Vacation Time!

Finally! The computer problem has been resolved (they sent us a new one-yeah!) and I can finally post about our wonderful vacation a few weeks ago. We were gone for 2 weeks! The longest vacation we ever have had, and we had so much fun! We started off in Orlando and stayed at the Gaylord Palms, which was fabulous! First day in Orlando, we hit Universal Studios and Islands of Adventure. It was quite a task to get tickets to this place but after getting scammed and someone have mercy on us, we got to go in!

Let me just say that this place is right up Paxton's alley! It is all about bigger, faster and scarier! Tons of roller coasters, some that he wasn't quite tall enough to ride, and tons of adventure! He loved the Jurassic Park T-Rex ride, Men In Black ride, Spider Man ride, Jaws, I could go on and on! Lorelei did love the E.T. ride because E.T. said her name during the ride!

It was hotter than hot but they had a nice child swap area in each ride where one of us could sit with Lorelei and wait and then ride it again with Paxton when the other parent got off, cool deal! It wasn't Disney or anything but we had a great time. Josh and I really enjoyed riding some of the mega roller coasters and of course the Harry Potter world was very impressive. The ride inside Hogwarts castle made me quite nauseas but it was still pretty cool. So here are the pictures from day 1 and day 5 of our trip to Universal and Islands of Adventure. Many more vacations pictures to come!

You can see their hot little faces and we had only been in the park 30 minutes at this point!

Superheros Everywhere!

Lorelei was a GREAT sport hanging out and waiting for the majority of the rides that she wasn't tall enough for yet!

This guy was uber excited to be here!

I am melting!

The Pteredon Flyers, a great ride which only allowed children between 36-52 inches to ride with a parent. If you were taller and not riding with a child in this height range you could not get on. It was actually a pretty adventurous ride, but very short!

So the flip side of not getting to ride, you get your picture taken ALOT by the parent left with the camera!

The end of the T-REX ride!

Yes, that was me and Paxton getting soaked in that picture and here we are to prove it!

Harry Potter World

The Hogsworth Castle.

Seuss Landing was a lot of fun for both kiddos but Lorelei especially loved it!

After all those rides, I couldn't even get on the Seuss Go Round, but Lorelei enjoyed it.

Not a fan of the Grinch here.

Who is this guy again?

Thing 1 and Thing 2

The Cat in the Hat, a very cute ride as well!

The Dr. Seuss playground

After Islands of Adventure we headed over to Universal Studios

First we stopped for a yummy meal at the Hard Rock Cafe!

I would not dare ride this but Josh did, look at that straight up, too much for this old gal'! However Josh said it was awesome but not as good as the Incredible Hulk roller coaster, which I DID ride and had a massive headache afterwards, but it was awesome!

JAWS!

Scooby Doo and Shaggy!

A really awesome stunt show with bicycles, motor bikes, roller blades, etc. Unfortunately Paxton and Josh were standing in line for another ride and missed this but Lorelei and I sure enjoyed it. Overall it was fun to go and there is so much more that I have not mentioned. I think it will be a great place to go back to in a few years when the kids are bigger and older!

Struck!!

So while we were away on our most lovely vacation for two weeks, our new and not so wonderful computer got struck by lightning!! AHHH! This computer has had almost as many problems as our Honda Odyssey! So while my poor husband spends another few hours on the phone trying to figure out what to do, I thought I would log in from his computer to let my little blogging world know that pictures will come soon, but who know when (his computer does not have photo editing so unless you want to look at all the pictures upside down, crooked, etc. then it won't be happening). We did have a total blast on our vacation, glad to be home though!

Some Fun with Good Friends!

This past weekend I got to spend some awesome time with my girlies from college. It was our 10th annual girls get together! I can't believe it's been that long and we were so excited to have everybody there (even though in picture we are missing Nichele and Ashely). We had fun reminiscing, watching old college videos and just hanging out! Christie and Ashely are both expecting so we got to give them a mini baby shower too! Thanks to Christie for hosting us even though she's pregnant and was going out of town the day we all left! I know we all had a wonderful time and I can't wait till next year! I didn't take many pictures because our photographer Emily took the majority, hopefully she will have more to share with us soon!
Meanwhile, the kids and Josh also came to Nashville to stay with our dear friends Jeremy and Marsha. They were super sweet to let my family crash with them, especially when Josh had to leave for a day for a work event back home! I know my kiddos had a blast with Spencer, Aidyn and Preston! I got to hang out with the whole crew Saturday night for Josh' birthday as well. Lots of fun and now we need lots of rest!

If you know Harding, you know this word! Ashley brought this cake for us all to share, too funny!

Christy, Christie and Lyndsay

Ashley and Christie's baby shower

Lyndsay and Christy hanging out!

Marsha and Jeremy were so sweet to make Josh his favorite kind of cake for his birthday, German Chocolate, YUM!

Lorelei and Paxton having fun with new and different toys!

Preston is such a cutie and little ball of energy!

Happy to see Mama after being gone all weekend.

Everyone enjoyed throwing those little pop firecrackers, well not everybody. Lorelei and Preston were headed for the hills when they heard those things popping!

Hanging out in the Hammock! Marsha and Jeremy!

Some backyard fun with Aidyn and Spencer!

Jeremy mocking me, I won't show you the picture Josh took of me right before this!

Yes, I got a little tickled at something, we won't mention what!

Thanks J & M for being awesome hosts and for watching our kiddos, we all had a blast!!

A BIG Summer for this Guy!

It's been a BIG summer for my boy! First he learned to swim across the whole pool without stopping (not doggy paddling either) and NOW he has learned to ride his bike without training wheels, a two wheeler, he calls it. We knew he was close and we have only tried it with him two other brief times this summer. The other night it was actually cool enough to go out and give it try! And sure enough he got it within 15 minutes of trying. It was back breaking enough for mommy and daddy, but worth all the sweat and backache! We are so proud of his accomplishments this summer. For both the swimming and bike riding Paxton earned a trip to the Lego store to pick out a Lego set of his choice (boy, if we had known he would have caught on so fast to both things we might have made different promises!). Of course Star Wars Legos are his favorites, I will have to take a picture of all the ones he has done (they are being proudly displayed in his room)
In other BIG news, Paxton has his first loose tooth. Now it may be another month or so before it falls out but it is definitely loose! All these big boy things, can't believe my little boy is getting so big!

Check it out!

Showing off his BIG soccer skills with daddy. This boy can run and play hard!

My little cheerleader on the side!

Running to catch Paxton on his bike! (She does have a bike too, but the wheel is currently in need of repair!)

Look at him GO!

Good Job, my big boy! We love you!

A day to Celebrate!

July 4th was a day to celebrate for our family and our country. Josh's birthday is coming up this weekend but we usually celebrate it on July 4th. We had a great time with our family having a cookout and eating some yummy birthday cake! The kids had fun playing together and enjoying the outdoors. Good times!

Yummy! Mousse filled too!

One sweaty little boy! A game of soccer with the cousins will do that to ya!

Josh and Micah who is not too sure about all this birthday celebrating.

Grandmama and my All American Cutie!

My handsome two dudes!

And this is the newest addition to our extended family, baby Jude. Big Boy that's for sure! One month old and already 13 lbs! Lorelei loves babies so she got to love on Jude this day.

Paxton took a turn at it as well, as soon as the picture was over he hoped right up!

Tickle-mania!

Silly boys!

Grandaddy and grandchild number 9!

Josh's slice of cake!

Happy 4th!

Happy 4th to you all! Just a glimpse of my cuties on the 4th! More to come later!