Vero Beach

We ventured down to Vero Beach this weekend to celebrate Jonathan's mom's birthday. Once there, we met up with Janice, Richard, Tim, Michelle, Matthew, Olivia, Breanna, Sarah, and Zach at the Disney Vero Beach Resort. We spent the weekend eating, swimming, on the beach, running through the rain, and just having a great time all together.

Saturday night after dinner, we headed to the campfire for s'mores and singing, with a quick stop on the deck (above). We made it through "My Bonnie Lies Over the Ocean" and then the deluge began. We gathered everything and everyone up then high-tailed it back to the room.
Sunday, though initially quite dreary, turned out to be beautiful. The guys took advantage of the sun and played a little bocce. Matthew looks quite determined.
Although sunny, it was exceptionally windy. Check out Zach's hair.

Me and my girl.

I think this looks like a magazine picture. She's all serious.
She's still got her tiny feet.

Too cute.

The lobby had a small room to the side where old Disney cartoons were shown on a loop. The kids loved sitting in here and watching the shows, even if they'd seen them just a few hours before when they were last in the lobby.
The family at Shutters before we all headed home. That's Breanna on the front left and she wasn't hiding from the camera. She was actually sound asleep!

Birthdays and Big Girl Beds

Our good friends, Becky and Steve, invited us down last weekend to celebrate their daughter's first birthday. We hadn't seen Abby since she was about 6 months old and she's gotten so big! It was great seeing them, seeing how much Abby has grown, and celebrating such a big day. Unfortunately, the Pate's don't have a blog, so I can't link you to it...but they should get one!! :-) (Just kidding, Becky!)
This weekend, we took the drop rail off of Rosemary's crib and converted it to a toddler bed. So far she's taken two naps and gone to bed 3 nights in it. The only time she's gotten out when we've put her down is at naptime. The first time I think she was up about 14 times. Thank goodness we did it on a weekend and Jonathan could help with putting her back in. Eventually, she did fall asleep in her bed. That night, she didn't get out at all, just went right down. When I got her up in the morning though she'd gotten out of bed and was sitting quietly in the glider. The next day for naptime she only got up once then went back in and fell asleep.
And yes, that's a latex glove in her hand. She likes to put them on whichever appendage is easiest to reach. The other day at church she had one on her foot for a good half hour.

Disney 2007

In September, we traveled with my parents to Disney for a getaway at Coronado Springs at Walt Disney World. It was hotter (or at least more humid) this year than last; but that didn't keep us from having a great time.

Getting ready to load up and head to Animal Kingdom. Rosemary's mouse ears now fit her. While we were getting ready, Rosemary seemed to know something exciting was going on. She gets a little bit more rambunctious, but not in a bad way, when she realizes she's in for something fun.

Riding on daddy's shoulders into the park.

When I was little, my mom and dad would get me a Mickey Mouse ice cream dipped in chocolate. The tradition continues with Rosemary. She ate hers while we were waiting for Finding Nemo to start. She sat and watched most of the 45 minute show.

Rosemary's checking out the gorillas.

If we look a bit tired here, it's probably because we were but we wanted to make sure we did all that we wanted to do.

Do you notice anything missing in this picture? This was one of the PhotoPass pictures taken by one of Disney's "professional" photographers. Four out of the six he took cut Rosemary out of the shot. :-)

Shockingly, Rosemary stayed awake the entire time on Small World this year. She would move her hands in time to the music.

Rosemary's first carousel ride.

In this picture you can kind of see the pin I'm wearing (the one above the Beat Tennessee pin--which we did!). We got that at the Animal Kingdom as we were leaving from one of the cast members. While we were there, my dad and Rosemary were given a pair of Dream FastPasses that gave you the ability to ride the most popular rides in the park without waiting in lines and without picking up individual fastpasses. Dad gave them to me and Jonathan but we ended up not using any of them because we had either ridden the rides that we would have needed them for or the lines weren't too bad in the first place. Since we had some left, Jonathan suggested that we give them to someone else as we left the park. We were trying to find some fellow Gators, but didn't see any on our way out so instead we found another pair of people and passed on the passes. A cast member saw this and gave us a set of lanyard pins that you can only get from cast members. There was one to keep and one to pass on so that we could continue to "spread the magic."

The first teacup ride.

After an exceptionally long day, she's still smiling.

The next day, we spent a good amount of time at the pool. There was a great kiddie sized pool that Rosemary enjoyed and a big kid slide that Jonathan, my dad, and I enjoyed.

She flies!

Before dinner, we walked over to the lobby of the hotel to check out the gift shop.

A view across the lake to the lobby and convention center.

Our little Minnie.

We celebrated my parent's anniversary and Jonathan's birthday at Rainforest Cafe.

It was a good place to go with Rosemary. Lots to look at, pretty loud, and good food.

They definitely give you plenty to eat.


And a volcano for dessert.