Bikes

Last year my coworker, who has boy/girl twins that are 5 years older than TJ and Olivia, asked if I wanted their old bikes. I rarely turn down hand-me-downs so I gladly took the bikes/training wheels off of their hands and hung the bikes up in our garage. Thanks to Gpa we finally got them down for the kids to ride. I was SURE that they weren't big enough for bikes with training wheels. Boy was I wrong! I can't believe how fast they've grown. We took the bikes to Gma and Gpa's house where they would have more room to ride.

We discovered a flat in one of the bikes...but here are Handy TJ and Olivia to the rescue!

They were pretty excited about helping to fix this flat;)

My two favorite men!
Once the flat was fixed, they started riding...

...and didn't want to stop! Olivia, at times, was more focused on her bag o' potato chips that Gma gave to her. You can see her munching on some in this picture.

There is a Spiderman and a Hummer bike. They don't seem to have a preference...

Notice Olivia's face while riding...
...and this is Olivia's face when we told her it was time to come in.

Of course Gpa (the posterchild for a grandparent) was willing to stay out there as long as she wanted!

I think she has a little more growing to do...like 3.5 feet...before she can ride Gpa's giant bike;)
But, of course, you couldn't tell that to Olivia!
This is one of my most fond memories that I have as a child with Dad...walking up the length of his legs and then flipping over. Olivia is following in my footsteps!
Next up...St. Augustine weekend #2!

St. Augustine Weekend, Part 2

What was originally meant to be a weekend trip to Columbus, turned into an impromptu St. Augustine vacation. So wonderful and relaxing!

We originally set out on Friday morning to take the kids to play at the neighborhood playground but RIGHT when we were about to get the kids out of the truck, a man with his pitbull decided that the playground was an appropriate place for his pitbull to run around while he did pullups on the swings. So since we are not familiar with playgrounds in St. Johns/Duval County, I went to the Parks and Rec website to scope out some possible alternatives. Here we are at this terrible playground in Jacksonville. I won't name any names, but this was a terrible excuse for a playground. F. The kids did seem to enjoy themselves a little...I mean, anywhere that has a slide and rings is okay with them...

After the terrible park, we headed to Larry's Subs. Yummy!

We finished just in time to take the kids to see their first movie at the movie theater - Toy Story 3. They loved it! TJ definitely takes after his dad in that he will sit at attention and watch an entire movie...no sweat. Olivia is more like her mom. She sat quietly through it, but you could tell she was a little restless and was fighting sleep. My girl! (I have been known to fall asleep in the theater before the OPENING credits...darn previews get me everytime).

Although they don't look like it in this picture, they did enjoy the experience. They haven't stopped talking about it!
On Saturday, we were able to hook up with our good friends, the Brady Family, for a wonderful morning at the pool.
They LOVED playing with their friend, Tyson.

What a beautiful family! Thanks for a great time, Bradys!

March for Babies 2010

Another year, another charity walk! The kids participated in their 4th annual March of Dimes March for Babies. As always, it was a wonderful morning filled with good company, beautiful weather and lots of folks walking to raise money to help the little babies! The kids actually walked a little bit this year as the old red wagon is getting a little tight! Here are a few pics from this year's walk...

Sure looks like the kids are less than amused, but they did have fun!!! This was the first pic of the morning so they were still waking up...

Daddy pulled the wagon the entire way...bless his heart.

Pinwheels!!!!

Love this picture...

Can't wait to do it again next year!

Orlando Science Center

Last Saturday, we decided to have a family day out so we took the kids to the Orlando Science Center. Unfortunately as we were walking into the Science Center, I noticed that my camera batter was dying and I did not have the battery charger. Here are a few pictures that I did get before the camera battery died. Fortunately I had my camera on my phone, but haven't quite figured out how to get them off of my phone...

The kids had a good time - we spent some time in Kids Town where they got to pick and sort oranges in the Orange Grove Factory,

...climb up into and explore underneath the Kids Town Tree...

...and learn about dams and channels at the water table...

After my camera battery died, they also got to play musical instruments with other kids and do a little cooking in the kitchen area as well as discover what is underneath a city street.

Here we are in the Nature Works exhibit where they saw fish, turtles and baby alligators.

This is Terry and the kids looking at a snake skin. I kept my distance. Didn't realize live animals or anything having to do with snakes would be in the Science Center. No thank you.

We also got to see exhibits with frogs (Terry went into this one), dinosaurs and planets. They loved the "All Aboard" room with kid-sized models of planes, cars, trains and the space shuttle. (These are the pictures that are on my phone right now...) They could have played in the mock cockpit of the space shuttle all day. I guess this means I'll should be planning an afternoon at the Kennedy Space Center...

After the Science Center we got smoothies (I love love love a Mango Magic smoothie from Tropical Smoothie. Terry opted for Planet Smoothie smoothie) and rode back to Melbourne so we could join our friends at the bowling alley. We got there right around the kids' bedtime so we didn't stay long nor did we attempt to get a lane so they could bowl. Maybe next time... They did, however, enjoy the arcade games. Unfortunately they realized that you need money to play the games so the next arcade trip will require some dinero. Note to self. So anyway, that was our Saturday. It was a fun Saturday for the family...hopefully now that the season is over we will get to do normal family stuff like this more often!

Easter 2010

Here are some pictures from Easter in DeBary. Enjoy!

Before church...

At church...

After church...

Okay so clearly, I am leaning towards blogging monthly these days. I have such great intentions of blogging...and goodness knows I take enough pictures to blog daily. But...here is what we've been up to for the past month.

Target. We are ALWAYS in Target for one reason or another. This particular Target trip, we had Daddy along with us so they both got to ride "shotgun" in their own cart. Doesn't happen often. We also took them to Five Guys for the first time. It is rare that we go the fast food route with them for various reason (money, nutrition, TJ's allergies) but they sure enjoyed their plain Five Guys hot dog as you can see by these satisfied smiles!

We spent Easter weekend in DeBary because Terry was at the Final Four in Indinapolis. We spent some time with Gma at the playground...Olivia loves the swings and I do believe TJ would live on the slide if we let him.

We dyed eggs...

...took part in an Easter Eve egg hunt in Gma and Gpa's yard/driveway...

...and helped Gpa do some yardwork.

They got "rewarded" for their hard work by jumping around in the bed of leaves with the help of Gpa.

Luckily we had no allergy flare-ups that night - I was definitely worried;) I think Gpa enjoyed letting them run around in the leaves as much as the kids.

Next up...Easter!