Eat Your Candy!

Always trying to out do Martha Stewart, we dipped into a classic 80's icon for this year's pumpkin. Just a 3/4" drill bit and a couple of minutes of work and, not only was it the coolest pumpkin on the block, it was the easiest to carve.

And This...(Pregnancy #3 Announcement)

Sunset

We all headed down to the beach to watch a final sunset. Margret and Ava collected sea shells as the tide rolled in. They found a star fish and kept it in a bucket to examine. After a while, Ava suggested that we put it back in the ocean so that it could go and visit Ariel.

Mae Mae and I strolled along the sand. She has been taking 4-5 steps at a time and it won't be too long before she doesn't need to hold my hand. In the meantime, I will gladly help her along.

Remember When the Floor Was Made of Hot Lava?

There comes a time in your life where the hotel floor is longer made of hot lava. While you still tried to minimize the the time your feet touch the floor, it is because Dateline shown a black light in a hotel room and revealed it to be a massive $200/night petri dish. Then you have kids and that you find that the floor has started glowing red hot again (and not so much because every hotel room has several liters of blood in the carpet).

Dreams Really Do Come True

If all of your life goals are accomplished at the age of 3, what else is there to look forward to? This is one of the difficult questions that Ava will have to face, as we headed up to the Magic Kingdom at Disney World. This is our second trip here with the girls and while the first was a more spontaneous and lackadaisical journey through the park, this time we were focused like a lazer beam. Our one goal was to meet Ava's favorite princesses: Aurora, Belle, and Cinderella. Our secondary goals was to stay away from Maleficent and the evil step mother and sisters.

An immediate bee-line to Toon Town Disney found us outside the pavilion with hundreds of girls dawning dresses to show their allegiance to their favorite princess. Ava doesn't like to play favorites, so we brought a change of princess dresses (and matching shoes of course). The ingenious of Disney continues to amaze me as the line to meet the princesses winds you back and forth through a gift shop. 2 hours and $35.00 in souvenirs later, Ava was in heaven.

I would have to say that I don't think a single attraction at the park brings as much joy to the children as meeting the princesses. They each had their own station and would visit and talk to the girls for as long as they wanted. Ava monopolized about 20 minutes of their time, warning them about poisonous apples and spinning wheels. Belle greeted Ava with a big hug as Ava was initially wearing her Belle dress. After a quick dress and hairstyle change, she moved on the Princess Aurora (Sleeping Beauty). Finally, Cinderella came to greet her and Ava was sad that we didn't have her Cinderella dress.

Children often telegraph their brilliant ideas through an excited furry, where you know that something amazing is going to happen. I saw it overcome Ava as she ripped off her dress to greet Cinderella in nothing less than her underwear. Her Cinderella underwear! Cinderella smiled and discussed step sisters, singing mice and the importance of tying your shoes (lest they fall off), while Ava listened intently in her underwear.

While we only stayed for a day, I think don't think we missed a thing.

Oh, and Mae Mae took her first steps..outside of Cinderella's castle.

The Upside of Driving in Southwest Florida: Waffle House

If Disney World is the jewel of America's Southern states, then the Waffle House has to be the grease on that jewel that, no matter how you try, doesn't come off. As far as Ava and Mae were concerned this introduction to diner eating couldn't have come at a better time, during the height of their waffle obsession. Ava is up to 3 a morning and Mae Mae can easily gum her way through 1-1/2. My only fear is that they won't be able to go back to Eggo's.

The Most Sincere Pumpkin Patch

Forced to select from the picked over pumpkins from last years, last minute, pumpkin patch visit, we jump started this seasons celebration of ghouls, ghosts and witches. Mae Mae enjoyed stumbling around the pumpkins that were just the right height for her to practice walking. Ava has been getting into the Halloween spirit by watching the It's the Great Pumpkin Charlie Brown and decided that this was a sincere enough pumpkin patch for the mythical Great Pumpkin to visit. Not unlike Linus, we were both disappointed when he didn't show. Very much like Linus, it was a feeling that was easily overcome by a good thumb suck and a soft blanket.