Make a Wish Trip - Day 5

                                                       Day 5 was spent at Sea World!

                                   In the morning there were pony rides at Give Kids the World!

                                               Juliet proudly wearing her new cowgirl hat.

                 Juliet had pancakes every morning at the Gingerbread house in Give Kids the World.

                                                       At Sea World on a hot morning.

                                          Checking out her favorite animal, PENGUINS!

                       Talk about a lot of walking!!!  I was jealous of Juliet riding around in the stroller.

 Check out the nets above that kids could climb on.  Our ever-so-cautious Juliet was quite timid about the whole thing.

                                                                             Lunch!

 After Sea World, we headed back to Give Kids the World and spent the rest of the afternoon at the beautiful pool there.

                                                     Dads are for being silly with, right?

                                                 Sandwiches at the pool side for dinner.

 In the evening while we were relaxing on the front porch in our rocking chairs, we had some visitors.  Juliet was thrilled!

              We also played a game of Dino Putt (mini golf) that night at Give Kids the World.

                                                         Queen and King for the night!

                                                                 Goodnight!

Make a Wish Trip - Day 4

Day 4 on our trip was spent at Epcot.  I really enjoyed this day and so did Juliet!  There was a garden display going on in Epcot which was also very neat to see.  Here are a few pics:

 First it's off to breakfast at Give Kids the World.  I just love this shot of Juliet with her beloved Pammy (her pink penguin).

                                   At Epcot, Juliet is playing here in a maze made of bushes.

                                    Family picture!  Check out the gardens in the background.

                          Here I am with the map trying to figure out what we're going to do next.

 Trying on crowns in one of the many stores.  Nanna secretly bought one for Juliet to give her on her birthday!

 Well, this picture has a story behind it!  Here we were ready to order our food at an Italian restaurant when my mother-in-law cut her finger on the bottom of her chair.  Well, after explaining to the manager, they gave us a complimentary antipasti.  Delicious!  See my mother-in-law's wounded finger?

 At night we spent our time at Give Kids the World (where we had our villa).  That night it was Mayor Clayton's birthday party in the main square, and Juliet spent her time being entertained by various volunteers.

                       Later on we visited the little garden again that had a small playhouse in it.

                                              Jules checking the inside of the playhouse out.

At the Castle of Miracles in Give Kids the World.  Here Juliet is getting ready to decorate her star to add to the wall/ceiling of the castle.  I can't recall how many are already there from other children (over 10,000), so it was neat for Juliet to be able to add hers to it as well.

Make a Wish Trip - Day 3

Day 3 - Magic Kingdom
Well, I've been extremely lax about posting lately, but what with Juliet's birthday, a mini-vacation to Lancaster and other going ons, I've been busy!  Plus, lately I've been feeling so SLOW and BIG and UNCOMFORTABLE being pregnant (and I've still two months to go!).  Seriously, by the time night rolls around, my back is sore and all I want to do is rest.  Anyway, here was Day 3 of Juliet's Make a Wish trip.  We spent this day at the Magic Kingdom (not my cup of tea, but to Juliet it was great!).  Here are a few pics:

   Juliet on one of the rides.  Juliet wanted to wear one of her "princess" dresses, so that day we walked around the park with an all pink princess!

 Waiting with Aunt Mandy to ride on a roller coaster.  Suffice it to say, I was very glad I had a good excuse to not go on any rides - being pregnant!  Hurray!  I am so not a ride person (other than the good ole' ferris wheel).

 Here are the gals, exhausted (well, I was, anyway), after a long day of walking and rides.

 But what better than going out to a restaurant to revive our sagging spirits?  Here we are at the Rose and Crown, in Epcot.  I had the best fish and chips ever, at my mother-in-laws recommendation.  YUM!

Day 2 - Juliet's Make a Wish Trip

We spent our second day on vacation visiting Aunt Mandy and Nanna D. at their hotel in Disney.  Jules also got some swimming in at the pool at our villa, played at the park, and had some down time, too.

 Right outside the gingerbread house where we had breakfast every morning, there was a merry-go-round.  Every morning after breakfast, Jules would go on a ride on the exact same horse, which she named "Sparkles."  She has hearts painted on her cheek from the night before spent at the "girl's spa" they have there.

                In the afternoon we visited Nanna D. and Aunt Mandy at their hotel in Disney.

                                                      Sitting with ole' Dad in the lobby.

