My little Karate Kid

Even though it's actually Taekwondo, not Karate... Nevertheless, it's something Owen's been doing for a bit now and that he absolutely loves. And so do I. He doesn't only get some exercise, but he has become a lot more confident. He learns the tenets of Taekwondo – courtesy, integrity, perseverance, etc. It's so cute to watch this group of 5 year olds say their tenets, and what each of them mean. Not to mention, do their complicated patterns, and that jump kick! Mr. Perry, his instructor, and his son (also Mr. Perry) keep the class fun too, so I have to admit, it's pretty entertaining for us parents (and little 1 year old siblings) to watch.

I saw these coupons at class the other day, so I thought I would share. It's a really good deal if you want to give this class a shot. Oh, and Mr. Perry will also allow new students to come in and try out the class for free one time. That way you can make sure your kid is into it before signing him/her up.

More info on Todd Perry Taekwondo Academy here 

Blueberries

We had so much fun picking blueberries last weekend I thought I would share. I don't normally like blueberries but there's something about picking them yourself straight out of the tree that just makes them taste better –the boys agree.

Here's the info if you're interested:

Tom West Blueberries
324 E. Orlando Ave.
Ocoee, FL 34761 

Open April 20th - End of May
Saturdays and Sundays 9-5

www.tomwestblueberries.com

It's very family friendly, they provide buckets for picking, prices are great, and the best part – they're pesticide free.

Disney's Yacht and Beach Club Resort

We took another "mini vacation" this past weekend. Isaac was coming, so why not go enjoy the pre-hurricane weather? This was our first time at the Disney's Yacht and Beach Club Resort. We stayed at the Yacht Club just for one night and we loved it. That pool is just sooo amazing. It goes forever, it has sand on the bottom, and, it has all kinds of other fun features. One area has a sand island in the middle that kids were loving. Another part of the pool is a lazy river. There are also a few waterfalls throughout, an awesome slide that comes out of a pirate ship, and this small area that you go into and get taken for a spin, kind of like a hurricane. The four of us spent hours enjoying that pool. Owen got to practice his swimming and Kellan just hung out in his baby float with a big smile while splashing his own face.

In the afternoon we took a break for ice cream (of course) at Beaches & Cream. We did not get The Kitchen Sink. Even Will Gay — biggest lover of ice cream I know — said that was too much.

The cool thing about staying at one of the Disney hotels even if it's just for one night, is that you not only get to enjoy the pool, but they always have lots of family planned activities. The campfire at night is one of my personal favorites. They do it at this Resort, and I've also seen it at Fort Wilderness and at the Animal Kingdom Lodge.

Downtown Winter Garden Cars and Dinner

We went to downtown Winter Garden the other night. It happend to be the third Saturday of the month, so they were having the Cruz-N-Car Show. After walking through Plant St. and enjoying the cars and their engines (Owen was particularly interested in the engines) we decided to try The Chef's Table for dinner. We sat in their "Tasting Room" and were the only family with kids. At first, I thought we weren't gonna make it. Owen was kind of going limp and throwing himself on Kellan and myself. There was no kid's menu or colors, so I had to improvise. Telling him all about my first car (a 1969 red VW Bug) did the trick. Then, the cheese plate arrived and completed Owen's happiness. We ended up having a really nice dinner. On our walk back to the car we made a quick stop at Sweet Traditions and got a cookie each. And, we of course stopped to press the button and watch the train go next to the theater — We never leave Downtown Winter Garden without doing that!

St. Pete Beach

We took a little trip down to St. Pete Beach for father's day. Originally we were planning on a simple day at Cocoa, but we ended up finding a really nice last minute deal for the Don CeSar Hotel. We left early Saturday morning and came back on Tuesday. The beach was amazing.The water was super clear, shallow, and there was practically no waves — perfect for kids. The sand was really white too. We pretty much spent every minute out on the beach. 

I really enjoyed that hotel too, beach towels, and noodles, and pool toys, and "citrus infused" water was all provided by the pool. The Don CeSar also had umbrellas and chairs for rent on the beach, but, for a hefty price. We just brought our Quick Shade, not a pretty thing, but it works great.

On the way back we stopped at the Florida Aquarium. It was pretty neat. We saw all the fish and funky sea creatures, played in the water area, and headed back home.

BTW, it's a only a 2 hour ride from Orlando to St. Pete Beach. If you ask me, it's well worth it.

* Also, as parents we're always trying our best to protect our children, so, we cover them on sunscreen. However, I recently found this scary research on sunscreen. You can use this website to check out the brand you're using (thanks Sarah!). We realized there's not a lot of options at the regular shops. Whole Foods has some good ones though. And, yes, we still need to cover them in sunscreen, just not one that's full of harmful ingredients.

Weekend Happenings

1. Star Wars Weekends Ends on June 10th — so this is the last weekend — at Disney's Hollywood Studios. Check out the Build a Droid station inside Tatooine Traders, next to Star Tours. We had lots of fun doing that.

2. Remember Dad... Saturday 11AM - 1PM at the Mannello Museum. This is a workshop for kids and families where you'll use printmaking techniques to create special cards. $5 per child.

3. PLAY New touring exhibit at the Orlando Science Center. Giant games! Sounds fun.

Weekend Happenings

1. Star Wars Weekends May 18th through June 10th — on Friday, Saturday and Sunday of each weekend at Disney's Hollywood Studios. Owen has been a Star Wars fan since before he turned three, so we don't really need much more this weekend. I'll just have to mentally prepare myself for the crowds. I know I'll be riding Star Tours with him (I was pregnant and couldn't before) If you want to this, keep in mind the height requirement is 40 inches for this ride and they're pretty strict with that. Tall shoes might help, hats won't (not that we tried to sneak in our kid before... ;) The lines can get long for pictures with characters, having water helps. Having a lightsaber helps even more. Kids can bring in a lightsaber and train in the Jedi Academy, then use it to defeat whatever gets in your way.

