Drive to Myrtle beach...Vacation Day 5

We left Florida and started the drive to Myrtle beach. We didn't arrive until pretty late. I wanted to get down to the water for a few minutes, even though we were all hungry.







Suits on and down to the beach. (It wasn't that dark yet...the flash makes it look that way.)

The coastline.

Myrtle Beach was my favorite part of the trip. I wish I had a better picture to capture this, but the sound of Simone's feet on the wet sand is definitely on my list of bliss moments! She loved it...not at first- but after she got used to the idea she was so happy.


Then we went for a swim in the pool, and room service delivered our dinner to us there. The kids had a cheese pizza and fresh fruit. Lincoln and I had shrimp cocktail, and a yummy Thai salad. We were planning to stay only one night, but we were having so much fun Lincoln extended our stay one more day! I am so glad he did.....more beach pictures so come! (Yes, MORE!)

Villa day- Vacation Day 4

We just hung out at the resort. We had do go on our "tour", so we planned a down day.

We went on a walk.....

caught lizards.......

played in the sand, and looked for the alligators they told us to watch out for.....

and scared birds away.

Then for dinner we went to a Pirate dinner show. Talia is on the stage in this picture. It was a fun show, and Simone thought the food was fantastic! She ate more than I have EVER seen her eat.

Epcot -Vacation Day 3

Here is how our day started..........

Lovely ponchos for all!

Looks like they are having a blast doesn't it?

We went to Epcot for a special breakfast with the princesses. Five of the Disney princesses were there and came around to our table to talk with Natalia. She was in heaven! The boys were happy too, because the food was so GOOD! Blueberry muffins, croissants, berries, peaches, granola and yogurt, bacon, breakfast potatoes, sausage, juice, apple pastries, scrambled eggs, and some crazy breakfast herring. =) YUM!



Then we went out to face the rain again. I decided to make the most of it, and we did an impromptu photo session. I have quite a few inspirations for this shot, but the main one is......

Ya, I jumped like 10 times. Lincoln soon got the hang of it, so he actually caught me in the air instead of on the ground! Great fun. People thought I was a bit crazy as they walked by.






HP is a sponsor of one of the rides at Epcot. They have a special VIP lounge for HP employees and you can only get in with your work badge. We were excited to go hang out (out of the rain!) and eat some free food.....BUT this is only open during the week. We were there on a Saturday. boo.

My baby looks so small compared to a giant planet.

LOL!

Bumped her head on Jupiter!

We waited for the big kids and Daddy a long time while they rode Test Track! She and I watched the little birds hop around. She LOVED them. One hopped right up to us, and she squealed and scared him off. This was her favorite part of the day.
Lincoln didn't buy an umbrella. He bought a sombrero. Basically a no hands umbrella, right? He got a lot of smiles and compliments as we walked through the rain. I love him, he is crazy.

The kids in China.

Us in China.

Talia getting Snow White's autograph. Snow White is her favorite....obviously...the matching dress kind of gives that away.

Wyatt, I don't know where you are. Somewhere between countries waiting outside a restroom. The light was pretty, and you looked so handsome in restroom land.

Simone in Morocco.

-Me too

-and Wyatt there too.

The red phone booth in the United Kingdom.

I love this picture! I love them both so much.

I walked through this French bakery to see all the lovely things I was too full to eat. The bakery smelled heavenly. I sent Talia (aka "the super smeller") to go have a turn. See that look on her face? Yep, just smelled heaven look. She had to hold the door frame to keep from falling down it smelled so good.

On our way to the exit I saw these stars in the ground, and snapped a quick picture. Goodbye Epcot!

We had a great day at Epcot, even with the rain. We bought some crazy souvenirs, and lost quite a few things too! The food was so good. We had that amazing princess breakfast, then lunch in Japan, dessert crepes in France, and Mexican food for dinner.

One funny thing about Talia this trip. Every time we went to a restaurant she would ask us if they had salsa. We were at a sandwich place, an Irish restaurant, and our Japanese lunch, and she would BEG us to ask the server if they had salsa even though we had already told her they didn't! We had Mexican for dinner to appease her burning desire for salsa. (Where did this come from? She doesn't eat it very often at home.) The salsa ended up being REALLY spicy. Lincoln went and got her a side of chopped tomatoes and told her it was salsa and she was totally happy! I wish I knew she could be fooled so easily a bit sooner!

Disney World- Day 2

Traditional picture by the front entrance!

We rode Dumbo first, and because we went after labor day....we never waited in line. EVER, for anything!!!

Talia taking us all the way up!

Simone catching a quick nap.

The Great Pirate Wyatt.

Simone's first mickey mouse ice cream bar. She got SO So messy! People would walk by and smile and laugh at her. She was in heaven, she loves her chocolate!


Here comes a Florida storm. We dodged the rain on the People Mover....and then Buzz Lightyear.

Not the king.

Not the king.

Not the king.

Happiest Place on Earth. =)

Simone and I about to get on Peter Pan.

Wyatt on the train.

Tom Sawyer's Island.

That is Lincoln and Wyatt on Splash Mountain! This kids went with me the first time, and were scared out of their minds! Cute! Notice Talia didn't want to go on it the second time. =)

Lincoln and I at a Hitching Post.

No lines.
Happy kids.
Simone got TWO naps at the park.
One short thunder storm.
Cinnamon Rolls for breakfast.
Lincoln got 108,000 points on Buzz Lightyear.
Ice cream treats.
Pirates of the Caribbean with Simone, she thought we were nuts! =)
I shall repeat....NO LINES!
We got to go to Ragland Road for dinner. Their bread pudding is to die for.
Lincoln proposed to me again! I said YES!!!!!
A very good day!

