Vacation Day 4 part one!

Monday was the beginning of a very busy week. We chose to go to Universal Studios to see The Wizarding World of Harry Potter. The weather was a tad warmer than was comfortable and the place was pretty crowded until the late afternoon. We didn't get there till around 11 AM. We were all so excited. We started out in the Dr. Seus area. It was cute. Then we were in an area having something to do with Poseidon.








Then we made it to the Harry Potter section. It sure was neat seeing the town of Hogsmeade, and the castle in the background.






One of my favorite parts was eating lunch at the Three Broomsticks. We had a great table in the corner, the food was really good, and the atmosphere was really cool.

Vacation Day 3

Sunday was our 3rd day of vacation. We slept in and then got ready to go to Cocoa Beach. The weather was beautiful. The kids loved the beach. Rilla loved playing in the water and searching for sea shells. We made a sand castle and Gil buried Walter and Jem in the sand. We had a picnic lunch and then headed home. We were there about two and a half hours. We ended up with a lot of sand in our van. The only not fun part was me getting sunburned even with sunblock on. I hate that I sunburn so easy. Luckily, Walter and Matthew take more after their dad and don't burn as easy. Rilla takes after me and burned a little, although not nearly as bad as I did. We all watched a movie together that night.

Vacation Day 1 &2

Last week was Spring break and we took a trip to Florida. We left the previous Friday afternoon and drove a few hours before we stopped at a hotel for the night. We stayed at my favorite hotel, Holiday Inn Express. I love their beds, bedding, continental breakfast, and they have a good military discount. Shirley's asthma unfortunately had been getting worse and that day we were having to give him treatments every 3 hours. So he slept propped up in the chair to sleep that night.




We had a great Breakfast Saturday morning and continued on to Florida. We had an uneventful trip. We stopped for lunch at a rest stop and the weather was beautiful. We got in to our town home we rented for the week around 6PM. We got settled in, ate dinner, and headed to Magic Kingdom for their fireworks. We really had fun. It was very exciting. We saw part of the electric parade and got a pretty good spot by the castle to watch the fireworks. After the fireworks we went exploring and found lots of fun rides to go on without any lines, Like Pirates of the Carribean and Splash Mountain. Rilla loved Splash Mountain. We really had a lot of fun and the kids made it till 1AM when the park closed. The last picture is them on our drive home to our hotel. They fell asleep right away in the car.

Jem's 7th Birthday!

We celebrated Jem's 7th Birthday the Saturday after Gil came home. Jem was sick the weekend of his birthday and Rilla and I waere sick the following weekend so we waited until Gil came home to have his party. It was fun. I made him a Volcano cake and had a few friends over. It sure is amazing how fast they grow up.





Jem is such a joy to have in our family. His funny personality sure brightens our home. He loves nature and natural disasters (rocks, tornados, volcanoes, etc). He wants to be a Geologist and part time Storm Chaser when he grows up. He is also a great big brother. He can be quite a Drama King sometimes, too. Here are some pictures of him when he was younger:

Daddy's Home!

Gil's home! I am so excited. We had the Welcome Home Celebration last night. It was really exciting. We even got to watch the plane land and the soldiers get off the plane. The kids loved it all.






I am so happy the deployment is over. It has been a long but good year. I am a much stronger person.