Day at the (Blizzard) Beach

After Alabama, we took the kids down to Orlando for more family visits.  We also took them to their first water park.  Disney's Blizzard Beach is a great place for swimmers and splashers of every age to have a great time.  We recognize they are both strong swimmers, and as much as I enjoy the water, and as much as Sarah enjoys the sun, we jumped at the opportunity to share both with these kids in the temperate climate of Florida's fall.

After hitting the wave pool, the family raft slide like 4 times, once around in the lazy river, and having lunch, we finally made it over to the kid zone.  There Grace and Sam were able to pretty much play unattended. 

After a day of that much fun, it took mere minutes for them to drop into snooze mode on the way home.  

  

The South

We recently made a trip south to Alabama to visit family.  Mimi loves doting on her great grandchildren and we all love enjoying warm hospitality, family gatherings, and roving farmlands and forests. 

Just down the road is Tannehill Inronworks Historical State Park.  I visited there many times as a child and looked forward to showing the kids a few places.  One in particular was the Grist Mill.  My aunt took a great photo of me in front of the mill when I was just a few years older than Grace and it still hangs in Mimi's house.  Someday I might put a copy of that up for Throwback Thursday.

 

We also hit a geocache or two!!!

The Farm...

We take the kids to zoos all the time, but the closest we get to domesticated animals is generally the petting zoo at the Puyallup Fair.   Getting up close to live large animals while you are in the same fenced area is not a regular occurence for Sam or Grace, and the cows and week old calf held their attention for some time.  Thanks again to their Great Aunt for giving us the keys to the Polaris.  We even gave the kids some driving lessons the same way their Grandmuhie learned; an open field and no traffic, sans clutch these days of course. 

And then, the Polaris turned into a jungle jim...  Kids.  

 Later folks.

Leaf Diving

I don't have those classic memories of diving into piles of leaves when I was a child.  That's probably because the leaves in Florida just don't lend themselves to large fluffy piles like the crinkly collections of Maple leaves I raked together this past weekend.  Standing there with rake in hand and garbage can ready to receive the fallen fauna, I was struck with childish inspiration.  I coerced both children outside to dance in the wonderful enjoyment of making a huge mess.

       

 

It took some time to get Sam to realize how much fun we were having, but he quickly caught up on the fun.   

 Then he helped me stop to make more room in the can.  

Over the Rainbow

Halloween this year was special.  It was the first time we dressed in costume as a family.  I'll admit, only a few years ago I would have rolled my eyes at families whose costumes were themed together, but having kids of my own unleaded my inner child - and I think we pretty much rocked it with our thrift store costumes.  (Sam even got some polar bear ear muffs!)

Of course, the Frozen phenomena was in Grace's mind when we were trying to decide what to be this year.  So, one evening when Sarah was working, I had a pizza picnic in the basement with the kids and we watched The Wizard of Oz.   Getting Grace to buy-in on something other than Ana or Elsa was tough, but once she saw Glenda the Good Witch of the North, with sparkling crown and star wand, I knew I had convinced her to flip. 

We carved pumpkins,

...got dressed, and hit the town.   Our awesome neighbor Jesse helped complete the theme and was our Scarecrow. 

The week prior, we participated in a fun run organized by Metro Parks Tacoma called the Black Cat Fun Run and had a few photos captured by the event photographer.  The run was 2.5 miles, and as it turns out, both our kids ran about half the course.  Sarah and I were both pleasantly surprised.  Looks like we can start signing these kids up for their own races!