Florida - Part 1

The first week in January, we decided to take a winter hiatus and head to warm and sunny Florida.  We stopped overnight in Fayetteville, North Carolina on the way down before finally arriving in Florida the following evening. 
I was really hoping to see at least one alligator, but I didn't see any. 
Yes, Florida was sunny and definitely warm.  The first week in January, the temperatures were in the 80's - back home in Pennsylvania, the temperatures were in the teens with a negative temperature when considering the wind chill factor.  I wasn't quite prepared for the humidity and warmth, especially in January.  We went swimming in the outdoor pool at the resort.  I was worried about the kids getting sunburned that I found myself walking next door to the CVS to buy sunscreen on January 5 - of all days. To make matters even more surprising, the entire first aisle a customer sees when walking into the store is full of sunscreen options.  I've never seen that many sunscreen choices, anywhere.  I guess only in Orlando - they must sell a lot of sunscreen to tourists. 

Some of the highlights of the trip.

1)  Visiting the Orlando, Florida temple

As usual, Zabien was much more cooperative for photos - he absolutely loves getting his picture taken.  He always wants to see it immediately after it is finished. 
It was neat for me to do some work inside this temple - I am trying to visit as many temples as I can in my lifetime. 

2)  Downtown Disney. 
We never made it, nor did we have plans to make it to Disney World.  We didn't think that now is the time.  At 26 weeks pregnant, I wasn't cleared to ride any rides.  Both children are not tall enough to ride without an adult, and since one adult was out of commission, we decided that it wasn't worth the money to go.  We plan to go back someday, and do the whole Disney thing.  Downtown Disney was the answer for us - the kids got to play, walk through some of the shops, and see Mickey and Minnie Mouse (their favorite characters at the time).  Besides that, the price (of free) was right, and we got some good pictures. 

Eliza loved walking through the princess shop even though it was packed with people and made it hard to walk around.  She loved getting pictures taken with statues of Cinderella and Sleeping Beauty.


Isn't she so cute holding her little purse. :)

She was enthralled with all the murals of Minnie Mouse.

After walking through the princess store, we stopped outside the Lego store.  They had buckets and buckets of Legos which both children thoroughly enjoyed.  It took them awhile to step up and start creating, but they eventually dove in. 

 I thought his statue of the 7 dwarfs was really cool, and it is made entirely out of Legos. 

We stopped at this Dinosaur pit.  They had large dinosaurs that moved and roared which kind of freaked the kids out a bit, but they overcame their fears in order to play in the dirt and uncover fossils.   

 

Before leaving the park, we took some pictures with Mickey and Minnie mouse statues.  Zabien was so cute - he loves Mickey Mouse, and he kept hugging Mickey over and over again.  Another couple was waiting to take pictures as well, and before he decided to finally finish, he gave Mickey a kiss and said, "Bye Bye Mickey" - so cute!

 

 Zaby is also a big fan of Buzz Lightyear, and Eliza likes all of the Toy Story toys so they were also excited to see these statutes. 

They each wanted to take picture in front of the water fountain.



 Don't you love this little purse Eliza carries around with her everywhere she goes.  Inside, she has chap stick, a little toy, and expired coupons. 

We nearly walked around the whole park.  It wasn't Disney World, but honestly the kids didn't know anything different.  I don't think they even had a concept that Disney World exists, and therefore were not disappointed that they were missing out.  It was cute that they still had Christmas decorations up as well. 

 

3)  A Pirate Adventure Show

A very tasty (expensive) dinner, and a full fledged audience participation action packed show on stage - Zabien loved it.  We dined with the red pirate.  They had a series of competition among the different colored pirates and we were supposed to cheer for our color. 

Eliza fell asleep on the short drive there, so she is zonked out on Bruce's shoulder for this picture. 

 Isn't he so cute in his authentic pirate hat. 

 We got there so early because we were told they had a preshow.  The preshow consisted of pirate themed music and Hors d'ouerves of chicken salad.  It's probably a good thing Eliza was asleep for this because we would have been hard pressed to entertain both of them. 

