Lake Eola and Harry P. Leu Gardens

We rarely go to downtown Orlando so we decided to take a walk around Lake Eola today and visit Harry P. Leu Gardens...

It's such a pretty walk around the lake and there's always something going on...

It was a warm and pretty day - even the wildlife was sunbathing...:)

I love this city...

Happy Thanksgiving!

We have been celebrating Thanksgiving at Jen and Rich's ever since Maddy was born. It's always a beautiful family day of feasting, family and fun and this year was no exception!

The turkey was amazing...

Baby Duke was the star of the show but didn't want to wait for photos...:)

He was really happy to see his Thanksgiving dinner finally on it's way...

And he loved it!

The girls looked beautiful (that includes you, Sara!)...

 

And we laughed a lot together...

Thank you Jen, Rich and Mya for having us!

And Happy Thanksgiving to you all!

Starting the season out right!

Jen and Mya came over for the weekend for some quality family time:). It was a beautiful day so we started out at the Oakland Nature Preserve to see the animals at Briley Farm...

The emus were so close it was a bit scary...

As we drove away Mya spotted a beautiful peacock in a tree...

Within minutes we were surrounded!

 Afterwards, we headed over to Hollywood Studios for the beautiful, annual Osborne Family Spectacle of Dancing Lights...

 And watched Fantasmic!

We didn't want the fun to end so after Studios we went over to catch Epcot and Magic Kingdom fireworks!

It was a perfect night - thanks for coming Jen and Mya!

Girl's week

Mike was away on a work trip all week so me and Maddy got to enjoy some quality girl-bonding time! We worked really hard together all week on homework and preparing for my first Toastmasters speech. We also got the house re-organized, ran a whole bunch of chores and even managed to put up some Christmas decorations to get a jump on the season for a change! So by Sunday we felt we had definitely earned a day off at Animal Kingdom :)

Mike managed to sneak in some family time with Pete, Steph and the Cary crew while he was away too - he had a great time!

For once, I think I will be able to focus more on actually enjoying the season rather than worrying about getting everything done this year! Well that's the plan anyway...;)

Happy Halloween!

Maddy knows the Halloween drill by now - no costume, no candy;). So she managed to find a friend, throw on a tutu and peacock tail and go to work:)

I loved seeing all of the costumes in the family this year:). Here are some of the Cary Earlys..

 Look how precious Cormac and Declan are!

And Mya - you look amazing!!

But I think the Badgers take the prize for best family effort:)

Happy Halloween!!!