Allen Family Adventures

Wesley's "V Book"

2012-02-09T21:09:00.003-05:00

This was the project Wesley came home from school with today - a book all about the letter V. He wanted to read it so that everyone would be able to hear it.

(that's a volcano, vaccum, violin, vine and valentine!)

Here he is showing off the last page!

Whirlwind Birthday Trip

2012-02-08T22:07:00.000-05:00

Sunday after worship we "flew" home to Tampa real quick for a family birthday party at Lettuce Lake Park. Our gathering was a chance to celebrate all of the cousins' February birthdays as well as Miss Joan's birthday.

After a great lunch it was time for cake and presents. Micah was first. The icing on his cake took 4 sticks of butter and a whole tub of cream cheese!

Then it was time for Kayla's bunny cake.

Then Miss Bethany and her dog cake.

And finally Miss Joan and her gluten free apple cake.

The kids had fun playing in the park, especially riding their bikes.

We finished up with some pictures of the cousins altogether before we left.

Then it was time to load up and "fly" home again. We made it just in time for the Superbowl kickoff.

Sunday Fun

2012-02-07T21:55:00.002-05:00

So what happens when you're done with choir practice, worship and Sunday school and Mommy still has another worship service to preach? You get creative in the nursery.....

What It's Like To Be 4

2012-02-01T16:30:00.004-05:00

This is Wesley's project for school on Friday of this week......

They are celebrating the 100th day of school and so he has to bring in a collection of 100 of something. He chose Hot Wheels. We counted them out and they are waiting now on the kitchen counter for their debut on Friday.

In the meantime, Wesley seems to have found a career path this week. He LOVED
the guy who played the drums at camp over the weekend. He had us set up Rock Band for the Wii when we got home on Sunday and has played everyday since. In fact, he now has blisters on his fingers from playing so much!

Clergy Kids 2012 - Last Day

2012-01-31T20:24:00.001-05:00

It was so nice to wake up at camp on Sunday morning! They fed us huge cinnamon buns and bacon for breakfast and then the kids got some game time in before devotions on the benches again. The view from the benches is a perfect place to look at lake.

Back at the path of silence.

Last small group time - several folks had already left so they were playing "Hibernation".

Our friends the Gardners from Bunnell before the last chapel.

The senior high participated in worship by singing and playing.....

As well as leading kids up to do an art project during worship.

Our theme was "Free to be me" and so here is our unique tree creation.

Mommy got to help in worship by leading communion and then it was time to say goodbye until next year. One of Mommy's friends took this picture of us...the boys weren't unhappy about camp; they were unhappy about LEAVING!

We enjoyed a lazy rest of the day at home savoring our memories up to last until next year.

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Clergy Kids 2012 - Saturday Fun

2012-01-30T20:13:00.001-05:00

Saturday was our big day of fun at camp. We hiked over to the recreation hall for breakfast at 8am. On the way we walked past Barnett Lodge which is under massive renovation and expansion. Everything is set for this to be done before camp opens in June. While it was odd to be there and not be in the Lodge, we know it's a much needed upgrade to the camp. Besides in the meantime the boys were excited to see the big construction vehicles around.

The recreation hall was setup half for games and half for dining. After eating, our munchkins grabbed a soccer ball and started to kick it back and forth. Joel, the camp program director, joined right in.

The devotion benches behind the lodge had been moved between the recreation hall and the lake. We took our group photo next (we're in the back row on the left).

After devotions we walked the path of silence. The boys were climbing the tree with their new friend Nicholas from Key West. Then one of the high schoolers helped Wesley get way up in the tree.

A little bit of free time was spent out on the dock before taking the boys to their first small group meeting. The parents hung out and talked for a while in on of the buildings before picking up the kids for lunch.

Later in the afternoon we all met up in the chapel to be sent out on a great big camp wide scavenger hunt. Mommy led team 1 and Daddy led team 2.

Here's 6 of our team making a pyramid with the cross in the background - 4 points.

Playing nine square in the air - 5 points.

Making a Methodist cross and flame with team members - 3 points.

With the scavenger hunt over and the results being tabulated, Wesley got in some frisbee with his Daddy.

Then all the kids had tons of fun playing in the giant inflatable alligator obstacle course that camp had brought in and setup. They played hard for hours!

Finally during free time exhaustion set in for Wesley - he grabbed a 30 minute cat nap before dinner.

Trying to play basketball on the way to dinner!

After dinner was the camp talent show - always a lot of fun! Then they announced the scavenger hunt winner. Alas neither Mommy nor Daddy's team won. The winners got a great big grab box of candy and snacks (which they were gracious enough to share).

Then it was time for worship again. Charissa talked all about different kind of vessels and asked us to think about what kind we were.

After walking by the lake, we got back to our building about 9:30pm. It was time for the kids to have their ice cream party and movie night. They chose Madagascar and enjoyed their ice cream sundaes tremendously!

Then came time for round two of desserts - the kids had made dessert in their small group that day and Joel dropped it off for us. Some kind of dirt sundae which was good too! After moving back into our room about 11:30pm and despite all the sugar the boys crash right out.

Clergy Kids 2012 - Getting Started

2012-01-29T16:12:00.001-05:00

This past weekend we spent time at the Warren Willis Camp in Leesburg for our second experience at Clergy Kids Camp. On the way down we stopped in Leesburg for dinner at Osaka Japanese Steak House, where they cook at your table. This was Wesley's first time here and Parker's second. The boys seemed to really enjoy it and our chef put on a good show.

Then it was time to go check in at camp and get settled. We dropped our stuff in building 3 and headed for the recreation hall to play some fun group games before heading into our first chapel session. Our good friend Charissa Jaeger-Sanders was the worship leader for the weekend and she had all kinds of chances for people to participate in worship as well as movie clips and cool screen graphics.

Then we headed back as a family to our building. Camp had created a lounge area with sofas and chairs in the main meeting space and brought in board games and coloring stuff for the younger kids as well as a TV, DVD player and Wii.

We ended up crashing about 10:30 but it took the boys a while to unwind after all the excitement and go to sleep.

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Grades

2012-01-27T15:34:00.001-05:00

Parker brought home his report card today. He had all "E"s for academics/specials save one S for Language Arts. When we checked online, he had an 89 in that class. This also means that for the first time in his life at SOE, Parker got an "E" from coach for PE! Very proud of the work Parker continues to do at school!

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1, 2, 3, 4, 5

2012-01-25T17:03:00.001-05:00

On Tuesday Wesley's class worked on numbers at school - WRITING the numbers that is for the very first time. Miss Tracey was bragging on him when we went to pick him up because he did awesome on his chart!!!!

This is What Happy Looks Like

2012-01-24T17:26:00.003-05:00

This picture was taken on Tuesday afternoon at El Ranchito Mexican Restuarant in The Villages. We had lunch there with our dear friends Chris and Charissa after Daryl's interview with the Board of Ordained Ministry. This is our official ordination celebration restaurant - we ate dinner here after Debbie passed her interview in 2008 and now lunch after Daryl passed his in 2012.

That's right.... He passed! We could not be more thrilled or excited!!!! This has been such a long journey. Daryl first felt a calling to ministry at the altar rail of the First UMC in Seffner, Florida back in October of 1993. And now, almost 19 years later, he will be ordained at our next Annual Conference gathering in June of this year in Lakeland. Thank you so much for your prayers and support!

Around the House

2012-01-23T17:30:00.002-05:00

Parker made a pine cone bird feeder at Kids Club last week and we added it out on the front porch by our other bird feeder. He's anxious to see whether the birds like it or not.

While his Bubba was in the tub the other night, Wesley was motivated to make both of the boys' beds....all by himself, with no assistance. He was so proud of himself.

Kids Project

2012-01-22T22:42:00.002-05:00

We bought this kit while out shopping on Sunday afternoon to organize Mommy's spice cabinet which is always a mess.

When we came home, she crashed out for a nap and the boys took it upon themselves to completely do the spice cabinet renovation without any grownup help. When Mommy woke up the boys delighted in having her close her eyes and bringing her into the kitchen for the big reveal and surprise. They did such a good job!

Calendar Time

2012-01-19T22:31:00.003-05:00

We ordered a new family calendar this year through a website called mpix.com. It came today in the mail and it turned out even better than we expected. We were able to select a cover photograph and a different picture for every month - plus we could personalize the different days for different events in your family life.

Storytime

2012-01-17T22:15:00.001-05:00

Wesley was a little slow to wake up from his nap on Sunday afternoon so Daddy sat back there and read him a story.....he picked a Value Tale about Louis Pasteur.

