The Week of the Family

Well, today was the start of The Week of the Family in Tampa Bay. The local members of the Church of Jesus Christ of Latter-day Saints have been encouraged by the Regional Authorities to participate as much as possible. Check out the website to see all of the activities they are sponsoring this week. They're even having discounted movie tickets, dinners and kids events.

Today, they had the kick-off at the Museum of Science and Industry (MOSI) in Tampa. My Dad was in charge of the the Church's volunteers and being a liason with the organizers. Most of my family volunteered, while Katie, my sister Bekah, and myself went to enjoy the free admission at the Museum.

Of course, as most things go now-a-days, it was all about making Kaitlyn happy. We started off meandering around the main complex and quickly realized it was not going to be holding Katie's attention. So, off to "Kids In Charge" we went. There is a huge building souly dedicated to kids exploring and learning. A much better fit for a toddler.

The first thing that hooked Kaitlyn was an "exhibit" sponsored by Publix. There was an orange grove, a farm, a deli and a grocery store filled with fake foods and conveyer belts.

Kaitlyn really liked picking the "balls" and taking them to the farm. She loves to have a job.

Then we found that there was an "Astronaut Training Program" we could participate in. Katie was too small to do most of the activities (which were all some kind of bounce house/obstacle course/velcro wall. The smallest bounce house was just her size and it contained a slide.

Bekah tried out the last challenge, which was a huge slide housed in the farthest corner of "Kids in Charge".

She burned her heels on the canvas on her way down. Ouchie!

Bekah is such a good Aunt. She followed Katie all around, wherever and whenever she wanted to go. She also crawled in and out of these tunnels with her. Bless her. There is no way (even if Mommy wasn't 8 months pregnant) that I would have been that patient.

Katie was also really drawn to this light table with translucent colored shapes. You could stack them up and see different colors... kind of like an open ended kalidescope.

On our way out to the Lowry Park Petting Zoo, we passed by a live band that was rockin' away in the 88 degree heat. They didn't let a little heat and sweat stop 'em!

When I think petting zoo, I think sheep, goat, bunny.... definitely not snake.

We didn't get to see what else they had because Katie dumped her snack in the dirt (on accident) and then decided to start running around the ampi-theater. Then, she started to have a fit when we tried to corral her. It was definitely nap time.

So, bye- bye MOSI. Thanks for the fun!

Trunk or Treat Till You Drop...

from heat exhaustion!

We here in Central Florida suffered a 90 degree day on Halloween this year. I remember many a Halloween from my childhood with my costume sticking to me. Luckily, Kaitlyn is still trying to grasp the concept, so we only hit the Trunk or Treat at our church and skipped the actual Trick or Treating that evening.

Kaitlyn was Dora the Explorer this year, while her Daddy was Swiper! I was a witch who was too hot to even wear her hat. Needless to say, bright Florida sunshine and a parking lot do not make for a lovely comfortable combination.

Besides the heat, our building's wards put on a pretty good event: Hot dogs, chips, popcorn, a cake walk, costume contest, pumpkin contest, games and Trunk or Treating.
The glistening evidence is below:

Katie was most concerned with continually checking up on her haul.

Swiper from behind. I have to say, I nailed the design of that tail, even if I couldn't whip out some gloves.

This was our game... you had to throw the ghosts back into the haunted house. After Katie was done making the rounds, she was the most avid participant. She kept climbing in the back of the car to get the ghosts and tossing them out so that they were rolling all over the parking lot.

Here's Katie checking out all of our melted Kit Kats. Poor candy.

We took Chloe too. Bad idea. It was so hot she was sweltering. Not to mention, she loves people and just wanted to jump up and lick everyone to death. Or once we finally tied her leash to the car, she would whimper anytime she wanted to follow someone who walked away. She is such a drama queen.

Pumpkin!

Kaitlyn officially loves, "Pumpkin!"s. She shouts this phrase anytime she sees them and she counts the 2 we have on our porch every time we walk past.

Since we live in hot and humid Florida, we carved our "Pumpkin!" today in hopes that it will survive until Halloween. Here are the before and afters:

Not too horrible for having not done this in a decade.
Also, this was Kaitlyn's "Pumpkin!" carving outfit, a John Deer t-shirt and a tutu... classic. (She had recently woken up from a nap. Hence the glare full of contempt.)

