Camping with the Lovebugs

We got back from camping yesterday afternoon. It is sooo nice to have it so close. We used to have a several hour drive back home. Now its 25 minutes!! I still don't have any pictures. I think its something wrong with our phone server. Because now Mikey cant send pictures either. Maybe we can fix that today. Originally on Thursday we were going to camp at a certain place that Mike found online. But when we checked it out, we didn't care for it. Crowded, small spaces, and right next to the freeway. So we were driving back and I saw a sign that said Air boat Rides. We drove down a dirt road for about a mile and came to a beautiful lake, grassy area, lodge, and some cabins. Its called Loughman Lake. www.loughmanlake.com It was only 15 a night (versus 40 at the other) and we could camp anywhere in the 5 acres of grass and trees that we wanted. However, not too close to the waters edge because of alligators. We camped towards the right, upper middle. See the tiny water hole? Not to close to that. The boys walked over there while we were setting up and a huge 9 foot gator started swimming our way. We also saw big turtles in it. But it was the gator that gave us the most concern. At least they are fairly slow, and as long as we kept our eyes open we were OK. But nobody else (I did) wanted to go fishing. The Chickens!!! Thankfully these are not biting bugs, but OMG. They swarm in the millions. They were all over us. All over the tent. EVERYWHERE!!! They were soo bad that we were going to pack up and leave. Forget the shuttle, forget camping. Just get us away from the BUGS!! They are called love bugs because 2 times a year, May and Sept, they emerge from their eggs and they mate. Thats all they do. Mate and die. And OMG do they ever mate. It was horrible. The boys thought they were funny and would try and pull them apart. But after a few minutes they were done with the bugs too. The bugs are also very fragile. If you wipe them off your arm or leg, you kill them. Which means you have bug guts smeared on you now. Mike called Walmart (first time we have shopped at one since we moved here) and they had bug screens for our canopy. So we drove into Titusville, got a cover, set it up and enjoyed the rest of our afternoon. The launch was a perfect sight!! It was alot of fun watching it so much closer. (we were about 10 miles from it) We all brought our golf clubs, and since there was NO OTHER campers (!!Yeah!!) we played tree golf the rest of the afternoon. (Hit the ball to a palm tree. Palm tree is the *hole*. So, other than the first morning with the bugs, we had a very nice camping trip, and are looking forward to doing it again. MINUS the lovebugs! NO camping in May or Sept in Florida!!!

No Pictures :(

My new phone really stinks. I cant get it to send me the pictures to my email. And the ones it has sent are pretty crappy quality. Mikes phone takes OK enough pictures, but its a Blackberry, which means it is complicated just to take a picture. My phone you just flip it open, and push the camera button and its ready. His, you have to open it up, go to the main menu, scroll thru all the icons, find camera, click on it, then click on Image, then it takes about 2 seconds to bring that up. By the time your ready, the moment is lost. And I really don't like 'posed' pictures. So this is the reason I haven't been writing the blog lately. I'd rather do it with pictures. ANYWAY..... Zachary is going to 2nd Grade!!! YEAH!!!!! Mike and I are sooo relieved. We have worked so hard with him and his reading. Plus he has been in tutoring, and that has really helped. He has mastered over 80% of his requirements for 2nd grade. (you need to be at least 70%) He WAS at 68% a few months ago. We had a PT meeting this morning, and his teacher said she was SHOCKED that he came up so quickly. She has never had a student that she really thought needed to repeat and then improve as well as he has. Yeah Zachary!!!! I got a bunch of scholastic workbooks to do with him over the summer so that he can continue to advance. His teacher will be teaching 2nd grade next year. We are kind of thinking about seeing if he can be in her class again. We figure she knows him, how he works etc, so the first few weeks wouldn't be lost on a teacher getting to know him. This is what happened with Christina in 3rd and 4th grade. Sort of the same thing. We didn't care for the teacher all that much, but by the time Christina was done with 4th grade, she was a much much better student. We also got back all the Stanley letters today. WOW!! You all ROCK!!!! Zachary won for most letters, and the furthest away. 3 in WA, 1 in OR, 1 in CA 1 in ID, 4 in AZ. We still haven't got Stanley back, as he is still on the road. He was last heard from in Idaho. We had a fun Memorial Day weekend. On Sunday morning we dropped Christina off with her friends at Universal Studios, and we went south to Palm Beach. Our hotel we had before, and it has a little 3 hole putt putt, and a swimming pool. Caleb was so excited to be golfing again. Zachary spent alot of time in the pool. He is ready to learn how to swim any time now. But he doesn't want to try it without his vest. Caleb used to hate being in the water if his feet couldn't touch the bottom. So all his time would be spent on the stairs. Not anymore!! The last 2 times he has been in the water, (Saturday at a birthday party he and Zachary went to) he has ventured out and started swimming all over the pool! Yeah Caleb!! He is so proud of himself! Zachary was so proud of him too. He kept yelling "Caleb your doing it!! Your doing so good! Mom, DAD, look at Caleb go!! Woohoo Caleb!" What a good big brother. Our room was on the first floor, right next to the pool and putt putt, so Mike and I could sit on our patio and watch them AND the NASCAR race. It was a fun night! On Monday we went to the beach. We didn't go in the ocean tho because there were riptides. I read about at least 1-2 people drowning every month from them. So we played on the sand, and built sandcastles. This weekend the space shuttle is being launched at 5pm. We are planning on going camping close by there. Unfortunately we didn't get a space reserved in time at Cape Canaveral Camping, so we are having to camp a few miles away. Thats OK. It would of been very crowded. But we still should get a very good view of it. We have been showing the boys the pictures we received on emails on the International Space Station. (Mike and I saw it years ago when it passed over AZ. Looked like a slow moving airplane.) We will be leaving tomorrow after Zachary gets out of school. MAYBE I will get some decent pictures to blog. I hope!!

