Jackson turns two and a celebration Disney style!

We're back home after Jackson's big second birthday blow out at Disney! Disney does it up right for families with small children, that is for sure and if you're celebrating something special like a 2nd birthday as we were, it is even more fun! Jackson had a special birthday pin on and all weekend long Disney cast members and also random other vacationers would wish Jackson a "happy birthday" and guess his age! He got so used to the special attention and hearing "happy birthday Jackson" that as he was winding down last night and falling to sleep, he was talking to himself and we laughed as we heard him parroting "happy birthday Jackson" over and over to himself, ha!

We really had a nice time staying at the Caribbean Beach Resort. This was a moderate medium level hotel and the first of this level we've stayed at while at Disney. We've stayed at the lowest level value resorts (a good deal if you just want a place to stay and the Disney amenities and extras like the transportation, etc.) and the highest level like the Yacht Club with the sand bottom pool and all the bells and whistles of a grand 5 star hotel (well worth the splurge if that's what you like). The Caribbean Beach resort was really very nice and I could see us going back there. It was not as fancy as the Yacht Club, nor as basic as the value resort. The resort was huge and very family friendly for toddlers and young families. It is divided into "islands" and we were in the Jamaica section. When we arrived we were directed to the "customs house" for check in and told "we were in the islands now, mon" by the gate guy! Only at Disney does the gate guy get into the act too!! Each Island has its own pool, beach area surrounding the central Barefoot Bay lake area, and a playground and patio. In the center of the resort is the Port Royale HUGE pool with slides galore like a fort complete with canons squirting water, beach entry pool etc.....but the BEST part is the toddler Aqua play area. A completely gated zero entry large toddler splash pad with toddler size water slides, fountains, a pirate ship etc. You will just have to see from the pictures but it was great! Families could even swing in hammocks, rent canoes or rent small power boats to go around the lake which was in the center of the resort, etc. It was really quite nice for the price and like all Disney resorts there was a store on the premises (in case you forgot that special souvenior while in the parks) and also a few restaurants to choose from.

We arrived Friday morning and after check in, we spent the bulk of the day at Magic Kingdom for Jackson's actual birthday. We had fun but it was VERY HOT and humid so we headed back to the hotel to try to get Jackson to nap (that was unsuccessful) so we then headed to the pool! We had a great time and then had dinner reservations at the Irish restaurant at Downtown Disney. The food was good and I had tried to get reservations at a few other places but we did not plan far enough in advance so did not get our first choices any night, plan accordingly like 6 months in advance if you want character dining, etc. lesson learned!! Saturday it was still quite hot and humid so we headed out to Animal Kingdom bright and early and spent the morning there and then after lunch it was back to the hotel again due to the heat and nap time. Here is a MAJOR tip we learned...Animal Kingdom is the BEST place for character greeting! They have this area (which is well shaded) called "Camp Mickey" and around 10 or 10:30 am they have a show going on (we went to the Lion King show but Jackson got bored so we left early) and when we came out, all the characters were in little camp areas of their own and there was NO LINE becuase everyone else was still in the show, hahaha! We saw Mickey, Minnie, Goofy, Donald, and Chip and Dale in like a total of 20 minutes! The day before at Magic Kingdom we would have had to wait an hour just to see Mickey (and that was NOT going to happen in the heat and with Jackson)!!! This was the best character greeting experience we've ever had at any of the parks...jot this down in your memories moms!!

Saturday night we had reservations at the German restaurant in Epcot and it was very fun. They had a live German band playing and a dancing area for the kids which Jackson loved. THe dinner was an authentic German buffet and we sat family style with two other families which was really fun. This morning we woke up and got a late check out so we could enjoy the resort and the pools. We were all TOTALLY EXHAUSTED (how do people spend a week at Disney, I really don't know) so we packed up and were on the road by noon and home by 2! What a great weekend!!!

PICTURES COMING SOON, I have to download them:)

mid week update!