The Wright Stuff

2012-01-16T21:31:00.003-05:00

We spent a very relaxing day at home on Monday for MLK Day. Parker was out of school and we kept Wesley home. We slept in and when we woke up, Mommy went for a run, followed by Daddy. About noon, part of the Three Amigos showed up - the new Mr. and Mrs. Wright. We were thrilled to be able to spend more time getting to know Tanya. Jonathan brought his new induction turkey fryer and made an extremely delicious (and juicy) turkey in about 2 hours. Together we whipped up some sides - carrot souffle, baked beans, mashed potatoes, stuffing and gravy - and had quite the little feast! Of course the day also included Daddy's famous no-bake cookies and some 'smores over the firepit.

Mighty Mites

2012-01-15T23:27:00.002-05:00

For the last eight years, Mommy has been part of a covenant group of clergywomen that has met together a couple of times a year for encouragement and support. Another colleague named us the Mighty Mites years ago when we were coordinating the clergywomen lunch for annual conference and the name stuck. We've weathered lots of storms together and celebrated lots of good times too. But because of the changes in several people's lives recently, we've made the decision to disband our group and seek support from other places. This picture was taken at our final meeting last week, but as one of the ladies said, "We will always be the Mighty Mites." Many thanks to Jenn, Beth, Tracy and Carolyn for all of their support through the years.

After December Slips Away

2012-01-15T21:20:00.001-05:00

The boxes are stacked by the chimney with care....

Christmas is finally all packed up and ready to be put away in the garage
(plus two boxes with fake pre-lit trees not pictured above!)

Runner's World

2012-01-14T21:17:00.001-05:00

Guess who started the Couch to 5K program tonight in our house?

Wesley's World

2012-01-11T22:08:00.001-05:00

Here's our little guy playing one of the Wii games. It's a winter sports game - ski jumping.

In his stance for the jump.

Copying the little guy on the screen waving to everyone after a successful jump!

Did you notice anything different about his hair?

That last day of vacation, January 2nd, while we were chilling out and relaxing at home, Wesley got Daddy's trimmers out of the bathroom, went into the toy room and hid under the basketball hoop. Then he used the trimmers on his hair - just one line - and then put the trimmers away. Later on we realized what he had done to his hair. This picture was taken after about 5 days of hair growth.

Always something fun happening in Wesley's World.

Christmas Vacation - New Year's Day

2012-01-10T20:39:00.001-05:00

Sunday morning we got up, packed and loaded the car, and hit the road. We grabbed breakfast at McDonalds before hopping on the interstate. A few hours later we were pulling into Grandmommy and Granddaddy's house in Seffner for Uncle Daniel's birthday party with family.

Uncle Kelly teasing Daddy while he was napping.

With Grannie, Daryl's grandma.

Later in the afternoon, we went over to Grandma's to visit and helped her take down her Christmas tree. Before heading out of town we made one last stop to see Daddy's friend Mike and give him his Christmas present. He was outside tinkering around with his cars. The boys were fascinated by the cars in process and glad for the chance to visit with Tyler and Hunter a bit more.

We made it home, unloaded the car and called it a night. Neither of the boys had school the next morning and so we slept in and slowly made our way through the piles of dirty clothes and presents to put away. It was so nice to have one last relaxing day before heading back to work.

Christmas Vacation - New Year's Eve

2012-01-09T17:51:00.001-05:00

After chilling out in the room for a little bit, Mommy and the boys went with Uncle Daniel and his crew out to Fort Myers Beach to watch the ball drop and see the fireworks. We left about 11pm. While it took us only 15 minutes to get to the beach, it took us another 20 to find a place to park on the island. We went way to the east and hiked back to the main area for all the festivities.

We were so amazed to see all of these lights in the sky and soon discovered that they were paper lanterns that people were letting go. They were beautiful!!!!

The Palm Tree Ball Drop.

The fireworks display was dazzling! They had blocked off a large section of the beach around the pier and set all the fireworks off from the pier. The show went on for a good 10 minutes or more. It was a great way to ring in the New Year!

Afterwards, the traffic jam was unreal. We realized it would be an hour's wait to get back over the main bridge to our hotel. So we decided to go south off the beach and island hop a bit before getting into Bonita Springs and then heading back up into Fort Myers. The kids were asleep five minutes down the road and the grownups made it safely back to the hotel by 1:30am.

Christmas Vacation - Wedding Day

2012-01-08T22:30:00.001-05:00

Saturday morning (New Year's Eve) Grandmommy spent time wrapping a whole bunch of white roses and carnations for the archway that would be on the beach later for the ceremony. About noon she headed down to the resort to put it together. Mommy and Aunt Dawn went with her and ended up helping Aunt Jani get the wedding favors and the table decorations put together; Sarah's mom, aunt and friend came down to help as well. Later Mommy went back to help get the boys ready and Aunt Dawn and Grandmommy stayed to work on the archway (it turned out so beautifully!)

Wedding time.........

Cocktail hour around the resort pool.

It's a family talent - taking the cherry stems and turning it into a knot.

For the reception we were in the Island Ballroom....sharing table 7 with Daniel's crew. Here's the kids being introduced at the reception. Uncle Daniel was the announcer while Daddy managed the music on the computer.

Cousin Micah caught the garter.

Random shots from the reception.

After all the events of the reception were over, we helped Grandmommy take the archway apart. She and Granddaddy headed home to Seffner, and we headed back to our hotel about 9:30pm.

Christmas Vacation - Wedding Rehearsal

2012-01-07T12:30:00.003-05:00

After touring we had just enough time to run back to the hotel, change clothes and head out for Uncle Sam and Aunt Sarah's wedding rehearsal. Unfortunately we left our invitation at home and headed out to the wrong locale - we were on the bridge TO Sanibel Island having already paid a $6 toll when Uncle Daniel called to say we were supposed to take the last road to the right before the bridge - to a resort on Sanibel Harbor!

Eventually we got to the rehearsal. Uncle Clark was the best man...Parker was the ringbearer with his cousins as flower girls....Daddy did the sound/music... and Mommy did the ceremony.

For the rehearsal dinner we went upstairs to one of the rooms in the hotel. Aunt Jani had made part of the dinner and ordered the rest. The kids were fascinated by the huge floor to ceiling windows and spent a lot of their time checking out the view.

Uncle Sam and Aunt Sarah presented all the members of the bridal party with their gifts. Parker received this very handsome cross necklace for his role as the ringbearer.

After dinner we left for our hotel. The kids had fun playing together in one room while the grownups relaxed in the other one for a while. The girls got the chance to try on their flower girl dressed one more time (check out the pajama bottoms!). Daddy and Uncle Daniel went out later to grab a special treat - Triple Chocolate Threat cake from Publix. Yummy!

Christmas Vacation - Edison Estates

2012-01-06T23:30:00.002-05:00

On Friday morning we got up, met Daniel and Dawn's crew for breakfast and the hotel and then headed out to do some sightseeing. We went to Edison Mall first in Fort Myers - the guys needed to stop at the shoe store.

Then after a little touring around our old neighborhood in Tice again per Daniel's request (he helped us out quite a bit down there with construction know-how in enlarging the choir room and later the youth room). Time for a little lunch, and our last touristy stop was at the Edison and Ford Winter Estates for a tour. Mommy was the only one who had been here before and not since she was probably Parker's age. When we lived in Fort Myers, we had church members who remembered being at Tice Elementary School when Edison would come and talk to them about science and his inventions.

The first thing you see when you get out in parking lot is this enormous set of banyan trees. Actually though it's one large continuous connected tree covering almost 1 acre!

After paying for our admission and sitting through a short orientation, we got our audio sets for the tour and headed across McGregor Boulevard to the actual homes.

Following the tour, Edison's Seminole Lodge was first.

Henry Ford at one time worked for Edison Light in Michigan and Edison was Ford's mentor who encouraged him to keep working on his automobile idea. Frequent visitors to the Edison's home, the Fords were eventually able to buy the place next door, called the Mangoes.

Following the tour, the next stop was in Edison's backyard to see the pier. It originally extended 1500 feet into the Caloosahatchee. This was where all the materials for building the home came in by barge. At one time there was a bathhouse and seating area with electric lights out on this pier.

The Edison's pool complex.

Edison's little office built for him when he was in his 80s by the Fords.

The caretaker's cottage.

Edison's moonlit garden - outside and inside.

Some of the solar panels on the property. Edison was a firm believer in developing this technology. The gardens were beautiful with all kinds of different plants from all around the world that Edison often used in experiments. They even had orchids growing on palm trees.

Mommy with the statue of Mina Edison in the garden outside the museum.

