The kids played mini-bowling. They had little balls for the kids to use.

 

I'm surprised there aren't more dents in the floor.

 

We played skeet ball.

We played shuffle board.

 

Daddy drove some car games. It was a big afternoon.

 

Colorado Fondue put out a sign telling us Happy Birthday!

 

 

The Higgins' boys are chillin' out.

 

The Higgins' girls waiting for the cheese fondue.

 

"I can't see it, but it smells good."

 

\

"Oohhh... gooey"

 

The restaurant took a picture of us for our birthday.

 

Sierra's 1st Tooth Fairy Visit (back to top)

Sierra had a lose tooth forever and it finally came loose so the tooth fairy could pay her a visit. February 19th was the magic day. It came out in the morning so she had to wait all day for her big night.

Sierra's tooth turned a grayish color before it fell out.

 

She lost her bottom right tooth.

"I'm ready for the tooth fairy to come".

"She's going to put my tooth in this holder and leave me money in the pink pocket."

"We're ready!"

 

"She brought me a paper dollar and a gold dollar."

 

Kai 6th Birthday (back to top)

Kai turned the big 6 on Friday, March 19th. As a bonus, he lost his 3rd tooth at school on that day. It was an exciting day.

After school (before we went to dinner), Kai opened Sierra's gifts. She got him a nerf rocket thing, which he loved. He gave her a big hug.

 

Kai's tooth came home in a baggie from school.

 

The #3 hole.

 

Kai chose to go to Kobe for his birthday dinner.

 

Mom finally made it in a picture.

 

"I love my Daddy."

 

The Kobe chef put his oil in the shape of Pokemon and made fire for Kai.

 

"Eating with chopsticks is awesome."

 

"I can eat with them too."

 

After our meal, the staff came around and sang Happy Birthday to Kai. They also brought him some birthday cupcakes.

They gave him a birthday hat (the man had to resize it several times to fit on his big head.)

 

"I have a belly full of shrimp and noodles... it's a good night."

 

"Happy Birthday, Kai"

 

After dinner we went home and opened the rest of the presents. Kai got a new hat, 3 new movies, and a Power Ranger umbrella."

 

Kai's big present was a telescope and microscope.

 

Kobe took a family picture for Kai.

 

"Bonus... my birthday and the tooth fairy"

 

The tooth fairy not only left a paper dollar and a gold dollar, but also a special "birthday bonus" note and a McDonalds gift certificate for an ice cream.

 

We celebrated a couple days later with our friends. Kai choose to have lemon cake with lemon icing and lemon cookie ice cream. Dick, Cathy, Bill, Kathy, Kerrigan and Kyle came over to celebrate.

 

MeMaw & PawPaw's Visit (back to top)

MeMaw and PawPaw came down for Kai and Sierra's birthday party and Easter this year (and also to help out with kid coverage for spring break). We had a busy, fun week.

 

MeMaw and PawPaw brought the birthday gifts from Aunt Bunny.

 

The 20 $1 bills were a big hit. Kai and Sierra looked real serious in their new necklaces and sunglasses while they counted their loot.

 

Thanks Uncle Jeffrey, Aunt Kit, Hunter and Forrest for our gift cards.

 

We went to our first Easter egg hunt before our soccer game.

 

Kai can make it all the way across the monkey bars.

 

Sierra can't quite make it the entire way yet.

 

"Check me out, I can climb up the tree."

 

"I'm a cute monkey."

 

Grandma Nancy sent me some cool new stampers.

 

Grandma Nancy sent me a rocket balloon kit. I used it to wake PawPaw up while he was here.

 

"I love my Leroy#2"

 

We love fishing with PawPaw.

 

MeMaw helped catch a few (actually went home to get the bread to catch them since they weren't biting the worms).

 

"I caught one."

 

"Me too."

 

They had a lot of good bites.

 

We went to Seaworld for an afternoon. The weather was beautiful and we lucked out and saw Shamu.

 

Penny the Penguin made an appearance as well.

 

Swishy fishy is always fun.

 

We had a good day with MeMaw and PawPaw.

MeMaw always pays to play the water games.

 

"Watch out.. we need one more stuff animal and MeMaw is going to get it."

 

Kai won himself a fish.

 

"Yeah - success at the games."

 

"Did you know there is barracuda behind our heads?"

 

"I LOOOVVVVEEEE the Crab ride!"

"We're coming down again."

 

"This is tickling my tummy."

 

"Your bottom is dirty."

 

We went to the zoo and played in the splash area.

 

"This water is cold."

 

"Yikes, it's chilly."

 

"We spent one afternoon at Aquatica."

 

"Smile ladies."

 

Our self portrait.

 

Higgins' family water portrait.

 

This is relaxing.

 

PawPaw took a break to read on the beach while the rest of us hung out in the lazy river.

 

"Here we come."

 

"Splash!"

 

"Watch out!"

 

"This kid slide is slow."

MeMaw loved riding the waves with Kai.

 

Our first underwater shot of the season.

 

"Here comes another big one."