Here we are sitting at our dining table while the show is actually going on. Eliza wasn't that impressed at all, but you can see how much Zaby is enjoying the action.  I'm surprised he ate his dinner, he was so enthralled.   

This is a picture of the crew with our red pirate.  Unfortunately he lost every competition, but it was fun to watch nonetheless.  Once again, Eliza isn't thrilled.  

 

 

As evidence of the top right picture, Zabien volunteered to be inducted as a pirate.  They had us make an oath, with hand movements and Zaby was all about it.  He said and did everything and was very proud of the certificate he got proving that he became a pirate.  

After the pirate show, they had a dance party.  It's hard to take pictures of movement, but I was pretty impressed  that both of the kids really got into it.  I thought they would be too shy and chicken out, but they contributed some serious dance moves.  

It was a successful evening (at least Eliza likes the dance party) - one that was different from anything we have ever done before.  Thank you, Orlando for providing us with new culture. 

Baby shower

Melanie, scheduled c-section April 3; Brittney, due April 20; Amanda, due April 25; Mimi, due June 15

On March 7, a group of 6 sisters in my ward threw me and 3 other ladies a joint baby shower.  This was actually my third baby shower, but the only one I have pictures of.  I have never taken a single picture of any of my baby showers - I leave that job to others, but this was the first time those pictures were shared with me.  

All four of us are having our 3rd child.  The other 3 sisters are having boys - I am the only wild card.  It was a great party, relaxed, lots of good food, and great company.  

Decorations and food table

We played a unique relay game.  We were divided into two teams.  One member from each team had to change a baby doll's diaper while blindfolded.  

Another member of the team had to dress the baby.  Next, someone had to bib another team mate and feed them an entire applesauce.  

I only gagged one time while having applesauce shoved down my throat, but overall I thought I did pretty good.  

Finally, someone else had to put the baby in a stroller, and "run an errand."  It was fun to see some of the sisters break out of their shell.  

Most of the sisters from the ward contributed money toward a gift card for each of us.  It's nice to have flexibility to get what I need, since I'm not sure what I will need right now.  

It was also nice to have an informal "group" opening of gifts.  Sometimes I find it awkward to have everyone watching just you open all your gifts.  This took the pressure off.  

It was a great afternoon, and makes everything much more real.  It's exciting to be having a new member of our family, but also exciting to know that I am not making this journey alone - I have a good support group.  

Adventurous Sacrament Meeting

Zabien can get a little crazy at church. He loves to sing the songs. He opens up the hymn book and sings at the top of his lungs. However he also likes to climb over the benches, crawl under the benches, and run down the aisle. It doesn't help that dad sits on the stand because Zaby always wants to join him up there. In fact, one time before sacrament meeting started, I told Zabien that if he was naughty, he had to sit by the bishop. Before even sitting in our row and before dad took his seat on the stand, he went right up and sat by the bishop. Apparently he was planning on being naughty that day. When it comes to the sacrament, he refuses to take the bread. He spends the whole time telling the boys to bring him the water.  It's not terrible behavior, but enough that he does not stop talking during church.  Needless the say, sacrament meeting is an adventure every Sunday.   Nursery is his favorite part about church. He talks about going to nursery all week long. After nursery he shows everyone in the whole ward the pictures he colors at nursery. 

