Update No. 2 - Allee Family Vacation

So we have taken a two day break from walking the Disney parks and it was great! Don't get me wrong, I love my Disney, but the beach and catching up with family was fabulous as well. Wednesday we rented a car and headed out to Daytona...and the boys LOVED the ocean and the beach. It was great watching them swim and play in the waves together, a great moment for a mom and wife! Then today, Thursday, we took the rental out to Sanford, Florida to visit with the Schnelle family...Josh's Aunt and Uncle and cousins and their spouses. Mark and Ashley welcomed a new baby girl into their family on January 15th, and so we were able to visit and see the sweet baby girl. Here are some pictures to give you a snip-it of all of the fun we are having on our family vacation!

Look at my cutie, he wasn't scared of the cold water or the big waves!

Here are our three sand castles we built...okay okay, we aren't very good at it, but we had a blast doing it :)

Braden loved it, I thought it was a little cold ;)

Daddy and Braden building away!

Marc, Ashley and their bundle of joy - Adelynn

Look at her, so wide eyed, what a cutie!

Yep, Josh even held her ;)

Allee Family Vacation Update!!

Okay, so here we are in sunny Florida on our first ever Official Allee Family Vacation and it is totally AWESOME! Yesterday we flew in and landed at 10:45 a.m., jumped a shuttle to our hotel, checked in, and then headed off to Animal Kingdom at around 1:00 p.m., we stayed until close at 7:00 p.m. and then headed to Downtown Disney and we were there until after midnight - WOW, it was a BIG first day in Florida! Day two arrived this morning, and we found ourselves headed to the Magic Kingdom. Braden LOVED it, and I too shared in his excitement...Josh, well Josh is Josh and doesn't get too excited about anything, but you could tell he was very much enjoying himself as well as watching Braden just run from one thing to the next, I was having a tough time sometimes just keeping up with him. Enough of the details, a much later post will come with all of the nity-grity details of our fabulous vacation. Here are a couple of pics though I thought I would share for all those who are dying to see us living it up :)

Tree of Life at Animal Kingdom

Braden and Stitch after we rode Stitch's Great Escape at Magic Kingdom

The Family at Magic Kingdom

The Castle right before the fireworks show "Wishes" at Magic Kingdom

Zoo Trip - Yayyyy a Nice Day!!!

Last Thursday was a gorgeous day at 81 degrees and the Ham's and Allee's decide to take advantage of the beautiful sunshine and take the kiddos to the zoo. It was a discount day, only five dollars a person to enter over the age of 3, so we got outside, entertained the kids, had great family and friend fun, and all for a VERY cheap price. I loved basking in the sun and the kids loved running around looking at all of the animals and talking to them. With it being a week day and so early in the season, the zoo wasn't very busy so the kids could run ahead a little without loosing site of them and worrying too much, every now and then the little legs would get to going a little fast for their bodies and we would worry about getting skinned up knees, and in fact, I believe, both Olivia and Ethan fell...but only Ethan had some tears. It was a great day to take the kids out and I am ready for many more of those!

Braden wanted to pose in front of the dragon in a funky pose...we have no idea what he is doing, but he thinks this is an AWESOME picture :)

Braden, Olivia, & Ethan - this is a duplicate picture that is on Terri's blog as well, but it is a good one of all three kids so I had to add it too :)

The carousel ride was closed, but the gentlemen working on it were kind enough to give the kids a free quick ride. They loved it, and so did us mom's because it turned into a free ride rather than two bucks a head - ha!

We were pooped by the time we got to the bench...as we should have been, the zoo closed at 4:00 p.m. and we didn't even leave until after 4:30 p.m. So we got our walking in!

Happy Birthday to you, dear Quintin!

Today, March 9th, is my baby brother's 29th birthday :) I use to say "little brother", but he isn't so little anymore, and in fact probably hasn't been "littler" than me for MANY MANY years :) Anyway, focus Lori focus, today is his birthday and we spent this past Saturday afternoon celebrating his oldness at my mom's house in Jefferson City. I forgot my camera, can you believe it that sucker is usually attached to me when it comes to family events, so all of the pictures here were taken with mom's camera...she was kind enough to share :) Quintin's all time favorite meal is Hawaiian meatballs...and I admit they are very yummy! So we gathered for family, food, presents, cake, and fun. Here are some pictures from the day.

He still reminds me of a little kid opening up his presents, his little face lights up, so cute :)

Quintin and my soon-to-be sister-in-law, aren't they sweet :)

Mom, Quintin, and I - the best looking picture taken that day - ha!

