#hashtag

In addition to our tips and tricks, we're going to start another new series called #hashtag.  This will hold a collection of random photos that need to be posted but don't need an entire post to themselves.  I suppose we'll keep this going until I join Instagram...

#runningbuddy

#firsticecreamcone  #hooked  #youdonthavetoaskmetwice

#howmuchisthatdoggieinthewindow  #bones  #rufflife

#daddysvacuuming
#imsittinginmyshoppingcartwithmybinkandmyblanket
#imsafe

#sobig  #wheredidmybabygo

Stroll With It

Kate lurves her some stroller time right now!  She has yet to push her actual baby around in her stroller but she loves to push around 3 or 4 matchbox cars, her two baby bottles, and Brian's old Blackberry phone that is now hers!  She pushes that stroller around and around and around!  And giggles all the way!  This is not an uncommon sight in our house these days!

FIFA Fever

Early tonight when Brian and I both got home from work, I told him that I would like to weed the garden. He quickly turned around and chanted, 'I would like to weed the garden...I believe that we will win!'

I looked at him with a blank stare.  And then he explained to me that when I said, "I would like to weed the garden," it sounded like I was chanting the USA Soccer World Cup Motto.  That is, "I believe that we will win."

This boy has sports on the brain 24/7, I kid you not!  I chanted the real motto along with him, under pure obligation of course, and then went out to do what I had intended on doing.

I believe that...

...I will weed the garden.

How's that for a chant!?

Day Trip to Disney

During our family vacation to Florida, we decided to spend one day at Walt Disney World.  Miss Kate had never been to Disney which was a good enough reason for us to make the visit, but we were also no more than two hours away from any of our more long term spots (St. Pete Beach and Anna Maria Island) either!  It was an easy decision!

On the drive there, Kate sat with her blanket
over her head!

We made it!

Dreams really do come true here!

We debated on spending more than one day but ended up sticking with the one because we wanted some good vacation time too.  We didn't want to be running all around and then leave Florida not feeling like we had a vacation.  In hindsight, we wished we'd booked a longer visit at Disney, but, mark my words, this will not be our only visit!  I love Walt Disney World!  I can remember going several times growing up!  And Brian and I went to Disney for our one year anniversary!  With as much fun as we had this visit, we are already trying to figure out plans for another!

And that brings me to the very point of this post: Kate's first trip to Disney!  She ABSOLUTELY LOVED IT!  Seriously, people.  If we had known how much Kate would love this day, we would have booked a lot more than one day.  It was so much fun seeing how much fun she had!  It was hot, really hot, and we only rode on four rides: It's a Small World, Dumbo the Flying Elephant, Ariel's Undersea Adventure, and the Haunted Mansion; but she had a blast just being there.

This place is magic, I tell ya!

When we first arrived, Kate insisted on getting an apple.  Of all the options that Walt Disney World has to offer, if Kate wants an apple, she's going to get an apple.  I imagine in the not so distant future, apples will be a thing of the past and cotton candy, ice cream, and popcorn will have replaced them!

On the bus from the hotel headed to the Magic Kingdom!

Zee cah-stle!

Hendu 3.0 at Disney!

It's still magical to me!

Kate's apple!

We didn't plan one thing in advance for this visit other than booking the hotel and getting tickets.  We decided we would just go with the flow and see how we all felt.  Our lack of planning meant that, in hindsight, we weren't able to use our time as wisely as we could have with fast passes and whatnot, but, again, the goal was not to jam pack the day.  The goal was to experience Disney.  And that, my friends, we did accomplish!

After we got our apple, we hopped into line at It's a Small World and rode that.  Kate was entranced with all the visual stimulus and it was adorable to see her take it all in.  We then headed over to ride Dumbo the Flying Elephant.  People, this ride has a play area that you can play in while you are waiting in line.  This idea is genius.  You get a little restaurant pager and you go play in the play area.  When it's your turn to ride, your pager goes off, you get back into line, you wait another 5 or so minutes and you are on the ride.  It was awesome for Kate and the other kiddos to not have to stand in line!

Waiting in line for the boats at It's a Small World!

Kate's first Disney ride!

Nearly our turn to ride Dumbo!

One of her favs!

Kate LOVED Dumbo!  Her little giggle on the entire ride just melted my heart!  She was beaming from ear to ear while we rode!

After Dumbo, Kate fell asleep in her stroller.  We decided to head back to the hotel to let her get a little nap in us all get a little nap in, but she promptly woke up the moment we arrived back at the hotel, so we basically showered and regrouped for a moment and headed back to the park.  Again, we went without an agenda.  If we were able to stay late and see the fireworks, we were going to, but if Kate was too tired we were going to head back to the hotel.

