Tuesday we took off to spend a few days in the Orlando area. Wednesday and Thursday we visited the Walt Disney World Magic Kingdom, and Animal Kingdom. My grandmother has a timeshare on the Disney property, and she was gracious to let us stay 4 nights. It was a beautiful place, and we had a great time! We were unsure how Ava would react to the huge characters that she watches every day on TV. She is a huge fan of the Mickey Mouse Clubhouse on the Disney Channel. We walked in the park and decided to hit Pirates of the Caribbean right off while the wait was short. Ava wasn't a huge fan right of the bat of "Pirates". she was pretty scared of the Animatronics fighting at the beginning, but the singing and dancing won her over at the end. The remainder of the day she spent telling us how she wanted to ride pirates again, and wouldn't stop talking about pirates.
We walked by and visited Goofy first, and found out she wasn't afraid of the huge cartoon characters. She walked up to goofy and gave him a huge hug and kissed him. As with all of the characters, she didn't want to leave any of them. Mickey and Minnie were especially hard, as she is particularly fond of them. The next day we visited the Animal Kingdom, and we particularly loved the Safari, as most of the animals were out. Ava took her first nap in a couple days at the Animal Kingdom while Amy and I hit the Expedition Everest roller coaster. This proved to be a mistake, as we found out too late that the ride went in reverse, and Amy didn't feel to good afterwards.
On the last day, we visited the Disney Celebration town, and just kind of walked around for a while snapping some pictures.
It amazes me every time I visit these parks how customer focused they are, and how detail oriented they are. I was also surprised on how well Ava did. She was just fascinated with all of the colors, characters, and animals. It was a great trip, and one we'll have to do again.
Here are some pictures Grammy took.
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Ft. Desoto Beach is an island beach just south of St. Petersburg that is consistently ranked in the top 10 beaches of the USA. We took grammy and pa pa to this beautiful secluded beach, and we visited the early 20th century Fort that was used in the defense of Tampa Bay in the early 1900's. The weather was incredible, and the beach was great too!
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Amy and Ava routinely visit the local Publix grocery store for groceries. They have become regulars, and I guess have made some good friends at checkout and around the store. For the past 3 months or so the people around Publix, as well as other customers have been commenting on Ava and asking how old she is. Amy would reply, telling them Ava would be "Two in April". Well she quickly caught on, and now, every reply to the age question brings a "Two in April" reply from Ava. Well, our little girl is two today, and we can't quite believe how fast she is growing. Grammy and Pa Pa arrived from Kansas yesterday, and we are so happy to have them for a week. Ava's really enjoying them being around, and I know they are enjoying the time also.
We've had quite a day with much more to go. I've been smoking a brisket since early morning, and it is really looking good. I hope it turns out OK... Grammy and Pa Pa bought Ava a little inflatable jump house for her birthday. We put it up, and I think Ava's a little intimidated. She doesn't really want to go in, and seems to be a little afraid of the brightly colored inflatable nightmare. Her cousin Annsley will be coming tonight and she isn't afraid of anything, so we'll see if that helps coax Ava along. Other than that, it has been a pretty relaxing day. Ava's working with Grammy and Pa Pa to make a little homemade ice cream, and we're resting a bit before the big party.
It's kind of crazy how fast the past two years have flown by. I had a facebook comment today from a college friend, and I came to the realization I've been out of school for over 7 years now. Most of my friends from college have beautiful families and I'm sure blessed to have mine. I sometimes sit back in awe when looking at the blessings God has blessed us with. I don't fully understand the undeserved blessings of my life, but I do know they can all be explained by the Cross of Jesus Christ.
Happy Birthday Sweetheart! Mommy and Daddy love you so much! You're finally 2 in April... Now we've got to work on just "Two".
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Here are some Easter pictures of Ava in her new dress. Happy Easter, He Is Risen!!
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It was only a matter of time... I was helping Amy with the dishes the other night, and went to check on Ava... I saw her shoving a little piece of toilet paper up her nose, and looked to find she had been pretty busy with the TP. Amy grabbed the tweezers, and retrieved all of the TP. She is now very interested in shoving things in her nose and ears if you aren't watching her. We haven't had to make the emergency room, and her breath is still smelling fresh... A kid I knew growing up, shoved a bean in his nose and it rotted and sprouted in his nose. They found it, when his breath started smelling rank and rotten and there was nothing they could do about it. I digress...
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A couple weeks ago, we woke up and decided to visit the Florida Aquarium in Tampa. The Florida Aquarium is an Aquarium just close to the Port of Tampa and Channelside. It is kind of a cool area, and we had a great time!
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We were riding bikes on Valentines day, and decided it was an incredible day for flying a kite! There are soccer fields next to a rec center that is right around the corner from our house. We broke in the Elmo Kite Grammy and Pa Pa Ross bought Ava for Valentines day. She had a blast!
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The Seminole Fire Department sponsors an annual Open House. They give tours of the fire house, tours of a burned out building, Jaws of Life exhibition, Fire Truck rides, Hot Dogs/Popcorn/drinks, and the kids get to shoot water through the fire hose at a target. I had never known about the open house but Jon called and we took the families to the open house. BTW, Congrats to Jon for graduating from fire school!!! We had a great time, and I was thoroughly impressed. We will definitely be going next year!
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The long, difficult, Florida winter is over. OK, in my opinion, the Florida winter is not nearly long enough. The only sign of springtime we get around here is the shedding of leaves, and pollen pods. This year it seems to be much worse than in the years past. I have three Oak Trees in my back yard, and they have been dumping pollen like crazy. Last saturday I looked out the window and it was snowing pollen pods. I got about 2 inches of pollen... Well, I had the day off today and spent the afternoon mowing the yard, which means I spent the entire afternoon engulfed in a yellow cloud of pollen. I bagged the leaves and pollen, and dumped them in the garden. It wasn't very long before I was looking at the garden, and saw Ava jumping around in the pile of leaves. Needless to say she was filthy dirty, and without allergy trouble (she had no reaction at all). I snapped some pictures.
We brought her back in, cleaned her up, and here are some after pictures.
Well, here in a week or so the only sign of spring will be over, and we will be breaking in another long summer. I do miss the winter...
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What an awesome day! We have been battling some unseasonably cold weather for the past week. So, after hearing it was supposed to be sunny and 65-70 today we decided to make a trip to the zoo. Amy and I had been talking for a while about taking Ava to the zoo, but have not gotten around to it yet. Last year around this time we visited the Lowry Park Zoo with some friends, but Ava was still a lilttle young and didn't quite get into it. Well, today we had a blast. The weather was absolutely perfect, and Ava really got into it, and interacted with the animals. She loved running around the park, stopping and pointing at the animals. She absolutely loved petting the stingrays, and other petting zoo animals. She loved the manatees, and of course the monkeys. Ava fed a giraffe, and yelled at the Meercats(Amy's favorite). We rode the carousel, and ended the day with an excellent Ice Cream cone. You could really tell she was enjoying every bit of it, and that made it so much fun for Amy and I.
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