Orlando

warning.... more pictures again.
Orlando segment

Monday we drove to Orlando and reached our hotel. Isabel was SO excited when she finally figured out where we were. We hung out at the pool that night and watched Oliver and Company on the big screen poolside. Tuesday we woke up nice and early and went to Magic Kingdom. Mary Poppins was the first we saw to take pics with and we played in Fantasyland for a while. We met Rapunzel, Flynn, Mary Poppins, Tiana, Prince Naveen and of course Mickey and Minnie. Isabel has a crush on Flynn and we have a great picture of him doing the smolder. That little girl had so much fun!! Stella about melted but thankfully we avoided heat stroke. We at some amazing food for dinner at the Liberty Tavern. Isabel and Mike went on Buzz light year and Izzy kicked Mike booty at the game. :) We conquered Izzy's fear of the Pirates of the Caribbean ride, and now she wants to be a pirate. I really have the best girls.. (have I mentioned that already?) 13 hrs at Magic Kingdom and no crying, no whining, no "my feet hurt" it was magical. We took the bus back, and the girls fell asleep. A couple of quick showers later and we were all in bed ready for the next adventure.











Wednesday brought on Hollywood Studios and Downtown Disney. We go to Hollywood Studios and honestly I wasn't expecting much... man it was great. The interactive Disney channel show (Handy Manny, Mickey Mouse Club, Little Einsteins and Jake and the Pirates) so great, Little Mermaid show was fun, albeit a tad scary. Ursula was HUGE! Isabel was curled up trying to not cry in her seat. The Monsters Inc show was hilarious as well. It really was a great venue for kids. We ended our trip there with the Toy Story arcade game ride. Again.. that was so fun.







Downtown Disney was fun. We took a but to the Saratoga Springs hotel and took the water taxi over. We walked around and waited for our dinner at Wolfgang Puck. There is a water fountain over by Planet Hollywood and Isabel made a friend so we watched her play and run around for 45 minutes. Dinner was fantastic, although we were still full from lunch. My salmon so amazing as well as my key lime pie, oh my goodness!!! We barely made it home... bus never wanted to get there and when we did.. we tossed everyone in the showers again and tossed them in bed. Poor Stella was not doing so great after lack of proper naps and getting so hot. At least Tuesday we were in air conditioning most of the day. One more day to go.

Thursday we were all so tired getting up but had to be up early for Isabel's princess breakfast at Epcot. We were running late due to a wrong turn and ran so fast inside. Thankfully all was well. She had a blast getting to do the princess parade with Cinderella the 1st time and Aura the 2nd. Since we were celebrating her birthday she got a card signed by all the princesses (and Mary Poppins). She was totally smitten. We did a bunch of rides, walked around the aquarium at the Nemo ride ( I love the picture in front of the 'mineminemine' birds) and enjoyed watching sea turtles, dolphins and a manatee. We walked around to a few countries but we were all exhausted by this point. We did hit the reset button when we picked up some frozen lemonade and stopped by the french bakery and ate some yummy, yummy food. We ended the day about 3 o'clock with a ride on the monorail. And yes, we're already planning our next family vacation there! Next time I think we'll definitely plan a day or two of rest and not try and do three days in a row. But it was a GREAT trip!

On the road again.. and again, and again.

(warning! LOTS OF PICS!)
St Charles, MO-Destin, FL
So here it is... a month later and I still a haven't posted a real update. So I'm bypassing Easter, birthdays, graduations and anything else I missed and starting with our awesome road trip (which we're still on.. typing while Mike is driving).
For Izzy's birthday (or that's what we tell ourselves) we headed to Orlando. But wait, let me back up (beep, beep, beep). My youngest cousin got married in Destin on May 22nd. I love Will and he and Sara make such a wonderful couple. Sara also spent many-a conversation with Isabel, so I really, really like her even more. We embarked on our trip May 16th and drove to Tuscaloosa to spend the night at the Barr B&B as usual. We were able to drop off many donations, from friends in St Louis, comprising of mainly kids clothes but some adults also. Then we headed to the B&B. Our normal room was occupied upon arrival by a new tenant, but all was well. The accommodations were still perfect. After a great dinner and lovely conversation we headed to bed and woke up nice and early to get in the car and drive to Destin. My Aunt rented a house for all 16 or so of us to stay in. This house was Out.of.this.world. So beautiful, travertine floors throughout, vessel sinks in every bath room (functionality is lost but design impact is there), slate tiled shower, HUGE....huge.. 105" the downstairs one was a mere 80" That was two of the 5 huge ones in the house. 4 floors... right on the beach... a.maz.ing. (wait I think I have pics on the computer... hold on... not the ones I wanted but there now you can see it)





We took a tour of the house, camped our stuff in the bedroom with 4 bunk beds and a crib. Izzy loved the bunk beds. The 'ladies' headed out for a dinner while the men (and kids) ate some awesome seafood made by my Uncle. Mike loved it. Then we we were all back at the house we had a birthday party for Isabel. I would just like to give a shout out to my whole family.. they easily doubled the wardrobe of both my girls, along with beach toys for Isabel, coloring/word books, a cool t-shirt with disney stuff to color and so much more. Our trunk was STUFFED again. We are so blessed. (then when Leslie and Jacob got there there was even more stuff!)




