Swimming time

The time has come again when most of our outside time with Tanek is with him in the pool. He gets papa to go in with him for a few minutes. The water is still too cold for me, but Tanek goes in until his teeth are chattering. After he has taken as much cold as he can he gets in a nice warm bathtub until he is nice and warm.

That nice warm sun shinning down gets you warmed up pretty good once you get out of the water, but it doesn't take long to get cold again when you get back in.

The easiest way to get in is just jump in .

Papa helps get him warm again.

I am looking forward to the water getting warmer, but by then the weather will be unbearably hot so I am not sure I am ready for it. Kids can swim regardless of the water temp. They just love swimming. I just like to sit out and take the pictures. It was starting to warm up pretty well until we got the much needed 3+ inches of rain and a cool front came in.

Mother's Day 2011

Today was a good Mother's day. We went to church, then to Mama Mia's for lunch and then I came home and took a nice leisurely nap. Then I went over to Stephanie and Ricky's to watch Tanek in their new pool. They are just filling it up with water, but that didn't stop him from having a great time in the water. He was so excited and having so much fun. He is really going to enjoy it when it is all filled up.

After a while Stpeh and I went on a nice long 3 mile walk around the lake. It was a rather warm walk, but nice just to walk and spend some time together. I also had a nice long phone conversation with my son, and messages from Heather and others. It was a nice relaxing peaceful day.

When they get the pool filled and running it is really going to be nice. It has a fountain and water jets plus colored lights. It is really going to be nice and Tanek is SO excited about it.

He was in the water so long. When we left on our walk he was playing in the water and when we got back he was still in there. He is definitely a water lover.

Library TIme

Tanek enjoys going to the Library. We usually go on the 1st and 3rd Wednesday for story time. For the month of May they are not having it, but will start their summer program in June. So we go every two weeks and check out books. He likes to pick out and read books and has become a very good reader. I am so glad he enjoys reading and can read well because I think that it the most important step to learning. If you read well the rest seems to come easier.

We started on the series of "The Boxcar Children" thanks to a tip from Jan. I had not heard of these books before but they are very good and he loves for me to read them to him. We are just on the second book but there are many more to read. The story is about 4 children and they are very responsible kids and get along amazingly well. Very good stories for kids to hear. Our Library days are a special time. We usually go to the Library and then out to lunch or play at the park. It is a nice break in the day between school.

And of course there is swimming time. This is what he does when he gets so cold his teeth are chattering. We wrap him up in a big towel and he sits in the sun until he is warm enough to go back in. We are looking forward to the water getting much warmer.

Half the Fun!

There is a nice walking and bike trail in Keystone now and Tanek likes to go ride his bike out there.

Half the fun is stopping for a nice refreshing drink.

Often

And then continue on the ride.

Disney Trip 5/1&2/11

Stephanie, Tanek and I had a short overnight trip to Disney this weekend. It has been awhile since we were there and we were missing it. We had a great time. The weather Sunday was next to perfect. Warm, breezing, sunny and clear. The breeze really felt good. We got there early on Sunday morning, checked into our hotel room and then went to the Magic Kingdom. We beat the crowds and got to do something we have never done before. We rode Thunder Mountain 4 times in a row without having to wait in line. Thunder Mountain is Tanek's and our favorite ride. It is so much fun. I am not much on extreme roller coasters, but this one is just right. We then rode Splash Mountain. If you ride Splash Mountain be prepared to get wet, you will. The last time we rode it we were in the back seat and got drenched. This time we were in the very first seat and got drenched. This time the water fell on our heads. Tanek loved that too and would have rode it more, but we didn't want to.

We had Magic hours on Sunday night or actually Monday morning. From 12-3 am if you were staying in a resort you got to stay and ride. The crowds were down big time by that time and we got to ride everything we wanted and still left by 1:30 am. As you can see we are wearing jackets. It was cool enough at that time of morning to wear them. Very enjoyable.

Tanek liked climbing the rocks while we waited for the water taxi at the hotel to take us to Downtown Disney for dinner. And of course we went to the newly redone "Lego store".

This is a view from our Hotel. We stayed at Port Orleans-Riverside. We have stayed in many different resorts and I think this is our favorite. Their rooms are nice, the grounds are beautiful, the water slide is FUN and their food is good. At certain times you can get a really good rate like we did this weekend. I love just walking around the grounds along the river.

This is the Swiss Family Robinson tree house. It is pretty cool.

This little guy is ALWAYS happy to be at Disney. He loves it and is so much fun. Now that he is older and can ride some of the really fun rides (like Thunder Mt. and Splash Mt.) we really have fun. We got to go on so many rides this time. We rode everything we wanted at least once.

Mommy and Tanek on the flying carpet

Today we went to Epcot for the flower show. They had a couple nice play area's set up for children and Tanek enjoyed it.

He loves riding the Disney bus and he loves to sit in the back. On this ride back to the Hotel at first we were the only 3 on the bus.

More of the playyard at Epcot

Our favorite part of the flower show today was the set up of Lightning McQueen and Mator in Radiator Springs. They really did a nice job with all their plants. They also had a butterfly area, and a fairy display. I sure wish I could have someone like their gardeners and landscapers to take care of my yard. They do a great job.

We got back to our room around 2:15 am and were getting ready for bed. Tanek didn't think he was sleepy yet but he was the first one asleep. This afternoon we came back to our room, went swimming and then came back for a little time of rest since we got up so early and we knew we would be out so late. Tanek didn't think he was sleepy but soon fell asleep and slept for 2 hours. When he woke up he thought it was the next day and was upset that he had missed mommy reading him his good night story. He said he couldn't remember what she read. She finally convinced him it was still the same day and it wasn't time for his good night story yet. He was quite happy when he realized he hadn't missed all the fun we planned for that night especially going to the Lego store.

Good night. Time for a few hours of sleep before we start a new day. We had a great trip and are looking forward to our next one. I love living this close to Disney World and having season passes so we can go whenever we want. It is always fun and we never feel like we have to do "it all" in one visit.

School

This week one of our lessons was about a Gov. Spotswood who was Governor of Virginia about 400 years ago. At that time they did not know what was on the other side of the Blue Ridge Mountains. Some of the people feared there would be big wild animals and some thought just water. So he set out with several people to find out what was on the other side. What they found was a beautiful valley with a river going through it. Our project was to make this on paper. So...we made soil from grits (very sandy) and we used mini marshmallows for the mountains and painted them blue of course. It was a very rough draft of what it is like but it makes it a lot easier to remember the story and Tanek loves painting, and gluing. I love having this table out on the porch for our messy projects.

Of course some of the most fun in school is PE. Tanek has been swimming ever since his cousins visited a couple weeks ago and even though the water is still to cold for me, he has a ball in it. He stays in until he is turning blue and his teeth are chattering. Then he gets out and sits in the warm sunshine or takes a warm shower to warm up.

Papa got in for about 2 minutes. Just long enough to get wet and said it was too cold.

I don't know how many times he jumped off the side of the pool, but he certainly got plenty of exercise.

Upward Soccer

I absolutely love watching kids play. They give it all they have even they may not know what the game is all about. They just have fun. In Upward Soccer the kids just have a ball. They get plenty of exercise running up and down that field. It is so much fun to watch. These were taken a couple weeks ago but I couldn't post them because my computor was in the shop and then it was time to post the Easter pictures. I look forward to watching the rest of the games.