Disney Cruisin' 2014

For over a year, 2014 has been long awaited as the year of the big family cruise reunion. Grandma Taggart has been pulling the planning together for two years, and this bunch was ready to party for seven days on the high seas of the Caribbean. This pic captures the pure joy of the first day when we set sail for our big adventure.

The week was filled with non-stop Disney Magic.

We were able to meet our favorite princesses...

And heroes!

Out first stop was Saint Maarten. This tiny island had a unique feel as the island nation is split between Dutch and French territories. This is a picture of us before we ventured to the Dutch side of the island.  Rather than doing a canned tour of the island, we decided to rent a car and explore on our own.  Our kids eyes were opened as we saw chickens and cows randomly crossing the road within the first minute of our tour.

After passing through Marigot, we ate lunch at a beach BBQ called Grand Case.  The turquoise ocean view was stunning.

We ended up doing some beach-side relaxing and snorkling at a quiet, little beach called Le Gallion.  It was nice to explore on our own and give our kids some local culture.

Our next stop was St. Thomas. We took a boat to the incredibly beautiful island of St. John for a guided island tour.

The kids enjoyed the open air island transportation, while mommy held her breath that the occasional bumps wouldn't send our little ones flying.

While the family was at St. John's, Dave took the opportunity to do some scuba diving in some amazing spots off the coast of St Thomas. The diving offered some crazy tunnels and crevices to explore.

Our last stop was Castaway Cay.



Mom and Aubrie started their day with the Castaway Cay 5K run.

Elliana and Teyah got some island braids to take home as a souvenir.

One night aboard the ship, was Pirate Night in the Caribbean. We partied late in to the night until our kids completely crashed.

A big thank you to Grandma Taggart for making these amazing memories happen!

Although our family pictures didn't quite turn out, we had plenty of memories to cherish.

Victory for Anya

There's nothing better than selling lemonade on a hot summer day for a great cause. Aubrie and her friends have had their friend, Anya, in their prayers, and decided to raise a little bit of money for her latest round of cancer treatments. The girls were thrilled by the generosity of the passers-by when they were able to bring in $16.50 -- many of their customers paying well above the $0.50 price tag.  

Life Skills

This summer, some of the mom's from church created a fun "life skills" activity for the 10-11 year old girls.  Each week, one of the girl's mom's would teach the girls a new skill: making rolls, creating crafts, knitting, baking, etc.  When we hosted, I taught cake decorating.

We had 10 girls raid our kitchen and make a gigantic mess! Good thing they are cute and well behaved!

Ellie and her buddy Carly were focused on their creations.

Here is her work of art.

And here is Aubrie's creation. It has been fun to see the girls develop new talents.  Ellie in particular has really caught the fire for cooking.  She loves making rolls and homemade jam now after learning how to from one of the classes.

Summer Soccer

Ellie is quickly becoming quite the soccer star! This year she played on the highest team with the girls a year older than her. In order to be allowed to do this, she had to score in the top 5 percent of those kids at tryouts. She was the only kid her age allowed to play up. 

Teyah decided to try soccer again this year too, and she was like an Energizer Bunny on the field. She never stopped! Aubrie also gave rec soccer a go again this year, but unfortunately we don't have any pictures of her! Daddy decided to coach her and her games conflicted with Ellie and Teyah's soccer, so mom was driving the other two around. 

Ellie enjoyed the "opening ceremonies" parade before the USA Cup. There were teams from all over the world (like this one from Japan). There was even a team from India -- the tournament was the first time that team has ever played soccer on grass!
Fortunately, Ellie's small size doesn't hold her back!

Biking the trails



We love the bike trails all around our neighborhood and connecting neighborhoods. Because we spend so much time on them, we have created some memories of our adventures on the trails.

One time Dave got the idea to bike to swimming lessons. They were running late and sent Aubrie and Ellie to get a head start because they were ready to go and he wasn't. He had set a meeting place, but they weren't at his designated meeting place when he arrived. Slightly nervous, he called out for them and eventually found them (they had gotten a little turned around). They continued on the long ride. Teyah was running out of gas going up the big hill. The girls were even more late for swimming, so Dave decided to put Teyah into the trailer and well...carry her bike! What an adventure! Good thing mom wasn't around to stress!

Kyler learned to ride a two-wheeler at the beginning of the summer. He thinks he's pretty grown up!

Papa visit

These kids count down the days until Grammy and Papa come to visit. Kyler had been especially excited so that his Papa could take him fishing again.

And boy do these kids love their Grammy!

The kids also enjoy getting to spend their birthday money with them. This year's gift haul included a lot of Lego sets, which were promptly assembled.

Basement transformation

Since we moved into our house over two years ago, we have been anxious to finish our basement. This is the first house we've lived in without a finished basement. So, after months of thinking, planning and saving, we finally contracted a builder and started the process. We spent a lot of time debating this space, but finally decided to build a stage for our kids since they LOVE to create plays, dance and perform.

We also thought a chalkboard behind the stage would be a fun way for them to create their own backdrops. By the way, to save A LOT of money, we decided to do all the painting ourselves. We had to complete the 1500 square feet of painting in two days. It was an exhausting marathon, but fortunately some good friends helped us out.

The basement was partially completed when we moved in, which helped us see the room sizes and shapes and see what we did and didn't like about the floor plan. We did end up changing a few walls.

And we added some arches!

The kids couldn't contain their excitement when the carpet was finally laid. They rolled around on it like they've never seen carpet before. They were so cute and funny!

The big splurge was this kitchenette. In the end, we are pleased we did it.

And the stage has definitely been a huge success!

They have enjoyed the open great room for "gymnastic competitions" and dance parties.

And the projector and surround sound is great fun too! The added features and space have definitely improved our quality of life!

Teyah Birthday

This beautiful girl turned 7 on the day that Lauren and Jacob got married. So, we had to celebrate her a little before the wedding while at Grandma's house and also several weeks later at home. She wanted a princess party.

Since her sweet cousin Sydnee's birthday is just two days before hers, we had a big cousin party.

These two are the cutest little cousins. We had a fun party.

On the actual day of her birthday, we had her stand on a chair and everyone at the wedding luncheon sang to her and she was so thrilled!

We finally got around to celebrating with her friends too at the newly opened Chuck-E-Cheese.

 

Teyah is so lucky to have these sweet girls as her BFFs.

This lucky girl got an extra cake this year! It was a yummy cookie dough cake!

Some things about Teyah:
--Teyah is the most innocent girl I know and has so much love for those around her.
--She had a rough first grade year, so we decided to change schools in hopes to make things run better
--She is very sensitive; especially when she thinks people are laughing at her.
--Teyah is a beautiful singer and a fast runner!
--She played soccer again this year and ran her guts out. She was so tough and determined.
--She is a hard worker.