Sea World Orlando

We went to Sea World Orlando since it was right across the street from our hotel. We saw a lot of sea animals. These are sea turtles that were rescued and will one day be returned to their natural habitat.



We saw the manatees. These are one of my favorite animals next to the dolphin. Lexy's been in love with these gentle giants since she saw Larry in a Veggie Tales movie singing about them.



Look at how small Avery and Ella look compared to them.



I gave Avery my camera during the Shamu Rocks show. These are her shots from the show.







We had a lot of fun. It rained every day we were there but it only rained for about an hour and then it cleared. It was actually really nice because most people left when it would rain and we just stayed and waited it out.

Animal Kingdom

Our first day in Florida was spent at the hotel swimming and ordering room service. The kids really liked that.



The following day we went to Animal Kingdom. We saw Pocahontas first. Lexy said she looked so perfect. My sweet girl thought about and commented about her looks all day long. She also asked if all the characters looked that perfect. I hated that she felt that way.



We also saw Pluto. He was very silly.



And we saw Timon.



We went on the animal safari ride and saw a lot of animals. It was really fun.



At the end of our day we ate at the Rain Forest Cafe.

Vacation Time!

We took our first BIG family vacation with everyone. We decided to go to Disney World. Before we left the kids were counting down the days till it was time to go. They were so excited the morning we left. This is what our car looked like all loaded up. It was amazing how much stuff we needed.





This was the first time the kids flew on a plane. Isaac was so amazed at all the planes and all the things that happen before we get on the plane. I told him how the men loaded our luggage and put snacks for us to eat on the plane and how the plane needed fuel. He loved looking at everything.






Avery sat in the isle and did not care to look out of the window. Isaac ran into the plane and sat right at the window and looked out of it the entire time. I sat with the two "twins" Ella and Lexy. Lexy was so excited it was her first plane ride, that she will remember, and Ella sat right next to her, I sat on the isle seat and held Avery's hand from across the isle.



Our plane ride there was very smooth. The kids ate their snacks and played with things I brought for them. When we landed we rode the tran to baggage claim. The little ones thought it was fun.



Then we went to the hotel. We stayed at the Renaissance Resort Sea World. It was so beautiful. Tino and I visited the same hotel last year for our anniversary.



Our first day we just hung out and swam. Tomorrow I'll post pictures of our time at Sea World.

Carlos is back....well maybe

When Avery and I would sit at the kitchen table for school we would sometimes stare out of the window. One day I saw a beautiful bright green lizard. Then it moved to one of the posts on the porch which is brown, so of course the lizard turned brown. We had so much fun just watching it change colors. I named him Carlos because of his ability to change colors so quickly. A couple of days later we saw a bird flying very close to Carlos and Carlos disappeared for a couple of days. We thought the worst had happened, and it probably did, but to our surprise we saw Carlos the other day! It's probably really not him but a son or daughter of Carlos, but we like to think it's him. So here his is lookin' so pretty.

Lemonade 25 cents!

Last weekend my friend Jana and I had a garage sale. I have been promising Avery that the next time we did she could have a lemonade stand. So she did. I of course invited my mom and dad who were babysitting my sister's children, and they all bought lemonade from Avery. I'm so proud of her, she was not at all shy. When someone would come to the sale she proudly said in a loud voice "lemonade 25 cents!!" It was so precious. Jana gave her a little tin can to keep her money in. The money she earned she has decide to take with her to Disney World and buy herself something. She just looks so precious, waiting for customers. She is such an entrepreneur.

NEVER AGAIN!!

Today was dollar day at the Dallas Zoo. Which means that admission for everyone is a dollar and some of their snacks were a dollar. My sister called me early this morning and told me about it. So we decided to go. BIG MISTAKE!! After loading everyone and everything into my car, off we went. There was no longer any parking in the zoo parking lot so we parked over the bridge next to a pawn shop! It was a very long walk and by the time we finally got there we had all the kids saying it was hot and they wanted to go home. But we kept on with our plans...after waiting in the long line to pay to get in we sat down and took our first picture.



Notice Ella, well you can't really see her because she wouldn't look at the camera. She was crying and said multiple time she did not want to take a picture.
Oh, did I mention my sister has four children also? Look at Isaac, his hair looks wet, it is but only from his sweat. YUCK!! Next we saw our first animal, well bird, and this is one of the two we saw.



Next, we made our way to the picnic tables where we ate our home brought lunch.



