The Big Boat

Well we took our first "real"vacation with Katie this past week. All our previous "vacations" have been to relatives houses. This one was a Disney cruise - 4 nights. It was a learn experience for Bill and myself. All in all a good trip though. Here are just a few of the 260 pics I took. I will go through them a little better and post some more.
I was a little nervous taking Katie on the plane but she did great.
Here we are on line waiting to see the Princesses. She was very excited.

She ran up to Snow White and gave her a big hug. We bought her an autograph book which all the character had signed - which was a good thing because she only took pictures with a few of them.

She posed with Snow White and Princess Aurora, but froze for Bella and Cinderella.

Monday night they celebrated Halloween. There was trick or treating throughout the ship then a big parade on deck afterwards. We brought her Halloween costume but she wouldn't wear it.

Silly girl.

I think she could of spent the whole trip in the pool. It did get busy a few times but nothing too bad. They had this little pool for the younger kids then a 4 foot pool for the older kids and a private pool just for the adults ( never made it to that one ).

Katie's first live show. Toy Store. She loved it.

We didn't get off the boat in Nassau, but did get off at Cast Away Cays - very nice. We only spent a few hours there - then Katie wanted to go back on the ship. I think the water was a little too salty for her. It was pretty hot also.

I will try to post more pics soon. Overall we did enjoy the trip. I think it might have been a little too much for Katie. We would like to try it again in a few years. Maybe then Bill and I can enjoy it more also.

HAPPY BIRTHDAY KATIE

Katie turned 4 !!!! Where does the time go. She had a "quiet" little party to celebrate her birthday. I categorize it as controlled chaos. We started out with our own version of pin the tail on the donkey. We out-lined the kids on paper, had them color themselves in then pin a party hat on there head. It was a little too much work, but fun.

Then we colored spooky halloween masks - that was fun and went well. Until the boys started running around screaming with there masks.

A little sand art - a little messy - but they came out very nice.

Party hats and cake.

Happy Birthday kiddo !

Beach

Its hard to believe it on a day like today, but we were at the beach just last week. I picked Katie up from school on friday and we drove to Avon. She loves to run and dig in the sand. Thankfully she didn't even attempt to go into the water.
They were some machines there. They had dug a few big holes into the sand - great for climbing in and around.

CHEESE

She has told us she wants to be a ballerina when she grows up. At times she can be very graceful.

A good find.

Well I am pretty sure this will be our last visit until next season.

Katie the artist

Katie is finally drawing pictures that we can recognize. Usually she just draws "roller coasters" which are just very squiggly lines on paper.
She called this one a bird - I was very impressed. I guess if you look at it closely you can see either a full bird with body/beak/legs and tail feathers or just a head with beak and waddle (like a turkeys head). I believe she was going for the full body bird.
Here is a family portrait she drew in school. Katie is in yellow ( her favorite color) and for some reason I am in red with a huge frown - not sure what that's all about. But all the same -very proud of this one too.

Reunion

Well it is hard to believe, but I have been out of school for 10 years. A few weeks ago I flew out to Indiana for my 10 year reunion. It was great to see everybody again. There was a good 1/3rd of the class that showed up. Unfortunately I was only able to stay for a day, so I am sure I missed some people, but it was worth it.
Had lunch with some friends, then actually attended some lectures. The school had an informal get together, where we annoyed the photographer.

Then off to Jake's for some old time catching up.

Fall

Katie and I went PA to visit Nana and Papa over the weekend. The leaves were changing - it was beautiful. We went to a huge pumpkin picking place - you had to pay admissions to get in but they had animals to feed, corn mazes, some kid rides and play areas. It was fun but cold.
We only did the Mini Maze - they sent you in the Mega maze was a flag so you can't get lost. We were in this one about 20 minutes - was starting to get a little concerned but we made it out ok.

One of the play areas - basically a castle of hay bails. The kids loved climbing on it.

Look at her go - that's my girl !

The had this bounce bed - a little weird but a lot of fun. I jumped for about 5 minutes and when I finished and walked back on the ground I felt all weird - like I was still bouncing. Took a few minutes to feel normal again.

The Kow Kattle Ride.

The leaves were changing - most of the pics were from a moving car so a little blurry. Katie liked all the colors.

Helmet on

Helmet on for safety. We only stayed in the house for these few shots. She normally seems to have an excellent sense of balance - until on skates. She was all over the place but had a lot of fun.

The scooter was an impulse buy. We have to rethink purchases like this in the future. She has had it for a few months and hasn't touched it.

Here she is talking on the phone on her scooter - is this a glimpse into her future ( I hope not)