Florida Vacation- Day 1

Okay! Here we go. The vacation. It was wonderful. We drove down to South Carolina and stayed via Marriott points. Then we woke up extra early and drove to Florida. We got to our villa by noon. We stayed at a Marriott vacation resort on a package deal that I bought for Lincoln's 30th birthday. Our villa was HUGE! Here are a few pictures.

Master bedroom/bath....and someone tiny and cute.

Kids room.

My boys making themselves at home! (Behind them is the kitchen, the foyer, a LAUNDRY ROOM, kids bathroom, and kids bedroom.)

Now I will tell you how much I paid for this beautiful place. $99.00. Yep. Four nights, Five days....$99. We had to go listen to their timeshare deal, but that was not a big deal. Want to stay here at that price? Sorry, I have no idea how we got it. They called me on Lincoln's 30th birthday.....THE ACTUAL day, and I didn't have a slammin' gift for him. We all know he is a fantastic gift giver, and I thought this gift would make me look cool. Like I had planned it, or something! =) A year later we went and used it!


We went to Downtown Disney for a late lunch, and then the kids decided to play in the fountain. They loved it, and we loved watching them while staying dry on a park bench.

Wyatt would look staight down at a hole and wait. This is after he got sprayed in the face.

Then Lincoln rented a boat. That surprised me, I thought we were going on the ferry. This was one of my favorite things we did on the whole trip. (You may hear me say that again for something else.)

The kids took turns driving.

Simone is a good driver.

.happy family.

Wyatt took a picture of us. Great angle sweetie!

A quick ride on the carousel.

Hello Skeley.

Smmmmooooch.

"Did I just see you with my little sister?"

At the lego store building a six wheel car together.

S is for Simone

N is for Natalia

W is for Wyatt

Walking around the shops.

What a day! I love that I got to spend it with my favorite people!

Stay tuned for day two! Disney World!

we're home!

We just got home from the most wonderful relaxing vacation ever! We had a great time. My camera, that has been around my neck for a week will be downloading to my computer very shortly.

Talia is napping. She has the stomach flu.

Simone has learned to climb ON TOP of my computer desk. She loves to push buttons on t1he ke34y board. I will post more laster....when she is asleep.

dffaaASA
(She SAYS HI)

The fair

is a veritable smorgasbord orgasbord orgasbord

I am sorry. That song from Charlotte's web has been in my head ever since we went the fair a few weeks ago. We had such a good time. Then kids cried when we told them it was time to go. They absolutely loved it. Who knew.

This the first ride Talia went on. She is so brave. It takes you up really high, then drops you. She gave me the thumbs DOWN, after I asked her if she liked it.

In front of the fun house maze thingy.

Simone enjoying a funnel cake.
We had lemonade (my favorite), and beef and ham sandwiches for dinner.
Oh, and cotton candy too. Talia had NEVER had it before. oops. She loved it....of course.

I love this picture. Wyatt looks afraid (he wasn't) and the sign above says something about a fall hazard.

"Are they really going to take me on this?!"

Watching the sun go down on a Ferris wheel. How fun is that?

Handsome guy, who wins all kinds of crazy fair prizes for his kids. We came home with a HUGE stuffed doberman pincher, a medium sized purple carebear, a bendy flower, and a real goldfish.

The last shot of the day. My camera died. =) I love this little point and shoot. It does a pretty good job with low light, and it is small enough to put in my purse. (I have a canon g10 if you are wondering.)

My kids really loved the fair. More than I thought they would. I think we will make more of an effort to go and enjoy it next year.

$1.00

Do you know how much a great big gumball costs?

It's one dollar. Unfortunately for the person that tried to buy one before us, there was no sign stating this. So they put in fifty cents, then left. Talia got this pretty red gum ball for two shinny quarters instead of four! Then she bought two smaller gumballs- one for me, and one for her to have right then.

Then she carried the big one around the mall like this. (See photo above, and also notice how some of the coloring has been rubbed off by her sweaty little hands.) I couldn't help but laugh, and told her she couldn't bite it until I got a picture. =)

I'm hungry....

Can someone in Utah bring me one of these? Lincoln wants one too.

Thanks,
Jeri

no tresspassing

I got permission to take pictures in this field. It was full of spiky weeds so we just stayed on the edges. They just mowed it though, so we'll go back. I got some DIRTY looks from people driving by. Next time I will bring a poster that says....we have permission to be in this field! Too funny.





I have some good kids! Lincoln has been out of town for two weeks! He had been gone this week too, but is on is way home. I am ready for him to be here for a while now, and so are the kids! They miss him so much.

Wyatt's first day of 2nd grade.

Another school year has begun. Wyatt begged to let me stay home just one more day. He wasn't ready to go back, and I didn't tell him...but I wasn't ready for him to go back either. I was so sad while writing his name on all of his school supplies. He is my Wyatt, my little buddy. I miss him so much during the day.

Waiting for the bus. I am sure he didn't want me snapping pictures. =)

Here he is signing to us "I love you", and saying too! I love his "Yooooouuuu" lips.


His teacher this year is Mrs. Batman. He liked that, and says she is nice. She told me how to pronounce her last name....it is a little different than BatMAN (maybe Bat-min ? I can't remember.) , but the kids always end up saying Batman, and she says that is okay. =) Cute.

He had a good first day.



On a side note: We own FOUR cars again. Heaven help me. (It is only for a few more days. The company car will go to the dealership soon, and then Lincoln will sell his black truck.) He bought a new Toyota truck. It is huge. He looks good in it, I will not lie!