 

"The lazy river is awesome."

 

We had an early celebration for PawPaw's 69th birthday.

 

Kai and Sierra helped blow out the candles.

 

Magic Game Performance (back to top)

Kai and Sierra's school performed the Orlando Magic game pre-show on March 28, 2010. They practiced all year for their cheer and did a great job.

MeMaw and PawPaw got to see them perform and we all stayed for the game afterwards.

Some of the pictures are below but there is a video (and more pics) posted at:

http://starchild.shutterfly.com/

 

Kai & Sierra's 6th Birthday Party (back to top)

We had Kai and Sierra's 6th Birthday party at Rebounderz this year. It is an indoor trampoline place. The kids had a great time. Kai's theme was Bakugan and Sierra's was UP this year.

Sierra had UP balloon cupcakes with the UP house attached and her characters from the movie.

 

Kai had a Bakugan cake with real toys on top that he could play with afterwards.

 

Rebounderz put a sign out front with Kai and Sierra's name on it.

 

Sierra had a balloon bouquet with the little UP house attached.

 

This was our party room.

 

Kai is jumping away.

 

"Let the bouncing begin."

 

After everyone bounced for about an hour, they came in the party room for pizza and cake.

 

Cake time.

 

"Everyone start singing."

 

Kai and Sierra posing with their balloons.

 

Kai had a Bakugan balloon bouquet (his big one popped in the car on the ride home).

 

"Look how high I can go."

 

"Check this out."

 

Who is higher, Kai or Sierra?

 

"I can bounce higher than Grace."

 

"Eat my dust."

Kai and Sierra are bouncing with their friends.

"Oh yeah - tickling my tummy."

Daddy decided to join in the fun.

 

"I'm hanging in the air."

Kiyla, Kacey, Aliva, Sam, Olivia, Sierra, Brayden, Kai, Nia, Hannah, Grace, Noah, Owen, Hayden, Hawaii, and Mia (and Kerrigan and Kyle)

Easter Festivities (back to top)

We made it to a few Easter egg hunts this year, which is always fun. One was before our soccer game, another was in our neighborhood and then on Easter we went to the Hippity Hop Adventure at the zoo.

 

"We have two full buckets."

 

"I wonder what is in all these eggs."

 

"I have more than Sierra."

 

Our neighborhood had a hunt as well. They had lots of eggs.

 

Kai used the "put the bucket on the ground and use both hands to load" method. It worked for him.

 

"We need bigger buckets."

 

Sierra's friend Mia was at the Easter egg hunt as well.

 

"Ooohh, I got Skittles."

 

"I'm so pretty."

 

"Can you see the candy in my mouth when I'm smiling."

 

This was the first year Kai and Sierra were too big to sit on the Easter Bunny's lap.

 

"Pew! This vinegar stinks."

 

"I'm going to make a yellow egg."

"I'm going to make a purple one."

 

We made some with names on them.

The Easter bunny came!

Our pretty girl - She's ready for church.

 

Our handsome boy - he's ready for church as well.

 

Kai and Sierra posing with MeMaw and PawPaw.

 

"Oh yeah - we look good."

 

"I'm going to give you a tight squeeze, Sierra."

 

"Now I'm going to pick you up off the ground and squeeze you harder (Sierra loved it)."

 

Thanks Anna for my beautiful dress.

 

"Hmmm, what kind of trouble can I get into?"

 

Sierra and Leroy#2 on Easter Sunday. She loves her Leroy.

 

MeMaw, Sierra and Kai at the zoo on Easter.

 

Our final Easter egg hunt is at our house on Easter.

 

We had way too many eggs. The hunt lasted forever.

 

Kai made good progress on our hunt.

 

Kai and Sierra both had bunny tails from the zoo.

 

There were eggs everywhere, even on our blow up Easter bunny.

 

Baby Kyle came over for the hunt too.

 

"I found another one."

MeMaw helped find some that were hidden up high.

 

Kai and Sierra had so many eggs, we had to empty their buckets half way through so they had room for more.

 

Sierra was going through her eggs to find a golden ticket. This year we had tickets you could cash in for a prize, instead of filling with all candy.

 

Carla and Kai at Easter dinner.

 

PawPaw, MeMaw and Carla getting ready to eat our dinner outside. It was a beautiful day.

 

Kai and Jim are ready to eat.

 

Dick and Cathy came over to celebrate with us. Sierra decided to cross her eyes in this picture.

 

Happy Easter!

Sierra's 6th Birthday (back to top)

Sierra's birthday was on a Tuesday this year, April 20th. The Saturday before Mom and Sierra went to get their nails painted. Sierra has never had her fingernails painted (she's a nail biter), but she did great. She sat very still and loved the outcome.

On her birthday, we went to family night at Gators where she was princess for an evening. She got a cool balloon hat from the magician and had her favorite meal, Mac and Cheese. Afterwards, we went back to our house for cake and ice cream with Dick, Cathy, Bill, Kathy, Kerrigan and Kyle.

