TGIF!

Why is it that short weeks always feel so long?  Anyone else have that problem, or is it just me?  When this week started, I thought to myself, 'It is already Tuesday......this week will fly by.'  And now it is just four days later on Friday, and this morning I thought, 'FINALLY!  It's Friday!  That took fooorrevver!'  But we made it!  Another week in the books. :-)

Last weekend, Ava got to give her Daddy a haircut.  She was pretty darn excited when she realized we were serious about it, and kept asking, "For real?  I really get to cut it?" I think she did a pretty decent job, and it was free, so you can't beat that!

Speaking of haircuts, Eric is not the only one to get a "summer cut" for this hot Florida weather.  Check out Daisy Dog's before and after pictures.......it is like a whole new dog! 

BEFORE

AFTER

This week at school Ava's kindergarten class did swimming lessons at the St. Cloud pool.  I think it is great that they do that!  My friend was able to go and watch today, and took a few pictures for me.

 

Ava with her friends Taylor Jo and Katie

 

 

On Thursday night Ava had her last Girl Scout Daisies meeting for the year, and they had their awards ceremony.  She received quite a few patches, and said she wants to do it again next year.  I am so happy that she like it!

So proud of my little girl!

 

 

 

Hope everyone has a great weekend!  Ava and I have her Girl Scout's end of the year "party" and we are going to the Bonnet Creek Resort for a night with her troop.  We get there tomorrow afternoon to swim and relax and check out Sunday morning.  Ava is really looking forward to it, especially since we are rooming with her two closest friends, Ashlynn and Taylor Jo.  I am looking forward to it also, as this is the same resort we just stayed at two weekends ago, so I know exactly how wonderful and relaxing of a resort it is, and can't wait for that!



Animal Kingdom

After all of our busy work around the house on Memorial Day Weekend, we decided to take a little break and headed to Disney's Animal Kingdom for a few hours on Monday.  The crowds were outrageous (should have known it would be since it was a holiday....), the sun was hot, and the kids were tired.  So, we got there right after the park opened, and stayed until just about 12:30 or so.  I LOVE that we can go to Walt Disney World and still be home in time for Silas to take a nap. :-)  Here are some of our pictures:

Kilimanjaro Safari Ride

 



 Silas and Daddy watching for animals

 

Hippos

Nile Crocodiles

A baby elephant

Elephant

Rhino

Lioness.....this is the first time we have ever seen one awake, since they sleep 20 hours a day!

Pumbaa!  A warthog. :-)

Silas liked all the animals

 

 

 

Pangani Forest Exploration Trail

A gorilla up close and personal!  Silas loved this, and even pounded on his little chest when he saw him. :-)

 

Rafiki's Planet Watch:  Conservation Station

 

LOVE THEM!!!

Silas petting an alligator

Ava's turn to pet the baby alligator

 

 

Rafiki's Planet Watch:  Affection Section

 

The kids got to pet goats and pigs, and Silas even touched a "moo" (Cow).

 

The Tree of Life

It was great to get out of the house and do something fun after all of our hard work!

 

 

A few household projects.....

The downside to living so far away is that for three day weekends, you do not have family to visit as you might normally do; however, the upside is we had three days to get some stuff done!  We spent the majority of the time doing a few projects that had been on our "to-do" lists for quite some time.  The biggest one was working on the garage.  In Florida, there is a very limited amount of storage space.  Houses don't have basements since Florida is basically a large swamp, and instead built on concrete slabs.  Due to the high humity, you can't store very much stuff in your attic without taking a chance that it might be ruined.  So you are left with just your garage.  Needless to say, our garage was very cluttered!  We could fit the van in there, but just barely, and the rest was covered with boxes, totes, and other odds and ends.  Here is our "before" picture:

 

Pretty messy, right?  It was, and although we still have A LOT more work to do, it does look much better!  Here is our "after" picture:



We have some more shelves to put up, and Eric is going to hang some pegboard for his tools, but there is finally plenty of walking room around the van!

We also wanted to get the kids' sand table cleaned up, filled with sand, and in a spot where the kids could actually use it.  Our backyard is a muddy, weedy mess, and needs TONS of attention.  We are planning on working on it (s-l-o-w-l-y), but at least we made a teeny, tiny, bit of progress this weekend.  We even put the kids to work!

Before:

And after........

The kids were so excited to have this.  Ava even told me, "Mom, we have a park in our backyard!  We have our own pool, a playhouse, a slide, a HUGE trampoline, and now we have a sandbox!"  It kept them entertained for quite awhile!  And here is sneak peek at our next project for the backyard:

We have five palm trees in our backyard, and need to do something around the base of them.  I will show you the end result when we have it done............hopefully sometime this summer! :-)