We got up late and hung out by the pool for a few hours this morning until getting ready and out the door by noon to head off to Disney Animal Kingdom. Something we could all goto rather than separating and going in different directions. Also we only had 1 car.

The weather held out for us today and we were able to get to Animal Kingdom by 1.

Jake seemed like he wanted to stop at every booth and store to buy something and it was kind of tough to get him to look at any animals until we saw his first “giant creepy lizard” (Iguana).

I got super excited cause we stopped in Africa and saw this huge tank of African and Jack Dempsey cichlids. Very cool to see what they look like fully grown and in a huge tank. Then we saw this huge hippo in the water and Grandma was so excited. It was her first hippo sighting of the day. The thing was huge and Jake wanted once cause he said it was soooo cute.

We the grabbed and fast pass and headed over to the safari. I’ve been to Animal Kingdom a few times but never managed to get on this because it’s always been too much of a wait. Gotta love Fast pass.

One of the highlights of the day was seeing the Gorillas. We’ve seen them in a few parks but it’s just amazing seeing them up close and their so close to humans in their mannerisms.

We wrapped up the day after 6+ hours going to the Rain Forrest Cafe. It was much bigger than the one we usually go to in Burlington MA. Dino nuggets for Jake today. We drove home exhausted and releived that we got in at least one park this week.

Daddy slept in and Grandma and Rich brought me down to the pool at 8am to get in the swimming for the day cause I guess it’s going to rain most of the day. It stopped raining about 11:30 so we all got into the car and drove to Universal City Walk so we can eat lunch at one of the restaurants and then go see a movie.

Jake had the camera today so all pictures are his doing not mine.

As soon as we parked in the garage at universal, it started to rain so we had to run under our umbrellas to NBA Live restaurant. Jake had his typical chicken nuggets and I had a tasty Kahuna burger.

We watched the Terminator movie and I thought it was a bit too intense for Jake cause it was a very loud Sony digital theater and the robots were loud. We all thought it was a great movie. As we left the movies we were just barely dry again and had to go outside in a down pour again. We ran to the car and wouldn’t you know it again, it stopped as soon as we pulled out of Universal. We didn’t stay long there but good times. I love their theater too.

Tonight Jake and I wanted to see what the pool was like after dark and it was pretty fun. It wasn’t raining and all the Moms were out there with their mixed drinks and loud stories to each other and most of them cheered Jake on in the pool to just about anything he did. Wow someone needs to get out and away from kids.

Jake loves performing for a crowd.

So Day 3 comes up and there’s 100 things to do in orlando but only a few things when it’s raining. So about 10am we decided to goto Disney Quest instead of one of the outdoor theme parks like Disney World or Seaworld because sitting in the rain all day is not fun.

As Jake and I pull up to Downtown Disney and Quest the rain stops and out comes the sun. Wouldn’t you know it. So we make the best of it and go into Quest. What an awesome place for a kid (and me too). It’s 5 floors of virtual games, arcades and fun stuff for kids. You pay one fee at the door and everything inside is free. No tokens or quarters. After a few hours of Jake and I playing every cool game we can get out fingers on we decided to go outside and see the rest of downtown disney. A bunch of shops and resturants but not much else to do for us. Jake found a lizard and that was his entertainment for the next 30 minutes.

We got back from Disney Quest and Jake quickly said he wanted to goto the pool. Do ya?

For the next 2 hours I sat by the pool and relaxed while Jake swam. Weeee how fun it is to watch a kid yell, “Daddy watch this” for a few hours. Beside teaching Jake how to duck dive and touch the bottom of the pool the other fun part of the night was watching all the Moms come down out of there condos without their kids and drinks in hand to sit around the pool and listen to music. Like shooting fish in a barrell for a single guy so Jake and I got outta there before it got silly.

In bed by 12.

I got up at 9:04am and my Dad slept until 10. I then woke him up and he was happy.

Grandma said the sky was blue so we headed to the pool and we were the only crazy people there other than a few people dipping there feet in. I think once they saw me in there there was a whole bunch of coming in but it started raining again and all those people were disappointed. I played some games with some of the other kids by the pool and won a prize cause I was the best bubble blower.

We then went to Fuddruckers and had lunch before doing some food shopping for the week. I don’t like hamburgers but I did have some chicken nuggets. I quickly didn’t finish my lunch and wanted to play arcade games.

We went to the movies about 6pm and watched the movie Angels and Demons and I fell asleep after only 10 minutes of the movie. I woke up with 2 mins left and Daddy said it was crazy to spend $10 for me to sleep.

