Aqua Duck and Water slides

Back to Disney.....

I wish I had a photo of us on this FUN water slide. We went on this MANY times!!!!

The tubes for this slide hold 2 people and since the littles need a few more inches in height they had to ride with one of us. That was just fine with me... I loved it as much as they did.... even found myself asking them to ride with me. OH MY.....

This is the tube (Aqua Duck) you ride through and it takes you around the top of the ship...

When the littles had enough of the sliding with us they went on the slide that was just

their size.....

Dad spraying Lily and Ty in Nemo's Reef.... Lily and Ty were moving so fast in this area that I couldn't get a photo of them....

A quick hello

I haven't forgotten our blog......

Ty thought he was being so funny closing his eyes every time I tried to take the picture.....

I am still working on Disney photos and hope to have some up soon.....

We are busy having LOTS of fun this summer. I am snapping pictures like crazy and hopefully one day before the littles graduate I will be able to get them posted.

Some things we have been up to......

Kelleys Island

Ty finished Tball and loved it

Ty lost his first tooth

Celebrated Lily's 5 year anniversary

4th of July parade, fireworks, and fun

Swimming

Bikes

Playing at the park

Slip 'n' slide

FINALLY....

More Disney pictures....

There seems to be VERY little time to blog this summer.... Lily and Ty are keeping me VERY busy and I am pooped (not a good sign given the fact that we have 2 more months of summer).

At any rate.... back to the Disney trip.....

I am not promising that all of the photos are the best quality... the first day I was too tired to fool around much with camera settings and many times the littles were not super patient for photos.

I had big intentions to take LOTS of pictures. We traveled with Jeff's family and I planned to get pictures of everyone. Well... somehow that didn't happen. When we got home I was talking with Lily about it and she said, "Don't worry about it mom, we were on vacation".

(FYI..... the bracelets are for the kids club...helps them keep track of where the kids are)

Once we made it on the ship we headed straight to lunch.... all 4 of us were very hungry.....

it turns out that Ty was more tired than hungry....

After lunch and Ty's lunchtime nap we headed to our wonderful room.....

Oh my... that bed was so comfy!!!!

Even though Lily was tired she wasn't going to nap anytime soon.... SO.. the boys took a little rest in the room and Lily and I explored the ship.

We found the ice cream first.....

Lily suggested I get a photo of this mural.....

and the beautiful chandelier....

After dinner we took a quick walk and found Toy Story playing on the BIG screen....

This is about all we saw because everyone was ready for bed...

This was one of their favorite things about the cruise... THEIR BEDS....

Ty slept on the high bunk and Lily slept on the lower bunk...

They thought they were SOOOO cool....

Each night our pillow on the bed was turned to this side....

A dream is a wish your heart makes, when you're fast asleep....

Surprise

Well... I was hoping to share a video showing the morning that we surprised Lily and Ty with Disney news... BUT... it was 4am and even with a little closet light on it is very hard to see the video and very hard to hear (I was talking very quietly).

SO let me tell you (and I realize this isn't as good as a video) how it all went down....

The week before we left was BUSY...Lily had 2 rehearsals for her tap recital... the kids were finishing school... I was trying to hide the fact that I was packing like a mad woman... the littles were tired from a busy week.

The night before we left Lily had a tap recital which ended around 10pm... the littles didn't get to bed until about 10:45pm (way past their usual 7:30 or 8 bedtime).

Needless to say at 4 am when I tiptoed into Lily's room she was TIRED.

I whispered... Lily.. time to get up... we're going to Disney World.

Her eyelids fluttered and she was trying hard to open her eyes.

I repeated.. Lily we are going to Disney today...

She said in a very tired voice.. TODAY... ARE YOU SURE....

It didn't take her long to realize we really were going to DISNEY.

She left her room to tell Ty.....

She didn't whisper quite like I did with her.... she told him we were going to Disney to celebrate graduating from school.

Ty was a bear... he was TIRED.... he wanted all of us to leave his room... he covered his head.....

We told him the whole family was going...

Lily asked if we could stay 5 nights.....

We told her we were staying 7 nights.... 4 on the boat and 3 at the Polynesian....

She was beyond excited and Ty was beginning to wake up slowly...

She was done trying to wake him and ready to get this trip moving....

Lily was dressed and in the car within minutes and Ty wasn't far behind (although still a little bear-like).

Eating egg mcmuffins at 6am.... we were the first customers that morning at the golden arches...

Where we've been

We just returned from 4 days on the Disney Dream with Jeff's family (thank you Grandma and Grandpa N) and then 3 days at the Disney Polynesian Resort just the four of us....

What a fun week!!! We were not ready to come home!!!!!

BY THE WAY... the littles had no idea this trip was coming..... we told them at 4:45am the day of the cruise.

Let's just say they were surprised...

(we did get it all on video and hopefully it turned out enough to post)

More pictures coming soon.....

Mr. Marshall

Marshall would have been 14 yesterday....

Last Friday I had to put my dear little friend to sleep. He sat (purring) in my lap on the way to the vet... just as he always did.... no carrier for him.... and I thought about what a special little blessing he was.

When I brought him home at 8 weeks he looked like this......

I had just moved out on my own and decided I was ready for a pet.

Jeff and I took a little drive to a local pet store (we were still dating back then) and I saw this cute little gray fuzz ball.

The next day I was bringing that little gray fuzz ball home.

He was SOOOO cute and SOOOOO full of energy. He kept me up every night wanting to play. He dumped over my plants... he climbed the couch... he broke a few things.....I thought I was going to take him back he made me so crazy.

But he melted my heart when he purred, when he greeted me at the door, or when he fell asleep in my hand (he was that little).

Shortly after I got him I found out he had a digestive problem and the vet said he would maybe live 6 months. Oh my was that vet ever wrong.....

He kept me company when I lived alone... he became "our" pet when Jeff and I got married.... he moved with us to our first home.... then our second home... he slept with me when I was recovering from surgery or when I wasn't feeling well... he enjoyed Lily's bedroom while we waited for her to come home... he welcomed her home and loved her dearly.... he enjoyed Ty's bedroom while we waited for him to come home... he watched over Lily and I while Jeff was in China... he looked for Jeff while he was gone... he welcomed Ty home and loved him dearly... he moved with us to this house and seemed to like it here the most....he sat under the dinner table so Lily could rub him with her foot while she was eating...he waited outside the bathroom nightly when I gave the kids their baths... he went to each room while I tucked them in...then waited for me to come downstairs for the evening...

he knew our routine sometimes better than we did....

The last few months he started moving slower and in the last few weeks he started to have trouble walking. The vet said he had arthritis and it was pretty bad. They tried some medicine which worked for a few days and then one evening he could barely get down the stairs.

We didn't want to see him hurting and wanted him to go peacefully....

Peacefully he went...

We miss him dearly!

There will be another pet in our future but there was only one Marshall!

Happy Mother's Day

I am SO VERY blessed and thankful to be their mother....