                                                          Jules loves her Aunt Mandy!

                                            We went for a walk along the boardwalk there.

                                   Time for some swimming back at Give Kids the World!

 We discovered a little secret garden at Give Kids the World and in the middle of the garden was this small playhouse.

                                Playing the live Candy land game with her volunteer friend!

Make a Wish!

Hi everyone!  We are back from Juliet's Make a Wish trip!  What a wonderful time we had!  Juliet had a great time in particular, and declared, "This was the best vacation ever!"  One of the best decisions made (for us), was to stay at Give Kids the World located about 20 minutes from Orlando, Florida.  During the day we made trips to Disney, but after spending a few hours there, we went back to our "home away from home."  Give Kids the World is a fantastic organization that provides villas free of charge for families that have a child or children with life-threatening conditions.  Everything was taken care of from the moment we arrived to the day we left.  Here are a few pictures to give you some idea as to what it was like.  This is Day 1.

                                                       This is the villa we stayed at.

                                                         The room Juliet stayed in.

 The room Mike and I stayed in (king bed)!  This is the neatest it ever was (taken obviously when we just arrived).

                All of the villas were painted in interesting colors and designed to delight kids.

       Candy land park!  One night Juliet played the game at this park with some volunteers.  Here Jules is checking it out on our first night there.

                                         Part of the pool area.  We ended up spending a lot of time there!

                              Outside of the pool area.  Jules is wearing her "Make a Wish" shirt.

 The ice-cream palace.  You can have ice-cream for breakfast if you want!  On the last day of our trip Mike and Jules had ice-cream for breakfast.  The ice-cream palace was open all day long.

                                                                       A train ride!

                         At the gingerbread house having dinner on the first day of our arrival.

                           Every night there were crafts for the kids to do in the main square.
That's it for now!  More pictures to follow.

Valentine's Day 2014

Well, Valentine's Day was celebrated a day early in our household.  Who's to blame?  Me, of course!  It was Wednesday night and while Mike was driving home from work, I decided to call him.  Jules had been peppering me with questions all day relating to Valentines Day, wondering what gift Dad was planning on buying her, etc., et nauseum, and I thought I'd better remind Mike to buy a gift for Jules as well!  As we talked Mike asked me, "Isn't Valentine's Day Friday?"  "No," I confidently replied, "it's tomorrow, and seeing as its supposed to storm, you'd better get something now!"
And so, when Mike came home around 6:00p.m., he had two bouquets in his arms; red roses for me and multi-colored carnations for Juliet.
Fast-forward to Friday afternoon, at around four o'clock as I sat drinking my afternoon coffee, I happened to glance at the calendar, only to realize that....it was Valentine's Day!  Well, if that isn't typical me to get the date mixed up and not realize it till a day later!!!  Oh well, it was still fun to celebrate our love and enjoy all of the presents.  Juliet was so into the whole day that at night she made me write up a play (with all her ideas) and present it to Mike!  It was a play about a princess (Juliet, of course), a birthday celebration, a bunch of magic fairies, and an evil witch.  Juliet was so excited about the whole production that she was jumping up and down in excitement and could hardly contain herself.  I had to wear some of Juliet's ridiculously gaudy princess dress-up items since I was the queen and Jules wore her favorite pink dress.  Mike filmed a part of the play, and if I get up my nerve, I just might post it.  So that was our Valentine's Day, celebrated a day early.

I'm Gonna Be FAT!

The other day while I was putting Juliet to bed, we had one of those hilarious conversations that I just had to record.  Here's how it went:
"So Mom, you aren't going to get fat because of this baby, are you?"
"Well, when you are pregnant, your belly does get bigger..."
"But I don't want you to get FAT!  I want you to be skinny!!!!"
"Jules, I can't change the fact that you do get bigger when you are pregnant!"
"Like how big?"
I shoved a thin pillow under my shirt while Jules looked on horrified.
"That big?????"  Jules starts crying.  "I don't want you to have a big belly!"
I started backtracking at this point.  "Well, maybe not that big.  Just a little big, okay?"
"Okay.  I guess a little big is okay.  Just don't end up looking like ____________, okay?" (insert a very pregnant mom in the blank).
"Okay, Jules, I'll try."
Dear me!  Hopefully this weight-gain thing will be so gradual Juliet won't notice how big I will eventually become (Lord willing!).