11th Anniversary Celebrations at Magic Kingdom!!!

We've had a magical weekend at Walt Disney World celebrating our 11th wedding anniversary....in some ways when I think about all that has happened in the past 11 years, and all of our moves, job changes, the two wonderful people we have created and are raising within our family, it DOES seem like 11 years but when I really think about the fact that 11 whole years has passed since that bluebird Ohio spring weather day we had on May 21, 2005 it is AMAZING to me that it has been 11 years already!  I can remember so many things so vividly, what people wore, expressions, the feel of my dress, the flowers, the breathtakingly beautiful set up my dad did at Carranor and how much fun we had that day and night with our closest friends and family celbrating the start of what has certainly been an adventure and what has become a very full life with never a dull moment!!

We had a bit of an express train visit to WDW this weekend, we had initially just planned a day trip but then we splurged when we found a Florida resident great rate at the Yacht Club, our favorite resort there, and spent one night...then we ended up with a Bippity Boppity Boutique reservation for Sarabeth as an early birthday present, and a dinner reservation at Bongos, Gloria Estafan's fun and lively restaurant at the new Disney Springs (this whole place is amzing)...reminds me of a place I visited in Newport Beach California when our friend Brad Golba got married...its got high end shops, outdoor entertainment, restaurants and still Disney charm mixed in....it is still not even all the way open but we can't wait to go back next fall when it will surely be all ready!!!  It was a jam packed day that started with us getting up early Saturday and driving straight to Magic Kingdom where we spent the morning into early afternoon riding rides and meeting characters.  It got a bit humid and the sun was warm so after lunch and catching a parade we headed to the hotel to check in and enjoy the great resort amentities and the neat sand bottom pool at the Yacht Club and also the pirate ship water slide which both kids enjoyed!!  They were spoiled upon arrival when one of the ladies at check in recognized both kids had "happy birthday" pins on and she said "wait right here" and brought them out helium balloons...Jack is such a sport he was so excited and said "wow, thank you so much" and beamed from ear to ear!  Sarabeth was right behind him with the thank yous and you would have thought someone gave them 1,000 dollars they loved it so much!  The magic and sparkle

of Disney was alive in their eyes the entire time we were there.

We swam all afternoon and then settled in the room for a little while for some quiet time and much needed AC before changing for our dinner and Bippity  Boppity Boutique reservations at Disney Springs.  Sarabeth thoroughly enjoyed her time at the princess boutique and surprised me by picking to be Princess Jasmine and going wild hair...umm Cinderella anyone??!!  She is normally so reserved!!!  She loved it and knew she looked good at dinner afterwards and walking all over Disney Springs and then back at the hotel!  She refused to go in the pool last night when we got back to the hotel because it would "wreck my hair and make-up"!   She still has the wild hair in today and is insisting she wear it to school tomorrow so her friends can see...I may have to doctor it up a bit but you are only 4 once right??!!  Today we slept in and then enjoyed a nice breakfast at the hotel followed by a relaxing morning at the pool.  It was HOT HOT HOT and hazy and humid so that was definitely the right call rather than going back to a park!!!  The Yacht Club has such great amenities you really could spend a week there. The kids really enjoyed the water slides, sand bottom pool (this was their favorite part, Jackson remembered this from prior trips but Sarabeth did not, I think she was 2 last time we were there) and they also enjoyed the lazy river, Beaches & Cream ice cream shop and the arcade:)  Jackson is at the age where he really loves a good arcade at a hotel or on a cruise ship lol!!!  Disney just out does everyone else when it comes to service, amenities, and cleanliness, what a great jump start to summer!   The kids kept asking why we could not stay longer....this was just a sneak peak of the fun in store for this summer we told them!!!  We headed back home today around noon to get back to get our act together for the last week of 2nd grade and pre-school!!!  School gets out for both of them Friay May 27th at noon and then we are headed to the lake to enjoy a long memorial day weekend and to celebrate Jackson's real birthday (we've been celebrating for two weekends now lol) so it is sure to be another busy week as we prepare to dive into summer with Sarabeth's birthday, and her party, lots of fun camps scheduled for them both, two full weeks scheduled to enjoy our lake house in June and July as well as other weekends throughout the summer, a big house move towards the middle of July......and hopefully a trip to round out summer in August to Ohio before school starts again.

