FL adventures

One would think that after celebrating Christmas in fine fashion and spending a whole day at the Magic Kingdom, there would be nothing left to do during a visit to Mojo & Dado's house... well think again!

It has been a week full of many little adventures, the biggest of which were the Bowl Games we attended ~ but that's a whole other entry!

In the in between hours, we did a bit of everything else...

~

There has been much playing outside as the weather has warmed up significantly:

There have been many "surrey" rides ~ thanks to our friendly neighbor who loaned us this great outfit for the week:
There was a cool visit to the Orlando Science Center where the boys ignored us adults and did lots of hands-on exploring and learning:

There was some good play time at the beach-park where Hamp wore out his Dado with an intense game of volley-frisbee:

There was the traditional game of putt-putt golf where it's anyone's game ~ in fact, Hamp may have out-putted one of the grown-ups:

There was even a pretty extravagant date night where Dado took Hamp to see the Orlando Magic beat the NY Knicks, while dad and I had a night on the town (downtown Sanford, that is!) and tickets to see Toxic Audio:

There was freshly squeezed orange juice, hand picked by Hamp and Sam:

And of course, last night there were sparklers!

HAPPY NEW YEAR!!!

the Magic Kingdom

Our big gift this year was a day at Disney World's Magic Kingdom

for the four of us... Thank You Mojo & Dado!

To make the most of it, we got there very early and went straight to FantasyLand to ride all the fun kid rides: Small World, Peter Pan, Winnie the Pooh, Prince Charming's Carousel and Mickey's 3D movie!

Next we were off to Frontierland
where Hamp and Dad did some target shooting...

... and we absolutely couldn't miss the Country Bear Jamboree (which Dad and I both remember from our own childhood Disney visits!)

Then Dad got a chance to ride both Splash Mountain and Big Thunder Mountain (below) roller coaster rides:

While I took the boys exploring on Tom Sawyer's Island! (where they spent most of their time in the fort fighting off bad guys...)

After all that exploring, we made our way to Adventureland where we rode the Pirates of the Caribbean, entered the Enchanted Tiki Room, climbed through the Swiss Family Robinson's Tree House and dodged wild animals and head hunters on the jungle Cruise!


After a nice lunch on Main Street, we headed to Tomorrowland to see Buzz Lightyear, Monsters Inc., the Carousel of Progress and race some cars on the Speedway!

One of the neatest adventures of the day was running into my best friend from college! Well, I admit it wasn't completely random but still fun to meet up after 9 years in front of Cinderella's Castle of all places! (and judging by the picture, it seems that some things never change... thank goodness!)

The afternoon was a little more crowded, still quite cold, and full of silliness ~ mostly from overstimulation! The most impressive part was that despite the cool temps and long day o' fun for everyone, no one ever whined or fussed!

We hung around the park until we had exhausted all the rides & attractions that we could possibly want to do (notice there was no Haunted Mansion or Flying Dumbo mentioned... that was a big no thank you from the boys!) So we decided to end the day with what else... the Hall of Presidents!

Although Dad and I found it pretty interesting from an historical point of view, clearly the boys were not as impressed with the Presidential presentaion!

Once Sam got comfortable at the Hall, there was no turning back... he stayed asleep on my shoulder, then in the stroller:

Of course, Sam woke up on the way out of the park ~ and then Hamp fell into a deep sleep in the car on the way home... obviously I think the day at Disney was not only exciting it was exhausting! Hamp never even woke up from the car to the bed... but Sam was awake enough to enjoy his souvenir ~ a super-special Mickey Mouse balloon!

It truly was a Magical day...

Christmas celebration

Well, Santa Claus found our Florida retreat this year!

The boys have apparently been very good this year ~ not only are they able to spend a week at Mojo & Dado's house for the holidays, but then St. Nick manages to leave them exactly what they asked him for... and then some!

First, there was a veritable city of Playmobil left out that kept the boys entertained until the grown-ups could wake up enough to open presents and take pictures:

When Santa's gifts were opened Hamp got the football he wanted and Sam... well, Sam got exactly what he has been talking about for two months: a fushigi ball!

(if you don't know what it is, that's ok. It's obscure ~ leave it to Sam to pick something like this! ~ and if you ask Sam he'll tell you "it's magic".)

Of course, Santa wasn't the only generous gift giver this year...

There were wii games (that have occupied all three of my boys well this week!), plenty of fun and thoughtful little gag gifts and apparel items, more MagFormers for the boys, and lots of great stocking stuffers: But perhaps my favorite gift is the Barbie Doll that Hamp and Sam got for me!

Eventhough Uncle Alec & Aunt Jei couldn't be with us in Florida, they certainly filled the room with the spirit of Christmas ~ their generosity and thoughtfulness was overwhelming as the boys played the wii and the grown-ups opened gift after gift and laughed and cried and laughed some more!

I had to include this photo of the big boys demonstrating to Uncle Alec on the phone how the FLARP or "noise putty" works... in case you're wondering, it sounds like passing gas and everyone thought is was very, very funny. We're so mature:

THANK YOU ALEC & JEI for the wonderful Christmas celebration ~ it could have only been better if you had been here in person... we miss you!

What a precious day we spent together ~ and that's only the beginning! Much more adventure to come here in sunny (but chilly!) Florida. Until then, I hope you had a very merry Christmas and are planning for a very happy New Year!