Disney teaser

We did Magic Kingdom on Wednesday. It was HOT but we had a fabulous day. Those are the pictures I haven't sorted yet, so expect another big post in the next few days. We did the teacups (well, the kids and I did, because poor Dada would have hurked), Ariel's Grotto- which is absolutely adorable, the Peter Pan ride- which was surprisingly charming for being a smaller kid ride, Splash Mountain- which terrorized Carrie but she went on twice, the mining ride that was over there somewhere, the big kids went on the Aladdin magic carpet ride with me, and I had my maiden voyage on Space Mountain. AWESOME! Carrie went on it with uncle Rob and aunt Jana and she claims she almost threw up.

Holy schnikes! I quit! I just landed on Pacific Avenue that has FOUR HOUSES AND A HOTEL ON IT!!! Game over. Stink. All I have left are 10s and 20s! =/

Anyway, Space Mountain rocked. I think it was better that it was all in the dark and you couldn't see what was coming. Sooooooooooooooooooooooo fun!

And to her credit, she was standing on her own two feet by the time we saw her, post-ride.

Hang on, tallying Monopoly winnings...

Awesome times with a great family!

Eliza, her mom Jonay, a sweet baby Noah.

Below, Grandma Barb with aunt Becky and uncle Kelly, eating ice cream again. ;)
 

 

Eliana, Pap with Neva, and uncle Rob. Below, Lizzie and Olivia. They're just a year apart. The second cousins all had a blast with each other!
 

 

Carrie with a cheesing Zach, and Liam below.
 

 

Cousin Jonay, Grandma Barb, aunt Jana, aunt Becky, and little old me.

Eliza and Eliana, uncle Kelly with mandolin, cousin Jonay, and me. Singing songs around our invisible campfire, hehe!
 

 

Beautiful Olivia conked out, finally. She looks exactly like her big sister Eliana did at this age. Isn't she gorgeous?
 

 

Aunt Becky had gone off to bed before we remembered to take pictures, and all the 10 and unders were asleep, but here's the rest of the crew. =)
 

 

 

Pool party pictures

 

Wet and wild, apologies in advance if these get tedious. We had LOTS of fun in the pool. The kids improved their swimming skills tremendously and Carrie turned into a fish.



Above, the Indiana branch of the family: Zach, uncle Kelly, aunt Becky, and Lizzie. This crew left early so that they could be in St. Louis in time to say their goodbyes to aunt Becky's precious mother, Sue, who ended up passing away Saturday night. She is with her heavenly Father now and is not suffering any longer from angiosarcoma. We missed them for the rest of the trip, but were super glad for the time we had with them and we're also glad that they got to be there in time for Sue. She will be sorely missed. She was one classy, elegant, Proverbs 31 woman!

 

 

 

 

 

 

 

 

Not sure what happened here, but I love the pouty lip on Damon.

 

 

 

 

 

Dada, uncle Kelly, and uncle Rob have a cousin named Jonay who lives in Florida. She packed up her kids and came to visit us on Tuesday night, so we got to see Eliza, 16, Eliana, 13, Timothy, 8, and Olivia, 5. Timothy and Carrie raced in the pool, and Liam would not be separated from Olivia. We had never met the youngest two, and hadn't seen the oldest girls since uncle Rob and aunt Jana's wedding. It was SO GOOD to see them all. I think it was the highlight of the trip for me. I loved all the hugs and the singing and was greatly encouraged to see how kind the biggest girls were to our kids and especially their own siblings. Gave me hope for my own kids becoming kind some day as a rule, instead of when they feel like it. ;)
 

Olivia with Eliza
 

 

 

Above, Timothy.

Below, Zach, whose daddy was blowing water out of a pool noodle at him..
 

 

Joys of summertime, early.

This little bugger decided to teach himself to swim. His legs pedaled right under him, vertically, just like he's riding a bike. He hardly used his arms, but he insisted, "don't touch me, Mama! Don't touch me!" as he scooted all over the pool.
 

 

Here's Liam with Lizzie, and Damon imitating Zach. Bunch of nuts.

Below, I just missed Neva spooned up against Damon. They were adorable, so I grabbed for the camera and she scooched away. =/
 

Ice cream is our love language. ;) Here's Grandma Barb, riding herd over the ice cream crew.

 

Care Bear, against the edge of the bed while Neva sleeps diagonally and hogs the rest. Too funny. She's such a half pint!

 

Double trouble, otherwise known as Damon and Zach.
 

 

 

Miss Neva in the tunnel, and a hot Damon staying hydrated by his Grandma Barb.
 

 

A lizard came to supervise at the playground. We got to see lots of these little guys and even a sweet little frog on our front porch. And buzzards out back! No kidding!
 

Settling into the Manor

Our gorgeous rental house in Florida was called the Manor. It was by everything imaginable, but what made it the best of the best was the 7 bedrooms and the lanai around the pool. It was amazing to not have to be scooping bees and wasps out of the pool and get eaten alive by mosquitos. We got to enjoy the butterflies and dragonflies and stayed safe from the horseflies and birds. I did get to see some bird I didn't recognize, and he sang all kinds of different songs. I wonder if maybe he was a mockingbird. He sat on the peak of the roof of the next door neighbor and sang, trilled, chirped, and twittered his heart out. It was the neatest thing. I have no pictures of him. =( But, I do have adorable shots of that cutest of babies, baby Noah! See? There he is with his handsome daddy, uncle Rob.
 

 

Liam has always adored babies, and Noah was no exception. Here they are having guy talk. =)

 

 

 

Here's Noah's big sister, Neva. We had 7 kids from not-quite-one to 10 years old. Three of them were newly minted three year olds or almost three!