2 weeks ago, sacrament meeting was even more adventurous than normal. I was playing postlude on the organ, and like normal Zabien came up to play with me. As I was closing the organ, he was so excited to go to nursery that he decided to jump off the last step of the stand. Upon landing, he tripped and tumbled into the front pew. I didn't realize how hard he hit hit until Bruce picked him up off the ground. Then we saw the blood running down his face. He cried for a little bit but had stopped before we made it to the bathroom. When he saw his reflection in the mirror, and saw all the blood running down his face, it was then that he started crying. Bruce cleaned him up the best he could, and another sister in the ward went outside to get a snowball to put on his eye to stop the swelling. We told him that he couldn't go to nursery and this made him the most upset. The weather was particularly bad this day and they ended up canceling the second and third hours of church anyway. This turned out to be a good thing; considering all the trauma.  Eliza wouldn't have given her talk in primary, and I wouldn't have ever made it to teach my youth Sunday School class.  I took him back into the chapel to ask a nurse in our ward what she thought I should do about his eye. She wasn't sure if it needed stitching or not - it was hard to tell since it was still bleeding a bit. While I was talking to her, Brother Frandsen, a wound care doctor in our ward, asked me what I was going to do about it. I told him I didn't know and asked what he thought I should do.  He responded that it needed to be glued shut.  He told me that if I stopped by his house, he would do it at home.  That settled it - when we got in the van, we headed right over to his house.  

Before the "procedure"

When we got to his house, Brother Frandsen put his blue gloves on. Zaby immediately said, "no doctors no doctors." I held him down, Sister Frandsen held the wound shut, and Brother Frandsen glued it.  The whole ordeal wasn't too traumatizing considering how Zabien got cookies when it was all said and done.  Then Brother Frandsen let him play with his Nerf guns. By that time, it was hard to get him to leave. We still had to brave the icy roads home.  The boy wouldn't even let me give him any Tylenol.  His eye hasn't bothered him since because surprisingly he hasn't been picking at it.  People have asked him what happened to his eye, and he responds this way: "I hurt at church, no snow ball on, no nursery, no doctors, all better." We took this picture of him about an hour later. It doesn't seem to be bothering him now.

Playgroup valentine's party

The Valentines playgroup activity was held at the church this year instead of someone's house.  This turned out to be the best since close to 20 children were there.  We started off by decorating Valentine's bags.  Zaby was much to grumpy and the activity was too demanding for me to take any pictures of that.  After the bag decorations, we completed two different crafts.  Eliza is holding up her fruit loop heart.  She was particularly excited about this craft since fruit loops is her favorite cereal.  

 

It didn't take long for the kids to find their way over to the treat table.  In fact, half of my sugar cookies were gone before any of the mom's really noticed that the kids were helping themselves.  It was then we decided to have the kids sit down while they enjoyed the plethora of Valentines Day treats present.   

After snack we passed out Valentines.  Eliza was very excited to hand out her Frozen valentines and even more excited to get one in return.  Her hair is braided like Elsa most days.  She sits really well for her hair to get combed and tells me how she wants her hair down by naming a particular princess. (i.e. Anna, Elsa, Cinderella, Belle, Ariel, Jasmine, Snow White).  It's funny because even after I comb her hair to look like the princess, he will comment, "but it's not red like Ariel," or "Snow White's hair is black."  Sorry girly, you can't change your hair color as easily as you can your hair style.   

After the Valentine exchange, we played heart walk.  Eliza participated the first time only, and got discouraged when she didn't win.  She opted to just watch, and get a prize at the end when everyone did.   

Zaby thought it was the best to just stand in the same place, and have the other children walk around him.  This method didn't work any better than Eliza's when it came to winning a prize.   

Afterwards, we played Valentines bingo.  Eliza stuck with it and managed to get a bingo.  Zabien simply enjoyed eating the sweethearts they used as markers.  Both children got a prize at the end of the activity.  By the time playgroup was over, both children were satisfied with their loot and spent the rest of the afternoon looking through their valentines bags. I would say the activity was a success.  Thankfully I wasn't even in charge of it this time.   

Valentines day

I started off the morning by giving my hand-made valentines to the kids and Bruce.  Eliza also got a Frozen shirt and Frozen socks - she wore all 6 pairs at different times that day.  I gave Zabien a plush Grover doll (which he calls Grover's Farm, after a favorite book of his), and an "ah ah George", Curious George movie.  Bruce got a new pair of running shorts.  Before we left for our trip, Bruce gave me a new foot controlled garbage can.  It may not be the most romantic gift, but it is very practical which I think are the best gifts anyway.  The kids gave me a set of metallic beads which they quickly claimed for themselves (claiming that mommy was sharing with them permanently), and 3 Valentines balloons. 

