So, technically it isn't "spring" yet but that never stopped Florida from feeling like summer most of the year so I'm not letting it stop me from calling some of our fun events we have planned "Spring Happenings". Last year we had the inaugural years of the "Youngs' Summer of Fun" summer bucket list. We also brought back for the third year in a row, the "Christmas Advent Activities". This spring (henceforth used with little regard to what season it really is and mostly used for the time between now and when Kenzie gets out of school at which point we will bring back the summer bucket list despite it not being summer yet...) we have quite a few fun things we would love to do. Sort of like a bucket list but there are far fewer of them so we aren't making a formal list.
Here are some of the things we have planned:
UCF Basketball Game
UCF Baseball Game
Touch A Truck Event at UCF
Pinkilicious: The Musical (for Kenzie and myself)
Orlando Science Center
Becoming Junior Rangers at a Florida state park (for the kids... obviously)
Visiting a few new state parks that we haven't been to before
St. Augustine Alligator Farm
St. Augustine Lighthouse
Movie Night at the Apopka Amphitheater
Strawberry Picking
Disney Trips
We will actually have our first two events already under our belt after this weekend. This weekend we plan to attend the Touch A Truck event at UCF with our neighbors and their little girl. For attending the event (and because our neighbor actually already had a voucher even if we didn't do the Touch A Truck), we will be given tickets to a UCF women's basketball game. I've never actually been to a women's game but Steven has. We used to attend the men's games all the time. We probably went to almost every game the year Dexter Lyons was playing for UCF. I can still replicate how he threw his free throws. The kids are pretty excited. We have done a Touch A Truck before and they both liked it. Will is even more into trucks now so it will be fun for him. Kenzie and Will both seem to like basketball and we realized that it even keeps Kenzie's attention longer than a football game will on TV. She is also excited about the idea of cheerleaders and band being there. I hope they are or she will be disappointed.
We have been looking into a UCF baseball game for a few weeks and learned that most Saturdays through May have a home game at about 6:00 or so. We are all for later games that won't have us sitting in the sun. Steven and I used to go to games all the time as students but we haven't been in many years so we thought this would be fun. The kids are pretty excited. I know baseball isn't as exciting as some other sports but our goals it to make it through about half of the game. If we can make it to the seventh inning stretch, we are golden. The kids are into most sports in person it seems and both have been really intrigued by baseball lately so we will see how it goes.
Kenzie and I are going to have a girl's afternoon in a few weeks when we go see her first ever stage show. We think she is finally about the right age to handle something like that as long as it is something that will keep her interest. Pinkilicious is a musical based on a book (that we are going to reserve from the library before we go) and it is only 55 minutes long and caters to young children. We will even get to "Shake Our Sillies Out" before the show with the cast. We figured this would be a good introduction to the theater for her. My hope is to be able to take her to the Nutcracker this year because her dance teacher and a lot of other people from her studio are often in it. But, we want to have some theater experience under our belt first and see how she does. So, I happened to see at the library when I was there this week that this is going to be going on locally and it seemed awesome. For anyone that might be reading this that wants to know... it runs Saturdays through May (I think) and there are even two special shows. One will use ASL interpreters that will shadow the cast and interpret through the show and one is a sensory conscious show that will be for children with sensory concerns. Super cool. We will be going to a traditional showing but it was cool to see those other options offered.
As for the Orlando Science Center... this is something we had on our bucket list last summer but we never got around to it. We have been once with Kenzie when I was pregnant with Will. She loved it and since that time, they have redone the entire kids' section. I have heard really great things. There is a space exhibit going on right now too which is right up Kenzie's alley so we want to go before it is over. Also, we have learned that if you have a Bank of America credit card, you can get one free ticket the first Saturday or Sunday of the month. Um... sign us up. Part of the reason we never went over the summer was timing and part was cost. OSC is pretty costly for a family of 4 (though Will is still free) and we didn't know about the free weekends last summer. We do now so I'm hoping this isn't our only visit this year.
We went to Wekiwa Spring State Park a few weeks ago to go fishing and I noticed that they offer the Junior Ranger program. This is a program done through the state parks system in which kids can do activities to earn Junior Ranger badges. They have this program at most of the parks in the state. This definitely seems pretty cool for Kenzie. Will is probably still a little young but we will have to see what all it entails. Our hope is to get to the park and do whatever activities are necessary to earn (at least Kenzie) the Junior Ranger title.
