Category Archives: Family

Happy Birthday Jennifer

Posted on by
Reply

Today is Jennifer’s birthday and we spent it running around getting her presents and getting a cake. We started off the morning picking up a new bicycle from Target. Abby and Emily helped me pick it out. Abby said we needed to get a red one since that was Mom’s favorite color. We also got a baby seat for the back of the bike for Isabelle. We picked up a cake and some flowers and then presented all of what we found to Jennifer when she came home from shopping with Isabelle.

Later that evening Jennifer and I went out to Ruth’s Chris Steakhouse and then went to see a movie. Jennifer got a free desert since it was her birthday. She chose a banana cream pie, which was very good.

Today’s picture if from when we went putt-putt golf on our recent Disney vacation.

Home Sweet Home

Posted on by
Reply

We made it back from camping in one piece. The last day was spent mostly at Typhoon Lagoon, but Isabelle kept getting too cold, so she didn’t spend much time in the water. We packed up the camper yesterday morning and headed home. Once we get home, we have to set the camper back up in order to let it air out and so that we can wash all the sheets. That took us all day, but we packed everything up once again and got it ready for our next trip.

Today has been spent just hanging around the house and recovering. There’s a lot of laundry and clean-up that has to be done.

The picture it today’s entry is from a visitor to our camp. Near dinner, we would usually get a bird or two to show up. They must eat well at Disney.

End Of School Camping 2007, Day 4

Posted on by
Reply

We had some really good Teriyaki Chicken Kabobs on the grill last night and then we headed over to watch Finding Nemo on the outside movie screen. We figured since Hercules was rained out the night before, we should at least try and see a movie. The girls made it most of the way through and said they were starting to get tired. We packed it up, but it was almost 10:00 so we headed over to the beach and watched the first few minutes of the fireworks that were being shot over at Magic Kingdom. Exhausted, the girls all passed out right when we got back to camp.You would thing they would sleep in, but no. Isabelle was back up at 7:00 and when she’s up, everyone’s up. We had some French Toast for breakfast and we’ve been hanging around camp this morning. Right now the girls are taking a nap. Maybe it’s still residual tiredness from the previous night.

End Of School Camping 2007, Day 3

Posted on by
Reply

The day started with a syrup dilemma. We were going to fix French Toast and the camp site, but we forgot the syrup. This lead to a change of plan and we headed over to the Trail’s End restaurant that’s on site for a breakfast buffet. I say it every time we come here: way over priced.

We didn’t feel like going to one of the water parks today so we headed out on the bus to one of the putt-putt courses, Fantasia Gardens. The only way to get there was to go to the Swan Hotel and we leaned a valuable lesson. When going from resort to resort, just get on the first bus you see and then catch a connecting bus to you destination. The directions we had said we had to go to Downtown Disney. When we pulled into Typhoon Lagoon for the second time we figured out what we did wrong.

On the way back from putt-putt, Isabelle fell asleep and now we are just hanging around camp waiting for her to wake up.

End Of School Camping 2007, Day 2

Posted on by
Reply

After dinner we headed over to the campfire sing-a-long to eat some s’mores and watch Hercules on an outside movie screen. Unfortunately right as the movie was going to start, it started to rain. We hopped into the golf cart we had rented and headed back to camp as quickly as we could as the sky opened up on us. It’s going to end up being an early night since we are about to head to bed.

.

.

.

End Of School Camping 2007, Day 2

Posted on by
Reply

Abby and I gave up on Isabelle falling asleep and headed back to Typhoon Lagoon on our own and I think we did a lot more heading out by ourselves. We stood in the wave pool and jumped into the giant tidal wave that would periodically get whooshed out. Abby and I would hold onto each other and try to jump over the wave and would just end up getting water up our noses. We also rode two other rides we hadn’t ridden before: a tube ride and a water slide.

We kept going until it was almost closing time on the park and then we headed back to camp for hamburgers on the grill.

End Of School Camping 2007, Day 2

Posted on by
Reply

The morning started at 6:50 a.m when the kids started to stir. Overnight rain started to fall and we could hear it pelting the thin roof of the camper. We got up and started cooking eggs & bacon on the outside stove.

Afterward, we headed off for the other water park, Typhoon Lagoon. The campground is considered a resort and we were able to get in 15 minutes early and get a prime spot for our “home base”. We were also able to ride the family raft ride a few times with no line. Jennifer doesn’t like the ride because they make you work for your fun. You have to roll a giant inner tube up some stairs before you can start you ride. Isabelle started to get chilly so we decided to go back to the camp for some lunch.

Back at camp we had some sandwiches and now we are laying in the camper waiting for Isabelle to take a nap.

