Saturday Night Drills

Yesterday, Ashton spent a lot of time in the garage since he couldn't go outside in the rain. He asked Alex to come outside with him. He said he wanted to work on his hockey skills. It was cute!

Alex took this video and I couldn't help but share it. It amazes me that he is so good on skates and he's only SIX!

Recital Video

Here is a video Alex took of Maddie's recital from Friday night. She did a great job and we're very proud of her!!!

Maddie's 1st Recital

Maddie had her first gymnastics recital tonight. She has been working on the routine for several months now and couldn't wait to wear the outfit with a grass skirt as she likes to call it. After dinner, we rolled her hair and then began the process of putting it up and added the twenty something bobby pins and half a can of hair spray! She was loving every minute of it though. She even got to put a TAD BIT of make up on. Daddy's wasn't very happy about that, but he made an exception! Here is the finally product from the side. I wasn't sure how well it would hold up but it did!
The girls had a couple of rough rehearsals but managed to do a great job tonight! Maddie didn't miss a single thing that I noticed. Alex and I were both VERY proud of her. That is a lot of people to get up in front of at four years old! Heck, I can't do it now and I'm way over four years old!

After the show, we went for ice cream. Here are a few pictures of us afterwards with the flowers that Ashton gave her. It was so cute! He just kept telling her what a good job she'd done and how proud of her he was. Aaaahhhhh!!!!! He is such a good big brother!

This is Casey (aka KK), Dax and Ashton right before the show.

I couldn't resist this one. I love Addison's pose! Normally she will not look at the camera at all but off in any other directions. Tonight, she looked at me but added the pose instead! Its great!!!!

One thing I really like about playing baseball in Mt Juliet instead of Lebanon is that they play in the spring and fall and not the heat of the summer. His season ended just a couple of weeks ago and Tuesday night they had their team party at the coach's house. It was a little cookout and pool party and the kids had a great time! The boys all played around with water guns and toys.

Ashton even decided that he wanted to jump off the diving board!

And Maddie found a friend in the assistant coach's daughter.

Emma was very sweet to Maddie and seemed to enjoy getting to play with a girl instead of her brother!

After a little swimming and some food, the boys all got their trophies and then finished out the night with a game of kick ball.

We are looking forward to the break from ball but will be ready to start back come this fall.

Favorites

On our way home on Saturday, Alex and I talked to the kids about our trip and what they enjoyed. I can't remember what all they listed, so I asked the kids again what their favorite parts of our trip were and now I'm going to share their responses.

Ashton said:

He first liked spending time with me and Daddy.

His favorite rides were the roller coasters, especially the one with the broken track (aka Big Thunder Moutain).

He also liked that he got to play with his friends.

Maddie said:

She said that she liked getting her picture made with the characters.

She said her favorite ride was the one with the firework (Soarin). Ashton immediately said, "Maddie, that is the one I threw up on!!"

She also liked the race car ride. (That is extremely funny to me seeing as she cried and talked about how much she didn't enjoy that. LOL)

She was also glad she got to go swimming.

Day of relaxing

Our last day in Florida we spent playing in the pool. Ashton and Maddie really liked the pools at the resort where we were staying. It was excellent for kids with the sloped floor and sprinklers. As you can tell my two kiddos enjoyed the sprinkers!!

After an entire day of playing in the water and laying beside the pool, we met up with the Reeds for dinner at a brazillian steakhouse. It was great food and even better company!

These are a couple of pictures Alex and I got with Maddie after dinner. Ashton was too busy playing with Kaleb for pictures!

She knows who's girl to be when she needs to!

I love my family!!!

Magic Kingdom

We definitely saved the best park for last! Magic Kingdom!!!! We even got lucky and as we were walking in a parade was starting. It couldn't have been better timing and a great way to start off the day.

As soon as the parade was over, we headed for one of the little areas where there were several rides for the kids. One the way, I snapped this picture of Maddie next to the Minnie and Mickey shrubs. I'm not a big character clothing person, but I couldn't take Maddie without a Minnie Mouse shirt. I figure if she has to wear something with a character on it, it might as well be cute! Besides, this is simple and I can handle that. However, she probably won't wear it any other time (besides character day at school). :-)

The kids had probably the best time, as far as parks go, at Magic Kingdom. There were more rides aimed at their age group. I took almost 700 pictures on this trip and can't help but share some of them.

I couldn't take pictures on every ride, but tried to get as many as we could.

We decided that since we wanted to stay at the park for the final parade of the day and the fireworks show, we would do dinner there as well. Erik picked out a two star restaurant that he thought we might like and we made our way over. We were all hungry but it was so hot that you didn't want to eat too much. Alex and I shared a meal and it was great! We almost didn't want to leave because sitting in the air conditioning was so refreshing but we were off and running again in no time! However, while we waited on our food to come, Katrina, the kids and I went to visit the Princesses.

Ashton and Maddie didn't know who they all were, but the girls did a great job talking to them and telling them a little about who they were. It was cute!

After a few more rides, we headed toward the front of the park to find our spot for the parade. Katrina and I had a "bumpy" ride getting there but we managed to find a fairly good spot. We parked it and waited on the festivities to begin.

The castle light up

This was in the streets just before the parade started. As you can tell from looking at them, they are hot and worn out!!!

The parade was great and the kids loved it. I am not sure why I didn't get a picture of Maddie but here is a shot of Ashton.

After the parade, we decided to head on out and catch the fireworks from the parking lot. We were all getting pretty tired and crowds and tired kids aren't always the best combination!