We hopped over to Missouri to celebrate the long holiday weekend with Cousin Dresden and crew. But instead of going straight to Centralia we opted to spend the night in St. Louis and take the kids to the zoo the next morning. Aunt Chelle, Dresi, MawMaw and PawPaw met us there for some fun with the animals.
Even though this isn't the best picture [read: no one wanted to stop and take a picture], I love this picture of the grandparents with all three grandkids. 
Touching and feeding the stingrays....
After cramming as much into one day before naptime as we could, we headed back to Centralia. And the next day had a family putt-putt competetion. Three pretty cute future golfers below:
And of course, what fourth of July celebration would be complete without fireworks??? Here Michael created his own way to safely light Chinese lanterns: on a fishing pole.
And, in keeping with their tradition, this is exactly how every single 4th of July picture of Ben and Drew looks. Every single year this is how they watch them. It just cracks me up. 
And to wrap up the weekend, we went to cheer Dresi on in at her swim meet. 
Getting ready at the blocks:
Ready for the backstroke:
Her cheering section watches intently...
What a great time we had spending with our family there. And once we headed home we decided that we needed some low-key days. So we spent the next several mornings and afternoons playing in our backyard.
Two tired little water-babies:
Even though this isn't the best picture [read: no one wanted to stop and take a picture], I love this picture of the grandparents with all three grandkids. Touching and feeding the stingrays....After cramming as much into one day before naptime as we could, we headed back to Centralia. And the next day had a family putt-putt competetion. Three pretty cute future golfers below: And of course, what fourth of July celebration would be complete without fireworks??? Here Michael created his own way to safely light Chinese lanterns: on a fishing pole. And, in keeping with their tradition, this is exactly how every single 4th of July picture of Ben and Drew looks. Every single year this is how they watch them. It just cracks me up. And to wrap up the weekend, we went to cheer Dresi on in at her swim meet. Getting ready at the blocks:Ready for the backstroke: Her cheering section watches intently... What a great time we had spending with our family there. And once we headed home we decided that we needed some low-key days. So we spent the next several mornings and afternoons playing in our backyard. Two tired little water-babies:We have such a great time while we're gone. And we do enjoy being busy. But I must say I am very aware that some of our best memories come from the times we are home together as a family, doing the little things of life.
Thats our July in a nutshell....
The two cutest little sluggers maybe ever!! I mean, come on, could you just melt over these faces???
And then we hopped on down to visit 
While we were there Ben decided he wanted to take his training wheels off and try to ride like a big boy. So Michael happily took them off and began the process of trying to teach him how to do it. And on the very first time he tried to take off by himself he actually stayed up!!! .....and then he started thinking about it too much, and got a little freaked out, and promptly decided that he in fact did NOT want to take his training wheels off yet. And this is where you need a manual as a parent to tell you when to push your child to stick with it and keep trying and when to allow them to do it on their own time without fear and WITH their own confidence. Hard to know when to do those things. So we encouraged him to keep going, did all the things we could to help him get it, and he still decided he wasn't ready 
Over the summer, I tried really hard to keep working with them on their letters, writing and fine motor skills. One day I had them write out their patterns that they each wanted to use, and then follow that pattern to make a colored necklace out of colored straws I had cut into little pieces to thread on yarn. This one is Drew's:
And here is Ben's:
We made it through the flight with ease. They were entertained by all the coloring books, little cars to drive on the tray table, 
And all that excitement with no naps thus far lead to falling asleep as soon as we left the airport:
But they quickly woke up as soon as we reached our destination.
We chose to stay on park property and our own cabin at Ft. Wilderness fit our needs perfectly. Now, don't get me wrong--we're not the kind to do any cooking or anything like that when we travel. But, this allowed us to have both a little place for them to play in the evenings while I got ready for dinner, and gave us all a space of our own at bedtime. 
After we got all settled in, we headed over to Downtown Disney for some dinner and to explore. This was one of the things we did last year on our trip to 
And Mr. Potato Head
At dinner the twins were SO well behaved. And Daddy treated them to the T-Rex Build-a-Dinosaur store and they were SO excited! Ben built a T-Rex, who he named Rex 
The next morning the new additions to our stuffed animal collections helped the boys get ready for their big day in the Magic Kingdom with some cereal and milk at their own little table. These Disney people really do think of everything.
Here they are right outside the monorail (which they called "
And here is the train that delivered all the Disney characters to the park. The opening show at the beginning of the day was so sweet, and the boys were so excited that I will confess I got a little teary watching them enjoy something so much and the thought of my having my babies at Disney. I know, how pitiful, right? But I quickly pulled myself together and our day was off!
And we did! Here is the back side of Cinderella's castle. I, being the Princess of this family, thought that we should go in. But I got outvoted because that was "girl stuff". So I conceded and we rode every single ride that their height would allow them to ride. 
Daddy and Drew on Dumbo's Wild Ride
Ben on the Winnie the Pooh ride
And then we walked through Mickey's House and we actually got to meet Mickey and Minnie. They were SO excited! I don't think they knew that they would be that big because they approached them with a good bit of awe. 
