Because my husband loves me... and is frugal...

He found me the best birthday present EVER EVER EVER!

He found a listing on Craigslist of someone who needed to sell 2 tickers for a "Sea World Orlando Marine Mammal Keeper Experience" because they are moving before they can use it. We worked it out and we are going!!! You show up at 6:30 and until 2:30 you get to interact with all sorts of Sea World mammals... Dolphins, Manatees, Walrus, Seals, Belugas, Penguins... no day is ever the same, so I can not really tell you what I will doing until I do it! But to read a few experiences here a few!

I. Can. Not. Wait!

http://www.igougo.com/story-s1219536-Orlando-Sea_World_Orlando_Marine_Mammal_Keeper_Experience.html
http://wdwalone.blogspot.com/2009/10/sea-world-mammal-keeper-part-1.html
http://wdwalone.blogspot.com/2009/10/sea-world-mammal-keeper-part-2.html

Here is a really good blog post from someone else who went, complete with pictures at the end:

http://gabrielleluthy.typepad.com/my_weblog/seaworld_marine_mammal_keeper_for_a_day/
I am now even more excited about vacation! We said we wanted to do something completely unique, but everything was so expensive. This is going to be AMAZING!

My Hugga Bugga!

I love this picture!

Because this picture is "So Callie"!

See her hand? She loves necks! It calms her to come up to me and Levi and touch our necks and then bury her face in our necks. Sometimes it looks like she is trying to choke us, but she just has a "need" to touch our neck. It is such a weird, but only Callie thing to do. It makes us laugh!

She usually comes up, looks you strait in the eye, and with one hand entended touches your neck. Then she gives a big strong Callie hug. Especially when she is tired.

She also is very strong and likes to jump on our backs (like in the picture). She sets her feet on our hip bones and holds on by herself. She is a little monkey! So, here she is after jumping on my back and touching my neck.

She is such a happy little critter!

And to further illustrate the Callie "neck thing", here is a picture of her at the Renissance Festival in her Granny's arms. It was toward the end, she was SO tired, so a neck had to be touched!
After this picture was taken she leaned in for the Callie bear hug and almost fell asleep, but the world was too exciting around her for a nap!

Happy Halloween: Part 3 of 3 - The Renaissance Festival

We went to the Renaissance Festival. I have never been. I thought it was going to be a lot of booths and tents and a few buildings. I had no clue just how big it was! And it was SO much FUN! The kids loved it! I had a blast! And they had some special Halloween things for the kids! Next year I would love to go with just Levi so we can enjoy more shows and look through the booths. It was fun to go with the kids and enjoy it with them!

Here we are at the entrance!
The kids staring amazed at the stilt walker.

The king and spider queen!

Granny and Grandpa came too! Granny said she would dress up, so I thought, "I will be a good sport and dress up too!" I had a medieval dress in my costume box, so I threw that on. Granny backed out... haha! So I was the only adult in our group dressed up and once I saw the amazing outfits of all the performers I felt a little silly in my cheap crushed velvet costume in a bag outfit. But, I have now decided I must get me a better outfit for the festival. I will be checking out Ebay ;)!

Mother Goose! She had a duck and 2 geese. The white goose she holds naturally leans it's head over and gives you a hug. It is the sweetest thing.

Jovie was in love! She has been all about "ducklings" lately!

I thought this spiders web looked so pretty with the dew on it! The man and lady at the booth it hung from named it and everything!

For Halloween the kids could go to every booth and "trick or treat"! They loved it!

A glass artist.

I thought this sign was cute, I had to take a pic.

The first street performer we stopped to see. He is the ambassador to the fairies. Not a very good magician, but a really good character actor.

Waiting for the first show to start. When they say a show is "LC" (loose cannon), that means do not bring the kids! They assured us it would be more "kid friendly", but, it was pretty bad. The problem is we were on the front row with 11 people, getting up and leaving would have made us the center of the jokes and/or made a scene. It wasn't THAT bad, but it was not good either.

The Queen and princesses at the joust. I forgot to take more pictures, but it was a lot of fun to watch!

The cow at the petting zoo! Callie was obsessed with it and stood at the fence and stared at it for the longest time.

Callie and her grandpa!

Callie and Jovie ran right through a street performers show just to get to this horse!

Geoff the Gypsy. He juggles and balanced torches. He was hilarious too! So much fun!

He picked Silas as his little helper. And yes, your eyes are not deceiving you. That is Silas holding a sickle, a knife, and a fire torch.

He told Silas it was his job to catch him. The funny thing is, Silas put out his arms and was very willing to catch him.

Juggling the torch, sickle, and knife while spinning plates on his hat.

Then he gave Silas the job to pass around the hat. Which again, he did willingly without questioning or looking insecure.

Geoff the Gypsy and his little helper Silas!

But then the kids were getting tired! Look at Callie's tired eyes!

Yep, they were tired, but they had a great time!

We will be back next year!

Happy Halloween: Part 2 of 3 - The Pumpkins

When my dad brought us our annual supply of cow, he also brought us our own personal pumpkin patch! 15 of the prettiest pumpkins I have ever seen, straight from the farm!

Thanks Mom & Dad!

We put them around our yard and when Halloween came all the kids went out and picked out their pumpkins from our own personal front yard patch! I helped them gut them before I had to go to work. Then throughout the day Levi would sit down with them one on one and help them cut out the own personal designs. No matter how weird the request, he helped them cut out just what they wanted!

Here they are gutting the pumpkins:

Ruby questioning me... haha!

At the end of the gutting, our table and floor was a mess, but they had a good time!

The finished product (Left to Right):

Lettie- It has an "L" in the eyes and she insisted on a square nose. She is the teeniest, yet picked the biggest pumpkin and of course she had poor Yonas bring it in for her. Then he helped with Callie's and Jovie's. He is the most helpful kid in the world!

Yonas- A vampire pumpkin, Lettie said it "creeped her out"

Silas- Since Lettie had an "L", Silas wanted an "S" and Levi pulled it off. Go daddy!

Ruby- Looks like a clown, I think it looks so cute
Nolan- Scary and with eyebrows (the eyebrow idea fascinated some of the kids)