Noels Birthday

Celebrating Noel

Today Noel turned 7 yrs old. He decided that he would have a boys trip to Disney World for his special day. So he and Daddy and Nathan got up early, dressed, headed to the donut shop and then on to Hollywood Studios. Once there it proceeded to rain almost the whole time they were there. But Noel did not care and had a great time doing all "the boy things." This year at Disney they are giving free admission on your birthday. Since we have annual passes we have the option for a gift card for $63 or passes for rides. Noel chose the gift card and bought a Star Wars helmet that talks and changes your voice into a trooper voice. It is pretty cool. The boys came home around 4pm. We opened presents and then I made him his birthday dinner, hamburgers on the grill. We also had yummy cake (Noel, Nathan and Ella made last night) and ice cream. Happy Birthday to our sweet boy Noel! We love you very much!

The Sonic Boom

For the last 13 days we have become avid NASA TV fans. The kids have loved everything about Space Shuttle Discovery. They want me to read the articles in the paper, they watched the shuttle dock to the space station and of course the space walks were very exciting to watch. So of course we had to watch Discovery make its way back to earth. When we discovered that you can hear the sonic boom and possible see the shuttle fly overhead as it made its way to Kennedy space center we were all very excited. So on Saturday we turned on NASA tv and waited anxiously. Once Discovery made its way over Florida we headed outside. We knew we would have a good chance of it flying overhead. Just as we were about to give up we heard this loud and I mean loud two booms right in a row and then all the dogs in the neighborhood started barking. It startled the kids but once we explained what it was they thought it was very cool. So we headed back in and watched Discovery land on the tv. They all cheered and clapped when it finally touched the ground. It was a fitting ending to our first space shuttle experience in Florida.

Space Shuttle Discovery

One of the great things that we have love about living in Florida is the amount of activities to do. Yesterday we drove over to Titusville and saw what was one of the most spectacular sights I have ever seen. Space Shuttle Discovery launched at 7:43 pm as the sun was setting. We were 7 miles from the launch pad, one of the closest viewing sights available. We were surrounded by people from all over and family from California and my moms best friend and her husband. It was a festive and fun atmosphere. As the shuttle started to rise everyone began cheering. You could not hear the shuttle noise. As it lifted into the sky in the distance you heard a low rumble as the rumble got louder, the crowd got quiet as we all waited for the sound to reach us as it traveled across the water from the launch site. Discovery continued into the dusk sky and then the rocket boosters fell off.




Finally all that was left to see was the most beautiful trail of smoke going high into space illuminated by the setting sun. It truly was a most amazing sight to see. As Discovery was making its way into space, Noel, my almost 7 year old son, looked at me and said "I could be an astronaut someday!" I looked at his bright, excited face and said "yes, you can!" It was a wonderful experience for us all. Who knows we may have a future astronaut in our midst!

The Boys

My kids have their moments but they really do love being with one another and are best friends, which makes life lots more fun and easier on me. :)

Noel's New Taekwondo School

Noel has been taking Taekwondo for 1 and 1/2 years now. So when we moved to Florida one of our priorities was to get him into a school as quickly as possible. We found a wonderful school 5 mins from the house. Unfortunately they teach a different style of Taekwondo, which means Noel has to learn all new patterns and forms. Fortunately, Noel is a very good listener and can follow directions very well. So they allowed him to keep his green belt and within the last month he has already learned almost every new move he has needed to know. We are so proud of him and his dedication and determination to become a black belt.

Nathan II

Sometimes I get a picture of the kids that is so them. Nathan has been a little camera shy in the last few months. That is why you rarely see him in the picture or offering a smile. But we were in the car and I had the camera on him and he gave me one of his special smiles and I caught it! He has the sweetest smile for me and I am so thankful to finally be able to share it with others.

Celebrating Daddy

On March 1st Nathan celebrated his birthday. This year I decided to surprise him with tickets to see the Minnesota Twins play the Boston Red Soxs in Fort Myers, during spring training. This has always been a wish of Nathan's since he was young. Although a bit chilly for Florida standards (60 degrees) we all enjoyed the game. This was the first baseball game for the kids and we had so much fun telling them how it all worked, singing during the 7th inning stretch and eating popcorn and peanuts. Nathan would like to go see the Twins play in the regular season against Tampa Bay. So we will get to enjoy seeing baseball again (Tampa is 30 mins from our house). Another wonderful perk of moving to Florida! Happy Birthday Nathan we love you!!

Basketball Award Night

Both Grace and Noel played on a basketball league here in Lakeland. They ended up really loving their teams and having a great time. They had a big awards ceremony at the end of the seasonwhere each team went up on stage and everyone cheered and clapped then they all got medals. It was a very fun and encouraging night for them. Great job Grace and Noel!

The Beach in the Winter

We are a beach family. A few weekends ago Nathan had to go back to Memphis so I took the kids down to some friends of ours near Sarasota. We enjoyed the beach at sunset and then had a fun night with our friends and then hit the beach the next morning. The water was very chilly but they all tried playing in the water and little Nathan actually swam and stayed in the water for almost an hour! He is definitely my water kid. Besides a pesky seagull or "eagle" as Ella would say, taking the cheese right out of her hand we had a wonderful day playing in the Gulf!