Today I am sharing the cover page for our Spring Break album.

Yes, I have taken a bit of a hiatus from our regular Project Life documentation to work on other projects and to focus on specific projects like Spring Break!  It's kind of nice to carve out time to work on a project that has an end date in mind!

For the majority of the products used in this coin pocket style layout, I used Elle's Studio's (NEW!) Let's Eat Collection!   I just adore everything about this collection: the colors, sentiments, and the fact that it's completely versatile (as seen here)!

I am super excited to share more pages in our Spring Break album in the days to come-- stay tuned!

When April Fools goes wrong...

So we had a little surprise for the kids up our sleeves during our Florida Spring Break trip.   We planned for my sister in law Nikki and I to take them to Disney World on Wednesday and Thursday of Spring Break Week.  A 36 hour Surprise trip to Disney!   What could be better!?!?!?!



Maybe the fact we were taking them on April 1st (April Fools Day) threw them for a loop, just a bit.   We decide to tell them on Tuesday (they day before we left) and well, here's what happens when an April Fools Surprise goes wrong!

Meeting Winter the Dolphin

We spent the first half of our Spring Break visiting Todd's Dad in Clearwater, Florida.

One of the BIG adventures we had planned was to visit Winter at the Clearwater Marine Aquarium.

Have you seen Dolphin Tale or Dolphin Tale 2?  In case you haven't, Clearwater Marine Aquarium is a rescue and release aquarium and the movie is about a true story of one of their rescue dolphins, Winter.

  

"Winter was found in the coastal waters of Florida in December 2005, caught in a crab trap, which resulted in the loss of her tail. She was then taken to Clearwater Marine Aquarium. The loss of her tail caused her to swim unnaturally with her tail moving side to side instead of up and down. As a result, she was fitted with a silicone and plastic tail that enabled her to swim normally. She has since become a highly popular attraction at the aquarium, which led to the film's making. She lives in her pool with another dolphin, Hope, who is the subject of the 2014 sequel to Dolphin Tale, Dolphin Tale 2."

Jonah (and especially) Jordan are BIG fans of Winter and Hope.  Their big Christmas gift this past Christmas was the opportunity "to meet" Winter over Spring Break.  Oh, and also Rufus the Pelican!  We can't forget Rufus!  

As soon as we entered the aquarium (and warning! you enter through a huge gift shop) we walked up the steps to the pools.   I guess I didn't realize that the filming of the movie totally took place here as opposed to a set-- it's the real deal.  Totally familiar (if you have seen the movie), and an accurate representation of the movie. Everything is right there--- Hope and Winter's pools, Rufus's area to the right, and then other rescue areas for otters and turtles to the left.  Of course everyone was there to get a peek at Hope and Winter.  Even though it is small, the CMA offers an open view to watch Winter and Hope interact as long as you want.

We purchased a package for our family to meet Winter as a Christmas gift to the kids (maybe me too?)  Wanted to link it here in case anyone was interested in exactly what we did--- (details here).  The kids got more excited about meeting Winter the closer we got to Spring Break.  And when we actually met her it was SO VERY AWESOME.

A few things to note:

1.  Only one person is allowed to touch Winter.  And by touch that means hold your hand out very straight with no movement.  (NOT a petting motion, more of a "training" motion of holding your hand flat).  Winter will swim up to you and put her nose to the hand for the photo.   They are VERY specific on hand motions and every movement means something with dolphin training.  So the thought of several people moving their hands in front of Winter to touch her is CRAZINESS to the dolphin trainer.

When I booked this experience I thought it would be no big deal to talk them into having both kids be able to touch Winter, because who could chose one person?  But that is NOT the case... they are very strict on this rule.  So be prepared to decide how to deal with this beforehand (or be prepared to purchase a few separate excursions to meet Winter!).

When the dolphin trainers brought this up right before we met Winter, my sweet Jonah looked at Todd and I and said "I want Jordan to pet Winter because this really means a lot to her".

And then my heart exploded into a million pieces.

He got this shaved ice as a reward afterwards.  Which really doesn't compare to touching Winter but we were so proud of his selfless act of love.  My mom later told him that his choice "was something Jesus would have done" and it made him BEAM.  which made me beam.  i'm so proud of that boy.

