Christmas 2009

We celebrated on Christmas Eve at Pop-pop and Coco's house...Christmas morning at our house...the day after Christmas at Grammy's house. The kids has a lot of fun, and burned a lot of energy through the excitement. Everyone had a wonderful Christmas. We wish everyone the best of health and happiness in 2010!

Alex plays on the Cardinals

Alex plays pitch baseball this year and his team is the Cardinals. Today was a great game! It was his second game, and he got 2 hits in 2 at bats, 2 runs batted in, and scored both times! He also performed better in the outfield by paying attention to the game instead of throwing rocks up in the air! After the game, the coach picks 1 player to receive the game ball and he chose Alex. Alex was extremely happy today.

Wedding of Robert and Marisa Scott

Robert Scott and Marisa Mansfield got married on September 26th. The weather was fabulous for an outdoor beach wedding, and the view from the banquet room was gorgeous. We all enjoyed excellent appetizers, drinks, salmon and roasted beef tenderloin, wedding cake and canolis. The 80s music provided some excellent dancing too. We all hope for a great future for Robert and Marisa!

Fort Wilderness and Hollywood Studios

On Friday, September 18th, we drove to Disney's Fort Wilderness campground. Saturday morning, we rode Disney's bus to Hollywood Studios. The kids rode Aerosmith's Rockin'Roller Coaster 5 times, and Tom and Shanon rode it 3 times. Heather and Alex also wanted to try the Tower of Terror, which they thought was a bit more scary. However, Heather rode it 3 times, and Alex rode it twice! We also saw the Beauty and the Beast show, Playhouse Disney, rode the new Toy Story ride, Star Tours, and the Great Movie Show. Deb, Glen, Taylor and Jacob met us around 3:00 and then we all returned to Fort Wilderness, where we cooked a dinner of hot dogs, mac-n-cheese, and zucchini. Then we walked over to the campfire, where we made smores, and Anthony met Chip and Dale. We were all exhausted by the end of the night!

First Day of School!

Heather and Alex are ready for their first day of school. Heather is in the 5th grade, and will be preparing for middle school this year. Alex is in the 2nd grade. We met at the bus stop this morning with all of their friends from last year, plus a few new ones. Everyone is looking forward to a great year!

Pirateland, Myrtle Beach, S.C.

We loaded up 5 people, a truck, and a camper on 6/27 and headed to Myrtle Beach, S.C. Almost 8 hours later, we arrived just as the rain started to pour. Trees blocked the front of our campsite, so we had to push the camper by hand. Once set up, water sprayed all over the floor...a hose had burst which we found had been taped up previously in 4 places. Tom and Anthony repaired it the next day, and things started to improve. We enjoyed time at the Lazy River pool, the beach, putt-putt golf, Good Vibrations show, toured Anne Huntington's old home, and went out to eat a couple of times for dinner. The kids painted starfish and played Bingo, and Heather won 2nd place in a coloring contest and won a large lolly pop. Heather also made a friend named Sarah, from Kentucky, and they hung out together a lot. All 3 kids also sang karaoke at the pool one evening. We had a very fun week at Pirateland's Family Campground Resort, but also were glad to be home.

We celebrated Tom's birthday at the Magic Kingdom!

Disney World offers a deal this year where you get in free on your birthday. The first trip was for Shanon and Alex's birthday (same birthday so double bonus!). We got 3 day passes, so for Tom's birthday, he took the option of all-day fast passes for the family. That worked out great, as we never waited in a line all day long! We went on the cars race-way, saw the 3-D animated movie, rode the Pooh ride, It's a Small World, Peter Pan, Pirates of the Carribean (twice), Jungle Tour, and both Thunder Mountain and Splash Mountain FOUR times each! Other than the afternoon rain, which cooled things off, we had one of the best days EVER at the Magic Kingdom. The kids got along wonderfully with each other, and Anthony really enjoyed himself. He would yell, "Whoa!" at everything he saw. We didn't get home until Midnight, but it was a great day!