Last Day of School -- Bye Bye 6th Grade!

Maddy finished 6th grade about a week ago!

She was so excited about the end of school field day

and then a short final day!

Yippee -- School's Out for Summer!

Last day as a 6th grader!

She had a great year as a 6th grader!

Some subjects were hard -- math, science, social studies!

First day of 6th Grade!

She worked hard at school and with our favorite 

tutor every week and made great progress!

She had a super teacher and hates to leave her behind.

I think every single year, she wishes her teacher

would move along with her to the next grade!

Last Day of 6th Grade

Trying not to forget everything she learned during 

the year, we got a great little workbook with

daily worksheets!

She is thrilled!! Ha!!

Really, she doesn't mind and even though 

I told her she only had to do one page a day, she's trying to

zoom ahead and finish 2 or 3 days at a time!  

We are looking forward to a really fun summer!

The Move!

Hello Friends!

Hope you all had a wonderful Memorial Day weekend!

Remember when I told you my son and his family would be moving

to our city?  Yes?

It happened!

About a week and a half ago, 

they made the move!

We were lucky enough to keep the kiddos for

them overnight and the next day so they could orchestrate the move and

begin the unpacking process!

We had so much fun with the kiddos!

Jane, Walt and Maddy headed to the donut shop

and playground with Poppa (a/k/a Mr. Tennis)

for a while on Saturday morning!

Walt is still talking about it!

I stayed home with little Harry who is 9 months old now and perfecting the army crawl!

Oh my -- he is little Mr. Adorable!

And yes, that is a dog toy -- but it was Harry's favorite toy 

and was brand new -- Muffy had not touched it yet!

Janie on the caterpillar at the zoo

Later, we all went to the zoo though I didn't get many photos.

Not quite used to wrangling 3 kiddos and a camera!

We are so happy to have them close by!

Here's  a photo after moving day that I borrowed from FB of 

Philip and Catherine with the new house!

And a lovely welcome gift from the prior owners!

How thoughtful was that!

Their new home is just perfect for them --

actually Maddy wants to move in too! 

Celebratory treats (strawberries and chocolate and Prosecco - yum!)

Loads more fun with the littles to come I'm sure!

One Last Disney Post!

Am I crazy?

I'm already thinking about another trip to Disney!

On our last full day, Maddy and I left the guys sleeping

and headed out early!

Perfect plan!

Even though we were in line 10 minutes after the line started for Elsa and Anna,
 there was a 

wait of 2+ hours!  We'll catch them next time!
There were

plenty of rides to go on and people to see!

The beautiful Merida had a long line

even though it's been years since Brave came out!

She was so pretty and sweet with that

gorgeous hair!

We were able to jump on the teacups (my fave),

Dumbo, the Goofy Rollercoaster, Philharmagic

and It's a Small World without any waits at all.

Yes, that song was with me all day and is now running through my mind again!

Our favorite characters this visit

ended up being Cinderella's stepmother

and her stepsisters!

Oh my word -- they were a hoot!

A toddler was crying in line and

they yelled at the kid (loudly and not in the nicest voice) --

 "STOP CRYING!!"

And yes, he did stop crying!

It was really one of the best trips ever

and we all hated to see it come to an end!

My silly Disney-loving girl

wore her sweet ears all the way home on the plane!

See you next time Mickey!

S'mores Anyone?

Lately Miss Maddy 

has been making s'mores for an after-school snack!

That is, when those small Hershey bars bought just for that purpose are

still around.  

Hershey bars go great with coffee 

in the morning, you know! 

This was a super fun idea and event

we attended at our Disney hotel  -

(do you think I will ever finish the Disney posts??)

S'mores on the Beach!

Mama and little ducklings wanted to be part of the festivities too!

And then, 

we headed back to the parks!

It was time for some fireworks! 

What a Character(s)!

Back to the Disney wrap-up!

Oh yes, there is  a bit more! :)

On to Magic Kingdom!

We love this place

and one of our favorite things to do

is have brunch at the Crystal Palace! 

Sounds glamorous, doesn't it??

