Dancing with Daffodils

I am a big chicken and really don't like to do things where I could get hurt. I don't mind heights as long as I feel secure but a lot of activities that seem thrilling to other people only seem crazy to me. The one exception for me has been parasailing. I have wanted to do it for a long time because it was the perfect  thrill to safety ratio for me. I love the water and the idea of flying up behind a boat sounded exciting and fun. When Josh and I went to Bermuda on a cruise four years ago, he had planned to take me for my birthday and I was very excited about it. I should mention I am also terrified of sharks, even though I absolutely love the ocean, but around Bermuda there are very few sharks because of all the coral so parasailing around the beautiful island with pink sand and no sharks sounded amazing. Unfortunately, there was terrible weather while we were there, thanks to some hurricane, and I didn't get to go. For my birthday this year, Josh tried again and my pr...

I know I've said this before but I really love the beach. I especially love it when the ocean is warm, has lots of waves and the sand is soft. My family went to Pine Knoll Shores, NC last week and it was an amazing week. It was the first time my family has ever gone on vacation by ourselves for a whole week. We've done weekends but any other vacation we've taken has included extended family or friends. I was a bit nervous about having to do all of the work myself and that it might be a bit lonely but we really had a great week. Pretty much every day we would sleep in, have breakfast then head to the beach for 6+ hours before heading back and taking showers, making dinner and watching a Disney movie. It was seriously perfect. One morning we did some shopping at the surf shops, walked around the cute little town of Beaufort where we got fudge and had a seafood lunch and then we headed to the beach for the afternoon/evening. Another morning we did parasailing and another m...

I spent the first 18 years of my life in Rochester, New York. It is a wonderfully middle-sized city with four seasons, a gorgeous lilac festival every May, the best custard, fun beaches along Lake Ontario and many sites special to my church. It has a great highway system, access to lots of culture without the traffic and congestion of a bigger city, and you are close to Niagara Falls, Toronto and the Finger Lakes. I loved growing up there and I still love to go back to visit, preferably in the summer because living in the middle of the country has turned me off a bit to the extreme cold of the north. I just got back from 10 days visiting Rochester and more importantly, my family. We got to spend time with my in-laws, my parents, my sister and her family and then two of my other sisters came to visit too so at one point four of the five of us were together. My kids got to see 10 of their 15 cousins and it was wonderful. My kids are the youngest of all the cousins so they have lots of ...

Our family is going to Disney World this fall and we are all so excited. I have been many times and still feel the magic every time I am there. We took our kids for one day to Magic Kingdom two years ago while we were on a beach trip in Florida. It was a tougher day because of some weather, the terrible crowds and a few ride issues. My kids also didn't get quite as excited as I had thought they would about some things. This time we are going just to Disney for the whole week and I wanted to make sure my kids were going to be totally into it this time so in January, we set a family goal to watch all of the Disney animated movies in order of release before we go. It has been a fun experience and I think very interesting to see the progression of animation and style as we've gone through the years. Here is a quick run down of our journey so far. 1. Snow White--her voice is annoying but the kids really loved the dwarves and I'd forgotten how much personality they each have....