Last night Rich and I stayed up till 1am wrapping presents and making our piles. We had to do a wrapping paper coding system- one type for the presents we were letting the kids open early before we go on our trip (because those items will be very nice to have on the trip). One type for presents from Mom and Dad and Grandparents that we will save for the kids to open after the trip, and one type for the Santa presents that will be waiting for the kids when we get home from the trip. I'm done with everything for Christmas, except for the stockings. My mom is going to have something for the kids out in Utah, but I want to have stockings waiting for the kids when we get home from the trip.
Then this morning I got up at 6:15 am to go and find a white turtleneck for Alex to wear for his school play. He has dress rehearsal today and I had completely forgotten about him needing it until late last night.
That probably could be the theme of this week for me. I'm trying to be organized and make lists of the things that need to be done for Christmas, and for the trip, and just the general school work and house work that needs to be done- but I'm forgetting a lot... and find myself running around at the last minute to get things taken care of.
We did have a great weekend though. Friday I thought was the night of our Ward party, so the kids came home from school, we made our dish we were taking for the potluck, and when Rich got home we loaded up and drove up to the Church building. We got up there and it was completely empty... not a single car in the parking lot. So we kept driving on past and headed back home. I called a friend to ask when the party was and she got a good chuckle out of my mistake- it was the next night. So we dropped off the food at the house and went over to our Family Buffet place- Golden Corral and had dinner there.
Saturday we had the usual busy stuff- shopping, birthday party, etc... then we went to the Ward Party. It was a lot of fun. It was a dinner and dance, and Santa showed up to visit with the kids too!
Sunday was church, and then after church was a bit hectic. That night was our ward Christmas fireside, so I had the cubscouts singing a song at it, and I was in a trio and we both had to do a little short practice after church- and then we had Tithing settlement (it's where we meet with the Bishop as a family and tell him whether or not we were full tithe payers for the last year). After that we raced home and had a quick dinner and then turned around and went back up to the church building for the fireside.
The fireside was great- like it always is. There are various musical numbers and then two slide show presentations (with musical numbers in between) set to music of pictures from our ward. It really does such a wonderful job of creating a sense of Ward Family. Everyone that is in the ward is in the slide show and it's great to see the pictures reminding people of all the fun ward activities we've had throughout the year.
I also had a special time because I was asked to sing in a trio for the fireside. I do NOT have an amazing voice. I have a moderate choral voice- I blend well with others and don't stand out. I don't project well, and my breathing is shallow and I'm sure a voice teacher could give a long list of reasons why I am not a great singer. I LOVE to sing though... really really love to sing, so it was touching to me that I was asked to participate in this trio where each of us had our own part and carried our own part. It's not as if our ward is lacking in people with musical talent- so I really did appreciate that opportunity to do that and will treasure that memory.
So the rest of the week is school/work. Pack meeting tonight, tomorrow night is Alex's school play. Then on Friday and Saturday we pack for the trip and we'll leave Sunday after lunch.
Wednesday, December 19, 2007
Thursday, December 13, 2007
Allergies
Well this last fall Angela's allergies were even worse than past years. So I got her an appointment with an allergist. Yesterday was the appointment and we went and they did a basic allergy test with the scratch test on her back. She didn't like it much, but she did pretty good and only teared up for about a minute when they put the allergens on her back. They were great working with her and were quick and gentle.
Turns out she is allergic to two different types of ragweed who are in season in August thru November (when she is at her worst with symptoms) and an outdoor mold that is year round (the reason she still has problems throughout the rest of the year) and dogs. The dog allergy was actually just a slight reaction- so since we don't have a dog it is the least of our worries. We'll just keep her bedding away from the dog when we visit my parents, and make sure she washes up really well after playing with dogs anywhere we come into contact with them.
The dr wants to try her on a different antihistamin than the Zyrtec that she has been on. It seems to be loosing it's affectiveness. The good news is the Zyrtec we were using was costing us about $40 a month, and this new medication will only cost us $10 a month and should work better- it's more targetted for the type of symptoms that she gets with allergies. Hopefully it will work well. If it does we may be able to take her off of the Singular that she is taking daily as well- that's another $40 a month... (not that I would take her off of it if she needs it, but if she doesn't- saving money is great, and also having her on less medications- but still able to breath is even greater!)
Turns out she is allergic to two different types of ragweed who are in season in August thru November (when she is at her worst with symptoms) and an outdoor mold that is year round (the reason she still has problems throughout the rest of the year) and dogs. The dog allergy was actually just a slight reaction- so since we don't have a dog it is the least of our worries. We'll just keep her bedding away from the dog when we visit my parents, and make sure she washes up really well after playing with dogs anywhere we come into contact with them.
The dr wants to try her on a different antihistamin than the Zyrtec that she has been on. It seems to be loosing it's affectiveness. The good news is the Zyrtec we were using was costing us about $40 a month, and this new medication will only cost us $10 a month and should work better- it's more targetted for the type of symptoms that she gets with allergies. Hopefully it will work well. If it does we may be able to take her off of the Singular that she is taking daily as well- that's another $40 a month... (not that I would take her off of it if she needs it, but if she doesn't- saving money is great, and also having her on less medications- but still able to breath is even greater!)
Tuesday, December 11, 2007
Baking bliss...
I had the funnest time this afternoon baking. I made four different flavors of bread/muffins from the friendship bread starter. I made Bannanna chocolate chip bread and muffins; Cranberry Orange Bread; Chocolate bread and muffins; and Cinnamon sugar bread and muffins.
I did learn that the spray pam just isn't enough- I need to use the solid crisco or butter and flour the pans in the future. For the muffins, I just need to buy the cupcake liners and use those and they will be great!
Here's a picture of my "work". Now I need to find people to give it to- there's no way my family will eat it all! :)
I did learn that the spray pam just isn't enough- I need to use the solid crisco or butter and flour the pans in the future. For the muffins, I just need to buy the cupcake liners and use those and they will be great!
Here's a picture of my "work". Now I need to find people to give it to- there's no way my family will eat it all! :)
Home again, but thawing out
School was closed again today. The roads were still supposed to be slick this morning. The kids woke up and played nicely, and I slept in!! :shock: It's raining today, which means it's above freezing and we should be able to get back to normal tomorrow and have school for the kids- and I can get back down to the YMCA.
In Relief Society they gave us Friendship bread starters. I grabbed one for me and one for a freind who didn't make it to Enrichment night. Mine was ready to bake on Friday, and hers is ready to divide and bake today. Since I still haven't been able to get it to her- I'm going to do some baking today. Instead of seperating out four starters and using the 5th part to bake- I think I'm just going to bake a huge batch of them, and just seperate out one starter to give to her. I just don't have that many friends locally that I can give out that many starters. lol!
I'm going to try and experiment with flavors since I'm doing such a huge batch. I think I'll do regular- cinnamon flavor; cranberry/orange/walnut flavor; and a bannanna/chocolate chip flavor... I'll post pictures when they are done. :) I'm just in a huge baking mood so I decided last night I would just embrace it. lol!
In Relief Society they gave us Friendship bread starters. I grabbed one for me and one for a freind who didn't make it to Enrichment night. Mine was ready to bake on Friday, and hers is ready to divide and bake today. Since I still haven't been able to get it to her- I'm going to do some baking today. Instead of seperating out four starters and using the 5th part to bake- I think I'm just going to bake a huge batch of them, and just seperate out one starter to give to her. I just don't have that many friends locally that I can give out that many starters. lol!
I'm going to try and experiment with flavors since I'm doing such a huge batch. I think I'll do regular- cinnamon flavor; cranberry/orange/walnut flavor; and a bannanna/chocolate chip flavor... I'll post pictures when they are done. :) I'm just in a huge baking mood so I decided last night I would just embrace it. lol!
Monday, December 10, 2007
Ice Storm
We are all home again today. Yesterday church was cancelled because of the ice storm. We all stayed home and played games, and made gingerbread houses (the pictures are on my other blog- www.newtonaaaa.blogspot.com ), and played more games and had a yummy taco dinner. Before we went to bed we found out that school was closed today. Rich pulled jury duty for today so he wasn't able to stay home with us.
The kids seem to be getting a little cold so this ice storm comes at the right time for me to just bundle them up in the house and we can fight off these colds and have a relaxing day.
The kids seem to be getting a little cold so this ice storm comes at the right time for me to just bundle them up in the house and we can fight off these colds and have a relaxing day.
Friday, December 07, 2007
Exercise log
I got a late start this morning so I had to do a shorter workout- I also had to fit in a shower at the Y since I had a list of errands to run before coming back to the house.
I did 47 minutes on the elliptical, then the weight machines, and 50 crunches.
I did 47 minutes on the elliptical, then the weight machines, and 50 crunches.
Wednesday, December 05, 2007
Busy busy busy!
This week has been busy!
Monday I went to the Y, took Alyssa to school, came home and made gingerbread, picked up the kids, and then meet Rich at Golden Corral with the kids for dinner.
Tuesday I had friends over for a playgroup/scrapbooking holiday party, (we missed those of you that didn't make it!!) then we took Alyssa to school. Then Angela and I came home and cleaned up from the party. Then we picked up the kids from school and came home and we raked leaves from the front flowerbeds and put up our outside christmas decorations!
Today I've gone to the Y, ran over to the kids school twice to drop off stuff, took Alyssa to school, and am now playing on the computer for an hour before we go and pick up the kids from school, come home do homework- have dinner, and then the cubscouts are coming to our house tonight for their activity... fun fun!
Here's some pictures of the kids playing out in the leafs and the decorations:
Monday I went to the Y, took Alyssa to school, came home and made gingerbread, picked up the kids, and then meet Rich at Golden Corral with the kids for dinner.
Tuesday I had friends over for a playgroup/scrapbooking holiday party, (we missed those of you that didn't make it!!) then we took Alyssa to school. Then Angela and I came home and cleaned up from the party. Then we picked up the kids from school and came home and we raked leaves from the front flowerbeds and put up our outside christmas decorations!
Today I've gone to the Y, ran over to the kids school twice to drop off stuff, took Alyssa to school, and am now playing on the computer for an hour before we go and pick up the kids from school, come home do homework- have dinner, and then the cubscouts are coming to our house tonight for their activity... fun fun!
Here's some pictures of the kids playing out in the leafs and the decorations:
Exercise log
I did 65 minutes on the elliptical; then the weight machines, then 20 minutes on the treadmill, and 100 crunches.
Monday, December 03, 2007
Gingerbread Houses!
I made the gingerbread today for our gingerbread houses. We'll decorate them tomorrow night. Some years we make small individual ones out of graham crackers, and other years I make one big one out of gingerbread that we all decorate together. This year I made six small ones out of gingerbread- so we'll all have a little house to decorate and make a little village. :)
I'll try to post pictures after we decorate them. :)
I'll try to post pictures after we decorate them. :)
Exercise log
I did 60 minutes on the elliptical today, a round on the weight machines, and then 100 crunches- owie!
Friday, November 30, 2007
Christmas Musings
It’s Christmas! Hurrah!
It’s Christmas! OH NO!!
Isn’t that what all mom’s think in their heads? I LOVE Christmas. I love the music and lights, decorations, and festive environment. At the same time I hate how I try to schedule so many things and have to pick and choose what things to do and what things to not do.
I was at the Y this morning and Rachel Ray was on the tv. SHe had someone on that is an anchor on one of the evening entertainment tonight or something talk shows. She was talking about Christmas and how she got it all done, and the lady mentioned that she has learned to just stay calm. No matter what happens- to just stay calm and enjoy the month and what gets done gets done, and what doesn't get done, doesn't get done and not to worry about it.
I think that's a great way to approach this month. I can make my list of all the things I want to do, but then I need to just relax and not stress over whether I get it all done or not.
So now I'll try to work on our family letter- but I won't stress if it takes me three weeks to get it finished, printed, and envelopes written out and mailed. lol!
It’s Christmas! OH NO!!
Isn’t that what all mom’s think in their heads? I LOVE Christmas. I love the music and lights, decorations, and festive environment. At the same time I hate how I try to schedule so many things and have to pick and choose what things to do and what things to not do.
I was at the Y this morning and Rachel Ray was on the tv. SHe had someone on that is an anchor on one of the evening entertainment tonight or something talk shows. She was talking about Christmas and how she got it all done, and the lady mentioned that she has learned to just stay calm. No matter what happens- to just stay calm and enjoy the month and what gets done gets done, and what doesn't get done, doesn't get done and not to worry about it.
I think that's a great way to approach this month. I can make my list of all the things I want to do, but then I need to just relax and not stress over whether I get it all done or not.
So now I'll try to work on our family letter- but I won't stress if it takes me three weeks to get it finished, printed, and envelopes written out and mailed. lol!
Exercise
I got to the Y today again. I really really didn't want to go, but forced myself to get up and go...
I did an hour on the elliptical, and a round on the weight machines, and 100 crunches.
I did an hour on the elliptical, and a round on the weight machines, and 100 crunches.
Wednesday, November 28, 2007
Exercise
Just posting my workout today:
60 minutes on the elliptical- 525 calories, 7272 strides= about 4.5 miles.
A set on the weight machines.
I forgot to do crunches though... oh well...
60 minutes on the elliptical- 525 calories, 7272 strides= about 4.5 miles.
A set on the weight machines.
I forgot to do crunches though... oh well...
Tuesday, November 27, 2007
Being accountable
So I was thinking back to when I was really into a groove of exercising... back then I was posting on my blog, or a message board when I went and exercised each day, and what I did...
So I'll post it here. Anyone reading it can just gloss over it- I'm posting it for myself to keep myself accountable to myself... lol!
So I did 60 minutes on the elliptical today at the Y. Tomorrow I should do the weight machines, and at least 30 minutes of cardio on the elliptical or treadmill... and crunches... I need to do lots of crunches... I was feeling it from yesterday- last night and it's a good feeling. :)
So I'll post it here. Anyone reading it can just gloss over it- I'm posting it for myself to keep myself accountable to myself... lol!
So I did 60 minutes on the elliptical today at the Y. Tomorrow I should do the weight machines, and at least 30 minutes of cardio on the elliptical or treadmill... and crunches... I need to do lots of crunches... I was feeling it from yesterday- last night and it's a good feeling. :)
Monday, November 26, 2007
Oh my- catching up on the last week and more...
I can't believe it's been so long since I've blogged!
We did get some family pictures taken... go here and you can see a few "preview" pictures that we did...
http://onemomentintimephotography.blogspot.com/2007/11/newton-family.html
I guess the first few weeks in November I went through a slump. I didn't go out and exercise, I didn't want to do much... just sit around and play with the kids. Not that playing with the kids is bad, but when I don't feel motivated to do anything else- it is bad.
I think I'm past it now though. The Thanksgiving weekend really did a great job of getting me into the mood and really energizing me to get out of the slump I was in.
We had a family that we are friends with over for Thanksgiving dinner. It was fun to have them over, and I always wonder why we don't have others over for dinner more often because we always have a good time. It was freezing outside, but that didn't stop the kids from running outside and playing. Our friends little boys hadn't brought coats, so we rummaged through our collection of coats and got them bundled up as well. Dinner was fun and it was neat to taste the foods that they traditionally have for dinner. I hope they enjoyed trying the foods we traditionally have as well. They weren't odd or anything- just different foods that our families have traditionally had with Thanksgiving.
The day after Thanksgiving I got up at the insane hour of 3:45am... my friend who had come to dinner always goes and shops the black friday morning sales. She talked me into it with a little nudge from Rich telling me he would make sure I got up and out of bed to go. I picked her up at 4:15am, and we went to Walmart and "scouted" out where the items we wanted were. It was totally fun standing around and joking with the other people there waiting for the 5am time that we could get to the items to happen. We actually got all the items we wanted to at Walmart.
Then we headed over to Target. We made a tactical mistake and went to the Target near the Toysrus, instead of just the Target that is closer to home- I'm sure that one was not as busy as the one we went to. The line was all the way wrapped around the side of the building to the very back corner. We were about 2/3 of the way back on the side of the building. By the time we got into Target a lot of stuff was gone. My friend was still able to pick up some things she wanted though, so that wasn't a wasted trip.
