Halloween Festivities

Well we have understandably been thrown for quite a loop the last couple of weeks. Also, Claire had croup this past week! For those of you that don't know what that is, it is the most horrible sounding respiratory virus I have ever heard. She had trouble breathing, so the cough was loud & deep. At one point she coughed in her crib & I thought Zoey was barking. So, needless to say, we missed out on quite a few of the halloween festivities we had planned on attending. At least she isn't old enough to know that yet!
We still made the most out of this weekend. Saturday Claire got dressed up in her costume... just for pictures :)

Our Little Foofa!

Love Lives on Forever in the Heart...

Such a sad time for the Waddill family as Clay's father passed away last weekend. We believe all things happen for a reason, and God was looking out for us as Clay was sent home early from this deployment. Since he has been home he was able to visit with his dad two times in the past month and a half.

We try to take comfort in the fact that Les is no longer suffering and is now in a better place. He loved his family with all of his heart, and was extremely proud of Clay and the accomplishments he has made in the Navy. He was also very proud of his granddaughter Claire. On every trip to Ocala Les would come running out as soon as we pulled into the driveway. He would immediately pick Claire up and bring her inside to play. He would always compliment me by saying Claire is beautiful just like her mother.

We will miss him so very much, and know he is watching over us now.

The memorial service will be held November 19 in Bedford, PA where Les was born.

Pumpkins!

We took Claire to the Pumpkin Patch yesterday. It is one that is right down the street from our house & they have the cutest stuff! We didn't stay too long but Claire enjoyed walking around and she loved the little baby pumpkins. We took her to the same Pumpkin Patch last year, and it is just so crazy to see what a difference a year can make. She is growing up so fast!

And last year's picture

We came home with 2 pumpkins ready to carve. Happy Fall!

Back to Work

After a wonderful month off Clay headed back to work this week. We were sad about that, but have to say we definitely made the most of his time off with trips to Ocala, Savannah, and Disney World! Now it is time to get into a new routine. We are very happy because this new job is considered "shore duty." That basically means NO DEPLOYING. Woo-hoo! It's actually pretty close to a "normal" job. No weekends and very few nights. We will take it!

Claire has adjusted well so far but you can tell she misses seeing her Da-Da. The first morning I went in to wake her up she started saying "Da-Da!" over and over. Didn't take her long to go back to being a daddy's girl! So she has now taken to getting up extra early - I think it is just so she can see her da-da before he goes to work.

P.S. Sorry about the crooked picture, it was early and I didn't have my coffee yet!

Disney World!

We just got back from our family vacation in Disney World! We had such a great time. We stayed for 3 nights & it was perfect. Claire had so much fun!

Our first afternoon we went to Downtown Disney and walked around for a bit. We had dinner at Rainforest Cafe, where Claire learned how to tell us what a monkey says... "ooh ooh aah aah". We really enjoyed our hotel. It was actually a cabin at the Ft. Wilderness campground. It was perfect for us! It has a full kitchen and little living area, so Clay and I didn't have to tip-toe around while Claire slept.

The first full day we headed over to the Magic Kingdom. It was a fairly quick boat ride over there from our cabin. Claire's very first ride was Peter Pan. She was mesmerized! She just stared and took it all in. We were very proud of her for not being scared, it was pretty dark! After that we went to It's A Small World which she really warmed up too. She stared in amazement at all of the "kids" singing.
We also went on Winnie the Pooh, the carousel, Aladdin's Magic Carpet Ride, and Mickey's Philharmagic. That one was a little rough - it's a 3d movie with songs from all of the Disney movies. It was suggested for little one's but it scared the heck out of Claire! She cried and jumped every time they moved around. I think she's a little young for 3d! Other than that we had lots of fun walking around and checking everything out.

After that we spent the afternoon hanging out at the little kid's splash park at our campground. She loved it! That was nice because previous splash park experiences have not been too great!

That night we grilled out hot dogs at our cabin and ate on our front porch. Much better than theme park food!

We got up bright and early the next day and headed to Animal Kingdom. What a neat place! We went on the coolest safari. We got to see all kinds of animals - lions, elephants, warthogs, giraffe, hippos, and even rhinos! Claire really liked that ride too. She had to sit in my lap to see and she just stared at all of the animals!

One of the best things about Animal Kingdom is you can actually see the characters! The lines to see characters in Magic Kingdom are so crazy. Claire got to see Minnie Mouse - which she was SO excited about. She walked right up to her and said "minnie!" Even took her hand and touched her nose. After we took our pictures she walked away yelling "bye bye minnie mouse!" over and over again. We were cracking up. She is definitely not shy!

Overall we had a great time. Lots of fun memories and even more pictures! I have so many good ones I'm trying to figure out the best way to share them. I promise I will soon! Here is a teaser in the meantime...

Fire Station Tour

I'm pretty sure that I posted before we joined a Mom's group that is for Stay-at-Home moms in our area of town. It was been quite an adventure for Claire and I! Last week we went on a tour of the local fire station. Claire absolutely loved it. Maybe even a little too much. She wasn't to keen on giving the other kids a turn to sit inside the truck. So even though it ended with quite a meltdown we at least had some fun and got some really cute pictures out of it!

Fall, Friends, Food, & Football

In that order! We have had a great weekend. The weather man kept telling us it would be cool this weekend but I sure wasn't going to believe it until I felt it. And I did! It has been so nice since waking up Saturday morning.
Saturday late afternoon we headed over to our friends the Wolf's house for some fun and food. Clay had not yet met their little boy Zane who is almost 6 months old. They also have Rhea, who is 6 months older than Claire. She loves to play with "Quaire" but unfortunately Claire doesn't quite return the favor. Once we headed outside for some swinging and bounce house action then Claire warmed up to her rather quickly. We enjoyed a fun cookout catching up with old friends.
This morning we headed out to the park so Claire could have some more outside playtime. She is obsessed with the slide! She is brave enough to slide down on her own so she wants to do it over and over again. She even climbs up to the back of it herself, saying "Step Up!" along the way. It is fun to watch her run around and enjoy herself.
So now, we are watching a rough Jags game but still enjoying the nice Sunday. Tonight we are having Roasted Butternut Squash and Bacon Pasta... if that doesn't say fall I don't know what does!