Our poor children they do not look very happy. Oh, and Lexy's friend Anna is visiting us from Mobile, Alabama so she came with us. So after our lunch we decided to come home. Ella had totally given up on walking and I had to carry her all the way back to the car, parked miles away! On the way out of the zoo we saw a lost boy just crying and screaming! It was so sad, so I told him to go with my sister and she would help him, meanwhile I grabbed all 9 kids and had them sit while I went to get the car. Finally after miles of walking we go to the car, blased the AC and went to pick up the rest of the kids. So NEVER AGAIN will we EVER go to the Zoo for dollar day, it was just not worth it. We stayed a total of 30 minutes and saw only birds, no animals!!!! Next time I'll pay full price and go on a less crowded day.

Maybe one day during homeschool we'll go, but never during the summer!! I love homeschooling.

My Sunflowers

It's taken me longer than I expected to post these pictures but here you go.



Do you see the little bee on the left part of the flower?



Here is my garden in all its glory. BEAUTIFUL!



This sunflower was one of the first to open. See how its head is bulging? It's getting ready to make the seeds. It bends over since it is so heavy. I will put a sack cloth over it so the birds do not eat my seeds. I'll post pictures when it happens.

"My Garden"

This is the fruit of my garden, it's not much now but it's getting there. First this is my lettuce from seeds.



And this is my beautiful sweet basil also from seeds! Does anyone need any? I have plenty.



Tomorrow my pride and joy....My huge beautiful sunflowers!! They are taller than me!

My Garden

For Mother's Day my kiddos and my sweet Tino made me a garden bed. I'm really a country girl at heart. I have planted lettuce, sunflowers, sweet basil, and cilantro. All of these have been from seed and I also bought some peppers but they are not doing so good. See my compost piles in the back? The big girls were in charge of spreading out the soil.



It was fun for the babies too, Tino showed them how to use garden tools.






Isaac helped Tino put up the fence around my garden. It was supposed to keep the dog out but he would just jump it. After a couple of spankings our dog stopped jumping in.




Since this is "my" garden I bought the kids a little pot they could plant their "own" plant in. So they all decided to plant sunflowers. Lexy still hasn't found the perfect plant to plant in her pot. She's such a perfectionist, sometimes like this time, it drives me NUTS!!!




So I finally had a chance to plant my seeds, tomorrow, I'll post pictures of the garden now.

4th of July

Our plans changed so many times for the 4th. We were going to go to Vicki's house, but couldn't make it because of my gas guzzler!! Sorry Vick! So we decide to go to our church for the block party. As we were on our way Tino noticed the big black cloud over our church area. Well as we got closer sure enough it was raining right over our church. This is what we saw as we pulled up.
So we decided to wait and see what would happen. Well it poured!!! The petting zoo packed up and left. The kids were so sad in the car. You can see Isaac in the back with his blanket, so upset, but the girls thought it would clear that's why they're smiling.
Ella decide to entertain us by making silly faces! She is so silly sometimes.
So after the rain stopped I went inside the church to scope things out. And all activities outside had been cancelled and everyone was just going to eat and hang out inside. So we decide to go to the fair for their fireworks and festivities. We had a blast! All the museums were FREE! We played in the Science Place for hours and went to the Texas Discovery Gardens.

We also stopped at the Railroad Museum, Isaac is so into trains. He wanted every Thomas he saw in the souviner shop.
The fire works were amazing, they are the 22nd biggest display in Texas. Lexy took all the fireworks pictures since I had to cover Isaac's ears. He really hates loud noises!! This firework has red, white and blue!!

Oh, did I mention that I fell and twisted my ankle while trying to catch Isaac. And I scraped my leg from my foot all the way to my knee. GEEZ I'm exhausted!

Splash Water Park!

OK, so today I was outside with the kids and again they were complaining on how hot it was. It was only 10 in the morning. So I decided to take them to the splash park. When we got there, there were only little kids there so Lexy decided to just sit and eat her snack. So she is not in any of the pictures. Avery, the fearless one ran all around the park and had a blast. She was trying to get the babies to follow her but was only successful with getting Isaac to follow her. Ella played in the water but only in the fountain closest to where I was. They had such a fun time and I enjoyed talking to Lexy as we ate our snacks and watched the "littles" play in the water.

Lite Brite

It was all too quiet today as I was on the computer. So I went to investigate the silence. To my surprise the two babies were not getting into anything bad. (Yes, we still call them the babies) Just havin' fun with the good ol' lite brite. Just as soon as I went to grab my camera and snapped a few shots the light went out. It burned out and the babies began crying ending the silence!