Florida Fun!

This blog has been in the making for the last few weeks!  I finally was able to put it all together and it's a long one!  I hope you enjoy photos, had to abbreviate some of it as we crammed so much into nine days in Florida.  We had a blast and can't wait to get back!  Without further delay, "Florida Fun!".

The kids couldn't sleep, in preparation for our trip to Florida. They were beside themselves and anxious to get to the airport on time. Ella awoke in tears twice in the middle of the night, thinking we were going to miss our airplane. I think she has a bit of her Mommy's worry streak.

Regardless, the kids were up in time and flew out of bed at dawn to leave for our trip. I had never seen Ella so excited and was dressed in record time! The kids did outstanding on the flights! 

Ready for take off!

 Ella kept busy with all her new books and activities we had packed in her backpack the day before. The man sitting next to her even commented on how well she did on the plane ride.

Eric was so excited when I told him we were finally heading to the airport, that even he didn't think twice to get up and get going. He has been looking forward to our airplane trip, since we first told him we booked the trip a couple months ago. The kids definitely got his full share of plane and train rides this trip.

Train ride through DIA!

By the time we arrived in Florida, Eric and Ella were ready to hit the pool. They quickly threw their swimsuits on and took advantage of the beautiful Florida weather and Grandma and Grandpa's swimming pool. The kids jumped right in!

Eric was like a fish to water and you would think he'd been swimming for months. He absolutely loved the water and with his water wings was very confident.

Ella had a blast in the pool and liked playing with Eric. She would try and "save" Eric who would be floating in the middle of the pool. Keeping the kids out of the water was a challenge and if they had it their way they would have spent all our days pool side.

Grandma and Grandpa pool side with the kids, before we had to leave.

However, this trip was booked and within 48 hours we were back on the road again to visit Uncle Mikey and Auntie Melissa in Palm Beach. Luckily Uncle Mikey lives just a short drive to the beach, so the kids were able to enjoy the water and the beach. What could be better than the beach?! The kids had a blast, playing in the waves and just having fun in the sand.

Uncle Mikey and Aunt Melissa playing with the kids!

We started reading the Boxcar Children The Lighthouse Mystery on this trip, so it was only befitting that we visit a lighthouse while we were close to the water. We found a lighthouse just a short drive away, but later found out the kids couldn't climb inside (they were too young). The kids were bummed, but they still enjoyed seeing the lighthouse up close and the large Banyon tree that sat out front.

Learning about Jupiter Island and the Lighthouse.

Family photo in front of the Banyon tree.

It wasn't long before we had to say Goodbye and start our journey to Sea World. We made good time, so we headed over to Sea World that evening. 

Hello Sea World!

We managed to see most of the shows that evening, but headed back the next day to take in more of the rides and catch the Shamu show.

. The kids loved Shamu's Happy Harbour!

We wrapped up Sea World a bit early, so decided to head over to our hotel at Disney World a little early.

The Polynesian was just as beautiful as we remembered from a few years ago. The kids immediately grabbed their swimsuits and headed for the pool, before dinner.

We made sure to schedule breakfasts with the characters, just so the kids could see their favorites. We visited with Winnie the Pooh and his Friends on Monday and Mickey and a few of his friends on Tuesday. The kids loved spending time with each one, even it was for only for a few seconds and a quick photo.

Breakfast with the characters!

The Magic Kingdom had plenty of Magic for the Kids. Ella's favorite this year was the "Small World" ride and Eric loved the RaceTrack. We're not sure how, but the fireworks show seems to get better each time we go to Disney. Ella was absolutely thrilled that we were able to sneak in a last minute visit to the princesses, just before the park closed.

Ella & Bell

Ella & Cinderella

Animal Kingdom was just beautiful! 

We all enjoyed watching all the animals, without walls, bars, and cages.

Baby Giraffe!

Ella was convinced this Lion was staring right at her!

Ella studying all the different birds.

Ella was really enthralled with the presentation about the bald eagle, she didn't want to leave. Eric liked the petting zoo and the jeep ride through the Kingdom.

We enjoyed some one-one time with Ella, as Eric napped at Grandma and Grandpa's motor home (AKA "The Buggy"). We had a wild ride on the River Rapids and flew back to the Cretaceous period and the time of the Dinosaurs. 

 Eric joined us for one last show and we headed to dinner at the Rainforest Cafe. 

 The kids had a fun dinner watching the rainforest come to life. The day went by so fast, as did our trip.

We drove back to Grandma and Grandpa Swift's for our flight back home.  Since, we weren't leaving to later in the day we wanted to make a quick stop to say Goodbye to Great Grandma and Grandpa Swift

Thank you to Great Grandma for these Disney Hats!

We'll definitely be back to Disney and hopefully, be able to spend a few more magical days. Disney really is an amazing place to visit and fun for everyone and every age!  We want to thank all the Swift's for making our vacation so enjoyable!  We'll see you all soon!

