Spring Break in Savannah!

We arrived late Monday night and settled into our beach house on Tybee Island.  Tuesday the weather was a little chilly so we went to downtown Savannah to explore a little (need to mention here that Bryce woke up with sore calf muscles on this day.....WHAT?)  He was able to walk but was very sore that day so we took it easy and didn't walk too much, crazy!

First stop, Vics for lunch!

That afternoon we went to the beach for a short time (it was cold!!) the kids had fun playing in the sand.  Cartwheels and football!  

A super nice friend from our church in Savannah rented this golf cart for us for the week.  It was so much fun riding around Tybee in the golf cart!  We let the kids each have a turn driving and they thought they were hot stuff! 

 Baseball/softball practice in the park

 Wednesday we met some friends at the playground in our old neighborhood.  SO FUN seeing all these kids and their parents again.  That night our good friends from church, the Bennetts invited us to their house for dinner.  I had so much fun visiting that I didn't get a single picture :( 

 Thursday was bright and sunny so we met up with our old neighbors (and CeCe's BFF Vander!) for a fun beach morning.  They have since moved from Savannah as well and were back for Spring Break too!!  It was wonderful seeing them again! 

 Bryce swam a little that day, the water was freezing!

 Thursday for lunch we went to our favorite pizza place....Huc-a-poos!  We all talk about this pizza at least once a month and it was just as good as we remembered it being! 

 Bryce really wanted to go to Fort Pulaski.  It was a gorgeous day to walk around the fort.  CeCe did the Jr. Ranger booklet this time, here she is inspecting the damaged corner of the fort.  

 She tumbled her way around Savannah all week!

 Getting her Jr. Ranger badge!

 Vander's birthday was Thursday and Vandi had a party for him at the awesome Tybee playground.  We had fun seeing more friends there and CeCe was so excited to celebrate Vander's birthday with him! 

 That night we met the Marquez crew on the beach for the moonrise.  The night before it had been spectacular but unfortunately clouds blocked our view of the moon rising for a little while.  Once we could see the moon it was gorgeous and we had fun visiting more with them while the kids played in the sand.

 Friday was back downtown to do some more walking around.  And more tumbling! 

 Lunch at B&D Burger!

 Friday afternoon we went to the Tootle's house to visit and let the kids play some more.  That turned into one more meal out at a new Mexican place in town and the Rowlands joined us!  The kids had a blast at the kids only table.  The drive back to Tybee that night was a sad one.  We knew we had to leave early the next morning and none of us were ready to say goodbye to Savannah and all of our friends!  

It was such a fun week.  Savannah is a gorgeous, fun place with many awesome people.   We hope to go back again soon!! 

The week before Spring Break

One week before we were supposed to leave for Savannah for our much anticipated Spring Break trip, CeCe woke up with high fever and felt terrible.  I took her to the Dr. because the flu and strep had been going around her classroom.  She tested positive for the flu :(  She felt terrible on Monday but by Tuesday her fever was mostly gone and she was just tired and weak.  Thursday she was set to go back to school and was so excited to see her friends again (and show them her new smile!) but it wasn't to be.  She went to get out of bed and couldn't stand because of severe pain in her calf muscles.  She was fine when she wasn't trying to use those muscles thankfully but it was still scary.  The Dr. was puzzled and sent us for bloodwork.  Her muscle enzymes were very elevated but she said that was to be expected with the pain she was experiencing.  They said to push fluids and watch her urine closely to make sure her kidneys didn't get involved.  We borrowed a stroller from a friend and made the most of it!  She enjoyed being pushed around that day but by Friday was annoyed that she couldn't walk.  Saturday morning she could stand and by lunchtime that day she was back to walking normally.  The Dr. said it was probably just the flu virus had settled in her calf muscles.  So weird!  

Luke is the best companion when you are sick, he didn't leave her side!

 Her chariot for 2 days

Saturday (2 days before departure) Bryce woke up with high fever.  He had to miss 2 baseball games that day and was so bummed.  He laid around for 2 days (Luke moved to taking care of Bryce, so sweet!) and watched more movies than he has in months in those 2 days!  His fever lasted 1.5 days and by Sunday evening he was perking up so we went ahead and packed up and crossed our fingers that we could leave the next morning!  

And yay!!  We left as scheduled for our week in Savannah!  So thankful everyone was feeling healthy and ready to travel.

Happy 10th Birthday Bryce!

It happened.  Today Bryce Duke turned 1 decade old!  I can't believe it!!  

2 weeks ago Anthony took Bryce and two of his buddies (Upi and Chase) to a Grizzlies game.  It wasn't a birthday party (he says he doesn't want parties anymore) so it was more a fun afternoon outing :)   

Sunday afternoon we celebrated with Jambalaya and Cappy's pasta salad (birthday boy's choice!) and strawberry cupcakes.  The weather was nice so we were able to eat outside for the first time since the fall!  

Happy Happy Birthday Bryce!!!

Best Friends...

My parents dog Lady and our dog Luke.  They were rescued together and have a special bond!  

CeCe and her BFF Mary!  

20 Questions For Bryce

On his 10th birthday....

Happy Birthday 20 Questions!