After Target we went over to Toysrus. The line to check out weaved around the whole inside of the store. We grabbed a few things we wanted, and then grabbed a shopping cart and got into the long check out line. Then Robyn and I took turns going and looking for additional items (and running out to my car to get the Toys r us gift certificates I had forgot to bring in) while we slowly made our way through the line to check out. After that we went to Bath and Body Works. I hadn't planned on getting anything there, but after an hour of standing in line there, I found myself with some soaps and lotion and a gift card for someone... ha ha... the bad influence my friend is... making me spend money... lol! No it's all good... :)
After that we went to the Target closer to home to see if we could find what we had missed at the other Target. We didn't, but we did pick up a new Christmas tree for my friend, and some other small things that were not the morning door busters sales, but still needed. Then we made a second trip to Walmart and picked up some wrapping paper and ornaments- stuff we didn't want to stop and take the time to find that morning during the rush...
Between the two of us we filled the back of my van almost completely. We had the back seat folded down into the floor, and I was having to use the back up camera in the van to see to back up, because I couldn't see out my rearview window and mirror...
It was a blast though. I can't remember the last time I've just gone out and shopped and not worried about what time it was to get home, and just had some fun shopping. I got home around noon... so that was 8 hours that we were out shopping!
That afternoon at home we decorated the Christmas tree, and put out the other inside Christmas decorations. We'll probably do the outside ones next weekend. I'm now just ready to go gung-ho and get everything done for Christmas. I would be doing gingerbread houses with the kids tonight for FHE, but I didn't have time to go to the store to get candy to decorate them. I'll probably do that next monday night for FHE.
Oh... also Saturday was the BYU- UTAH game... BYU WON!!! WOOO HOO!!! It was a good game, a defensive struggle, but down to the wire, just like the game was last year.
I also went and exercised Saturday morning- that was great to get myself back into the exercise grove. Hopefully I can keep it up. I went again this morning so I'm feeling good about getting back into that habit again.
We did get some family pictures taken... go here and you can see a few "preview" pictures that we did...
http://onemomentintimephotography.blogspot.com/2007/11/newton-family.html
I guess the first few weeks in November I went through a slump. I didn't go out and exercise, I didn't want to do much... just sit around and play with the kids. Not that playing with the kids is bad, but when I don't feel motivated to do anything else- it is bad.
I think I'm past it now though. The Thanksgiving weekend really did a great job of getting me into the mood and really energizing me to get out of the slump I was in.
We had a family that we are friends with over for Thanksgiving dinner. It was fun to have them over, and I always wonder why we don't have others over for dinner more often because we always have a good time. It was freezing outside, but that didn't stop the kids from running outside and playing. Our friends little boys hadn't brought coats, so we rummaged through our collection of coats and got them bundled up as well. Dinner was fun and it was neat to taste the foods that they traditionally have for dinner. I hope they enjoyed trying the foods we traditionally have as well. They weren't odd or anything- just different foods that our families have traditionally had with Thanksgiving.
The day after Thanksgiving I got up at the insane hour of 3:45am... my friend who had come to dinner always goes and shops the black friday morning sales. She talked me into it with a little nudge from Rich telling me he would make sure I got up and out of bed to go. I picked her up at 4:15am, and we went to Walmart and "scouted" out where the items we wanted were. It was totally fun standing around and joking with the other people there waiting for the 5am time that we could get to the items to happen. We actually got all the items we wanted to at Walmart.
Then we headed over to Target. We made a tactical mistake and went to the Target near the Toysrus, instead of just the Target that is closer to home- I'm sure that one was not as busy as the one we went to. The line was all the way wrapped around the side of the building to the very back corner. We were about 2/3 of the way back on the side of the building. By the time we got into Target a lot of stuff was gone. My friend was still able to pick up some things she wanted though, so that wasn't a wasted trip.
After Target we went over to Toysrus. The line to check out weaved around the whole inside of the store. We grabbed a few things we wanted, and then grabbed a shopping cart and got into the long check out line. Then Robyn and I took turns going and looking for additional items (and running out to my car to get the Toys r us gift certificates I had forgot to bring in) while we slowly made our way through the line to check out. After that we went to Bath and Body Works. I hadn't planned on getting anything there, but after an hour of standing in line there, I found myself with some soaps and lotion and a gift card for someone... ha ha... the bad influence my friend is... making me spend money... lol! No it's all good... :)
After that we went to the Target closer to home to see if we could find what we had missed at the other Target. We didn't, but we did pick up a new Christmas tree for my friend, and some other small things that were not the morning door busters sales, but still needed. Then we made a second trip to Walmart and picked up some wrapping paper and ornaments- stuff we didn't want to stop and take the time to find that morning during the rush...
Between the two of us we filled the back of my van almost completely. We had the back seat folded down into the floor, and I was having to use the back up camera in the van to see to back up, because I couldn't see out my rearview window and mirror...
It was a blast though. I can't remember the last time I've just gone out and shopped and not worried about what time it was to get home, and just had some fun shopping. I got home around noon... so that was 8 hours that we were out shopping!
That afternoon at home we decorated the Christmas tree, and put out the other inside Christmas decorations. We'll probably do the outside ones next weekend. I'm now just ready to go gung-ho and get everything done for Christmas. I would be doing gingerbread houses with the kids tonight for FHE, but I didn't have time to go to the store to get candy to decorate them. I'll probably do that next monday night for FHE.
Oh... also Saturday was the BYU- UTAH game... BYU WON!!! WOOO HOO!!! It was a good game, a defensive struggle, but down to the wire, just like the game was last year.
I also went and exercised Saturday morning- that was great to get myself back into the exercise grove. Hopefully I can keep it up. I went again this morning so I'm feeling good about getting back into that habit again.
Monday, November 05, 2007
A tagged quiz
I've been tagged!
1. Three biggest fears? Rich dying while the kids are still young, Having something happen to the kids that I can't "fix", loosing my testimony.
2. When was the last time you danced? uh... I can't remember. :(
3. Do you creep on stranger's blogs? Not really... I do peak at other peoples blogs that I find through following links from friends blogs- but I usually do know them.
4. If you could go back to be any age for a day, what age would you be and why? I loved being a teenager, but I'm enjoying being at my age now too, so I don't really know... I probably would just choose to stay at this age. :)
5. Are you a good liar? Depends on the lie... if it's a good reason or bad reason to lie.
6. Do you judge someone when you can tell they've had elective cosmetic surgery? I really don't notice those things at all... I would have to be told if someone had it. (hey I've had it... so no I don't judge... :))
7. If you have children, what's one thing that you always told yourself you'd never do when you had kids? If you don't have children, what's one thing you tell yourself you'll never do? I said I'd never loose myself to being just a mommy... I have come close to it many times though... it's something I actively try to keep from happening and cultivate my own hobbies and interests.
8. What's something that totally grosses you out? taking the turkey out of it's wrapping and pulling out the neck and gizzards to bake it on Thanksgiving- I always make Rich do it for me.
9. Do you ever delete forwards without reading them? um... occasionally... eek..
10. Do you ever lie to get out of obligations? I'm sure I have. Usually it's to hopefully not hurt someones feelings.
11. Consider your body weight and your yearly income at their present states. Would you rather be 200 pounds heavier and $200,000 richer or stay at your present states? Definitly stay where we are now... I'm pretty happy with both of them.
12. When was the last time you bought a pair of shoes and what were they? I bought some new sandals at the begining of this summer.
13. The Olympics. Take them or leave them? I love them, but get frustrated by the "spotty" tv coverage...
14. What's your favorite accent? I like British and Australian accents (they are very similar)
15. What's your favorite scent? there are too many that I like... but as someone else mentioned... her husbands scent- That's a favorite of mine too (MY husbands scent- not hers!)
16. Gum or breath mints? Gum
17. If you could look like any celebrity, who would it be? I have a haircut similar to someones... and she looks pretty nice... so maybe her... but I'm celebrity challenged and I can't remember what her name is... lol!
18. If you had the chance of looking like said celebrity in exchange for your thumbs would you do it? Nope! I use my thumbs way too much to give them up willingly!
19. Do you religiously wear sun screen? Nope
20. Do you generally trust people/their motives or doubt people/their motives? I generally trust people until they show me I can't trust them.
21. Would you describe yourself as a complicated person or is what you see what you get? What you see is what you get!
22. Do you watch what you eat? sometimes.
23. Do you watch what other people eat? nope
24. Do you judge how other people raise their kids? most of the time no... I do occasionaly have judgemental thoughts though- I'm working on not doing that.
25. Do you judge people who dress poorly? nope... I've been there- still am most days. :)
26. Do you judge people who are homely? Nope!
27. Do you judge people who are overweight? Nope!
28. Your interest in politics: High, Medium-High, Medium, Medium-Low, Low, Obsolete? Medium
29. Favorite song of all time? I'm not very good about remembering song names. I just usually enjoy singing along to all of them.
30. Acoustic or electric? Acoustic
31. If you were a hermit, would you shave? yep... I just feel a lot better when I have.
32. If you could shave your head without your significant other throwing a complete hissy, would you? Nope...no way... I'm too vain. :)
33. What was your least favorite age? um... hmm... I don't really know... probably pre-teen age.
34. How many times a day do you check your email? 1-4 times a day on average.
35. Are you in a tiff with anyone right now? Nope
1. Three biggest fears? Rich dying while the kids are still young, Having something happen to the kids that I can't "fix", loosing my testimony.
2. When was the last time you danced? uh... I can't remember. :(
3. Do you creep on stranger's blogs? Not really... I do peak at other peoples blogs that I find through following links from friends blogs- but I usually do know them.
4. If you could go back to be any age for a day, what age would you be and why? I loved being a teenager, but I'm enjoying being at my age now too, so I don't really know... I probably would just choose to stay at this age. :)
5. Are you a good liar? Depends on the lie... if it's a good reason or bad reason to lie.
6. Do you judge someone when you can tell they've had elective cosmetic surgery? I really don't notice those things at all... I would have to be told if someone had it. (hey I've had it... so no I don't judge... :))
7. If you have children, what's one thing that you always told yourself you'd never do when you had kids? If you don't have children, what's one thing you tell yourself you'll never do? I said I'd never loose myself to being just a mommy... I have come close to it many times though... it's something I actively try to keep from happening and cultivate my own hobbies and interests.
8. What's something that totally grosses you out? taking the turkey out of it's wrapping and pulling out the neck and gizzards to bake it on Thanksgiving- I always make Rich do it for me.
9. Do you ever delete forwards without reading them? um... occasionally... eek..
10. Do you ever lie to get out of obligations? I'm sure I have. Usually it's to hopefully not hurt someones feelings.
11. Consider your body weight and your yearly income at their present states. Would you rather be 200 pounds heavier and $200,000 richer or stay at your present states? Definitly stay where we are now... I'm pretty happy with both of them.
12. When was the last time you bought a pair of shoes and what were they? I bought some new sandals at the begining of this summer.
13. The Olympics. Take them or leave them? I love them, but get frustrated by the "spotty" tv coverage...
14. What's your favorite accent? I like British and Australian accents (they are very similar)
15. What's your favorite scent? there are too many that I like... but as someone else mentioned... her husbands scent- That's a favorite of mine too (MY husbands scent- not hers!)
16. Gum or breath mints? Gum
17. If you could look like any celebrity, who would it be? I have a haircut similar to someones... and she looks pretty nice... so maybe her... but I'm celebrity challenged and I can't remember what her name is... lol!
18. If you had the chance of looking like said celebrity in exchange for your thumbs would you do it? Nope! I use my thumbs way too much to give them up willingly!
19. Do you religiously wear sun screen? Nope
20. Do you generally trust people/their motives or doubt people/their motives? I generally trust people until they show me I can't trust them.
21. Would you describe yourself as a complicated person or is what you see what you get? What you see is what you get!
22. Do you watch what you eat? sometimes.
23. Do you watch what other people eat? nope
24. Do you judge how other people raise their kids? most of the time no... I do occasionaly have judgemental thoughts though- I'm working on not doing that.
25. Do you judge people who dress poorly? nope... I've been there- still am most days. :)
26. Do you judge people who are homely? Nope!
27. Do you judge people who are overweight? Nope!
28. Your interest in politics: High, Medium-High, Medium, Medium-Low, Low, Obsolete? Medium
29. Favorite song of all time? I'm not very good about remembering song names. I just usually enjoy singing along to all of them.
30. Acoustic or electric? Acoustic
31. If you were a hermit, would you shave? yep... I just feel a lot better when I have.
32. If you could shave your head without your significant other throwing a complete hissy, would you? Nope...no way... I'm too vain. :)
33. What was your least favorite age? um... hmm... I don't really know... probably pre-teen age.
34. How many times a day do you check your email? 1-4 times a day on average.
35. Are you in a tiff with anyone right now? Nope
Saturday, November 03, 2007
DisneyWorld 2007 trip
Walt Disney World 2007 Trip
Tuesday October 16, 2007:
We left at 5am on our trip to DisneyWorld. The story doesn’t start there though…
Previous to the trip I had planned in detail what items we needed to pack, and how much space that would take. My goal was for us to use two suitcases (one large, one medium), and two carry-on backpacks. Over the weekend before I got all the laundry done, folded, and packed for the kids. On the day before we left I only had a few last minute things to wash, and Rich and I’s clothes to pack. I accomplished all of it and had us almost all packed before the kids went to bed. After we put them into bed Rich and I were gathering some last minute things and making sure we had items in the carryon bags that we would need for the respective kids we would have with us on the plane (Alex and Ashley with Rich, Angela and Alyssa with me).
At about 10:00pm I started wondering about my plan to take only two suitcases. I could fit everything in, but it was going to be a little tight. What would happen when we got there, and we had souvenires to bring home? We had already promised the kids they could buy one thing for their souvenier, and I didn’t know if we would be able to fit it all in coming home. So at 10:30 pm Rich and I decided we needed to have another suitcase. All of our other suitcases are small, really small- carryon size and it seemed like a waste of time to take one of them, so I hopped into the car and took the fastest trip to Walmart I think I’ve ever taken. I drove down, walked right over to the luggage, choose a suitcase, and bought it and came home. The longest I was still was while I was waiting in line to buy it. Lol! I think I hit every green light on the way there and back, and I got back by 11pm. Then I stayed up another ½ hour or so moving items from the two suitcases to balance stuff between the three suitcases. We got to bed somewhere around 11:45pm.
The Alarm went off at 4:30am the next morning. I actually was awake before that. I was so excited, and just overall did not sleep very deeply that night. We got up and got the kids up and were all ready to leave at 5:10am. Only 10 minutes behind our “schedule”. The drive to Tulsa went smoothly, despite the fog that was heavy for Oklahoma (for Rich it was no big deal-no where near what they get out in Northern California). We got to the airport and checked our luggage. We kept Angela’s carseat out for her to sit in on the plane, and got to our gate with our carryon’s and the carseat. We had an hour before our flight so we thought we would get to sit and relax for a little while.
The airline person then announced that our flight coming in probably would be on time, but the fog was getting bad enough that the little plane we were on would probably be grounded until the fog lifted. Luckily there was a larger plane that was leaving in 10 minutes for the same destination, from 2 gates over that had empty seats and all of us waiting for this flight could be accomodated on that flight.
So we quickly changed our tickets, they had some difficulties getting two sets of three seats together, but luckily were able to move a few people and work it out so we could be on the plane. We got on the plane and the kids were so excited! Alex and Ashley have been on planes before, but it’s been at least 5 years or so since they were on one, so it was almost like a first time for them again. Alyssa and Angela did great on the flight and I thought my fears of flying with Angela might be for naught.
After we landed and had about a 2 hour layover (since we came in an hour earlier than scheduled), we got on the second flight and my fears of Angela not cooperating on the flight came to light. She did not want to be in her carseat, she was kicking the seat in front of her repeatedly and screaming to be let out. Eventually I let her out (after takeoff) and tried to hold her and appease her and keep her happy in my lap. She would be fine for a few minutes and then unhappy again. It was like this for about an hour before she finally gave into her tiredness and fell asleep. I was able to ease her back into her car seat and buckle her up to take her nap and she slept until after we landed.
