Replanting Time!

Yesterday papa came in and told Tanek they would need to replant what they had planted because it wasn't coming up. We just happened to be studying about George Washington Carver and how he loved to learn and teach about plants and also in "The World God Made" how on the 3rd day God created plants. It was really pretty neat that it would be on that day that they needed to go out and plant again. It really went along with the lesson and made it really applicable to our day.

I love how Tanek's row has a curve in it instead of being completely straight.

Birthday Celebration at Disney!

Stephanie and I share birthdays that are only 5 days apart. About 3 years ago we started celebrating them at Disney. This year we left very early (6 am) on Sunday morning and got to Disney around 8:30 am. We checked into our room at Port Orleans-Riverside and then got to the Magic Kingdom shortly after it opened at 9 am. We love staying at Port Orleans. It is a very fun resort and I love the atmosphere of it. Besides Tanek and I think they have the best slide in their pool of anywhere and we enjoy it. Anyway we got to the park early and went straight to Thunder Mountain and it wasn't crowded yet. That is our favorite ride. We got a fast pass and rode it twice. By then it was getting pretty crowded so we used our fast pass to ride it a 3rd time. We then went on and rode many other rides. We left around 1:30, had some lunch, went to our room and got ready for some pool time. After we spent some time in the pool and going down the slide we got ready to go to dinner at Downtown Disney. That is one place we enjoy going to and of course Tanek's favorite part of it is the Lego store. He is happy enough to just go there get some Lego's and go play in the room. We decided to have dinner at Planet Hollywood for Stephanie's birthday dinner. I have never been there before and it was a very cool place and the food was very good. After dinner and a trip to the Lego store we went back to our room for a couple hours to rest so that we would be ready for a long late night. Tanek played with his Lego's while Steph and I chilled out for a couple hours. Then it was back to the Kingdom until 1:30 am.

We took the boat from our Hotel to DT Disney. It was so pretty and a very nice afternoon for a boat ride.

Later that night we went to the park. These pictures didn't exactly come out in the order I wanted, but this is later at the park.

This was earlier in the day at the park. On the Jungle cruise

Tanek and his mommy on the Flying Carpet

We also like the Tea Cups. Not sure why it is so much fun to spin around so fast until you are too dizzy to stand up but we like it. I posted a short video below of Tanek on the tea cups. The faster you go the better he likes it. He gets that from his mom.

This is in front of the Lego store. WHY anyone would want to build something this big from Lego's is beyond me. I do not share Tanek's love of Lego's. He absolutely loves them. He will work for hours creating and putting them together. As soon as I touch them they fall apart and I do not find that much fun. I do like to watch him work with them, I just don't particularly like to do it with him. I have a feeling when Lego Land opens this fall it will take the place of Disney for him. I hope not, but he sure does love Lego's.

Around DT Disney are many interesting things to look at. The decorations and plants are all very pretty and there are many interesting and good places to eat. It is always very busy there.

I always love a pretty fountain

This was very interesting. A live statue. I couldn't believe she was alive, but she was and ever so often she would get in another pose. Very fun to watch her.

This is on my to do someday list. I really would like to go up in this balloon. Most of the time it isn't going up. The conditions just have to be perfect before they take it up. We saw it up in the air today when we were leaving. It is one of the biggest helium balloons and I think it would be great fun.

This is where we ate dinner.

After being awake for 22 hours Tanek just crashed and was out. He rode Thunder Mt. and was bouncing around having a great time. By the time we got to the Disney bus to go to our hotel he was out. Stephanie carried him on the bus, after we got off the bus she put him in the stroller and then in bed. This is how he ended up in bed. He was one tired little boy. He had a great day and had so much fun.

Here he is waking up this morning after a good nights sleep.

Several times this weekend we remembered our forever friend and meme. We have shared SO many happy memories at Disney and she was the one that showed us how to love Disney. We missed her very much and always will. But as Tanek said "She will always live in our hearts" and we will always cherish the memories we have made with her and whenever we are at Disney she is right there with us.




How can you not enjoy watching and being with someone who has so much fun at Disney?

Karate!