 

Our little tomboy loved her nails. You can't see it that clearly in the picture, but she had purple nails, with little purple flowers that had a glitter center. Unfortunately, after 3 hours in the pool afterwards, they all washed off.

 

Kai gave Sierra her presents from him first. She loved them. He got her punching balls, a whoopie cushion and one of those pin things you put your hands in (she always plays with those at the store).

 

Mom and Dad got Sierra a photo book of all her character pictures. She still loves characters and poses with any she sees. There were hundreds in her new book.

 

 

She also got some UP books (her current favorite movie).

 

She got a Russell Uniform (from UP), so she can dress up like a Wilderness Explorer.

Her big present was a mini trampoline (she is constantly jumping).

 

Dick and Kai at Gators for Sierra's birthday dinner.

 

Sierra wore her birthday crown for dinner.

 

Gators had a Magician/Balloon artist. He let Sierra stand on the chair and made her a huge birthday hat.

 

Her hat was so tall, it almost hit the ceiling.

 

Kai chose a very cool snake balloon.

 

Baby Kyle got a sort of moose/halogen light bulb hat. He was very proud of it.

 

Sierra hooked Dick across the table with her hat. She told him it was the "cone of shame" (another UP movie reference).

 

The Balloon man made Mom a flower balloon (which Sierra adopted).

 

Mom and Kai playing tic-tac-toe.

 

Sierra chose a strawberry cake with strawberry icing and birthday cake ice cream.

 

"Kai, it's my cake... stop blowing!"

 

Sierra opened a few more gifts.

 

And now it's time for night time bouncing (in her Russell costume)! It was a good day.

 

Camping (back to top)

We went camping two times this Spring, once in Wekiva and once at Lake Louisa State park. It was a lot of fun and now that we started geocaching, we come home with lots of treasures.

We always love camping in Wekiva (This was our first geocache, and we got lost and almost didn't make it back to our campsite before dark. Fortunately, our second day treasure hunts were more productive).

 

"That flash is bright out here."

 

 

"We're worn out!"

 

 

Sierra was our GPS navigator for this geocache.

 

 

Kai was cracking up at Daddy's "spooky story."

 

 

We love spooky stories around the campfire. They're kind of funny and spooky.

 

Beautiful sunset our first night at Lake Louisa State Park in Clermont.

 

Our campsite was nice and next to a field.

 

"Yeah - Daddy finally got the fire going."

 

It was REALLY cold this winter. We had to bundle up. By this point it was already about 50 degrees

.

"Check out my Power Ranger move."

 

We cooked hotdogs over the fire.

 

"Brrr... it's getting colder."

 

The thermomoter in the car showed 37 degrees the first morning we woke up... too cold for Florida. We brought a heater for the tent so we were comfortable.

We woke up to frost all over the ground and everything else, including Kai's rockets.

 

We went on our geocache adventure near the lake.

 

Sierra found this cool chair made from a tree stump.

 

Kai's "I'm scared" face.

 

Sierra's beautiful smile.

 

Kai found this geocache under a burnt tree. It had survived a controlled burn from the week before.

 

This cool treasure was inside a hollowed out log with a fake snake inside.

 

Mommy and Kai trying to stay warm by the fire.

It was Sierra's turn to tell a spooky story.

 

Morning wrestling time in the tent.

 

Poor Daddy wasn't even fully awake when he got attacked.

 

Mom and Sierra went for a morning walk (in our pajamas). It was cold.

 

Kai was our navigator for this geocache.

 

 

 

Sierra turned in her Egyptian project on Papyrus. She wrote a paper and made a presentation using a poster board. We also made a papyrus boat and paper for her to show.

 

Kai's Egyptian project was on ancient Egyptian farming. He also wrote a paper and his presentation was a poster board with facts and pictures. He also took in a mini shaduf he and Daddy made.

 

We went to the regional Bakugan tournament that was in town.

 

They gave the kids free t-shirts, a picture and more.

 

Sierra has the "tough guy" look down.

 

We met some friends at Monkey Joes and happened to see Monkey Joe himself.

 

"I won," "No, I won!"

 

 

We had a fun weekend in Tampa at Busch Gardens with our friend Grace.

 

"Here we come again."

 

Grace, Kai and Sierra got to play tug of war with a real life tiger (the tiger was on the other side of the glass, pulling a rope through the glass).

 

We had a great lunch on the way out of town. The kids enjoyed having a table to themselves.

 

"It's bright outside." Sierra hit her one year mark after her plastic surgery so the doctor said no more face massages, but continue with the sunscreen (the hat wasn't necessary to wear all the time now). So after a year, we have some pictures of Sierra outside without the shadow from her sun hat.

 

 

"I'm so handsome."

 

Sierra wrote Mom this note after our last Dr. Stieg appt (her plastic surgeon). She's very sweet.

 

Surprise, Sierra chose a tiger for her face painting!

 

We celebrated Jim's 39th birthday!

 

MeMaw gave Jim a $1 in his birthday card. The kids thought that was cool.

 

The training wheels are off!