Out on the Town

We decided to go visit the library and get ourselves some library cards. We have missed having lots of different books to read. Being such a nice sunny day we decided to walk.

 Amita found a toy catalogue at home and was showing it to Tag as we walked - she's a multi-tasker.

 We stopped to look at the monuments outside the RSL (Returned and Services League). This is a statue of a soldier. Our ANZAC service is held here every year to help us remember the soldiers who have fought and are still fighting for our country.

 This is a big battle gun that was used in one of the wars. It's sort of like a big Howlitzer. Amita decided it was easier to read her catalogue while sitting in the pram. I think she likes being pushed around instead of having to walk everywhere.

 This little guy is at the local bakery and the girls love to give him a cuddle (and Lizzie even gives him a kiss) whenever they see him.

Despite only living about 500m away from the library it took us about half an hour to walk there with Lizzie stopping to pick up interesting things and looking at everything along the way. We finally made it but Lizzie was a bit tired and we only got a chance to read a book to Tag before Lizzie decided it was nap time. We'll try and go back another time to get our library cards. 

Florida Part II: 6 Knights, 7 Pools, 2 Hospitals, and 1 Temple!

 Whew, what a week! Now that we're finally home I can update!

On Wednesday we went to a place in Florida called Medieval Times. It's a dinner show with horses and knights and all things medieval! Here's Koko posing with a suit of armor.

Here he is seeing if he wants to be a princess.

He decided this shirt fit his personality better than the princess hat.

Here's Charlotte introducing Koko to Strawberry, her new unicorn she bought there. They're with Charlotte's cousin, Hailey.

Koko is all ready for the show!

We sat in the blue section, so here Koko waves the blue flag as the blue knight rides by on his horse. 

This was when they were having the parade of knights. You can see our knight right in front of us. Koko really enjoyed the show!

Here's the kids and Koko with the King and the Princess of the show. (There was a bad guy who tried to get the king to give him the princess- luckily one of the knights was very brave and beat him in battle!)

Here's the kids and Koko with our brave knight after the show. Charlotte and Teeny are holding flowers he threw to them during the show. They felt so special!

After the show we toured the medieval village where Koko tried on some chain mail. He said it was VERY heavy! He said it would be fun to pretend to be a knight in training, as long as he didn't have to wear that stuff!

Koko poses in one of the craft houses. I think this one was for basket weaving.

The kids and Koko at the castle entrance to Medieval Times.

Koko holds one of the girls' flowers outside the castle.

One thing we did a lot of at the resort was SWIMMING! They have 7 pools there. We liked this one because it was very warm (it was evening when I took these photos) and not too crowded. 

Koko tries out a float.

Chilling out on a lounge chair.

Koko goes for a ride in the pool with Charlotte, Teeny, and their dad, Chad!

On Friday morning some of us grownups went to the Orlando temple to do an endowment session. It was beautiful!

Can you see our tiny Koko there on the steps?

Here he takes a break on a pretty bench by the fountains.

How lucky he was to get to visit TWO temples during his time with us!

This photo does not include Koko, because we had already packed up and were preparing to go home, so things were a bit hectic. But on the day we were preparing to leave, Teeny ended up needing to be hospitalized for breathing trouble. It was a very long night, and made it so we left a day later than we'd planned. Fortunately, she is MUCH better now and we made it home safely. (You can check out my Facebook page for the full story.)

Whew, what a week! So glad to be home. It's nice doing this post and remembering all the fun stuff (rather than the not-so-fun stuff that happened at the end)!

Play-dough Creations

We don't have a backyard at our new house. There is a little bit of grass at the front but it's not fenced so we do a lot of our messy play in the garage. Today, the girls showed Tag how they play with play-dough. 

Amita is discovering how to make purple play-dough by mixing the red and blue together.

 The girls were teaching Tag all about shapes.

 Amita made him a pink ice-cream.

 And Lizzie made Tag a palm tree ice-cream. He's a lucky bear!

 Tag climbed Rapunzel's hair to get to the top of the Princess castle.

 They love to make dresses for the princesses. I think Lizzie was trying to give Belle a hat.

 After sitting down for so long playing play-dough they all needed to jump around and do seed-drops on the trampoline. Do you know what seed-drops are? It's just jumping really high and falling onto your bottom. I guess like seeds falling out of a tree. They all loved it!

Florida Part I and Teeny's Birthday

This week Koko is having quite the time! We drove through the night on Friday all the way from our home in Virginia down to Florida, which is the state that sticks out of the southeast corner of the continental U.S. It took us about 12 hours, plus some with stops. 

Florida is very tropical- lots of palm trees, always very warm, even in winter! When we arrived we had to wait a bit for our room to be ready, so we hung out at the fountain in the courtyard at the resort.

Everyone was really tired still.

We let the kids make wishes and throw pennies into the fountain, and I even had one for Koko. 

Teeny helped him throw it. (I think his wish came true.)

Koko sits on the coffee table to check out the living room of our suite. We are on vacation with Chad's parents, who own a timeshare at the Marriott Grande Vista in Orlando, Florida. They booked suites for them (which they're sharing with one of Chad's sisters & her husband & son), for us, and Chad's sister & her family. 

The kitchen!

Koko gets comfy on the bed in the kids' room. He loves the accommodations that Nanny and Papa provided! 

Guess who had a birthday while we are in Florida? Teeny! She turned 3 on Monday!

We celebrated with cake & ice cream and a little party with the family.

Here's Koko getting some cupcakes while Audrey & Charlotte get goofy with their ice cream cups.

Teeny opens her gifts.

Wearing one of her (silly) gifts.

Koko plays with Teeny, her cousin Tucker, and Charlotte. This is a little squirrel family doll set that Teeny got for her birthday. 

Here's Teeny and Koko outside our room with part of the rest of the resort behind them.

Taking a walk one evening.

On Tuesday evening we went to a special animal encounter at the resort activity center. Here's Teeny snuggling with Koko in a beanbag chair before it started. She wanted to make sure he had a good seat.

One of the first creatures we met was a giant toad. We found out that apparently these toads are becoming quite the nuisance down in Australia (cane toad). Ever seen one?

We also got to meet a boa constrictor (above), a tarantula, a scorpion, and...

A baby alligator!

Tyson gave Koko a ride during his turn holding the alligator. Koko was nervous, but he liked it. Its skin felt like leather.

We did a kayaking tour today with the older kids, but there were no Koko-sized life jackets, so we left him at home. We didn't want to lose our beary sweet friend in the water!

We'll be posting more as the week goes on- lots more fun to be had!