If You Build It They Will Come

Ga-Ga has arrived. After talking about it for over a year, we, well Ted, actually, finally built the Ga-Ga pit, with some minor adaptations. And it has been a hit (ha ha). Everyone loves playing the game. There are the normal squabbles that kids have when they play games with each other, but all in all it's been a lot of fun.

The kids tend to play it barefoot, which means they come in with very dirty feet, that really don't come clean no matter how hard you scrub. A couple of the moms on the Circle aren't too happy about that. But as we all know, on Freedom Circle every night is bath night.

Way Behind

So, we've been remiss in updating...life has just kind of gotten busy all around us, and this has slipped off the priority list. So, to get you up to speed, here are a few things from the past few weeks:

As Promised.

Lucy got this adorable shirt when we went to Disney World...suits her to a T. It's most funny if you're familiar with Star Wars, I suppose

Soccer.

Ted again coached Cory's U6 team, with a lot of help from his friend since we ended up missing a lot of the season this year. Cory's team was the Bears. Here he squares off against one of last season's teammates.

Mary Beth played for the Ninja Turtles. She, too, missed a lot of the season, but was thrilled to be playing on the same team as her best friend. Next season begins the year of the traveling team for her age group--we'll miss the convenience of having all our soccer games on the base.

Travel.

We went back to Ohio for a short trip to check in on our house in between renters. It was fun to catch up with our friends. We look forward to being there again someday

College Friends.

I had the privilege of hosting the annual get together with my college girl friends. They were here for only a weekend, which was much too short, but we had a lot of fun and enjoyed the chance to sightsee and reconnect and enjoy really great food (that's 5 pounds that will be hard to lose!).

General Life.

The kids have been busy playing outside in the spring weather. They've created an elaborate Indian Village with their friends in one of the backyards, and they spend many afternoons in costume cooking over the fire, hunting for berries and herbs, making "medicines," and fighting other tribes. It's quite the production.

So, there's May in a nutshell.

Book Award 1, 2, 3...

Tonight was our final AWANA night. We had an Awards Ceremony followed by a potluck dinner. The three big kids have accomplished a lot this year. Lucy joined the Cubbies halfway through the year, and she was a riot by the end--totally loved being a Cubbie

Cory earned his First Book award for Sparks. He sailed through the first book this year, even earning a review pin for doing an extra credit book. Rock on, dude!

This was Riley's First Year in Truth and Training and she also earned her First Book Award. Sweet Sister!

And the ever-competitive Mary managed to finish her 2nd and 3rd books this year in Sparks, earning her the Sparky trophy. Totally awesome, dude!

We're proud of all their hard work and glad that they're so eager to study and memorize God's word.

GATLIN STS: Sea World

I bet you're beginnin to think this Spring Trip South will never end!! The blogging sure seems to go on forever.

Okay, so we also visited Sea World while we were in Orlando. The kids enjoyed the smaller amusement rides they had in one section...their favorite was the Shamu Express roller coaster. This experience was remarkably different than Disney World--the kids literally got off and then right back on the rides since there were no crowds. Granted, the rides were much tamer and on a smaller scale, but I'm pretty sure the kids had just as much fun, and I think even now they would rank Shamu's Express as one of their favorite rides.

Of course we watched the Shamu experience--Riley, Mary and Cory sat with Ted in the splash zone. Luckily they did not get wet. The kids and I watched the sea lion and walrus show they have while Ted rode their big kid rides. They got a big kick out of the antics of that one. We did not see the dolphin show--kind of sad, isn't it?

We also bought the 3 animal fish pack, giving us the privilege of feeding the seals, sharks and sting rays... (and then smelling like it, too)

Mary Beth was the only one brave enough to put her hand in to feed the stingrays, but right as they arrived to swim on top of her hand (thus taking the fish with their little mouths) she quickly pulled her hand out--too scary. I don't blame her--I certainly wasn't putting my hand in the water to feed them!

We did not pay to feed the dolphins, and sadly the area was roped off differently, so that only one area was a feeding area and you were only allowed in that area if you were feeding them. Well, if Pavlov proved anything it's that animals can learn, and the dolphins didn't really swim along the sides in the area where they wouldn't get food, so we had to watch them from a distance.

