Thanksgiving Weekend

I have to start off by saying that we did a poor job this Thanksgiving as we forgot to take pictures but this was because we had such a great time! We drove down to Sarasota for the day as my parents were at the Florida home for Thanksgiving this year. Mike and my mom did most of the cooking while myself, my dad, Michael and Ryan hung out and goofed around :) The meal turned out fantastic thanks to Mike and Grandma Ludwig! Michael slept through it! Worked out well though because it allowed for Mike and I to enjoy our meal :)
Since I had to work the following day, we were not able to spend the night in Sarasota. We did venture to Orlando though on Friday afternoon to spend some quality time with The Taylor's :) We checked into the hotel and Michael immediately found his hiding spot.

We met up with Adam and Amanda at our hotel then traveled over to Downtown Disney to shop and eat :) Amanda recommended the Rainforest Cafe and her recommendation was perfect. Michael was occupied the entire meal as he studied his surroundings. He is a big animal person so seeing monkeys and elephants just made his afternoon! The Rainforest Cafe also has a thunder storm that comes through every 30 minutes which was exciting too! We saw these awesome animal bar stools while we were waiting for our seats and we could not resist passing up getting a picture of our lil man on the giraffe!

They also had tons of aquariums throughout the place that Michael found appealing!

After we enjoyed our meal, we strolled around the downtown Disney area, hitting up some of the shops, stopping at the Disney stores. Michael is really now getting into Mickey Mouse :)

Downtown Disney had several areas throughout where these Christmas set ups were placed so we decided to get a family picture at one of them :) We were tempted to try Santa again since DD's setup is super nifty but figured we wouldn't torture the poor boy again since the first visit was a no go :)

We also took a picture of the expecting couple! That's right... Amanda and Adam are 3 months pregnant! Yay!

We had a wonderful afternoon with the Taylor's at Downtown Disney! We spent the rest of the evening at the Florida Mall, as well as the next morning, picking up some last minute Xmas presents for family :) Michael also turned 15 months old on our holiday weekend so be on the look out for that post!

Light Up Ocala

It is that time of year again... Christmas time! Every November, Ocala has a fabulous afternoon/evening of festivities prepared in celebration of the Christmas season :) There are tons of vendors, musical/dance programs, great food, a parade and even several bands! Once it is dark, the downtown square of Ocala will turn off all the town lights followed by only turning on the Christmas lights on the square! It is super cool and such a fun event :)

This year, we met up with Jen, one of Michael's daycare teachers from when he attended Pebbles, we well as her son Luke. Michael and Luke totally like each other and are such boys around one another!



Before Jen and Luke showed up, the 3 of us grabbed some Starbucks (Michael got a green straw) and we perused the vendors. Mike bought me an awesome Gator necklace which I ended up having to take off later in the evening as Michael likes anything flashy!
Once Jen and Luke arrived, we decided to hit up the cookie decorating stand. Luke and Jen made a great lil cookie but we kept Michael from partaking in this activity due to his icky history with blue/red dye products.


Luke and his cookie :)

We decided to grab something to eat afterwards since it was getting late. We found a great lil spot that had picnic tables and grass so that is where we parked our booty's for an hour or so. After the kids ate, they felt the need to RUN around! Mike and I spent quite some time chasing our lil man around :)

Daddy caught Michael!

Then it was my turn :)

Luke is such a 2 year old boy... super happy and adventurous! Well monkey see, monkey do! Luke would climb on the table and jump... So Michael "tried" to do the same thing :)

See? Silly lil boy...

Since that wasn't the safest idea for the lil guy, we decided to play high 5!

We also found a go-cart and hung out there for some time.

Luke giving Michael a kiss :)

Michael being happy and wanting popcorn!

Jen and Michael playing while we await the lights!

Daddy and Luke doing the same :)

Finally... the lights!!

Michael admiring the lights :)
He did seem confused at first...

but really got into the lights a few minutes after they came on!