       1.  How old are you? 10

          2.  What is your favorite color? Maroon

          3.  Who is your Best Friend? Upi

         4.  What is your favorite meal?Jambalaya

         5.  What is your favorite snack? Cheezits

         6.  What is your favorite thing to drink? Sprite

         7.  What is your favorite toy? Xbox

         8.  What is your favorite thing to do outside? Baseball and Basketball

         9.   What is your bedtime? 8:45

       10.  What is your favorite TV show? SEC Now

       11.  What was your favorite vacation this year? Disney World

      12.   What are your teachers’ names? Mrs. Sweda, Mrs. Wachenswanz,    Mrs. Brocato

      13.  What is your favorite subject at school? Math

      14.  What is your favorite sport/activity? Baseball

      15.  What is your favorite restaurant? Mollie McGuires

      16.  What is your favorite book? MSU Basketball Media Guide

      17.  What is your favorite game to play? Apples 2 Apples

      18.  How much do you weigh? 61lbs.

      19.  How tall are you? 53 inches

      20.  What size shoe do you wear? 2.5

Disney World!

Last week we were in Disney World!  The kids had Friday and Monday off from school but we took them out Thursday and Tuesday to make it a great 5 night 6 day trip.  In the airport I went looking for a notebook for CeCe.  In the shop where I found one they also had a pack of Grizzlies basketball cards.  I bought them for Bryce and was planning on giving them to him on the plane.  While we were waiting to board a tall guy walked up and Bryce got so excited....it was Courtney Lee (Grizz player)!  I quickly got out the cards and we found Courtney Lee's card and I grabbed a sharpie that I had in the backpack and Bryce asked him for his autograph!  We all thought that was so cool and talked about it for days.  While sitting in the airport waiting to board to come home, we found out the Grizzlies traded Courtney Lee.  What a bummer!!  But still so cool that we met him while he was still a Grizz!  

We made it to our hotel, ate a quick lunch and hopped on the bus to hit the Magic Kingdom! 

 I don't do the teacups but the other 3 did.  I love CeCe's face in this one!  

They loved the teacups and were the fastest spinners out there!

Astro Orbitor

We would get back to the hotel early each evening and play outside for hours.  Then would all be in bed by 830! 

 Animal Kingdom--safari ride

This is right after he went on Everest for the first time.  He loved it and they went back at least 2 more times that day.  

 Waiting on Dinosaur

 There was this big field outside our hotel and this is where we would spend hours each evening.  CeCe loved doing gymnastics out there and Bryce played football.  Here is CeCe's latest trick! Well it doesn't seem to be working as a video, but you can still see the nice grassy field!  

Up early waiting on the bus for Magic Kingdom, it opened at 8am Saturday so we got on the bus at 715!  

Lunch at Epcot

Ice cream and funnel cake at Epcot

People Mover at Magic Kingdom.  This was an easy ride to take pics on!  

I'm too cheap to buy the actual photos but here are our ride photos from the week:

Mickey ice cream, a must do at Disney World! 

We had a fantastic time!  The weather was great, the kids were great and everyone stayed healthy!  Our favorite rides of the week were:  Anthony--Everest.  Brooke--Splash Mountain.  Bryce--Everest and Space Mountain. CeCe-- 7 Dwarfs Mine Train and Thunder Mountain Railroad.  We did Magic Kingdom 1/2 day Thursday when we got there, Saturday, Monday and 1/2 day Tuesday before we flew home.  Animal Kingdom Friday and Epcot Sunday.  We felt like we had plenty of time at each park to get to do everything we wanted to do and usually do multiple times.  I love that we could leave around 3:00 or 4:00 each day and still feel like we got a full day out of it.  It made the trip much less exhausting!  

After Christmas

The Sunday after Christmas my parents brought Winnie, Jasper and Jude to their house so the cousins could spend some Christmas together.  They came to our house Monday and they all had a blast playing outside together!  Jude loved riding CeCe's electric scooter and Winnie and Jasper loved riding in Dylan's new dune buggy.  They played outside for hours that day.  

There were also many games played (at our house and Cappy and Papaw's)

 Lady and Luke back together again....The lady that rescued these two found them together.  She is my mom's aerobic instructor and knew my parents were looking for a small dog.  I went with my parents to her house to meet Lady back in October.  Luke had a broken pelvis and was in rehab at her house.  I met him that day and fell in love with him.  I didn't give much thought to us getting another dog but after his rehab was complete she sent me a picture and I fell in love all over again.  We got him for a 'sleepover ' and never took him home-- we all decided we had to have him!!  Lady and Luke have a blast playing tougher and will snuggle like this.  It's so sweet!  Luke and Reagan play together great too, there hasn't been much snuggling though (only a time or two have I seen them this close)

 Poor Reagan....we made it 11.5 years with her without having to put her in a cone, until this weekend!  She injured her paw Wednesday night on a walk and wouldn't stop licking it.  Saturday she was limping so bad she couldn't go outside and the paw was swollen.  We took her to the vet ER (our vet was closed of course!) and they gave us some ointment and said we had to put her in this collar until it gets better.  She's doing fantastic with it.  Definitely getting frustrated but I thought she would be much more agitated with it.  

 I was sitting on the front porch yesterday and saw this inside the door.  We bought the fabric/canvas cone so it would be easier to sleep in, it just covers her face when she lays down!  She's already doing better tonight (Sunday night) so hopefully she won't need the cone for much longer.