It's so hard to believe that our sweet little Coco Bean turned four on Sunday. In some ways, it feels like she's always been a part of our family but in others, it's hard to comprehend that our smallest baby is FOUR.
We spent the weekend of Cora's birthday celebrating at Disney World. Her celebration was extra special though, because it included Grammy and Grampy.
Friday after school we drove up to Orlando. Daddy had a golf event for work up there on Friday during the day so he was already there. We kicked off the birthday celebration at Outback for dinner. This weekend was also Cora's turn to bring home Elliot, the class's traveling stuffed pet. We sure had a lot of fun things to write about in Elliot's journal of his adventures over the weekend.
On Saturday, we hit Hollywood Studios (Cora's choice). Roger and Rowan hit up Rockin Roller Coaster, which has a 48 inch height limit, while the C's and I enjoyed some popcorn.
Then, Roger and Cruz hit up the Tower of Terror while we went on the Great Movie Ride. Rowan loves roller coasters but doesn't love the dropping motion on Tower of Terror. Cruz, on the other hand, loves all thrill rides.
We took Elliot the reindeer to meet Minnie Mouse. Cora loved when Minnie put Elliot on her head.
Even Cruz loved meeting this Toy Solider from Toy Story.
The Wicked Queen from Snow White
Max, Goofy's son.
Olaf!
We tried a new Star Wars show that we'd never seen before along with some tried and true favorites like Frozen, Disney Jr. Life & The Voyage of the Little Mermaid.
The kiddos voted on a Steak N Shake dinner.
Grammy and Grampy arrived on Saturday night. On Sunday morning, Cora was able to open a couple of her birthday presents that we had brought along.
Then we headed to Magic Kingdom, which was all decked out for Fall!
Cora got her birthday button!
On the ferry to MK
Grammy, Rog and the boys went on Space Mountain while Grampy, Coco and I rode the People Mover, one of Cora's favorites.
Everyone was excited to ride It's a Small World too!
We then got ready for Coco's big birthday lunch at Cinderella's Royal Table, the restaurant inside the Castle.
Me and my girl!
Fireworks went off right over the castle as I shot this picture... so funny!
Four different princesses came around to the tables. I didn't get the best pictures because of the window behind the kids but I love this one because Cruz is in it!
All the kids got Wishing Stars. Coco got a wand and the boys got swords. They made wishes on their stars!
Thank you, thank you Grammy and Grampy for being a part of Coco's day. She loved every minute of having you with us.
Now that we're a month into school, all of our extra activities are back in full swing.
The week before we went on our cruise we survived Hurricane Hermine, our first big tropical storm. All schools in Manatee County, where we live, were closed for two days. This included Cora's pre-school. The boys' school is in Sarasota County, one county south, and they did not get out of school much to their disappointment.
Cora started ballet and tap at a new studio this year. She is having so much fun with it.
The kids were very excited when our Sunday night Awana started back up. This year Rowan moved up to the Truth & Training (T&T) group for 3-5 graders. Cruz is a Spark again and Cora is still in Cubbies.
Rowan was very excited to earn his T&T shirt and book.
Our church also has a Wednesday night program for kids called Kids Praize. All three kids are a part of this program. Last Sunday, the elementary ages sang in church.
Both boys are in the front. Row is in white on the left and Cruz is in white on the right.
Big third grade Rowan requested his own big kid Bible. At school they've begun looking up verses and reading out of the actual Bible rather than using the more kid-friendly story versions. He was so so so excited to get this. It made my heart so happy to see him jumping up and down over God's Word. He's been reading non stop the past few days.
Rowan has had a great school year so far. He's maturing and growing up like crazy. He has a male teacher this year which has been an awesome experience so far. Rowan thinks his teacher is so cool because he loves sports, technology and Jesus. It's just so great to add another male influence into his life. Anyway, Rowan was asked to help show a prospective student around and help him feel comfortable when he visited 3rd grade. Rowan was so honored to be chosen, it was pretty cute. He took his job very seriously. We were really proud of him for being chosen because although he's a fabulous kid, that job isn't something he generally got chosen for in the past.
Sweet Coco continues to thrive at pre-school. She loves learning and she loves having friends. She is so social and loves to hug her friends when she sees them.
Both boys are playing in the Machine Pitch division this season. It's so fun to have them on the same team.
This is Cruz's first season playing up a division and before their first game he said to me, "I would be nervous but I know that Rowan will help me if I need it."
Last but not least, Cora is still doing gymnastics. She loves it and it's a great way to get her energy out. Right after her class is Open Gym, so we often stay for that and she gets a total of two hours of gymnastics fun.
Here she is warming up at the beginning of class.
She loves when she sees me videotaping. I think she forgot what she was supposed to do at the end.
This was during open gym. She was watching the big girls practice and wanted to walk on the beam like they do.
