The Villages, FL

Again this year, my parents rented a house in The Villages.  In case you are not familiar, it is Disney Land for retirees!  In their words, it is a "drinking community with a golfing problem."  We had an uneventful 8 hour car drive down.  Once we arrived, the girls swam, and swam, and swam.  Allie is now able to swim without floaties.  Seh proved this by swimming 2 lengths of the pool just so that Heath would get into the pool!  After all of that swimming, it was time for dancing.  The girls loved going to the town square each night for dancing, live music, and special drinks.  After dancing, the next favorite activity of choice was going on a golf cart ride, or in Brianna's words "golf horse ride."  Dad (or Papa) took the girls on a trolley ride through the Villages.  Since we missed the first trolley, we took the girls to the local Barnes and Noble for a free book and a smoothie.  While we were there, Brianna found the car of her dreams!  We had a blast in Florida again this year!

The park, magic, and more

Well, we have been busy at the Walters' household!  First of all, we found the Colonial Francis Beaty Park.  It was great, but it was too hot!  We played on the playground, walked to the lake, and fed the geese.  I think that Brianna enjoyed the playground better than the geese.  She screamed when the geese wanted the bread in her hands.
Next, we went to the best magic show!  Zelnic the Magician was at the library.  His show was a reading program infused with magic.  As a reading teacher, I could not have been happier.  The girls thought that he was amazing.  They even bought their own magic wands.  Allie was a little disappointed when we got home.  she was going around the house saying "Reading is Magic!", but nothing was happening!  It was quite funny to watch.
Then there is the new addition to our family.  We have realized that our 12 year old lab, Baxter, is not doing well.  He seems to be on his last leg.  We had discussed getting another dog, but we wanted to make sure that it was the right choice for our family.  We decided that a female would be the best fit for Baxter.  We didn't want a puppy because of the incredible amount of work involved, but we didn't want a dog that was too old either.  Then we found Bella Grace.  She is a nine month old cocker spaniel - Australian Shepherd mix.  She was an outside dog, but has transitioned nicely into an inside dog.  She loves to go running, and is challenging me to run 1.5 miles with her daily.  The girls love to play with her.  In turn, Bella Grace gives them lots of kisses.

Welcome to our family little Bella!

Adventures on a Monday

Today was our second day with the girls home.  We were all glad to be back in our home in our beds.  Like always, we ventured out to Barnes and Noble for Magic Tree House Monday.  Today's story was Polar Bears Past Bedtime.  And as you can see from our pictures, we made our very own polar bear masks!
As our day came to close, we finished off with some singing.  This is my favorite.  Not only does Allie do a great job, but the dancing from Brianna is hilarious!  Yes, she is using the broom as a guitar.

I hope that this puts a smile on your face!

Adventures in Camping!

This past weekend, we took the girls on their first camping trip.  We went to a campsite about an hour from the house.  It was great!  The campsite was shaded!  There was a pool, lake, store, and playground.  Most importantly, there were bathrooms!  We spent two nights there with the girls before we took them to their grandparent's house.  They had a blast!
Heath bought them a Hannah Montana fishing pole.  Bri caught two fish and Allie caught one fish.  I think that Allie enjoyed fishing more than her sister. 
The girls made friends with the little girl in the next site.  They are now going to be pen pals.  Allie was very excited!
To end our camping trip, we enjoyed the fireworks at the lake.  Well, three of us enjoyed the fireworks and one of us sat there crying.  At the end, Bri settled down and enjoyed them.  The girls got to have their first funnel cake and fried oreo at the fireworks.  Yummy!

All in all, it was a great time.  I will say that I am searching for a used camper for the next camping excursion . . .