Right as we arrived we got to enjoy the Dance Party parade and danced with Goofy, Mickey, and several other Disney characters in the streets!  Then we headed to Ariel's Undersea Adventure ride because there was hardly any wait in the queue and rode that!  After that, we headed to the Haunted Mansion which was WAY scarier than I remember.  I actually kind of felt bad that we had Kate on there with us, but it didn't seem to phase her.  We might reconsider this ride come future visits unless Kate says she would like to ride it.

Kate meet Goofy.  Goofy meet Kate.

Dancing in the streets with Mickey and friends!

After the Haunted Mansion, we decided the day had been long enough.  We were all hot and tired so decided to make the trek back to the hotel.  The trek was not without a stop to the giftshop, however!  We let Kate pick out whatever she wanted, within reason, and she picked out a stuffed Mickey!  She is so adorable!  We headed back to the hotel and called it a night.

You just can't get enough of that view!

Love this!

On our way to Anna Maria the next day with our newest plush
addition: Mickey!

Our first trip to Disney was a complete success.  We all had so much fun and Kate enjoyed it so much more than we thought she would.  Mark my worlds Walt Disney World, we will definitely be headed back...for a longer stay...with a planned itinerary so we can make the most of our fast passes!  And soon, very soon!

We heart Disney!

Florida Vacation - Part II

Last year we took a trip to Florida to visit our friends and to enjoy some family beach time.  We enjoyed that trip so much that we essentially decided to repeat it, but we added one day at Disney in.  (That will be a separate post in and of itself!)

We flew down to Tampa, FL on Saturday and stayed at Than, Darcy, Jack and new baby Winston's house until Tuesday morning.  On Tuesday, we drove to Orlando, FL to spend the day at Disney.  And on Wednesday, we stopped by my Granddad's for a quick hello before making our way back to Anna Maria Island where we stayed last year.  The Jones Family met us at the Anna Maria house again on Friday and we all stayed until Sunday when we flew back to Columbus, OH.

Once again, we had a blast together!  It was wonderful to see Than, Darcy, and Jack and meet one month old Baby Winston!  Kate loved being around Winston!  Any time he would fuss she would say, "Baby?  Baby?", and she would get him his blanket or another toy or rock him in his seat.  It made us so proud.  She is going to make a great big sister one day!  ;)

Jack and Kate picked up where they left off.  They have so much fun playing together and it is adorable to watch them interact!

At Anna Maria, they dredged the beach so there was A LOT more beach area.  We didn't notice the sand bar anymore but we weren't at the beach a ton either.  With two toddlers and a newborn, the walk to the beach/the set up are as enticing as the ease of the pool right outside your back door!  We did go to the beach, we just didn't lounge on it daily!

And while we were there, we, once again, considered our opportunities with moving to Florida and being closer to these fine people!  Brian and Than have been best friends since...forever...and Darcy and I have grown quite close too.  It's just awesome to have such a great couple to hang out with.  Especially when you add a few kiddos into the mix who also enjoy hanging out with each other!

It's going to be hard not to do this vacation every year.  We enjoy Florida and we enjoy being able to see our friends.  There are a ton of other places that we would like to visit, but this is a great, easy, reasonable family trip and for the last two vacations it has checked everything we want in a vacation off!

Thank you, again, Than, Darcy, Jack, Winston, and Alli-Girl for the amazing hospitality!  We heart you guys!

The infamous flight!

Checking out the view!

We made it!!!  FINALLY!

Kate has got the pool lounge down!

Morning cuddles with Alli-Girl!

On Father's Day, Brian and Than went deep sea
fishing and caught some deep sea fish which we
cooked and ate at home!  It was delish!

A stop in Port Charlotte to visit my Granddaddy and Kate's
Great Granddaddy!

Walking to the beach at Anna Maria Island!

Beach girl!

Sort of...!

Family photo at the beach!

Family photo at the pier!

Just walking along the pier!

Coloring poolside!
It doesn't get more vacation than that!

Kate and Jack jumped out of these laundry doors 472 times
and loved it each and every time!  They had us adults laughing too!

Alli-Girl in her prime!

Than and Jack!

Breakfast buds!

Kate grabs some of Alli-Girl's food...

...and hand delivers it.  #adogslife

Brian and Than went to watch a World Cup game
at one of the local bars while the women stayed home
with the children.

The Jones Four at Anna Maria!

Collecting sea shells which we played with on
the plane ride home!

Friday the 13th

We had plans to leave for our Florida vacation today, Friday, June 13th.  We didn't think much of it being Friday the 13th when we booked our vacation.  We just thought of the best flight times for the maximum amount of vacation time.  Superstition versus vacation?  Vacation wins.  And so it was done.  Our flight was to leave early evening and arrive in Tampa just after Kate's bed time.

