Spring Break, 2012

We just got back from the most wonderful holiday in Florida. Ben's brother and sister-in-law recently moved just outside of Tampa to a beautiful community called Fishhawk Ranch. It was really a perfect vacation. We got to visit with family that we wish we could see more often, explore all kinds of interesting corners of Florida, do some of the tourist things, and then come back to a gorgeous home at the end of the day to de-salt and de-sand the kids, sit on the lanai and watch the sun set.

Here are a few of the highlights! (WARNING: Lots of pictures.)

Rory, very excited for his first plane ride ever!

Pizza-making party with the cousins.

Rub-a-dub-dub.

We went to Siesta Key Beach- near Sarasota. Rory thought that the sand was snow at first.

Charlie making sandcastles.

Running into the waves.

Rory and I taking a break from swimming. Rory has to wear his earband when near the water after having had surgery to put tubes in his ears in November.

Playing at the splashpad in Ahren and Kath's neighbourhood.

Boating near St. Petersburg.

Captain Kath.

Auntie Jen and Mackenzie. 

Kath and Charlie.

A really big bridge that we boated under.

Ahren, driving the boat and humouring me by slowing down.

Kenzie.

Scuba-Kenz.

We "anchored" off the shore of Egmont Key. (Really, we tied the anchor to a palm tree because we couldn't figure out how to get the thing to stay put in the sand.)
Funny story moments before this was taken. Kath (ever a superhero in my eyes) took the initial plunge off the boat to try and anchor. Seconds after she jumped in the water, a very large manatee surfaced pretty much right behind her. She was a trooper and just kept on swimming. I think they eat seaweed, but still. A fairly impressive swimming partner!

Young love.

Bathing beauties.

Sunkissed family!

Ahren and Charlie on the ride back.

Kath and I took the bigger kids to Disney World while the little boys went with the dads to the Kennedy Space Center. Fun was had by all. (But more was had by the Disney crew. Two 2 year olds are hard to entertain. Good on the dads for trying!)

Hard to say who was more excited for the Winnie the Pooh ride...

Patiently awaiting their turn.

 "I love this place, Mom."

Kath and Kenzie and Dumbo.

Meeting Buzz Lightyear. Highlight of this boy's life thus far.

On the Buzz Lightyear ride!

Fancy ride.

Princess Mackenzie and Sir Jack.

One tuckered out princess at the end of our Disney day. Too cute.

Rory and Kenz waiting for the St. Patrick's Day cupcakes to be ready.

Ben's favourite part of the trip was Ahren's new car...

Ahren and Kath's beautiful house. Not a bad place for a holiday!

We spent our evenings on the lanai. The weather was perfect, every day.

Fun backyard!

Rory *almost* made it home without falling asleep... we had an early start to the day and he decided to take a cat nap at the airport.

Thinking about spring...

We went on our annual sugar bush run today at Fulton's Pancake House.  It was a bit blustery to do the trails, so we will have to go back, but we had a great morning just the same!

Rory's favourite part was the maple-chocolate chip cookie.

Graduation day!

Maggie graduated from puppy class today (I'd like to say "with honors", but that may be a bit of a stretch.)
She did pass the "hot dog test" though, where they hold a hot dog under her nose and she has to resist it... She failed a similar test (with flying colours) the other day when Ben accidentally left the package of bratwurst unattended on the counter. It's a work in progress, is what I'm saying.

Here is a picture of Maggie (far left) and her siblings Hunter (middle) and Negi (right) at the last class. It was fun to have three from the same litter in the class every week.

We took our classes with Carolark Canine Learning Centre and can't say enough about them. They were so great at training the people and even incorporated the boys into the class. Great experience. We will continue on to level 1 with them.





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Jack's Lego Party!

These are little Lego guy crayons. We gave these out as party favours.

The Lego Cake!

Lego parties are pretty straightforward... Primary colours, throw in some green accents, and you're good to go! (The "Superkid popcorn from Kernels made for fun centrepieces, and played right in to the colour scheme.)

Lego bags- just some plain solid coloured giftbags, with circles of the same paper cut out and glued on in a lego pattern.

The birthday brother!

We had some friends from Jack's kindergarten class over to play. "The Lego Guy" came and did a workshop with the boys, teaching them about the structural engineering side of lego!

Testing for strength.

Lego-robot battles!

Pizza lunch with the birthday buddies.

Blowing out the candles.