Princesses and Astronauts

As soon as Christmas was over the (Joe) Kemer family left for Florida. We left Saturday morning and drove ALL day. We got in late to a hotel somewhere in SC where we slept [not really, thanks to our chatterbox princess] and left again early Sunday morning and drove ALL day again. For a 14 hour drive it sure took a long time! Monday we relaxed and played in the pool all day. The kids really enjoyed that. It was nice for us to get to recoup after the loooong drive down and before our busy week.

Tuesday we went to Disney World's Magic Kingdom. I think we were a little concerned going in because the last time we went to Disney CJ was about Boo's age and he ended up getting heat exhaustion and throwing up all over us. But nothing of the sort happened this time. We got to ride lots of rides despite the long lines and nobody got sick! I call that a success!! CJ's favorite ride was probably the Buzz Lightyear ride where everybody has their own lazor gun and you get to shoot at targets to accumulate points. Joe got 123,000; Jayne got 118,000; CJ got 12,000 and our resident princess got 300.

The highlight for Joe was the junk food and the jumbo sized turkey leg. I think Bee enjoyed that part too. [picture still to come]

Bee's favorite part was probably Cinderella's castle. When we first got there in the morning they had a show going on the front steps of the castle with all of her favorite Disney princesses. It ended with all of the crowd saying "Dreams really do come true." At the end of the day when we were waiting by the castle for Joe and CJ to get back from picking out his pirate souvenir we were standing watching the lights on the castle change colors and after a long day of excitement she said again "Dreams really do come true." We were surprised that she even remembered that from so early in the day. Her other highlight was probably the princess hat that CJ picked out for her. It matches her "Sleeping Dootie" dress perfectly.

When we got back that night we were tired, but that wasn't going to stop us! We had much to see and do for the rest of our week.

Wednesday we went to The Kennedy Space Center on Cape Canaveral. With a four year old who is so into space (Buzz Lightyear to the rescue!) we couldn't pass it up. The kids really enjoyed it and my favorite part was the short lines. Like Joe said, Anyplace that charges more than $30 a ticket shouldn't have lines. The kids really liked looking at the space shuttles up close and CJ even got to give a man in a real space suit a high five. Bee has decided that when she grows up she wants to be a 'space man guy'. Hey - At least it's a real profession, unlike princess or tea party hostess! We also got to try some space food (freeze dried strawberries) Hey Grandpa! Maybe the next time we see you, you can bring some dehydrated fruit and call it space food! The kids would 'eat that up' :o)

On Thursday (New Years Day) we were lucky enough to get to visit Dave and Amy and their new baby. We didn't plan to do anything all day other than hang out and visit Kemer style (you know, watch movies, eat, and nap). We figured that's all the new baby was going to do anyway. :o) It was a nice visit, although we may have worn Dave and Amy out a bit. Sorry guys! As if a new baby isn't enough to handle, we added a 4 year old, 3 year old and 10 month old into the mix. They are doing a great job and guys, if you're reading this, it does get easier. She WILL sleep through the night!!

We relaxed again on Friday and tried to play in the pool some more, but it was not as warm, so the pool didn't heat up quite as well. Today is Saturday and we are over half of the way home. The traffic isn't nearly as bad this time and we hope to be home around midnight (Knock on wood).

Joe goes back to work on Monday after 2 weeks off so we are back to reality soon, but we had a really great holiday visiting with the family and can't wait to see everyone in May at Jake & Sarah's wedding!