Speaking of state parks, we plan to try to visit a few new ones this spring. We are going to be investing in the annual pass on our next trip to a state park and are pretty excited about that. We get into most parks then without paying the entry fee (since we bought the pass) and will save money to enter into Weeki Watchee this summer when we add seeing the mermaids to our bucket list. That is totally happening this year. (Bonus: I just learned that there is a water park and while I'm not into swimming in the springs, there is a kids' area that the kids might actually like during the summer...)
In a few weeks we are going to Palm Coast to celebrate Grandma's (Steven's mom's) birthday. We asked her what she wanted to do and she would like to visit St. Augustine Alligator Farm and the St. Augustine Lighthouse. Anyway that knows this family, knows that we (namely me and likely the kids) have an obsession with alligators. Score! I also have a friend from high school that works there and officially has one of the coolest jobs ever. Note: Lauren... if you are reading this, we are coming to visit. Any tips? =)
Every so often, there is a movie played at a park near our house at the amphitheater. In a few weeks, there is going to be a showing of Moana. We haven't seen it yet and think the kids will like it. I think they bring out the food trucks and everything but we will probably bring some snacks in and make a fun evening of it. Hopefully the weather will cooperate.
Strawberry picking is something we have talked about a little before but never actually done. Strawberries are a big thing here in Central Florida. We found really great recommendations for a farm not far from us that we plan to try. This one is a little time sensitive and harder to plan because we can't be sure when picking times will be or when the opportunity will end so we have plans to do this soon.
Last, but certainly not least, we want to plan for a few Disney days. We definitely want to get back to Epcot because we feel like we haven't been there in a while. Also, while it is still a bit cooler, we want to do Animal Kingdom. I always feel like this is the hottest park for some reason and I know the animals tend to be out more when it's cooler so we want to make it there soon. We have done Magic Kingdom recently but none of the other parks. We have blackout dates for Spring Break and then we start blackouts for the summer around early June so we would definitely like to get in one more stop at each park before that happens. Steven and I are running the Star Wars 10k in late April so we are also considering making a day date of it afterwards and doing some fun Disney stuff on our own. Maybe we will go ride some rides we don't typically do with kids in tow. Perhaps we can even consider some snacking around the world.
We are going to have quite the jam packed spring leading right into a crazy summer again but we love spending the time and making the memories with the kids. We are also busy, busy, busy sort of people. We talk about wanting to spend time at home doing nothing sometimes but we have come to realize that just isn't us. Plus, being at home with two kids is actually more work sometimes than taking them out and keeping them busy. Haha! Sometimes we don't plan to do anything and then part way through the day are just itching to find something to do. Might as well have some fun and keep everyone busy. =)
Here are some of the things we have planned:
UCF Basketball Game
UCF Baseball Game
Touch A Truck Event at UCF
Pinkilicious: The Musical (for Kenzie and myself)
Orlando Science Center
Becoming Junior Rangers at a Florida state park (for the kids... obviously)
Visiting a few new state parks that we haven't been to before
St. Augustine Alligator Farm
St. Augustine Lighthouse
Movie Night at the Apopka Amphitheater
Strawberry Picking
Disney Trips
We will actually have our first two events already under our belt after this weekend. This weekend we plan to attend the Touch A Truck event at UCF with our neighbors and their little girl. For attending the event (and because our neighbor actually already had a voucher even if we didn't do the Touch A Truck), we will be given tickets to a UCF women's basketball game. I've never actually been to a women's game but Steven has. We used to attend the men's games all the time. We probably went to almost every game the year Dexter Lyons was playing for UCF. I can still replicate how he threw his free throws. The kids are pretty excited. We have done a Touch A Truck before and they both liked it. Will is even more into trucks now so it will be fun for him. Kenzie and Will both seem to like basketball and we realized that it even keeps Kenzie's attention longer than a football game will on TV. She is also excited about the idea of cheerleaders and band being there. I hope they are or she will be disappointed.
We have been looking into a UCF baseball game for a few weeks and learned that most Saturdays through May have a home game at about 6:00 or so. We are all for later games that won't have us sitting in the sun. Steven and I used to go to games all the time as students but we haven't been in many years so we thought this would be fun. The kids are pretty excited. I know baseball isn't as exciting as some other sports but our goals it to make it through about half of the game. If we can make it to the seventh inning stretch, we are golden. The kids are into most sports in person it seems and both have been really intrigued by baseball lately so we will see how it goes.