As it rained most of the day my Dad and I got tired of staying indoors all the time so we went for a walk after getting back from the movies. We saw some cool stuff like Ducks and Cranes, frogs jumping around the wet ground and big snails crawling around the ground. Daddy said I didn’t step on one but there was some icky stuff on my new shoe. Ewww

Oh yea and Daddy said there was a Tornado warning last night in our area. We looked for a tornado in the Orlando area but didn’t find one. Boooorrrrring.

Today me and my Dad drove to the airport with Grandma and Rich. Uncle Tim drove us and we ate at Burger King before our flight. It gave me a belly ache and my Dad said that’s because it’s junk food. After we waiting a little bit for all the slow people to get off our plane we were able to get on and get flying.

The plane goes really fast on the ground and that puts it into the air. You can watch TV and movies on the plane. I watched cartoon network the whole time and my Dad watched sports and listened to some boring music. We flew for a few hours and the it started to rain in Florida. We landed the plane and got off and I asked the plance pilot where he was going next. He said they were flying to Brazil.

I don’t know where that is but I don’t think they have swimming pools of Mickey Mouse so I’m staying in Orlando.

When we got to our condo, I got into the bath and had a bubble bath. Then I went to bed dreaming of seeing Mickey Mouse this week.

Today is Auntie Kellie’s birthday. She’s really getting up there now. Wow 33! That is really, really old.

Anyway, I figured I would just show some pictures of Auntie Kellie and I in honor of her birthday. So here we go…

After what seemed like months of twisting, pulling, yanking, turning, jiggling and COMPLAINING… Jakob’s front tooth has finally come out.

Even though it’s been a long, long time since I had a loose tooth, every time he would show me just how loose his tooth was I could remember just what it felt like. It gave me the creeps.

But you have to admit, he looks awful cute… missing tooth and all.

He is looking forward to a visit from the Tooth Fairy. Did you know that even the Tooth Fairy is affected by inflation. The going rate for a front tooth these days has risen up to $5.00! Poor Tooth Fairy.

In an age when everyone is consumed with their computer or their game console I guess it makes sense that Jakob is very into video games.

What started out as a love for educational VSmile games has turned into a passion for Xbox. Anyone that knows Jakob’s dad can see where he might have gotten his Xbox addiction from. Read the rest of this entry »

A little over a year ago Jakob and I went into the pet store to pick up some fish food and we came home with a ferret.

I don’t know how it happened but it did. Jakob’s dad was not the happiest person in the world when he got a call at work telling him about our new pet. But a whole year has gone by and Brody-O McMurphy (started off as just Brody but someone… Jake added to it). Read the rest of this entry »

From time to time Jake can be found outside in his “workshop” building a deck or a swing set. He just loves building things (or pretending to build things).

Jake didn’t dress up for the camera in this picture. No, no, no. He was out there hammering away and I just popped out with the camera. Along with building he also loves posing for a camera (he gets that from me).

Well, in normal rainy day fashion Jake was just itching to get out in the yard and float his boat.

This time he suited up in his professional rain gear which consists of a Spiderman rain poncho, sweatpants, and knee high rubber boots. He was dressed for boating success.

He did stop to ask, “Mama…I look ok right?”. I didn’t have the heart to tell him otherwise so my answer was “Of course you do”. Off he went.

Last spring, to everyone’s amazement, our then four year old boy learned how to ride his two wheeler bike without training wheels. Today…he’s gliding down enormous hills and loving every second of it.

At first all he could do was stay up for a few seconds. Those seconds turned into a few pedals worth of time but he couldn’t steer and would crash into things. Those few pedal revolutions turned into being able to not only stay up for a long period of time but Jakob could also steer out of the way of things like…telephone poles.

Today was a very monumental day. Not only is he riding his bike like a pro but he managed to pedal his way up a large hill in the neighborhood and had no fear at all about flying down the other side…with his mother chasing after him. Read the rest of this entry »

When I tell you that Jake likes pirates it doesn’t really convey this kid’s passion for pirates. He is obsessed with pirates…ya that’s more like it.

Whenever Jake is off playing by himself you can be sure that it involves something to do with pirates. He could be on his pirate ship in the middle of the ocean (a pillow in the middle of the dining room floor) or he could be shooting cannons from the top deck of his pirate ship (also known as his top bunk). Read the rest of this entry »

This past Saturday Jake went to see his hairdresser (and our friend) Kristen who gave him the haircut that all little boys dream of getting…a Mohawk.

Jake’s new Mohawk matches his personality a little more closely than his “little boys” haircut. We went to the food store yesterday and a lot of people felt compelled to comment on his new “do”. Jake being Jake just smiled and said thank you each time someone commented on it. Read the rest of this entry »

I can’t believe it but today Jakob turned 5 years old. He was very excited all week to get presents and finally be able to say that he is five years old. When Jakob woke up this morning I asked him if he felt any different now that he was five…
Read the rest of this entry »