Disney on Ice

Yesterday the kids and I drove over to Tulsa for "Disney on Ice." We followed our friends, the Lowdens, over there and we all got to see the show together. 

Originally, Chris was supposed to come with us but his drill dates got changed at the last minute and he couldn't come. Luckily, my friend April is wonder woman and she talked me into coming without Chris. So April, her Mom and I went to "Disney on Ice" with 6 kids and without the husbands. I'm so glad I didn't bail because my kids were in heaven. 

The show was called "Let's Celebrate" and it had tons of different characters in it. It was pretty much a big celebration of tons of holidays and the kids LOVED it. 

Here we are before the show started. SOO EXCITED!!!

Bailey flipped when the show started and the different princesses started skating out. She was seriously so excited. She just kept yelling their names and straining to watch their every move. 

Aren't Princess Minnie and Prince Mickey adorable? This was the part of the show where Minnie is asking the different princesses how they know if their prince loves them. It was the valentine's day celebration portion of the show and Bailey loved it. 

It was so cute. Bailey was enthralled with this portion. There were so many princesses to see!

Tanner really loved the villain portion of the show. Bailey was totally freaked but Tanner loved the Halloween music they played and kept singing it the rest of the day. 

Tucker slept in the ergo for about half of the show. 

There was a short intermission, during which I took the kids to get snow cones in super cute souvenir cups. They were pretty thrilled. Then it was back to our seats for the second half of the show. 

The last portion of the show was a Christmas celebration. Tanner also really liked this part because all the Mickey Characters came out and the "Toy Story" characters came out on the ice too. 

And then at the very end, all the characters from the whole show came out. It was pretty fun. 

Bailey also loved seeing "Tinkerbell" on the ice. 

For the finale the lights dimmed and Christmas lights came on. It was pretty cute. 

I think the kids were sad to see the show end. It was adorable. 

I'm so glad we went, even if Chris couldn't come. 

Thanks to April and her Mom, Missy, for helping. It was a crazy day but the kids had a blast so I guess it was all worth it. 

Krispy Kreme's Talk like a Pirate Day

I took two little pirates to pick up Tanner from preschool today. He immediately noticed Bailey and Tucker's pirate clothes and asked why they were dressed up. When I told him we were going to go to Krispy Kreme and get donuts, he got so excited. 

So he changed into his pirate clothes in the car and we drove to Krispy Kreme. 

How cute are my little pirates? 

Because all three kids were dressed up, we got 3 dozen donuts.
We decided to take our donuts to Mtn. Home with us that evening so everyone could enjoy them. 

Thanks for the deliciousness Krispy Kreme, until next year's Pirate day. 

Tanner's first day of Pre-K

 Tanner had his first day of Pre-K today at "Explore and Discover". He wasn't really excited to have to go to school after just getting home from our vacation to Florida. He just wanted to play at home, but we were able to get him happy and ready for his first day. 

Can't believe this little man is 5 years old and starting Pre-K. While most of his little buddies started kindergarten this year, we have one more year of preschool because his birthday is after the kindergarten cut-off date. I'm mostly okay with him starting late, since boys can serve their missions at age 18 now. This means I will get him to myself for a year longer before he goes on his mission. 

Anyways, here are his first day of Pre-K pictures. I love this handsome little dude. 

His teacher, Ms. Leslie, is wonderful. We are so excited to spend this next school year learning with her. She is so sweet and patient.
I walked Tanner into his class and he immediately started making friends. He didn't even care that I was there. I gave him a good bye hug and then backed out the door so I could make sure he was OK. He didn't even look up from the toys he was playing with. He was completely comfortable. 

He stayed at preschool from 8 am - 12:00 pm. When I picked him up at 12:00 pm, he told me "You were right Mom, my new preschool is AWESOME. I loved it. I had a great first day."

How adorable is that? It made me so happy to hear him so excited. He can't wait to go back. 

Ballerina Bailey

Bailey had her first day of ballet today. To say she liked the way she looked would be an understatement. She LOVED her tutu and her ballet slippers.
Her class is every Tuesday from 3:30-4:00 pm. It's the perfect length for a 3-year old attention span. 

She almost has an angelic look to her. Don't let these pictures fool you, she's a buster. 

I love this sassy little girl. Also, how cute is the bow on the back of her tutu?

She was posing like crazy for the camera. She really loved her whole outfit. 

Here are some pictures from her first class. There is Bailey sitting next to her teacher, Ms. Lana. They are working on their butterfly stretches. 

 

Her class is also part tap. So they spend the first half doing ballet and then they do a little tap and then let the girls do free-style. 

This was during the free-style portion of the class. The girls took their tap shoes off and were just dancing in their tights. 