Friday Tanek had another test for a new belt in Karate. I love watching these cute kids doing Karate. They break boards with their feet and hands, and do all kinds of kicks.

He goes to Paks in Keystone. I like that not only is he learning Karate but they teach the kids discipline, respect for others and how to be safe. I think it is a great over all program for kids. And...... Tanek loves all the action.

Tanek is one of the happiest kids I have ever known. 99% of the time he just enjoys life. Hope that last forever. He is always ready with a smile or laugh.....well almost. He does completely enjoy life.

Congratulations Tanek. You did it again!

Fall Planting Time

Papa has been getting his fall garden ready and planting a few things. Today Tanek came over and planted a row of greens. He loves helping his papa in the garden and he actually likes some of the things they grow. Not sure if he will like the greens, but he said he would try them. He just likes having a part in helping his papa.

Papa had to help him a little with the planter as it was hard to push.

Sitting on papa's bench resting after the planting time

Then it is time for a little fun

He also loves swinging

School Days

Summer is over so to speak, the weather doesn't know it, but kids are heading back to school. We pretty much do year round school which works very well. Tanek does get time off and vacation but doing something all year round keeps him in the swing of it without forgetting anything. He is doing so well and is so easy to work with. He learns very quickly and most days gets it done without any problem. It helps that we can take breaks when needed. He is not a sit down for very long child. He is pretty much in perpetual motion most days. Handwriting is his least favorite subject so we usually do that right before he gets to take a break to do something he wants. That helps him do his best to get it over with and go on to something he likes better.
He is a pleasure to work with and I am very honored to be able to help out.

We are looking forward to this week being done so we can go to Disney to celebrate Mommy and Nana's birthday. This is one of our annual activities that we do for our birthday and we love it. We will be doing some studying of Mickey and friends.

Road Trip

On Sunday afternoon we left Atlanta and headed to Swannanoa, NC to see my brother. It took us about 4 hours. We got there about 10 PM and went to see him for a while and then we went to our room at the Days Inn just a short distance from him. The next morning we got up and took a ride on the Blue Ridge Parkway. It was so pretty and the weather was very nice. The humidity was so much lower than here and a nice breeze. I love NC and we had a very nice trip.

Tanek was so funny. On our way up when we got near Atlanta he wondered why the road went up and down. He is not used to hills. He did like seeing the hills and thought it was pretty cool.

Everything was so green, but we actually saw a few trees that are just starting to change colors a little. Wonder if that means another "cold" winter?

After some time of sightseeing and picture taking it was time to go to the nursing home for another visit. It was nice to find my brother feeling well and we all had a very nice visit with him. The place he is at is very nice and homey. They have it decorated like you might decorate your home. He is pretty happy there and gets good care. Too soon our day was over and time to head back.

Tanek got to meet his other Uncle Richard for the first time. We call him Uncle Richard 2, since he is his great uncle. It was nice to see that he still has his sense of humor and he kept us laughing. Tanek enjoyed meeting him and his Uncle Richard 2 was very happy to meet him.

Tanek was busy taking pictures while we were in his room. He took this picture of his Aunt Grandma. He got some very very close up pictures that I thought best not to put on here. My brother had a place on his elbow that got bumped while they were moving him and Tanek took a picture of it. It was a good picture of a not very desirable sight, so I passed that one up. He also got some very close ups of my sister, but for the sake of family harmony I am not posting those either. He did have fun with the camera though.

More camera fun

They have several nice patio areas that you can sit out on and my brother sits out in the sun for a while every day.

On our way home we stopped by the Asheville airport. My niece Jessica and her mom Judy were flying in from California for a visit. We have not seen them in at least17 years. It was good to see them if only for a short time. Jessica is now a beautiful young wife and mom with two beautiful children. The last time I saw her she was just a young teen ager.

Rena, Jess and I

This is Judy, Jessica's mom and one of my brother's ex-wives and my favorite one.

On our way back to Atlanta we stopped at Krispy Kreme and Tanek got this hat. He got to see how some of the donuts were made and now he says he wants to be an architect, a fireman, and now also a donut maker. The last night we were there my sister gave him one of Uncle Grandpa's harmonica's and he was busy playing it. We made sure we packed it before we started our trip back to Florida.