Rodeo

There was a local rodeo in town at the fairgrounds today to we thought we would give it a try. We got there too early and had a little too much time to kill sitting in the hot bleachers. The admission came with a BBQ lunch that was pretty good. We ended up staying for about 3 hours and enjoyed ourselves. Aubrey fell asleep in her stroller after lunch. We were able to see barrel riding, bull riding and a couple other horse events. Ethan was disappointed that we were not able to see the chicken race or the greased pig event. Maybe next year.

Here is the bull clown getting out of the way of a very wild bull.
The crazy bull was actually pretty scary. This man of the horse ended up roping him (which Ethan thought was cool) and the bull was so strong it pulled him right off his horse. He was able to get back on and lead the bull out of the arena. It was pretty intense.
Only one rider was able to stay on
Aubrey made friends with these two girls while we were waiting. They would lean over the seat and just laugh hysterically.
Ethan baking in the sun.

Aubrey just before her nap.
Ethan had a front row seat for the bull riding.

Blizzard Beach

We had plans to meet Pam and Mike and the boys at one of the Disney water parks yesterday. We were half way there and Pam called and told me that it was full, they had met capacity and they were not letting anyone else in. They headed back to their place and we tried our luck at the park. Our passes are FL resident ones so they are only good after 2:00. When 2:00 rolled around they were letting people in again. The best surprise of the day - You do not have to pay to park! We were thrilled and that will say us a lot of money in the end. We were disappointed not to enjoy it with our family, but we had a great time and the kids loved it. I have to say that it is difficult to take pictures at a water park. We were able to do our first fun ride together as a family. Aubrey was old enough to ride the family tube ride. She was terrified both times going down, but when we got out she said "again."
This story is for my Aunt Judy. I hope it makes you laugh today! She used to pick me up from swimming lesson sometimes when I was little. I would wear my suit and pack my clothes and 9 out of 10 times I would forget my underwear. Well, I thought I was so good at packing and remembered all the little details of what we would need after the park, such as deodorant, diapers, underwear for Derek and Ethan. You guessed it- I forgot mine! I guess I have still not changed much.

Aubrey loved these little slides and would stay there all day long.
The day started fine with Aubrey walking up the stairs like a normal person.
Then Aubrey was hilarious and started letting everyone go ahead of her. You can tell with her arm that she is pointing people ahead of her. It was cute at first, but then she would not go up the stairs if there way anyone else to go up ahead of her. When there was a crowd we could wait a long time for her to go up.

I finally coaxed her to go up and she got up and came back down again! Augh, the mind of a two year old. It was very funny though.
Mom and Ethan racing.
Aubrey coming down one of the big slides by herself.
Aubrey in the tube slide.

More sliding of Aubrey. It was easier to take pictures of her because the camera would not get wet.

Fun At the Beach

After Ethan got out of school yesterday, we headed to the resort where my Aunt and Uncle and cousins are staying. It was a little chilly, but we were thankful for a heated pool. We stayed and played for 4 hours. I picked up some new arm floaties for Aubrey and they worked great. She would even float by herself for about a minute. They are very cute and girly. As my aunt said they are a far cry from the orange ones. I did not think to bring any shirts for the kids to wear at the pool, so they borrowed ones from Garrett and Evan. Aubrey had not taken a nap yet, so around 4:00 were we starting to see it. She gets something in her mind and that is all she wants. Cheese was on her mind. She ate all the cheese that was in the condo. We finally talked her into an apple slice to eat on the way down to the car. She dropped it on the ground in the parking lot and was beside herself. The good part - she was asleep within a minute of driving! We had a great time. We are headed to one of Disney's water parks tomorrow so I will post some pictures of that.
On a side note, Derek's Mom asked me the other day if we still had Bruster because I never mention him anymore. She has grown fond of him and was afraid I gave him away. Bruster is still with us. Right now he is chain up outside for eating Aubrey's breakfast. After the third time of catching him eat her waffle - I had enough.
Ethan getting buried in the sand.
Aubrey did this for about half an hour. Then she decided she wanted me to keep wiping the sand off her hands and feet with the towel. I told her she will get sand on her because she is on the beach. She did not seem to understand so we went back to the pool.


Playing in the pool.
Aubrey swimming with Pam in her styling floaties.
Aubrey jumped in a zillion times.
Ethan and Garrett in the little pool.
Aubrey kicking.

Too Young for Make Up

Lately, Aubrey has enjoyed getting into my make up. Her favorite is the eye shadow. She loves to put it all over her face, except her eyes. She always gets it on her clothes too. My poor eye shadow is about shot from her digging her little fingers into it. It is pretty cute though. I snapped a few pictures of her the other day when I caught her.

Happy Easter

We had a wonderful Easter and hope you did as well. On Saturday we started bright and early with decorating eggs. I found these cool Qtips that you snap off the top and the dye flows down. The kids enjoyed painting the eggs with them. Aubrey even painted her face some. The only problem was it did not come off of their hands well. Luckily, it came off Aubrey's face, but their finger tips are still colored. We also tie dyed some eggs and put glitter on them.
We had 5 services over the weekend at church. The kids and I attended 3 of them. I served in two and attended one. We had an egg hunt for all the kids during the service so I told Ethan the good thing about going to so many is that he gets a lot of eggs. A lot of eggs we got indeed! I had 67 school age kids today in my service and we had a great conversation about salvation. The kids asked some awesome questions!
My Aunt and Uncle and cousins are nearby on their spring break so they joined us today for church and lunch. I am growing up when I have to cook my own Easter lunch instead of going to our parent's house. I did most of it last night and we had a wonderful relaxing lunch. Darren joined us as well.
I followed my Grandma's tradition and did string around the house. I have wonderful memories of a kid going to her house and string was everywhere. Each grandchild had a different color and you followed it all around the house. At the end was your Easter basket. I consulted her and got some tips and started the tradition at our house. It was a hit! Aubrey was a little young, but she liked the end result. Ethan liked crawling all through the sting this morning when he work up.
A couple at church gave us the coolest gift for Easter. It was a huge chocolate egg and inside of it were wrapped gourmet chocolates. It was very cool!
Aubrey wore an Easter hat for the first time this year and I have to say she was a head turner! Thanks to Rachel and Hannah for helping me pick out her dress and hat last week. We added the green ribbon around the hat to match her dress. How fun to have a girl. Ethan looked handsome too and was excited to be able to wear shorts for Easter. Derek helped him pick out his outfit.