If you call eating with Tigger, Pooh, Piglet and Eeyore glamorous,

you are right!

This place has a great location right across from the castle.

One of the nicest things about it is that the food is plentiful and

yummy and, even more important,

you never feel rushed and have plenty

of time to visit the characters!

We've done other character meals over the years,

but this one is really the best!

Honestly, I don't know who likes Tigger and Pooh more,

Maddy or Mr. Tennis!!

Happy Monday -- Mother's Day Recap!

Hello Friends!

I hope you all had a wonderful Mother's Day!
Even with very stormy weather, it was a fun
day and I felt so loved!

Five years ago on Mother's Day!

Mother's Day is a little bittersweet 

without  my own Mom.  

I think of her and miss her every single day.

Cool ice sculpture

Mr. Tennis, Maddy, Connor and I went

out for a little brunch!

A balloon Olaf! 

Oh my -- I had a most delicious Cranberry Mimosa.

Cranberry juice plus Champagne -- perfect combination!

Such a healthy option, right! :)

Omelets and Belgian waffles,

bacon and pastries too!

Yum!

Celebrating again next weekend with

Philip and Catherine and the littles!

Love to spread out a holiday, don't you!

Maddy and I 

went to the zoo later as the weather seemed to 

calm down.

Isn't she adorable in her Oswald  hat!

If you didn't know, Oswald is Mickey's rabbit brother!

Love that she wore the hat throughout the zoo!

Ooooh -- our bad weather returned in the evening, and

we found ourselves in the basement bathroom 

during tornado warnings!  Scary!

Yikes -- luckily, we only had severe thunderstorms

and heavy rain here.

Praying for all those who lost

their homes and sustained damage!

It's A Jungle Out There!

Animal Kingdom-- it's  a jungle!

Guess who we saw on the way in . . .

the wisest mandrill ever -- Rafikii!!

When we've visited Animal Kingdom

other years, the place has been a zoo and 

super crowded!

My planning evidently paid off as it wasn't so crowded 

and,

 in fact, we were the first in line to see a couple of our

favorite characters!  

We saw Dug and Russell (remember them from the movie Up?)

And, honestly, I don't know who was more thrilled to

see Pocahontas . . . Maddy or Connor? :)

Oh my word, 

she was stunningly beautiful!

Connor may or may not have asked for her number!

Oh yes, rides -- we did go on a few rides too!

The safari ride was wonderful -- elephants

and giraffes were so close to our jeep!

The Kali River Rapids is a fun ride -- 

someone in our group took the brunt of the water -- totally by accident 

as there is no way to predict who will get soaked!

Thanks Connor -- 

glad it was you and not me!  :)

Mr. Tennis, Connor and Maddy opted to search for the Yeti and ride

Expedition Everest!

Yes, I chickened out of that one and based on the

 screams I heard, I'm so glad I did!

Connor was such a good sport

getting in character photos with Maddy!

What a blast!

Hooray for Hollywood a/k/a Disney Part 2

Before we left home, 

I organized our trip by Disney park

and had the new fastpass+ stuff all ready 

to go.  As long as I had

secured rides on some scary, fast rollercoasters,

everyone was agreeable with my planning!

I told them what time and what we were doing

and everyone seemed happy -- go figure!

We headed to Hollywood Studios on our 

first full day!

It was the first of many humid days with a bit of

rain -- my hair resembled Monica's from the Friend's

episode when her hair got really, really big (remember that one?), 

so I am calling the trip 

"The Frizzy Hair/Hat Trip of 2014."

We saw lots of fun characters -- always a blast

went on Tower of Terror (help me)

Aerosmith Rock'n Roller Coaster

and Star Tours!

Maddy and Connor (yes, he was in Orlando too) on a Star Wars rocket!

All the rides were really fun (and a little scary) and with the

fastpasses, we walked right by the people

waiting in line for 2 hours (or more)!

It was a fabulous first morning at the park!

We headed back to the hotel and dropped Mr. Tennis and Connor off for naps 

while we headed to Epcot and Magic Kingdom.  

No time for napping for Maddy and me!