Ocean Adventures Derby Race

Before Ben’s game ended, Jonathan and Rosemary rushed up to Westside to get the kids’ cars ready for the derby race. They were on time, but didn’t have time to tweak their cars. When Ben, Charlotte, and I arrived, Ben’s car had already raced in its first heat. It needed some more weight to cross the line so Jonathan added some to his and Rosemary’s. Once the weight was added, those cars flew.

With those slow first heats, the kids didn’t end up placing, but they had a great time and were immediately talking about next year’s cars.

Afterwards, we were ready for food so we swung by Steak ‘N Shake for some lunch.

Ben’s First Flag Football Game

Ben’s first football game was held the first Saturday in April. That Saturday was chock-full of activities. First the game, then ordering recital tickets, next a derby car race, then concluding with a birthday party.

Jonathan took Ben to the game and the girls and I met up with him at the start.

The teams prayed before kick-off.

Ben was pretty hesitant during that first game, but thankfully he did warm up over the season and ended up really enjoying football.

Charlotte entertained herself during the game.

Jonathan and Charlotte Date

This year, Jonathan and I set a goal to be more intentional about going out on dates with our kids. We’ve taken the kids on dates for a while, but to make sure each one had special time with us we made up a schedule. For Jonathan’s date with Charlotte, he took her out to eat at Chick-fil-a then she got to play on the mall playground. The perfect 3 year-old date.

Charlotte loves those pink boots. She wears them EVERYWHERE.

CCH Book Bowl 2014

Rosemary participated in Book Bowl once again this year. Our good friend, Melanie, coordinated it. And once again, Rosemary had a great time. Her team didn’t win, but she still had a great attitude and enjoyed it.

One of the teams getting some last minute reviewing done.

Rosemary and her buddy, Lucy

Ready to answer her questions.

Middle Ages Feast

Since we studied so much about the middle ages this year, we decided to host a Middle Ages Feast with some other homeschool families. I never take many photos when we host something, but here are a few that I managed to get.

Everyone brought food to share and we ate it with our fingers.

The boys made shields and the girls made conical hats.

We had a mini-joust in the back yard…get the pool noodle through the hoop.

Ben’s shield

Isabella and Rosemary

First Football Practice

In March, Ben had his first flag football practice. While he was super excited to go, he wasn’t super excited to participate once he was there. The first few practices were mighty rough. But he stuck with it and in the end, I would go so far as to say he had fun.

Carson Springs Wildlife Reserve Field Trip

In early March, we went on a field trip with our co-op to a wildlife refuge. I had no idea this place existed in Gainesville, but it was a really great trip. The kids saw lions, hyenas, lemurs, a giraffe, and tigers, and even got to run beside a cheetah. It was surprisingly cold that day. I think everyone wished they’d brought a heavier coat…except Charlotte. She insisted on bringing her big coat that morning, but she ended up taking it off later.

 

 

Epcot-2014

We ended the month of February with our second Disney trip, this time to Epcot with my parents. And this time we stayed at a condo that night so we didn’t have to drive all the way back to Gainesville at the end of the day. This was our first trip as a family to only Epcot. We weren’t sure how the kids would like it compared to the Magic Kingdom, but it certainly was a hit.

This time, we were there even before the park opened. We were in line when the music played and confetti cannons shot to start the day.

Most of us made a bee-line to Test Track while my mom and Charlotte headed over to get us our Fastpasses for the day. Ben wasn’t the biggest fan of Test Track, but Rosemary liked it enough to ride it again with my dad while Jonathan rode Mission Space. Ben and I met up with my mom and Charlotte in Innoventions.

They enjoyed the emergency preparedness puzzle.

When we met up again, Jonathan rode the Sum of All Thrills and we watched his legs dangle from the simulator.

Rosemary, my dad, and I then rode the mild side of Mission Space before we headed over to the Land to ride Soarin.’

This one, Ben liked. He and Rosemary even got to ride it twice since my mom went on it after we did. We also ate lunch there, rode the Listen to the Land boat ride, and watched the Timon and Pumba movie.

Before heading back to the World Showcase, we rode Figment and Nemo. The kids really enjoyed looking at all the fish afterward…and seeing Bruce.

On our way to the World Showcase, we stopped by and tried some of the international Coke flavors.

The kids’ picked up one of the Phineas and Ferb cell phones. They were excited about the missions.

We headed over to Mexico and spent about an hour on the first mission. It took a couple minutes to get the hang of what we were supposed to do, but once we did, it was super cool.

After Mexico, we headed to Norway, rode Maelstrom, then did that mission as well. Charlotte fell asleep in the stroller so my mom sat with her.

For the last part of the mission in Norway, they had to find a sword. They pointed the phone towards the waterfall, pushed the button and the water stopped, revealing the lost sword.

Rosemary and Ben enjoyed the train set.

I think this little guy could watch trains for hours.

Walking through Italy

 

We watched the American Adventure then grabbed some dinner. It was dark by the time we finished and we still needed to see half of the World Showcase. Mom and Dad went on ahead while we stopped at a few places with the kids.

When Rosemary turned 6, we had stopped in Japan and she remembered the kimonos. (We read A Pair of Red Clogs in kindergarten and she has wanted a kimono ever since). She wanted to look at them again and this time one of the cast members asked her if she would like to try one on. Rosemary picked a beautiful pink kimono and the cast member helped her put it on over her clothes. Rosemary was so excited.

Isn’t it so pretty?

We stopped in the French pavilion. Rosemary tried on a beret.

And we enjoyed some pastries.

From there, we caught a most of the Canadian 360* movie, then made a dash to meet my parents at the front of the park to ride SpaceShip Earth.

We caught a few minutes of the fireworks then headed out to the car as the parked closed. Another long, enjoyable, memory-making Disney day was in the books.