2.  You need to take off everything by your clothes to meet Winter.    So you think I might be trying to be funny here but NO... anything that can come off your body (and possibly fall in the water) must be removed (aside from your clothes of course, and items such as hearing aids.).  Hats, jewelry (yes wedding rings), hair bands, earrings, sunglasses, necklaces, fitbits, phones, flip flops, chapstick, wallets, phones, purses, coins, watches, anything in your pockets.... take it off.  anything but your basic clothes needs to GO.  PS there are nice CMA employees that will hold all your belongings and take your phone and camera to snap photos of your meeting with Winter:)

3.  Prepare to bawl when you meet Winter.   So I am not really an animal person.  But there is something about meeting an animal that has been through a lot of difficult circumstances that is totally special.  I loved the movie about Winter and they did an amazing job connecting the audience with her.  One thing that stuck out to me when we met her was how she TOTALLY MADE EYE CONTACT WITH US as she swam up to Jordan.  At first she couldn't see Jordan's hand so she turned and looked directly at us to find where she was supposed to be.   I remember that same eye contact displayed in the movie in several different shots (this was something i only remembered it when she looked at us).  I got SO choked up at that moment.    Total. Sap.

Our official picture with Winter:

4. Don't forget other opportunites and encounters at CMA.    Like Rufus!   Both kids had tickets to Feed Rufus, the actual Pelican in the Dolphin Tale Movie.   "Rufus" was actually played by two pelicans Lucy and Ricky (one pelican was better with people, one was better at running and chasing, so they say).  The kids loved it and said the fish were slimy :)

There are many other encounters that you can experience at Clearwater Marine Aquarium-- other dolphin encounters, shark encounters, being a dolphin trainer for a day, behind the scenes tours.  You can see all these opportunities on this page.

(i think it's fair to note here that Han Solo and Yoda have been RELEASED!  look out you should be)

5.  Don't forget Dinner!   To cap off our Dolphin Tale day we had dinner at the Island Way Grill which is next door to the Aquarium.  In Dolphin Tale 2 this is where Sawyer had his Surprise going away party and where they got the call about Hope's rescue.

The food was excellent, but our waiter wasn't especially helpful with my gluten free needs (the restaurant is listed as gluten free friendly but he wasn't giving me many options.  and was telling me their potatoes and bacon were not GF- which was weird).    Anyway, we had a good time and a wonderful dinner.



And of course she needed her photo taken here with Winter and Hope :)   This girl LOVED her Dolphin Tale day!!

I would highly recommend the Clearwater Marine Aquarium if you are in the Clearwater area!

The post you will NOT want to pin: Spring Break Day 1

Ahhh Spring Break.

A much needed vacation from the craziness of life.  A time to kick back and relax.  to disconnect from the real world and rejuvenate.  right?

Riiighhht.

So we left on a Friday to "beat" the Spring Break traffic.

That whole sentence makes me snicker because if you live in the midwest you know that like a migrating line of army ants, EVERY SINGLE MINIVAN IN THE MIDWEST is driving to florida in late march/ early April.   It doesn't really matter what day of the week it is, everyone is getting the heck out of dodge and migrating to the land o' palm trees.

As were the Hufford four.  We had such great hopes of making it to Atlanta in time for dinner....

Until our van DVD player BROKE 30 minutes into our trip.

So a broken DVD player at the very beginning of our 17 hour trip is equivalent to a transmission failure.  do not pass go.  do not collect $200.   you stop and fix that thing, STAT.

So we stopped in Greenwood, Indiana (not even out of Indianapolis yet) and visited a Best Buy and bought two new DVD players/headphones for the kids.

So, $200 and 2 hours later, we are ready to roll.  Sheesh.

So here we are booking down the road with the kids engaged in their forever endless screen time (shameful, I know), and Todd and I had a blissful few hours to talk.

Until Kentucky.  Louisville to be exact.

That is where all hell broke loose.  In the form of vomit in the car.

Now let me just say right here, that as a child (and still as an adult) I am VERY prone to carsickness.  My mom would always joke that I would say I was carsick before even leaving our driveway (and it's not really a joke because I really would say that).  However, SO FAR, my kids have been spared of this thorn in the flesh.

Until Spring Break 2015.

This is the year that carsickness reared it's ugly head.   And this is the point where I tell you I have no more photos to share in this post.

Because i was busy leaning over into the back seat holding barf bags for the remainder of the trip.   Thankfully I packed extra grocery plastic bags in the car (God's prompting?), which I normally do not do.  We used every. single. plastic. bag. 

WOW.  What a crazy day one of Spring Break!   What is normally an 8-9 car ride from Indy to Atlanta ended up taking THIRTEEN (long) HOURS.  

Thankfully the craziness and misfortune ended here and we had a great vacation... but I think it's important to share those "crazy, real life, barf bag moments"....   

I love Pinterest and Instagram but sometimes I feel like I am alone whenever we have days like these.  I mean... no one would pin this post!  Who would "like" the Instagram photo of the double bagged barf bags on our van floor?   

But this is REAL life and it can be messy.  But even in the "messy-ness" God is there with us and we can find the humor in the situation....

maybe a week or two later :)

secret magic -- a layout

I have a layout to share today about our Secret Disney trip...