Things we learned (thereby making this a school day)

• a dolphin's mom's milk is 33% milkfat--whoa.
• the temperature of the sand where the egg is laid will determine if a sea turtle is a male or female
• a shark's liver takes up 90% of its body's size

STS: Disney is Done

Well, after the last post I decided to buy a couple of the images the park photographers took.

Good family photos in front of the Disneyworld icons. Obviously Lucy was not into the whole "say cheese" thing.

We had 4 day passes for Disneyworld and we opted not to go to Hollywood Studios. Instead, we spent a second day at Magic Kingdom doing more "Gumball" and Barnstormer rides.

It was a great day--we got to the park at opening and then left midday, hitting all of our favorite rides again and checking off It's A Small World which we hadn't done the first day there.

This, then, concludes our 2010 trip to Disneyworld.

STS: Disney Day 3 Epcot

One of our Disney days was at Epcot. And can you even believe that we failed to get a photo of anyone in front of the big ball? Well, we did have a park photographer take one, but that will cost us $15--still haven't decided if we should buy one or not.

One of the highlights at Epcot was talking to Crush the sea turtle after going on Nemo's ride. That was pretty cool, and something new since our last trip 5ish years ago.

It looks like our kids have free roam of the fishies here, but really there was a sea (ahem) of people all taking the same pictures. Funny

Lucy refused to let me take a picture of her with her siblings in front of the cool planets...

but she did let Daddy zoom her by on his back...

and then Daddy and the other kids left to go ride the ride, and Lucy gave me this pose...

because she's three and that's how she rolls. It was at this gift shop that we got her the absolute best shirt. Next time she wears it, I'll take a picture and post it for you all.

At Epcot the girls spent quite a bit of time waiting to visit with various characters...

Chip and Dale:

Mickey...

Donald--the one character that Lucy was brave enough to give a kiss...

We did not, however, wait in line for some of the most popular rides...perhaps that was a mistake, but we had fun doing the things we did.

Also at Epcot we had some waffles from "Norway." Disney's do not compare to Katharine's, but they were a good snack and kept our bellies happy until we could get out of the park and somewhere for a very late dinner.

STS--Disney: Day 2 Magic Kingdom

I don't even know where to begin. I think it's fair to say that Magic Kingdom far exceeded Cory's expectations. They had a blast, and out of all the places we visited, this was the one place where none of the kids complained about how tired their legs were.

Cory, Mary Beth and Riley all rode Space Mountain and Big Thunder Mountain Railroad, claiming those as their favorites, but they also enjoyed Goofy's Barnstormer. Lucy was just about a centimeter too short to ride Barnstormer, which is notable because our friends took their son when he was two years old, and he was tall enough for the ride, but short little Lucy (in the 1 percentile for height) at 3 1/2 was too little.

She wasn't too little for Dumbo, however, or, as she calls it, Gumball.

And the tea cups were a favorite for all the kids--Daddy did a good job of making this a "thrill" ride. I'm afraid if I had ridden it it would have been a "throw up" ride, so I stayed on the sidelines and snapped pictures.

Early on, we let the girls pick out a lanyard and a trading pin set... Riley is counting her pins.

Before the end of the trip, Cory used his souvenir money for a lanyard and pin, and we bought Lucy one, too. The girls traded pins a couple of times with various Disney employees.

Dinner with Pooh and his friends was a highlight for the kids. Can you believe Riley, at 10, is an adult for this meal? It was at this meal that Cory really seemed to enjoy himself. He never wanted to stand in line to meet and greet characters while we were roaming the parks--there was always a roller coaster line he'd rather stand in. But at dinner he really seemed to enjoy the characters and wanted to give each of them a great big hug.

Riley and Mary did NOT mind standing in lines for character autographs, though.

Lucy LOVED, LOVED, LOVED going to Minnie's and Mickey's houses. We went through Minnie's house at least 3 different times.

We ended up visiting Magic Kingdom twice. The first time we stayed until the fireworks...which Lucy and I missed because she was so scared. We ended up hanging out in a gift shop the whole time. We returned on our last day for a few hours to enjoy some of our favorite rides a few more times. At one point I saw a family with 4 children who looked to match up with ours, but about 5 years older than each of our kids, and I wondered if we would be back as a family in a few years. I can tell you one thing--if any more of our kids become "adults," it will take that long to save the $$ needed. ;)