Oh, and here's a little behind the scenes video showing Darth Vader hard at work. It seems he had a lot to do with this event. 

Weekend Happenings

1. ROLL IT! Community Printmaking Festival Saturday 10AM - 3PM at the Mannello Museum of American Art, Loch Haven Park. Free admission. I'm so exited about this event. I can't wait to see Owen print with LEGOS. And, I really want to see that Steamroller press a huge print.

2. Great American Pie Fest Saturday 11AM - 7PM and Sunday 12 - 5PM at Lakeside Park in Celebration. Besides your appetite some basic picnic gear will come in handy at this event.

3. Winter Park Paint Out Saturday at the Albin Polasek Museum & Sculpture Gardens. Artists will be cap­tur­ing local land­scapes and land­marks with oils, water­col­ors and pastels.

4. Bob the Builder exhibit  is still up at the Orlando Science Center.

5. Very Fairy Princess Party Saturday at 11AM at the Winter Garden Village Barnes & Noble. Storytime and princess party.

6. 6th Annual Run in the Garden 5k Run/Walk Saturday at 7:30AM. $25 to sign up now, or $30 the day of the race. Kid's Run is free. Sign up day of race at 8:45AM

Magic Wand Image for #5 via here. Image for #3 via here.

Weekend Happenings

I can't believe it's the end of the week already. Here are some of the things going around Orlando this weekend. Click on the titles to find out specific information on each event:

1. Epcot International Flower & Garden Festival Through May 20th. Make sure to check out the pop-up playgrounds around the park.

2. Celebration Spring Art Fest Saturday and Sunday 10AM - 5PM. Paintings, sculptures, photography and jewelry featured along the streets of downtown Celebration. 

3. 3rd Annual Hannibal Square Folk Art and Craft Festival Saturday 10AM - 4PM, at the Hannibal Square Heritage Center in Winter Park. There will be a free children’s folk art painting workshop. Music by The Porch Dogs, and Orisirisi African Folklore (drumming and storytelling.)

4. Bob the Builder exhibit  is still up at the Orlando Science Center.

5. Storytime Adventures with Frances Keiser and Jane R. Wood Sunday 12:30PM - 2PM, at the Orange County Regional History Center.

6. Currents in Contemporary Art Through June 30th, at the Orlando Museum of Art. Owen says he wants to be an artist, so I think a trip to the museum from time to time would be in order. The main thing attracting me to this exhibit is the image of Robert Rauschenberg's piece shown on the museum's website. I love his artwork, and I'm assuming them showing it as the main piece on the page promoting this exhibit means it's there. (Even though his name is not mentioned among the artist represented) We will see.

Images for #2 via here and #3 via here

Model Railroad

So this past weekend we followed our own advice and checked out a couple of the events going on in the Orlando area. We did the Car Festival in Celebration on Saturday, which was great. And on Sunday we went to check out the open house at the Orlando Society of Model Railroads. I wasn't sure what to expect, but I have to say I was impressed. I had fun taking pictures of everything while my little boy watched the whole thing in awe; and asked all the "how" questions he could think of. I found out they do four open houses a year, but couldn't get the upcoming dates. I'll keep an eye out and let you know though. In the meantime, if you have a little boy, or girl, that's into trains, they told me they were there every Saturday between 10 - 3, and that everyone is welcome. This is fun, and it's free. (If you do bring in some cash there is a bucket for donations)

7208 Aloma Ave. 
Winter Park

Weekend Happenings

Some fun things going on in the Orlando area this weekend. Click on the titles to find out specific information on each event:

1. Epcot International Flower & Garden Festival. Through May 20th. Make sure to check out the pop-up playgrounds around the park.

2. Celebration Exotic Car Festival. Saturday 10AM - 4PM, and, on Sunday you can see the cars before the 10AM rally. We went to this festival last year and Owen fell in love with Ferraris. He's actually saving for one, one quarter at a time. The Star Wars Landspeeder and some other Hollywood movie cars will be there also.

3. Family Clay Day Workshop. Saturday at 1:30PM, at the Orlando Museum of Art. Advance registration required.

4. Orlando Science Center. The Bob the Builder exhibit is still up.

5. Orlando Society of Model Railroaders Open House. Sunday 10AM - 3PM, at 7208 Aloma Ave. Winter Park. See model trains run on a permanent layout in various stages of completion.  

6. Kidfest 2012. Saturday 11AM - 5PM, Audubon Park. Lots of fun activities provided by local vendors.

Improv Picnic

 
How awesome was the weather this weekend? I hope everyone got to enjoy it. We had a lot of fun — the egg hunts, egg decorating, a birthday party, and finally our little improv picnic Sunday afternoon. It's been really hot the past couple of weeks, so the nice weather couldn't keep us inside this weekend. After we were done with our Easter fun, we decided to go to Park Avenue, grab lunch at Panera, and eat at the the park. Baby Kellan happily snoozed in his carrier the whole time. Owen enjoyed the passing of the train, the airplanes flying by, and the houses under those big funky trees (the one at the end of the park, if you're walking towards Fairbanks, is bigger and better). Before we left, Will and Owen walked over to Kilwin's and brought some delicious ice cream back to our spot. Sooo good!