Mothers Day Week

Zachary had his play on May 8th. BUGZ. It was a cute one, with his class dressed at Fireflies.

Each child had 1 line they had to say. The microphone in front was placed at a good height for all the students. Except Zachary.

Its hard to tell in this picture, but if you can see it, the microphone is as tall as he is.

So when he spoke into it he had to stretch his neck up and back, and stand on his tippie toes.

The whole audience went "aaawwwwww how cute".

His wings wouldn't stay up, they kept falling over. I had a pin for them, but his teacher didn't see it. Can you see Zachary? Hes the WHITE kid standing on the left side.

Unfortunately the pictures didn't turn out great because they were FireFlies and had the lights way down since Fireflies come out at night. They had little flash lights that they were twirling around as well. Christina, Robby, and Caitlyn (Robbys 16yr old sister) were also at the play. Their little sister is in first grade also. Sunday was Mother's Day!

We went to Universal Studios.

The only thing I wanted was to be there before the park opened (for passholders) at 8am.

We got there AT 8am. Oh well. Close enough.

We headed straight over to the Simpsons Ride.

It looks great on the outside! The lines had paintings all over the walls of the Simpsons, and flat screen TVs every few feet playing Simpson cartoons. Theme park and vacation versions I think.

Even tho we arrived right at 8, the line was about 45 min long.

However, not once did we see a repeat of a Simpson Cartoon. So that made the time go by very quickly.

It is a fun ride. Even tho the car you are riding in, stays in the same spot (it moves around, but not on a track) you feel like you are really on a roller coaster. There is a gigantic screen in front of you. They did it really well!!! Cant wait to go again. And again. And again!

Can you see the pins on their shirts, and wrist bands? They were given to us after the ride was over. The wrist bands allowed us to go in the Fast Pass lane on the rides. (that is normally $30 a person!) We also got free Squishees. (Icees) Caleb refused to go on the Jaws Ride, yet he wanted me to take his picture under this shark, while we were waiting for the others to get off the ride. Go figure! In fact Caleb didn't want to go on hardly anything this day. So Mike, Christina and Zachary went over to Islands, to ride Jurassic Park, and Spiderman. Caleb and I stayed in Universal and rode ET 3 more times. And saw Shrek 2 times. Nothing planned for this week. Mikey has to work in the Miami area today and tomorrow. The library is closed this week (renovations). Caleb has really been enjoying story time there. So he is bummed we can't go this week. I think I will take him to the park. My friend JoAnna found another park she likes better than the one we go to, so I think we will check it out.