Walt Disney World

How could we not stop by Disney World on our way through Florida. We pulled the camper into Fort Wilderness, which is an amazing resort, to enjoy a few days at the parks. Tristan wasn't as interested in going to most of the parks so he and I spent some quality time fishing and hanging out around the campsite while the girls spent a few days in the parks.
 

We have visited Orlando a handful of times before but this is the first time we stayed in the park which we really enjoyed. Disney, love it or hate it, does a great job at providing top notch entertainment for the whole family along with well maintained parks and attractions. At Fort Wilderness they had a nightly campfire along with a good old fashioned camp fire sing along including a visit from Chip and Dale. Each night of the week they also had an outdoor movie for the kids.
 

As for me, I'm building quite the resume as a Tourist Audience Volunteer Extra. Adding to my NBC volunteer activities as well as a brief stint (3 seconds) on C-Span and can now add the Indiana Jones live action set to my list of audience volunteer activities.

At the Hoop Dee Doo Review.

Starting our Day at Disney's Hollywood Studio

Katherine and the girls at Magic Kingdom.

All the kids with Chip at the Campfire Sing Along

Sidney at Epcot

Tristan with his largest catch of the trip. A roughly two pound large mouth bass.

Get'n my Mickey on!

At LEGOLAND in Downtown Disney.



Me during the live show. I'm the first one on the left. As you can obviously tell by the picture, we were shooting the guy in front with poisonous darts.

 

"All our dreams can come true if we have the courage to pursue them."

-Walter E. Disney

 

God Bless,

Seth and Katherine

Crazy Kite Birthday

It isn't often that we are able to break out the kites and enjoy a warm windy afternoon in the middle of January, but after arriving back at our camper in Jacksonville we had the perfect weather for it. It also happened to be Katherine's birthday which made for a great way to kick off the day long celebration. Thank you to Aunt Beki and Uncle Matt for the kites!

 

As to be expected with any 10 year old by, Tristan decided to let out all 300 feet of string which ended with his kite landing in the wooded area next to the lake. With a little ingenuity and bravery I was able to fend off the gators and cotton mouths to retrieve the rogue kite!

 

 

 

 

 

 

 

This is after my heroic quest to retrieve the kite from the gator infested waters.



God Bless,
Seth and Katherine
 

New York

For Christmas this year we decided to end the year with a bang by heading to the Big Apple.We rented an apartment in Manhattan that my wife found on vacationrentalsbyowner.com which was a cost effective way to visit the city for a family of six. The apartment was conveinently located just around the corner from the Subway which made getting in and out of downtown a breeze. Speaking of breezes, the weather in NYC during our stay was unseasonably warm during all but the last two days of our visit which as really nice.

We spent the week doing all of the typical NYC tourist activities, Statue of Liberty, Rockefeller Center, 911 memorial, FAO Swartz, American Girl store, Wax Muesuems, Getting Mugged by professional street performers and of course the Rockettes at Radio City Music Hall which was a must see for Katherine and my mom. I will have to admit, that the Rockettes was a great time and the whole family really enjoyed it. 

The crowds and the constant buzz of the city is, in itself, a great experience. The biggest challenge we had was keeping a tight grip on the kids as we navigated on and off the subway and squeezing through the crowds in Time Square. At the end of every day we were exhausted and happy to make our way back to the apartment to unwind for the night.

All in all the trip was amazing and was the highlight of the last six months for us.

I'm guessing this doesn't need an explanation...

Me and the Kids riding the ferry to the Statue of Liberty.

Katherine and the kids in time square.

Katherine, Mom, Dad and the kids at the 911 memorial.

The kids with a random tourist who asked to have her picture with the girls at the top of the Empire State Building.

Tristan and Woody at the wax museum.

Katherine, Izabelle, Helaina and Sidney at the American Girl brunch.

Katherine and the girls on the subway headed to the Rockettes.

From Liberty Island with NYC in the background.

Me and the kids in front of the NYSE.

The family in my parents room at the Waldorf Estoria

My mom had some questions...and he seemed like the right guy to provide the answers.

Tristan at the Nintendo store.

The whole crew in front of the tree at Rockefeller Center.

A picture of the city at night from the circle cruise tour that we took around Manhattan.

The kids outside our apartment. We were on the third floor.

All of us on top of the Empire State Building.

The girls at the wax museum.

Mom, Dad and the kids waiting for the train...and yes we most definitely looked like tourists!

Tristan vs. The Champ

Me and dad at Yankee Stadium. They were preping for the Rutger/Notre Dame football game during our visit so it didn't look much like a baseball field.



This was the highlight of the trip for Izabelle. She was adopting a baby doll at FAO Schwarz. We all gathered around for the big moment.

The kids with all of their goodies at FAO Swarz. You can't tell by the picture but I'm about 10 lbs lighter...in my wallet.

We spent a lot of time waiting for trains and the kids didn't seem to mind.

God Bless,

Seth and Katherine

New Hampshire

After we made it to Jacksonville, Florida we unhooked the camper and left it at a storage facility located at the Pecan Park RV Park where we spent a couple nights. We then backtracked 1,000 miles  to Cape Cod, MA where we spent Thanksgiving with Katherine's family.

 

After Thanksgiving we took the kids to Loon Mountain in Lincoln, New Hampshire. We had a great time hanging out and spending some quality time as a family. When not skiing we spent a lot of time hanging out at the pool and the outdoor hot tub which was situated right next to the slope where we could watch the skiers come down the mountain.

 

Tristan and Sidney celebrated their tenth birthday while we were in NH which made our trip that much more fun. For their birthday we took them to see the much anticipated Disney movie Frozen which the kids loved. I now can look forward to countless hours of my girls singing about letting go and building a snowman while driving the truck down the road!...on repeat, over and over again!

 

I will say that I love the scenery in northern New England, New Hampshire, Vermont and Maine are a few of the most beautiful states in the country, and who wouldn't love New Hampshire's state motto, "Live free or Die". That alone makes me want to pack up and move to the home of the White Mountains.

 

This was my office for the week that we were in Lincoln. A full view of the mountain, best corner office ever!

Katherine and the kids making gingerbread houses at the condo.

This was our practice area before heading off to the actual slopes. I was able to pick up the skis at 2:00 the day before we went skiing so I took them out in the afternoon for some practice runs on the side of the mountain.

Which meant that I had to serve the role as the ski lift for the afternoon.



Just about ready to hit the slopes!

Almost Ready!



Alright, it's go time. Get the popcorn ready because it's show time.

I'm just making sure this guy knows what he was doing...I give him a B+, he lost points for being a boarder!

Bunny slope, here we come!

And we are still coming. Not sure why the access to the bunny slope is uphill.



Helaina with Sidney in the background.

First run done and ready for more.

Tristan finishing his first run in style.

Time for the big boy slopes. Tristan on his first chairlift.

Me being the instructor for the day. We only bought the novice pass so I was limited to green runs all day. Boy would I have loved to head to the top of the mountain and just kill it for one run just for old times sake, or as my wife puts it "end up in the hospital for a month doing something stupid"!

God Bless,

Seth and Katherine