It has been a week and it is ONLY Wednesday. We are exhausted as Jackson has been sick the past two days and was home Monday and Tuesday. I noticed on Sunday that he was a bit warm but I did not think much of it. He had a bit of a stuffed up nose so I gave him some tylenol to help with any discomfort he may have had. He was eating, drinking and acting like his normal very active self so I thought all was well. Monday I got up like normal and showered, dressed, did basically everything I could do before he was up. I was ready for work when I got to his room with the exception of having him dressed and fed. I found a very sick boy when I got in his room! He was flushed and burning up with fever, the under arm thermometer said 102.6 so I'm sure the real temp was around 103 or so, ugh. I immediately called Jon and my office as there was no way he was going to school like that. I stayed with him all day and just babied him as much as possible keeping him cool and hydrated and comfortable. The fever never broke but alternating motrin and tylenol kept it under control. We went to bed Monday night hopeful that he would be well again by Tuesday. That was NOT the case. Tuesday morning found him burning up with fever again, flushed, hot to the touch and crying out for "juice"! POOR little man, Jon took his turn Tuesday and he took him to the doctor. I was sure he had an ear infection or something after three days of a temperature but the doctor found NOTHING wrong. Just this darn runny nose and the high fever. Through it all he was still eating well so who knows what it was.

Thankfully this morning he was up and healthy and NOT running a temperature. He was SO happy to go to school and see his teacher and friends. He ran right into Miss Anna's arms and gave her a big hug. His class had even made him a get well card, so cute:)

Today brought more excitement as our first nephew and Jackson's first boy cousin, George Joseph Garn was born. Congratulations to Courtney and Ryan and big sister Gracie!!

We cannot wait to meet all THREE new babies in our family in just a few weeks:)

fun with water and Jackson's new best friend Thomas!

To kick off Jackson's birthday week, we gave him his big present yesterday, Thomas! Thomas is his new best friend, complete with a personalized conductor's hat! Thanks Aunt Frances and Uncle Denny and Lucy (and anyone else who was responsible for this adorable hat, I am just going with the info. Jon gave me)!! We are going to Disney to celebrate his real birthday so we wanted him to have the week to enjoy Thomas! Have a good week everyone!!

Five year anniversary and princess and pirate 2nd birthday party!

Phew, it has been a BUSY week. We capped the week off yesterday celebrating our FIVE year wedding anniversary! How is that possible??!! I would post some wedding pictures, but they are all locked away in my computer external hard drives, our home computer is not up to par right now so I can't access those photos, darn. I do have some nice ones from our anniversary night out last night though! We went to dinner at our favorite restaurant, The Ocean Grill, we walked along the beach after dinner we were so full, and then we headed over to a new swanky little place called Havana Nights Piano Bar where we had chocolate lava cake for dessert, and I had some sort of a yummy martini which is supposed to be Oprah's signature drink...champagne, cointreau and pomegranate liqueur. YUMMY! We had a great time but after such a busy week, we were home by quarter of ten and I'm pretty sure I was SOUND asleep as soon as my head hit the pillow. We knew we had to get a full night's rest though because today was Jackson and Lola's 2nd birthday party! We had the party at a local gym, they have this great big gymnastics room and play music, blow bubbles, have a parachute, etc. for the kids to run around and they LOVED it. After playing hard for about an hour, we had a great toddler luncheon in the festively decorated party room consisting of chicken nuggets, fresh fruit, gold fish crackers and cheese. The meal was topped off by dimming the lights with everyone singing happy birthday to the birthday princess and pirate who then dove into their pink and black cupcakes:) Here are some pictures of our anniversary and of the big birthday party! What a great way for Jackson to kick off his birthday week:)

Trip to the zoo!

This weekend has been a bit busy, but we're having a good one! Yesterday Jackson and I ran some morning errands to get the last minute favors and details for his big princess/pirate 2nd birthday party we are throwing next Saturday with our friend Lola who is also turning two! Jon hit the grocery store for us while we went to Target and the party store and then we swam at home and later in the day I had to help out at an event at our local Humane Society that my firm was sponsoring. After all of that, I came home and changed and we went to our friend's Clint and Shannon's house for a bbq. What a day, we were all fast asleep last night before 10pm!!

