Family Fun

Sunday, April 5, 2015

Florida Spring Break 2015

We spent an awesome week in Florida in mid March visiting Mimi and seeing several of the many tourist attractions in the area. The kids loved staying in Mimi's condo and looking for the gator in the condo's pond (we saw the gator in the water, but it didn't come out onto the shore!). The weather was awesome and we had a great time.

Mimi can't get enough of this boy!

Or this girl!

Gator sighting in the wild (not in Mimi's condo pond)

Manatee sighting in the wild (also not in Mimi's condo pond)

Kids (and Dad) playing at park near Mimi's condo

Sharing a swing

Enjoying some time at Mimi's condo pool

3 generations on a bench

We spent our first day in Florida at the Kennedy Space Center. What a great day it was. There was so much to see and do, and plenty to keep everyone interested. We learned lots of interesting historical facts and heard about the future of the space program's missions and exploration... even the future mission to Mars. Sign us up (um, not really).

A day at the Kennedy Space Center

Paper rockets (that look like pencils) were fun to build and launch

Commander Luke and Captain Maddie pilot the shuttle

Posing with Shuttle Atlantis

Kids enter the space station

Luke tries (not really) the space station toilet (really)

Maddie and astronaut Luke

Astronaut family (mom's on the far right, behind dark face mask)!

What visit to central Florida would be complete without a visit to Disney World? We spent one day at the Magic Kingdom, and one day at Disney Wild Animal Park. Of course we had tons of fun!

We arrive at Animal Kingdom

Waiting in the theater for A Bug's Life in 3D

Dad and Luke roll a giant dung ball... Maddie, not so much

Luke plays some African drums

Lions...

...and elephants on the safari

Mom and Maddie are wet after the river ride

Large (and I mean large) bats

Luke buries himself in the dinosaur bone pit

Maddie and Dad survive Expedition Everest roller coaster

We start our day at Magic Kingdom riding Dumbo

Waiting in line for Thunder Mountain Railroad

Sitting on Dad is better than standing when waiting in lines

Someone steals Dad's hat

Long lines make a perfect time to read

Luke and Dad race to the finish

This photo makes me dizzy... tea cups photo courtesy of Mom

The day is ending, let's go home

One last photo with a new sourvenior as night falls on Disney

Sunday, January 4, 2015

2014 Year in Review

Happy New Year!

As a new year begins, we reflect on the past year and all of the blessings, joys and good times that we shared with friends, family and each other. Enjoy the Woods family 2014 year in review, in 3 minutes 22 seconds.

Sunday, December 21, 2014

Camping 2014

Our multifamily camping trip in October was another fantastic outing. This annual tradition has become one of our favorite and most anticipated "vacations" each year. For Luke, at 4 years and 3 months old, it was his 5th camping trip! He loves everything about the camping weekend... sleeping in a tent, playing in the river, digging in the dirt, and this year he had lots of fun helping Mr. Marty stack firewood. Maddie loves spending 3 whole days with her best girlfriends - swinging in the "Tarzan hole", palling around the campground, and just having fun. Enjoy some of the photo highlights below.

To see photos from our previous trips, revisit these blog posts from years past:
2010 Camping Trip
2011 Camping Trip
2012 Camping Trip
2013 Camping Trip

All smiles in the great outdoors

Girlfriends

Dad and Luke play a little cornhole

The river provides hours of entertainment

Luke adds rocks to the river dam

Luke and Dad pause on a hike

Awwww....

Maddie swings into the Tarzan Hole

Silly pose!

A mother-daughter moment around the campfire

Luke pulls his own weight (in firewood) around the campsite

Luke and Mr. Marty doing their daily chore

These times never get old

Camping = getting dirty + no bath

Nothing like some time in a hammock in the great outdoors away from everything with your iPad

The fish weren't biting, but we still had fun

Kids pose with the 2014 signed camp stick

Best friends share a swing

Tired boys sometimes need a lift

Friday, November 14, 2014

California Vacation 2014

It was one of our all around best California vacations ever. Maybe it was the perfect weather we had all week (no June gloom). Maybe it was the fantastic condo a few steps away from the beach. Maybe it was the relaxation or the busy theme-park filled tourist activity days. No, I guess it was spending lots of fun quality family time together with no schedule, no worries and no stress. We're blessed and a week like this reminds us again how lucky we are. Enjoy some of the best photos from our week in Newport Beach this past July.