The MBA Cup

The MBA Association held a fabulous family day full of food, laughs, and fun. Each cohort (one years, business majors, and traditional two years) competed in various events for the coveted MBA Cup. Some events included flag football, tug-of-war, and a trivia contest. It was great to finally meet some of the classmates Sean has been talking about for the past year.

Logan watching Sean play a game of bean bag toss.

Gavin (already covered with sweat and dirt) watches a caterpillar crawl under his plate.

'Mom, it's the very hungry caterpillar. He's hungry.'

Option A Trivia Team

Gavin and Jordan (3) were best buds that day.

The event was held at UF's Lake Wauberg Park. It's a beautiful and peaceful and just 15 minutes south of campus. And in case you cannot read the sign below, 'Attention: Alligators may pose a threat to humans in unsupervised wildlife areas.' Love it!

The MBA Cup winners: Option A (Sean's cohort)

The prize: $75 bar credit to the establishment of their choosing.

Some Great, Great Aunt Fun

Every spring my Great Aunt Helen from Pennsylvania visits her sister Pauline in Florida. Both of these fabulous women were my maternal grandfather's sisters. We were lucky enough to be in the state this year for Helen's annual visit. After spending the night in Orlando, we traveled north to the small community of Mt. Dora. My mother's cousin Judy and her husband Raul live there in a gorgeous 100+ year house on the lakefront. We sat outside until we could not take the 85 degree weather anymore and meanwhile Judy and Raul graciously served us lunch while we visited.

Judy and her beautiful 94 year old mother Pauline.

You have to watch these two. They both can get pretty cheeky.

A Great, Great Aunt Sandwich.

Sean has been teaching Logan what sound a lion makes lately and Logan inevitably makes this face while he growls.

It was such a joy watching these sisters interact.

Helen and Logan share a smile.

Before saying our good-byes once again.

Thank you Judy and Raul for entertaining our boys, filling our bellies, and sharing these two wonderful ladies with us.

Hollywood Studios and Magic Kingdom...again

I know you may be sick of hearing about Disney at this point, but I am posting the following for grandparents, family, and friends who do not live close. We will be the first to admit that we have been to Disney a lot this past year. Since we bought Florida Resident passes and knew we might not be close to Orlando too long, we have tried to put our passes to good use. It helps that Sean has never had classes on Fridays and some semesters Monday or Wednesdays too. Oh, the beauty of college life.

This past Friday we spent the better part of the day at Disney's Hollywood Studios trying to finish up the attractions we have not seen (or repeating the really good ones).

After Toy Story Mania again, we stopped in to see Buzz and Woody. Sadly, Buzz was on a lunch break but Gavin was not disappointed.

I bought this Minnie shirt for $5 at H&M last summer thinking of only wearing it at Disney. Well, I have done just that every single time we have visited.

This time we caught the stunt show, and I could not tell which boy was most enthralled with the cars. All three pair of eyes' were glued.

Chillaxin' while brother frequented the potty as part of his training. We have a third member of our house now using the toilet.

We stopped by the now Disney Junior Live On Stage show since they updated it with 'Jake and the Neverland Pirates.' The show is a favorite at our house.

This was Gavin for most of the show until gold doubloons fell from the ceiling when Jake came on stage. And he still has his gold doubloon in his pocket today.

Next up was the Pixar Parade.

Do these people get paid enough to wear these costumes in the summer heat in the middle of August? Already, I know the answer is no. It was 88 on Friday and we were sweating in the shade while watching the parade.

'Mom, Look! It's Woody again and Buzz is back from lunch.'

After the parade we checked into our hotel and grabbed dinner at Buffalo Wild Wings. We typically never spend the night, but we were visiting family the next morning in the area so getting a hotel room was cheaper than two tanks of gas. At the restaurant, Gavin was given a crown that he refused to take off. (Refused in the sweet, adorable way, and not the stubborn, embarrassing kind.)

Since we were staying in the area that night, we sacrificed some sleep to watch the spectacular Main Street Electrical Light Parade. So worth it even if we did not sleep until 10:30 that night. Thus after dinner, we rode the Monorail over to Magic Kingdom.

His highness in front of the castle.