Wouldn't be a family gathering without some video game and Nintendo DS time, I think our boys are addicted!!!!

Ham Visit

I do not recall what the occasion was, or even if there was one, but we had a visit from the Ham clan here last week sometime and I snapped some pictures of the kiddos. Here are a couple of pictures of our cuties! :) Braden is so cute when he finds out that the kids are coming over to play. The last couple of times he has overheard me saying that Terri was coming over he asks me "Just Aunt Terri?" Once I responded with "Yes, just Aunt Terri." And he seemed so bummed...but tonight when he asked the same question, the Ham Clan came over for dinner tonight, I responded with "Olivia and Ethan are coming too." Then he did the cutest little dance in the kitchen because he was so excited for the kiddos to be coming too, I just love how excited he is to see Olivia and Ethan :)

SpeedRacer, Spongbob, and Kit Cars, OH MY!

Weekend before last was the World of Wheels Car Show at Bartle Hall here in the city. I happened to be watching t.v. and a commercial for the car show came ..once I heard that Speedracer's car was going to be there, I knew we HAD to go. It snowed 7 inches that day, but we made it nonetheless :) I am not sure what the best part of the car show was, but I do know that Braden had a blast and ran all over the place with both him and Josh pointing to cars and trucks and motorcycles saying look at this dad/Braden. It was cute, and we all enjoyed ourselves. Here are some pictures of our fabulous Saturday visit.

The Infamous Speed Racer! You should have seen his face light up when he spotted the car!

Kit Car - then and now. We walked ALL over the place to look for the "talking cars". I had given up, but luckily the cars were spotted before we left the show :)

Who could resist a picture with Patrick and Spongebob -ha!

There was a "favorite kids" category in the judging of the cars there on show. Braden voted for the hot wheels car for his vote, I have no idea what car won, but I imagine that the hot wheel car was a popular pic...

...as was the Pirates of the Caribbean van.

Spring Soccer - It Begins!

Doesn't look like spring does it!?! Braden had his first spring season soccer practice on Thursday, February 19th, and it was only 34 degrees outside. It was FREEZING cold! Josh generally takes the wheel when it comes to soccer practice, but that was the week he was in Florida (butthead) and so I was in charge of getting the little man to soccer practice. I had my fingers crossed all day long that the coach would call or e-mail and cancel practice - NO SUCH LUCK! So, we suited up and off we went to practice. Braden had a great time even if it was cold outside. As a side note, it would figure that it was 72 degrees out for the practice Josh returned home for - ha! Here are some pics of the cold practice! :)

What a Butthead!!!

As some of you know, Josh is in Florida this week on a "business trip". He left early Monday morning and is scheduled to come home tomorrow evening. He has been traveling between Orlando, Daytona, and Miami. Poor guy, right - WRONG! So I am working away this morning and afternoon and then I get an e-mail from him, the subject line is "It's a Hard Day at Work" and then there is just THIS picture attached to it. He is such an a@@! HA! I cannot post the picture of my middle finger, which I sent back to him in response to his photo - that wouldn't have been very "family friendly" now would it have?!? I think I would be more ticked about his beach time if we weren't going to Florida on our family vacation in a few short weeks :)

Spring Photo's - ALREADY

It is that time again, school pictures. When I was in grade school, we only had pictures taken once a year, and you got them whether you liked them or not -ha! Now-a-days the school takes pictures twice a year, the fall pics and the spring pics, to rope the parents into buying two sets a year now. Well, we did -ha! The only thing I don't really care for is that you have to pay for them when the kiddo gets their picture taken without seeing how they turned out first. Below is Braden's Spring 2008-2009 photo for his Kindergarten year...and even with his goofy little smile he is still as handsome as ever!

Is it Time Yet!!!!

Okay so I get into work this morning, and Nick has sent me pictures of the Weber Family Vacation they just got back from. Where did the go you ask...as if you couldn't tell by the picture posted above...FLORIDA, DISNEY WORLD! So, I look through all of the cute pictures of little Ms. Kaylea having fun with all of the princesses and other characters and I open this picture last of all. I LOVE IT! I am so excited and cannot wait to get out of this cold weather and into the sunny days of Florida! Anyway, I am so jealous that they have already gone, and I am really counting down the days until we leave...it is only like what 24 days :)

Okay, so I couldn't resist in adding this picture to the post. I just love how girly Kaylea is wearing her princess dress to Disney World, and then with Cinderella's castle behind her and Tinkerbell in her hands, it is just the perfect picture of the All American Girly-Girl :)