3, 2, 1 LIFTOFF!

What a great way to end our Easter. On Sunday we decided to go ahead and head to the coast at the weeee hours of the morning to see Space Shuttle Discovery launch. The weather was going to be perfect, and living right here in FL so close why not go and experience it once before there are no more.

So I spent the night at my parents house with the kids on Sunday night. Jay had to work on Monday so we were very disappointed that he wasn't going to be able to make it. Good things is that he has seen a shuttle launch in person before so he was all for us going and experiencing it for ourselves. We still missed him. Anyway...we got up at 1:30am and were out the door with the kids in tow at 2:15am. It was a 1hr 20min drive to Titusville. At least this time it wasn't like 30 degrees outside.

We got to Space View Park by about 3:40am, well a side little part of it with the same view that most locals go to, its less crowded, but still packed! My Mom, Brinlee and I staked out a place and relaxed. We had over 2 hours to wait. Brinlee was really good and was a hoot! I wish I took video of her. Quinn, Bella and Gramps stayed in the van and watched a movie until later. They joined us on the blanket at about 5:30am. They both hid under their blankets for awhile then played some games on our phones to pass the time.

We had a wonderful guy next to us who knew a lot about the stars and launches and such. So we heard some great info. One really cool thing that he knew was that at around 6:08am the ISS you'd be able to see pass under the moon and over the shuttle launch site. TRULY BREATHTAKING! I swear I videotaped this, but for some reason my camera didn't. It looked like a start or plane moving across the sky really fast.

Then only a few minutes later Shuttle Discovery started it's journey. Words can not express what it is like to see it in person. So cool the way the sky lite up, my body was shaking I was so excited and in aww! (Part of the reason why I missed the first second of the shuttle actually taking off on the camera, I was trying to watch it!) Not until minutes later did you FEEL and HEAR the actual rumble from it taking off. You can hear it in the second video part if you listen closely.

I have always loved seeing the launches on TV or from our front lawns here in FL thinking that was amazing, but to be that close and see and feel the launch....AWESOME!! I am very happy we took the kids to see it. They might not remember it, but thanks to technology today I hope they will be able to watch it over and over again. To say they were there for one of the last few launches, have pictures and video will stay in history forever. The long journey home was horrible, but thinking back to why we drove out there to see the launch just brushes those 4.5hrs away to the waste side. Who cares!

So after reading this very very very long post, I do have pictures and video of the launch to share with you.

Fun family day!

This is a week old but finally getting around to posting it. We went to DAK on March 7th for a fun family day, without Daddy :( We took Nanny and Gramps and a picnic lunch and so much fun!! We met up with our twin family friends from the Tampa area, walked around with them and also saw Festival of the Lion King show. It was one of the first warm, beautiful days in FL in a long time.

Here is a video of our day, enjoy!

Halloween 2009

OK I know I posted out-of-order but hey it's posted right? Anyway we had a great time this year for Halloween. Quinn and Bella had a blast running door to door ringing the doorbell to get their candy. It took them awhile to say "Trick-or-Treat" but by the end of the night they did. Quinn even said, "Come on Mommy, I need to get more Candy!"

Brinlee got tired towards the end of the night, and so did Mommy and Daddy. She didn't want to ride in the wagon at all so our arms got a great workout from carrying around 20lbs all night! By the end she was ready to go again...LOL!

They got gift cards to McDonalds from Nanny and Gramps and loved looking at all the candy they got. We got back to Gramps house, had dinner and spent the night. Here are some pictures of the evening, enjoy!

Fun Day!

Yesterday we took half of the day to get out of the house. Jay had to work but we met him at the park to just walk around, see the parade, Playhouse Disney and of course we ahd to find McQueen and Minnie Mouse!

While Jay worked my Dad, the kids and I walked around, we brought our lunch to save some green and just slowly walked around. Someone next to our table at lunch offered us 1/2 a pizza and taht was very nice of them. Then while waiting for the parade my Dad got us some frozen lemonade and Brinlee loved it! Drinking out of a straw even!! Bella enjoyed the parade even more this time around, Quinn just covered his ears.