Maiden Voyage!

We made our first family camping trip to Woodland Park, Colorado.  We figured we would stay close to home for our first outing.  We stayed at a very family friendly campground and took in many of the sites.

We visited the Florissant Fossil Beds where we all learned about the petrified forests that remained, how it was created, and were able to see many different fossils of birds, insects, and leaves.

The kids and Ken in front of a petrified Redwood Tree Stump.

This was a great experience for Ella, as she has been fascinated by Volcanoes.  She walked away with so much knowledge about volcanoes, fossils, and archaeology.  Ella was so excited she and Eric even earned their Jr. Ranger Certificates.  The kids had to complete various worksheets during our guided tour to get their certificate and patch.  Ella hopes to collect more patches as all the national parks in Colorado give them out. 

The kids leaving Florrisant Fossil Beds. 

Ella says she wants to be an paleontologist when she grows up.  I think she definitely has a scientific mind, as she is always asking questions and loves science!  I will add that one to the list for her.

After a long day in Florrisant and a long nap, we decided a campfire was in order.  The night was perfect, as it was just a bit on the cool side, with just a tad bit of wind.  The kids loved roasting marshmallows and making smores.  However, I think when all was said and done they enjoyed plain old marshmallows better.

We passed by the Dinosaur Museum on the way into town and it had rave reviews (thanks Aunt Angela for the tip).  So, we ventured in and were wowed!  The kids both loved the interactive kids area, the guided tour was fascinating, and the kids even were able to see a real dinosaur paleontologist  laboratory. Talk about eye opening!  

Ella under a prehistoric "Sea Turtle"

Just before we left the museum, each of the kids were able to pick one item from the gift shop.  Ella chose a sticker dinosaur dictionary.  She hasn't put that book down, since our trip and still reviews all the dinosaurs daily.  Of course, she says she wants to help dig for dinosaurs when she gets older.  I think she has it in her!

Eric popping out of the camo tent.

Eric had a great time at the museum and learned about T-Rex!  He was roaring and stomping all night long!  He picked out some dinosaur figures to play with and take home.  They are now a fixture in our trailer, as he keeps himself busy for quite awhile just playing quietly with his dinosaurs and cars.

We took a trip later that day through Garden of the Gods and Ken decided to try the scenic way home.  Well, the scenic way took an extra hour to get back but we sure did get a view. 

"Don't look down!"

A beautiful picture off of Garden of the Gods

 It was dirt road all the way, no guardrails, and up the road kept climbing!  We weren't sure when we would ever reach the end, but we finally made it back home.

Our final day we thought it would be fun to take the kids to a real gold mine.  It was tight quarters as we all sandwiched ourselves into the mine shaft elevator.  The ride down was a bit intimidating, as heading down 1,000 ft was a bit dark and of course we had no idea what to really expect.  Needless to say, the kids were a bit nervous.  

Regardless, the kids enjoyed riding on the train cars and hearing the stories of what life was like as a miner, and how they used to use donkeys to help pull the carts.  We all even received our own gold .  Of course, the gold was inside a rock.  Ella is still trying to figure out how to get her gold out!  So if you know of anyone with a kiln, let us know.

I think one of the best parts of this trip was seeing how the kids got along so well with all the other children at the park in the campground.  When we checked in, the hostess made sure we had a great view and were close to the campground park.  So, every night the kids would run out to play at the park while we were fixing dinner or had some down time.  They made friends immediately and really had a great time!  We hope to see some of the same faces again next year (as many return every year for Memorial Day Weekend)!

Well, we have definitely decided we like camping!  We are ready for our next trip, this time heading to the Mountain of Breckenridge!  Stay tuned for our next voyage!

Mother's Day!

Ella's last choir rehearsal was this past week, which happened to fall on Cinco de Mayo. Our church did a fun mexican themed dinner and also had a pinata for all the kids. Eric was in aw of the giant sized baseball and made good contact with the ball.

Hit that Ball!

Ella had fun too, but enjoyed collecting all the goodies more. We are definitely going to miss our Wednesday night dinners with friends this summer, but are looking forward to some relaxing nights at home for a few months.

"Spring fever" has definitely set in and the kids have been biting at the bit to spend time outdoors. We've had a kid's croquet set in our garage, just waiting to break out of the box. I set up the croquet set in the front yard and Ella had to hit the ball through each hole, in numerical order.

A game of Croquet

Eric tried croquet, but decided there was more fun things to do outside. He eventually decided trying to climb trees with Ella was more fun!

Climbing Trees

I can't believe how time has just flown. Eric is just over 2 1/2 now 

Growing up!

and he has made leaps and bounds in his speech and vocabulary. Once I was so worried that he would never talk, now he is chatting up a storm. He likes to sing along to rhymes and his favorite question these days, "Why?"  It's great to have a whole conversation with him now and see the kids talking together, playing together more, and just enjoying each others company for hours. I only hope they remember these times of fun and will remain friends growing up.