The museum was full of all kinds of wonders from Edison's inventions and endeavours. One statistic stood out to us - Edison was the only American to submit a patent every year for sixty-five years straight. The number of things he was involved in - creating from scratch or helping to perfect - was mind boggling.

More solar panels helping to power the museum.

Inside Edison's main laboratory. This is undergoing refurbishment right now and some of the items had been taken out and put in storage.

After we finished our touring we stopped by the banyan tree for some more pictures before heading back to the hotel.

Christmas Vacation - Heading South

2012-01-05T00:30:00.003-05:00

Thursday morning we slept in. We missed the yummy free breakfast at our hotel because we slept in so long. But after two days of non-stop touring and an action packed Christmas weekend before that, we needed it. So we took advantage of not checking out of our hotel until 11am. We made a brief stop at Downtown Disney to trade a few more pins with cast members and then grabbed lunch at the Taco Bell in Buena Vista before getting on the road.

Our next destination? Fort Myers.

We stopped first at our old stomping grounds in Tice, so the boys could see it. Parker was 3 months old when we moved from here and he's only been back one other time in 2008 when Mommy preached at Heritage Sunday.

This area of benches was new to us - dedicated to an old friend of ours who had been Mommy's Trustee Chairwoman for several years.

We also drove past our old house across from the church.

Next up we headed to visit Mommy's former choir director (Barbara's husband) in the hospital. Ernest had knee replacement surgery the day before we arrived and so we stopped by to visit him and catch up a bit. We were also able to see two of our former youth as well, including Ernest's daughter Brittany popped by (she works as a nurse in the hospital where he was a patient).

Then we hit the road again. This time towards the Fort Myers Beach/Sanibel Gateway area to check into our hotel. Uncle Sam and Aunt Sarah were having their American ceremony at a nearby resort on New Year's Eve. But on the way we passed Healthpark Hospital where Parker was born and pulled in so he could see their awesome atrium.

Mommy always loved the music coming from this automatic grand piano.

Both of the boys asked for their picture by this Santa Pelican statue - maybe Fort Myer's version of Ocala's Horse Fever?

After checking into our hotel we met up with Uncle Daniel, Aunt Dawn and their crew. We went together to Men's Wearhouse to get Parker's ringbearer tux for the wedding.

Then we headed to Cracker Barrel for dinner - we actually closed this place down!

By the time we got back to our room it was about 10:30pm. The sleeper sofa in our room this time was a single so Parker opted to sleep on the floor (on top of the couch cushion) rather than try to share with his brother.

Christmas Vacation - Magic Kingdom

2012-01-04T17:43:00.002-05:00

We hit the Magic Kingdom on Wednesday, December 28. This was a record setting day crowdwise in the Disney Parks - three of the four parks went into closures in the afternoon, the first time since New Year's Eve 1999/2000. Magic Kingdom was the first to reach closure status which meant that it was VERY crowded. To us though it didn't really seem any more crowded than Spring Break earlier in the year. Touring Plans recommends getting to a park at Rope Drop (8am), but we didn't have any problems getting into the park by being at the Ticket and Transportation Center by 8:30am. First up was what Wesley was looking forward to - riding the monorail!

The view from the monorail station ramp.

The Main Street tree and other holiday decor'.

Following our Touring Plan for Young Pirates and Adventurers, we rode Space Mountain first on rideshare and then went straight over to the Tomorrowland Speedway.

Next it was time to battle Zurg on Buzz Lightyear's Space Ranger Spin.

We got to meet Buzz outside after the ride. Wesley made sure to show off his Buzz pin on his lanyard.
From there we walked onto the Carousel of Progress (one of Parker and Mommy's faves!) and then grabbed fast passes for Peter Pan and hit the line for It's a Small World. This wait was right at 30 minutes; we only had a few waits longer than 30 minutes with our plan (some people were waiting in lines later of over 2 hours).

Then it was time for the Haunted Mansion. We loved the new waiting line through the redone cemetery. It was very elaborate and interactive.

We caught part of the Holiday Parade and then grabbed lunch at Pecos Bill's Tavern. We even managed to run into a few of Mommy's church members. From there we rode the Walt Disney Railroad all around the perimeter of the park and saw a few glimpses of the construction on the expansion to Fantasyland. Here's a few views of the park entrance from the railroad.

Then we did something we've never done before - Tom Sawyer Island. The boys loved riding the raft over and RUNNING all around the island exploring. Wesley made us do the walk over the barrel bridge 3 times in a row.

A view of the Haunted Mansion from Tom Sawyer Island.

Our boys weren't interested in the roller coasters of Thunder Mountain or Splash Mountain so we skipped those on the plan and threw in a couple of other things.....Hall of Presidents and Winnie the Pooh before catching our Peter Pan fastpass time. The Pirates of the Caribbean was next, followed by a walk through the Swiss Family Treehouse at night and then a ride on the Jungle Cruise (also another first for us!). The boys really liked the Jungle Cruise - our guide was hilarious and kept Parker laughing out loud the whole way.

We cut through the center of the park next to head over to Tomorrowland for dinner and a show at the Laugh Factory.

Then we grabbed some spots in front of the castle for the 9pm Main Street Electrical Parade. We ended up being asked to move and while the boys could see from their vantage point on our shoulders, Mommy and Daddy couldn't see anything.

It was back to Tomorrowland then for a ride on the People Mover, per Parker's request. Then we
were able to catch the 10pm fireworks show without a huge crowd of people around us.

We had snagged fastpasses for the Buzz Lightyear ride earlier during dinner so we surprised the boys with one more ride there. Then we headed down to Main Street and cruised through the stores to check out the cast member pins on the way out. We forgot that the Main Street Parade was playing again at 11pm and it started just as we walked out of the shops at the front of the park. We sort of stood off to the side behind the crowd - a cast member asked if she could give our boys a better vantage point to view the parade. She had some folks scoot over on the edge of the street and gave the boys front row spots. So they watched it again and the grownups actually got to see it this time. It was awesome!

Wesley decided he wants to grow up and be Captain Hook on this float at Disney World.

One of the dwarfs came right on up to say Hi!

Daddy's favorite Disney movie of all time - Pete's Dragon.

And the finale - a Tribute to America.

We left the park, rode the monorail, and caught a tram to the car. By the time we got in the car it was midnight! We had two very tired but very happy boys though and we were so glad for our perfect day of Disney Magic.

Christmas Vacation - EPCOT

2012-01-03T11:21:00.000-05:00

Tuesday we hit EPCOT. This is Parker's favorite park. Because the crowds were predicted to be so large in the parks this week, Mommy used a phone app called "Touring Plans" to help plan our way around. We used their one day Holiday Touring Plan for Parents of Small Children to guide our day. It provides step by step directions of what rides to go to in what order and when to pick up fastpasses. We used it for Future World and shaved 2.5 hours off our time from our March trip. This gave us a lot more time to explore all of the holiday storytellers in the World Showcase.

Holiday Decor'

In the line for Soarin' the first time.... Daddy's showing off his new convertible pants/shorts. These came in handy this week in the parks with the temperature swings.

Living with the Land boat ride. The boys love this!!

Living Seas with Nemo

As we were getting on Soarin' the second time, Wesley was crying because he thought the golf ball hit him the first time (as you go over this golf course, it comes right at you). Two cast members talked to him to get him happy and one promised him a treat if he made it through the ride without crying. Wesley did great and when we got off the ride, Bob the cast member met us with this certificate. It was good for two free ice cream bars in the park (because Bob realized you can't give little brother one without something for the big brother!) A great Magic moment in the park.

Playing around in Figment's house.

Playing Power City on the floor after Spaceship Earth.

Gospel singers performing in Future World.

World Showcase tree (love the big angel on top holding the globe). The tree is decorated with ornaments showing all the country flags and saying "Happy Holidays" in the different languages.

Hanging out in the town square in the United Kingdom. We came back here and had fish and chips later for dinner!

The holiday storyteller in France - Pere Noel. He was by far the best one we saw.

The holiday storyteller in Morocco explained about the Muslim holiday of Ramadan.

Looking back into Future World.

The holiday storyteller in Japan. You are supposed to write your New Year's wish in the left eye of the little doll head and then in the right eye if it comes true.

We didn't stay for the entire Candlelight Processional concert, but we watched everyone process in and heard a couple of songs and narrations. Blair Underwood was the night's narrator, reading the Christmas story from Scripture.

In front of the tree in the USA.

The holiday storyteller in Italy.

And the runner-up for best storyteller went to the Monkey King in China. Not really a holiday story but all of his jumping around really captured the boys' attention.