After we came off the high from meeting the Mouse, the boys did the Teacups. I don't do well on spinning things like this, I can get carsick if I read even a 
Drew and Daddy raced ahead of Ben and I.
And then we got to splash a little bit in Donald Duck's house. 
After that we had pushed them to as far into the afternoon as they could go and we headed back to let them take a nap. After we all took a rest and got cleaned up we headed back over to the park for more fun and found Pluto on our way in! Of course Drew was so happy to see him, but Ben wasn't so sure. 
So Michael walked with him till he got enough courage to say hello himself and Pluto gave him a great big kiss!
And they loved getting to say hi to him!
The next day we were off to Animal Kingdom. 
Ben and Daddy and Drew and I watch the opening show. None of you will be surprised to know that we were early enough every day at every park to be at the very front of the crowds to watch all of the shows. ;) 
Mickey and Minnie welcome everyone in to the park:
The we got to see another set of twins! Ben had been especially looking forward to seeing them, and he did get them some hugs and high fives. But he did not want to pose for a picture. 
But Drew sure did! And isn't it so cute?
Next we hopped on over to do the Bugs' Life 3D adventure. We really didn't know what we were getting into before we began this one. So here we are with our 3D glasses on BEFORE the tears. Needless to say, they hated it. It was scary to them, and we left within the first 5 minutes. If we ever visit this park again, we'll try again when they are much older. But for now we know that they don't like things in 3D. Oh well, you live and learn, right?
Here they are in line for the big water ride. Now the signs say that you "might" get wet, and they met the height requirement. We prepared them that they might not like it and what might happen during the ride. But they were persistent that they wanted to go. So we did. This is the 'before' shot:
And here is the 'after'. I don't think they loved the ride, especially not the part when the three of them got caught underneath the waterfall. But they both held it together very well and didn't cry or complain once. Needless to say, we went straight to the store and bought our treat for that day: a DRY Disney t-shirt. 
We had plenty to explore and right outside of the Moroccan restaurant we ate at we saw Princess Jasmine. Guess who was SO happy to see her??? It was so cute! He hugged her and hugged her so long that Daddy finally said "okay, buddy, that's good" . And when he realized that we were all watching him with this pretty girl he needed a hug from Mommy since he got just a little embarrassed. She even put a lipstick print on his cheek, which he was proud of getting, but rubbed off since he got a little embarrassed. At dinner we had a table that was right next to the dance floor where we got to watch a belly dancer and both boys got to bang on the drums while she danced. Such a fun evening!
The next day was Sunday so we got up and headed over to John and Holly McCall's church and then got to spend some of the afternoon with them. I hate that we didn't get any pictures of us all together because they are such dear friends and we love them so much. I only wish we got to spend more time together because our time with them is always such a blessing to both us and to our kiddos. And then after a good nap we headed over to the pool to beat the heat. 
Back over to Epcot once again after we cleaned up from the pool for some exploring and some dinner, minus the rain this time.
And we got to meet Donald!!
AND Goofy!!!
And then we made a point to go to China. When my parents took Britt and I to Disney as children, I remember Epcot being kind of boring. But not so this time. And not just for us grown-ups. Ben and Drew loved it! I think that must be because we talk so often about the different places Daddy has to travel for work, and we spend a lot of time looking at the globe. But regardless of the reason, they were SO excited to see what China looks like. 
They got to each decorate their own Chinese mask, complete with their names and birthdates in character. And then we ate ---what else-- Chinese food! I think the people around us were confused as to why two little four year olds were eating properly with chopsticks. 
And then our last day began at Hollywood Studios. A side note: I have no idea who the people are in this picture. Two little people were grouchy this morning, no doubt from staying up late every night, and couldn't be cooperative for a picture. But I digress. Onto the fun...
And immediately after breakfast we headed to see Lightning McQueen and Mater! I can't even descibe the level of excitement at meeting the REAL McQueen. 
Kermit was cool to me because Micheal and I grew up with him, but I don't really think they knew who he was. 
We all rode the Star Wars ride, which they thought was pretty cool since they have Storm Trooper helmets and light sabers and some of Daddy's Star Wars stuff from when he was little.... 
We played on a playground straight out of Honey I Shrunk the Kids. Again, they liked the playground pretty well, but they didn't really get it. I thought it was great though because we watched that movie as kids. 
This day we decided to skip naps and watch the afternoon parade. It was our last day afterall. And I'm so glad we got to see it! It was so much fun!
We wrapped up our vacation by celebrating with dinner at Artist's Point. Now, I'll say this: for 4 year olds these boys have eaten at some pretty nice places. But this was by far the nicest meal they've ever eaten and one of the nicest restaurants. So we prepped them by explaining just how we expect them to behave like very big boys and use their best manners and all that stuff. So we sit down and Drew places his napkin in his lap and says very matter of factly "Daddy, I need an appetizer please." We were laughing so hard at being so caught off guard by him that we almost couldn't order. And then he had some applesauce as an appetizer. 