it was CROWDED!  Fortunately, the kids listened really well and we enjoyed a couple of hours seeing the animals before returning home for naps.

 The best part of the day was, as usual, the goats.  Morgan loved feeding and brushing them.

 Tessa loved them too, but not for long.  See that lovely skirt she is wearing?  Well, a goat ate her skirt. Yep, just started chewing on it and chewed a big hole in the middle of her skirt.  It was TRAUMATIC!  Somehow, I managed to calm her down enough to continue walking around, as I had no extra clothes.  I don't know if she'll be going in to pet the goats again anytime soon.

And now, it is time for Disney World.  I will post pictures in about a week!  Until then, I have several other posts scheduled to come your way.

School's OUT for the summer!

Thanks to my mom and dad who watched the kids for these last couple of days so I could finish up work without having to pay a full week of daycare.  We have all had a good year, but are so ready for summer!   One of our summer ventures is both kids are doing Tumble Bees gymnastics at Kids First.  Tessa has been asking to do gymnastics for awhile and Morgan is the same age Tessa was when I did Gymboree and Kids First has a similar Mommy and Me program.  The timing was perfect and they will both in class at the same time.  Couldn't be more perfect.  These are from an open house at a different gym, GymNation, that we also checked out.  Their first day is tomorrow and then we leave for Disney the following morning.  Let summer begin!

Summer Play Group

I joined a play group this summer started by some teachers I taught with at the middle school.  Yesterday was the summer kick off party and BBQ at Pine Hill Park, one of our favorites!  The kids were happy to see some of their friends from "school" there as well, especially some of their favorite friends from their classes at Kids R Kids.  It was nice the daddies came to the BBQ as well - it was very helpful having both of us there since our kids were EVERYWHERE!

It was our first time playing in the splash pad at the park, and we weren't really prepared for it clothes-wise, but Morgan ventured in regardless and had a blast.  I'm looking forward to the weekly play group adventures!