Rather than having a romantic night out with just the parents, we decided to take the whole family for a weekend getaway.  We drove 1.5 hours east to Atlantic City, New Jersey where we stayed at the Atlantic Palace resort - right on the Atlantic City boardwalk.  We had high hopes to walk along the famous boardwalk, mowzy down the beach searching for seashells, and stroll through downtown.  However, the weather was bitter cold. Temperatures were below zero, and in the negative teens with the wind chill factor.  When a strong gust of wind knocked over both kids with our first step outside, we immediately turned around and walked back inside.  We opted to drive the 3 blocks over to the Trump Taj Mahal, a famous buffet, where we planned to have lunch.  Fortunately we found meter parking, and only had to pay 1.50 instead of the required 20.00 to park at the casino buffet.    

Zabien really like the golden elephant statues.  If it were warmer, we may have taken more time to glance at them.  As it was, Zabien was a little frozen statue - so cold, he couldn't even move.   We literally stopped long enough to snap the photos, then proceeded to run inside. 

Eliza marched down the sidewalk singing "Let it Go" at the top of her lungs.   I hate to break it to you sweet heart, but this cold really did "bother me anyway." 

Our Valentines lunch turned out to be more eventful than expected.  First of all, we expected a casino buffet to be relatively inexpensive (we must be used to the casino buffets in Las Vegas).  Unfortunately, buffets on the east coast, in regards to price, are nothing like they are on the west.  But.. it is Valentines Day after all, so we bucked up and paid the pretty penny they charged. 

The kids were extremely excited by the buffet choices.  Zabien no doubt had eyes bigger than his stomach.  He pointed to every dish available and wanted some on his plate - even the exotic stuff.  I do have to hand it to him that he literally took a bite of everything on his plate.  He ate so fast, then proceeded to run circles around the surrounding, empty tables.  The big surprise came when finally went to retrieve him.  I grabbed him as he ran by, and as soon as I picked him up, he managed to toss his cookies all over me and the floor.  His words, "I ok mommy. I not sick."  After I managed to clean it up as best I could with napkins left on a near by table, Zaby eagerly went right back to the buffet line wanting more because he was suddenly "hungry" again.  The silly kid ate drank enough chocolate milk and ate enough chocolate ice cream to last him the rest of the month.     

After lunch, we drove a few more blocks to visit and climb a lighthouse.  This original lighthouse was the tallest in the city and was used as a lighthouse until the 60s when the skyline of Atlantic City completely changed.  The lighthouse is no longer the tallest building, nor is it visible from the ocean anymore.  We managed to climb all 220 stairs to the top - Eliza walked up every one.  Zaby suffered from voluntary and sporadic leg paralysis (which he does often when he doesn't want to walk) and needed to be carried to the top.  The picture above is the two of them posing from on the landings.   

Bruce and I at the very top on the lookout.  It was so COLD!  By this time, the snow and ice storms started, so we didn't stay on the landing for long.   

Bruce was such  good sport through it all.  The stairs were so narrow going down that Eliza had a hard time walking.  We thought it was safer for her to be carried.  Of course, being about 7 months pregnant, it wasn't safer for me to carry any of the kids down.  Bruce carried Zaby down, walked back up, and carried Eliza down.  When it was all said and done, Bruce probably climbed the 220 lighthouse stairs the equivalence of 3 times.   

A selfie in front of the lighthouse. 

That evening, we ate popcorn and Valentines cookies in our room while we watched Wreck-It Ralph.  I had to take this picture because my children don't tend to sit through an entire movie (with the exception of Frozen).  They both sat and watched the movie from start to finish.  Zabien said he really liked it; Eliza claims she didn't, but she did watch the whole thing.  If she truly didn't like it, she would not have sat through the whole thing.   

Despite the bitter cold, it was  fun Valentines Day weekend spent together as a family.   Maybe next year we will have a little more warmth and a little less throw up.  Happy Valentines Day everyone!