Soccer Mania

Madison and Noah have started soccer and they both love it. It's their first venture into competive youth sports, where you play against other teams and it's so much fun to watch them play. They both did Tae Kwan Do previously. It's been years since I've been on a field or in a gym watching the kids play sports.

Noah is very good and scores in every game. He and another little boy, Hunter are the stars on their team. It's the Hunter and Noah show, by far. Noah scored a goal a couple of weeks ago, by sliding on the grass and kicking the ball into the net. It was amazing. He's only 6 and has quite a talent for the sport. The picture on the right shows Noah in the front of the pack (he's the one in black).

Madison is still figuring it out. She really gets in there and goes after it, but hasn't scored a goal yet. She isn't bothered by this...she very good at assisting. She passes the ball to the right player to get the score. The picture on the left shows Madison in the red soccer cleats, she just kicked the ball away from the green team.

They recently picked team names. Madison is on the Bluejays and Noah is on the Black Racers.

Disney World 2007

Item #2 checked off the list.

We went to Disney World today, courtesy of the Ronald McDonald house. They sent us four tickets for free admission, so we only had to buy the other two. It was a bit of an overcast day and a little breezy. It ended up raining later in the afternoon off and on and finally wouldn't stop around 7pm, so we didn't stay for the parade and fireworks.

All in all, we had a great day. Dr. Nieder gave Jordan the green light to go and have a good time. Several precautions of course, stay out of the sun as much as possible (no problem there), wash hands frequently, only eat freshly cooked foods, and wear a mask when indoor crowded places.

We rode Space Mountiain, Stitches Great Adventure, The Teacups, Alice in Wonderland, Thunder Railroad, Splash Mountain, and Pirates of the Carribean. We saw the Bear Jamboree and the Tiki Room shows.


I bought Madison and Noah pin trading lanyards and Noah traded 6 of his 8 pins. Madison didn't trade any, she kept all 8 Stitch pins that came with her lanyard. Disney has this pin trading program where you buy the lanyards and you can trade pins with any Disney Cast Member who is also wearing a lanyard with pins. They cannot deny you a trade and the kids/adults can pick whichever pin off their own lanyard that they want to give the Cast Member and pick whichever pin from the Cast Member that they want off of their lanyard.

The Beginning of the List

I was recently inspired by a web page created by a mom/dad for their little girl who happens to be fighting a brain tumor. On their web page they listed things that their daughter woud like to do and are ticking the items off one at a time.

It got me thinking about how little we do as a family of 6 because we are all running in different directions and have two children who are teenagers and two who are in grade school.

Inspired by the little girl, I started asking my family about ideas of things we can do together. We are still devising the list as everyone hasn't had input quite yet. One of my things on the list was miniature golf. I haven't played since Jordan and Jason were in grade school and thought it would be fun.

Roger had to work, so I took the kids by myself and we ended up at Polynesian Putter in St. Petersburg. This mini golf place was not very sophisticated but was located under many trees and provided plenty of shade. Jordan cannot stay in the sun, so this was an important factor in picking the location.

We had a lot of fun and decided to grab some lunch at a nearby restaurant called Ricky T's. We picked this place because it had dining outside on the patio. Jordan cannot enter crowded places, so eating outside was a must. The weather was perfect and we sat under the umbrellas enjoying our meal.

We had already decided we would go to the beach today too, so we stopped at Walmart prior to our journey for some needed supplies: beach umbrella, sunscreen and sand toys.












We stayed on the beach for about two hours, packed up and headed home.









It was a very nice day with the kids and I look forward to many more spent as a family all in the same place, participating in the same activity.

Florida wildlife at your front door

Only in Florida can you walk out the front door and be greeted by an array of wildlife. Besides the typcial lizard, snake, bird and bugs, we have other inhabitants in our midst....literally right outside the door. Here is a picture of some Sandhill Cranes that were on my front lawn. They weren't bothered at all by me taking their picture. They just kept coming closer and closer. I've actually seen these birds walking across Route 60 which is a major road near our home. Traffic was completely stopped as the birds casually made their way across 6 lanes of highway. We also had a 6ft aligator living in the pond directly behind our house. It has since been captured and removed. At least now I don't have to worry about Noah getting eaten by it. (not joking)

Fondue anyone?

Roger bought me a fondue pot for Christmas, so we decided to try it out tonight. We melted lots of chocolate, cut up bananas and strawberries and added marhmellows and pineapple chuncks. We had high hopes for this and looked forward to dipping our topping into the chocolate. We didn't eat as much of it as we thought, but I did manage to snap a few pictures of the evening.

Jason arrives

Jason decided to move back home. We are so excited to have him back, but I'm sure Donna and Tom will miss him terribly. He has lived with them for the past eight years and I am so grateful for everything they have done for him. No matter what the circumstance, they will do anything that needs to be done and lots of things that they just want to do. They are wonderful grandparents. Jordan and Jason are very lucky to have them as their Nana and Poppee.

I used my frequent flier miles to get them first class tickets from Oakland to Tampa. Tom really seemed to enjoy first class and I was glad I was able to get it for him. Tom stayed the night and flew back the next morning. It was nice for him to get to visit with Jordan for 24 hours. He hadn't seen her since Feb/March timeframe, shortly after her diagnosis. I took this picture of the three of them, right before we had to leave for the airport.

Noah's 6th Birthday

Noah turned six on January 7, 2007. Wow, how times flies. He is an independent, strong willed, intelligent little boy. He loves to ride his bike and scooter. He still enjoys taking all things apart and putting them back together again and actually does quite well at it. I have learned to keep things out of reach if I don't want them taken apart. We've recently given him some freedom to play outside without us staying outside with him. We now live in a gated community and he knows the rules. He plays outside every chance he can get and has a good little friend, Dylan, who lives just a few houses away from us. The two of them are constantly together....boys being boys. Madison tags along a lot of the time.

Noah wanted a Pirate party for his 6th birthday. We went to Party City for all the needed supplies and he handed out invitations. Dylan had the chicken pox (which he got from our house) so he wasn't able to attend. Only one little boy from class came, his friend Jackson. Noah didn't care how many kids came, he just wanted a party. This picture is of Madison, Noah and Jackson, giving their scariest pirate impersonations.

He received several Ninetendo DS games, two nerf guns, some board games and money.