Disney World 2010 - Day 4

It's probably going to take me a year to get all of the days posted for Disney World. But I'm enjoying going back and looking at the pictures after a few months. We had such a good time. I can't wait to go back. On Day 4 we went to the Animal Kingdom. We walked around the park a little bit and decided to eat early to avoid the crowd. We ate at the Rainforest Cafe which is always fun. I wish we'd get one down here. Here are Zach & Addie outside the restaurant after we finished.

We walked over to the ride Everest since Zachary was able to ride it this time around. Neither Jason nor I had been on it either. Here is a picture of it from far away. Zach was so excited to ride on it! Going up, up, up! and down, down, down!

Zachary and I went on it together while Jason and Addie hung out and walked around the Everest store. Here is Big Z waiting in line. Zachary, Addison and I got our daily Icee while Jason went on the ride. After that we went over to Dinoland where they had a few rides that Addie could go on. Here she is waiting for the Dinosaur ride.

Poor thing didn't get to go on very exciting rides. I know she would have loved the bigger, faster rides. We'll have to wait to go back till she's taller.

Next, Jason and Zachary left to go on the river raft ride so Addie and I stayed in Dinoland and she played in the "toddler area" that had a bunch of slides and things to play on. She actually enjoyed it quite a bit. It was super hot but they had some water streaming down some rocks so that cooled her off. There was this little door that I guess the employees use. It was locked but a ton of kids kept trying to open it. I think they thought it lead some where neat. Addie was fascinated by it. She kept trying to get kids to open it with her.

We walked around for a bit and Zachary decided that he wanted to get his face painted. He chose some Warrior something or other.

Of course you are suppose to hold your face still. It is very hard for Zachary not to talk. :)

His face when he saw it.

As you can tell he was very excited about it.

As it turns out he DID like his face painted. Guess it just took a little while to sink in. Here is a slideshow of all of the pictures I took of him...

The last time we came to Disney World, Zachary's favorite thing to do was meet the characters. He still loved doing it this time around and Addie loved it too. The Animal Kingdom has a special spot where they have four characters right in a row. Mickey, Minnie, Goofy, and Donald. This time we lucked out because we got there right before they closed it down. There was maybe like one child in front of us at each character. Here is Zachary showing Mickey his face painting. Mickey gave him the thumbs up!

For some reason when she was leaving, Addie wanted to squeeze Mickey's nose.
Minnie

Goofy

Donald

Here is the fake tree where they show the Bug's Life "movie" inside. I tried taking the kids into it when we first got there but they weren't in the mood to wait.

Hopefully it won't take me as long to get Day 5 posted. Stay tuned.....

Kelly is Amazing!!

While we were in Kansas my good friend, Kelly, took pictures of our family. Kelly became a professional photographer about four years ago. She is simply amazing. I am constantly blown away when looking at her pictures. Hopefully one day I will convince her to come down to Gulfport for a vacation and while she is here take pictures of us on the beach. Probably a good idea to wait until the oil mess has been cleaned up though. I wanted to share our slide show with you. It's only good until July 8th so be sure to check it out. Thank you Gilpin, I absolutely love the pictures!!!

http://www.kellyholderphotography.com/rollinsfamily/

Kansas Trip - Summer 2010

A couple of weeks ago I took the kids on our annual trip to Kansas. We normally go back in June so we can go to the River Festival. This year was no exception. It was also the weekend of my 20 year reunion (can't believe I've been out of high school that long). I was especially excited because two of my sisters (Tracy & Angie) were going to be there with their kids. Zachary, Addison and I flew to Kansas City on a Friday and stayed with Angie, Barry, Cooper and Carson for the weekend. They just moved into this great new house and we had a lot of fun. We went to the neighborhood swimming pool a couple of times and had some of my friends who live in KC stop by throughout the weekend. It was so great seeing everyone. I miss my Kansas friends so much. On Monday, the kids and I drove to Salina. We were all very happy to see my parents. We had a few days before everyone else was supposed to arrive. During that time we went to the Salina Public Library (they have such a great children's area), the new water park and to see my grandmother. Tracy and her boys got to Salina very late Wed. night and Angie and her kids got there on Thursday afternoon. We spent over three hours at the swimming pool that day. I got to see some of my good friends (who were back for the festival as well) and their kids. I wish we had a swimming pool like that here in Gulfport. it has a really big water slide that both Addie & Zach LOVED going down. The kids had so much fun playing together. Thursday night Jason flew into KC and Barry picked him up and brought him to Salina. On Friday, my good friend Kelly took our family picture (just me, Jason and the two kids). I can't wait to see how they turned out. Later that morning we went over to the River Festival. It was super hot but my dad found a shady spot underneath a big tree where we were able to hang out and cool off. It was right next to the Lego tables where the kids had a blast making stuff. That night Jason and I went to dinner with friends at my favorite pizza place, The Scheme. Afterwards we met some of my classmates at a bar for an informal gathering. Saturday we went back to the festival for a bit. Sat. night we went to my 20 year reunion at one of the local restaurants. My friends Kim & Charla organized the whole thing. Kim did such a fantastic job. It was a lot of fun. Most everyone looked the same and have aged very well. On Sunday, Tracy's husband, Jeff, flew in so for a few hours we were all there. It was quite a house full but it was so much fun. We wanted to get a group shot of all of the kids together. It was pretty funny trying to get them all to look at the camera at the same time. Poor little Carson wasn't particularly in the mood for a photo shoot. I never did get that one great shot but I did get a lot of funny ones! I am going to save those picture for a post all its own. It was so great seeing my aunts and uncles and niece and nephews and even a few cousins while I was home. It was especially good to see my parents and my sisters and my grandmother whom I miss so much. I wish I could see my family and friends more often. If anyone wants to come down and visit us you are welcome any time! here are a few pictures from our trip.....

Memorial Day Weekend 2010

We had a great time at the beach this weekend. It did, however, smell like oil for a few days. The wind must have changed (either that or I got used to it) because I didn't smell it yesterday or today. We did a lot of fun things....the guys went fishing, we took the kids to Sand Island, went swimming by the pier, played some board games, watched a bad movie (okay maybe that wasn't so much fun - Legion - don't bother renting it), and played washers (which I love to play!!). Here are a few moments from this weekend.