We flew into Tampa and then had a rental car that we drove over to Orlando. The kids are so spoiled with our car at home. We got into the rental car and it had two bench seats, that didn’t recline at all, and were not the most comfortable. By that time you could tell our kids had gotten up really early. Alyssa was upset because we were letting Alex and Ashley sit in the seats without boosters (we didn’t want to bring 4 carseat/boosters on the trip and legally they were old enough and could fit the seatbelt correctly without the boosters) and she threw a royal tantrum and didn’t want to get into her carseat. I wound up sitting in the back with her because she was reaching over and hitting and kicking Alex when he was sitting next to her. Alex got to sit up front with Rich. He was asleep within about 15 minutes of the hour drive. Alyssa luckily fell asleep too, and so did Angela. Ashley was upset because it wasn’t comfortable for her to fall asleep in the car where she was sitting.
We got into Orlando and found our hotel. We checked in and took all the luggage up to our room. It was a nice room. A suite, but at Embassy Suite’s all the rooms are suites… There was the front room with a couch that pulled out into a sofa bed, and then two double beds in the bedroom. After we freshened up a bit we headed out to McDonalds for dinner. This wasn’t just any McDonalds though. It is like a McDonalds/Chuck e cheeses/Sandwich shop/icecream parlor. It’s the largest McDonalds play area in the country- with a second story full of games and fun stuff. It has a play structure that is huge and the kids had fun playing on that and getting out all the pent up energy from sitting in the car and on the planes for so much of the day.
Then we went back to the hotel and tucked everyone into bed for the night. Ashley and Alyssa slept out on the sofa bed (a very uncomfortable bed I might add… not something anything with any weight on them could comfortably sleep on. Luckily Ashley and Alyssa didn’t seem to notice the springs popping out all over at all. Angela got the sofa cushions on the floor covered in a bedspread for her bed. Alex got his own bed.
Tuesday October 16, 2007:
We left at 5am on our trip to DisneyWorld. The story doesn’t start there though…
Previous to the trip I had planned in detail what items we needed to pack, and how much space that would take. My goal was for us to use two suitcases (one large, one medium), and two carry-on backpacks. Over the weekend before I got all the laundry done, folded, and packed for the kids. On the day before we left I only had a few last minute things to wash, and Rich and I’s clothes to pack. I accomplished all of it and had us almost all packed before the kids went to bed. After we put them into bed Rich and I were gathering some last minute things and making sure we had items in the carryon bags that we would need for the respective kids we would have with us on the plane (Alex and Ashley with Rich, Angela and Alyssa with me).
At about 10:00pm I started wondering about my plan to take only two suitcases. I could fit everything in, but it was going to be a little tight. What would happen when we got there, and we had souvenires to bring home? We had already promised the kids they could buy one thing for their souvenier, and I didn’t know if we would be able to fit it all in coming home. So at 10:30 pm Rich and I decided we needed to have another suitcase. All of our other suitcases are small, really small- carryon size and it seemed like a waste of time to take one of them, so I hopped into the car and took the fastest trip to Walmart I think I’ve ever taken. I drove down, walked right over to the luggage, choose a suitcase, and bought it and came home. The longest I was still was while I was waiting in line to buy it. Lol! I think I hit every green light on the way there and back, and I got back by 11pm. Then I stayed up another ½ hour or so moving items from the two suitcases to balance stuff between the three suitcases. We got to bed somewhere around 11:45pm.
The Alarm went off at 4:30am the next morning. I actually was awake before that. I was so excited, and just overall did not sleep very deeply that night. We got up and got the kids up and were all ready to leave at 5:10am. Only 10 minutes behind our “schedule”. The drive to Tulsa went smoothly, despite the fog that was heavy for Oklahoma (for Rich it was no big deal-no where near what they get out in Northern California). We got to the airport and checked our luggage. We kept Angela’s carseat out for her to sit in on the plane, and got to our gate with our carryon’s and the carseat. We had an hour before our flight so we thought we would get to sit and relax for a little while.
The airline person then announced that our flight coming in probably would be on time, but the fog was getting bad enough that the little plane we were on would probably be grounded until the fog lifted. Luckily there was a larger plane that was leaving in 10 minutes for the same destination, from 2 gates over that had empty seats and all of us waiting for this flight could be accomodated on that flight.
So we quickly changed our tickets, they had some difficulties getting two sets of three seats together, but luckily were able to move a few people and work it out so we could be on the plane. We got on the plane and the kids were so excited! Alex and Ashley have been on planes before, but it’s been at least 5 years or so since they were on one, so it was almost like a first time for them again. Alyssa and Angela did great on the flight and I thought my fears of flying with Angela might be for naught.
After we landed and had about a 2 hour layover (since we came in an hour earlier than scheduled), we got on the second flight and my fears of Angela not cooperating on the flight came to light. She did not want to be in her carseat, she was kicking the seat in front of her repeatedly and screaming to be let out. Eventually I let her out (after takeoff) and tried to hold her and appease her and keep her happy in my lap. She would be fine for a few minutes and then unhappy again. It was like this for about an hour before she finally gave into her tiredness and fell asleep. I was able to ease her back into her car seat and buckle her up to take her nap and she slept until after we landed.
We flew into Tampa and then had a rental car that we drove over to Orlando. The kids are so spoiled with our car at home. We got into the rental car and it had two bench seats, that didn’t recline at all, and were not the most comfortable. By that time you could tell our kids had gotten up really early. Alyssa was upset because we were letting Alex and Ashley sit in the seats without boosters (we didn’t want to bring 4 carseat/boosters on the trip and legally they were old enough and could fit the seatbelt correctly without the boosters) and she threw a royal tantrum and didn’t want to get into her carseat. I wound up sitting in the back with her because she was reaching over and hitting and kicking Alex when he was sitting next to her. Alex got to sit up front with Rich. He was asleep within about 15 minutes of the hour drive. Alyssa luckily fell asleep too, and so did Angela. Ashley was upset because it wasn’t comfortable for her to fall asleep in the car where she was sitting.
We got into Orlando and found our hotel. We checked in and took all the luggage up to our room. It was a nice room. A suite, but at Embassy Suite’s all the rooms are suites… There was the front room with a couch that pulled out into a sofa bed, and then two double beds in the bedroom. After we freshened up a bit we headed out to McDonalds for dinner. This wasn’t just any McDonalds though. It is like a McDonalds/Chuck e cheeses/Sandwich shop/icecream parlor. It’s the largest McDonalds play area in the country- with a second story full of games and fun stuff. It has a play structure that is huge and the kids had fun playing on that and getting out all the pent up energy from sitting in the car and on the planes for so much of the day.
Then we went back to the hotel and tucked everyone into bed for the night. Ashley and Alyssa slept out on the sofa bed (a very uncomfortable bed I might add… not something anything with any weight on them could comfortably sleep on. Luckily Ashley and Alyssa didn’t seem to notice the springs popping out all over at all. Angela got the sofa cushions on the floor covered in a bedspread for her bed. Alex got his own bed.
DisneyWorld 2007 trip
Wednesday October 17, 2007:
We went to the Magic Kingdom. Before that though the kids chowed down on the breakfast at the hotel. We stayed at Embassy Suites, and they have the biggest free breakfast I’ve seen at any hotel we’ve stayed at. It’s not just the pastry’s and cold cereal and bagels and toast… they have a cook there that makes individual custom omlets, or scrambled eggs, or fried eggs… however you want it… they also have pancakes, french toast, sausage, bacon, fruit. They have chocolate milk (our kids favorite of course), milk, orange juice, cranberry juice, apple juice, all of the soda’s, coffee (not that we had it… just saying they had it). Alex was just thirlled and filled up on donuts and bagels and toast and muffins. I enjoyed the eggs and hashbrowns for breakfast- it really filled me up and was a great start for the day.
Then we drove over to the Magic Kingdom. Of course the very first ride we went on had to be Dumbo. All of the kids love the Dumbo ride and they couldn’t wait to ride it again (they rode it out at Disneyland last summer {2006}). After that we hit most of the little kid rides: Peter Pan, Pooh Bear, Tea Cups, It’s a small world. Then we headed over to Splash Mountain. This is what I love about Disney- Splash Mountain is a ride that you have to be a certain height to ride on. Instead of leaving young kids and parents that are with the young kids out just looking at the flowers while they wait for those riding on the ride- they have stuff for little kids to do. They have this great little play area for little kids right near Splash Mountain that totally is themed with the ride and everything. So, Angela and Alyssa and I stayed there and played while Rich and Alex and Ashley went on the ride. They also have the child swap program, so when they got off of the ride, I could go on the ride with up to two other people and not have to stand in the long line… just the much shorter fast pass return line.
So after we all went on Splash Mountain (Alex and Ashley got to go twice- once with Rich and once with me) we went and saw the Enchanted Tiki Room. Now this was no longer the “In the tiki tiki tiki tiki tiki room” show that we’ve all seen in the past. It was new and “improved”… it was cute, but I think I actually like the older version better. The kids seemed to like it though and that’s all that really counts right? After that it was lunch time. This was vacation so the kids had icecream cones for their lunch. Rich and I had a raspberry lemonade slush thing that was very sweet, but nice and cold and definitly a treat in the hot weather we had that day.
After our “lunch” we went over and rode Aladin’s Magic Carpets. Alex was not happy about having to “share” the controls on the ride, so in the pictures there’s a great one of his grumpy face. Fortunately he kept it to a grumpy face and didn’t really have too big of a meltdown complaining about it. Then we went on the Haunted Mansion ride. We weren’t sure how Alyssa would react to it, we had just barely talked Alex into riding it last time we were at Disneyland, and Alyssa is similar to Alex and doesn’t like the dark rides- but she agreed to go on it. She sat through most of the ride very ridgid and quiet, but at the end she said she liked it and laughed at the “ghost” riding in the buggy with her and Daddy and Ashley. After that we hiked up and through and down the Swiss Family Robinson treehouse, and then we went over to see Tom Sawyers Island.
When we came back over from the island the parade was going on so we watched some of it and then went to check out the new “Stich’s Great Escape” ride (Alex was just dieing to go on this ride- it didn’t show up in the “touring plans” that Rich had downloaded, and he was so concerned that we wouldn’t be able to fit it into the schedule). I stayed out with Alyssa and Angela while they went on it, and Rich wasn’t really impressed with it- so I didn’t bother with using the child swap to go on it.
Oh perhaps the biggest thing that we did that day- we didn’t have any strollers. It was okay for the first half of the day, but by the second half of the day Alyssa (not Angela, but Alyssa) was not happy and was wanting to be carried everywhere. We left the Magic Kingdom to take the monorail over to the “Grand Floridian” where we had dinner reservations, and Rich and Alex and Ashley had walked ahead of me and I was back with Alyssa and Angela. I almost got stuck behind with them because they BOTH wanted me to hold them and carry them- along with the backpack that I had at the time on my back. I did finally pick them both up and carry them for a while until Rich looked back and saw what was holding us up and he came back and got Alyssa… but we decided then that we would do the stroller rentals for the other days!
For dinner we went to 1900 Park Fare at the Grand Floridian. It is also titled “Cinderella’s Gala Feast”. It’s a buffet, and they even have a “kids buffet” section with kid favorites like mac and cheese, plain noodles, chicken nuggets, corn, french fries, etc… that are on a lower buffet so kids can walk up to it, see it and older kids (Alex and Ashley’s age) can easily reach and dish up their own plates. The rest of the buffet menu was really good and I was pleased with the selection. It all tasted wonderful, but really who are we kidding… we went there for the character interactions- not the food. Lol! Cinderella, Prince Charming, Anastasia, Drizella, and the Step Mother come out and go around to every single table. They sign autographs, take pictures, and talk and dance with all the kids that want to interact with them.
Our kids are on the shy side, so they didn’t really interact much- Ashley was the only one that would get up and pose for pictures with them, but they all loved watching the characters from a distance and the experience was worth it for our girls. (Of course Alex was not thrilled about it, but he got to have as much chocolate milk as he wanted and mac and cheese, so he was satisfied as long as we left him alone away from the characters).
After dinner we took the monorail back to the parking lot and went to our car and drove back to the hotel. It was an early dinner, so we still had some time before bedtime and we decided to go and try out the hotels pool. Alex and Ashley wore Rich out climbing all over him in the pool, and Alyssa and Angela had fun in the kiddy pool… they’ve never experienced a kiddie pool before that they can stand in and just play without mommy holding them. Then when we were sufficiently tired out we went upstairs and let the kids fall asleep watching tv… they only lasted about 10-30 minutes.
We went to the Magic Kingdom. Before that though the kids chowed down on the breakfast at the hotel. We stayed at Embassy Suites, and they have the biggest free breakfast I’ve seen at any hotel we’ve stayed at. It’s not just the pastry’s and cold cereal and bagels and toast… they have a cook there that makes individual custom omlets, or scrambled eggs, or fried eggs… however you want it… they also have pancakes, french toast, sausage, bacon, fruit. They have chocolate milk (our kids favorite of course), milk, orange juice, cranberry juice, apple juice, all of the soda’s, coffee (not that we had it… just saying they had it). Alex was just thirlled and filled up on donuts and bagels and toast and muffins. I enjoyed the eggs and hashbrowns for breakfast- it really filled me up and was a great start for the day.
Then we drove over to the Magic Kingdom. Of course the very first ride we went on had to be Dumbo. All of the kids love the Dumbo ride and they couldn’t wait to ride it again (they rode it out at Disneyland last summer {2006}). After that we hit most of the little kid rides: Peter Pan, Pooh Bear, Tea Cups, It’s a small world. Then we headed over to Splash Mountain. This is what I love about Disney- Splash Mountain is a ride that you have to be a certain height to ride on. Instead of leaving young kids and parents that are with the young kids out just looking at the flowers while they wait for those riding on the ride- they have stuff for little kids to do. They have this great little play area for little kids right near Splash Mountain that totally is themed with the ride and everything. So, Angela and Alyssa and I stayed there and played while Rich and Alex and Ashley went on the ride. They also have the child swap program, so when they got off of the ride, I could go on the ride with up to two other people and not have to stand in the long line… just the much shorter fast pass return line.
So after we all went on Splash Mountain (Alex and Ashley got to go twice- once with Rich and once with me) we went and saw the Enchanted Tiki Room. Now this was no longer the “In the tiki tiki tiki tiki tiki room” show that we’ve all seen in the past. It was new and “improved”… it was cute, but I think I actually like the older version better. The kids seemed to like it though and that’s all that really counts right? After that it was lunch time. This was vacation so the kids had icecream cones for their lunch. Rich and I had a raspberry lemonade slush thing that was very sweet, but nice and cold and definitly a treat in the hot weather we had that day.
After our “lunch” we went over and rode Aladin’s Magic Carpets. Alex was not happy about having to “share” the controls on the ride, so in the pictures there’s a great one of his grumpy face. Fortunately he kept it to a grumpy face and didn’t really have too big of a meltdown complaining about it. Then we went on the Haunted Mansion ride. We weren’t sure how Alyssa would react to it, we had just barely talked Alex into riding it last time we were at Disneyland, and Alyssa is similar to Alex and doesn’t like the dark rides- but she agreed to go on it. She sat through most of the ride very ridgid and quiet, but at the end she said she liked it and laughed at the “ghost” riding in the buggy with her and Daddy and Ashley. After that we hiked up and through and down the Swiss Family Robinson treehouse, and then we went over to see Tom Sawyers Island.
When we came back over from the island the parade was going on so we watched some of it and then went to check out the new “Stich’s Great Escape” ride (Alex was just dieing to go on this ride- it didn’t show up in the “touring plans” that Rich had downloaded, and he was so concerned that we wouldn’t be able to fit it into the schedule). I stayed out with Alyssa and Angela while they went on it, and Rich wasn’t really impressed with it- so I didn’t bother with using the child swap to go on it.
