April showers have come and gone...

Well, April is over already. I can't remember doing ANYTHING in particular, but I do remember feeling busy all the time.

Oh, yeah, now I remember...baseball, baseball, baseball. It seems like we were always headed to a baseball game or practice for one person or another. Chandler has some really late games, start time of 7:45 p.m, and that just killed us. Normal bed time for Chandler and Cooper is 7:30, so those nights we weren't getting home until after 10p made for a rough next day.

Both Cooper and Max went for their yearly check-ups. Both boys are healthy. The Pediatrician has predicted that Cooper will be 6'2 as a full grown adult. Cooper is delighted to think that he maybe taller than Daddy, who is 6'1.

Our homeschool group had a roller-skating get-together, so I took the boys. We haven't been skating since Chandler was about 5, and it was a disaster then. For all of Chandler's athletic abilities, he just doesn't seem to do well with wheels on his feet. This time was no exception. After falling a few times, he gave up in disgust. Cooper actually did quite well, although he was using those plastic skates that clip onto your shoes. I guess the wheels don't roll as easily, therefore the younger children don't fall as easily. Cooper was doing great on the carpet. I looked up a few minutes later and there he was, all by himself, going around the skate floor. Max wanted to try them too, so I got him a pair, and he actually did well too. He was able to roll around on his own and I even took him out on the skate floor once (I was wearing shoes). Thinking we might need to take Chandler for lessons, as I think he really would enjoy it once he got the hang of it.

In a course of a conversation with the boys about Disney, Cooper informed us that he has never been to Disney World. We realized that he was correct, and thought how sad that is that we have lived in Florida for almost four years and poor Cooper has not even been to Disney World. It's only 2 hours from us. We told the boys we don't do things like that because of their behaviour. We can't even go to the grocery store without them fighing over the color of grass. Why in the world would we spend all of that money to listen to them fight?? But secretly, I felt that we really should get down to Orlando. After all, Chandler is still young enough to get the child price ticket (under 10), and Max is still young enough to be free (2 and under), so now is the perfect time. Plus we can get a good deal in ticket prices, as Florida residents, and who knows how long we will live in Florida. Plus being Florida natives, we know enough that only the tourists go in the horrible heat of summer, so we knew if we didn't get down there before mid-May, then it would have to wait until October when both the heat and the tourists have went away. Grandma Bosket had been promising the boys to take them to Seaworld, so we thought that this was a perfect time to do a double-whammy, one day at Seaworld and one day at Magic Kingdom, and we planned a secret four-day weekend at the end of April (secret from the boys only :).

Friday night we packed the suitcases in the back, covered them with a blanket. Saturday morning we got the boys and the dog ready and loaded. We took the dog to a kennel. When Cooper asked why we had to leave Mandi there, we told him that she had a Dr's appointment and we would get her later. He was fine with that. We headed south. After about an hour, finally Chandler asked why it was taking so long to get home. We told him we had to take a different way because we had to pick something up. No questions. We thought for sure that Chandler, because he can read, would figure something was up as we got closer to Orlando and he would start to see the road signs. But he was too engrossed in his video games to notice. Even as we drove through downtown Orlando, with all of the tall buildings, and Cooper said "Look Chandler, those buildings are huge!"...Chandler barely glanced and said "uh-uh". Then Cooper started noticing the billboards for Universal (with the Marvel superheros) and Disney..finally Chandler asked WHY are we in ORLANDO??? Again, we told him we just had to pick something up. We went to Downtown Disney, which is a outdoor mall area that is all Disney, to eat at the Rainforest Cafe. We thought the boys would really enjoy this. At this point, we told the boys about our plans for the weekend, and they were very excited. They love staying at hotels, so that was a huge deal for them. Grandma and Grandpa met us at the hotel later Saturday night. We stayed at a timeshare resort, with two bedrooms, a living room, kids play area and full kitchen. The only way to go, if you ask me.

Sunday morning we got up and Grandma took us all to Seaworld. It was a great day for it. It was hot, but not unbearable, although as always, the humidity took us down a notch. The boys enjoyed seeing the Shamu show, and made sure to sit in the wetzone. Grandma, Grandpa, Max and I sat up higher, as we weren't really into getting soaked with whale water. Do you know that every section of the soak zone got SOAKED EXCEPT for where Chris and the boys were sitting. They came out bone dry! Well, Cooper will tell you his leg got a little wet. Chandler rode his first official roller-coast, the Kraken! He loved it! And because there was no line, we rode it twice! Chandler and Cooper both rode the Atlantis, which is a water ride where you go down a HUGE drop. We all got soaked on that. Wasn't sure how Cooper would do but he ended up loving it. It was a great day, everybody was on their best behaviour, and the boys got to see a lot of fun things. Grandma had given each of the boys a "budget" for souvenirs. They could buy whatever they wanted within their budget. Cooper spent every last dime of his, Max bought a Shamu (although he is sure it is a shark, not a whale), and Chandler decided he would save his money to buy a video game when he got home.

Monday morning, we got up and went to Magic Kingdom. Grandma and Grandpa had to head back to Jacksonville, so it was just us for this trip. The boys were excited and amazed at every little thing. We arrived as the gates opened, at 9 a.m. We had previously bought Autograph books for the boys, as I remembered how much Chandler enjoyed getting all of the characters autographs when he was younger. Well, I guess times have changed a bit, because none of the boys were really into doing it. They just didn't seem to want to bother, I guess because they didn't really care too much about the Disney characters. Again, the weather was warm and humid, but not unbearable. It did rain a little in the early evening, but that just made it better for us as it made some people leave. After about an hour, the rain stopped and we were good to go. The crowds were decent, and we probably didn't wait in a line longer than 20-30 minutes, with most rides walking right on. We started out with a easy ride, the Buzz Lightyear ride, figured it would be a good ride to break all the boys in, so they wouldn't be scared, and even Max could go on it. Thankfully Cooper is a tall boy and he made the height requirement for all of the rides. Chris, Chandler and Cooper went on ALL of the rides, ones I was sure Cooper would hate. Roller coaster after roller coaster, and both Chandler (who would barely get on the spinning teacups in his younger years) and Cooper LOVED it. They went on Space Mountain FOUR TIMES! For those of you who don't know, this is a space-ship themed roller coaster, inside of a building, and it is basically pitch-black except for stars and planets. It is scary! They went on Thunder Mountain, Splash Mountain and everything else. They all loved the Pirates of the Carribbean ride, even Max. They made it through the Haunted Mansion with no problems. I think the biggest problem we had was that Max hated the fireworks show. We closed the park down at 11 p.m, which was an amazing thing for our children to be up so late, and still acting great! Again, we gave each of them a budget for souviners. Cooper spent every last dime he had, Max almost did as well as he wanted to buy whatever Cooper bought. Chandler finally loosened his grip on a few dollars to buy one gun from the Pirates of the Carribbean store, but was determined to save as much as possible to buy his new video game (which he did the very same afternoon we arrived back in Jacksonville).

Al in all, it was a great trip and the boys pleasantly surprised us with their attitudes and behaviour. So much so, that we intend on doing it again in the fall. This time, Chandler would like to go to Universal. We shall see!