January 2010

This is Zack before his swim lesson one day. I told him to go put on his swim suit and he put it on over his pants. I'm not sure what he was thinking.



Zack in the front of the raft learning boat safety



play time after class



Ashley waiting for Zack's class to end



Zack floating on his back



Dan's birthday morning before work.



Opening presents from the kids



Dan with his cake. (There is a piece missing because I cut the first piece and then realized we forgot to sing and blow out candles)



Zack trying to help Dad blow out the relighting candles



Ashley playing in the bed sheets



Celebrating Dan's birthday while visiting his parents for the weekend.





Ashley exercising on the pilates machine at Grandma and Grandpa's.



Zack trying out the machine



Ashley and Grandma

December - part 2

I am almost now caught up on posting our pictures. I somehow got really behind. These pictures are from Christmas and our visit with Erin, Trevor, Andrew and Sarah. Ashley and Zack really enjoyed the visit from their cousins.



On Christmas Eve we had a shepherds dinner with some really good food.



The kids really enjoyed the picnic in the family room. Zack, Sarah and Andrew



Sarah Knowles



Andrew Knowles



Sarah and Ashley



The cake that I made for Christmas Eve to look like a candy cane



the kids blowing out the candles on the cake after singing Happy Birthday to Jesus.



Cuddling up with Grandad. Andrew, Ashley, Sarah, Grandad and Zachary.



Ashley and Zack sprinkling reindeer food so that Santa would be sure to find them. They are wearing their new pajamas they opened on Christmas Eve.



Milk and Cookies for Santa, Carrots for the reindeer. Zack made the snowman in his Pre-K class.



Christmas morning



first - open the stockings



Ashley wearing her fairy wings and magic wand



Zachary and Dad



Ashley opening her present from Grandma and Grandpa



it's a doll that Grandma made



the doll has a long ponytail that Ashley likes tickling people with



Zack opened his present from Ashley - it is a shirt with trains on it - he loves trains!!



Ashley with the shirt that Zack gave her for Christmas. Tinker Bell is one of her favorite things.



Ashley standing next to Grandmom's Nativity Christmas Tree



Cousins!! Sarah and Zachary



Sarah with the gift that Ashley gave her.



Ashley with Grandmom and Grandad



Ashley watching tv from the top of the bunk bed pretending to be Mary



Zachary and Sarah playing with Andrew's bakagons



Andrew and Ashley playing with the Wii



Sarah fixing Ashley's hair



the day after Christmas we went to Medieval Times. We all had a great time!



Zachary with his flag that he got to wave at the knights and Ashley holding the princess crown that she just had to have



Zachary and Dad



Zack drinking his soup
(they don't give you utensils)



Ashley waving the flag as our knight rode by



back at Grandmom and Grandad's house

a new favorite place to sit
watching tv from the top of the bunk bed



Sarah fixing Ashley's hair...again. This reminds me of some other little girls. Me fixing anyone's hair that would sit still long enough.



at the Orlando Science Center





Sarah and Andrew at the music table



Zack's favorite area is the water table



Ashley picking oranges



Ashley and mom pretending to be turtles



picnic lunch...Ashley, Sarah and Zachary





Zack and Andrew



Ashley and Sarah



Sarah and Ashley...be careful...



...falling...



...down.



the kids thought putting their flags in my hair was a good idea.

December - part 1

Decorating Christmas sugar cookies


Ashley cleaning up the sprinkles she spilled



Florida snow ball fight. The kids like to take the sheets off our bed and pretend the mattress pad is snow.



Ashley wearing Dad's boots



waiting for dinner at the church Christmas party

Carribean Santa

telling Santa what they want for Christmas

checking out the trains at the ICE exhibit

getting the jackets on to keep us warm so we can see the ICE exhibit

all bundled up

Zachary riding the carousel

Ashley

ice slides. The kids loved this.

Zack's turn

one more quick trip to Sea World to take the Polar Express to the North Pole to visit Santa before Christmas.

a yummy snack at Sea World

Zack's pre-k Christmas party. Zack invited Ashley to come stand next to him.

Zack and Ashley at Downtown Disney

opening presents from Nicole

Ashley got a doll from Alaska

Zack got some trains to play with in the tub

Ashley talking on her new phone

Ashley sitting with Ronald at the huge McDonald's on International Drive

playing

making a holiday train (decorated with leftover Halloween candy)

the finished train

Can we eat it now?

our Christmas tree

November - part 3

Zachary with his cousin David when we were at his house for Thanksgiving.



Early Christmas (at Thanksgiving)



Ashley



Zachary trying on his cousin Michaels firefighter gear.



Ashley with multiple pacifiers.



last family visit to Sea World



Ashley and Zachary



Ashley and Zack posing with Shamu



playing while waiting to see Santa at the North Pole after riding the Polar Express at Sea World



Ashley and Zachary talking with Santa





Zack and Ashley watching the snow fall at Sea World



Zack with snow in his hair

November - part 2

Zachary and Ashley's first trip to Disney World!
A friend got us in for free!



