Legoland

For Spring Break this year, we spent a few nights in the area around Tampa.   On the first full day, we made a 45 minute drive to Winter Haven to visit Legoland.  We were so impressed by this amusement park!  We arrived at 10 a.m. for the park opening and we did not leave until the park closed at 6 p.m.  This was the perfect amount of time to see and do everything.  The weather was great, and the lines were not bad at all.  Olivia and Owen were just the right height that they could ride all four of the roller coasters.  One of the favorite activities of the day was the Lego "driving school" where kids could get into power wheel- type cars and drive around a little city.

We also got to meet the Lego Movie characters- that was "awesome".

 Miniland was very impressive.  They had recreated various cities using legos.  They had even recreated scenes from Star Wars- which was the kids' favorite section.

 Legoland is built on the site of the old Cypress Gardens, and they have maintained the gardens and ski show that were original to that park.  The difference is that the ski show now features Lego men.

The Cypress Gardens area was the last part of the park that we visited before closing.  I wish we had had more time to check it out because it was beautiful.  As we were exiting, we all agreed- Legoland was a hit.

Swamp Run 1-Mile

 This past weekend was the Okefenokee Swamp Run 10k.  I usually participate in this race, but I did not this year because I'm still resting my leg from some random injury I got about two weeks ago.  This doesn't mean that we completely sat it out.  The kids and I arrived in time to see the runners come in and we made signs and cheered for them.  Many of the runners smiled or gave the kids "thumbs-ups".  Owen was particularly good at cheering.



There was a one-mile fun run following the 10k, so the kids and I participated in it.  We were excited to see my friend Krystial and her family there.  Krystial's son Bryce was also running the fun run.  Olivia and Owen both started out running pretty well, but Olivia's "run" didn't last long.  She had hurt her leg playing basketball the day before and started whining about it being too sore to run on.  I told her she didn't have to run, but she really wanted to be in the race.  Having the desire but not the ability to run = Mama carrying you on her back for the entire race.  Yeah, I got my workout.  Owen left us in the cloud of dust.  Olivia and I were next-to-last to finish, but we did finish.  Even though we were held back by injury, I'm still glad that we participated.  This is the marquee racing event for our area, and I want to be supportive of it.

Owen is 6!

 We celebrated Owen's 6th birthday with a Dr. Seuss-themed party.  We had our family come over for pizza, cake, and ice-cream on the Friday before Owen's birthday.  It was nice to visit with all of our family members.  Hannah made a cute little cake, and Owen really liked it.  He was also excited to get so many nice gifts- including new clothes, Skylander figures, and Lego sets.  We were all so happy to celebrate the birth of our sweet little "Weena".

Gate River Run 2014

My favorite race that I participate in on an annual basis is the Gate River Run 15k.  This is the national 15k championship, and it just gets bigger each year.  The course is nice, but very challenging (2 bridges).  I was a little concerned because I my leg had been bothering me ever since a 5k the weekend before (The Tiger Trot- in which I PRd w/ a time of 24.05)   I probably should have sat out of the Gate, but I really didn't want to because it's my favorite.  I ran pretty well and ended up with a time of 1:22:32, which is my second fastest time for this race.  I managed to be in the top 10% of women to cross the finish line, so I got the 10% finisher's cap.  Even though my leg didn't bother me during the race (thank you Bayer Back and Body), it has been bothering me ever since.  So, I'm resting it for the next few weeks.  Hopefully this will be a speedy recovery.

Stephen Foster State Park

 Olivia had to do a school project about a certain group of plants (trees, flowers, and desert plants were some of the options given).  Since we live near the Okefenokee, Olivia chose to do Swamp Plants.  We wanted some pictures of plants for her project, so we decided to make a trip to the swamp.  We've been to the Swamp Park in Waycross several times, so we decided to try something new.  We drove an hour and a half to the southern entrance at Stephen Foster state park.  This was deep swamp country, and it looked different than the park in Waycross.  In Waycross the swamp canals are narrow and dense with vegetation.  The park at Stephen Foster is where the Swamp meets up with the Suwannee River, so the water is wide and looks more like a lake than a swamp.  Still, there are plenty of alligators and other wildlife.  In addition to the gators, we saw deer, turtles, and lots of birds.  We took the boat tour and also saw different types of plants.  I couldn't believe how many people were out canoeing and boating.  The swamp was full of people!  The kids and I had a good time and gathered lots of info for Olivia's project.

We added the pictures that we took to Olivia's project.  I think that it came out cute.

101

March 1, 2014 marked my (great) Granny Moore's 101st birthday.  Her (very large) family had a luncheon at Captain Joe's to honor this special event.  Before we ate, Granny Moore stood up, thanked everyone for coming, and told us that she loved us all.  It was an afternoon full of fun- a true celebration.  As always, I am in awe at the amazing health of my great grandmother.  She truly is an amazing woman.

Stop Hunger Now

 This year the kids and I volunteered with Stop Hunger Now.  The area churches (including ours) have been participating in this day of service for three years now, but this was our first time volunteering.  The goal of the program is to raise money to provide food for people in developing countries and then volunteer to pack the meal packets.  This was such an amazing experience.  I was in awe by how well-run the process was.  There were three shifts of volunteers.  Volunteers from our church were among those working the first shift.  Each person had a job.  Some held the meal bags under a funnel.  Others measured and poured into the bags food staples such as rice, beans, and grain.  Completed bags were put into trays which were picked up by "runners" and brought to the front tables to be weighed, sealed, and put into boxes.  Owen and Olivia were runners.  They walked around the room bringing empty trays and taking full trays to the proper destinations.  They did a really good job.  I have had several people comment on how well they did- which is good because they were pretty much unsupervised by me.  I was way too busy with my job- which was weighing the bags.  Mama, Quincy, and the Brooker family were at the table with me.  After weighing the bags, we handed them to Quincy who sealed them.  In our 1.5 hour shift we packaged something like 35,000 meals.  It was crazy.  I'm not sure what the final meal count was.  Hannah and her girls worked the last shift, and she told me but I forgot.  It was over 100,000 meals.  This was an amazing experience, and I hope that we get to participate again next year.