Oh perhaps the biggest thing that we did that day- we didn’t have any strollers. It was okay for the first half of the day, but by the second half of the day Alyssa (not Angela, but Alyssa) was not happy and was wanting to be carried everywhere. We left the Magic Kingdom to take the monorail over to the “Grand Floridian” where we had dinner reservations, and Rich and Alex and Ashley had walked ahead of me and I was back with Alyssa and Angela. I almost got stuck behind with them because they BOTH wanted me to hold them and carry them- along with the backpack that I had at the time on my back. I did finally pick them both up and carry them for a while until Rich looked back and saw what was holding us up and he came back and got Alyssa… but we decided then that we would do the stroller rentals for the other days!
For dinner we went to 1900 Park Fare at the Grand Floridian. It is also titled “Cinderella’s Gala Feast”. It’s a buffet, and they even have a “kids buffet” section with kid favorites like mac and cheese, plain noodles, chicken nuggets, corn, french fries, etc… that are on a lower buffet so kids can walk up to it, see it and older kids (Alex and Ashley’s age) can easily reach and dish up their own plates. The rest of the buffet menu was really good and I was pleased with the selection. It all tasted wonderful, but really who are we kidding… we went there for the character interactions- not the food. Lol! Cinderella, Prince Charming, Anastasia, Drizella, and the Step Mother come out and go around to every single table. They sign autographs, take pictures, and talk and dance with all the kids that want to interact with them.
Our kids are on the shy side, so they didn’t really interact much- Ashley was the only one that would get up and pose for pictures with them, but they all loved watching the characters from a distance and the experience was worth it for our girls. (Of course Alex was not thrilled about it, but he got to have as much chocolate milk as he wanted and mac and cheese, so he was satisfied as long as we left him alone away from the characters).
After dinner we took the monorail back to the parking lot and went to our car and drove back to the hotel. It was an early dinner, so we still had some time before bedtime and we decided to go and try out the hotels pool. Alex and Ashley wore Rich out climbing all over him in the pool, and Alyssa and Angela had fun in the kiddy pool… they’ve never experienced a kiddie pool before that they can stand in and just play without mommy holding them. Then when we were sufficiently tired out we went upstairs and let the kids fall asleep watching tv… they only lasted about 10-30 minutes.
DisneyWorld 2007 trip
Thursday, October 18, 2007:
Today we went to Epcot. After we got our stroller rented,and the free paper “crowns” that they gave us there, Alex, Alyssa, Angela and I headed over towards Test Track. Rich and Ashley quickly walked over to Soaring, and got fast passes to use later in the day, and then meet the rest of us over at Test Track. Alyssa was tall enough to go on this ride, so she decided she wanted to try it. Rich took Alex, Ashley,and Alyssa with him and Angela and I played outside while they went on the ride. (When you look at the pictures you’ll find lots of pictures of Angela and Alyssa outside… goofing off. They had to wait a lot for us to go on the “thrill” rides twice since we had to take turns, but they did great and really were content and happy to just talk and play during those times). When they came out Alyssa said she liked it, but not enough that she wanted to go on it again. Alex and Ashley went on it with me for my turn and she stayed back with Rich and Angela.
After that we went over to “Mission Space”. Last year Rich and I rode it and went on the spinning/orange side of the ride. Both of us almost got sick and it really put a damper on my day for a few hours. This year I went with Alex and Ashley on it and we rode the non-spinning/green side of the ride. This was much easier on my stomach and we had fun. I think Rich had flashbacks to last year and just did not have any desire to go on the ride, so we didn’t swap kids for that ride.
Then we went over across the park to “Soaring”. (We parked the stroller outside the pavilion area and left the four paper crowns sitting on top of the stroller canopy. Later when we finally got back to the stroller- the paper crowns were gone. I’m sure they just blew away in the wind, but the girls were a little upset about it.) Soaring is the ride that I didn’t particularly like last year- I’m afraid of heights and unlike most thrill rides where you have that fear and then the adrenaline chases it away because your going fast up and down the roller coaster track- Soaring gave me that fear of heights gut twisting feeling the whole entire time… way to long for my comfort level. Rich loves the ride, so he took Alex and Ashley on it while Alyssa and Angela and I hung out in the cafeteria next to it. Alyssa was on a major “DADDY” kick during this trip, so she was not happy when Daddy left and she couldn’t go on the ride because she was too short. I had to pull out the snacks and my cell phone and let her play a game on the phone and eat snacks to keep her happy that time. We followed that with an Alyssa friendly ride- “Finding Nemo”. Actually the ride was down when we first went, so we went to the other side of that building and looked at the fish tanks and saw all the neat stuff over there, then we went on the ride.
After that we headed back to the Pavilion that “Soarin” is in and had some lunch. They had great kids lunches and the kids inhaled the mac and cheese in their lunch. They didn’t care for the cornbread muffin, but they couldn’t eat the cup of chocolate pudding fast enough! I had a turkey and meunster sandwich with a chipotle mayo on it… yummy. Then we went on the rides in the pavilion there, and saw a movie they have there. We then went over to the next pavilion over where they have more science things. We went on the Imagination ride and had fun playing with the interactive things at the end of that ride. Then we went outside and it was pouring down rain. We ran over to watch the “Honey I shrunk the audience” show.
One thing I do not like about Disney is how they handle large crowds for their shows. They have everyone go into these “holding rooms” where everyone has to stand up and wait for like 15 -20 minutes… You feel like you’re a cow in a herd being bunched up, and there’s nothing to sit on or lean against… just everyone crowded in together. Of course right as we are about to go into the theatre… Alyssa had to go to the bathroom. There was no way we would find a bathroom and get back into the Theatre before they started, so Alyssa and Angela and I hiked out to find a bathroom and Alex and Ashley and Rich stayed to watch the show. Apparently Alex freaked out with the 3-D part of the show and Rich spent most of the time trying to calm him down (something he didn’t tell me until the next day… I’ll tell you that story later). We then went on a few more rides, and then headed over to the “World Showcase” part of Epcot. Of course we had to stop and see what the wait time was for “Test Track”. It was about an hour so we got fast passes to use later and then went on over to the World Showcase.
Now I knew that we would not take our time and look at all the different countries like Rich and I did last year. The kids just do not have that same interest in other countries to slowly walk around and learn about them, so we just went on the Mexico boat ride, and walked through the next few countries without really stopping and looking at anything. We had reservations for Biergarten and were not sure if we would use them because we weren’t certain the kids would like anything on the menu. When we got to the Germany showcase area we went back and asked what items were on the menu that were kid friendly. They had the pre-requisite of mac and cheese, so we decided we would go ahead and use our reservations. Inside they seat you at long tables and if your family isn’t big enough to fill the table, you share the table with another family. There was a family of four next to us from New York. There is also a german music show going on off and on throughout the dinner hours. They play german songs on unique German instruments. It was really neat to watch and the kids really got into the music. We all had a great time.
Our kids and the kids in the family next to us really really enjoyed the vanilla pudding that they had on the buffet line. They kept wanting more and more. The boy sitting next to me from the other family was telling his mom how good the pudding was. He told her it’s better than her life… she asked him is it really? You would give up your life for more of it? He then said “No mom, it’s better than YOUR life” She and her husband and I just cracked up laughing (Rich was off at the buffet with one of our kids). She then said she needed to drink more of her beer…. Which they had HUGE mugs of…. Lol! The food was good, Lots of yummy German food. Rich and I enjoyed it a lot, and the kids filled up on their mac and cheese and pudding. We all had a great time.
After dinner we headed back to Test track. We went on it- in two shifts, and then the kids had fun playing in a water area next to test track. They got soaked. By then it was dark and we headed back to the hotel for the night.
Today we went to Epcot. After we got our stroller rented,and the free paper “crowns” that they gave us there, Alex, Alyssa, Angela and I headed over towards Test Track. Rich and Ashley quickly walked over to Soaring, and got fast passes to use later in the day, and then meet the rest of us over at Test Track. Alyssa was tall enough to go on this ride, so she decided she wanted to try it. Rich took Alex, Ashley,and Alyssa with him and Angela and I played outside while they went on the ride. (When you look at the pictures you’ll find lots of pictures of Angela and Alyssa outside… goofing off. They had to wait a lot for us to go on the “thrill” rides twice since we had to take turns, but they did great and really were content and happy to just talk and play during those times). When they came out Alyssa said she liked it, but not enough that she wanted to go on it again. Alex and Ashley went on it with me for my turn and she stayed back with Rich and Angela.
After that we went over to “Mission Space”. Last year Rich and I rode it and went on the spinning/orange side of the ride. Both of us almost got sick and it really put a damper on my day for a few hours. This year I went with Alex and Ashley on it and we rode the non-spinning/green side of the ride. This was much easier on my stomach and we had fun. I think Rich had flashbacks to last year and just did not have any desire to go on the ride, so we didn’t swap kids for that ride.
Then we went over across the park to “Soaring”. (We parked the stroller outside the pavilion area and left the four paper crowns sitting on top of the stroller canopy. Later when we finally got back to the stroller- the paper crowns were gone. I’m sure they just blew away in the wind, but the girls were a little upset about it.) Soaring is the ride that I didn’t particularly like last year- I’m afraid of heights and unlike most thrill rides where you have that fear and then the adrenaline chases it away because your going fast up and down the roller coaster track- Soaring gave me that fear of heights gut twisting feeling the whole entire time… way to long for my comfort level. Rich loves the ride, so he took Alex and Ashley on it while Alyssa and Angela and I hung out in the cafeteria next to it. Alyssa was on a major “DADDY” kick during this trip, so she was not happy when Daddy left and she couldn’t go on the ride because she was too short. I had to pull out the snacks and my cell phone and let her play a game on the phone and eat snacks to keep her happy that time. We followed that with an Alyssa friendly ride- “Finding Nemo”. Actually the ride was down when we first went, so we went to the other side of that building and looked at the fish tanks and saw all the neat stuff over there, then we went on the ride.
After that we headed back to the Pavilion that “Soarin” is in and had some lunch. They had great kids lunches and the kids inhaled the mac and cheese in their lunch. They didn’t care for the cornbread muffin, but they couldn’t eat the cup of chocolate pudding fast enough! I had a turkey and meunster sandwich with a chipotle mayo on it… yummy. Then we went on the rides in the pavilion there, and saw a movie they have there. We then went over to the next pavilion over where they have more science things. We went on the Imagination ride and had fun playing with the interactive things at the end of that ride. Then we went outside and it was pouring down rain. We ran over to watch the “Honey I shrunk the audience” show.
One thing I do not like about Disney is how they handle large crowds for their shows. They have everyone go into these “holding rooms” where everyone has to stand up and wait for like 15 -20 minutes… You feel like you’re a cow in a herd being bunched up, and there’s nothing to sit on or lean against… just everyone crowded in together. Of course right as we are about to go into the theatre… Alyssa had to go to the bathroom. There was no way we would find a bathroom and get back into the Theatre before they started, so Alyssa and Angela and I hiked out to find a bathroom and Alex and Ashley and Rich stayed to watch the show. Apparently Alex freaked out with the 3-D part of the show and Rich spent most of the time trying to calm him down (something he didn’t tell me until the next day… I’ll tell you that story later). We then went on a few more rides, and then headed over to the “World Showcase” part of Epcot. Of course we had to stop and see what the wait time was for “Test Track”. It was about an hour so we got fast passes to use later and then went on over to the World Showcase.
Now I knew that we would not take our time and look at all the different countries like Rich and I did last year. The kids just do not have that same interest in other countries to slowly walk around and learn about them, so we just went on the Mexico boat ride, and walked through the next few countries without really stopping and looking at anything. We had reservations for Biergarten and were not sure if we would use them because we weren’t certain the kids would like anything on the menu. When we got to the Germany showcase area we went back and asked what items were on the menu that were kid friendly. They had the pre-requisite of mac and cheese, so we decided we would go ahead and use our reservations. Inside they seat you at long tables and if your family isn’t big enough to fill the table, you share the table with another family. There was a family of four next to us from New York. There is also a german music show going on off and on throughout the dinner hours. They play german songs on unique German instruments. It was really neat to watch and the kids really got into the music. We all had a great time.
Our kids and the kids in the family next to us really really enjoyed the vanilla pudding that they had on the buffet line. They kept wanting more and more. The boy sitting next to me from the other family was telling his mom how good the pudding was. He told her it’s better than her life… she asked him is it really? You would give up your life for more of it? He then said “No mom, it’s better than YOUR life” She and her husband and I just cracked up laughing (Rich was off at the buffet with one of our kids). She then said she needed to drink more of her beer…. Which they had HUGE mugs of…. Lol! The food was good, Lots of yummy German food. Rich and I enjoyed it a lot, and the kids filled up on their mac and cheese and pudding. We all had a great time.
After dinner we headed back to Test track. We went on it- in two shifts, and then the kids had fun playing in a water area next to test track. They got soaked. By then it was dark and we headed back to the hotel for the night.
DisneyWorld 2007 trip
Saturday, October 20, 2007:
We went to the Magic Kingdom again. Before we went there though, we loaded up our suitcases in the car and drove over to our hotel for the next three nights. We stayed at the Disney Port Orleans Riverside Hotel. I went in and got us checked in and got our room keys. We had two adjoining rooms and it took a while for them to find two rooms that were adjoining and available, but we got them. They couldn’t give us the room numbers yet because the previous guests were still in the rooms and hadn’t checked out yet. They gave us a phone number to call later in the day to find out the room numbers. Then we parked the car in the parking lot and took the bus from the hotel over to the Magic Kingdom.
At the Magic Kingdom we went over and got in line for the Indy Speedway. We got up there and to our chagrin found out that Alex was not tall enough to be in a car by himself, and there were only two people allowed in the car at a time. So… I stood at the front of the line while Rich and Ashley went on the ride, and then when they got off, Rich took Alyssa and Angela and Ashley on out and Alex and I went on the ride. Alyssa didn’t want to go on the ride, (it was too loud she said) but I know Angela would have enjoyed going on it. Then Rich went and got fast passes for space mountain. We rode the Buzz lightyear ride… that’s one that the kids all enjoy since they get to shoot the targets throughout the ride. Then we got in line for the Astro Orbiter. The line was 30 minutes and our Space Mountain passes were ready to be used, so I took Alex, Alyssa and Angela on the Space Orbiter and Rich and Ashley went to ride space mountain. Alex had some weird idea in his head that he wouldn’t like Space Mountain… silly right?? After we rode that, Rich and Ashley were back from Space Mountain and I had talked Alex into riding it. Ashley LOVED it of course so the three of us went and got in line for it. Alex was still a bit scared. He does not like dark rides and was afraid it would be too dark for him, but he got on the ride and LOVED it! We grabbed more fastpasses to use later and ride it again.
Alyssa and Angela had a snack of popcorn while we were on Space Mountain and then we rode the blue line ride that goes all around futureworld… a nice slow ride that Angela was able to take a little nap on then we headed over to toon town.
Alyssa didn’t like the look of Barnstormer so she and Angela and I played around the toontown stuff while Rich and Alex and Ashley went on the roller coaster. Then we walked through minnies house, and played on Donalds boat and went back over to futureworld to ride Space mountain again. I went with Alex and Ashley, and then Rich went with Alex and Ashley, Alyssa, Angela and I went and got icecream cones for the girls. We had learned from the previous time how fast they melted, so this time we got the ice cream cone, but also a cup and spoon to put it in and eat with when it started to melt. Rich and I had giant pretzels for our lunch. They were way too salty, so we scrapped off all of the salt. Of course the kids “helped” us eat them and dip it into a cheese dip we got to go with them.
After lunch we headed over to the Laugh floor comedy club. It’s themed after Monsters Inc. They do this interactive show that’s quite funny. They choose people in the audience (unknown to them) and put a camera and spotlight on them at certain times while they are telling jokes. For part of it they tell an “abreviated” Monsters Inc. story and spotlight people in the audience to be the main characters. Imagine our surprise and delight when Alyssa showed up on the screen as “Boo” in the storytelling. They wanted her to play “peek-a-boo” with the camera, but she was too shy and just turned towards Rich… everyone thought she was adorable (as we already know she is!) and it was a highlight of her day. After that we went and saw the Country Bear Jamboree, and picked up some fast passes for Splash mountain again. We went and rode on the Carousel again, and then while Rich, Alex and Ashley went on Splash Mountain; Alyssa, Angela and I went and rode Aladdin’s magic carpet ride again.
