The big 4-0

So my sister and I had to get together to celebrate our second 20th birthdays this year.  We love living a short drive from each other, which allows us to spend the day together and sometimes even longer.  

Well, as I alluded to in my last post, we opted to combine our birthday/Mother's Day celebration with one of Caleb's tennis tournaments.  On the Friday before our birthday, we arrived into town in the afternoon, just late enough to miss an opportunity to swim at our hotel before heading out for the evening's festivites.  Instead we grabbed a few quick treats from Starbucks to nibble on back at the room.

 Then Patrick and I took Deb and her crew, along with ours, to the Cirque Du Soleil show La Nuba.

The show was fantastic, such a display of creativity and strength.  I certainly felt my age when I left. lol  Anyway, after the show we went to a Cuban restaurant for dinner.  Delicious!  We stayed at a hotel off Disney property, the Marriott World Center, which had this great view of Epcot in the evening.

On Saturday, our actual birthday, Patrick took Caleb to his tennis tournament (at the facility down the street from my sister and Andy's house). But my sister and her crew headed to the hotel to hang out with us by the pool all day.  Once Caleb finished up his matches, he came back to join us. I picked this hotel because of the three big pool slides, along with a splash zone.  And boy, were they perfect! Even the splash zone had a slide so Havi and Josh didn't get left out.  We had such a fantastic day lounging by the pool...so relaxing and fun.  I actually forgot to bring my camera down to the pool.  So I only have a few iPhone photos from our time swimming that I still haven't uploaded yet.

Anyway, because we spent so long at the pool, we went to dinner that night in the hotel at a casual Italian spot.  Havi promptly fell asleep as soon as we sat down.  Poor girl slept across two chairs but was so zonked she didn't even budge.  After dinner, we asked Andy to snap a photo of the birthday girls in front of the eatery.  He was standing in such funny "photographer" positions, I had a hard time keeping a straight face.

After dinner, we went back up to the room where we proceeded to sing Happy Birthday to the Twinsies and eat cake.

Having spent all day every day at the women's pro circuit tournament the week before our birthday meant I had zero time to bake us our birthday cake.  Boo.  But Patrick graciously picked up a cake for us at Publix, and my sister brought along the candles.  So we had something to eat and blow out.  Anyway,  I will have to make it up to me/us soon.   

On Sunday, we checked out of our hotel and headed back to the tennis tournament for Caleb's semi-final match.  Although he didn't win, he played so great.  And my sister and her kids actually got up extra early to come watch him play his 8am match.  Yep.  8am on a Sunday.  That's love.

So that about catches us up to speed here.  Caleb will be playing in another tennis tournament this weekend (no surprise there).  But since it's a long one, Patrick wants to go surf fishing one day...like really, REALLY early in the morning.  We'll see if that plan comes to fruition.

A camping we will go

I mentioned in my last post that we had some very special peeps making their way south for some warmth and adventure.  My SIL/BIL Michele and John came down from Connecticut with my niece Lydia to help Madeline celebrate her 7th birthday.  They spent a little bit of time doing some theme park thrill seeking, and then we met up with them over at Fort Wilderness.  They had the pleasure of keeping Miss Peggy occupied while we stayed in Charlie. It was so much fun to have them indulge us in our camping adventures.

We arrived early Thursday afternoon (as in two weeks ago). And since the weather was warm and gorgeous, we all went swimming.  Then we came back to the campsites to ride bikes, play kickball, and hang out.

After dinner, we headed over to Chip and Dale's campfire sing-a-long for some fun American folk songs and s'mores.

Friday started with rain and cooler temps, which meant swimming was out.  So we did lots of lounging around the campground. The kids especially loved riding around in the golf carts.  Oh my! lol  Anyway, we headed down to the lake for some fun on the playground and tether ball.  They might have also played in the sand a wee bit.

Then we headed over to the stables so we could see the horses.  Havi was the only one small enough for the pony ride.

Then it was back to the campsites for more kickball and spectating..and maybe some ring pop sucking.

On Saturday, the weather was the same as Friday. So instead of lounging about, we decided to head over to ESPN Wide World of Sports. 

We waited an eternity for the bus to arrive that would take us to Downtown Disney (via Typhoon Lagoon) and then over to the Pop Century resort...and then to Wide World of Sports.  Well, we just couldn't bare the thought of waiting for another (third) bus once we got to the Pop Century resort.  So we hopped into cabs. And when we arrived (over an hour later), we discovered that the Atlanta Braves were playing the Detroit Tigers in a Spring Training game.  Well, since game time was in less than an hour, we decided to go.  While waiting in line for tickets, Madeline decided her loose tooth had to go and promptly yanked it out.  And I snapped a right-after-it-happened-still-bloody-mouth photo to prove it.

We grabbed a quick lunch before the game, and the girls pretended to take over Sports Center.

After three innings, Havi had had enough.  So we walked around the grounds, with the hope of making it over to the tennis courts.

We eventually made it there.  (The place is HUGE.)  Anyway, Caleb thought center court was pretty cool.

And then there might have been some races in the open field next to center court.

Saturday night we had dinner at the Pioneer Hall and were thoroughly entertained by the Hoop-Dee-Doo musical dinner show.  They had us laughing the whole night.  If you ever decide to enjoy a dinner show at the Walt Disney World Resort, this would be the one!

Sunday was our departure day. So we loaded everything up and then had one last swim in the pool.

We had such a wonderful time camping with Michele, John, and Lydia.  We're so grateful they were able to come down for such a long stay to help Madeline celebrate her birthday.  She declared that this was the best birthday ever.  On her actual birthday, which was the 12th, we headed back that way to enjoy lunch with the princesses in Norway at Epcot.  So Part 2 of Madeline's birthday celebration is up next!

How she got there

So I finally managed to borrow Caleb's phone in order to shoot another video of Havi riding her pedal bike. But before I share it, I thought I would include a few photos I snapped of Havi last fall after she just received her balance bike.  I never got around to posting them because I was so busy sharing about our trip to Connecticut.  But I thought now would be a good time to sneak them in...also because (maybe) I haven't picked up my camera lately.  Shame on me.  But thankfully, that's changing soon because we have some special visitors coming next week to help us celebrate another little dumpling's birthday.

Anyway, she had been riding her balance bike about a month when we had this impromtu shoot in the cul-de-sac.  Isn't she just the cutest?

So I looked back on my computer to pull a video or two of her when she first got her balance bike (and thankfully found some.)  It's the Scoot by Ridgeback, and I'm so glad we got it for her.  It's built like a real bike in every way, except it's missing the pedals.  These videos were shot when she first hopped on it.

After riding her balance bike for five months, she was more than ready to move on to a pedal bike.  If I were to take a photo of the bikes side-by-side, you would see why she so easily transitioned to her pedal bike, which is the 12" Hotrock by Specialized.  They both have 12" wheels, highly adjustable seat heights, and wide handle bars with comfortable grips.  Unlike most big box store bikes, the Hotrock's pedals are further in front, allowing a child to easily push on the pedal to gain speed.  Not only that, the frame of the bike is wider and lower to the ground, offering the rider more control.

I have had several people tell me how amazed they are that Havi can ride a pedal bike at the age of 3.  Sure, she's a bright little girl and a fast learner.  But really, the right tools and some practice was all it took.

Still 'lil Hav, we're really proud of you, girl!

Go get 'em!