Disney Cruise!!

At the end of May Charles and I decided to take a last minute Disney Cruise with the kids. The cruise was a gift to me at Christmas but I had been putting off booking it because I thought the kids were too young. Then one of my very good friends, Kelli, went on one with her 4 year old & they all had a wonderful time so Charles & I booked a cruise & left two weeks later! We went on the Disney Dream ship for 5 days & 4 nights. We had a balcony room which was so nice! Both Cameron & Olivia LOVED the balcony. The ship sailed to the Bahamas (we didn't get off the boat since Charles & I had been there quite a few times) and then to Castaway Cay, Disney's private island. We spent most of the time in the kids splash area, playing in the kids camp areas and of course eating! We definitely made some great memories & I look forward to going on another one with family and/or friends! :)

At the "sail away" party

Watching the ship leave Port Canaveral from our balcony

Dinner on the first night. The nice thing about a Disney cruise is that you have 3 different dining rooms for dinner. Everyone gets a chance to go to each one, they select which nights you go where.

Inside the Toy Story room in the kids camp. We never left the kids by themselves in the kids camp we just went when they had an "open house" where the parents could come in too. There was hardly ever anyone in the camp at those times so we almost had the whole place to ourselves.....amazing with a ship full of 3000+ people!

At one of the kids camp open houses Mickey, Goofy & Pluto came out to play games. We were just about the only ones there!

So excited to see Pluto!

Dancing with Mickey

Dinner on night 2

Enjoying french fries & grilled cheese

Yummy! He loved having his Mickey bar every night

What a mess!

Enjoying the balcony. We did have a toy casuality though.....Olivia tossed Cameron's favorite monster truck over the side. It landed 5 floors below on the ship but was in 3 pieces. Poor Cameron was pretty sad. There was only a 2" gap between the deck floor & railing but Olivia figured out right away how fun it was to drop things.

The kids LOVED dancing to the music in the kids camp.

Here's Cameron & Olivia breaking it down....

Olivia with her new Minnie doll

Playing in Nemo's Reef, the splash area

Olivia on our bed with her dolls :)

Playing miniature golf

Playing Mickey's Detective Agency, such a cute game! You get a card to looking for missing puppies or paintings & hold your card up to pictures on the ship. The pictures come to life & help you solve the mystery

Preparing for the Mickey 200, carrot & potato race!

Family photo with our race car

Dinner on the 3rd night was pirate themed. Everyone was dressed up in their best pirate gear. They had a pirate party & fireworks. So fun!

At the pirate party (Olivia was ready for bed in her PJs)

Getting off the ship at Disney's Castaway Cay...... we met a few characters on the way to the beach :)

 Beautiful beach! Just too bad it was such a gloomy day, it was overcast & drizzling the whole time we were on the island

 They loved playing in the sand

 The HUGE Disney Dream, much bigger than any of the other ships that were at our ports

Fireworks on the pirate night. Charles took this photo since I was in the room with 2 sleeping children. The fireworks didn't go off until 10 pm!

Easter 2012

We enjoyed a nice Easter day with our family (minus the part where Charles went go-carting & bruised one of his ribs. He was very sore for about 4 days.) We all woke up early & attended Oakcrest Baptist Church's sunrise service at 7 AM. (Oakcrest is the church where Charles went as a child & where his sister-in-law still attends.) I was impressed with the fact that we were only about 10 minutes late since we had to wake up the kids & get them dressed. They were even very well behaved in the service! After the service we enjoyed a great breakfast provided by the church & then went back home to see what the easter bunny had brought. While Olivia napped, Charles went go-carting with friends & hurt himself when he crashed into another go-cart :( After Olivia's nap we went to my parents house for dinner and an easter egg hunt.


The easter bunnys loot for Cameron & Olivia

The best family photo we could get (at church)

Had to put leggings under Olivia's dress....it was surprising cold that morning!

Checking out her basket

Yeah for chocolate!!

Charles reading one of the new easter books. (I had to take Olivia's dress off since she was eating a lollipop. I didn't want her to get it all stained & sticky!)

On the hunt!

Cameron being sweet & sharing with Olivia

Love this photo of my grandmother & Olivia!

Olivia at 17 months & Questions for Cameron

Here are some photos when Olivia was 17 months. She had her 18 month checkup at the beginning of May & weighed 20 pounds, 10 ounces. She is still very small for her age; she is in the 5th percentile for weight & 10th for height. She has a really good appetite though, her favorite foods are chicken nuggets & spaghetti. She is such a big snacker, I feel like she is always eating! Her new thing is to climb up in her highchair & wait for me to bring her something. She is so rough & tough trying to always keep up with her big brother & has NO fear!! She will do just about anything Cameron is doing & I think she is more daring & tougher than he is! She loves to jump off things right now....mainly the furniture so I really have to watch her. Although she shows her tough side most of the time she just started to really love her dolls. She will get them from her room & carry them all around the house. I feel like I am always picking them up! She also really likes books & will carry them to Charles or I and sit down to listen to the story (which lasts all of 30 seconds.......you have to read fast :) She is always on the go, even despite taking short naps (40 mins!) I think she is just one of those children who doesn't require a lot of sleep. Even with her temper (she's a hitter when she is mad!) she is still just the sweetest baby girl. She loves to blow kisses & give little kises on the cheek. We just love her so much!!! 

She climbed up in her highchair with her doll & book :)

She loves this doll that my Aunt Pam gave her, its her favorite

 Getting ready to go swimming with her new bathing suit. Oh, and once she saw Cameron jumping into the pool she had to jump in too! She loved it though & had no fear going underneath the water. I am so glad that we don't have a pool, it would be such a worry for me!

 Just starting to eat by herself, such a big girl!!

 Playing with the Max & Ruby dolls. Sometimes I will see her chatting to them, so cute!! I wish I could get that on video :) Oh, and as you can see in the photo there is a nice scattering of dolls on the floor beside her :)



I didn't want to leave Cameron out of this post so I took an idea from my sister & asked him some questions. I just love these questions & hearing the responses, I think I will do it again when he turns 4. Here are the questions I asked Cameron & his answers:

What is your name: C for Cameron (he is learning the first letter of his name in school)

Age: He holds up his hand & counts 3 on his fingers

Favorite Color: Blue

Best Friend: Collier & Sutton (boys from his preschool class)

Favorite Animal: Monkey

What do you want to be when you grow up: Daddy (so cute!)

Favorite TV show & movie: Peppa Pig & Lightnening McQueen (The move Cars)

What makes you happy: Daddy (melt my heart!) then he says "and racecars make me super happy!"

What makes you sad: When mommy turns off the TV

Favorite Book: Lightnening McQueen book (then he proceeds to run & make loud car noises)

Favorite Food: Ice Cream

Favorite Song: Twinkle Twinkle Little Star (then he yells out the whole song)

Trike-A-Thon

On March 28, St. Paul's Christian School (where Cameron attends preschool) had their annual trike-a-thon fundraiser. The children were asked to collect sponsorships in order to bring their trike (or bike) to school & ride laps around the basketball court. They also had a bike police officer there to teach the children about bike safety. Cameron was one of only about a handful of children who rode two-wheelers. He definitely rode laps around all the other children :) All the children received a medal at the end. It was a really cute event & Cameron had a great time!

All lined up & ready to go!

And off they go!

Olivia enjoying some snacks while watching Cam

Getting his medal from the police officer

So proud!