Memorial Day 2008

This is how Jacob felt on his first ride ever!



Jocelyn loves her uncle Jeff!



Disney World (nice Jocelyn!)



Can you tell how Jocelyn feels about Minnie?



But....Jacob didn't mind Mickey!



Jocelyn before the 3-d Disney show



This sums up how Jacob mostly felt about Disney World.



Ice cream at Disney World!





Daytona beach (16 weeks prego, and not feeling cute!)


Jaden and Jocelyn throwing sand at each other (classic)



Being buried by Daddy



Jacob had no problem with the sand....



He made it clear that he didn't mind going to sleep in it!



Jacob's enthusiasm for the beach!



Jaden loved the fountain at the beach!



Here's how Jocelyn felt......



.........and about as far as Jacob would go!



The rest stop on the North Carolina/South Carolina border
(who would have thought we'd have our own side wildlife trip?!)
There were about 20 turtles and Jaden waited about 20 minutes
for this turtle to eat out of his hand!



There was even this wild turkey at the same rest stop
(ironically, this place was one of our fondest memories of the trip :) )

MEMORIAL DAY 2008


This year we had a very inexpensive vacation package deal to Orlando and we decided to take it since Ryan's brother lives there and they just had their first baby (after trying for 7 years). We took a plunge and decided to drive the 12 hours there. I just imagined the worst and it didn't end up too bad. Jaden and Jocelyn can take care of themselves now and were great, but Jacob was miserable being strapped in his carseat. We took our time and took 2 days to drive each way. It ended up being alot of fun! After much advice from others we got through it. Stopping at rest stops and running with the kids proved to be wise and fun! I also got in the back with the kids to play games and teach them/read to them and that helped break it up for them as well. Jacob loved watching baby Einstein right in front of his face! That's really all he had to do after he threw his toys and he had to share the dvd player with Jaden and Jocelyn, but I am happy to say that they didn't even use it that much. I went to the library and stocked up on books on tape and easy reader books for Jaden. I guess that's enough about our drive, but the advice I received really helped and it's always fun to try what others have already proven to be successful!

Once we got to Orlando we went right to Ryan's brothers house and then straight to Ryan's favorite pizza place, Giordonos (Chicago style pizza). We then went to our hotel, which was an Extended Stay. It wasn't that nice, but pretty inexpensive and we were only there to sleep. On Saturday my sister-in-law got us into Universal studios (she worked there). We ran around all day taking the kids to all of the rides they could go on. We spent alot of time in the Dr. Suess land (not sure what it was called) The kids favorite was the flying unicorn roller coaster. I made the mistake of going on it with the kids, after that it was Ryan who had to keep riding it. Jaden couldn't go on the big splash ride, but I think he had more fun discovering the "SOAKED ZONE". It was a fun day even though we had to dodge 5 minute terrential rain storms (have any of you experienced Florida rain? It's pretty crazy!) Oh and of course Jaden had to climb the climbing wall!
Sunday we went to church and the Orlando temple (it was beautiful). One thing unique to Florida is getting used to seeing lizards all over the sidewalks and everywhere you go. Jaden and Jocelyn spent their first few hours in Florida hunting lizards in Jeff's backyard (Ry's bro).
Monday we went to Disney World. This was more fun than Universal. We just stuck to Magic Kingdom, which is geared more towards younger children. The kids met Mickey and Minnie and Jocelyn met "Jasmine", both of which she was scared to death!:) One of their favorites was the castle show where they saw "Peter Pan" and "The Wicked Witch of the West". They couldn't stop talking about her, so we finally had to tell Jaden she wasn't real (we tried to let them be kids and believe the characters were real until they saw her :) After Jocelyn saw the princesses live in the show she became much more interested in them. Her favorite is Cinderella, but if you know Jocelyn she is not a "girly girl" at all! I signed her up for the princess makeover and she cancelled it to go on the Buzz Lightyear ride with Jaden. Oh well, I tried. What can I expect when she has 2 brothers, one of which is Jaden (1000% boy)
We were supposed to start driving back on Tuesday, but Ryan suprised us and took us to Daytona beach for the day on the way home (he knows how much the beach means to me). This was so much fun and probably the most fun for Jacob! He loved the sand and the freedom!
We finally got home late Wednesday night! This was such a fun family trip, driving and all, however I have decided that Disney World and other theme parks are best for 3 years and up. 2 is still too young to appreciate it and 1 just wants to get up and walk away!

We hope you all had just as fun on Memorial Day!