I can not remember the last time i made a layout.  It's been SO long.  Why don't I do this more often?  It was just plain FUN.   And I love how it turned out.   Sometimes I get ahead of myself and start thinking about WHERE this layout will go (meaning in what album-- should it go in PL?  if so, what will go on the opposite side, etc).   I just need to STOP and enjoy it.



I ordered Studio Calico's Poets Society kit last month and paired it with TONS of new items from Elle's Studio's Sycamore Lane and Good Cheer collections.



I printed a few of my instagram photos in various sizes-- from 4x4 to 2x2, and layered it over the paper.  I used the white strips in the pattern paper as a place to journal, along with the kraft tags which anchored the layout.   Then was the fun part--- adding the bits and pieces.



The "Cheers" wood veneer is by Elle's Studio and the Disney flair button is by Panda Eight.   Disney is one of my favorite things to document!!!

Happy Thursday friends!

Secret Disney Trip

Last weekend Todd and I snuck away for a weekend alone together...

...to Disney World.

Yes we are ten years old.   Or really, I should say I am ten years old.

Todd was there all week for a conference, and after the conference was over, he flew me down so we could play that weekend(!!!)

I should probably mention at this point that our kids DID NOT (and still do not) know we went to Disney World with out them.  It was a totally. awesome. secret. Disney. trip.   They knew we went to Florida, and we left it at that.

I mean, can you imagine their response and all the explaining we would have to do?  (however Jordan HAS been asking me lately how many times she has been to Disney and how many times I have been to disney... hmmmm).

I flew down alone and met up with Todd on Thursday afternoon.  We did an evening at Downtown Disney, a day at Epcot, and a day at Magic Kingdom in two and a half days.

Some of the highlights:

1. Todd's selfie faces.  He has about one or two selfie MAX in him per day.  This (above) is what I got first thing one morning, so I knew it was going to be an interesting day.   He was so tired of the camera on the last day he did this on Splash Mountain:

And at Epcot and in front of the Castle (my personal favorite) :

He makes me laugh.

2.  EPCOT behind the scenes tour-  We took the backstage tour at EPCOT on Friday.  The day began BEFORE the park opened--- we were able to enter before everyone else did (secretly loved cutting everyone in line to get in).    I had to get a photo of just us in EPCOT, i mean when does that ever happen?

The tour was awesome- we got to go behind the scenes in many places in Future World of EPCOT--- even saw the costume room and "wig room" for cast members ( the princesses) and saw "Mulan" getting ready and putting her make up on.  Pretty neat!

3.  FOOD AND WINE FESTIVAL (EPCOT)-   Food. and. Wine.  need I say more?

Basically there are kiosks all over the World Showcase in Epcot with taster portions of foods and drinks from around the world.   Some items are found in the EPCOT restaurants but many are not.  The food/drink prices range from $3-$7 (ish) per small plate.    They provide a booklet with all the foods offered and even noted what items were gluten free-- that was super helpful to me!   It was the best way to eat lunch!

4.  Playing with my camera-   The funny thing about Disney without your kids is that you take WAY fewer photos.  Or at least I did.   I think i took a total of 40 photos.  My iPhone was how I got photos of the two of us (see #1 and how todd doesn't like selfies), and I used my DSLR to get some landscape-ish / detail photos.

It was fun to play with the camera and take those photos I normally wouldn't have time to capture if the kids were with us.

5. Rain.   OK rain isn't really a highlight, but it was a reality- it rained at some point every day we were there.

So if you are going to wear a freakin' poncho / trashbag over  your dress, might as well pose like a princess.   Or with a princess, right?

And get a selfie too :)

All and all it was a fabulous trip.  Our THIRD Disney World trip (other two was with the whole family...) in 16 months.  wow.  I think it's now time to dominate Disneyland.  ;)

Alaska: In photos + words.

I can't get over the beauty found in this part of the world.  After recovering from our "packing delimna" ( throwing everything from bathing suits to hats and gloves in a suitcase), we were able to experience the truly beautiful creation of our Creator.   Here are a few snapshots/captions taken by various family members from the duration of our trip.  (warning: LOTS of photos yet few words).

Seattle.

Pikes Place Market at 6am (thanks jet lag).

The crew.

All aboard.

\
Bon Voyage.


Kiddie Cocktails.


Whale watching.


Whale watching in the dining room.


Lumberjacks.


Ice and water


Our next door neighbor :)

Ketchikan.


Crampons (which rhymes with....)

Siblings.

glacier walk.


hot tubbing.


elsa in the house.


choppers.

tracy arm fjord and glacier bay.

formal night.

on top of the world.

bow-tie.

cozy.

mushing.

goodnight juneau.

hello skagway.

hello (two) bears(!!!)

white pass scenic railway.


"let it go".

promises.


plaid.

bow-tie x 4.


butterfly.

crooners bar.


sunken garden in butchart gardens.


Amazed.