We finally headed back into Future World, catching the tree in the middle all lit up again.

Then it was one last ride on Living with the Land - we saw these cool gingerbread houses in the corner of the building. By night some of the food along the cruise had been decorated for the holidays also.

Wesley wanted Mommy to try on this princess hat and he took her picture.

We stopped to let the boys' pick their ice cream treat. They chose huge fruit pops (valued at $3.50 a piece) and really enjoyed every bit!

A little bit tired......We had been in the park for 12 hours at this point, since 8:30am. So we cut out before the fireworks show and headed back for some rest.

Christmas Vacation - Monday

2012-01-02T10:09:00.002-05:00

After our wonderful Christmas celebrations with family, we slept in on Monday and just puttered around Grandmommy and Granddaddy's hanging out with family. Then we packed up and left about 4pm to head for Orlando for three nights.

Orlando was absolutely packed out for Christmas break! We didn't hit any traffic problems until the last mile or so of I-4 when things slowed way down and once we got off in Buena Vista it was bumper to bumper. We made it to our hotel close to Downtown Disney - called Hawthorne Suites. It was quite nice. We had a one bedroom suite with a separate living area, kitchen and dining area.

After checking in and getting all the luggage settled we fought the traffic to get to dinner at Fuddrucker's. We had thought about spending a little bit of time at Sea World but decided to skip it and just head into Downtown Disney to get our park vouchers switched over into regular tickets at Guest Relations there. With that chore accomplished relatively easily, we cruised along in some of the shops. We picked up a few "junk" pins to trade off in the parks over the next couple of days. At Team Mickey, they had build-your-own-race-cars to go along with the new CARS 2 Movie.....only $63 for a base model remote control car! Needless to say we skipped those as souvenirs.

We made one last stop at the grocery store to stock up our fridge with drinks and snacks before heading back to the room to crash for the night.

The Year In Review

2011-12-31T23:01:00.003-05:00

2011 will definitely not be a year that we soon forget in the Allen Household........

January
* Staycation that included trips to Sea World's Christmas Celebration and Chuck E Cheese
* Took the boys on their first Clergy Kids Camp Weekend in Leesburg

February
* Parker's first grade trip takes a field trip to the hospital
* Parker completes a 1 mile fun run
* Parker reads Scripture for Scout Sunday at DHUMC
* Surprise trip to Gator baseball season opener

March
* BUMC's 125th Anniversary Celebration
* Parker wins two trophies at Cub Scout Pack Pinewood Derby
* Spring Break (4 Disney Parks in 4 days plus Sea World)
* Night at the Movies on the Football Field here in town
* Parker turns 7!

April
* District Pinewood Derby
* Family trip to Monster Jam
* Mommy's trip to Atlanta for Clergywomen Consultation
* Grandpa Keller has his heart attack and passes away during Holy Week

May
* Cub Scout Family Fishing Field Trip
* Parker's class video wins award at District Media Festival
* Memorial Day Trip to Wild Waters in Ocala

June
* Trip to Tampa for Annual Conference
* Mommy and Daddy Travel to England on the John Wesley Study Tour (where Mommy turns 35!)

July
* Fourth of July Family Bowling
* Mommy and Daddy celebrate their 12th anniversary!
* Basketball season at the YMCA for both boys

August
* Parker loses two teeth
* Siesta Key Family Beach Vacation
* Granddaddy helps us renovate the dining room

September
* Mommy runs her first 5k at Silver Springs
* Labor Day trip to Sea World
* Parker sings in a musical at church
* The Three Amigos Ride Again - Daddy reunites with his two high school buddies Mike and Jonathan
* Redecorate the Boys' Room in Gator Sports
* Horse Fever Unveiling in downtown Ocala

October
* Daddy turns in his application for elder to the Board of Ordained Ministry
* Fire Pit in the Backyard - S'mores!
* Parker's class video wins award at state Media Festival in Orlando
* Tee-ball seasons for both boys at Jervey Gantt Park
* Trip through the local Corn Maze
* Trunk N Treat at BUMC as Superheroes
* Mini-vacation to Orlando for Sea World's Spooktacular

November
* Mommy runs a 5k in DeBary
* DHUMC's Block Party
* T-shirts for Turkeys
* Daddy gets a call that he will be interviewed for elder in January 2012!
* Cub Scout Pack marches in Light Up Ocala Parade
* Wesley turns 4!
* Daddy turns 38!

December
* Trip to Jacksonville for Daddy's friend's wedding
* Christmas vacation to Seffner, Orlando (2 days at Disney!) and Fort Myers

Christmas Day

2011-12-27T17:45:00.002-05:00

Christmas morning dawned early (especially since some of the elves stayed up 'till 2am gabbing!). By 7am both boys were up and ready to see if Santa had visited and open their stockings.

Then it was time to open our present from Parker. He had shopped for the family at the Christmas Shoppe at school - Wesley received two little die cast jet planes and Mommy and Daddy received this lovely angel ornament.

Uncle Clark having fun with one of Wesley's stocking gifts.

With the kids distracted by stocking gifts, the elves did some more preparation for Christmas by making sure the new bikes were all lined up and ready to go.

Then it was time to open presents. Granddaddy served as Santa handing everything out.

At the end there were just two small gifts left under the tree.

Their instructions after opening the bells were to go out into the garage and open up the corresponding presents there.

Then the garage door went up revealing not just new bikes for our boys but for the cousins too. Everyone was very excited!!! Parker got a Schwinn Spitfire with flames and Wesley got a Transformers bike.

While the kids rode bikes inside, Granddaddy finally opened up his gifts (he held off while playing Santa). Here he is with his big gift from Mommy, Daddy, Uncle Daniel and Aunt Dawn - a wine refrigerator.

Next up was cousin exchange time. The boys received Game Stop gift cards and handed out Claire's Boutique cards to the girls (to shop for earrings) and an Amazon gift card for Micah (he got a Kindle for Christmas!)

Wesley with one of his gifts - a remote control car.

Uncle Steve could have auditioned somewhere as a Santa! He and Aunt Diane came up from Sarasota for lunch, along with Aunt Norma and Uncle Don plus cousins Cory, Robert, Donald and David and Cory's girlfriend Ashley. Grannie also came out from Tampa and Grandma drove over to be with us as well.

Daddy with the mask from Wesley' Craftsman welding set.

Entertaining themselves while waiting for lunch.

Lunch for 29 people!

After lunch was over, we hung out for a while talking while the kids played with their toys some more. About 4:30 we headed out to Grandma's house to exchange presents with her.

The boys acted as Santa together with Parker reading the tags and Wesley handing out the gifts.

We had a nice celebration with Grandma and the boys got the chance to play with some of their new toys at her house for a while. We packed up about 8:30pm and headed back to Grandmommy's. This one decided to decorate his head with the foam soap and wanted Mommy to take a picture.

Then Uncle Daniel and Aunt Dawn came up for a visit with their new kitten Sugar.

And Parker got out his new Electricity Science kit and had the guys help him create a circuit to make the straw turn. Then he did another circuit that ran the little light as well.

Both boys went hard all day long without a NAP, from 6:45-7am until about 10:30pm and crashed out hard when they finally laid down!

Christmas Eve

2011-12-26T23:21:00.005-05:00

Christmas Eve day was spent at home getting ready for church that night and vacation the following day. Mommy and the boys left about 4pm to head to Belleview - after the 5pm and 7pm services we headed back home to pick up Daddy - he had one service at 6pm at Druid Hills. The van was already loaded and we took off for Seffner. With one stop for dinner we managed to make it in by 10:15pm. Here we are still dressed up in our Christmas Eve finery.

The boys were fascinated by Granddaddy's expanded Christmas village. This year he almost doubled the size by adding a connecting piece from the regular village to the pool table and using it as a surface too.....

Eventually we were able to settle the boys down, get baths and lay out some very special items for Santa Claus.....

Once the little angels were asleep, the elves got to work and put out the Christmas presents for 18 people for the next morning (our four plus Grandmommy and Granddaddy, Uncle Daniel's crew of 5, Aunt Jani and Uncle Dan, Clark, Sam and Sarah and Sarah's friends Kristoph and Rita from Germany).

The Great Office Switcheroo

2011-12-25T18:56:00.001-05:00

Around Mommy's church this week we spent two days carrying out the Great Office Switcheroo. The week before Christmas is kind of a crazy time to underake a project of that magnitude, but with Christmas break and vacations we were able to get all kinds of helpers.

The Pastor's office and the Business Office were switched around, putting Mommy closer to her Administrative Assistant and giving her a slightly bigger office. The trustees let Mommy pick her paint color (lavender escape!) and get a new desk. A total of 12 volunteers worked over 3 days to get the job done. The only thing left to do is put pictures and diplomas up on the wall.

