Big Cat Rescue Night Tour

Big Cat Rescue (http://www.bigcatrescue.org/) offers a night tour on the last Friday of each month. Since big cats sleep for much of the day and their hunting times are around dusk, it's a great time to visit and see these beautiful animals so active. There's something really spooky about having a leopard or a tiger creep up on you in the dark when you can't really see the cage too...

Trip to Wonderworks

I have driven past Wonderworks on International Drive in Orlando about a million times and always wondered what's inside that crazy looking building:). Maddy and I decided to add it to our list of places to visit during our "Summer of Fun" and made the trip over this week.

Inside there are a bunch of different little hands on-type mini attractions. Like the Aging Machine where Maddy got to see what she may look like in the future...

Or the Bed of Nails which was a lot more uncomfortable than the guy said it would be...

Got some great head shots of Maddy...

Overall we liked it - kind of a cross between MOSI and Disney Quest. We made it round in just over 2 hours and it was really nice to get out of the heat for a bit too!

Maddy turns 12 (part two)!!

On the big day itself I took Madison for sushi and a "shopping spree" to mark the occasion. Jen, Rich and Mya came over to celebrate in the evening so we bought the most amazing chocolate oreo and fudge icecream cake...

Maddy was so thrilled with her gifts - especially the WWF adoption of 3 lion cubs from Mya, Jen and Rich!

Yep - Mike finished that piece...

This is the last year as not a teenager yet...!

Maddy turns 12 (part one)!!

I can't believe my Madison has turned 12! She had a few friends over for a sleepover to celebrate at the weekend. The party was a cupcake theme and we got started with a cupcake pinata. Here's a massive cupcake holding a massive cupcake...:)

Birthday girl gets to go first...and you can barely tell that's a paint roller Mike...

Aliyah had the winning hit but Maddy knows the best-kept pinata secret...that all the good stuff gets stuck in the container...nice use of stealth my child...

Next the girls got to decorate their cupcakes...

...and present their work...

The girls held up a cupcake each with a candle in it to sing Happy Birthday. Kind of like a round of "cheers" but for 12 year olds...:)

After a inevitable sugar rush and even more inevitable food fight, the girls got into jammys for presents and flashlight tag...

Awww - here they are looking a bit worse for wear after a sleepless night!

Happy Birthday Maddy - I hope you stay as sweet as your cupcakes. We love you!

Declan and the Villages!

We had a really lovely family couple of days with Rita, Eileen, Dave, Matt, Liz and Declan! Boy is he a cutey!