Good Bye Florida

My parents live on the 17th floor of this high rise condo in Naples that overlooks the harbor and the ocean. It is so nice to have such a pretty view. On this morning, it was so foggy while we ate breakfast.

Then the fog cleared up! This is the guest room where there is such a pretty view in the morning.
We took a ride on a friend's boat and it was one of the highlights of our trip because...

... the dolphins came out to play!

This photo is not zoomed in. They were this close to us!

Good bye Florida...

Teacups and the rest of Florida...

Teacups!

This was the Mickey in the lobby of our hotel... We are really into posing and acting like Princesses and characters in photos.
A few days later, we went to the beach near my parent's place in Naples.

This is my Grandma and Grandpa - making banana splits with the kids in their trailer home. So precious to be with them.

Sunburned and tired but still awake at 9 PM.

Ellen and her Great Grandma. Ellen is the name of HER mom but they called her "Nellie".

Princess Lunch...

We went to Cinderella's castle and had lunch with the princesses. It was precious. The girls got to meet Cinderella and chit chat with her about her slipper here. They asked great questions!

Snow White was sweet... she talked about her 7 friends to the girls.
Ariel was also really fun. We talked with her about disobeying your daddy. She said she learned her lesson. I love talking with the characters and hearing the girls ask questions.
This was one of the many parades. The parades were a BLAST! We were always very excited and then the characters would interact with us.

This is a photo I never want to forget. Ellen is still learning to walk and she would stumble around with her bare legs (castle in the background).

In front of Pinocchio's house.

first glimpses into our trip...

Early morning arrival into the park...

A favorite character - can you tell who it is?
"There is a snake in my boot" - that freaked Sam out.

Buzz - Sam liked him

Precious, I love Minnie's little legs, she always posed them!

We {heart} Disney

We are doing great in Florida and are LOVING the warm sunny beach weather. What a wonderful break from the wind and snow that we have heard about!

Disney was simply AMAZING. It was probably the best day of my life since being a mom. Cheesy I know but it really is magical. The kids were in awe of every single character - not scared. We did almost every single ride. Baby Ellen (14 mo) was fabulous - slept a little, sat in stroller. The kids adored "Its a Small World." It was so precious to see Ellen so excited over that ride. Grace loved Thunder Mtn Railroad. We laughed so much! Definitely what we needed.

Ellen went on all the rides with us. She would cry in the Winnie the Pooh ride until she saw Winnie and then she would laugh and laugh.

We stayed on Disney property - which was perfect. We went to the Polynesian Resort's pool one day and won the trivia contest. We got to go on a free speedboat ride because of it.

We were able to get into the park early because we stayed on the property. They do a fabulous show to welcome you into the property and I was crying because I was so excited! We did so many rides that first 2 hours. The girls, my mom and myself had lunch with Snow White, Cinderella, Sleeping Beauty, Ariel and Belle. I mean - THEY CAME TO OUR TABLE AND SAT AND TALKED WITH US!

Our favorite things about Disney:

Nate: Going on Thunder Mtn w/Grace 2 times

Andrea: meeting Mary Poppins and Cindy's stepsisters

Grace: going to the princess lunch

Rita: meeting Minnie & Mickey

Sam: meeting Buzz Lightyear

Ellen: Winnie the Pooh (she would laugh and laugh)

Don't Ask, Don't Tell (Volume 20)

Sam and lamp asleep.

Busy New Year

We are still transitioning into our home and just loving the space. I love my house each day I wake up. I am so thankful for it. It is very overwhelming to think about decorating projects still but that is okay with Nate. I am just trying to focus on keeping it clean and picked up! We had our first guests stay with us last night (10 total people in our house – fun) and I am hosting a baby shower in early March for a friend.

Other things happening: my parents left for Florida for four months, we got together with our old neighbors for dinner, been shopping for a door and entryway, had a ton of snow days and fallen trees, been to the ER for Sammy breathing and Nate eating a cashew, packing for our trip to Disney next week, and Ellen is walking!

This is the cutest dog. I am NOT a dog person at all but our old neighbors just adopted this dog and named her Chloe. They used to have a black lab so this is a big change. She called the dog, "dainty thing on a leash" and I was laughing so hard... isn't she cute?

Creative Playtime - Preschool at home...

Choo-Choo

Fallen Tree - no big deal for Nate, he likes projects like this

Notice our backyard is shaped like a piece of pie... a VERY BIG piece of pie

Choo-Choo again!

Big Girl Little Girl

Sam is such a good player.

"lovies in the belly"

This is our friend's daughter - Corinne - the girls had so much fun and played the entire day 1/2 that they visited.

Baby Teeth

Snow Snow Snow

We haven't had as much snow as our family but we did have a little bit of damage to our home. We just got our internet and phone services back yesterday. But... look at this photo of my cousin in Massachusetts and her precious boys: Ben and Joe. Look at all that snow!