End Of School Camping 2007, Day 1

Posted on by
Reply

It’s been awhile since I’ve written on Frenchville and I apologize. Work has been super busy (as it usually is) and I just haven’t had the chance to write. I will try to change that habit moving forward.

Today was the first day of Summer vacation. Abby successfully navigated kindergarten and will be moving on to the 1st grade. To celebrate the end of the school year, I took a week off from work starting today and we pulled out the pop-up camper and headed to Disney for four days of camping.

This was the second time we took the new camper out. Our inaugural camping trip was three weeks ago on a long weekend. We wanted to take baby steps and it paid off. We had the camper fully put up with beds made and awning out in just under an hour. It took us twice as long last time. Jennifer has also won the job for pulling the camper in. She picked up the camper last night and pulled it into our driveway unassisted; then today, she pulled it into the camping slip in one try (I can’t say the same when I tried pulling in a couple weeks ago).

After setting up camp we headed out for a few hours at Blizzard Beach, one of Disney’s two water parks. When we were here a couple of weeks ago, we decided to get season passes for the water parks. The plan was to come camping several times over the summer and visit the water parks.

Last week I was at the book store and I picked up the book Campfire Cooking. It looked like a pretty cool cookbook with chapters entitled “On a Stick” and “Wrapped in Foil”. Tonight’s dinner came from the chapter “In a Skillet” and was called “Cowboy Casserole”. It wasn’t too bad. It consisted of ground beef, bacon, and beans. You placed biscuits on top and shut the lid. When it was done you remove the biscuits and ladle the concoction on top. Our charcoals didn’t seem to be very hot and the biscuits didn’t get all the way done, but it was still good.

Right now we are trying to get the girls to settle down and go to bed. In the distance you can hear the fireworks going off from either Epcot or Magic Kingdom. I will report more tomorrow on our adventures.

Easter 2007

Posted on by
Reply

This year Jennifer’s parent drove over from Texas to visit for Easter. They drove because Jennifer bought a photography set from someone over the Internet who lives in San Antonio. The lady didn’t want to ship it so Jennifer convinced her brother to pick it up and her parents then carted here. Tomorrow they are heading back and they are taking our old crib and a few other baby items to Jennifer’s sister, Christina.

On Friday, Jennifer had her first three customers for her new business. She’s currently giving free sitting fees from some of her friends from church and they took her up on her offer. She was also shooting some of them for a candidate for her first advertisement which is going into a local kids circular.

On Saturday, we did the same thing we’ve done for the four years we’ve been here in Florida: we went to the church’s Easter Egg Hunt. This year Jennifer had a hand in setting it up so she had to leave early that morning while her parents and I made our lunches for the picnic. The event went off without a hitch. This was the first year Isabelle was old enough to hunt for eggs and she had no trouble figuring out what needed to be done. Emily got to ride a horse, so she was quite thrilled with everything.

The next morning the Easter Bunny arrived and brought the girls each an Easter Basket filled with candy and toys. They were so taken by the baskets, they didn’t notice all the eggs that the Easter Bunny had hidden around the Living Room. They finally caught on and went around the room finding the eggs. However, they did a pretty bad job. We were finding them all day long.

Take Me Out to the Camp Ground

Posted on by
Reply

Well, I was pissed a few weeks ago when we got a ton of money back from the government for our taxes. You’re probably re-reading the last sentence. Yes, I’m pissed. I don’t want my money at the end of the year. I want it in my pay check every week. I have my W4 set to the maximum number of deductions, but EA continues to take too much out of my check and gives it to the government as a interest free loan. The best tax year would be when you don’t owe anything and you don’t get anything back (in my opinion).

Anyway, since the money was burning a hole in our bank account, we decided to do something with it: we bought a pop-up camper. We’ve wanted one for some time. Just the thought of being able to go away for the weekend and drive it up and boom, we are camping is quite appealing. Jennifer found a couple on craigslist and we out and looked at them this weekend. We found one that was barely used and we bought it.

We were under the mistaken idea that we were going to be able to store it in the garage. We spend an hour Saturday night trying to roll it up the driveway just to find out that it doesn’t fit by one inch. We had to shut the garage about half way down. Jennifer is going to start looking into places where we can store it this week.

Today I took my annual trip to see the Astros play a Spring Training game in Kissimmee. The difference this year: I took Emily along. She had a great time. We bought her a kid’s Spring Training shirt and a hat with a pink Astros star. We sat right in front of the bull pin where the pitchers warm up. When Roy Oswalt, the lead off pitcher was done warming up, the catcher tossed Emily the ball. Of course, when we got home the ball became a chew toy for Austin, which upset Emily quite a bit. She wanted me to get a new one and I told her that wasn’t possible. Oh well, we had a good time and I’m looking forward to taking her again next year.