Mother's Day weekend at the lake, Sarabeth's first gym show, and Jackson's 8th Birthday party!!!

May has been just as busy as April has been for us if that is possible thus far!!  We've experienced Sarabeth's first gym show for gymnastics, she received her first trophy, we spent a glorious last cool up north like weekend at the lake for mother's day and the Kentucky Derby was that weekend too so we had a ton of fun making Derby Day hats (homemade ones) and Nick Sherman was in Florida and spent a day and night with us on the lake with we think the best weather of any other lake weekend we've experienced thus far over the past two years as lake house owners!!  Jackson also experienced a major milestone in that he lost he second tooth...note both teeth he has lost we have been at the lake house!  This one was one of his big front teeth!!  We also celebrated Jackson's 8th birthday party with 8 of his closest buddies at Andretti thrill park in Melbourne this past weekend...this place is a boy's dream...go karts, batting cages, mini golf, water boats, roller coasters, lazer tag and an arcade...we celebrated

a bit early this year because school gets out NEXT WEEK FRIDAY ahead of his birthday and we got our house under contract this past Saturday as well and are one very BIG step closer to moving into what will be a glorious home when I am finished with it:)  Inspections are this week Wednesday afternoon and we have a cash buyer so everyone pray things go well and we are fully engaged to close this in the next month after this week's inspections!  We are hoping to close both closings back to back through my office on June 15th!!!  Fingers and toes crossed...the kicker is that our buyers are willing to let us lease back the home for 30 days post close rent free and we get to take the swingset...no small feat to get it moved by the company that built it here for us, but its a really nice one and now I don't have to buy a new one!!!  It is a huge relief off my mind not to have to move twice because the new house needs work done immediately and we cannot live in the home when the floors are being demoed and new ones going in!!!  Phew, and this will give me time to get organized and move slowly.

  We are looking forward to this coming weekend when we will celebrate our 11th wedding anniversary (seriously 11 years has gone fast) with the kids for a day at Magic Kingdom...we had planned just a day trip and then we found a great Florida resident special so we decided one night at the Yacht Club won't kill anyone so we are staying over night after all to get the full Disney experience!!! Sarabeth is excited to do the princess thing at the Bippity Boppity Boutique and this time we booked it at the big Princess store in what was formerly called "Downtown Disney" now referred to as "Disney Springs".  Jack and Jon will busy themselves at the giant lego store while the girls do the princess boutique thing...and then we booked dinner reservations at Gloria Estefan's new latin restaurant right there at Disney Springs!  We're looking forward to a fun weekend of celebrations this coming weekend...lets hope the house deal is locked and loaded by then and we can celebrate that too and FINALLY I can start to really mentally plan for this move, the upgrades we need to do to the house, and start moving forward with those projects.  This has nearly killed me these past few months being in a state of suspense.....the weekend after next we are back at the lake and we will enjoy a nice long holiday weekend with Megan and Erik who are coming to visit all the way from blustery Chicago!!  We will also get to celebrate Jackson's real birthday while we are there with them.  Up next after that is Sarabeth's big birthday week and trip to the American Girl doll store and we will cap off a crazy busy 4-5 weeks with her gymnastics themed birthday party on Saturday June 4th...phew!!!  This time of the year for us nearly rivals the craziness of Christmas season with both kids birthdays back to back and this year and I am sure for many more years to come we are experiencing the extra fun of doing TWO different birthday parties.........you only live once right and they are only little for such a brief time...I will catch up on my sleep in like 20 years I guess!!!