31 August, 2011

Jumping in the Rain

It's raining it's pouring the kids are jumping on the trampoline.  No thunder or lightening, just fun sweet rain.  The kids, snuck out, and enjoyed a fun wet time.  


Even the dog had to join in. 







A new school and a new school year!!!

We are in a new school year, and with it a new school.  The school last year, C. A. Moore, made a C grade and so we had the opportunity to be moved to a better school.  All the better schools near us were full, so we get to drive 30min. away for a nice A school.  I don't mind, since they were nice enough to provide a bus too.  From what I learned at the school orientation, and one of the teachers that was a former C. A. Moore teacher, about 230 kids took up the school system to be moved to this very school.  Lucky for us, because if that wasn't the case, there would not have been a bus.  I will not put down the name for the new school,  for the safety of the kids, but I will tell you that it is a K-8 school, and the mascot is a gator.  In fact the school T-shirt has a gator logo on it similar to the UF gator logo.  A big plus for us gator fans.  But sadly we did not inherit the gator colors of orange and blue, but we do have green and gold.  So they look like little gator lemons.  ;)  


The building the kids are on.  Maren is on the second floor and Conner is on the first.  Because they are lucky enough to be a K-8, they also get a gym. 



Conner's cheerful teacher!!!  This will be a great year for him.

Maren's teacher, and ex- C. A. Moore teacher come to a better place .:) She is also a part time photographer, and loves writing, this will be a great year for Maren, I think it is a great match.  




Corby is starting school this year, he is in the VPK half day program, and I was able to put him in a nearby preschool.  He is loving school, and to everyones surprise he is doing very well.  I knew he was smart, but he hasn't given them any trouble.  In fact I get glowing reports for his behavior everyday.  :)


Being the VPK program, he also gets a free lunch.  Here he is enjoying meatloaf, mashed potatoes, bread, and veggies, and fruit.  Yum yum.

This is his wonderful teacher. 

Going to Disney!!!





Sean decided to have a "Fun" weekend on his vacation from work, so he arranged through a buddy at work to get some free passes to the four parks for free, we only had to pay for one of the kids, and Brenna was free, because she is still under three.  We had a very busy day trying to make it to all of the parks.
We first made it to the Animal Kingdom, and had lots of fun, spent a small time at Epcot, and spent the rest of the day in the Magic Kingdom.  We didn't make it to the Disney studio park, but maybe another time.


As you come into the Animal kingdom there is a huge tree with pictures of animals all in it.  Very neat.



We went on a "Safari" ride through "Africa" and were able to see many fun animals, like this neat Oppapi? Excuse the spelling.

A Rhino.


I don't remember what this one is called.


Hippos.


Crocodiles. 


A cool tree.

A termite mound.


Another kind of deer I don't know the name of.

A giraffe. 


Wilde beast. 




An Elephant



Conner checking out the Elephants


Corby riding with big brother

Flamingos 

Big sister and little sister, checking out the Animals.






A cheetah. 

Ostriches 


Difficult to see, on the rock is a lion sunning itself. 



Ostrich Eggs. 


A "poacher's" campsite.

A "Poached" baby elephant. 


Behind this glass were some tunnels filled with naked mole rats.  For those "Kimpossible" fans,  say hey to Rufus' family.

Underwater view of the Hippos.


A meerkat. 
 Below the kids try their hands at drumming the bongo drums.




A ride.  Brenna was too little to go, so Sean and I took turns going with the little kids.  The upside is, if you have a kid too little to go, you can receive a fast pass for the second person for up to four people.  So one of us would wait through the long line for the ride with the three that could ride, then the second parent was able to go straight to the front with the pass and the three kids.  Nice, right.  



 Ok, so I am really bad at taking pictures, but it was lots of fun.  Below is the Disney resort that we stayed at. We were in the Movies Resort, in the love bug rooms.  Below are the cool decorations they had.  Also, because we stayed in the resort, we were able to take the trams, and buses to the different parks.  Lots of fun.  One fun thing to remember, is when we were in the magic Kingdom, we went to the "Monsters Inc."  interactive comedy show where they use a camera to include audience members in their show.  Brenna got the part of Boo from the story of Monsters inc.  It was priceless.  When she saw herself up on the screen, she was so excited.









That night we slept at the resort, dog tired, and the next morning Corby woke up and said "Where are we? Who's house are we at?  I guess it's ok if Conner sleeps with me."  Because he fell asleep before we got back to the hotel, because true the the Thompson spirit, we walked around the whole park until it closed at midnight, so we could see as many rides as possible, and the kids all slept in one bed, unknown to Corby until  he woke the next day.  The following day we went to Blizzard beach and had so much fun going on as many slides we could, and enjoying the nice cool water.