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We are leaving on the boat below for a very long vacation! Oop! I am sorry- that picture was a little small. Maybe this one is better for you to see.....
That's right we are taking another Disney Cruise, but this one is twice as long! We look forward to all the great service and family friendly shows that we will participate in. Some of the things we will be doing are swimming with the Stingrays, snorkling, kayaking in Aruba and eating ALOT! We will be going through the Panama Canal and enjoying beaches like this one:
Don't miss us too much :o)!! Updates will follow!

The "girls" all got their nails done today so now we are ready to go....

Once in a lifetime opportunity

Today I met up my friend Kim and her kids at Sea World. I really wanted to spend time with her, but with an upcoming trip I was kind of stressed out about taking a "day off" for play. Well, I am so glad I did take a day off!!!! Kim's neice's brother-in-law Keith (have I lost you yet?) is a trainer at Sea World. He offered to take us behind the scenes and let us do things that are not open to just anyone. When I say "behind the scenes" I mean there were no safety fences- the animals are right there with you! We were able to hand feed the Manatees carrots, apples and biscuits. The manatees swam right up to us and we had to put the food into their mouths! The manatees are very gentle and just kept their head out of the water so we could pet them. They feel like a rough sand paper and their whiskers are prickly! Trevor says the manatees are his favorite now! I can understand why after being able to spend some "personal" time with them.

After we spent time with the Manatees Keith took us to another area of the park where they hold different mammals for training, because they are sick, or because they have been recently rescued. We saw a sea lion who is going to have surgery tomorrow because he has a spinal injury, we were entertained by a two month old sea lion who was full of energy and we got to see him be bottle fed, we got upclose to three adult dolphins and one four week old dolphin, and we got to see the lab where they test the mammals blood, urine, infections, etc.

Keith really educated us on the mammals! He is also one of the guys who gets in the water and gets thrown in the air by Shamu. He said it kills his ears because the whale swims so fast his ears do not have time to equalize, but he says the pain is all worth it!

Thanks Kim and Keith for letting me and three of my kids be part of this once in a lifetime opportunity! I say three because Mackenzie went to Wild Rivers with a friend today- while she had a good time she is sad to have missed out on this opportunity! I do not have any pictures because he asked that they all be kept for personal use since this was an "employees only" zone. Which I guess is good because I forgot my camera!

A Very Happy Birthday to Sir Ryan and Sir Trevor!

Trevor has been asking to go to Medieval Times to see the knights joust for awhile now so we decided to go for Ryan and Trevor's family birthday. We started the evening being assigned to the blue knight and getting a group photo: Then we got a picture of all the cousins with Grandpa Jones
We had great seats at the end of the ring in the second and third rows. The kids loved eating with their hands! The dinner included a tomatoe bisque, half roasted chicken, rib, potatoe, garlic bread and an apple pastry. Meredith loved the servers because she said they looked like princesses!

Trevor was mesmerized by all the excitement. The jousting, sword fighting, horse games, etc. He loved it all- worth every penny!!
Here is our blue knight. He won the first round and threw Trevor the first red carnation of the night! Trevor thought he was so important!! I must say though that the knight had a secret crush on my niece Rachel- he made sure she got a flower from him later in the evening! Shout out to Rachel and her knight in shining (or blue) armor!!!!
At the end of the evening Trevor got to open some presents. Here is one of the favorites:

It is great to be 38 on 8/8/08!

Happy 38th Birthday Ryan!

We think it is pretty cool that Ryan was 38 on 8/8/08!Make a wish!
Here is the yummy "Sweetheart Trifle" that I made. It is a chocolate and peanut butter trifle which is a combination everyone in our family just loves :o)! It was the first time for me to make it and it was very decadent- a glass of milk is required!

Trevor's bday part 2

Trevor and a few of his friends went and saw "Space Chimps" for his birthday. We had to keep the party small so he was sad to leave some friends out, but he had a great time catching up with his school buddies that he has not seen during the summer! Here's the gang:
The theater manager took us behind the scenes (upstairs) to see all the reels of film and how they change it for each theater. Trevor even got to start the reel for the movie "Get Smart"! They boys were all in a trance (sp??) watching the reels move and the movie project onto the screen. In 2010 the theater will go digital and the reels of film will no longer be needed.
The theater reserved seats for us!

Basketball or tennis anyone?

Sun + Sweat + Asphalt + Basketball + Hanging out with a bunch of boys= An extremely dirty, happy little boy!

Trevor attended basketball camp last week. I was so impressed by all the coaches and there interaction with the kids. They were the "coolest" coaches ever! Trevor loved every minute of it!

Yes, he made the basket on his first attempt! He did really good- taking after his Dad.

Playing land and sea- a favorite. He made it to the top three (the other two boys were in middle school)!

Trevor and Coach Steve

I cannot leave the girls out.....they decided to take tennis from my old tennis coach this summer and discovered a sport that they really enjoy! We are really blessed to live in a community with lots of tennis courts! The girls did really well and looked even better :o)!

Mackenzie practicing her volley.
Madalyn's action shot!

Someones missing something

Yesterday a great friend gave us passes and a private cabana to here: We had tons of fun on the rides and lazy river. Mackenzie took lots of these: (self portraits)
But most important is that this happened while eating a chip:
Ahoy matey! Looks like he is ready for Pirate Night on the Disney Cruise in a few weeks!