Images for a Cure

Recently, a family friend was diagnosed with Breast Cancer. So, when some friends of hers organized an event in honor of those who have been diagnosed with this disease... we were totally up for it!

A talented local photographer, Crystal Balazik, and make-up artist, Jodi Anderson, decided to participate with the program "Images for a Cure" and set a date to raise some moola! Sunday, October 25th was dedicated to raising funds for Breast Cancer Research. Crystal and Jodi offered their services for an exceedingly small fee that was donated to the program.

So, Kaitlyn and I (as well as all of my immediate female family) showed up to get our faces painted and our pictures took!

Kaitlyn was very happy to learn that people had brought their puppies. She spent her time chasing them around while Mommy had her make-up done.

My sister Rebekah is the fashionista in the family and was totally happy to be pampered with professional make-up and photographs.

Kaitlyn terrorizing Buddy.

Then, out we went for some Mommy-Daughter photos!











(There will be more pictures to post soon.
We took some more shots with my Mom and sisters!)

After all of the picture taking, we'd worked up an appetite and descended upon all of the yummy refreshments generously made and donated by participants of the event!

After all was said and done, we had such a good time raising money for this exceptional cause and can't wait to participate again next year! Thanks Crystal and Jodi!

A Spontaneous Weekend Getaway!

This past weekend, my parents were going to be camping at Fort Wilderness in Orlando. Jake and I were planning on taking a trip to the Temple and dropping Kaitlyn off with them while we went to a session. Well, things didn't go quite as planned because Friday morning, Jake got an itch to extend our time in Orlando.

So, Jake visited priceline.com and got a really good deal on hotel across the street from Downtown Disney and we spent Saturday toting Kaitlyn around Fort Wilderness and Disney Village.

We started our morning by visiting what used to be the Petting Zoo at Fort Wilderness. However, there are no more sheep, goats and/or other animals... just ponies.

We got there just before opening and Kaitlyn spent a good 10 minutes chasing the ponies around the outer fence.

Once the "Ranch" opened, we followed everyone inside and got in line to ride a pony; but you know how 2 year olds are, there was a tantrum that resulted in no pony ride. On the way out she made sure to give a nearby pony a big hug.

Then, even though it was only 10:30a, we were already sweating! So, we made a b-line for the pool! They had recently renovated it and added a "big kid" slide and a child play area. Kaitlyn liked the kiddie pool the best. She kept jumping in and stomping around in it.

She also liked to crawl around on her hands in the water.

Here is Kaitlyn sliding down the kiddie slide all by herself!

Jacob even snuck her down the big kid slide once before the Lifeguard told him only 1 person was allowed down at a time. This girl is a total adrenaline junkie!

Before we left to go back to our room for a nap, we had a little ice cream snack. Kaitlyn has been obsessed with, "Mouse!" ever since her Nana took her to the Magic Kingdom last Labor Day weekend. She loves everything "Mouse!" She was very excited to eat some "Mouse!"

When we made our way back to the hotel, Kaitlyn was in desperate need of a nap. She had gotten 3 hours less sleep than normal the previous night. She ended up taking a 4 hour nap. That allowed Mommy to relax, shower and take a nap of her own. While Daddy watched the USF vs. FSU game with frustration and ended up taking his own nap before the game even ended.

Once everyone was awake and ready to go, we walked over to Downtown Disney to get some dinner. We lucked out at the Rain Forest Cafe' (we had tried to make reservations but they were totally booked) and we were seated within 25 minutes of our arrival. Kaitlyn liked the animals, but didn't like the simulated thunderstorms.

After dinner, we took a walk through "Pooh Corner" to get to the Merry-Go-Round. Kaitlyn loves this over-sized Dalmation. The photo on the top is from this weekend. The photo on the bottom is from last November. She's gotten so big!

After our visit with Lucky, Daddy and Katie went for a ride! Kaitlyn loves Merry-Go-Rounds!

Then, after some more walking around, we made a pit stop at Ghiradelli's for ice cream! Kaitlyn LOVES ice cream! She couldn't shovel it in fast enough.

After our sweet tooths had been satisfied, we headed back to the hotel just in time to miss out being soaked by the huge storm that made its way through the area.