Lately it has become so clear to us how fleeting our time is with our kids. We are not guaranteed tomorrow and even if we are blessed with tomorrows, they go by so quickly. We will never look back at this time with our kids and be sorry that we spent the energy, time or resources experiencing the world together. I know that for sure.
A couple of months ago, Roger noticed that one of our favorite comedian's, Jim Gaffigan, was going to be on a Carnival cruise. After a little research, we decided that it would be fun to go and take the whole family with us.
We drove to Miami to board our ship for a 4 day cruise to the Bahamas.
Originally we had booked one stateroom for the 5 of us but after some research and watching some youtube videos of other families who had chosen that option, we decided to get adjoining rooms instead. The upgrade was completely worth it.
Here's a little tour of the rooms. The kids rotated in the beds so each got a turn to sleep in all the beds.
The "all you can eat" ice cream was one of the things they were most excited about. We got our first cones/bowl before we even set sail.
We left a very stormy Miami
We played some mini golf in the drizzle as we got going. This would be the first of MANY times we played.
We finished a second bowl of ice cream before dinner.
The kids enjoyed eating "fancy" dinner in the dining room. There were tons of choices for kids food and since the food is included in the price, they could eat as much as they wanted.
Cruz and Cora had plain pasta and fries each night. Rowan tried the hamburger, chicken nuggets and spaghetti.
Day #2 our boat docked in Nassau, Bahamas. We ate a quick breakfast before we getting off.
Our plan for the day was to head to the Atlantis Resort to enjoy the water park there.
I left my big camera on the ship and brought our little, waterproof camera on this adventure.
You had to be 48 inches to ride the big slides so Rog and Row were off doing that for most of the day while the C's and I explored the smaller water slide areas.
We also played around with the water proof feature on the camera.
Cora is not much for waterslides. This was about as daring as she got.
We got a neat tour of Nassau on our way to and from the ship.
This evening, Roger and I got to meet Jim Gaffigan and attend his show on the ship. That was so much fun! Carnival has a GREAT kids camp program. The kids actually requested to go many times. They spent this evening doing various activities, craft, scavenger hunts and games with the Camp Carnival counselors while we attended the event. Sending the kids to Camp Carnival is also included in the price of the cruise.
Cereal and POG (Passion, Orange, Guava) juice was the breakfast choice for the boys each morning.
Coco had pancakes and bacon.
Day #3, our ship docked at a Bahama island called Half Moon Cay which is owned by Carnival.
We played a little mini golf while we waited for the ship to dock.
Cora got some much needed help from Daddy!
Off the boat!
I brought my big camera this day and I'm so glad I did.
The kids couldn't believe that the water was turquoise and so clear that you could see almost to the bottom.
There was a small splash pad right on the beach with a couple of small water slides.
We rented a paddleboat for a little while.
The boys did a great job at helping to pedal.
Coco was perched in between Roger and Rowan for most of the time.
The kids wanted to go all the way out to our ship but this was as far as we made it.
Everyone was so helpful and friendly! One of the island guys used a hose on the kids to get the sand off of them. He also wrapped Cora up in her towel.
Carnival puts on a big BBQ lunch which was fabulous. We had burgers, hot dogs, watermelon and pineapple. Cruz was very proud of how much watermelon he ate.
Since the water isn't very deep, the ship docked a little ways out in the water and we took small boats to shore.
We got back on the ship, had ice cream (of course) and made our way out to the water slides for a bit.
I love how Cruz is giving two thumbs up to Rowan at the bottom.
We did showers and a little quiet time the rest of the afternoon. The kids were so well behaved this whole trip. They were kind to each other, they were so patient when waiting was required and they were super pleasant even after two nights of 10:00pm bedtimes.
We enjoyed getting dressed nicely to go the dining room.
Roger and I had a little date after dinner each night when the kids would go to Camp Carnival. The face painting was one of the Cora's favorite activities! The boys loved the video games, drawing contests, and magician.
Day #4 was our sea day and started with breakfast by the water.
The morning started out a little bit drizzly.
We played shuffleboard.
And let the kids each pick a game at the arcade.
Since it was still rainy, we dropped the kids off at Kids Camp for a couple of hours. The boys wanted to see the magician again and compete in the Uno tournament. Cora was excited about the pirate themed morning and the prospect of getting her face painted again. The boys were together in the 6-8 year old group. Cora was in the 2-5 year old group but didn't seem to mind being alone. She loves to make new friends.
Coco and I played in the splash pad in the afternoon, while the boys went on the slides again. The weather cleared up and was gorgeous and sunny.
The kids had noticed the candy shop several times since we arrived so we let them each pick some out.
Dressed up for our last night in the dining room.
Day #5. We arrived back in Miami this morning. We had one last breakfast on the Lido deck before debarking.
Yep, ice cream for breakfast on our last morning.
A bag of candy and sweet note arrived for Cora in our stateroom. It was an early happy birthday note and treat from her Camp Carnival counselors.
Our hearts came back so full. This trip was so so special.
