Welcome to Disney

 We're here!  Less than 7 hours and we made it!

So excited to be at Disney World again!  We're all so happy and can't wait for our vacation!  

We've all been looking forward to this Disney trip for a while now and it's hard to believe the time has come to create our magical memories.  The kids were beyond ecstatic to see Nana and Papa!  Julia was most excited about seeing Nana and Papa which was so sweet since that had nothing to do with Disney World.  Lots of hugs for Papa upon arrival!

This is Nana's first visit to Florida and we're so glad we got to experience it with her.  Lots of hugs for Nana too!

Papa and Andrew with their matching magic bands and Andrew's favorite color too.

Patiently waiting for our rooms to be ready since we got there early.

Walking around and checking out Coronado Springs Resort.

Andrew was definitely Papa's buddy over the next few days.

Julia was thrilled with the present left in our room for her.  5 Disney Fairy figurines.

Andrew loved his arrival gift of Pluto.

After we unpacked we headed to Celebration for dinner and saw a pay phone...when was the last time you saw a pay phone?

Nana and Papa with the kids in Celebration.  Enjoying the cute town and our visit together.

Love our family of 4 and so thankful to be on vacation together.

On our way to dinner and it started raining.

Don't they look cute?

So glad to be in Florida all on vacation.

Just the boys at dinner.

Just the girls at dinner.

All the adults got lobster for dinner and the kids were trying on our bibs.

Inside the restaurant we saw a Red Sox seat and it definitely made us think of my dad and my brother who both love the Boston Red Sox.

Looking beautiful and ready to go.

Ready to head back to the resort and get ready for our day at Magic Kingdom.

Boosterthon Fun Run

Julia's school decided to do the Boosterthon Fun Run again this year as their fundraiser.  I like the aspect of physical fitness but they really push the kids to get a ton of pledges and that's just not for me.  I'd rather just donate a certain amount...especially since Boosterthon takes a big portion of the money raised.  Anyways, it is what it is.  Julia and one of the first friends she met in her class this year Nia.  Nia and Julia sit next to each other in class.

Off they go!

The look of determination.

I absolutely love this girl!

Julia and her friend Braya found each other and ran a few laps holding hands.

Now three friends running together and holding hands.

Another lap and rounding the corner.  I kept telling her to stop and get water but she just kept on running and said no water.  Later she told me why get water when you can run.  She really did amazing!

All done and still smiling and barely sweating.  I guess she doesn't sweat much and takes after me.

44 laps which is almost 3 miles!  WOW!

Look how happy she looks!  I don't look that happy nor that good if I ran 3 miles.  Way to go Julia!

Julia and her good friend from class Braya.  This year she mostly talks about Braya and oddly enough she has a brother who is in the same preschool class as Andrew.

Showing how many laps they ran. Way to go girls!

Mercier Orchards

Ready for a fun day in Blue Ridge! It wasn't such a hot day which made it perfect weather for apple picking.

This little guy just makes us laugh.  He truly has such a fun personality and just goes with the flow.

He was dancing and doing all these silly moves.  Gotta love him!

Pretty Julia all ready to pick apples.

Eating and picking at the same time.

Julia and her special apple.  This little cutie always finds a special apple each year and never wants to eat it.

Enjoying an apple right off the tree in the orchard.

Filing up the apple bag.

We had such a great day of apple picking at Mercier Orchards.

The secret passage way!

Two kiddos pretending to be sleeping in downtown Blue Ridge but they can't fool me.

Love this kid!  He just makes me smile!  Such a great day in Blue Ridge spending it with the ones we love.  An early dinner at Canterbury was the perfect way to end the day before heading home.

Take me out to the ball game...

What better thing to do on Labor Day than enjoy a baseball game?  We've been wanting to take the kids to a game for a while but never got around to going so today was the day.  Thank you to the kind people who gave us free tickets to get into the game as we were standing in line.

No peanuts and cracker jacks for this guy at a ball game but instead candy candy and popcorn.

Julia liked the popcorn better but Andrew liked the cotton candy better.

He LOVED the cotton candy.

Thomas played a game with them during the game to keep their interest.  He gave one of them $1 and if the person at bat got a home run they got to keep the dollar but if not they passed the $1 to the other person.  We only saw one home run and Julia was holding the $1 so she got to keep it and Thomas took out another $1 to keep playing.  Good thing there weren't many home runs or else it could have cost Thomas some money.  The kids enjoyed hearing the names of the players at bat and if they hit a home run before and how many.

Being such a silly guy!

Selfie before we headed home.

Such a fun day at the ball game and the best part was probably the note Julia wrote us saying thank you for taking me to the baseball game.  She really has a sweet heart and is often remembering to say thank you to us for taking her places and doing things for her.

Why not?

We had a bunch of days with rain so we took our baths early but then it dried up.  We were already in our jammies but we decided to go for a short scooter ride anyways just to get some fresh air and some outside time in before bed.

Reading

Julia has been doing fabulous with her reading.  We read everyday for at least 20 minutes and she even spends about 10-15 minutes before bed reading just like many adults do.  Way to go Julia!  Looks like she has a comfy reading spot for today.

Working with Numbers

Andrew has been doing really well with his letters and letter sounds but we need to do more work with numbers.  He can count quite well but can't always recognize numbers larger than 5.  Hence, we're working on 6, 7, 8, 9 and 10.