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Blue Christmas

2011-12-24T18:47:00.001-05:00

Wednesday night Mommy's church hosted a Blue Christmas Service led by the Stephen Ministers. Blue Christmas is for those grieving a loss or anyone else not experiencing the holiday season as the "most wonderful time of the year." One of the elements we incorporated this year was a Blue Christmas tree on which people could hang ornaments with the names of their loved ones. Below is a picture of the tree and a closeup of Grandpa's ornament.

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Round and Round We Go

2011-12-23T16:30:00.001-05:00

Monday afternoon we picked up Parker from YMCA Winter Camp. This is the second year of camp and the second time Parker has attended. There were a handful of kids last year, mostly older boys. This year there is a huge group of probably 40 kids divided into three "tribes" with several of the counselors from summer camp. He had a great time....here's a sample of something he did at one point during the day.

After picking up Wesley as well, we headed out to run a few errands....picking up some of the final Christmas presents on our list for family members. We took the boys to Shane's Rib Shack for dinner (yummy!) and ended our night downtown with a ride on the Ferris Wheel and a stroll around the square.

Wesley's Art

2011-12-22T17:30:00.000-05:00

Monday when we picked Wesley up from school, we found this piece of artwork in his box. First off, the tall person on the right is Wesley, then moving left is Daddy, with Mommy on the bottom and Parker standing on her shoulders. But that wasn't the really interesting thing to us......it was the writing. He has learned to not only write his own name, but Mommy, Daddy and Parker as well! Way to go Buddy!

Christmas Caroling

2011-12-21T16:43:00.000-05:00

Last Sunday after both worship services were over in Belleview, some of the children and youth along with their parents/leaders went Christmas caroling to a few of our shutins. Here's our caravan of cars stopping in front of the second house!

Getting ready to sing!

House 4 of 5. They really had their routine of songs down by then...songs like Silent Night, Joy to the World, Away in a Manger, Hark the Herald Angels Sing, The First Noel, plus "fun" songs like Jingle Bells, Rudolph and We Wish You a Merry Christmas.

It was very special to be able to go out and sing....not only did the people enjoy it but the kids had a great time together.

More Christmas Stuff

2011-12-20T16:30:00.000-05:00

On Sunday afternoon Mommy and the boys spent some time at the mall Christmas shopping while Daddy had a pastoral visit to make. Then we met back up for dinner at one of the guys' favorite places to eat - Stevie B's. As we left we headed down to the Good Shepherd Presbyterian church for their Christmas Drive Thru. Afterwards we met the Reids and Miss Sharron at Dunkin Donuts for something to warm us up (the temperature dropped 20 degrees overnight) and wake us up (the boys got donuts called "Sprinkle the Cheer"). It was late when we got home but without regular school this week we decided to let them have another movie night!

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Christmas Party

2011-12-19T17:30:00.001-05:00

Over the weekend we got a chance to attend a Christmas party at the Reids' house. As we were leaving, we received a lovely tin of assorted homemade Christmas candy and a cool ornament that now resides on our family room tree....

Christmas Drive Thru

2011-12-18T14:30:00.000-05:00

Thursday and Friday night our family was in the Christmas Drive Thru at Mommy's church in Belleview. Thursday night Daddy had Bible study so it was just Mommy and the boys.
Here we are getting ready to go out.

What do you mean no electronics outside? Hurry up and let's play while we can!

Parker was a shepherd in scene 5 and Mommy and Wesley were Mary and little boy Jesus in the last scene with the wisemen. Wesley's job was to build things with the blocks....and in between cars he took a picture of one of his creations.

Then on Friday night Daddy was able to join us. He was one of the wisemen in scene 6 and got to hang out with Mommy and Wesley the whole time. Here we are as a family just after the drive thru was done for the night.

We had a very good turn out both nights as far as traffic was concerned. So thankful for the beautiful weather!

Finally.....Baseball Pictures!

2011-12-17T08:54:00.001-05:00

This week we finally received the boys' baseball pictures in the mail at home. We always order the combination collage that comes with an individual shot as well as the team picture on a single 8x10. Wesley was so excited to have his up on the wall with Bubba's!

Art and Life

2011-12-16T08:47:00.002-05:00

Last Friday when the Sanders came over for dinner, they gave us a beautiful present....a print of one of Charissa's original art pieces. Charissa has her own ministry setting as a deacon, an art ministry that she created called Grace Works Studio. Mommy and Daddy both serve on the Board of Directors for Grace Works and we were thrilled to receive such a wonderful symbol of her ministry for Christmas.

Work in Progress

2011-12-15T16:30:00.001-05:00

This week, Daddy's church is in the middle of redoing the floor of their Fellowship Hall. The carpet was stripped out on Monday and by the end of the week there will be a sand colored polished concrete floor. Here's what the hall looked like on Monday night.......

More Pics from November

2011-12-14T16:30:00.003-05:00

Rael's mom Leslie sent us these pictures on Monday from her birthday the week of Thanksgiving. Remember, it's kind of dark inside Bern's Dessert Room, but still these pictures turned out pretty well.

Weekend Pics From Wesley

2011-12-13T16:30:00.001-05:00

Wesley got ahold of the camera at the wedding for a while and decided to take a few pictures. These are the ones that are really in focus and it's interesting to see his perspective from 3ft 7inches.

The Three Amigos Adventure Part Two

2011-12-12T16:30:00.005-05:00

No one went to bed until after 11pm. It took a while to settle the boys down after all their fun but finally they crashed out hard. We had a leisurely morning on Sunday - Mommy got up and went for a run, the boys played videogames (again!) and the big boys hung out in the kitchen while Jonathan made biscuits and gravy for breakfast.

Finally we all got ready, packed up and headed back to St. Augustine to the River House for the big day. Unfortunately, the wedding ceremony had to be moved inside because of the rain, but nothing could dampen our excitement and fun!

The co-best man, Mike Sheppard. Mike was the best man at our wedding and his boys were about 8 months old then.

The co-best men.

A pre-wedding toast on the back porch.

The Three Amigos. These three met in sixth grade and all ran cross-country in high school.

The Revs. Allen!

Wesley with new friends....Tyler in the chair and Nicholas in the tux.

A peek around the venue.....ceremony and later dance floor.

The wedding cake.

Beautifully decorated reception hall.

Side room with the buffet.

One last chance to relax before the big show!

The awesome guest book decorated with pictures of the bride and groom from their engagement photo session.

Mommy's seatmates at the wedding ceremony. Such a lucky girl to be surrounded by four handsome young men.

The wedding program. The ceremony.

After the wedding Daddy did pictures with the bridal party while Mommy hung with the boys in the library for cocktail hour. Then it was time for the reception. Here's part one of the awesome seating chart posted by the doors.

The groom's cake! Jonathan is a huge Star Trek fan - the bridal couple exited the ceremony to the Star Trek theme song and here's a replica of the Enterprise.

Building Legos and playing videogames waiting for our turn at the buffet.

The wedding favors - herbal tea and Christmas ornaments!

The bride and groom being announced at the reception.

Daddy and Mike both escorted in the maid of honor to the reception.

Hunter's amazing silverware sculpture while still waiting for our turn to eat.

Daddy and his boys!

Hanging out with Mommy!

The reason for the day....the new Wright family....

Jonathan and Tanya Wright with his son Nicholas. We left the reception just after all of the events....dances, toasts, cake cutting (and smashing!), bouquet and garter toss. We were entrusted with taking Nicholas home to his mom's side of the family so he could get to school and the boys were thrilled with a little more extra time with their new friend. They insisted on us all walking Nicholas up to the door of his grandmother's house when we arrived. Wesley slept most of the way home - he had taken a brief nap during the reception but was still so tired. We made it home by 9pm and within the hour had unloaded and unpacked the minivan, as well as fed, bathed and tucked in two little boys into bed.

Home sweet home with the ornament on our tree
to remind us of the weekend's great memories!

The Three Amigos Adventure Part One

2011-12-11T14:30:00.001-05:00

Early Saturday morning we got up, got dressed, packed, loaded up the van and headed off for Jacksonville. Daddy's good friend from high school Jonathan is getting married this weekend and Daddy is the officiant/co-best man. The other amigo, Mike, is the other co-best man and he brought his two boys up with him. Jonathan graciously let us all crash at his house - that's Mommy plus three 38 year old men, and five boys (two 13 year olds, one 8 year old, one 7 year old and one 4 year old).

