Condo Week & Dinosaur World

During our condo week with my parents we had a good mix of visit with friends, sightseeing, swimming, and just relaxing.

Our first night, we met up with the Pates, but I didn’t get any pictures! It was hilarious though. The kids always seem to pick right back up where they left off when it comes to playing, but this time, Charlotte and Jacob got in on the mix, too. Charlotte would not leave Jacob alone!

We also got to meet up with Janey. She came over with Camille for dinner one night and then I got to go see The Fault In Our Stars with her the next day.

I did get pics of Janey’s visit (just not of Janey…only of Camille).

Rosemary loves Camille.

We spent a lot of time in the pool.

The place we stayed has two slides that the kids really enjoyed.

One day, Jonathan and my dad took Ben to Bass Pro Shop. He still talks about that place.

One day after Jonathan had headed back to Gainesville, my parents took us to Dinosaur World in Plant City. It was a little bit of a drive, but boy, did the kids enjoy that place, especially Ben.

I limited the number of photos I posted from Dinosaur World. Ben had me take pictures of him with almost every dinosaur there.

He would carefully pose just like the dinosaur, mimicking the number of fingers that they had.

As part of their tickets, the kids got to do a fossil dig and keep three of the fossils they found.

They also got to pan for gemstones. I didn’t get any pics of that because that required a good amount of adult help. All three of us where each helping one of the kids.

They really loved Dinosaur World and I have to say I was impressed, too. My expectations were pretty low, but we had a lot of fun there and it was really beautiful.

Charlotte had a great time playing at the condo.

And they enjoyed time with Grandpa…watching cable…a luxury that we don’t have at home. :-)

Once again this year, we had a great time relaxing at the condo.

Medieval Times End of the Year Celebration

In June, we spent a week down in Orlando. Jonathan joined us for the first part of the week and while he was down, he and I took Rosemary and Ben to Medieval Times to celebrate the end of the school year. We studied the middle ages this year and thought it would be a fun way to wrap things up. When we were at the homeschool convention, we found out that Medieval Times had a homeschoolers discount, so we got our tickets for 50% off, which ended up being less than what we would have paid with a Groupon, so yay!

We arrived early and headed into the castle.

The entry was pretty cool with the suits of armor.

Painted ceiling.

We took a few pictures in the main hall while we waited.

Soon, we were called into dinner. We were yellow (hence the yellow crowns) and were seated at the far end of the arena. As we walked up the stairs, we passed murals that were made to look like the Bayeaux Tapestry.

We were on the top row (at least for that night, there was an empty row behind us), but still could see pretty well.

I have to say, the food isn’t what made this night so fun. It was novel to eat without utensils, but the food was not gourmet.

Ben did enjoy the tomato soup, though.

Soon, the tournament started and we were all into it. I didn’t realize there would be so many knights competing.

From our seats, we had a great view of the king and princess.

And we had a great view of the falconer.

Our knight. Yay!

Rosemary booed the other knights.

Our knight made it to the top two, they they dueled it out with some hand to hand combat.

It was quite suspenseful!

But our knight won!!!

Yay, yellow knight!

We even got our picture with him at the end of the night!

So much fun!

Animal Kingdom Spring 2014

For our third Disney trip, we headed to Animal Kingdom. It was a Friday in early May, so the crowds weren’t too bad, but to me Animal Kingdom always feels pretty full.

Once again, we arrived at opening.

The kids got their maps and talked with a cast member about a spider.

Jonathan, Rosemary, and I high-tailed it directly to Expedition Everest. Rosemary was very excited about this ride. The first time, she rode it with me.

Then, because the lines were so short, she rode it again with Jonathan.

That’s Rosemary and Jonathan in the front seat coming down the drop.

She conquered Everest!

Meanwhile, my parents and Charlotte and Ben had checked out some of the animals near the safari. We rode Kilimanjaro Safari next and it was great, so many animals were out first thing in the morning.

We took the train over to Rafiki’s Planet Watch.

When we got back to the main part of the park, we got some BBQ for lunch and the kids filled in some of their Wilderness Explorer books.

We don’t usually stop for characters, but the line for Tigger and Pooh was really short. As we were walking up to the beginning of the line, Charlotte saw Pooh and started running after him calling, “Wait for me, Pooh!” He didn’t, but she did get to give Tigger a high five.

We took the kids into the Dino Bones area for a little playtime. Jonathan went off with the big kids and I kept up with Charlotte.

Did you know she’s quite the ham?

We caught the Nemo show. Rosemary wanted to ride the Dinosaur ride, so Jonathan and I took her on that while my parents took Charlotte and Ben to Bug’s Life. After Dinosaur, Rosemary and I rode Primeval Whirl. Along the way we filled in more of their Wilderness Explorer books.

Our last fast pass of the day was for Kali River Rapids. Ben and Rosemary were very excited about this one. Thankfully, none of us got super-soaked, just wet enough to have fun and get cooled off a bit.

By then, we’d ridden all that we set out to ride, so we worked with Rosemary and Ben to get more of the WE badges.

Rosemary and I snuck in one more Expedition Everest ride since the wait time was less that 5 minutes right before the park closed.

And on our way out, they got their WE badge. They didn’t fill out their entire books, but they got quite a few badges that day.

Charlotte was tuckered out by the end of the day. My parents waited with her a bit while she slept so we could get badges with the older kids.

Another open till close Disney day. Oh, so tired, but so much fun.