Club Lake Plantation in Apopka - Fall Festival

We decided to kick of the Fall Festival season with a trip to Club Lake Plantation in Apopka.  I read an awesome review that they had an opportunity to do some "punkin chunkin" and I knew the boys would be thrilled.  Keith stayed home to take care of some things around the house and Grandma and Grandpa Holloway met us there.  

I was thrilled with the amount of bounce houses for the younger crowd as well as big-kid activities.  Middle school kids are a tough age to please on these "little kid" outings.  

The shack for punkin' chunkin.  We decided to use tennis balls for these launchers and save the pumpkins for the giant sling-shot. 

Daniel getting ready to shoot his tennis ball at the target. 

Joshua was really trying hard to hit the target. 

I love the irony of a corn maze with palm trees hanging overhead.  I had no problems keeping my orientation with this maze.  

Off we go into the corn.  

After surviving the corn maze, we raced rubber duckies down water gutters.  These boys are fiercely competitive! 

This sweet girl was hot and we decided to check out the refreshments.  We had some delicious fresh-squeezed lemonade.  

Grandma and Grandpa Holloway

This was super-addicting.  The string seems barely long enough for the horse shoe to hook on the mounted horse shoe.  Daniel really got into this. 

This sweet boy is growing up much too fast!!  Those dimples are the sweetest! 

The boys chilling out before the hay ride. 

Megan preparing to chunk her pumpkin out into the barrel in the water.  

Joshua getting ready to launch.  Over near the closest fence post, you can see Megan's pumpkin flying through the air. 

Watching her pumpkin soar! 

Daniel getting a little help in the muscles department from the teenage volunteer.  

We took a hayride all around the grounds and met a very friendly deer.  

Joshua and Grandma chilling on the hayride. 

Such a sweet face! 

Megan practicing her driving skills.  

Joshua and Daniel trying to determine if it's a real tractor, or just a prop. 

Picking out pumpkins. 

Grandpa Holloway and the kids. 

Daniel painstakingly looked for the perfect pumpkin, and it died about 2 weeks later. 

Megan picked out a big pumpkin and it lived on our front porch for a while. 

Showing his pumpkin lots of TLC. 

Joshua and I in the pumpkin patch.  

It was a great time! We can't wait to do it again next year! 

Pop Warner Little Scholars Banquet - Joshua May 2014

Joshua was selected to attend a banquet for the Pop Warner Little Scholars program.  His grades put him in the top 2% of all Pop Warner players.  The banquet was held at one of the Disney resorts.  Somehow, I was thinking that a 5pm banquet would be serving food.  I was mistaken on that and so we all had peanut M&Ms from the hotel gift shop for dinner.  

The boys checking out Joshua's swag bag full of goodies.  

Aside from not having food, it was a very nice banquet and we saw quite a few families from the Lake Brantley Pop Warner team, as well as families from all over the country.  

Can you tell they are tired and hungry? 

We are trying to look like a football family, when really we are more like a marching band family.  It was a fun season, but these boys weren't interested in signing up for a second season. 

I'm not quite sure what's going on here, but I think Keith is talking Megan into asking if we can leave to go get some food.  

Joshua crossing the stage shaking hands with Pop Warner leaders. 

With his certificate. 

You can't really dress us up and take us anywhere.  

5th Grade Graduation - Joshua

In May of 2014, Joshua graduated from the 5th grade, officially leaving Forest City Elementary.  His plans are to attend Milwee Middle School's Pre-IB Engineering program. 

Graduation was held in the middle of the morning, and in true Florida style, was very, very warm.  

Mrs. Clifton, the music teacher.  She has positively influenced Joshua in many ways.  He plans to continue his musical interests by playing the trumpet in the band in middle school. 

That's a sharp looking group of young people. 

Here he is in all of his Pomp and Circumstance, getting ready to cross over to middle school.  

Grandma and Grandpa Holloway made it out to our special event.  

Very official looking!! 

Joshua's homeroom teacher, Mrs. Butler.  We love Mrs. Butler.  We are so lucky to still have her in our lives, as she is now Megan's teach for math and science.  

Joshua and I taking a graduation selfie.  Look at that gorgeous sunshine!  

Band Fest 2014

It's been an overly busy year for us.  People that know me really well know that I do not enjoy an overly busy lifestyle.  I'm happy to chill out on the couch with a good book, or hang out around the kitchen table playing board games.  So this new lifestyle of having a Middle School kid and two Elementary School kids and all of the activities they are into has really rocked my happy-to-be-an-introvert world.  

Joshua is in an out-of-zone Middle School which means that it's about an extra 30 minutes to our morning routine.  It's a PRE-IB Magnet School for Engineering, that he really, really wanted to go to.  It teaches to all of the things that he enjoys the most, especially hands-on learning.  

This is a marshmallow launcher that he had to make in one of his classes.  So fun! However, then there's all the writing about why he made it the way he did and what could be improved on it.  I don't think he planned on this much writing, and it's a huge source of growing pains for him.  

Our life is consumed by the upcoming science fair and all of the paper airplanes that are involved in this project.  Joshua researched the guy that holds the world record for the longest paper airplane flight and is using that is a part of this science project.  The project is about the affect of the weight of the paper used to make the paper airplane on the airplane's flight distance.  

All of the animals are up to the same things as usual...sleeping.  Unless it's 4am.  Pepper (the cat) likes to balance on the window ledge outside of our bedroom window and meow until someone opens the front door.  It's really quite amusing, unless you are the one sleeping at 4am.  

Right now, the fish are my favorite pets...they don't bother anyone. 

I've taken a new position at the same hospital.  It's a roller-coaster ride for sure with it's ups and downs.  

Joshua isn't playing any sports right now.  He's been consumed with school work, so for a break in the evenings, we've been walking together.  It's quite fun to catch up on all of the happenings of life in middle school.  We also walk early in the weekend mornings when I'm home.  

Our big event this week was going to Band Fest at Lyman High School.  All of the high school marching bands in Seminole County performed their half-time shows.  It was an awesome performance! 

Lyman High School will likely be Joshua's high school if he continues to pursue an engineering major.  

All of the bands performed the National Anthem to start the show, it was incredible. 

The talent was amazing.  I'm so glad all of the kids are involved in schools that have such great enrichment programs. 

One Sunday morning each month, the All Stars team has cheer practice.  Megan has finally nailed her cartwheel, one handed cartwheel, round-off, and back walk over.  She's feeling much more confident in her performance and it helps that her BFF is on her team.  Today's practice had a Halloween theme and I bought the girls matchy-matchy shirts at Target last night.  So cute!