First Thanksgiving in Orlando. Grandma Beth decided to come down and visit at the last minute. We cooked our normal Thanksgiving dinner.
Cameron and Melia made hats with Haley that they got to show off.
Of course, we had to take Grandma to Disney. This was our first time seeing the electrical parade. By parade time, Cameron was getting cranky. He ended up falling asleep in the stroller on the monorail...while Melia whooped it up and entertained all those that would watch.
The rest of the weekend was pretty low key. Playing LOTS of games - Cameron is a board game nut. Walked over to the park. The kids got their early Christmas present from Grandma...a wagon!! They were so excited! Of course I think those photos all ended up on Grandma's camera.
You have no idea the amount of bribery it took to get the first picture with Mickey! When we first got there, Melia was nose to nose with him...then quickly freaked out. I had to stay in the photo with her to get them to take the shot.
A photo with Cinderella's castle. Cameron's 2nd time to Disney! This trip, it was a toss up between Buzz Light Year and Dumbo for favorite ride. Dumbo has a great new play area as part of their line experience...I think he enjoyed that more than the actual ride.
After he defeated Zurg!
We stayed late and rode almost every ride we could. Left just before the fireworks.
Cameron got some new decor in his room. MARIO! We got him a new bed set, curtains, and little wall decals. Of course he has peeled some of the stickers off...and Melia did the same and one got ruined, which made Cameron cry.
We also got him a new bed. So he is officially out of his toddler bed. He hasn't fallen out of the new bed. However, he is still practicing his "prayer pose". This picture was taken after he had fallen asleep...before we put him back in bed.
We got a new couch and it has a pull out bed. I told Cameron the first weekend night after it was delivered we would have a sleep over. He stayed up until well after 10 PM watching tv. I got in trouble because I had my computer on. He said "Mom, it's called a sleep over...not a work over." To top it off...not the most comfortable bed to sleep on.
Our first Halloween in Orlando, and Cameron had a first. He actually helped scoop the pumpkin this year! Had no problem getting his hands dirty. I couldn't believe it, which was good because Melia took on the role of sheer disgust at the entire thing.
We got a couple of cute shots of them together.
We also happened upon a little carnival. Of course Cameron wanted to go. This was probably the first time we saw him actually smile while riding something. Usually he just looks miserable or bored. The tilt-a-whirl is still his favorite!
We also made a trip to the corn maze. It was really warm, but we trekked through the kids course (still an acre). We had to find all 5 color boxes hidden through the maze and collect one color one each of our fingers to get our fortune. He really wasn't too fond of sticking his fingers into the colored chalk the first couple...then he got into it. It took us almost an hour to get through the entire maze and find out way out. According to the maze gods....we will grow in wisdom.
After we got out we decided to cool off in the maze of sprinklers and got a snow cone. The huge tire sand box was a hit as well! They were both so filthy by the time we were done.
Then for trick or treating! This year Camero was Mario so we dressed Melia up as Princess Peach. He had a great time going through the neighborhood. Made it about 45 minutes to an hour and decided he had enough candy and he was done. We went back to the house and he helped hand out candy for the last hour or so. He thought it was perfect because he got the best of both worlds...getting candy & handing some out to other kids.
I swear the first week we were here it rained every day! Cameron and Melia got to experience their first real thunder storm. They thought it was great...well until bed time and then Cameron was a little scared. We were all out on the front porch watching the rain & lightning.
Our first couple of weeks were consumed with cleaning the house, work, and finding a new nanny. We interviewed a few people in person after we arrived. Cameron picked Haley. She seemed to connect best with the kids. He has been completely on board because it was his choice. They have had a great time going for walks, swimming, and playing. Getting into a routine with her has been easy.
We had to wait a couple of weeks until our stuff arrived. Sleeping on air mattresses and sitting on the floor is only fun for so long...by this point we were way past that fun stage! Unpacking their stuff was like Christmas!
We sent Laurie a memory book of some of their favorites! Here are a couple of Cameron's highlights:
She taught him to play checkers - he got good and was able to beat her!
Learned how to spell & write his name.
She was helping him learn to match his clothes.
Those last couple of weeks before Halloween were spent at home getting settled. We have a great patio that the house kind of wraps around. At first David thought it was a total waste and wished we just had a big yard. It didn't take long to change his mind! I know Florida is full of bugs & reptiles. We literally had a dozen or more lizards all over our screened in patio! To top it off, we had a snake that got in around the pool. He was quite feisty! Took quite a bit to get him out. Based on what we saw, we think he was a black racer. Not my idea of fun! Now that we've been here a month or so we seem to have more control over keeping everything outside of the screens.
On the patio in a potted plant.
And they've been spending a lot of time perfecting the art of dance.
Then Cameron wanted to go back to T-Rex for lunch. This was the dinosaur themed restaurant we took him to our first visit. He was so excited and thought this time he could conquer it (last time he was terrified). He was still quite freaked out...Melia on the other hand was totally fine with it. We went to take a picture by one of the dinosaurs before we left and Cameron didn't want Melia to get too close. At least this time he got in and did some digging for dinosaur bones. Last time he couldn't cope with the sand/rocks being in his shoes.
This was a great picture of them having fun in a bubble bath.
Bubble beards!
We also went "color golfing" as Cameron refers to it here. He remembers the first time we went mini golfing here and that he got to use a colored golf ball. This photo is almost identical to the one we have of him on that first trip.
And he had fun getting ready for Halloween by trying on his costume from a couple of years ago. Can't believe it still fit!