After dropping off our stuff at Jonathan's, we headed down to St. Augustine to the wedding venue for rehearsal - the River House in Old Town on the St. John's River. Here's the new amigos.....

And the big boys hanging out in the library at the River House during the rehearsal. Thankful for the electronics!

The back porch and its' view of the St. Augustine lighthouse.

Rehearsing out on the lawn. Picture an arbor and chairs for the actual event.

After the rehearsal we headed over the Bridge of Lions to the St. Augustine Beach area to Amici's Italian Restaurant. We sat with Mike and his crew in a booth in the corner of the banquet room.

At the end of our lovely meal the guys got their groomsmen gifts.... personalized pens.

After everything wrapped up, we made a stop at the grocery store for some snacks and then headed back to Jonathan's. The boys had a ton of fun wrestling with each other and playing video games. Wesley spent a while on the couch before he warmed up to the dogs - Ella and Blade.

Daddy was super happy to find that Jonathan had a Maine Coon cat like we used to have, although his Simba had a much better disposition than our Bubba did. Simba kept Mommy company in the chair by the Christmas tree.

The Three Amigos hanging out drinking IBC root beer and watching TV.

And then the big boys got in on the wrestling....all eight of them....dogpile!

An Adventure in Cooking

2011-12-10T15:30:00.001-05:00

Friday night we hosted the clergy couples at our house....well it turned out to be only one clergy couple. But we had a wonderful time of fellowship! And we enjoyed some good food, albeit very different from what we usually partake of. One of the pastors, our artist friend Charissa, has become a vegan (no animal products of any kind) and so Mommy took on the challenge of creating an entirely vegan meal that she could enjoy at our house. It took research on the internet for recipes and looking up ingredients....and involved a trip to a grocery store called "Earth Origins" but we pulled it off.

Appetizer: Chex mix (which is vegan) and Sangria Slushies

Main Entree: Eggplant Parmigiana for the ladies and Chicken Parmigiana for the gentlemen

Side dish: fresh Green Beans Almondine

Dessert: Oreo "Cheese"cake

Famous

2011-12-09T20:47:00.000-05:00

Look who found his face on the wall at the YMCA last night......from basketball camp

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Reunited

2011-12-07T19:29:00.001-05:00

On our England trip this year, Mommy became very good friends with one of the other ladies on the trip. Andra is a nurse practioner who has her doctorate and teaches nursing at Jacksonville University. Her husband Brett is a pastor and they are both runners. Andra is one of the people who helped influence Mommy to start running this summer. They've kept in touch by email in the months since our return.

Monday night Andra emailed to say she would be in Ocala on Tuesday to observe one of her graduate nursing students in her clinical setting. Mommy was able to juggle some things and meet her for a nice long lunch. The conversation flowed as easy as if they had last seen each other the day before. It was a wonderful surprise addition to the schedule this week!

Field Trip

2011-12-06T17:30:00.002-05:00

Monday afternoon we planned to go to the library to return all of our books that were due. Until we got an email from the Scout troop that the night's meeting had been moved to the library. So we waited and went with the whole group.

The 2 Tiger dens and the Wolf den met in a special room with one of the librarians who helped them work on their Heritage badge. She talked about the differences of life in Ocala from the time of her grandparents to her parents to her generation and even now to her kids and grandkids. The boys also watched a short video on the history of Ocala and then did some research in library books for things that were different from the "olden days" until now. It was a really good group meeting and the boys had fun.

Our little guys managed to return their books and find several more to check out. One of the ones Parker wanted was in the young adult room on the other side of the library (39 Clues, book 2). In order to check that one out we had to upgrade his library card. He was very excited about getting a new one.

Christmas Preparations

2011-12-05T17:30:00.001-05:00

This past week was a blur in the evening of Christmas decorating and other holiday preparations. When we went to setup the artificial tree in the dining room that we have used for several years, we realized it was too big to fit there now that we have all of the new dining room furniture in place. We needed a "slim" Christmas tree. It took 5 stores on Friday afternoon before we found one in our price range that we liked!

With that extra expense this year, we decided to forego the live tree we usually use in the family room and just moved the large fake tree in there. It turned out really nice as well.

We got everything ready in time for this weekend's parsonage open house. We had a wonderful time of fellowship with all of the folks from Druid Hills UMC!

Frosty Festival

2011-12-04T17:30:00.004-05:00

Friday night was the annual Frosty Festival at Parker's school. The boys had a great time playing the games and enjoying the "snow." Parker won a 2 liter of Coke at the 2 Liter Toss and Wesley won a free dinner at Chili's by getting a hole in one at the putt-putt. There were other games too; like Ski Ball, the Gingerbread Toss (stuffed gingerbread men into buckets) and the Snowman Game. The longest line was for the bounce house/obstacle course with the big slide. Eight tickets got you five minutes on that and the boys managed to go through it three times.

Then it was time for some snow. First the snow slide. Parker went first and Wesley went by himself this year.

And then time to play in the snow. The boys were sure glad Mommy insisted on bringing their gloves!

Parker Mid Term Report

2011-12-03T17:30:00.001-05:00

On Friday, Parker received his mid-term report card for the second nine weeks of school. He got all E's for academics!!

He also received a special certificate......

Lost and Found

2011-12-02T22:13:00.000-05:00

In Luke 15, there are three parables back to back about the lost being found (sheep, coin, son).

In our house we have had two puzzling mysteries of lost items in the last few days. One was a lost shoe - a size 13 red and black Skecher sneaker belonging to our eldest child. He wore them both home from school on Monday and since then we've only been able to locate one. On the plus side, in the hunt for the shoe we completely cleaned up the toy room and reorganized te boys' closet. Wesley finally found it tonight under Mommy and Daddy's bed!

The other lost item is still missing. It's the regular set of keys to the minivan that have been missing since yesterday afternoon. We've got a spare set in the meantime. Just hoping little people didn't dump them in one of the Christmas boxes we put back in the garage!

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Turning 4 is Traumatic

2011-12-01T17:21:00.000-05:00

Wesley went for his 4 year well visit on Wednesday. The good news is he's ahead of all his developmental milestones. His weight is in the 80% percentile (40lbs) and his height is in the 95% percentile (43in). The doctor told us today he thinks Wesley will end up about 6' 2"!

The bad news? He needed shots....five of them to be exact! He got three in one arm and two in the other. He definitely wasn't happy about that part.

We did however try to ease his pain with a chocolate birthday cupcake when we got home.

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Birthday Boy #2

2011-11-30T21:31:00.001-05:00

To celebrate Daddy's 38th birthday on Tuesday night, he chose to go to one of his favorite places-Ale House.

We had a great family dinner and at the end they brought out a special dessert for Daryl: Captain Jacks's Buried Treasure. Mommy even got the waiters to sing to him.....

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Birthday Boy

2011-11-29T17:30:00.002-05:00

For Monday night we celebrated Wesley's 4th birthday again by skipping Scouts and going out to dinner at Red Lobster. He loved the cheese biscuits and his macaroni and cheese with fries (at least his brother ate shrimp!)

We surprised him by having the waiters bring out chocolate cake and ice cream and singing him "Happy Birthday!" He got so shy he tried to hide behind his brother. But eventually he over to blow out the candle and dig in to the yummy dessert.

The Advent of Christmas

2011-11-28T15:32:00.000-05:00

Yesterday in worship at both churches we began marking the season of Advent with special Hanging of the Greens services explaining all the sanctuary decorations. Advent is a forty day season of preparation leading up to the celebration of Christmas.

At home we've begun the decoration process as well. We're on the clock to get things ready as our parsonage open house is this coming Sunday after church. The tradition in our house is that Mommy's collection of nativities are the first decorations to go up. Those were done on Sunday night as well as the Santas and stockings on the fireplace and a few other things here and there. Most everything else will be in place over the next couple of nights, sans the family room Christmas tree (live) that we will pick up on Friday night.

The boys have a great new nativity up in their room as well. Daddy found an incredible online deal a few months back for a Fisher Price Little People Lights and Sounds Nativity. When you press the angel, the star lights up and the instrumental version of Away In A Manger plays. The boys are having a blast rearranging all the figures....not sure if Nake the fish appreciates sharing the dresser with all this activity.

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Thanksgiving Break - Part Four - Birthdays!

2011-11-27T17:30:00.002-05:00

Our last day in Seffner was Saturday. Mommy took off on a run in the morning and then headed out to do some shopping at the Buckler Craft Fair with Aunt Dawn. Daddy and the boys stayed at the house and played with the cousins while Grandmommy baked and cooked and Granddaddy worked on putting up the platform for the Christmas village.