It was getting later in the day so we then headed back to the bus to go back to our hotel. We got back, and found our hotel rooms. Then brought all the luggage in. I had to wash some clothes so while Rich and the kids relaxed a little bit and figured out what we would do for dinner, I went and started the laundry. Normally at hotels the laundry room is one washer and one dryer, or maybe two… At this hotel there were 10 washer and dryers in a laundry room next to the pool. There were three pools in the hotel complex that had these laundry facilities… very very family oriented… since most families have some need of washing clothes during a week long stay. It’s also locked so you have to use a keycard to get into it. I felt comfortable leaving the clothes in the washer and going back to our room. In our room we decided to go over to the boardwalk and get a pizza and some ice cream for dinner.
We drove over to the Boardwalk, and while we had to wait a long time for the pizza (afterwards we figured out we should have just bought individual slices to get it a lot faster), it was fun to watch all the people there. Rich has stayed at a hotel there on the boardwalk numerous times for buisness so it was neat to be able to see the area that he has described to me in the past. A popular activity was riding these bike carts that 2, 4, 6, or 8 people would be on and all pedalling… something I could see us doing with the kids when they are older and all can help pedal.
After our pizza Rich, Ashley, and I had ice cream cones, Alex had the largest rice crispy treat I’ve ever seen, and Alyssa and Angela had sugar cookies decorated like Cinderella and Stitch for their dessert. We had to walk quite a ways to the car, but Angela wanted to walk the whole way… she was so cute how she practically ran to keep up with us walking at a moderate pace.
Back at the hotel we decided there would be a girls room, and a Mommy/Daddy and Alex room. Ashley got her own bed and Alyssa and Angela would share a bed. The kids fell asleep within minutes of laying down. In the middle of the night I went to check on the girls- the connecting doors were open, but partially closed between the rooms, but when I went to check the door that opened into the girls room was closed. I tried to swing it open and something was in the way. I slowly pushed it open and found Angela on the floor in front of the bed. Aparently she fell off during the night, but it didn’t wake her up at all. I put her back on the bed with some extra pillows to help keep her on the bed. The subsequent nights we made a bed on the floor with two bedspreads for her to sleep on instead of worrying about her falling out of bed again.
We went to the Magic Kingdom again. Before we went there though, we loaded up our suitcases in the car and drove over to our hotel for the next three nights. We stayed at the Disney Port Orleans Riverside Hotel. I went in and got us checked in and got our room keys. We had two adjoining rooms and it took a while for them to find two rooms that were adjoining and available, but we got them. They couldn’t give us the room numbers yet because the previous guests were still in the rooms and hadn’t checked out yet. They gave us a phone number to call later in the day to find out the room numbers. Then we parked the car in the parking lot and took the bus from the hotel over to the Magic Kingdom.
At the Magic Kingdom we went over and got in line for the Indy Speedway. We got up there and to our chagrin found out that Alex was not tall enough to be in a car by himself, and there were only two people allowed in the car at a time. So… I stood at the front of the line while Rich and Ashley went on the ride, and then when they got off, Rich took Alyssa and Angela and Ashley on out and Alex and I went on the ride. Alyssa didn’t want to go on the ride, (it was too loud she said) but I know Angela would have enjoyed going on it. Then Rich went and got fast passes for space mountain. We rode the Buzz lightyear ride… that’s one that the kids all enjoy since they get to shoot the targets throughout the ride. Then we got in line for the Astro Orbiter. The line was 30 minutes and our Space Mountain passes were ready to be used, so I took Alex, Alyssa and Angela on the Space Orbiter and Rich and Ashley went to ride space mountain. Alex had some weird idea in his head that he wouldn’t like Space Mountain… silly right?? After we rode that, Rich and Ashley were back from Space Mountain and I had talked Alex into riding it. Ashley LOVED it of course so the three of us went and got in line for it. Alex was still a bit scared. He does not like dark rides and was afraid it would be too dark for him, but he got on the ride and LOVED it! We grabbed more fastpasses to use later and ride it again.
Alyssa and Angela had a snack of popcorn while we were on Space Mountain and then we rode the blue line ride that goes all around futureworld… a nice slow ride that Angela was able to take a little nap on then we headed over to toon town.
Alyssa didn’t like the look of Barnstormer so she and Angela and I played around the toontown stuff while Rich and Alex and Ashley went on the roller coaster. Then we walked through minnies house, and played on Donalds boat and went back over to futureworld to ride Space mountain again. I went with Alex and Ashley, and then Rich went with Alex and Ashley, Alyssa, Angela and I went and got icecream cones for the girls. We had learned from the previous time how fast they melted, so this time we got the ice cream cone, but also a cup and spoon to put it in and eat with when it started to melt. Rich and I had giant pretzels for our lunch. They were way too salty, so we scrapped off all of the salt. Of course the kids “helped” us eat them and dip it into a cheese dip we got to go with them.
After lunch we headed over to the Laugh floor comedy club. It’s themed after Monsters Inc. They do this interactive show that’s quite funny. They choose people in the audience (unknown to them) and put a camera and spotlight on them at certain times while they are telling jokes. For part of it they tell an “abreviated” Monsters Inc. story and spotlight people in the audience to be the main characters. Imagine our surprise and delight when Alyssa showed up on the screen as “Boo” in the storytelling. They wanted her to play “peek-a-boo” with the camera, but she was too shy and just turned towards Rich… everyone thought she was adorable (as we already know she is!) and it was a highlight of her day. After that we went and saw the Country Bear Jamboree, and picked up some fast passes for Splash mountain again. We went and rode on the Carousel again, and then while Rich, Alex and Ashley went on Splash Mountain; Alyssa, Angela and I went and rode Aladdin’s magic carpet ride again.
It was getting later in the day so we then headed back to the bus to go back to our hotel. We got back, and found our hotel rooms. Then brought all the luggage in. I had to wash some clothes so while Rich and the kids relaxed a little bit and figured out what we would do for dinner, I went and started the laundry. Normally at hotels the laundry room is one washer and one dryer, or maybe two… At this hotel there were 10 washer and dryers in a laundry room next to the pool. There were three pools in the hotel complex that had these laundry facilities… very very family oriented… since most families have some need of washing clothes during a week long stay. It’s also locked so you have to use a keycard to get into it. I felt comfortable leaving the clothes in the washer and going back to our room. In our room we decided to go over to the boardwalk and get a pizza and some ice cream for dinner.
We drove over to the Boardwalk, and while we had to wait a long time for the pizza (afterwards we figured out we should have just bought individual slices to get it a lot faster), it was fun to watch all the people there. Rich has stayed at a hotel there on the boardwalk numerous times for buisness so it was neat to be able to see the area that he has described to me in the past. A popular activity was riding these bike carts that 2, 4, 6, or 8 people would be on and all pedalling… something I could see us doing with the kids when they are older and all can help pedal.
After our pizza Rich, Ashley, and I had ice cream cones, Alex had the largest rice crispy treat I’ve ever seen, and Alyssa and Angela had sugar cookies decorated like Cinderella and Stitch for their dessert. We had to walk quite a ways to the car, but Angela wanted to walk the whole way… she was so cute how she practically ran to keep up with us walking at a moderate pace.
Back at the hotel we decided there would be a girls room, and a Mommy/Daddy and Alex room. Ashley got her own bed and Alyssa and Angela would share a bed. The kids fell asleep within minutes of laying down. In the middle of the night I went to check on the girls- the connecting doors were open, but partially closed between the rooms, but when I went to check the door that opened into the girls room was closed. I tried to swing it open and something was in the way. I slowly pushed it open and found Angela on the floor in front of the bed. Aparently she fell off during the night, but it didn’t wake her up at all. I put her back on the bed with some extra pillows to help keep her on the bed. The subsequent nights we made a bed on the floor with two bedspreads for her to sleep on instead of worrying about her falling out of bed again.
DisneyWorld 2007 trip
Friday, October 19, 2007:
Animal Kingdom was the park of the day. We went to the Triceritop Spin first. The ride is a lot like Dumbo, but it’s a triceritop, and you can make it go up and down, and tilt forward and backward. The kids and I rode it twice while Rich hiked over to Expedition Everest and got fast passes for us to use later on that ride. Then when he got back he and Ashley and Alex went on the Primeval Whirl, and Alyssa and Angela and I went on Triceritop spin a third time! Then I went on Primeval Whirl with the big kids again and Rich and the little kids waited for us. Then we went over and rode Dinosaur. It’s a lot like Indiana Jones at Disneyland, but a little different. We all like Indiana Jones better- the story that goes with it is better and inside the lighting is better, but this is still fun. Alex and Ashley went on it with Rich, and then Ashley went on it a second time with me. Alex isn’t a huge fan of it so once was enough for him to ride it.
Next we went over to the kids all time favorite ride… well one of them- I guess they have a lot. Lol! The River Raft ride. I was not feeling the desire to get soaking wet, so Rich went on it with Alex and Ashley and Alyssa and Angela and I took our time walking down to the exit area and took some pictures along the way. Then we went and saw the Birds of Wonder show. It’s really neat and the kids liked seeing the birds up close. We walked through the Maharaja Jungle treck. They have laminated “guides” for people to pick up and use to identify the animals. Alex really got into that part of the walk.
Then it was time for my favorite ride at this park… Expedition Everest. Alex was not up to riding it, so Ashley got to go on it twice. Once with Rich and once with me. After that we headed over to get fast passes for the Kilimanjaro Safari. We grabbed some lunch- Mickey Mouse shaped chocolate covered vanilla icecream popsicles for the kids, and sandwiches for Rich and I. I had a hot italian sandwich (Turkey, ham, swiss, provolone, with ceasar salad on it and a pesto sauce) It was sooo good! I know I’ve heard people complain about the prices of food at the parks, and yes it does cost more than at a regular fast food place, but it’s good food!!
After lunch we went over to Rafiki’s Planet Watch/conservation station. When we got up near the pavilion there, there was this trash can that was talking to the kids outside… lol! Alex was just thrilled. He watched and followed it around for quite a while. Then we went inside and the kids had fun using the interactive things to learn more about animals and how they are being taken care of. Angela fell asleep and I had her in a sling, so I sat down and just observed Rich and the older kids as they did the activities. They also went into the petting zoo, and there was a guy there singing folk songs and playing the guitar so Alyssa and Ashley enjoyed watching that, while Alex went and played with his “trash can” friend (actually I think it was labeled a recycling bin) It was a robot inside moving it around and the guy controlling it was dressed up like a tourist and had the mechanisms hidden in a soft sided cooler and stuff so he could stand back from the kids and controll it, but still hear them and talk to them through the microphone. It was neat. We rode the train back from there and then went on the Kilimanjaro safari.
I love taking this safari, and it was overcast and drizzling rain and the animals were loving it, because they were up and walking around and not laying down taking naps and hiding from us. We saw sooo many animals! It was awesome!
After the Safari we walked through the Pangani Forest, and then headed back over to the River Raft ride. I sent Rich ahead with Ashley and Alex and they managed to ride it twice since the line wasn’t very long. Alyssa and Angela and I meet them at the exit and they were soaked through!
We then headed over to watch It’s hard to be a bug inside of the big tree of life. We got stopped by the parade that was going on and we couldn’t cross the street to get to the tree of life. Once the parade was over we went and got in line for the show. Alex was asking me if he didn’t wear the 3-D glasses if it would still look like 3-D. I told him that it wouldn’t… it would probably look fuzzy and not be clear at all. So we went in and he was protesting a little bit that he didn’t really want to see it… I not knowing how he had reacted the day before to the 3-D show kept telling him it would be fine, he could just close his eyes if a part was scary, but that this was just funny… well we went in and sat down. Alex probably lasted two minutes before he started whining that he didn’t like it. We tried to get him to just calm down and sit next to us and close his eyes… but he just flipped out… he wasn’t hyperventilating, but would have been if he had continued… and then he ran out of the theatre. Luckily we were near the exit doors so we could see as he left he went and sat down on a bench near the door. We were confident that he would not go anywhere so we stayed with the rest of the kids and watched the rest of the show and then quickly went out and got him at the end of the show. Then is when Rich told me that Alex had flipped out the day before and not enjoyed the 3-D show that day. If I had known that, I would have just stayed outside with him and Angela and not had him go to the show.
After that we were all pretty tired, and we had reservations that night for Boma (my all time favorite restaurant at DisneyWorld), so we headed back to the Hotel so people could change into dry clothes and we could rest a little bit before dinner. We never even went over to the Camp Minnie and Mickey part of othe park, but we know we will be going there again, so the kids will get to see that stuff next time.
We got back to the hotel and discovered we didn’t have any clean pants for Alex, or clean socks for Ashley… so we took out the hair dryer and iron and we sat and ironed and blew hot air on his shorts and Ashley’s socks to dry them enough that they would be comfortable to wear. Lol! I had planned on washing clothes that evening, so I only had enough clean clothes to get us through that day. With semi dry clothes and a little bit of restful time we then headed over to Boma for dinner.
Boma- Is the restaurant that last year Rich choose for us to go to. I was so hesitant, because I was afraid that I wouldn’t like any of the food there… I’m inherantly a picky eater and have to go way out of my comfort zone to try new things. It’s a buffet though, so I can can dish up a little bit of everything, and take a bite and if I don’t like it- I don’t feel like I have to eat it- I just go and eat something else. Well last year I was so hesitant about it, but we got there and I tried the food and I LOVED IT!! The foods are such unique combinations, but they are delicious and I absolutely loved all the flavors there were. So we went this year. Rich and I laughed because again we went to this restaurant for us, not for the kids. There were the kid friendly mac and cheese, french fries and chicken nuggets for them to eat… and we paid an outrageous amount for the kids dinners, but it was worth it to us because we love the food there so much, and there is just no other opportunity for us to eat at a restaurant like this other than there at DisneyWorld.
After dinner we went back to the hotel. It was our last night at that hotel, and I had planned on washing clothes when we got back, but Rich decided for me that it was too late to start doing laundry (It was about 9:30) I actually still had some clean clothes for all the kids except Alex, so Rich hand washed some clothes for Alex in the bathroom sink and hung them up to dry while we slept. We packed the rest of the stuff into suitcases so we would be ready to load them into the car the next morning.
Animal Kingdom was the park of the day. We went to the Triceritop Spin first. The ride is a lot like Dumbo, but it’s a triceritop, and you can make it go up and down, and tilt forward and backward. The kids and I rode it twice while Rich hiked over to Expedition Everest and got fast passes for us to use later on that ride. Then when he got back he and Ashley and Alex went on the Primeval Whirl, and Alyssa and Angela and I went on Triceritop spin a third time! Then I went on Primeval Whirl with the big kids again and Rich and the little kids waited for us. Then we went over and rode Dinosaur. It’s a lot like Indiana Jones at Disneyland, but a little different. We all like Indiana Jones better- the story that goes with it is better and inside the lighting is better, but this is still fun. Alex and Ashley went on it with Rich, and then Ashley went on it a second time with me. Alex isn’t a huge fan of it so once was enough for him to ride it.
Next we went over to the kids all time favorite ride… well one of them- I guess they have a lot. Lol! The River Raft ride. I was not feeling the desire to get soaking wet, so Rich went on it with Alex and Ashley and Alyssa and Angela and I took our time walking down to the exit area and took some pictures along the way. Then we went and saw the Birds of Wonder show. It’s really neat and the kids liked seeing the birds up close. We walked through the Maharaja Jungle treck. They have laminated “guides” for people to pick up and use to identify the animals. Alex really got into that part of the walk.
