Wednesday, October 27, 2010

Vacation

Back in the summer of 2009 Cori and Paul found out that Paul's sister was going to be getting married in Orlando in the fall of 2010. Cori thought "Orlando, YES! I haven't been to see my Nana in way too long and she is only and hour from Orlando." What a perfect opportunity to get us together and spend some much needed time with our Grandma. So the planning began...

Mike, Allison, Jacob, Mia, Gabriel, and I flew into Orlando on Friday (the same day as the wedding) and drove the hour and twenty minutes to Paisley. When we got there, of course, Nana had food waiting for us (tortillas, pork chili, and beans).

Saturday Cori and Paul drove up and we spent all day sitting around talking and "practicing to be old ladies" (a.k.a. crocheting and knitting), oh and eating.








Sunday Nickie and Rascal drove down to spend a couple of days with us. It was so great to be able to see them! Sunday night we had a fire at my Aunt & Uncle's house by the lake and drank some wine. Thankfully the bear waited till we went to bed before coming to see if we left any food unattended.

Monday we got up at 5:00 to say goodbye to Cori and Paul. After a little bit more sleep Allison, Nickie, and I took the big kids to Universal's Islands of Adventure so we could go to the new Harry Potter theme park and Mike took Gabriel to Disney's Animal Kingdom! The kids (and adults) had a great day. Mia rode her first, second, and third roller coasters and Gabriel got to meet one of his new favorite guys, Donald Duck!






Tuesday we spent the day relaxing. Nickie and I went to check out a few hiking trails and springs before she had to go back home. We took the paddle boat out on the lake, played in the sand pile, and went to bed early.

Wednesday off to the beach we went. We drove down to Cocoa Beach and spent to day in the sun and waves. Gabriel loved the water and Jacob had fun burying Mia up to her neck. We all slept very well that night.






Thursday was another day of relaxing and homework! I know homework, on vacation? But that's what happens when you skip school to go to Florida!! Allison and I took the kids to the library (that's a new thing in tiny little Paisley, FL) so they could cram in lots of homework time.

Then it was Friday, time to fly home. It is always nice to come home after being away, but coming home to a house you love is so much better. Mike's cousin Hillary stayed at our house with the dogs and everyone did great.

Thursday, October 21, 2010

Keeping Warm

What kind of old farm house would we have without a wood burning furnace?

So far heating with wood is going great. We did have a few days that is got REALLY warm in the house (so warm we had to open all the windows). But after Mike got the furnace figured out it stays pretty consistent. We are also very lucky to have an abundance of dead trees available for us to use (saving money). Not to mention cutting the trees and splitting the logs are great exercises for my computer geek. ;-)
It is a lot of work but over all I think we are going to like this chore. The kids are pitching in as well, gathering sticks, loading the wood onto the trailer to bring home and piling it into the basement.


They took the wagon around the yard looking for sticks
and got quite the pile!





Helping daddy start the fire.
"Mommy don't touch it. It is berry berry berry HOT."

Into the basement it goes.
Papa O had the brilliant idea to use an old slide for this job.