Halloween Spooktacular

We spent a few hours at Sea World on Sunday! We have been longtime passport members, and Sea World is our favorite place to go when we want to get some uninterrupted family time in (especially since our schedule can be a little hectic at times!). This was our third year attending the park's Halloween Spooktacular event. There are candy stations scattered throughout the theme park, and costumed characters and fantastic decorations are around just about every corner. The kids love Sea World on ordinary days, but hunting for candy and treats is always an additional source of excitement for them.

I don't have time to post a whole lot about the day, but I wanted to post a few photos. If you have the opportunity to get there, the event continues Oct. 23, 24, 29, 30 and 31! Visit www.seaworldorlando.com for more information!


Megan and Jeremy at the entrance to the trick-or-treat path...


"Visiting" one of the whales in the observation tank behind Shamu Stadium. The kids have been known to tell people that they have a pet whale and that we go visit him at his house...


Megan and Jeremy with one of the garden fairy characters in the park. Notice the strained smiles? They don't look directly at the camera much...Steve says I "broke" them by taking so many pictures during their first few years... :)

Where has summer gone?

I can't believe that it's been more than three months since my last post. It seems like the summer just flew right by...for a while, I was in shock that June was already gone, then before you know it July had joined it and we were stumbling into August. So here we are. It's "back to school" time in St. Johns County, and while my kids aren't school-aged yet, there are plenty around us who are. My niece started middle school today, my nephew had his first day of Kindergarten today, and my brother- and sister-in-law (16 and 15 respectively) are in their junior and sophomore years now. Craziness. They're all in Duval County...St. Johns County schools don't start here til Friday.

We are currently waiting for the arrival of Tropical Storm/Hurricane Fay. She'll make landfall on the southwest portion of Florida tomorrow afternoon, and will then make her way across Florida almost on a direct bee-line to us. Lots of wind, plenty of rain, and tons of boredom here at our house...the poor kids don't like being cooped up, but there won't be much choice this week. Steve is scheduled for beach duty tomorrow, and regular shifts on Wednesday and Thursday night, so even if he's not called in for help during the storm, he won't be here much. I will have to dig out some more of the kids' new toys from their room to break up the monotony. We still have gifts from their birthday last December that we've been saving for "a rainy day," and I think this week might be the appropriate time to release them and replace some of the older toys!

I would be remiss if I didn't mention that we had a fantastic family vacation to Orlando at the end of July. We usually make a trip to Orlando to coincide with either my birthday or Steve's (we went to Sea World in February and last July), but this time we stayed THREE nights instead of just one. A real vacation! We didn't overplan, but thought about little things like snacks and juice boxes and bottled water to help keep our costs as low as possible. We had such a great time...I can't even begin to tell all of the awesome pieces that are put together to describe it. Megan and Jeremy were in awe...we went to Hollywood Studios on my birthday (the big 3-0!), then Magic Kingdom the next day, then Sea World on the third day before heading home. Sea World has the Sesame Street gang visiting this summer, so we had breakfast with Elmo and friends that morning. A very reasonable cost for a very rewarding experience...Jeremy wasn't quite sure what to think when the characters came around to the table to visit, but Megan was just completely blissful about the time spent with furry monsters and giant birds.

Whoa...it's March...

Wow. I cannot believe how long it's been since I last posted! I would love to say that my life has just been filled to the brim with new and exciting events and activities, but the only thing new is whatever the kids are up to these days. I just do my best to keep up with them! :)

The kids turned two back in December, and two weeks later they promptly began identifying the letters of the alphabet. They don't know the alphabet in order from A to Z, but ask them what any specific letter is (seriously, it's like a game to them now) and they race to see who can yell it out first. It actually freaked me out a little, and then I got used to it. They have really picked it up from Sesame Street and Word World on PBS, so I can't even take credit for it. I guess I'm just amazed and thankful at the same time, since twins tend to be a little delayed on certain aspects of development...at least I know they shouldn't have much trouble with learning to read later on. It's funny though...Megan and I went to the doctor to check on a minor issue, and while we were waiting for the doc to come into the exam room, Megan was reading me the letters in a book (not the words, just the letters). The doc walks in and just gapes, mouth hanging. Very calmly, she turns and says, "How long has she been doing that?" She was even more shocked when I told her they were both doing it, and very clearly. Like I said...can't take the credit, but I sure am proud of them.

Megan has gotten very sure of herself, and sometimes the confidence she has borders on snottiness. She woke up from her nap yesterday and informed me, "Mommy, I would like Word World." I told her I was watching the news, and that we would watch it later (I record it on my DVR to keep it close at hand) and she smartly replied, "But MOMMY, I would LIKE Word World!" Sheesh. Jeremy does pretty well holding his own with her now, so I no longer worry that she is going to boss him around the house as much. He's a dancing fool...we took the kids to Sea World for Steve's birthday at the end of February, and in the lobby of our hotel there was a one-man music presentation, and Jeremy boogied in front of the stage, all by himself, for two whole songs before we dragged him away to give the poor musician his spotlight back. :)

Time for me to try to get to sleep. Take care and keep in touch!!!