Then it was time for my favorite ride at this park… Expedition Everest. Alex was not up to riding it, so Ashley got to go on it twice. Once with Rich and once with me. After that we headed over to get fast passes for the Kilimanjaro Safari. We grabbed some lunch- Mickey Mouse shaped chocolate covered vanilla icecream popsicles for the kids, and sandwiches for Rich and I. I had a hot italian sandwich (Turkey, ham, swiss, provolone, with ceasar salad on it and a pesto sauce) It was sooo good! I know I’ve heard people complain about the prices of food at the parks, and yes it does cost more than at a regular fast food place, but it’s good food!!
After lunch we went over to Rafiki’s Planet Watch/conservation station. When we got up near the pavilion there, there was this trash can that was talking to the kids outside… lol! Alex was just thrilled. He watched and followed it around for quite a while. Then we went inside and the kids had fun using the interactive things to learn more about animals and how they are being taken care of. Angela fell asleep and I had her in a sling, so I sat down and just observed Rich and the older kids as they did the activities. They also went into the petting zoo, and there was a guy there singing folk songs and playing the guitar so Alyssa and Ashley enjoyed watching that, while Alex went and played with his “trash can” friend (actually I think it was labeled a recycling bin) It was a robot inside moving it around and the guy controlling it was dressed up like a tourist and had the mechanisms hidden in a soft sided cooler and stuff so he could stand back from the kids and controll it, but still hear them and talk to them through the microphone. It was neat. We rode the train back from there and then went on the Kilimanjaro safari.
I love taking this safari, and it was overcast and drizzling rain and the animals were loving it, because they were up and walking around and not laying down taking naps and hiding from us. We saw sooo many animals! It was awesome!
After the Safari we walked through the Pangani Forest, and then headed back over to the River Raft ride. I sent Rich ahead with Ashley and Alex and they managed to ride it twice since the line wasn’t very long. Alyssa and Angela and I meet them at the exit and they were soaked through!
We then headed over to watch It’s hard to be a bug inside of the big tree of life. We got stopped by the parade that was going on and we couldn’t cross the street to get to the tree of life. Once the parade was over we went and got in line for the show. Alex was asking me if he didn’t wear the 3-D glasses if it would still look like 3-D. I told him that it wouldn’t… it would probably look fuzzy and not be clear at all. So we went in and he was protesting a little bit that he didn’t really want to see it… I not knowing how he had reacted the day before to the 3-D show kept telling him it would be fine, he could just close his eyes if a part was scary, but that this was just funny… well we went in and sat down. Alex probably lasted two minutes before he started whining that he didn’t like it. We tried to get him to just calm down and sit next to us and close his eyes… but he just flipped out… he wasn’t hyperventilating, but would have been if he had continued… and then he ran out of the theatre. Luckily we were near the exit doors so we could see as he left he went and sat down on a bench near the door. We were confident that he would not go anywhere so we stayed with the rest of the kids and watched the rest of the show and then quickly went out and got him at the end of the show. Then is when Rich told me that Alex had flipped out the day before and not enjoyed the 3-D show that day. If I had known that, I would have just stayed outside with him and Angela and not had him go to the show.
After that we were all pretty tired, and we had reservations that night for Boma (my all time favorite restaurant at DisneyWorld), so we headed back to the Hotel so people could change into dry clothes and we could rest a little bit before dinner. We never even went over to the Camp Minnie and Mickey part of othe park, but we know we will be going there again, so the kids will get to see that stuff next time.
We got back to the hotel and discovered we didn’t have any clean pants for Alex, or clean socks for Ashley… so we took out the hair dryer and iron and we sat and ironed and blew hot air on his shorts and Ashley’s socks to dry them enough that they would be comfortable to wear. Lol! I had planned on washing clothes that evening, so I only had enough clean clothes to get us through that day. With semi dry clothes and a little bit of restful time we then headed over to Boma for dinner.
Boma- Is the restaurant that last year Rich choose for us to go to. I was so hesitant, because I was afraid that I wouldn’t like any of the food there… I’m inherantly a picky eater and have to go way out of my comfort zone to try new things. It’s a buffet though, so I can can dish up a little bit of everything, and take a bite and if I don’t like it- I don’t feel like I have to eat it- I just go and eat something else. Well last year I was so hesitant about it, but we got there and I tried the food and I LOVED IT!! The foods are such unique combinations, but they are delicious and I absolutely loved all the flavors there were. So we went this year. Rich and I laughed because again we went to this restaurant for us, not for the kids. There were the kid friendly mac and cheese, french fries and chicken nuggets for them to eat… and we paid an outrageous amount for the kids dinners, but it was worth it to us because we love the food there so much, and there is just no other opportunity for us to eat at a restaurant like this other than there at DisneyWorld.
After dinner we went back to the hotel. It was our last night at that hotel, and I had planned on washing clothes when we got back, but Rich decided for me that it was too late to start doing laundry (It was about 9:30) I actually still had some clean clothes for all the kids except Alex, so Rich hand washed some clothes for Alex in the bathroom sink and hung them up to dry while we slept. We packed the rest of the stuff into suitcases so we would be ready to load them into the car the next morning.
DisneyWorld 2007 trip
Sunday, October 21, 2007:
Today we didn’t go to any parks. We went to the cafeteria style restaurant for breakfast. There were lots of choices for breakfast (not free) from waffles to pancakes, french toast. They all came with a side of sausage or bacon or eggs… There were also bakery things- pastries, muffins, cinnamon rolls. The kids each got waffles in the shape of a mickey head- two small ones and sausage and bacon and applesauce as a side dish. After breakfast we went back to the hotel room and had a little family devotional. We read some scriptures and talked a little while about temples and faith. Then we drove over to the Orlando temple. There wasn’t anyone there, it’s closed on Sundays, but the grounds are open so we walked around the outside some and took some pictures. Then we went back to the hotel.
At the hotel the kids were dying to go swimming so we changed and walked over to the big main pool. The hotel is actually a large spread out hotel with numerous buildings. There are about three or four “small pools” that really are about 2-3 times the size of our neighborhood pool here, and then one large pool with a slide and waterfall feature, and a kiddy pool. We went over to that big pool. We probably swam and played for a couple of hours.
After a while Alyssa and Angela were getting tired and cranky and it was cooling off a bit. I decided to head back to the hotel room with them. Right as we were playing on the playground equipment next to the pool area it started to sprinkle rain. It was just sprinkling, but we started walking back to our room along the riverway path. Back at the pool the kids were having so much fun that they didn’t care that it was raining. It was so fun walking back in the rain with Alyssa and Angela. We were soaking wet, it was raining pretty steadily and everyone around us was running around with umbrella’s and poncho’s on… they saw us there in our swimsuits and would grin really big and comment that it doesn’t matter if you get wet when you’ve been wet from swimming… Alyssa and Angela ran and jumped in puddles and we sang “singing in the rain” while we walked back to the room. In the room the a/c had been left on so it was freezing and we had to quickly bundle up and get out of the wet swimsuits, but it was definitly a memory to treasure and keep.
Rich was stuck at the pool with Alex and Ashley and they were having a grand ole time playing, until there was a big lightning strike… I was back in the room by then, but Rich said the lifeguards cleared the pool quickly and then they walked back to the room quickly.
After we all dried off, and warmed up we went over to Downtown Disney for dinner and some shopping. We have never ever taken the kids to a sit down restaurant. So we thought that they had been behaving so well that week that we would try it. Of course the Rainforest Café is not like a normal sit down restaurant and is very kid friendly so we thought it was the perfect place to try with the kids. We had fun walking around and looking at all the stuff in the store while we waited to be seated.
Once we sat down and ordered our drinks Alex turned to Rich and said… okay lets go get our food… he had no idea that you go to restaurants and stay in your seat and order one entrée and have them bring it to you. He looked at the menu and wanted the alfredo pasta, and the mac and cheese and the chicken tenders… we told him he had to choose just one and he wasn’t too happy about it at first, but then agreed to cooperate. We were seated right up next to the elephants so Angela loved everytime they would swing their trunks and flap their ears. We also were close enough to watch the gorillas in the other room and their movement. It was great.
After dinner we went shopping. We had told the kids that they each could choose something for a souvenier. It took a long time (at least an hour), but eventually the kids settled on their souveniers. Angela got a soft stuffed pooh bear; Alyssa got a tinkerbell doll with dress up clothes- similar to a polly pocket; Ashley got a cinderella wig and gloves and purse; and Alex built his own light sabre.
Then we had to go and get ice cream sundae’s at Ghiradelli’s Chocolate Shoppe. Rich always goes there on his buisness trips with his co-workers and he had promised the kids we would get them one night that week. They are delicious!! There really is nothing more to say than that… it’s a wonderful sundae whatever one you choose… The kids ones were even really big too!
Then we went back to the hotel and Alyssa and Angela fell asleep in the car. It was quick and easy to get them all asleep that night.
Today we didn’t go to any parks. We went to the cafeteria style restaurant for breakfast. There were lots of choices for breakfast (not free) from waffles to pancakes, french toast. They all came with a side of sausage or bacon or eggs… There were also bakery things- pastries, muffins, cinnamon rolls. The kids each got waffles in the shape of a mickey head- two small ones and sausage and bacon and applesauce as a side dish. After breakfast we went back to the hotel room and had a little family devotional. We read some scriptures and talked a little while about temples and faith. Then we drove over to the Orlando temple. There wasn’t anyone there, it’s closed on Sundays, but the grounds are open so we walked around the outside some and took some pictures. Then we went back to the hotel.
At the hotel the kids were dying to go swimming so we changed and walked over to the big main pool. The hotel is actually a large spread out hotel with numerous buildings. There are about three or four “small pools” that really are about 2-3 times the size of our neighborhood pool here, and then one large pool with a slide and waterfall feature, and a kiddy pool. We went over to that big pool. We probably swam and played for a couple of hours.
After a while Alyssa and Angela were getting tired and cranky and it was cooling off a bit. I decided to head back to the hotel room with them. Right as we were playing on the playground equipment next to the pool area it started to sprinkle rain. It was just sprinkling, but we started walking back to our room along the riverway path. Back at the pool the kids were having so much fun that they didn’t care that it was raining. It was so fun walking back in the rain with Alyssa and Angela. We were soaking wet, it was raining pretty steadily and everyone around us was running around with umbrella’s and poncho’s on… they saw us there in our swimsuits and would grin really big and comment that it doesn’t matter if you get wet when you’ve been wet from swimming… Alyssa and Angela ran and jumped in puddles and we sang “singing in the rain” while we walked back to the room. In the room the a/c had been left on so it was freezing and we had to quickly bundle up and get out of the wet swimsuits, but it was definitly a memory to treasure and keep.
Rich was stuck at the pool with Alex and Ashley and they were having a grand ole time playing, until there was a big lightning strike… I was back in the room by then, but Rich said the lifeguards cleared the pool quickly and then they walked back to the room quickly.
After we all dried off, and warmed up we went over to Downtown Disney for dinner and some shopping. We have never ever taken the kids to a sit down restaurant. So we thought that they had been behaving so well that week that we would try it. Of course the Rainforest Café is not like a normal sit down restaurant and is very kid friendly so we thought it was the perfect place to try with the kids. We had fun walking around and looking at all the stuff in the store while we waited to be seated.
Once we sat down and ordered our drinks Alex turned to Rich and said… okay lets go get our food… he had no idea that you go to restaurants and stay in your seat and order one entrée and have them bring it to you. He looked at the menu and wanted the alfredo pasta, and the mac and cheese and the chicken tenders… we told him he had to choose just one and he wasn’t too happy about it at first, but then agreed to cooperate. We were seated right up next to the elephants so Angela loved everytime they would swing their trunks and flap their ears. We also were close enough to watch the gorillas in the other room and their movement. It was great.
After dinner we went shopping. We had told the kids that they each could choose something for a souvenier. It took a long time (at least an hour), but eventually the kids settled on their souveniers. Angela got a soft stuffed pooh bear; Alyssa got a tinkerbell doll with dress up clothes- similar to a polly pocket; Ashley got a cinderella wig and gloves and purse; and Alex built his own light sabre.
Then we had to go and get ice cream sundae’s at Ghiradelli’s Chocolate Shoppe. Rich always goes there on his buisness trips with his co-workers and he had promised the kids we would get them one night that week. They are delicious!! There really is nothing more to say than that… it’s a wonderful sundae whatever one you choose… The kids ones were even really big too!
Then we went back to the hotel and Alyssa and Angela fell asleep in the car. It was quick and easy to get them all asleep that night.
DisneyWorld 2007 trip
Monday, October 22, 2007:
Today we went to MGM Studio’s. We rode the bus over from the hotel, and then went straight to the Tower of Terror to pick up fast pass tickets for later. Then we went to the Rock n Roller coaster. Alex and Ashley absolutely LOVED it, and we spent the entire day hearing Alex ask if we could go back to it. Lol!
Then we headed over to The Great Movie Ride, we checked on times for the Little Mermaid and thought we had time to go and use the fast passes on the Tower of Terror and get back for a Little Mermaid show, so Rich and Ashley quickly walked back to ride it, while Alex and Alyssa and I took our time walking back. Alex would not go on it, so Ashley went on it with Rich, and then again with me. She liked it a lot- I loved it… it’s my favorite ride there… (I love the rockin roller coaster too, but like this one even better!). When Rich and Ashley got off the ride, Rich took the other three kids and walked back over to the Little Mermaid ride while Ashley and I rode Tower of Terror and then quickly walked back to meet them. We missed the show by about 2 minutes. So we got fast passes for that show to go and see it later.
We went and saw Playhouse Disney Live, and then raced from there over to the Little Mermaid show. Of course just as we get in the line Alyssa had to use the bathroom. I was taking all the girls to this show and Rich and Alex were going to go check out “One Man’s Dream”. Luckily they were walking past and I could leave Ashley and Angela with Rich and race across the courtyard area and get Alyssa to a bathroom and race back- and still get in on the show- barely. We were on the far right side only three rows up, so it was a little hard to see, but the girls still enjoyed it.
After that we got popsicles for the kids… we thought they might not be as messy as icecream cones… boy were we WRONG!!!!!! Those suckers melt faster than icecream cones and were a huge mess!
After we got them eaten and then cleaned up the kids we went and saw the Beauty and the Beast show. Then we grabbed fast passes to use later for the Rock N Roller coaster. We then hiked back across the park to take the backlot tour. By then Angela was asleep and she slept in a the sling all the way through the tour until we hit the “canyon” area where they simulate an earthquake, huge explosion and flood waters racing through the canyon. It was a bit of a rude awakening for her to wake up to that noise, but she did fine.
Next we went to Star Tours. I’ve been on it enough times to not care if I missed going on it that day, so Alyssa and Angela and I went and walked around and played in the store while Rich and Ashley and Alex went on the ride. After that we were all getting pretty tired and hungry and worn out so we went to the Indiana Jones stunt show, and then used our fast passes on rock n roller coaster and then called it a day and headed back to the hotel.
Back at the hotel we were trying to decide what to do for dinner that night. We wanted to go and eat at a buffet since we really didn’t have anything for lunch. I went to ask the concierge if they had any buffet’s with seating available that night- and mentioned Boma was a favorite of ours and to the shock of the concierge there was an opening that night at Boma! So I grabbed it. It wasn’t for a few hours so I stopped by the “general store” at the hotel and picked up some pretzels for the kids to snack on to tide them over till dinner, and some snacks for the plane ride the next day.
We went to Boma that night and I just love that restaurant… The food is just great. The dessert buffet isn’t as thrilling as other places so the kids don’t like that as much, but they were so exhausted after a long day that they didn’t even fight much in the car and they ate a good amount of mac and cheese. Angela fell asleep sitting in my lap at the table as I was trying to eat… we got a picture of that. Alyssa fell asleep in the car on the way back to the hotel, so bedtime that night went really smoothly… Ashley and Alex even fell asleep within minutes of getting their pj’s on.
Today we went to MGM Studio’s. We rode the bus over from the hotel, and then went straight to the Tower of Terror to pick up fast pass tickets for later. Then we went to the Rock n Roller coaster. Alex and Ashley absolutely LOVED it, and we spent the entire day hearing Alex ask if we could go back to it. Lol!
