Pinewood Derby - Saturday April 7

This year was our first year for the Cub Scout Pinewood Derby. Graigry and Eric created a car and learned some things that they can do better next year. Graigry had a good time racing his creation down the track.

Ready to roll down Track A.
Graigry's car preferred Track B.

Each scout got to have two turns to run, and each turn got one run down each track, racing against another car. Track A made Graigry's car wobble which slowed it down. When they were doing final runs for trophies, they did 2 out of 3 runs and luckily, Graigry's car started on Track B. Thanks to that fortunate placement, Graigry took fourth place.

Graigry with his trophy

Pinewood Derby Trophy holders 2012

We came home from Pinewood Derby and the three younger kids got to do their Easter Egg Hunt in the backyard. Saturday was a fun and very busy day!

Friday Fun and Farewell to Florida

Friday was only a half day in Florida. I did the final packing of suitcases while the kids and Eric helped finish the wood pile for Uncle John. Eric enjoyed using the gas powered splitter to cut up the wood; something routine, controlled and mind relaxing. Every time Eric sees a wood pile, he wants to be back in Florida and cutting wood.

After some final helping, John took the kids for a final spin in the tractor. They, of course, LOVED it!

Start your engines!
Gotta be fun to hear and feel that engine beneath you.

Rolling down the driveway!
Xela was nervous, but did a good job,
considering it was her first time driving a tractor.

Why walk, when you can ride?
Mommy got in after taking the picture.

Ready, Steady,

WE HAVE LIFT OFF!

We came home, had lunch, each kid got a turn playing a game on the Wii, we packed up the van and headed north. We headed for Tennessee and after a 10+ hour drive, with a stop to clean up motion sickness pink puke, we arrived at the Walkers. The chicken pox plague had passed and so we were able to stay Saturday and Sunday with family to enjoy each other and General Conference.

Daddies dosing during Conference.

It was a wonderful conference and a wonderful spring break vacation. We got home at six am Monday morning. We slept a few hours and then had a day to readjust to reality. Kids went back to school on Tuesday and I returned to work. Florida is always such fun, Nate has already declared that we will be going back next year for spring break.

We'll see!

Boating and Beaching

Happy sailor

Thursday was our last full day in Florida. Uncle John has a small river boat which is fun to go on, we we spent about two hours riding around the river. Crystal River, Florida is a nature preserve, so there are all kinds of birds that have made their nests in the marshy land islands on this river. We saw lots of turtles sunning themselves on rocks and even caught a glipse of an alligator in the water.

Using their Sea World souvenirs to enjoy
the sights and sounds of the river.

Heading up the river

John let each of the kids, and myself have a turn to drive the boat. Brave man!

Neta the naval navigator.

Nate did a pretty good job steering the boat.
He had to stand up to see over the gauges,
but that's okay.

Graigry does a little directing on the river.

Aurora almost ran us into the lily pads
and an unseen rock. Uncle John shut it down
and put it into reverse. All little too much power turns
for the little boat.

Xela was smooth and steady.
Neta is sitting in the little bit of shade
sipping a juice box.

This was much easier than driving a car.
So relaxing with a light breeze. Perfect.

We drove home and on the long driveway into the house, John stopped the truck and we got out to see the...

TURTLE!!!!

John tapped it's shell and the turtle pulled right in.
The kids each got to pet the shell
before he was put back on the ground.

We ate some lunch, played a little Wii and then packed up for a few hours at the man made beach. It was on the Gulf of Mexico, and we didn't get to do a beach last time because our trip was shorter and it rained. The kids enjoyed playing in the water and sand and searching for shells (which they suprisingly found a few).

We worked hard to build a sand something,
but the sand was hard to work with and
the tide came in after a while & washed half of it away.

Water was a little chilly, but they all had fun.

Goofing off in the Gulf of Mexico

Nate in the sand.
This sand was harder to manipulate into anything.

Beached Momma

Kids tried to cover me up, but the water wouldn't allow it.
Later I found sand in spots where sand ought not be.

Neta the sand mermaid
(You can kind of see her tail on the right side)

Eric spent his time under an umbrella
reading a book and he still got burnt.

Nate had a fun time chasing these birds around.

Sibling bonding in the water.
I hope their relationship strengthens.

Their sand creation.

Killing the creation.

Xela backing on the sand.
Her shoulders matched her swimsuit pinkness.

After a few hours, we were burnt but had a good time. We got home and then sanded off in the pool while dinner was being prepared. My kids don't get sick of the water.

When Xela got out of her swim suit, she was CRISPY. It was hard to see until you had the rest of her skin to compare it to.  She and Ro got burnt, all the other kids, who I sunblocked, were a little red in the face, but not too bad. It was a good day and they were all very, VERY tired by scripture time.

Wet and Wild

Wednesday was a wet one. We got up at six, had pancakes and sausage for breakfast, with a few pieces of fruit and then packed into the van for the two hour drive to Sea World Orlando. Last year we got a rain check to make up for the wet day we experienced. The expiration was April 1, so I was determined to use them.
Once we finished our trip, after loosing our GPS and having to do a little naviagating without the phone, we arrived and had to go to the guest services to get our tickets.

