Disney World Animal Kingdom!!!

Well, I have not been looking forward to doing this post. We went to Disney World in May! There are so many great pictures that we have it is hard to choose which to post. I was a bit worried about going with Ellie being so young. She ended up having a total BLAST!! We stayed at two resorts because Nate had a conference at one and we wanted to check out another.

First we stayed at the Animal Kingdom Lodge. WOW was it nice. We had a safari view room so the animals were right outside our balcony.



Elyse wanted to spend every waking moment out on the balcony yelling at the animals! We had breakfast and snacks out there every day!



The resort itself was pretty nice. There was lots to look at and do.

The lobby was pretty as well!

The Animal Kingdom Park was nice as well! It made us realize how nice our zoo in St. Louis is...and it is free. I only wish we would have went to the Asia area so we could have sen a panda. We ended up going to the Africa area to take the safari ride. We did enjoy the ride so it was well worth it!! Here is the family in front of the tree of life at the Animal Kingdom.

Ellie had her first encounter with the Disney Characters at the Animal Kingdom. She wasn't to sure at first but ended up liking them quite a bit. Chip and Dale were two of her favorites of the day. But it was Mickey Mouse who got the KISS!!

Mother's Day

We had a wonderfully relaxing mother's day this year! Our morning was spent at the botanical gardens. Our evening was spent grilling out with friends! 

The botanical gardens has to be one of my favorite place in St. Louis! We had been already this year but not much was in bloom. This time it was just beautiful! The roses and iris were blooming! There were many other plants in bloom but I really don't know what they are! They were pretty though! 

The first thing Ellie did when we got there was make a friend! This is Parker and Ellie talking on the bench. These two really took to one another.  They chatted and pointed and followed each other for a while. All while keeping the adults very amused!

After parting ways with our new friend we stopped to smell the roses!

Finally I got some mommy time!

Daddy even got some Daddy time!

Before we left Ellie made another friend and played with the cement sheep! 

I don't know who had more fun! 

Coloring Easter Eggs

We went back to Cleveland for Easter this year. It was wonderful visiting with family!!

Saturday before Easter we decorated eggs at Dawn's house. Last year we did not do eggs, Ellie was only 8 months old. This year she had a blast especially with her cousins around!!

Happy Birthday Mommy!!

I celebrated my Birthday on April 1st. It was a lot of fun especially with Elyse blowing out the candles. She is really getting into it. Her birthday should be fun this year.

Building the Arch

My mom and nieces, McKenna & Taylor, came to visit us over their spring break. We had a great time during their visit! We made it to the science center where grandma, McKenna, Taylor and Elyse built the Arch. THey have this neat exhibit with foam blocks you piece together to make the arch. It was fun watching Elyse try and help!

First Hair Cut!!

Elyse got her first hair cut!! Finally at 19 months. 

We felt there was enough hair on her head to get some snipped off. She did pretty well. She cried off and on. But she sat VERY still!

I finished!!!

On Saturday I did the 5 mile St. Patrick's Day Run!! I am excited since it is my first race ever. I don't think I have really run since 'they' made me do it in high school!! With the support of my great girlfriends I DID IT!!!! I don't know my exact time since I didn't get to the start line until 5- 10 minutes into the race... there were so many people!!!!! It was great.

Here we all are before the race....

And here were are after!! And after a beer. 

Who knew it would taste so good at 10:30 am?

Then of course we had to get all the kids in!

Me and Ellie at the end!