And even in 'It's a Small World' the crown remained on. What a hoot!

A Doctor's Office Mistake

A letter arrived in the mail today for Sean.

I do not think he will call to set up his appointment anytime soon.
(And it's not like they meant to send it to me. Sean is the only person from our family who has visited this practice!)

Neptune Beach

After departing ways with my father, we decided to spend more family time at the beach. This time we drove south two beaches to Neptune Beach. This highly residential beach was the perfect mixture of soft and hard sand. No vehicles and no Spring Breakers created a perfect balance of how to end this mini-vacation.

Gavin was almost always by one of us while Logan was often wandering freely. In fact, this independent one year old took his milk south to enjoy his drink on his own. He was so far away (but close enough too) that I would get looks like 'Does that mother know her child is so far away?' No worries for this mother bear knew where he was every second.

Every now and then he would grace us with his presence.

Sean turned his back on his family while trying to create in secret. Once his creation was discovered by his sons, Sean quickly took pleasure in destroying his own work before they even had a chance.

It was another beautiful family memory created.

Camping at Huguenot Memorial Park

This past weekend we decided to enjoy the 80+ weather we have been having by camping at the beach with my father. Our time is quickly ending here in Gainesville and we are trying to take advantage of having my father so close. We traveled a few hours east to Huguenot Memorial Park just north of Atlantic Beach on Saturday morning. After setting up camp, we headed to the beach along with several hundred Spring Break high schoolers. Oops! We made the best of the day and enjoyed watching the boys play in the sand.

The men in my life.

Grateful is not a strong enough word for each of them.

Logan was beyond happy to walk 'miles' on his own.

This boy is too handsome for his own good.

Another beach experience without anyone getting burned. Sa-weet!

You can see a few Spring Breakers standing around in the background. You could probably hear their music too if you lean close enough to the screen. It was that loud. Did I just age ten years for saying that?

Back at the camp, Gavin found a cool 'sword' that he used to sing 'Jake and the Neverland Pirates' theme song around the tent again and again. Did you happen to notice our new tent gifted from Christmas? The box says it sleeps seven but really it's a 'Mary Poppins' tent. Meaning the outside looks normal, but once entering you realize you could fit a mansion within.

There was even a little playground for the kidlets to enjoy.

Just a little, brotherly love push.

Ribbit, Ribbit.

Here is a shout out to our cruising buddies, you know who you are.

The ship was beckoning us.

Saturday night was the night of the Super Moon and I tried to capture some shots of the giant beauty. Nothing worthy to post except this blurry (on purpose) shot. The orange glow is the Super Moon and the red & blue lights were the cops who caught up with some naughty Spring Breakers.

Here's the proof that we survived the night. Our children are not the best campers but practice makes perfect.

Let There Be Cake!

Without Sean's talented cousin and mother around, my cake making skills were tested. There might have been a boxed cake mix involved, but at least the frosting was homemade. Nothing too technical for you can tell the frosting was left basic white on purpose. An easy L cut from Twizzlers and a single candle rounded out the decor.

Please note that the stinker already swiped a sample as I leaned in close for a picture. This kid is no dummy and he knew exactly what I was holding.

This is the face of sudden shock as he realizes I have fed him pure sugar.

Carpe Diem!

Gavin could not wait to have a piece of the big cake. Really, he kept asking all day.

This boy knew exactly how to devour the cake. In fact, I had to pull it away after only a few minutes since he would put fistfuls of cake into his mouth at a time. Please do not feel sorry for Logan since he had plenty to last him until next year's birthday.

In comparing how Gavin and Logan ate their birthday cake, I realized I have raised two different eaters. It is most likely the result of the first and second child, but still interesting to note. Gavin poked at his cake and hardly knew to make a mess until I shoved his hand into the cake. In fact, he was probably waiting for someone to feed a piece of cake to him. And to this day, we have to help him finish his last couple bites of dinner by feeding him. Meanwhile, independent Logan has been feeding himself for almost five months now and knew exactly what to do with food when placed in front of him. He has consumed half the plate by the time you take your place at the table. Logan is all business when it comes to food, meanwhile Gavin is a lazy eater who likes to graze throughout the day just like his dad.