This morning Jackson slept in until 8 AM......I was checking to make sure he was breathing as he NEVER sleeps that late and after a breakfast of eggs, fruit salad and sausage, we decided we were going to check out a zoo about 40 minutes north of our house. We've always wanted to go and this seemed like the perfect day. The zoo was very nice, much smaller than our favorite zoo in Ohio but it was great and I can honestly say I have NEVER been to a zoo and seen so many animals so active! We must have just been there at just the right time. We fed giraffes, saw monkeys swinging, saw a cheetah on the prowl, saw Rhinos swimming in a water hole, we even saw a giant ANT EATER and some other kind of monkey carrying a baby monkey on it's back! We capped the trip off with riding the train (Jackson said we were riding Thomas)!! They also had a water park area that looked fun but we had not brought Jackson's bathing suit so we'll do that next time. He was pretty tired after we were there for a few hours (he walked the entire time with us OUTSIDE of the stroller) and the heat was setting in by mid-day so we headed out of there, got lunch on the way home and now we're headed back out to the yard to swim in the pool. It's summer time in Florida and despite the heat (highs all week have been around 87 each day) there's lots of fun to be had!!!

Mother's Day

We are having a great Mother's Day down here in sunny Florida! We started the day off by attending 8:30 mass and Jackson was the best he has ever been! We sat in the back in the section for families with young kids which actually works out really well because he loves to look at all the other kids and it actually keeps him occupied. For the first time though, he actually sat fairly well for about half the mass before wiggling or needing toys, etc. He loves the music and he was very serious when I told him we were at Jesus' house and pointed out pictures of Jesus on the walls and at the various stations of the cross around the church! What a difference almost 2 makes from when he was almost 1 and would just want to move ALL over the pew to the point where it was just not worth it!!

After mass we came home and took a few photos and Jon made us a wonderful mother's day brunch complete with a champagne mimosa with fresh squeezed orange juice! Jackson could hardly contain his excitement through our meal because he wanted to help me open my "preysets" as he said! I got a beautiful cedar woood bird feeder specialy made for me with colorful spring flowers stamped all over it and Jackson's own hand prints! I also got a bag full of all sorts of summer goodies and Jackson had a few surprises of his own in my bag....a toy story inflatable ring for the pool, and of course some match box cars for good measure.

Happy Mother's day to all the mom's in our lives out there, it is the hardest job in the entire world but also the BEST and most rewarding job and one I am glad to be able to claim title to:)

p.s. for those that will be attending Grandma Peshke's 80th b-day this summer, you're getting a sneak peek at Jackson's outfit...I've had this for a while but it has always been too big, now it is JUST RIGHT and randomly, it fits within the blue and white color scheme too for our family group photos we will be taking! I bought this last fall on sale at my favorite shop near my office........I had to find a reason for him to at least wear it a few times to defray the cost and show off the cuteness...the trucks and cars are hand smocked on this outfit, I love it!!

does it get better than this??!!

The pictures speak for themselves.....we hit the beach early this morning to beat the heat (it is supposed to hit 90 today)! Jackson had a great time and we got to relax a bit too. We even ran into some friends of ours, one of my co-workers was at the beach with her kids Hanna and Glenn who is just a few months older than Jackson. Jackson saw Glenn and said "Play" and pointed to our beach towel and toys...his first attempts at friendship!! Have a great Saturday everyone!!

Pictures from this morning

Here are a few pictures from Breakfast at Jackson's school and one special one of him and his teacher Miss Anna! I know my bra is showing in my photos........the chairs are REALLY low in his class and I had to bend WAY down... I tried to edit the photos but I CANNOT figure it out on Jon's computer so pretend it is my bathing suit top:)