We went to Hollywood Studios to see Mickey Mouse



Bus ride to the Magic Kingdom





Dan with Zack and Ashley in front of Cinderella's Castle



Watching a parade with characters from Toy Story



Ashley and mom on a ride



Ashley and Zachary in Minnie's house





Ashley driving a car



Zack driving the car



Riding the teacups.







the castle at night



back to Hollywood Studios to see the Christmas lights.

November - part 1

Zack with his flag football team







Zack's team came in First place in the playoffs.



Playing in the apartment



Grandmom and Zack at Granddad's birthday party



Dad and Ashley



Happy Birthday Dad!

October - part 2

Zachary played flag football this fall. He is showing his sportsmanship medal. Every week a different player was awarded a medal. Zack got the medal for courtesy. Which makes sense since when he was the Quarterback and handed the ball off to the runner he would smile and say 'Here you go'

Ashley and Zack went to Chuck E Cheese with his cousins. Here they are on a roller coaster ride.

Playing at the park in Grandmom's neighborhood.

Gabi and Ashley

Kai

Back at Grandmom's house the kids decorated halloween cookies.

For a Halloween dinner we had mummy hotdogs. Kristen showed me the idea from an ad in the paper - pretty cool!

Zack dressed up like a train at school.

Ashley and Zack at the church for trunk-or-treat.

Playing at Grandma and Grandpa's house. Fun stuff to dress up with.

playing at the park in Bartow.

Playing on the fun floats in Grandma and Grandpa's pool.

playing in the hammock

All ready to go trick or treating. Ashley is in Grandma and Grandpa's house.

Thomas the train.

Holly Hobbie

Ashley coloring on a huge piece of paper at Dan's parents house. She is wearing her Grandma's shoes.

Ashley and Zack with Grandma and Grandpa at their house in Bartow, FL

October - part 1

At the beginning of October we took the kids to the Sea World spooktacular. Zack for Halloween wanted to be a train. His costume was too big to take to Sea World with the crowds so he went as a train engineer. Ashley was Holly Hobbie.

Posing with some of the really cute Sea World creatures that were around the park.

Ashley and Zack trying to sit on a baby shamu

Later in October we went up to Daytona to stay at the Wyndham Ocean Walk for a few days. This is Ashley right before she fell and scraped the side of her face near her eye.

Zack and Dan checking out the beach.

We found a park that used to be an old amusement park called Bongoland. It had a bunch of dinosaurs hidden in the vegetation. The kids had fun looking for the dinosaurs.

We also went to the lighthouse.

We got to climb to the very top. Usually this area is closed off.

This was Zack's shot at taking his first picture. He did pretty good!

Then we went to north Florida to Conner's A-Maizing Acres.

This was one sad corn maze. I'm not sure why we had to carry the flag so they could see us because we were much taller than the corn.

The corn did have some taller spots. Zack liked carrying the flag.

Ashley liked finding corn on the ground.

We went on a hay ride. (you can see Ashley's scrape on her face)

They had a big tub filled with corn kernals to play in.

Zack loved the cow train pulled by a tractor.

Then we went up to Folkston, GA to the Folkston Funnel. This is where all trains going in and out of Florida have to pass through. So there is a lot of traffic. They have a radio so you can hear when a train in coming.






Zack is waving at the train engineers as they pass. In the guest book, it shows that there are visitors from all over the world that come to see all the trains that come by.




Some beach time









When Kristen came to Florida with Gabi, Kai and Koa we went to Sea World again. The first time we went the weather was in the low 70's - perfect. This day was much hotter - in the 90's. Zack is still a train engineer (in shorts). Ashley's Holly Hobbie costume was too warm so I got out some dress up clothes I had bought her for Christmas (from e-bay)



Ashley, Gabi and Zachary


Ashley was worn out.



Ashley catching bubbles.



While Ashley was sleeping, Kristen took the other kids on a ride.

Gabi and Zachary

Ashley, Gabi, and Zack taking a break to eat dinner.

After church we took Kristen the kids over to the temple grounds to walk around. It wasn't too easy getting a picture of all the kids sitting still.

Gabi and Zack are dancing.

Bonnet Creek Resort vacation

Last week we took a short vacation close to home. Bonnet Creek resort is about 10 minutes from our apartment. We had a great time. Ashley and Dad were enjoying the balcony.



Zack wasted no time in setting up a train track



Bed time! We tried putting them to bed together but that didn't work. Ashley moved around too much. So she slept on the floor.



One afternoon we went to Downtown Disney. Here they are playing with the legos.



Zack showing off his car.





Racing his car





Ashley was very excited to see the princesses.



Ashley showing how her and Cinderella have matching dresses. Notice Ashley is holding a flower. She is holding a flower in many of these pictures. She could hardly pass a bush without wanting to pick a flower.


Ashley getting sprinkled with princess dust. She was all sparkly.



The kids had a really good time trying on hats.









Playing in the fountains.







Back at the resort swimming in the pools. Zack has learned to run and jump into the pool. He has become a good swimmer.



Ashley is all ready to get in the lazy river

relaxing

On another afternoon we tried out the Disney transportation. This is the boats from The Boardwalk hotel to Epcot.

Now we are on the Monorail which was what Zack really wanted to ride.

Unfortunately when switching monorails, Ashley fell and busted her lip and knee.

The kids really like riding on the luggage carts.

Help! We're stuck!