In the early afternoon the rest of the family gathered together to celebrate our November birthday boys - Wesley turns 4 on Monday and Daddy turns 38 on Tuesday. Two guesses as to who had the bigger pile of presents on the left?

Wesley picked out a Nemo cake from Grandmommy's cake book. He's swimming in an ocean of blue coconut!

Eating Nemo!

Wesley got all kinds of cool stuff including a Hot Wheels Collision Course, some new shirts and Thomas the train undies, a Thomas book, a Diego helicopter, Cars 2 on DVD, a Penguin Racing game, 5 Little Monkeys board game, the Uno Moo game, some writing tablets and pencils, and a Dinosaur memory game.

After that he still had two more presents to open from Uncle Nam and Uncle Kelly. Nam's had a message on every layer of wrapping paper....

And these cool cars designed by an architect were inside.

Then it was time for Kelly's present. There were four things in the bag and one with Daddy's name on it too. Of the four things in the bag, Wesley had to decide to give one away and trade one with Daddy and then he could keep two for himself. The first thing he opened was a box of jello. He traded with Daddy's gift for a cool box of cartoon bandaids.

The next thing he opened was a banana. He was so torn on whether or not to give it away because he loves bananas. Eventually though he gave it to Aunt Barbara. The last two things in the bag were a construction sticker book and the Handy Manny movie "Big Construction Job!"

Daddy's presents were thankfully less complicated to open, although he did have plenty of little people willing to help. He got some tiki torches for the back yard, some racks for his socket wrench sets and some Best Buy and restaurant gift cards. Daddy's cake was his all time favorite - Mounds Bar Cake.

We had a great afternoon with everyone, which was a wonderful way to finish up our Thanksgiving Break. We're also thankful that Grannie was able to get out of the rehab center where she's been for the last several weeks in order to be at Thanksgiving and our birthday celebrations.

Thanksgiving Break - Part Three

2011-11-26T10:30:00.001-05:00

Friday morning we slept in but still woke up in enough time to see the North Carolina crew for a bit before they headed back.

The cousins spent most of the day playing together again...a lot of outside time with the occasional break indoors. So glad we brought the boy's bikes (at Grandmommy's suggestion). Here's Wesley riding his - check out the no shoes and the "gun" tucked in his pocket.

We all had lunch together - turkey sandwiches of course. Mommy and Aunt Dawn spent some time doing some birthday shopping in the afternoon while the kids continued to play. We had more yummy leftovers for dinner about 6pm and then headed into Tampa to Curtis Hixon Park to go ice skating again!

After everyone was done skating, the kids played in the park down by the river and then we posed for a few pictures by the fountain and the kids museum.

Thanksgiving Break - Part Two

2011-11-25T11:21:00.008-05:00

Thanksgiving Day was different than years past but turned out to be a good day. Grandma was in Kansas visiting Aunt Mona and Uncle Roger, so we just hung out with Daryl's family all day. Uncle Bill and Aunt Bobbie were down from North Carolina and brought their granddaughter Courtney along again - all the cousins were thrilled for an extra playmate!

Mommy managed to squeeze in a 3.8 mile run in the neighborhood as well as a trip to the cemetery to see Grandpa's headstone before helping to cook this year at Grandmommy's. Grannie has been sick for the last month, so Mommy and Aunt Barbara picked up some of the dishes she made and added in some others. Mommy made carrot souffle, along with Grandma Keller's scallopped corn and a recipe of Pumpkin Pie crunch from Daddy's church.

After lunch things were pretty low key. Naps were in order for several people.

The kids played hard outside with bikes, scooters, nerf guns, and even the big blow up swimming pool/slide. Later in the evening the boys settled down to play Upwords. Wesley just filled up the board with letters, but Parker played an actual game with Grandmommy.

Thanksgiving Break - Part One

2011-11-24T00:04:00.004-05:00

We started off our Thanksgiving break by celebrating a special birthday - our dear friend Miss Rael from Faith in Hudson turned 18 on Tuesday. Another couple from the church suggested a surprise trip to the Bern's Steakhouse Dessert Room in Tampa for Wednesday night and we were able to meet Margy Byers, as well as Rael, her boyfriend Paco and her mom Leslie there. We completely shocked Rael by standing in the foyer as she walked into Bern's!!!!

Mommy had only been to Bern's Dessert Room one other time before (about 15 years ago). It was everything she remembered and more. Daddy had the Chocolate Layer Cake Jones.

Parker had a fabulous banana split with vanilla, chocolate and chocolate mint ice cream.

Wesley had the German chocolate cake.

Mommy had the Chocolate Peanut Butter Truffle with the famous Bern's Steak House Cappuccino.

And the beautiful birthday girl ordered "Chocolate, Chocolate, Chocolate!"

We had a wonderful time laughing and talking and visiting with one another. We're so glad we could make it to celebrate with Rael. It was so nice to see her and her mom again!

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On a side note we actually saw the original owner of Bern's Steakhouse while we were waiting in the foyer for the rest of the crew to arrive. Suddenly employees swarmed the entrance and held open both sets of doors, pulled up a car to the entrance and had the engine running with all the doors open. This elderly woman was escorted out by the maitre'd, followed by two younger women. The staff called her Gert and she told them to give her compliments to the chef because the food was fabulous. It was Gert Laxer, who started the restaurant with her husband Bern in 1956. Their son runs it now.

Bzzzzzzzzz

2011-11-22T23:17:00.001-05:00

Cub Scouts on Monday night was all about bees. One of the boys in Parker's Wolf Den has a grandmother who raises bees for a living. She brought in some of her equipment (beekeeper outfit, smoker) and some things for the boys to see and touch (new honeycomb with honey, old honeycombs, beeswax soap) and even some things for the boys to taste (honey!!!!). They really enjoyed it and ended up writing a rap about what they learned to present at the next pack meeting.

Light Up Ocala

2011-11-21T18:39:00.000-05:00

Saturday was a busy day besides the end of the boys' tee-ball season. It was also the day for our annual Light Up Ocala! event, in which Parker's Cub Scout Pack marches in the Junior Sunshine Parade. Here are the boys lining up before the parade began.

Along the parade route....one of the groups walking was called "Soccercollies.com"

The boys marching along the route...Parker's in the center.

Heading past the Christmas tree in the downtown square.

Wesley checking out the parade...and the girls.....

Last but not least Santa came to town!

Play N Trade was one of the parade sponsors and they brought out Mario and Sonic the Hedgehog to march....the boys were excited to get their pictures with them after the parade was over.

We stayed around for a while downtown after the parade, checking out all the craft vendors, food stands and performance artists. We opted not to stand in the 2 hour line for the Ferris Wheel, instead promising the boys we would be back another night during the season to ride.

Billed as the "World's Largest Pinball machine" we paid to let the boys each take a turn - while they didn't win the grand prize they each won something.

These performance artists on the corner were AWESOME! They would stand still and when someone would stand next to them for a picture, they would move and somehow touch people.

Then we moved over to the "Soccer Collies" exhibit. They had four soccer goals setup and would allow three kids in front of each goal to try and stop the collies from scoring. Parker, who is typically scared of dogs, was eager to try and stayed in there for close to twenty minutes playing. Just about the time he was finished, Wesley decided to give it a try also. He didn't last as long as Bubba, but we are so proud of both of them for getting in there.

We were all pretty tired and the place was mobbed with people, so we cut out before the lighting of the tree (still 2 hours away) and headed home. We'll find a nice quiet night sometime soon to take the boys to see the lights, meet Santa and ride the ferris wheel.

The End of A Season

2011-11-20T18:40:00.010-05:00

Today was the last day of the tee-ball season. Wesley played third base and Parker played first.

It's hard to see from the angle, but Wesley gave the "death glare" to every player from the other team who ended up on his base.

Here's some videos of the boys up to bat. The first two are of Parker and the second two are of Wesley.

The Rivercats ended up having a great season! After the game was over,
we went to the playground area of Jervey Gantt Park for the trophy presentation, a chance to eat some yummy snacks and some time to play on the playground.

Silly Somersaults

2011-11-17T00:03:00.002-05:00

The other night before bedtime somehow the boys got the sillies and started doing somersaults on the living room rug. Even Mommy got in on the action (although those moves are not on tape!) Here's some of the boys having fun while trying to procrastinate about bedtime.....

Monday Fun

2011-11-15T22:50:00.002-05:00

After picking up the boys from school on Monday, we headed to the library. Parker needed to pick up books for two independent research projects he's doing at school - in his 2nd grade class on the life cycle of alligators and in his gifted class on speed/velocity. Wesley picked up a few books on firefighters and trucks.