Overall, Bailey didn't really do much of what she was told, but the teacher didn't seem surprised. I think she's one of the younger girls in her class. The class is for girls ages 3-5 and she just turned 3.
Her teacher reassured me that it would get better. I sure hope so. I would love to see Bailey actually follow instructions and dance with her class.

Wish us luck as we start our first of what could many dance classes.  

First Florida Family Vacation

On Tuesday, August 26th we left our house to drive to Florida. We had some pretty happy campers and the first half of the drive went really well. 

Look at this little guy. He was my travel buddy. I sat next to him so I could keep him and the older happy in the back of the van. 

All three kids took coordinating naps around 2 pm. It was pretty nice. Chris and I just got to drive in a quiet van together. I love this picture of Tanner and Bailey with their neck pillows. 

We are pretty fancy like that. 

I can't get over this boy's freckles. I love his little face. 

We stopped for the night with about 4 hours to go. We slept in Jackson, Mississippi at a nice little hotel. The next morning we hit the road again. Here are a couple of pics I snapped from the car as we drove into Pensacola. 

We LOVED this big Battleship. Isn't it cool? Tanner was a big fan!

Gorgeous Ocean view 

We arrived at my dear friend Adrian's house a little after lunch time. We unloaded the car, got unpacked and let the kids play for a bit. 

Adrian and I have been friends since 5th grade.She was a bridesmaid at my wedding and she been on my best friends since we moved to Mtn. Home. It's so fun that we have kids that are pretty close to the same ages. She has twin girls who will turn three in December and then she has a 5 month old little girl too, who is just 11 days older than my Tucker.

Adrian and her husband, Luke, were the most accommodating and thoughtful hosts ever!

They seriously thought of everything and were constantly making my life easier! WE LOVE THE HARBERS!

After we rested from our road trip, we loaded the kids back up and headed over to the beach. This was my kids' first time ever to play in the ocean. They LOVED it. The salt water was a bit of shock for them but they adjusted quickly and had so much fun playing. 

Here's Chris helping the kids not get knocked over by the waves. It took some getting use to. 

Little Tucker chillin' on the beach. 

So we may not be super attractive life guards, but here is our baywatch run. Tanner loved trying to out-run the waves and he loved running along the sand by the water. 

Kamryn and Tucker holding hands on the beach. It's a pretty romantic spot. 

Bailey was quite fascinated with the endless sand. 

I took Tucker over to the water to introduce him to the ocean. He was a big fan. 

Bailey didn't like Tucker getting too much attention so she joined us as we sat in the sand. 

Little Tucker actually in the water. 

Oh and this picture cracks me up. Bailey was trying to catch the seagulls. Here she is trying to sneak up on them. 

She eventually gave up on crawling and just ran after them. It broke her heart when she couldn't catch them. 

When the sun started to set, we decided to pack it up. But aren't these pictures beautiful. It was such a gorgeous beach!

Luke grilled burgers for us on the beach and we ate under the pavillion. 

After dinner the kids hunted for more sea shells. 

Then we went to get ice cream and eventually made our way back to Adrian and Luke's house. 

After thoroughly bathing the kids and washing TONS of sand out of their hair and off their little bodies, the kids went to bed. Chris and I chatted with Adrian and Luke for a while but we were all exhausted so we didn't stay up late. 

The next morning we went to the "Gulf Breeze Zoo". It was a gorgeous zoo and pretty awesome. 

Chris and the kiddos checking out the monkeys. 

Tucker takin' it easy in the stroller. 

Here is Tanner feeding on of the budgies. We had these feeding sicks. Tanner was so into this. He loved feeding these cute little birds.

Bailey at the budgiery trying to get the bird to stay put so Bailey could touch it. (it never happened and she was so disappointed)

She didn't get to touch the budgie but she did get to feed it. 

They were quite friendly. 

Tanner trying to entice my bird to come eat off his stick. 

He won and he stole the bird from me. Little stinker. 

He was so careful with them and they didn't fly away from him like I thought they would. 

Next we went to the petting zoo area. My kids have this obsession with goats. They really loved feeding the animals. 

Tucker enjoyed the view from Daddy's arms. 

Then we got to feed the giraffes. Bailey wasn't too sure about their long tongues. I absolutely love this sequence of pictures. Check out Bailey's face in each picture. 

Tanner wasn't scared at all. He loves giraffes. He told me giraffes are his favorite animal. 

After the giraffes we saw lions and some more monkeys. Then we stopped to see the kangaroos. Here are Bailey and Tanner sitting inside the kangaroo pouch. (Yes this was a trashcan, but they loved it and we sanitized our hands afterwards)

My little Kangaroos. 

Our next stop was the zoo train station. While we were waiting for the train, one of the zoo keepers brought over a bearded dragon for the kids to look at. 

Then we hopped on the train and got to see some more animals. How cute are these gorillas. 

Handsome boys on the train

Bailey, Tucker and I on the train. 