Kenzie and I are going to have a girl's afternoon in a few weeks when we go see her first ever stage show. We think she is finally about the right age to handle something like that as long as it is something that will keep her interest. Pinkilicious is a musical based on a book (that we are going to reserve from the library before we go) and it is only 55 minutes long and caters to young children. We will even get to "Shake Our Sillies Out" before the show with the cast. We figured this would be a good introduction to the theater for her. My hope is to be able to take her to the Nutcracker this year because her dance teacher and a lot of other people from her studio are often in it. But, we want to have some theater experience under our belt first and see how she does. So, I happened to see at the library when I was there this week that this is going to be going on locally and it seemed awesome. For anyone that might be reading this that wants to know... it runs Saturdays through May (I think) and there are even two special shows. One will use ASL interpreters that will shadow the cast and interpret through the show and one is a sensory conscious show that will be for children with sensory concerns. Super cool. We will be going to a traditional showing but it was cool to see those other options offered.
As for the Orlando Science Center... this is something we had on our bucket list last summer but we never got around to it. We have been once with Kenzie when I was pregnant with Will. She loved it and since that time, they have redone the entire kids' section. I have heard really great things. There is a space exhibit going on right now too which is right up Kenzie's alley so we want to go before it is over. Also, we have learned that if you have a Bank of America credit card, you can get one free ticket the first Saturday or Sunday of the month. Um... sign us up. Part of the reason we never went over the summer was timing and part was cost. OSC is pretty costly for a family of 4 (though Will is still free) and we didn't know about the free weekends last summer. We do now so I'm hoping this isn't our only visit this year.
We went to Wekiwa Spring State Park a few weeks ago to go fishing and I noticed that they offer the Junior Ranger program. This is a program done through the state parks system in which kids can do activities to earn Junior Ranger badges. They have this program at most of the parks in the state. This definitely seems pretty cool for Kenzie. Will is probably still a little young but we will have to see what all it entails. Our hope is to get to the park and do whatever activities are necessary to earn (at least Kenzie) the Junior Ranger title.
Speaking of state parks, we plan to try to visit a few new ones this spring. We are going to be investing in the annual pass on our next trip to a state park and are pretty excited about that. We get into most parks then without paying the entry fee (since we bought the pass) and will save money to enter into Weeki Watchee this summer when we add seeing the mermaids to our bucket list. That is totally happening this year. (Bonus: I just learned that there is a water park and while I'm not into swimming in the springs, there is a kids' area that the kids might actually like during the summer...)
In a few weeks we are going to Palm Coast to celebrate Grandma's (Steven's mom's) birthday. We asked her what she wanted to do and she would like to visit St. Augustine Alligator Farm and the St. Augustine Lighthouse. Anyway that knows this family, knows that we (namely me and likely the kids) have an obsession with alligators. Score! I also have a friend from high school that works there and officially has one of the coolest jobs ever. Note: Lauren... if you are reading this, we are coming to visit. Any tips? =)
Every so often, there is a movie played at a park near our house at the amphitheater. In a few weeks, there is going to be a showing of Moana. We haven't seen it yet and think the kids will like it. I think they bring out the food trucks and everything but we will probably bring some snacks in and make a fun evening of it. Hopefully the weather will cooperate.
Strawberry picking is something we have talked about a little before but never actually done. Strawberries are a big thing here in Central Florida. We found really great recommendations for a farm not far from us that we plan to try. This one is a little time sensitive and harder to plan because we can't be sure when picking times will be or when the opportunity will end so we have plans to do this soon.
Last, but certainly not least, we want to plan for a few Disney days. We definitely want to get back to Epcot because we feel like we haven't been there in a while. Also, while it is still a bit cooler, we want to do Animal Kingdom. I always feel like this is the hottest park for some reason and I know the animals tend to be out more when it's cooler so we want to make it there soon. We have done Magic Kingdom recently but none of the other parks. We have blackout dates for Spring Break and then we start blackouts for the summer around early June so we would definitely like to get in one more stop at each park before that happens. Steven and I are running the Star Wars 10k in late April so we are also considering making a day date of it afterwards and doing some fun Disney stuff on our own. Maybe we will go ride some rides we don't typically do with kids in tow. Perhaps we can even consider some snacking around the world.
We are going to have quite the jam packed spring leading right into a crazy summer again but we love spending the time and making the memories with the kids. We are also busy, busy, busy sort of people. We talk about wanting to spend time at home doing nothing sometimes but we have come to realize that just isn't us. Plus, being at home with two kids is actually more work sometimes than taking them out and keeping them busy. Haha! Sometimes we don't plan to do anything and then part way through the day are just itching to find something to do. Might as well have some fun and keep everyone busy. =)
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