A few Things . . .

I finally have a chance to write again after another busy week with my family. We had a great 4th of July weekend with Brian's sister, Nancy. We spent the day of the 4th at the beach enjoying the sun and calm waters. Hallie can never seem to get enough of it. She goes from one family to another searching for kids to play with, any age. Aiden has finally learned not to put the sand in his mouth and is content just digging in it. He also enjoys just being held in the water, occasionally kicking and splashing. After 4 hours at the beach, we headed home to shower, barbecue, and do a few fireworks. Brian still enjoys setting off his own fireworks, so he stocked up on quite a few to do with the kids. When he left for work, we returned to the beach to watch the show put on by the city. One word: spectacular! The next day, Nancy, the kids, and I headed to Miami to take a boat ride around the Bay to see the mansions. It was truly an enjoyable weekend.

The next day, we packed up our SUV and headed up to Orlando to visit Universal Studios for the day. It turned out to be a very enjoyable day for our family, and one day of walking around in the hot sun and waiting in lines was plenty! We were able to see quite a few of the 3-D experience shows and go on a most of the rides, thanks to the "child swap" room that Universal has. Brian and I even took a ride on the new Mummy rollercoaster! Luckily, we did not need to use the childswap on the ET ride, which is Aiden's first official ride. He sat in a seat all by himself and had quite an out-of-this world experience. After buying matching shirts for our family of 4 and taking a few family photos, both kids crashed in the car and slept soundly for the rest of the night.

The next day, we left Orlando to head up to Ocala to visit with Brian's family for two days. Aiden reached another milestone this week at his Nana's house and uttered his first word. He is not a happy camper when I set him down (and give my poor back a break, which is still suffering from holding him for hours in the long lines at Universal) and has started crying, "Mamamamama" - which is code for "pick me up! pick me up!"

Unfortunately, the weather did not cooperate with us in Ocala so instead of visiting a park or a pool, we were faced with a day of rain. So Brian and I decided to take the kids (Hallie, Aiden, cousin Paul, and almost-cousin Dalton) to see the new Ice Age in 3D. Hallie spent the rest of the day playing with her cousin Paul, who is also 4. She always has a blast with him!

So now we are home and I'm getting ready to leave again this Tuesday to visit my family up in PA. I'm looking forward to a more relaxing vacation and spending a week in the Poconos with them.