From there we went to the mall. Daddy and Parker needed to get fitted for tuxes for two upcoming weddings - Daddy in his friend Jonathan's on December 11 and Parker for Uncle Sam and Sarah's on December 31.

And then it was time for Cub Scouts. The boys were making survival bracelets with knots. Daddy was awesome at helping all of the boys get their bracelets going. Parker's turned out really well and he enjoyed the project.

Pastor Appreciation

2011-11-14T20:30:00.001-05:00

Typically October is Pastor Appreciation Month. Daddy's church recognized him with a special gift and lunch on the first Sunday in October. For some reason, Belleview likes to celebrate in November and this past Sunday was the day they set aside. At the early service, the youth group presented Mommy with a beautiful orchid to wear. Then after the second service, there was a big lunch in the Fellowship Hall with all kinds of amazing food and a special cake. There was also a table with some gifts - a huge basket of cards, a bouquet of flowers, a cool t-shirt and mug with my favorite Bible verse on them and angel and a crystal dish. Many thanks to the folks at Belleview for making Sunday such a special day.

They Said Yes

2011-11-13T23:05:00.002-05:00

Last Thursday afternoon, Daddy got the phone call that we had been waiting for. The Board of Ordained Ministry met this week in Leesburg to discuss all the applications it had received for ordination. After looking over Daddy's file, they decided to grant him an interview. His big day is January 24 at 8am!

Thanks for all of your encouragement and support along the way and we would appreciate your prayers as Daddy continues to prepare for this important interview.

Fun With Friends

2011-11-12T21:48:00.005-05:00

Saturday the boys had tee-ball pictures at 9:15am followed up by a game at 10am. We got home about 11am and shortly thereafter Daddy's friend Jonathan and his son Nicholas arrived. They had driven down from Jacksonville to hang with us for the day.

Our day involved a lot of food......

Hamburgers, hot dogs, brats, salad, homemade potato salad, baked beans and pumpkin pie crunch.....

A lot of fun....some inside and some outside at the park.....

And then more food and fun outside.....

The boys had fun and so did the grownups. Looking forward to spending time with Jonathan and Nicholas again next month when Jonathan gets married up in Jacksonville.

Turkeys for T-Shirts

2011-11-10T19:33:00.003-05:00

Tonight Mommy and the boys stopped by the new Publix in town for an event called "Turkeys for T-shirts" sponsored by the Christian radio station that we listen to, the JoyFM. Today and tomorrow at locations all across the state, radio personalities are set up outside of Publix stores. You can either go inside and purchase a turkey or turn in a paper turkey (check for $10). Mommy asked the boys which they would rather do, because the line was about 30 people long outside Publix when we got there. Parker said that he would rather go in an buy the turkey than turn in a check. So Mommy took the boys inside and they each picked out a turkey in the meat department which we loaded up in the cart, paid for and then got back in the line outside to turn in. These turkeys benefited the local Salvation Army who will put them together in baskets for those in need. When we made it to the front of the line after about 15 minutes, Parker and Wesley helped load their turkeys into the special bins and they each received a JoyFM t-shirt for their donation. (Of course the only size they had were adults, so they have some nice sleep shirts!)

Essay Time

2011-11-07T15:30:00.001-05:00

Parker had to write an essay in school the other say about his favorite holiday. He chose Christmas. We were really impressed with it when he brought it home, especially the creative opening he came up with all on his own about cooler weather.

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Block Party

2011-11-06T20:14:00.001-05:00

Saturday afternoon was Druid Hills annual block party to say thank you to the community for their awesome response to Pumpkin Patch. It was a cold, cloudy day, but thankfully no rain!

Here's Miss Libby with her friends Abby the dog and Nicky the bird.

A llama and an alpaca!

This was Wesley's favorite thing to do and where he spent the majority of his time.

This was Parker's favorite - that kid loves a bounce house!

The police department was there along with the fire department. That's the cake walk booth under the tent and one of the many facepainters doing some awesome work.

Clowns doing balloon animals, face painting and hand stamping. The boys got an alligator and giraffe made just for them.

King Kong was out by the road to draw attention. The spinner ride is always a popular one with the kids and this year Wesley was big enough to ride.

The choo-choo train.

Later on in the day the most amazing thing happened. The boys have NEVER had their faces painted. We've offered, they have never wanted to do it. Wesley stood watching for quite a while today and then asked if he could. He chose a tiger face and sat perfectly still while she worked on him. He LOVED it and was heartbroken when we had to clean it off before bed.

Parker finally decided to get his face painted too right before we went home. He got the Harlequin clown face and was very pleased with the result.

It was an afternoon of lots of fun and thankfully we got to turn the clock back to recuperate from the whole day before Sunday morning!

Running Again

2011-11-05T19:55:00.005-04:00

Friday evening, Mommy headed out to DeBary, Florida (just south of DeLand). Her friend Lisa Degrenia is the pastor there at Community UMC and Lisa along with her husband Ed were part of our trip to England this past summer. They were gracious enough to allow Mommy to come and spend the night with them so that she could run a 5k there on Saturday morning. She joined them for a lovely meal, which their teenage daughter Laura made, and then spent some time reminiscing about the trip and catching up before getting some rest.

Saturday morning Mommy was up by 6:45am and out the door by 7:15 to head to Memorial Park in DeBary for the Rotary Club's race. When she got there she checked in and watched the sun come up from the parking lot. There were about 75 people in the crowd and about half were there for the 5k like Mommy and half were there for the 10k. At 8:00am the races began. The course wound through a residential neighborhood and was a loop out and back. Mostly downhill on the way out, but that uphill on the way back a little harder.

Mommy had three goals again this time: 1) Finish; 2) Run the entire way; and 3) Set a personal best. She once again was able to hit all three, finishing in 35:22 which is 4.34 faster than last time!!!!! She was the 5th woman in her age bracket to finish and the 21st person overall.

Here's a few pictures of the park and one of Mommy that some nice fellow runner took for her.

After the race, Mommy headed back to the Degrenias to grab a shower, change clothes and get one last visit in. She pulled out of DeBary at 10:30am so she could make it back to Ocala in plenty of time for the Block Party that Daddy's church was putting on.

Tired of Halloween Yet?

2011-11-04T16:00:00.018-04:00

For actual Halloween, Mommy had a funeral in the evening. So Daddy took the boys (all of them in costume) to the Fall Festival and Trunk N Treat at First UMC in Ocala. They love to go there for the candy and the bounce houses.

Later Mommy changed into costume and met up with the guys at Church of the Springs in Ocala for their Trunk N Treat. We had a good time there and got a whole lot more candy. Even Mommy and Daddy who didn't have treat bags were given candy at just about every stop - the general sentiment seemed to be that "any adult who dresses up in costume with their kids deserves some candy."

A trip to Sonic for dinner (corn dogs and slushies) and the boys proclaimed it to be one of the best Halloweens ever.

And as an added bonus, Mr. Gary from Mommy's church gave us a cd this week with a bunch of pictures from Trunk N Treat including some more good ones of us and the boys.

The Final Haul

2011-11-01T17:30:00.001-04:00

2 boys x (Belleview Trunk N Treat + Sea World Trick or Treating + 2 Trunk N Treats on Halloween night ) = this

We will be eating candy until next Halloween at least.

Halloween Mini Vacation Part Three

2011-10-31T20:30:00.001-04:00

From there it was on to the penguins and then the sharks. The manatees exhibit was closed but the boys wanted a picture with the sculpted manatees in the landscape. Then we checked out the alligators who were all piled up trying to stay warm, before visiting the stingrays.

Here's Daddy trying out the Sea World app on Mommy's phone.

Some more of the landscape.

Peaceful and relaxed at the Shamu show!

After the Shamu show, the boys changed into their costumes because it was time for some trick or treating.

She's holding a 3 banded armadillo from South America.

There were 13 trick or treating stations total. Each one was sponsored by a different company and the boys were given handfuls of a specific candy at each one - Twizzlers, Tootsie Rolls, Airheads, and more and even some mini-bananas from Chiquita! They really raked it in.

The Groove Chefs outside the Seafire Inn.

Count von Count's Countdown to Halloween Show was in the Pets Ahoy theater in the afternoon. It was different than last year's show and very good!

Finally we finished up the afternoon in Shamu's Happy Harbor. The boys played on the nets and then took in a few rides of their choice - Carousel, Flyin Fiddler and Swishie Fishies (each in their own compartment).

We left the park about 3:30pm and headed home. Wesley crashed out in the car and slept the whole way home. We got back and had dinner and unpacked. All in all, it was a very nice time away together as a family.