Craig & Christina Vacation, Part 2

More of our vacation. We went to Rainforest Cafe for lunch, it was in the park. I have wanted to go for a long time, but the prices drove me away. But this time we decided to just to it. I am glad we did.











This elephant outside the resturant had such a cut expression on his face. Craig was so thrilled to pose for a picture!!












Aquariums amaze me. The entrance to this cafe was two aquariums on the side with one over the top. To cool.




















There are so many animated animals all over the resturant. They come alive every time the "thunderstorm hits". Very cool to watch, although I did jump everytime the storm started!


















We both had sandwiches. The portions were huge. I could not finish all my food. It was the best burger I have ever had. Yum!!












After being stuffed with the hamburger, they brought out a birthday sunday for me. It was fun to be sung happy birthday to. I only ate a couple of bites then gave Craig the rest.


















Just a couple of pictures of the animated animals around the resturant.





































Okay, I am not really a frog person, but I think this frog is so fun looking!!

















Craig enjoys squishing pennies as souveniers. He did 11 this day.

Of course we watched the parade, you can't go to disney without watching a parade!

I loved these huge puppets in the parade, this is the elephant.

Mickey Mouse!!

This monkey puppet was awesome. He even looked right at us, perfect for the picture.

In the evening, when I really couldn't walk (waddle) anymore, we went to Cirque De Souil. It was captivating. Acrobats have so many skills that I did not think were humanly possible.

Our brief time away was wonderful and much needed. I love you Craig and am glad we had a few days for us!

David Archuleta's Fireside

On Thursday, July 30, 2009, we took our family to a fireside where David Archuleta, singer, was the speaker. David was the second place winner on American Idol, a reality TV show for singers, in 2008. David is an 18 yr old young man with a strong testimony of the gospel. Kendra Lowe, David's accompanist, also spoke.

I know the pictures are tiny. Sorry about that.

Things I want to remember from the fireside:

Kendra said that we have each been given gifts of the spirit. She asked us to read Doctrine & Covenants 46. She also reminded us that we can ask the Lord which gifts he has given us.

David, of course, sang: "We Will Bring the World His Truth", "Be Still My Soul" (his favorite), "The Spirit of God", and "How Great Thou Art". Beautiful hymns that bring back positive memories for me. David shared with us his spiritual journey about learning to sing and eventually being on the Tv reality show, American Idol. He said he learned that the Lord cares about every detail of our lives, even being a reality TV show. David also talked about going to the temple for the first time. He said that the temple feels like going to his grandmother's, a place where we are always loved and welcome.

I am glad we drove the almost two hours to the fireside. We were all tired, but uplifted by hearing Kendra and David's testimonies and hearing the hymns sung.

Lemonade Anyone?

Raeleigh begged to have a lemonade stand. Finally I gave in. She did decide to let Stuart help her. Morgan helped get the cooler of ice and with the poster. Also Morgan made sure they had everything set up outside. They sat outside for about 2 hours, and it was hot and humid. Both of them had a good time and were happy with the money they made.

They were so hot afterwards that we had lunch and then went to the YMCA to swim!

A Year Older

Thursday, Craig took Jordan to Disney World's Magic Kingdom for his 13th birthday. Saturday Craig and Jordan left for the week at scout camp. So Friday we celebrated Morgan and Jordan's birthdays. Craig and I took them to see the new Harry Potter Movie. They loved the movie, but wished it had been more like the book. Friday evening we had pizza, cake & ice cream, and presents. We didn't realize that we had no birthday candles, until we were ready to sing to the kids. So we improvised with a red tea light candle for each cake!

Jordan loves to draw, so Craig and I gave him soft pastels and a pastel sketch pad with colored paper. This brought a nice smile to his face.
My mom has continued with a tradition that her mother started. Each grandchild gets a check for their birthday. The dollar matches the childs age. My kids look forward to the birthday card with a check in it. They plan for what they want to spend their money on.

Jordan has been interested in dragons for several years. Grandma and Grandpap S gave him this cool book. He was also happy to hear from Grandma and Grandpa W.

Stuart and Raeleigh each gave gifts to the kids. So we had to take pictures with them too!

Morgan like most teenager girls likes to dress with accessories. Craig and I gave her a turtle necklace and bracelet, both made of stone. She is such a pretty girl.

We are blessed to have Morgan and Jordan in our family. They are both terrific people that bring good times and challenges to our lives!

CHS ribbon cutting

Craig and Samantha standing in front of the restored historic Charlotte High School. This first building (commonly called the three story) is the only historic part of the campus.

Charlotte High School as well as several other schools in our county were destroyed by hurricane Charley in Aug. 2004. Rebuilding the campus has been a slow process that is not finished yet. However the freshman and sophomore will have new buildings to meet in when school opens. Most of the junior and senior classes will still be in portables for a few more months. Craig is also hoping that the changes to the dinning room will be done when school starts. He does need somewhere to feed the 2,000 students!

There was a ribbon cutting and open house on July 13, 2009 for the completed parts of the school. The ribbon cutting took place in the new axillary gym. The school board was there.

Jerry Olivio, assistant super intendent conducted the ceremony.

Barbara the school board chair speaking. Jerry Olivio, David Galler (super intendent), and Wayne Goff (a CHS graduate.

Dr Dave Galler was pleased with prospect of the nearing completion of the school.

Barney Duffey, CHS principal, spoke on the excitement of opening the new school and how much tradition is in the school. Wayne Goff also spoke. He told stories about starting 4th grade at Charlotte and continuing until he graduated 12th grade. Mr. Goff was a student at the school when there was only the one three story building.

Samantha snapped this picture while waiting for the ribbon cutting ceremony to start. Craig graduated from the school in 1979, Tony graduated in 2006. We hope Patrick will graduate in 2011 and Samantha in 2013.

This is a picture from inside of one of the new buildings, looking onto the pathway that leads to the cafe dinning room. This is supposed to be done before school starts.

The Tarpon Fish is the school mascot. Samantha is standing next to one of the many tarpons on campus. This one happens to be in the main office.

This is a window that shows the original construction on the historic three story building. This building sits at the front of the campus. In the picture below, Craig and Samantha are standing in front of the three story building.

Unfortunately I did not take pictures of the inside of the new buildings. Not sure what I was thinking there. The new school is very nice. So much technology to be used in the classrooms. This is a nice opportunity for Samantha and Patrick to be students there.

Inventor

Our Stuart still loves to create new things. I came downstairs last week to find his Hess Trucks taken apart. The pieces were all over the dinning table. I was not to happy about this, however, Stuart was thrilled. Later that same day Stuart took some of the truck parts and a tub (that is supposed to hold toys) and taped them together. He was pleased with his new "Tank".

I tried to get a closeup of the tank parts.

I love the grin on Stuart's face in the other picture.

Not just on TV

Craig and I came home last week to the kids telling us that the new dishwasher was leaking. Neither of us were very happy about that news. Then Craig opened up the machine to find MANY soap suds. I immediately started to laugh, Craig was not to thrilled. I also said "I thought this only happened on TV!" It was Patrick's dishes day, he discovered we were out of dishwasher detergent. At the suggestion of his sisters he used regular dish soap. Craig and Patrick scooped out the visible suds, then started the dishwasher again.

Of course as the machine continued to run more and more and more and MORE SUDS appeared on the floor. Thus all the towels! It took four runs of the machine to get all the suds out. Now we all know to only use dishwasher detergent in the dishwasher! It was/is definitely worth a good laugh.