Wednesday, needless to say, there was a lot of playing on the beaches. Not sure where my brain went, Wednesday we went outside and I lathered up everyone with sunscreen.. everyone but myself so I did not get to enjoy the water or sun much. I did get out to the beach but just stayed covered. Izzy LOVED the beach and water. Stella also had a blast feeling the water and sand. She was just cute!
My other cousin Alex had her 1st baby 5 days before Stella so the kids got some baby bonding time. Mike and I did some shopping with my mom. (Mike scored a $700 suit for $150 it's awesome!) {random pic of my mom... yeah a RARE find. eyes open AND a smile}










Friday morning Mom and I went to the airport to pic up Leslie, Jacob and Dad. It was full of, well an interesting trip. We laughed a lot, got lost, and had some great family time. We had many, many gatherings at this wedding, 4 parties plus the wedding ( we missed one because of the airport trip). Lots and lots of good food, normal family chaos, Leslie and I had a great walk and girl time. Much needed. The wedding was great {note: I sat on the wrong side again, I do not like myself photographed from my right side}. After the reception Mike and I took the girls on a family date. Let me brag for a minute. My girls are amazing. I can't even begin to tell you how amazing they were the whole travel time (and still are), in the car, at the house, everything. I am such a proud momma.














Sunday morning brought the end of the Destin trip, we drove to Pensecola to take Leslie and Jacob to the airport, spent the night and then got up early so drive off to Orlando!

surreal

Seeing pictures and videos of the huge tornado that hit Tusacaloosa and Birmingham is surreal. It's crazy to look at pictures and know what part of town you're looking at, but no landmarks are there. Krispy Kreme, gone, taxi fads gone, a house I spent many hours in my freshman year, gone. I am so grateful that all of my friends and loved ones are so far accounted for and safe. One friend had a tornado just a couple streets over from her, way too close for comfort. I miss everyone down there and I really want to come down and do something. We'll he there in 2.5 weeks and I can't imagine how different it will be. My heart, my prayers and most every thought today is going out to the people of Tuscaloosa. May Heavenly Father keep His merciful hand over you and keep protecting you.

last call

Ok everyone this weekend is the last call for our March of Dimes team shirts. Please let me know asap if you are wanting one!! All proceeds go to Team Brooklyn!

This shirt in green.
These are our team shirts for our March of Dimes walk on April. We want EVERYONE to come out and join us. No t-shirt purchase required! :) This is a great day and a fun family activity. They have breakfast and lunch provided, snacks, moon bounces, craft areas, inflatable basketball games, balloon guys. It is so much fun!!

If you are in St Louis, please, please come out and join us for an awesome day supporting all babies that they can one day be born healthy.

Oh and feel free to donate on the tab to the left and just leave me a comment if you want shirts. They are $12 each.

Thank you everyone for your support.

Thoughts

Ok, I know I have so much to get caught up on. Posting pic but instead I want to show you what our family is doing. As you all know March of Dimes is an orgainzation that is near and dear to our family. We are walking again on April 30th 9am at Forest Park in St Louis. It is always a ton of fun, walk, face painting, moon bounces, giveaways, free food etc. Please, please join our family. If you are in town this is a great family activity to take part in, the kids have a blast and forest park is beautiful. If you are not in town please feel free to donate, even $0.50 will help. You can donate by using the link on the left hand side of my blog or by purchasing a team shirt. I have two examples of what are shirts may look like.. we haven't decided just yet, will decided this week. Shrits will be $12 dollars and we will hopefully have onesies available as well.

The shirts will be a kelly green color and one option is


The est oval will have 2008, her year of birth

The other option is one that says
I (heart)
Broo
klyn

We'll let you know but PLEASE let me know if you are interested in shirts.

Thank you so much for your support for this important cause.

March of Dimes

(see banner to the left)

Hello everyone, it's that time again. March for Babies is gearing up again and will be in St Louis on April 30th. Our family is raising money to help fight for this wonderful cause. You all know my history with pregnancies and the joy we had with this last successful pregnancy and being able to carry Stella pretty much full term and come home with a beautiful healthy baby.
If anyone wants a wonderful family outing for a day and has a walk near them they can join our team and still walk in another state. There is also a 5k run for any of my running friends. If you want your registration fee ($15) to be credited to the team I'll have to email the form to be faxed in. We are having t-shirts made this year for our team. It looks like they'll be about $8 and will be very plain with Brooklyn's name in old script letters (looking like it's a t-shirt for the city of Brooklyn).


Please join our family, here in St Louis or where ever you are. If you are not able to join us in the walk I would be honored if you could give what you are able, be it $1 or $1000. We walk for hope, hope for our family, hope for others, hope for continued medical advances to save lives, we walk so one day, all babies will be born healthy.