But earlier today Brian received a text from our airline saying our flight was delayed til much later.  This kind of was a blessing in disguise because I have been fighting a nasty cold that has literally had me so congested that I can't even swallow.  My entire nasal track is clogged.  So, with our flight being delayed, this allowed me to run into a Minute Clinic and see if there was anything I could do that I haven't been doing.

Low and behold, after said clinic visit, I walked out with a prescription for an antibiotic and ear drops because I had an ear infection.  Excuse me?!  An ear infection??  I haven't had an ear infection since the third grade and now I have one right before our vacation?  [Sigh.]  At least we were able to address this before we leave for Florida.

Our original flight ended up leaving tonight around 11:30 pm which will put it in Tampa, FL sometime around 1:30 pm.  We decided it would be best to swap our flight to tomorrow rather than mess all of our schedules up so much.  So, that we did.   (THANK YOU, SOUTHWEST AIRLINES!  WE HEART YOU!)  Our flight leaves midday tomorrow and puts us in Tampa in the early afternoon.

The next time we decide to book anything on Friday the 13th, superstition may win.  We learned our lesson today.  After a severely delayed flight AND an ear infection, we are now superstitious.  Take it from us, don't mess with Friday the 13th.

UPDATE
Our flight the next day was nothing short of crazy despite it being Saturday the 14th.  I still wasn't feeling the greatest but we decided to press on.  I sat in a window seat with Kate, Brian sat in the middle seat, and a young woman, maybe in her mid-twenties, sat in the aisle seat.  She looked evidently stressed and opened up to us that she has a real fear of flying and asked Brian to talk to her about something, ANYTHING, to keep her mind off of flying.  Brian, being the good sport that he is, did his best.

We were able to manage easily on take-off.  Landing was a different story.

I was experiencing excruciating pain in my ears from the ear infection for the entire descent.  And, folks, if you know airplanes, you know the descent is MUCH LONGER than the ascent.  On one side of Brian sat me and Kate.  Kate playing happily and me with tears streaming down my face from the pain.  On the other side of Brian sat the young woman who was still asking Brian to talk to her about ANYTHING.

We made it to Tampa.  Kate was so good, Brian was a trooper, and I stopped crying, but it would take another day and a half for my ears to pop and for my hearing to return fully...

This little excursion taught us two things: 1. Don't book vacation plans on Friday the 13th, and 2. Never fly with an ear infection.  Hopefully we won't be repeating either of these mistakes in the future...

Tips & Tricks: Removing Ink Pen from Clothing

I don't have photos for this so you will have to completely and totally trust me on this one.  If, for some unknown reason, you have an ink pen mark on your clothes or your child has an ink pen mark on his or her clothes, all you need to do to remove the ink is grab a q-tip, dip it in rubbing alcohol, and blot the ink stain with the q-tip directly on the clothing.  It may take a few blots or a few dips of rubbing alcohol, but, once again, like the magic the dry erase markers performed on the permanent markers, the ink stain will magically disappear right in front of your eyes!  And then you can wash your clothes as normal and you won't ever notice a difference!*

I'm thinking of changing the "Tips & Tricks" title of this series to "Magic".  Thoughts?!

*Disclaimer 1:  Try at your own risk.  I would test a discreet area on the clothing/fabric you are using to be sure you don't ruin anything you don't want to ruin.  I personally was more interested in getting the ink stain out of Kate's shirts than I was interested in making sure I didn't ruin them.  After all, if I didn't get the ink stain out they were already ruined anyway.  But I may not have had that same attitude if said ink stain were on something else less disposable...like my couch.  Not that Kate's clothes are disposable, but you get what I'm saying.

*Disclaimer 2: I would highly recommend washing your clothes or your child's clothes after blotting rubbing alcohol on them.  Highly.

Harry Potter ain't got nothin' on me!

My Little Pony...Tail!

Kate's hair is finally long enough to put in a little "Pebbles" pony tail! She came home today with her hair up from school and I about died from the cuteness!

Clearly we need to put our hair up when
we check on our garden!

Pebbles!

And the shirt is so fitting because it has a
pony on it!  The hair and the shirt were not
planned!

Adorbs from the back!

And top!

Kate thinks she looks cute too!

One last revel in our pony tail before we take
it out and wash our hair!

Kate's pony tail has opened a whole new door for us!  I see bows and braids and pigtails and hair accessories adorning our very near future and I CANNOT WAIT to start doing her hair!

We are going to have so much fun, Kate - you and me!