Lifesong

Snippets of Disney

We had a super fun family vacation to Disney World this past week. It was full of memorable moments and lots of good times!

John and Avery on Thunder Mountain Railroad. This girl couldn't get enough of the roller coasters! She even rode Tower of Terror, and said it was "so fun!"

JonJon and Avery on the Mine Train.

Back in our room with the Minnie Mimi bought for her. I think this picture is so sweet.

Hanging out with our good friends from Knoxville who were there at the same time. This was in France, just before Avery threw up in Belle's house, right before meeting her. She was such a trooper though. And thankfully it just lasted that evening and then it was gone.

JonJon, Missy, Ansley and Christian in Hollywood Studios. Avery didn't want to get out of her stroller, but she had on a shirt just like Ansley's and it would have been so cute for everyone to be in their Star Wars gear, but this is the shot I got.

We enjoyed the Electrical Parade, the Fantasy Parade, the fireworks show and the light show. So many magical memories, and it's made even better when family is there to enjoy it all together!

 

Rosemary Beach

So my Mac broke down (first time in the three years I've had it) and had to be sent out for repairs for a week, and then we went on vacation for a week, so while I often do find myself short on time these days, with all of that I couldn't have updated even if I did have time. Was that the longest sentence ever? It felt like it.

But I did want to post some pictures from the beach before I move on to Ansley's birthday. I hate being behind, so I need to catch up! It took me up until now to edit all my photos from the beach. We had such a great time!

We would usually get to the beach in the morning and stay until lunchtime, and then play in the pool and relax at the house in the heat of the day. We loved the house we stayed in, and the pool was perfect for all the kids. They loved it. They also loved hunting for crabs, and every night we'd all head down to the beach with our flashlights and buckets to find them.

We also rented a boat one day and toured around, went to Shell Island, and watched for dolphins. Ansley found SIXTEEN hermit crabs at Shell Island, and of course brought them back to the beachhouse with her. I have to say the kids loved playing with them all week (and none of them died, so that was a relief).

We buy groceries for the week because eating out gets old after awhile, plus it's expensive, not to mention tiring with a two year old. We only ate out three times during the week, and in typical Greiner style, we made chocolate chip cookies and pumpkin cookies. That's what we are doing in the above photo. We made ourselves at home!

On Wednesday evening our good friends from way back drove up (they live in Florida) to hang out with us for a few days. We had a great time - all six kids got along so well, and it was fun catching up and chatting with friends we have known for so long.

It was a great vacation! I have a lot of photos, but I'll add an album on the lefthand side instead of putting them all on here. A birthday post awaits!

Lake Weekend

I'm obviously struggling here if you couldn't tell. So in an effort to expedite this process, I'm just going to put up the pictures, unless the picture needs an explanation. It's storming here, so there's no telling how long my kids will stay upstairs playing, quietly. 

But here are pictures from our lake weekend with the Jansens, which was like two months ago, I think. Nah, I kid. It was just two weeks ago. Is this first trimester dragging on for anyone else but me?

Okay I lied. I am word girl, apparently. I didn't realize how difficult it would be to just put up a picture and not say anything about it at all, like I have pictures of Mark and Ansley just like this, starting at 20 months and going to almost 7 years. Crazy. Next year Mark may have trouble balancing all those Greiner kids.

And really not much has changed in that amount of time, except that this girl has gotten a lot older. Weird that the adults don't age at all.

And they've added a member to the Jansen family. And a very cute member, I might add.

So we spent Saturday on the boat, riding around, swimming and eating lunch, as you may have guessed. 


We stopped for lunch at an outdoor restaurant, where I thought for sure I was going to die, but thankfully they had several huge fans that really did help a lot. Otherwise I am sure I would have died. This picture was taken at lunch.

After the boat ride. Did you want to see a close up of Hamilton's hair?

I thought so.

As always, we have to do the traditional matchy photos. It's kind of a big deal.

Except that Ansley was upset that she didn't have anyone to match with. But maybe that will change next year. We'll see.

The Mama hen and her chicks. Er, roosters. But you get the analogy.

On the way home, we stopped at a beautiful mountain overlook and I got some cute pictures. We went from 100 degrees in Georgia to a beautiful 74 degrees here. Ansley even claimed she was chilly!

They were eating Oreo cookies, in case you were wondering.

A fun weekend! We are blessed to have such great friends.             

Beach Life According to Megan

Beach life is tough.

 
Should we swim? Play in the sand? Where should we eat? Should we go shopping?

There are just so many choices that can make beach life so challenging. 

For our kids, the choice was always to the beach! They both love the ocean, playing in it and running around. Christian had no hesitation this year, he just ran right into the surf. Ansley loves playing on the boogie board, swimming around, snorkeling and finding fun things, like hermit crabs or parts of sand dollars. And then putting it all in the bottom of her suitcase for us to find when we get home, along with a rather large pile of sand. But, still, it's the beach memories that are important here.

It doesn't matter where we are, handstands take priority. And isn't that water just amazing? Again, I have to point out that I love clear water because it goes really well with my irrational fear of sharks. I remember when I was young and we'd go to the beach every summer, and I'd go WAY out into the murky water with no fear. Of course I'd also go underwater and never put on a stitch of make-up, so I guess a lot has changed since then. It's all really for the better.

So we can take pictures like this and I'll actually post them on my blog. If my hair was wet and I had no make up on, that picture would never make it here. Because I'm so vain. I do think this blog is about me. Don't you?! Don't you?! 

If you followed all that, pat yourself on the back, and throw on some extra eyeliner. You deserve it. (Unless you are a guy; please don't do the eyeliner part.) And if you wonder what has possessed me, just smile and keep on reading. It will all make sense soon.

It's hard to imagine that this photo next summer will have a baby in it. As opposed to just in my belly.

 
And so will this one. Except there's not one in anyone's belly in this photo.

A relaxing, fun week with good friends equals some great memories!

I will create an album to the left of more beach pictures as well.