This is as close to reptiles as we got. (I'm not a fan of reptiles). But I do love the picture. Bailey wasn't sure how she felt about that snack looking down at her. 

We snapped a family picture at the zoo before leaving. 

After we finished at the zoo, we ate lunch at this pizza place called "The Tuscan Oven". It's a wood-fired pizzeria. It had the most amazing pizza I have ever tasted. So yummy.

Then it was back to Adrian's for naps.

That evening we went back to the beach to snap some family pictures. 

Bailey was a complete twit but we still managed to get a few cute ones. 

And I snapped a few of the older two individually. Love these kids. 

And these pictures totally and completely melt me. I LOVE these sweet babes so dang much!

The next morning was Friday and we spent the first half the day at the Navy Aviation Museum. This place was totally awesome. Tanner was in plane heaven.

Both kids got "wings" at the front desk and wore them proudly the rest of the morning. 

Chris and Tanner spent a lot of time together looking at the battleship models and the different planes. 

Tanner really loved the "Blue Angels". He so badly wanted to fly one. He kept saying "When I grow up, I'm going to be a pilot and fly a blue angel." That boy cracks me up.

Here are a few other of Tanner's favorites from the morning. 

Here is Bailey steering the submarine. 

Oh and then here is Adrian and I, taking care of the babies. 

Family picture in front of  the "Blue Angels"

Then we spent the rest our time at the model planes so Tanner could climb inside of every single cockpit. He had so much fun. 

Even Bailey enjoyed this part. 

Tanner and Daddy playing inside the plane. 

Finally, at the end of our museum tour, we found a model "Blue Angel" for Tanner to climb into. He was beyond excited. 

Can you see his little face in the windshield?

Here is Bailey inside the "Blue Angel"

Our last stop was the play area. It had this cool playground. 

It was such a cute little themed playground. The kids loved playing and were so sad when we had to leave. 

We went back to Adrian's for naps again. During naps, Adrian and I ran a few errands and then we went back to her house for dinner. Luke and Adrian prepared us an amazing feast. 

Luke grilled lobster tail and red snapper and we ate salads. Then we had steak and potatoes. It was so delicious. Seriously, best lobster I have ever had. 

Then we put the kids down for bed and we watched a movie. It was nice to have a quiet night. 

Saturday morning we packed up our beach stuff and went back to the ocean to play for our last day of vacation.

Tanner was so brave. He literally loved getting pushed around by the waves. He would just stand up and hop back in the water after he got pushed to shore.  

Love these sparkling water pictures

Here is Daddy helping Bailey not get knocked over!

My handsome little man.

Daddy and the kiddos

Bailey loved running along the beach. 

Oh and this little man. He got pretty good at sitting up in the sand. 

I love this little drool face. 

Tanner and Daddy building a sandcastle.

I tried to build one with Bailey but she just kept knocking it over. 

The kids and I digging for seashells. 

Then I buried Tanner in the sand. He was totally into it. 

He was grinning so big the whole time. 

He seriously loved being buried. He didn't want to get out, he just wanted me to stay with him. So we chatted for a while until Tanner finally broke out of the sand to play some more. 

Then Tanner tried boogie boarding. He wasn't too sure at first, but he got pretty good at it. I stayed behind to make sure the waves didn't pull him in too deep, but he did great. 

In the meantime, Bailey found part of a jellyfish. So gross, right?

She was obsessed with it. I made her wash her hands afterwards.
It didn't hurt her, it was just disgusting.

Then Bailey came over to boogie board with us. She too was fearless. 

As long as the kids wore their goggles and the salt water didn't get in their eyes, they did great. It was so fun. Although the pockets of Tanner's swimsuit were completely filled with sand afterwards. They were so full, they were pulling his swimshorts down. It was so funny. 

We had a blast at the beach all morning. 

We ate the packed lunch Adrian brought for us and then we headed back to her house for naps. 

It was such a fun morning at the beach. We didn't want to leave but the kids were all exhausted. 

We went back to Adrian's and gave the kids baths and then put them down for naps. Then Adrian and I drove over the outlet mall and shopped together. We left the Dads home with all six kids for 7 hours. It was heavenly. Adrian and I had so much fun together. We got to chat and catch up, not to mention, shopping without kids is amazing. 

After shopping we grabbed some dinner and then drove back to her house. 

Sunday morning we packed up and left. It was so hard to leave. We really have never had a vacation where could just do whatever we wanted. It was so nice to just spend time together as a family. Our vacations are usually just visiting family for holidays. This was amazing and Adrian and Luke were the most wonderful hosts. They took such amazing care of us. 

We got home on Sunday, August 31st after driving all day in the car. It actually wasn't that bad of a drive home- took us 13 hours to do an 11 1/2 hour drive. Kids did great. 

We can't wait to go back! Thanks again to Adrian and Luke for everything. See you again next summer!!!!