We've Got (better) Video!

Valla has been working hard on her first sewing project
Grandpa Tom with Lauren and Natalie, they LOVE his visits.
Playing school
Monkey see....monkey do
Even if the words are upside down!

For Jason's birthday back in December, my Dad and Myra gave him a flip video recorder. We had been unhappy with our outdated camcorder, but just weren't sure the flip camera was going to be the best fit for us. We debated and ended up taking it back for a store credit. We looked around and researched what we should purchase. After a few months we decided on... the exact flip camera Gary had given us 5 months ago! We also got an underwater case and after just 48 hours, it's been declared a hit. Easy to use & easy to upload. Thank you Gary and Myra!

Lauren is in day 6 of her swimming refreshers. She's learning to float then roll over and get the step or side. Love this amazing program!!

Camp Mah Kah Wee

Click here to view these pictures larger

So I'm playing around with different ways to post photos to the Blog. Apparently Shutterfly has a cool slide show feature. These photos are from the Open House we went to yesterday of the Girl Scout camp Val will be staying at for 5 nights in July. Seeing the place got her VERY excited! I stayed at the same camp two times when I was a Brownie! I'm so excited for her!

Sew Little Patience

My mom, Mary, has the patience of a saint. I know this because she put up with my whining for two whole hours last night to help me produce this...

the dress, not the kid.
(LG was less than thrilled to model it for me)

Sewing is not my forte, but I do love the results.
Maybe I can learn patience from sewing?

I have so many happy memories of visiting my grandparents. I think our "exit plans" for life really suck. You either go too quickly or seem to hang around waiting while feeling forgotten. I try to make the time to go visit two people who have always been so supportive, caring and positive pieces of who I am. I often thank my girls for being patient with their forgetfulness or old fashioned ways while we visit, but am so happy they too enjoy the visits and know they cherish their time visiting them.

Lavonne Elizabeth & Natalie Elizabeth

Front swing

Look who's been bit by the bookworm?! Brought her book to breakfast :)

No need to help me Mom, I can serve myself...

Love, love, love seeing them voluntarily play together

First Click Clack Mafia Sister Sleep Together
I hope they have many many more :)

How did she get so big so fast?

Always a nut...

The sisters

Look out, she's got the power of the hose

Lauren is trying to figure out the English language.

I've been trying to teach L to replace her shrieking of "NO!" with a polite "No thank you." Yesterday she got closer with "No welcome, No welcome"

We've been dogsitting a male dog and L calls out to her "Good girl boy" She doesn't yet have a concept of what girl and boy are, just knows she hears "good" and "girl" together a lot.

We were watching a YouTube video of a chicken egg hatching. I asked her what was inside. She confidently replies, "Candy!"

Natalieisms-

"God is all about Easter."

"I'm dripping hot."

Jason and I were talking about franchises and V asked, "What is a franchise?" Natalie exclaims, "Valla, you KNOW what french fries are!"

I'm struggling with blogging...when I didn't know people were reading it, I had the freedom of being unjudged. Now I find myself hesitating to post photos or snipits of our lives. Is it cute enough, witty enough, blah blah blah. I blog to journal our lives. Wish I had the time and patience to tryout cute fonts and clever photo effects. I'm not sure what I'm doing, but I don't seem to have time for that.

Up Up and Away

This was our view this morning as we prepared to use our Christmas gift from Louise. Who knew sunrise is the only time to enjoy a hot air balloon ride in Orlando?! The FL sun heats up the air and produces unpredictable updrafts and downdrafts so the only time they fly is 0600! It's dew on the ground, not snow :)
The gigantic fan is used to fill the balloon. Jason got to help hold the balloon open.
Here's the basket on it's side. Cozy for 7 people huh!

Once the fan has filled the balloon with air, it's time for some fire and hot air.
Getting there...

The view above our heads. These dragon like flames were literally within 2 feet. The top of our heads were kept toasty warm.
Ready to go! My heart was beating a million miles a minute here.
The close proximity of the fire made me very nervous.
There are a few companies that fly and they all use the same weather info which dictates which field to fly from and to, so they end up all pretty much flying together. We were one of 11 balloons up there.
Once we were up, it was amazingly calm and serene, even as we traveled over busy I4.


Mickey Mouse's house. Click to see the Contemporary on the right, Space Mountain in the middle and Cinderella's castle on the left.


We flew for just about 45 minutes from Kissimmee to Fantasy of Flight.
Our reflection in a pond below.
Gooooooo Gators!
We could hear the cows mooing.
The pilot had us just about skimming this swamp.
Our sister balloon, ours looked just like this.

Someone had some time on their hands...not sure if this is just for the benefit of the overhead passerbyers, but impressive none the less!
Coming in for a landing. All 11 balloons landed in the same field and it was a group effort to get all balloons down safely. We had a fairly hard landing and the basket almost tipped which is apparently typical.

Celebratory Mimosa!It was an overall wonderful experience and I would highly recommend it it to anyone interested. Thank you Louise for a memorable Christmas gift!