Then we headed over to The Great Movie Ride, we checked on times for the Little Mermaid and thought we had time to go and use the fast passes on the Tower of Terror and get back for a Little Mermaid show, so Rich and Ashley quickly walked back to ride it, while Alex and Alyssa and I took our time walking back. Alex would not go on it, so Ashley went on it with Rich, and then again with me. She liked it a lot- I loved it… it’s my favorite ride there… (I love the rockin roller coaster too, but like this one even better!). When Rich and Ashley got off the ride, Rich took the other three kids and walked back over to the Little Mermaid ride while Ashley and I rode Tower of Terror and then quickly walked back to meet them. We missed the show by about 2 minutes. So we got fast passes for that show to go and see it later.
We went and saw Playhouse Disney Live, and then raced from there over to the Little Mermaid show. Of course just as we get in the line Alyssa had to use the bathroom. I was taking all the girls to this show and Rich and Alex were going to go check out “One Man’s Dream”. Luckily they were walking past and I could leave Ashley and Angela with Rich and race across the courtyard area and get Alyssa to a bathroom and race back- and still get in on the show- barely. We were on the far right side only three rows up, so it was a little hard to see, but the girls still enjoyed it.
After that we got popsicles for the kids… we thought they might not be as messy as icecream cones… boy were we WRONG!!!!!! Those suckers melt faster than icecream cones and were a huge mess!
After we got them eaten and then cleaned up the kids we went and saw the Beauty and the Beast show. Then we grabbed fast passes to use later for the Rock N Roller coaster. We then hiked back across the park to take the backlot tour. By then Angela was asleep and she slept in a the sling all the way through the tour until we hit the “canyon” area where they simulate an earthquake, huge explosion and flood waters racing through the canyon. It was a bit of a rude awakening for her to wake up to that noise, but she did fine.
Next we went to Star Tours. I’ve been on it enough times to not care if I missed going on it that day, so Alyssa and Angela and I went and walked around and played in the store while Rich and Ashley and Alex went on the ride. After that we were all getting pretty tired and hungry and worn out so we went to the Indiana Jones stunt show, and then used our fast passes on rock n roller coaster and then called it a day and headed back to the hotel.
Back at the hotel we were trying to decide what to do for dinner that night. We wanted to go and eat at a buffet since we really didn’t have anything for lunch. I went to ask the concierge if they had any buffet’s with seating available that night- and mentioned Boma was a favorite of ours and to the shock of the concierge there was an opening that night at Boma! So I grabbed it. It wasn’t for a few hours so I stopped by the “general store” at the hotel and picked up some pretzels for the kids to snack on to tide them over till dinner, and some snacks for the plane ride the next day.
We went to Boma that night and I just love that restaurant… The food is just great. The dessert buffet isn’t as thrilling as other places so the kids don’t like that as much, but they were so exhausted after a long day that they didn’t even fight much in the car and they ate a good amount of mac and cheese. Angela fell asleep sitting in my lap at the table as I was trying to eat… we got a picture of that. Alyssa fell asleep in the car on the way back to the hotel, so bedtime that night went really smoothly… Ashley and Alex even fell asleep within minutes of getting their pj’s on.
DisneyWorld 2007 trip
Tuesday, October 23, 2007:
That morning we got up, got ready for the day, finished packing, and loaded up our car with our suitcases. We went and got breakfast at the “cafeteria” area at the hotel, and then headed to the airport. Alex and Ashley had a royal fight to begin the morning in the car… and then got distracted by different things and the rest of the ride was a lot calmer. At the airport the kids acted like old pro’s and knew what to do to get through security. We had about 30-40 minutes to wait when we got to the airport, and there was a great little kid play area that I took Angela to. The other kids sat and played on their gameboys with Rich while they were waiting.
The first flight went smoothly. Alyssa and Angela behaved well and we had fun. I didn’t take Angela’s carseat on the plane this time and it was much easier to keep her happy with more space and flexibility for her and Alyssa to switch seats and stuff- she fell sleep and took a nap for the last hour of the flight. The second flight was more difficult for Angela, because by then she really didn’t want to sit still on the plane. It was far easier than the second flight on the way out though- because I did have more room to give her to move around a bit… but she still wasn’t too happy to have to sit still for takeoff and landing. I wound up holding her in my lap for landing because she would not cooperate and sit in her seat. After that we decided that when we do fly- at least for the next few years we will really try to get direct flights so we only have one flight to try and keep her contained on… two is just too long for her.
The kids were very pleased to see our car at the airport, and the DVD player that is in it for the drive home from the airport. My kids are just electronic kids and long drives are so much easier with a DVD available for them to watch… Alyssa and Angela both fell asleep on the drive home and I was afraid I wouldn’t be able to get them to go back to sleep at a decent time when we got home, but luckily they were so tired from the long day that they went to bed at a decent hour that night.
The next morning… the kids missed the bus to school, but we were able to get them there before school started… it was a busy day- and most of the days in the past two weeks have been busy as well… I might get a chance to catch the blog up on those days… eventually. :-)
That morning we got up, got ready for the day, finished packing, and loaded up our car with our suitcases. We went and got breakfast at the “cafeteria” area at the hotel, and then headed to the airport. Alex and Ashley had a royal fight to begin the morning in the car… and then got distracted by different things and the rest of the ride was a lot calmer. At the airport the kids acted like old pro’s and knew what to do to get through security. We had about 30-40 minutes to wait when we got to the airport, and there was a great little kid play area that I took Angela to. The other kids sat and played on their gameboys with Rich while they were waiting.
The first flight went smoothly. Alyssa and Angela behaved well and we had fun. I didn’t take Angela’s carseat on the plane this time and it was much easier to keep her happy with more space and flexibility for her and Alyssa to switch seats and stuff- she fell sleep and took a nap for the last hour of the flight. The second flight was more difficult for Angela, because by then she really didn’t want to sit still on the plane. It was far easier than the second flight on the way out though- because I did have more room to give her to move around a bit… but she still wasn’t too happy to have to sit still for takeoff and landing. I wound up holding her in my lap for landing because she would not cooperate and sit in her seat. After that we decided that when we do fly- at least for the next few years we will really try to get direct flights so we only have one flight to try and keep her contained on… two is just too long for her.
The kids were very pleased to see our car at the airport, and the DVD player that is in it for the drive home from the airport. My kids are just electronic kids and long drives are so much easier with a DVD available for them to watch… Alyssa and Angela both fell asleep on the drive home and I was afraid I wouldn’t be able to get them to go back to sleep at a decent time when we got home, but luckily they were so tired from the long day that they went to bed at a decent hour that night.
The next morning… the kids missed the bus to school, but we were able to get them there before school started… it was a busy day- and most of the days in the past two weeks have been busy as well… I might get a chance to catch the blog up on those days… eventually. :-)
Tuesday, October 30, 2007
Our Disneyworld Vacation
Pictures are up here...
http://newtonaaaa.blogspot.com/
I hope to get my thoughts up in the next few days. :)
http://newtonaaaa.blogspot.com/
I hope to get my thoughts up in the next few days. :)
Wednesday, October 24, 2007
We're back...
It'll probably take me a week to get back into the swing of things and get pictures up here and my thoughts and comments on the trip typed out. But we are back and we had a wonderful time. The kids did great and really only had meltdowns at the end of really long fun but exhausting days so we couldn't really complain about that too much. :)
I just love to travel so much. I guess you could call it my hobby, even though we don't get to do it very much. After all that traveling I guess it's appropriate that I had a dream last night that we ran into the family that I used to work for that owned a travel company. Wierd.... lol!
I just love to travel so much. I guess you could call it my hobby, even though we don't get to do it very much. After all that traveling I guess it's appropriate that I had a dream last night that we ran into the family that I used to work for that owned a travel company. Wierd.... lol!
Monday, October 15, 2007
A new look... or rather an old look revisited?
I got my hair cut on Saturday...
It's very similar to the hairstyle I had back when Rich and I started dating. It really is my favorite hair style, and once I get used to styling it again I'll really enjoy how fast and easy it is to do.
Self taken pictures are never the most flattering, so just know that the haircut looks even better in person. :)
It's very similar to the hairstyle I had back when Rich and I started dating. It really is my favorite hair style, and once I get used to styling it again I'll really enjoy how fast and easy it is to do.
Self taken pictures are never the most flattering, so just know that the haircut looks even better in person. :)
Friday, October 12, 2007
Where oh where can it be???
Ashley was sick this morning, so she is staying home from school. Which means I am stuck at home and instead of working out at the Y, and running a few errands, taking Alyssa to school and Angela to a friends house and going and getting my hair cut- I'm home for the morning, we'll take Alyssa to school and come back home, and then pick up her and Alex this afternoon.
So I'm starting to look for the small things that we want to take on the trip and collect them, and take care of some of the other things I had planned to do tomorrow, so I can go out tomorrow and do my errands and get my haircut then instead. :)
I'm searching all over the house for a little gameboy game... crazy... I'd blame Ashley for not keeping it in a safe place, but I know I let Alyssa play and that's probably why it's lost... so it's up to me to find it.
So... where oh where has the gameboy game gone... oh where oh where can it be????
That's the name of the game today. I'm sure there will be something else that by the end of the day I'll search and search and search and still not be able to find too... :)
So I'm starting to look for the small things that we want to take on the trip and collect them, and take care of some of the other things I had planned to do tomorrow, so I can go out tomorrow and do my errands and get my haircut then instead. :)
I'm searching all over the house for a little gameboy game... crazy... I'd blame Ashley for not keeping it in a safe place, but I know I let Alyssa play and that's probably why it's lost... so it's up to me to find it.
So... where oh where has the gameboy game gone... oh where oh where can it be????
That's the name of the game today. I'm sure there will be something else that by the end of the day I'll search and search and search and still not be able to find too... :)
Thursday, October 11, 2007
How we perceive things.
Last weekend at General Conference the General Relief Society President- Sister Beck gave a talk. It has become widely debated on whether it was good, or horrible. She focused a lot on motherhood and how LDS women should be the best homemakers. I won't debate the different points she made, but it has given me an opportunity again to see how one message can be "read" differently by different people. I listened to the talk and thought it was fine, there were a few lines that stood out to me, but I didn't realize it would become such a topic of conversation. It has been interesting for me to listen to and read different peoples reactions to her talk.
I went to Institute this morning. After the past two weeks I was really ready to stop going if I could not get Alyssa and Angela to cooperate and play with the other kids over in the nursery while our class was going on. I'm pleased to report that they did great and played with the other kids. I didn't even need to turn on the little DVD player I brought along "just in case" that I had brought last week and hadn't really been much help either. It was very nice to be able to sit and participate in the class with minimal interruptions (the previous two weeks, multiple times I had both of them fighting to sit in my lap and just not cooperating and trying to be quiet at all).
I went to Institute this morning. After the past two weeks I was really ready to stop going if I could not get Alyssa and Angela to cooperate and play with the other kids over in the nursery while our class was going on. I'm pleased to report that they did great and played with the other kids. I didn't even need to turn on the little DVD player I brought along "just in case" that I had brought last week and hadn't really been much help either. It was very nice to be able to sit and participate in the class with minimal interruptions (the previous two weeks, multiple times I had both of them fighting to sit in my lap and just not cooperating and trying to be quiet at all).
Tuesday, October 09, 2007
Running milestone!
So this is a few days late... I'm going to change the post-date on this post so it is in chronological order...
But...
On Tuesday October 9th... I ran 2 miles straight!!!!!!! It's the first time I've ever been able to just run that long without taking a short walking break in the middle.
I've stalled out on my weight loss a little bit, but I'm still thrilled with what I was able to do. I'm at 153 lbs, so I'd still love to loose another 10-15 pounds, but I'll be fine loosing it slowly.
But...
On Tuesday October 9th... I ran 2 miles straight!!!!!!! It's the first time I've ever been able to just run that long without taking a short walking break in the middle.
I've stalled out on my weight loss a little bit, but I'm still thrilled with what I was able to do. I'm at 153 lbs, so I'd still love to loose another 10-15 pounds, but I'll be fine loosing it slowly.
Monday, October 08, 2007
General Conference
This past weekend was LDS General Conference. It was a great weekend and I always love to hear the talks that are given. I came away feeling so much positive encouragement that I am doing okay, but I can do better. It was great to hear and I hope that I will be able to implement some new things in my life and my families life to help us to have the spirit in our home and make our home more of a haven for our family.
I also am reenergized to write in my journal each day. This blog is like a journal to me and sometimes I'm good at writing regularly, and other times I don't write as often as I should... so I'm rededicating myself to writing regularly, and printing out my entries to put in a journal.
I also am reenergized to write in my journal each day. This blog is like a journal to me and sometimes I'm good at writing regularly, and other times I don't write as often as I should... so I'm rededicating myself to writing regularly, and printing out my entries to put in a journal.
It's me again
It's me again. Last week we completed moving around stuff in the house. The week before Alex moved into the previous office/playroom, and last week we got his room painted so Ashley could move into it. In Alyssa and Angela's room we took the bunk beds down and now Angela is on a twin size bed instead of her toddler bed. Ashley has her own room, and the toy room is now upstairs in our previous home theatre room. Rich boxed up all the electronics we had up there and will be selling them. He did get a new tv to go downstairs now since he was giving up his home theatre and we got that set up last week too.
Oh we also got a hole in the ceiling...lol! Rich was putting the ladder from the bunk beds up into the attic and lost his footing and put his foot through the ceiling below. That'll give him a little project to fix it sometime in the next few months. :)
Here are a few pictures:
Alex's New Room:
Ashley's New Room:
Alyssa and Angela's Room:
The new Toy Room: (it's not organized yet... :))
Rich's "hole" in the ceiling after he cleared the insulation out of the way so we could really see the damage:
Oh we also got a hole in the ceiling...lol! Rich was putting the ladder from the bunk beds up into the attic and lost his footing and put his foot through the ceiling below. That'll give him a little project to fix it sometime in the next few months. :)
Here are a few pictures:
Alex's New Room:
Ashley's New Room:Alyssa and Angela's Room:
The new Toy Room: (it's not organized yet... :))
Rich's "hole" in the ceiling after he cleared the insulation out of the way so we could really see the damage:
Thursday, October 04, 2007
You have to play this... it's too funny!
This is a hilarious little comedy routine about a mom's life... lol!
Tuesday, October 02, 2007
Happy Anniversary Honey!
It's been 10 years! Wow! So much has happened in those 10 years, but I love Rich even more today than I did 10 years ago. We are really going all out celebrating our anniversary today. Rich and I will celebrate it tonight by painting Ashley's room together... isn't that romantic?? lol! We figure our trip last year was a year early but it was our big anniversary trip. I know it sounds sappy and trite, but just spending time together is all I need.
Wednesday, September 26, 2007
So I was just mentioning yesterday...
So I was mentioning how life is busy and is flying by... of course as I was typing up my blog entry yesterday I could feel a headache coming on. I took some tylenol and then went to pick up the kids from school. Through the course of the evening I still had the headache. I laid down after dinner to try and rest and see if that would help it go away, and I took some ibuprophen to alternate with the tylenol... I wound up going to bed at 10pm- early for me, and tossed and turned half the night. I woke up at 4am with knives still piercing the back of my head and took more tylenol... and then again at 7:30 I took some ibuprophen. It's not a migrane, but it's a really bad headache...
So I'm skipping my daily treck to the Y today and taking it easy here at home. I can relax this morning, I'll lay down and take a nap when Angela takes a nap this afternoon, and hopefully get enough energy charged up to be able to make it through picking the kids up afterschool, going to Karate, and then cubscouts tonight- they are taking the boys to a driving range (I've never done anything beyond put-put golf myself) so that should be interesting... I'll probably stand around and watch the whole thing and let the other two leaders do the actual teaching... lol!
