We had a nice surprise before we even left Kansas City. We ran into my niece Amanda & her guy, Damon at the airport. We all had early morning flights to Florida. Ours would take us to Orlando; theirs would take them to Turks & Caicos! We were all pretty excited to be leaving the cold nasty winter in Kansas.
We arrived at Sara’s house to a party! Sara’s been a runner for a long time & has a great group of running friends. Claire has also become a runner involved in the group “Girls On The Run” at her school. The Olympic Trials Marathon was being run with the course really close to Sara’s house, so she invited both her running group & Claires to a party to watch the marathoners & have a fun time.
The party lasted all day & everyone was having fun. It was awesome for me just to get to watch Sara & her friends enjoying each other’s company & cheering for these elite runners. Another fun thing involved in all of this, was that Danny’s cousin, Larry, who lives on the coast, had a grandson participating in the marathon. So, after the run was over, they came by & we all spent time catching up.
The next day was super fun for Danny, the girls & me. For all of our birthdays, Luke, Peter, Jordan & Leia had gotten us tickets to Cirque de Soleil at Disney Springs. I’ve always wanted to see one of these performances, but the tickets were out of my budget. Such a super fun birthday present & loved, loved loved spending this time with girls & getting to experience this with them. We went a bit early, so we could walk around DS.
Then we headed off to the theatre to find our awesome seats.
Before the show started, one of the ushers asked Emma & Claire if they’d like to be part of the pre-show activities on stage. It was so much fun to watch them. They were a bit nervous…there were about 6 kids in all that were asked to go down to the stage, given paper & pencils to draw. The theme of this Cirque showing is “Drawing & Imagination”. They each had their drawing shown on a big screen, interaction with some of the actors & applause from the crowd. It was super great!
The show was fantastic & I was as excited & awed as any of the kids in the theatre! We walked around Disney Springs for awhile after the show. Of course we visited the Lego store & each of the girls came out with a treat….they love Lego! Sara met us out there, while Kevin had gone to the Pro Bowl game. We all met up for dinner later on, got caught in a fast crazy storm, then it was time for the girls to head to bed.
School really interferes in grandparent time! But, on Monday, once they were freed from school, homework, etc, they started playing with the Lego sets they’d gotten yesterday.
Tuesday was Emma’s 6th Birthday!!! She started the morning out celebrating!
...and got to open some gifts right after school. She’d requested from us a stuffed hippo…she loved it!
But then there was homework, snack time, then T-ball practice.
Then, more celebrations to finish out the night…cake, presents, singing…Love this little girl & so happy to be here to celebrate with the family.
We made rainbow grilled cheese one day for a snack…a hit with Claire but a thumbs down with Emma.
Claire had softball practice after school on Wednesday.
The rest of the week flew by….we had time at the park almost everyday. Emma has learned to swing herself since the last time I was here….she loves to swing! (And I do too!) The temps had been chilly our first days here, but warmed up as the week went by. We got to wear shorts & sandals the last three days…Yay for winter in Florida!
Claire loves to run & climb & jump…over & over. She can do this for hours! What a strong & happy girl….love it & her!
The only selfie I got with the girls.
Danny & I managed to walk a bit in the Florida sunshine….I felt good all the days except one. My foot is doing better & I’m walking on it a bit more every day.
Saturday was here before we knew it & today is Emma’s friends party. Sara & Kevin had rented a bounce house & Emma wanted a Mermaid theme. Lots of her friends showed up, the kids had a blast & we enjoyed sitting around visiting & taking it all in!
And then our week was over….we loaded up in the van, buckled in, hugged as we got to the airport. Time flies, school interferes, so much activity….it’s just the normal wonderful life of kids growing up, making new friends, doing things they love….experiencing life. We love spending whatever time we can with the girls & I always love the time I have with Sara.
Our flight home was good, we landed to good weather (always a concern in February), made it home & happy to see our cats survived.
We have new adventures coming soon….Danny & I are on a new ‘trail’ that has no map, no time frame, no certainty….stay tuned.