The weather was absolutely gorgeous Mother's Day weekend. We took full advantage and spent Mother's Day weekend working on our garden.  Saturday morning we purchased some beautiful Clemantis vines and veggie plants for our garden, in hopes of getting a head start on our veggies this year. 

 Our last frost is estimated around May 20th, but since we were heading out of town we decided to go ahead and take a chance. After all, it was 80 degrees all weekend. It wouldn't possibly snow again, the forecast looked warm with no freezing temps.

Planting our Clemantis

Well, as soon as we put the Clemantis in the ground the leaves were wiped clean. Ken and I didn't even think that the deer would touch it just outside the garden gate, as I had read that deer do not like the smell of Clemantis. Apparently, we didn't have enough aroma from the one flower on our little vine. We awoke the next morning and the deer had eaten all the leaves off the vine. Thankfully, they left the plant and stem. So, we moved the vine just inside the gate and we're hoping it comes back to life.

The garden looked great and the new sprayers for our garden are working well. We've moved things around this year, hoping to get a few more melons than last year. The pumpkins took over last years crop of Watermelon and cantaloupe, so we spaced them and spread them out better throughout the garden. We're crossing our fingers for a better harvest this year!

Ken and the kids surprised me with a beautiful red birdhouse! The birdhouse was from our tree outside, but needed to be fixed up. It was missing a roof and was in rough shape. Ken had to piece it back together after taking it off the tree and Ella insisted that the birdhouse needed to be painted red. Ella thought the birds could see it better if it was red. I think it came out beautifully!

We spent Sunday morning at Church, where Ella and the Children's Choir had a special Mother's Day performance. The kids made lots of Mother's Day cards for the congregation and spent part of the service handing out cards to all the Mom's. She is really going to miss singing in the choir, as they will be taking a break during the summer.

I couldn't think of a better way to spend Mother's Day!

Family of Chickens......

I'm not sure if it was the warmer weather of Spring in the air or browsing through old photos, that we thought how nice it would be if we could have chickens again.  We started researching different coop options for our smaller yard and how many hens we would need to supply our family with freshly laid eggs.  We found a wonderful coop design that seemed discreet, versatile, and actually aesthetically pleasing.

This is the Herb Garden Chicken Coop, which Ken will start when we arrive back from our vacation from Florida.  

The hen house will hold four full size hens and will be kept discreetly in our backyard, out of site from nosy neighbors.  We haven't received approval from the HOA yet, but we know people in much more suburban areas and within our county have chickens with no problems.

We are very excited, but the kids are especially thrilled to have these little chicks here. Ella had very fond memories of our last flock of chickens and couldn't wait to pick these girls up at the store. We received two from a local feed store and the other two were from private breeders in town.  Yup, you read it right! We have chicken's again! We just missed our old chickens too much! We decided now that we're settling in our home in Colorado, we were ready to take them on again.

We did our research though and looked for the most docile and mild mannered, along with their ability to lay throughout the year and cold hardiness. We decided on four different breeds.

The first we knew we had to get was an Ameracauna. 

 This was the same breed of chicken that we had before and Ella just adored. She will lay blue eggs. She will be an all white bird and is 3 weeks old.

We will call her, "Holly."

Our youngest chick right now is a Black Australorp and will lay nice light brown eggs. 

 They say they are one of the best year round layers, even in the coldest of temps. They are known to be calm and friendly and she is proving to be very sweet at just a week old.

We call her "Hattie." (You may recognize the name.This was the name of the Ameracauna Ella loved, from our last flock).

Another great layer is the Cinnamon Queen 

we have named ours "Penny." She is currently 2 weeks old and enjoys being handled by the kids.  She is very calm and sweet natured.

She is also known as a Red Sex Link, because her breeding and color specify her sex. One nice way to know that you definitely have a pullet/hen.

Last, but certainly not least is our Copper Marans. 

 Now, we're only keeping one of these girls. However, the breeder wasn't sure if these were pullets/hens or roosters. Therefore, we took our 50/50 chance and hope to get one nice girl.

Copper Maran's lay the Mercedez Benz of eggs, as the eggs are almost a deep chocolate brown color. Many chefs in France and in the US refer to these as gourmet eggs. Regardless, Marans are known for being friendly birds and great layers too.

The kids absolutely love having the chickens and are great about visiting them throughout the day.  Even Eric has developed a gentle hand when it comes to the baby chicks

Eric with "Penny"

We are having fun with the chicks and have a pet sitter lined up, as we prepare for our trip to Florida & Disney World next week.  Luckily, our pet sitter lives on a small farm herself so will be staying at the house to take care of our small urban farm.