After our evening downtown, we met up with Andrea and Ben at Mimi's for desert. They were traveling through town from Gainesville into St. Pete. We were so glad to spend some time with them since they now reside in California and we don't see them often. Maybe they will be the next to have a lil one? Keeping my fingers crossed. Overall, it was a fabulous night!!

Preparing for Christmas... early!

I was able to convince Mike to put the Christmas tree up tonight: Saturday, November 7th!! We had a total ball with the process since this is our first year we put up a tree! (We usually aren't in town for Christmas)

We began our evening with pulling out our holiday bin from our storage closed outside. We found Michael's Hallmark snowmen from last year. Here is his reaction!!

It was then time to pull out the Christmas tree we had bought earlier in the week from Hobby Lobby (love that store!)

Michael was ALL about helping his Daddy, watching him pull everything out of the big box, inspecting the pieces of the tree and admiring Daddy put the pieces together :)

So the tree was exciting... but the lights were even more exciting for our lil guy! He sat and played with these for quite some time! He isn't one to just sit and play but the lights definitely kept his attention for awhile :)

Finished product!

Since we began our project somewhat late in the evening, Michael didn't make it to see the tree complete. We put him to bed around 830 then went back to decorating! I fluffed the tree, Daddy put on the lights and we got all the ornaments on before our bedtime :) When Michael came downstairs the next morning, he was super excited to see the tree all done! He smiled and giggled then went to play with his Hallmark Xmas snowmen :)

Daddy's Birthday Celebration

Happy Birthday to Daddy!!

We began Daddy's birthday a few days early due to my work schedule, having late home visits and such. I baked Mike cupcakes on Wednesday and gave him his gifts. Originally we were going to spend a long weekend in Orlando, visiting the Magic Kingdom since Daddy would get in free, as well as Michael. However, we decided to something a little more low key and cost friendly...

Lowry Park Zoo!!

Totally glad we decided to go to the Zoo because Michael just loves animals and was able to run around more freely since the Zoo was not crazy busy, like Disney would be. Michael decided he wanted to walk into the Zoo, rather to ride in the stroller. He grabbed both Daddy's and mine fingers so you know me, couldn't resist the picture opportunity!

Once were were inside, Michael ran around for awhile, running into groups of kids from local Elementary Schools. He also pushed his stroller around some :) He thinks he is just the biggest lil boy around! Daddy did help since Michael wasn't the best at steering :)

First stop... Monkeys!

So I just stood by most of the time through this exhibit area as Michael and Daddy LOVE monkeys! Hence Michael's nicname... monkey :) I was able to get a shot of them enjoying their views of the monkeys and no joke, Mike was not posing for this photo. He REALLY does like Monkeys and apparently something really did excite the 2 of them!

Since Michael was running ALL over the place, it was time for him to return to the stroller. He had a ball kicking the gates every time we stopped to see something :)


Around 11 or so, we grabbed a small lunch for us and a big boy lunch for Michael. We were surprised because he didn't like the animal crackers! He stuck to his hot dog, fries and goldfish :)

When we were walking out of the kids area to head over to "Africa," we ran into a Llama! Michael wasn't overly thrilled so we moved on :)
We stopped at the carousal before going to see the Giraffe's. Of course, we pick out the giraffe for Michael to sit on. Stunk though because it didn't move! I was totally bummed but Michael seemed to enjoy the ride :)

There were tons of distractions on our way to see the giraffe's. We ended up spending quite some time watching the meerkat's.

Honestly, I think Michael liked this area because he liked his own reflection. Not too sure the meerkat's were the reason for hanging around for so long ;)

Our big boy decided to walk over to the giraffe's on his own :)

Now I swear that he really does like giraffe's!! Here, not so much but even I wasn't too thrilled because of their slimy long tongues. He preferred to admire them from a distance :)

Lil man was getting sleepy and it was getting HOT so we decided to leave and head to Ellenton for the remainder of the day to begin out Xmas shopping at the Outlet mall. We decided to have Daddy's 37th birthday dinner at the Crab Trap II, the restaurant where Mike met my parents one afternoon in 2006, to ask them if he could take me off their hands and marry me :) Great times!!