Quinn did find something that he wanted in the store, Nanny- be aware you will be asked for something. It was a nice hot but relaxing and different day to just forget about things and have some fun. Not to worry that we had to see certain things, a time-frame, etc.

Here is a fun video of the pictures and videos that I took, Enjoy!

A day at Disney's Animal Kingdom

We spent the afternoon at Disney today. I wanted to ge tthe kids out of the house, we spend way too much time here and this was a FREE thing to do. (That's all we can afford right now). So away we went in the afternoon when it wasn't as hot outside, only 95 degrees!

We first went to the Safari, and the twins weren't too sure, but as soon as they saw the animals and could take pictures with thier cameras, Thanks Uncle Mike and Aunt Debbie, they were all into it. I have posted pics below in this post for you. We got to see, hippos, giraffes, warthogs, cheetahs, and much more!

We then took a train ride to Rafiki's Planet watcha nd saw reptiles, a hawk, and Bella took a picture with Jiminy Cricket. We also went into the petting zoo! Bella petted a sheep, Quinn just wanted to look. Then we went back on the train and we were on the hunt for Minnie Mouse.

Well....we found her! Yes, I can't beleive it we actually got to take a picture with Minnie Mouse and Mickey Mouse without crying, being scared or anything! She even gave Minnie a hug and mIckey too. Quinn also did! I think we have broken the ice and they are starting to like the characters. I asked if they wanted to see Goofy, and it was a definate NO.

So after that we went home. It wasn't a lot that we did in the park but enough to enjoy the afternoon and get away. That's what I love about being down here, gets my mind off things, and away from home.

Birthday Rewind

Well the Birthday craziness has ended in the Cone Family household. The cake has been eaten, the presents opened, the smiles recorded and the memories have been canned up for rememberance. We had a great time, even in these hard times.

Quinn and Bella turned the BIG 3 and brinlee turn the BIG 1! If you weren't here to celebrate with us we missed you dearly. We started out by letting Nanny and Gramps taking the kids on Friday and they spent some time at Magic Kingdom and at Old Key West Pool with the Englers. They had a blast. While they were having fun, Jay was working hard and Me well I was fighting with frosting. I was baking all 3 cakes to save money, NOT TIME! They turned out FABULOUS though...'Watch out Publix!' Then we all met at OKW to have a nice dinner in, put party favors together and relax.

Then on Saturday it was PARTY TIME! The day started out great, but then of course when it was time to go to the park it started to rain, or should I say POUR! So we sat in the car for about 30min. There was another party going on at the pavillion and taking up all the tables, so yep Mommy went over to ask for at least 2 tables. (At least they were nice). It poured, it stopped, it poured again but we enjoyed our family and friends. We had food, cake, the park, some crafts, presents and most important the friends that we love that came to celebrate with us!!

Then come Sunday, it's Quinn and Bella's 3rd BIRTHDAY! (We also celebrated Brinlee's too of course!) We went to Disney's Yacht and Beach to have a character breakfast. It was very yummy!! The twins wanted to take pictures of the characters but not be near them or take a picture with them. Brinlee was terrified, go figure my kids like them from afar but not next to them. Emma LOVED them and wanted to take pictures with them all morning!!

After breakfast we went to Epoct and walked around. We saw the Nemo ride, all the fish, turtles, stingrays, etc. We saw figment and played in the jumping waters too. It was a lot of fun. After a few hours in the park we decided to go and eat at a local mexican restaurant and then go back to Nanny and Gramps and go....you guessed it Swimming! What a day to wrap up the Birthday Day!

You can see a slideshow of all the pictures in the right sidebar!

Review from Wednesday my Dad's Brithday

Well on Wednesday itw as my Dad's Birthday, April 1st. We went to breakfast, then went with Gramps to Epcot and MGM Studios for some fun. The kids had a blast and we wore them out!!! See the fun slideshow, enjoy!

Make a Smilebox slideshow

Animal Kingdom FUN!

We had a great day at the park on Saturday. After I was done teaching we all piled into the van and went to Animal Kingdom to "See the Animals!" We had a blast and Quinn and Bella had fun running the trails to spot the animals. Nanny had a ton of fun with them and we wore ourselves out. here are some of the pictures that we took while we were there. Enjoy!

Make a Smilebox scrapbook