Waiting for our tickets

We sat down and decided what shows we wanted to see and when we would see them. We had seen most of the shows last time, except the dolphin show. We knew the Shamu show was going to be different as they had announced that last year. As Xela and I took numerous pictures, I will upload them and add captions in effort to walk you through our day.

SHARK ENCOUNTER

Graigry and Dory

Neta looking for a baracuta,
or something

Graigry - Great White Bait

Aurora fighting back out of the shark's mouth

Two for one bite

Xela dived right in!
How many people can say they've been eaten
by a Great White Shark.

Real shark babies in their eggs.
There are lights shining behind the eggs
so you can see the sharks swimming inside.

SWORDFISH
This guy swam right above us
just as we walked into the tube.
So cool! 

Five little monkeys in the shark tube

STING RAYS

One of the first things we stopped to see and we revisited them several times during the day. The kids had a great time touching the rays, when they swam close enough (they being the rays, not the kids).

Ro and the Rays

Hanging out at the sting ray pool

Sting ray row.
Scott zoo with hands in the pool
waiting to touch the silky sting rays.

CLYDE & SEAMORE

This was the same show as last year. There is a mime that welcomes and makes fun of people as they walk in. He made fun of us, not sure what he did, but I heard the audience laughing as we went walking by. Our yellow hat and shirts made an easy walking target.

Seamore talking to the captain of the ship

The captain & Seamore with
the marrooned & Clyde.
Both searching for the buried treasure.

Winston the walrus brought out the treasure.

Last year I had a picture of Eric with the kids in their ponchos walking in front of me.
I had to get another picture like it on this sun shiny trip.

Yellow ducklings hand in hand with Papa.

Walking to the Shamu show

SHAMU SHOW

(without Shamu, but still AWESOME!)

Jumping in the air, away from our side.

Swimming by us

Trainer guiding whale.
The tank is HUGE.

We loved watching the jumps...

...especially when they were up close and we got
SOAKED!!!
This obviously is a before picture, then I had to quickly hide the camera.

Here was another jump that got us some sprinkles.
The whales came around and splashed us with their tales as well.
It took us an hour to dry off.

Trainers and whales

In 2007, when Eric and I first saw the show, trainers got into the water with the whales. The two shows we've seen since then, trainers do not get in the water with the animals. I think in early 2010, maybe 2009, a trainer got pulled down and was drown by one of the males. I wonder if the final show, called Shamu Rocks (which we didn't see) has the trainers in with the whales.

DOLPHIN VIEWING
We watched dolphins from above and below.

Saying Hi to the crowd

Up close and personal with the dolphins

Nate & Graigry


PETS AHOY!

(This was one of the favorite shows from last year)

This is the set for Pets Ahoy.
Cats, dogs, pigs, a rat, ducks, birds and a skunk
make their way in and out of this set.

Yes, I did say skunk.

Can you jump rope with your dalmation?

WILD ARCTIC

(it wasn't as cold as I remember it being last year)
We took the ride through the arctic and then walked to see the animals.
They had beluga whales, a sleeping polar bear, and a walrus.
The kids had more fun climbing around the polar bear "den.
"

There is our youngest cub.

Graigry holding up the fort.

Aurora sliding out

Xela's high five to a polar bar paw print.

 They also had a scale that the whole family stood on, together.
We don't weigh as much as one polar bear.

ON OUR WAY TO....

I had to stop for a quick photo...

Eric had to stop for some ice cream pops...

and then there was a red headed woodpecker.

...THE DOPHIN SHOW!

This was the best show of the day. Dolphins, divers, trainers, bunjee cord performers, macaws, a vulture and what they call a False Killer Whale all took part of the show. It was AMAZING!! I wish I could have caught it all on video and upload it to show you how cool it was.

I became a hat rack before the show.

Dancing with the dolphin.

Divers and flyers
There were people on bunjee cords flying
dressed as macaws and vultures.
Real macaws and a real vulture flew over the audience
which was AWESOME!



They called this a false killer whale.

Making waves while riding the whale.

The trainers came to the exits so I had to take a picture.

We made a brief alligator stop

We are in Florida, after all.

and lastly, we waited and snacked before the last ride of the day

popcorn and sprite
was a before dinner (two and a half hours late) snack

Nate was just a little thirsty.

JOURNEY TO ATLANTIS

(The kids went with Eric and LOVED it!)



Eric & kids finishing their journey.

One last splash for the day.

Heading back up to unload passengers.

The kids came off the ride and wanted to get back on.
They all LOVED it, even Neta who at first didn't want to ride.

Our day came to an end. One last shot...

...and we packed into the car and made our way back to Uncle John's and Aunt Diane's. We, without GPS again, directed ourselves a little amiss before Eric called Xela's cell phone into service. I wrote the directions down, which proved to be of benefit as her cell phone battery died before we got "home."

Once "home," there was pizza waiting for us, which was very welcomed as we'd had pretzels and popcorn and ice cream during the day. You can't take food into Sea World, and their food prices are horendous ($10 for a small plate of chicken and fries). We woke up Nate enough to start a pizza and say the prayer. We had to help him finish the prayer as he was too tired to got the words out alone. That is exhaustion; poor kid.

I don't know when we'll get back to Sea World again, but I'm thankful for the memories created over the last two years.