So today at least, I'm slowing things down and not being so busy- because I know if I try to keep pushing myself, this headache will not go away! :)
So I'm skipping my daily treck to the Y today and taking it easy here at home. I can relax this morning, I'll lay down and take a nap when Angela takes a nap this afternoon, and hopefully get enough energy charged up to be able to make it through picking the kids up afterschool, going to Karate, and then cubscouts tonight- they are taking the boys to a driving range (I've never done anything beyond put-put golf myself) so that should be interesting... I'll probably stand around and watch the whole thing and let the other two leaders do the actual teaching... lol!
So today at least, I'm slowing things down and not being so busy- because I know if I try to keep pushing myself, this headache will not go away! :)
Tuesday, September 25, 2007
I'm finally getting to this.
The last few weeks have literally flown by. We have had stuff going on during the weeks, on the weekends and it all blends together after a while.
Two saturday's ago BYU played Tulsa in Tulsa, so Rich and I and Alex and Ashley went to the game. It was Alex and Ashley's first time going to a football game and even though BYU lost the game, it was a fun experience. Our seats were three rows from the top of the stadium (and those were the "premium" seats... I wonder where the "cheap" seats were??) Alex kept up a barrage of asking Rich to go get him a drink and food and he was bored... for the whole first half. I think Rich was probably to the point of having us leave and go home by half-time. A bunch of friends from the ward also had tickets near us and they talked to another family that was at the game via cell phones. Turns out the other family was on the other side of the stadium 5 rows up from the very front. There weren't very many people over there and there was lots of empty seats so they said we should come on over. So all of us went on over to that side of the stadium for the second half. It was right in front of the cheerleading squad and Ashley just sat mesmerized for the rest of the game watching the cheerleaders doing their cheers. Alex had fun standing down at the wall right behind the team and watching from there. He was a little scared of Cosmo when he came over and he scrambled up the bleachers back to us when Cosmo was shaking hands and signing autographs at the wall. Overall it was a fun night and neat to do something with both of the older kids and both Rich and I. We had a babysitter stay at home with Alyssa and Angela and just spend the night since we got home at 2am.
Last week I spent a lot of time trying to figure out what I was going to do for my SuperSaturday class. I found so many fun crafts to do with kids. My class was on Christmas Crafts for Kids.. Here's some of the neat things I found or did:
Popsicle stick frames:
Take popsicle sticks and glue them together to make frames of different shapes and sizes. There are lots of different sizes of popsicle sticks available in the craft aisle.
After the glue is dried- paint it with paints, or squeeze on some glitter glue for decorations. Take a picture and cut it to the size of the frame, and then cut some felt and glue it to the back.
Now you have your own unique photo and frame- great for a gift from your kids to grandparents!
Snowman bell necklace:
1-Take a bell and string some ribbon through it to make the necklace chain.
2-Take a large white pompom and glue it on the top of the bell.
3-Cut a pipecleaner down to a 3 inch piece. Glue small red pom pom balls on each end, then bend it and glue on the top of the large white pom pom to make earmuffs.
4-Cut a brown pipecleaner into one 4 inch section, and two 1 inch sections. Wrap the 1 inch sections across about ½ inch from each end of the 4 inch section. Glue the pipecleaner between the bell and large pom pom across the back- bend to make it look like the arms and hands of the snowman.
5- Take a multicolored pipecleaner and cut it to about a 4-5 inch section. Wrap it around where the bell and large pompom meet and then bend it to make a scarf.
Window Decorations:
A great way to put your kids artwork up on your windows!
1-Take a favorite coloring page, and a clear page protector.
2-Slide the coloring page inside of the page protector, and then using permanent markers let your kids color the coloring page on the page protector.
3-When they are done, pull the page out, and tape the page protector to the window or mirror.
Rubbing alcohol will clean it off if you want to reuse the page protectors.
Balloon globes:
1-Take a small balloon and blow it up.
2-Dipping string in white glue, then wrap string around the balloon to form a delicate globe/ball.
3-Make sure all the string has glue on it, so it will stick together well.
4-After the glue dries, pop the balloon and pull it out.
Martha Stewart has a lot of neat ideas to do with pipecleaners. Just search for christmas decorations and pipecleaners on her website; Marthastewartliving.com
Here are some other websites and ideas:
http://familycrafts.about.com/cs/treeornaments/l/blorncdphoto.htm
http://www.kinderart.com/recycle/cardbox.shtml
http://www.rumpets.com/GoodiesCrafts7.html
http://www.daniellesplace.com/html/christmas.html
http://www.craftelf.com/reindeer_lollipop.htm
http://www.ehow.com/how_11100_make-gingerbread-christmas.html
http://www.allfreecrafts.com/christmas/cotton-snowman.shtml
http://www.enchantedlearning.com/crafts/Shootingstar.shtml
http://www.crafty-moms.com/christmas-crafts.shtml
This weekend we also had some guests come and visit. Rich's brother Dave came to visit with his girlfriend Amanda. We had a great time seeing them and playing games, talking, and just visiting with them. It's too bad we live so far apart that we an only see them a few times a year. Our kids just absolutely adore them and we do to!
We are in the process of moving around stuff in the house again. Our office that we turned into a playroom, is now going to be converted into Alex's bedroom. Alex's bedroom will be repainted to a girl friendly color (right now it's dark, dark blue), and Ashley will now have her own room. The toys will be distributed between rooms and a few will be taken upstairs. The tv downstairs will go upstairs and the upstairs will now be the kids zone and playroom area. Downstairs Rich has gotten a big tv and nice console that we will do the main tv viewing on. The big screen and projector upstairs will be set aside for special occasions and movie nights. The big screen actually will be replaced with a roll down screen sometime in the future, so it can be used and then put away safely where kids will not decide to draw a mural on it, or run through it and rip it up... etc...
The tv is here, but the console to put it on, was damaged at the furniture store, so we have the tv sitting on the floor in our room to keep it safe until the console gets here. We got new dressers for Alex and Ashley because they'll need them with this new rearrangement of rooms, and we never had dressers for them before (we've always had closet drawers/shelving that we've used for them). Ashley's dresser is sitting in the living room for now since we'll have to empty Alex's stuff from his room and paint it before she can take up occupancy...
So we are here, we are happy and healthy and doing well... and I still feel like I fill my calender up with more than I'd like, but I don't want to give up anything that is mine on my calender, and I can't take away the other family members activities. Compared to a lot of people we don't have a lot going on, so I need to just remember that and organize myself a little bit more (so we can have some yummy dinners on Karate nights and not just frozen stuff and leftovers those nights) and then I'll feel like I've got things under control.
Right now though... I've got to go pick up kids from school and meet Rich at the dentist's office to drop off Alex for his dental appointment. At least I got this updated a little bit... now lets see if I can get back to it before 2 more weeks have passed by... :)
Two saturday's ago BYU played Tulsa in Tulsa, so Rich and I and Alex and Ashley went to the game. It was Alex and Ashley's first time going to a football game and even though BYU lost the game, it was a fun experience. Our seats were three rows from the top of the stadium (and those were the "premium" seats... I wonder where the "cheap" seats were??) Alex kept up a barrage of asking Rich to go get him a drink and food and he was bored... for the whole first half. I think Rich was probably to the point of having us leave and go home by half-time. A bunch of friends from the ward also had tickets near us and they talked to another family that was at the game via cell phones. Turns out the other family was on the other side of the stadium 5 rows up from the very front. There weren't very many people over there and there was lots of empty seats so they said we should come on over. So all of us went on over to that side of the stadium for the second half. It was right in front of the cheerleading squad and Ashley just sat mesmerized for the rest of the game watching the cheerleaders doing their cheers. Alex had fun standing down at the wall right behind the team and watching from there. He was a little scared of Cosmo when he came over and he scrambled up the bleachers back to us when Cosmo was shaking hands and signing autographs at the wall. Overall it was a fun night and neat to do something with both of the older kids and both Rich and I. We had a babysitter stay at home with Alyssa and Angela and just spend the night since we got home at 2am.
Last week I spent a lot of time trying to figure out what I was going to do for my SuperSaturday class. I found so many fun crafts to do with kids. My class was on Christmas Crafts for Kids.. Here's some of the neat things I found or did:
Popsicle stick frames:
Take popsicle sticks and glue them together to make frames of different shapes and sizes. There are lots of different sizes of popsicle sticks available in the craft aisle.
After the glue is dried- paint it with paints, or squeeze on some glitter glue for decorations. Take a picture and cut it to the size of the frame, and then cut some felt and glue it to the back.
Now you have your own unique photo and frame- great for a gift from your kids to grandparents!
Snowman bell necklace:
1-Take a bell and string some ribbon through it to make the necklace chain.
2-Take a large white pompom and glue it on the top of the bell.
3-Cut a pipecleaner down to a 3 inch piece. Glue small red pom pom balls on each end, then bend it and glue on the top of the large white pom pom to make earmuffs.
4-Cut a brown pipecleaner into one 4 inch section, and two 1 inch sections. Wrap the 1 inch sections across about ½ inch from each end of the 4 inch section. Glue the pipecleaner between the bell and large pom pom across the back- bend to make it look like the arms and hands of the snowman.
5- Take a multicolored pipecleaner and cut it to about a 4-5 inch section. Wrap it around where the bell and large pompom meet and then bend it to make a scarf.
Window Decorations:
A great way to put your kids artwork up on your windows!
1-Take a favorite coloring page, and a clear page protector.
2-Slide the coloring page inside of the page protector, and then using permanent markers let your kids color the coloring page on the page protector.
3-When they are done, pull the page out, and tape the page protector to the window or mirror.
Rubbing alcohol will clean it off if you want to reuse the page protectors.
Balloon globes:
1-Take a small balloon and blow it up.
2-Dipping string in white glue, then wrap string around the balloon to form a delicate globe/ball.
3-Make sure all the string has glue on it, so it will stick together well.
4-After the glue dries, pop the balloon and pull it out.
Martha Stewart has a lot of neat ideas to do with pipecleaners. Just search for christmas decorations and pipecleaners on her website; Marthastewartliving.com
Here are some other websites and ideas:
http://familycrafts.about.com/cs/treeornaments/l/blorncdphoto.htm
http://www.kinderart.com/recycle/cardbox.shtml
http://www.rumpets.com/GoodiesCrafts7.html
http://www.daniellesplace.com/html/christmas.html
http://www.craftelf.com/reindeer_lollipop.htm
http://www.ehow.com/how_11100_make-gingerbread-christmas.html
http://www.allfreecrafts.com/christmas/cotton-snowman.shtml
http://www.enchantedlearning.com/crafts/Shootingstar.shtml
http://www.crafty-moms.com/christmas-crafts.shtml
This weekend we also had some guests come and visit. Rich's brother Dave came to visit with his girlfriend Amanda. We had a great time seeing them and playing games, talking, and just visiting with them. It's too bad we live so far apart that we an only see them a few times a year. Our kids just absolutely adore them and we do to!
We are in the process of moving around stuff in the house again. Our office that we turned into a playroom, is now going to be converted into Alex's bedroom. Alex's bedroom will be repainted to a girl friendly color (right now it's dark, dark blue), and Ashley will now have her own room. The toys will be distributed between rooms and a few will be taken upstairs. The tv downstairs will go upstairs and the upstairs will now be the kids zone and playroom area. Downstairs Rich has gotten a big tv and nice console that we will do the main tv viewing on. The big screen and projector upstairs will be set aside for special occasions and movie nights. The big screen actually will be replaced with a roll down screen sometime in the future, so it can be used and then put away safely where kids will not decide to draw a mural on it, or run through it and rip it up... etc...
The tv is here, but the console to put it on, was damaged at the furniture store, so we have the tv sitting on the floor in our room to keep it safe until the console gets here. We got new dressers for Alex and Ashley because they'll need them with this new rearrangement of rooms, and we never had dressers for them before (we've always had closet drawers/shelving that we've used for them). Ashley's dresser is sitting in the living room for now since we'll have to empty Alex's stuff from his room and paint it before she can take up occupancy...
So we are here, we are happy and healthy and doing well... and I still feel like I fill my calender up with more than I'd like, but I don't want to give up anything that is mine on my calender, and I can't take away the other family members activities. Compared to a lot of people we don't have a lot going on, so I need to just remember that and organize myself a little bit more (so we can have some yummy dinners on Karate nights and not just frozen stuff and leftovers those nights) and then I'll feel like I've got things under control.
Right now though... I've got to go pick up kids from school and meet Rich at the dentist's office to drop off Alex for his dental appointment. At least I got this updated a little bit... now lets see if I can get back to it before 2 more weeks have passed by... :)
Monday, September 10, 2007
Just giving myself a pat on the back
So I've mentioned before how I was trying to exercise more. At the begining of July I was at my heaviest weight that I've ever been, except for the last few months of pregnancies and right after having babies. I was 173 pounds. I hid weight really well, but you could tell in my face and my arms that I was weighing more than what was ideal.
I've tried to increase my exercise and exercise at least 4 days a week and try to exercise 6 days a week. I am also trying to not snack on foods throughout the day like I used to. I had so many years of being pregnant or nursing where I had to eat every 2-3 hours that I got into the habit of eating and snacking, even though I really wasn't hungry. So I'm not dieting persay, I'm just trying to eat less than what I was.
I weighed myself this morning and I am at 156 pounds. That's 17 pounds! I'm shocked that I'm able to do this. For so long I've told myself that I have a sweet tooth and I would never be successful at not eating sweets because of that, but in the past two months I've been able to say no to treats most of the time. I still have an occasional dessert- about once a week on average, but the snacking on cookies or crackers or whatever is laying around in the pantry during the day- I've been able to really stop.
My goal is to get down to 140, so I'm halfway. I was 135 when I got married and I'd be thrilled to get back down to there, but for now my goal is to get down around 140.
It's just a good feeling to have made this goal and to really see the results already starting to happen. I just hope I can continue and get down to where I want to be.
I've tried to increase my exercise and exercise at least 4 days a week and try to exercise 6 days a week. I am also trying to not snack on foods throughout the day like I used to. I had so many years of being pregnant or nursing where I had to eat every 2-3 hours that I got into the habit of eating and snacking, even though I really wasn't hungry. So I'm not dieting persay, I'm just trying to eat less than what I was.
I weighed myself this morning and I am at 156 pounds. That's 17 pounds! I'm shocked that I'm able to do this. For so long I've told myself that I have a sweet tooth and I would never be successful at not eating sweets because of that, but in the past two months I've been able to say no to treats most of the time. I still have an occasional dessert- about once a week on average, but the snacking on cookies or crackers or whatever is laying around in the pantry during the day- I've been able to really stop.
My goal is to get down to 140, so I'm halfway. I was 135 when I got married and I'd be thrilled to get back down to there, but for now my goal is to get down around 140.
It's just a good feeling to have made this goal and to really see the results already starting to happen. I just hope I can continue and get down to where I want to be.
Sunday, September 09, 2007
I'm here...
I really haven't been posting a lot lately. I just haven't felt like I've had a lot to post.
I'm starting to attend an institute class one day a week. It is for two hours on Thursday mornings. The first class I decided that morning to attend, and then went home and forgot all about studying the next two lessons until the night before the second class. Angela wound up getting sick that night, so I missed the second class. I really didn't open my manual to read anything at all, until today.
Today is Stake Conference- it is held in an auditorium at a High School and Rich and I in the past wind up really not hearing any of the speakers because we are so busy trying to keep the kids occupied and quiet. With auditorium seats that the kids can't sit in very well and no good area out in a hallway to listen while the babies toddle around- well we decided not to take the entire family to the Stake Conference today. Rich went and took Ashley with him for a special Daddy daughter time. He would have taken Alex with him as well, but lately Ashley has been provoking and picking fights with Alex and Alyssa so we thought the day would be calmer for everyone if she was taken and given a lot of one on one time with Daddy. So... Rich and Ashley are off at Stake Conference for the majority of the day. They'll get home around 1:30-2pm I'd guess.
Alex just thrives in the big brother role here at home when Ashley isn't around to but in and boss all of them around. He has been playing games with Alyssa and Angela and helping them do things. We played Monopoly Jr all together, and then he played Jenga and DVD Bingo with them and I decided to come into my room and read for the Institute class a little bit. I'm hoping I can get myself into the regular habit of reading one chapter for the class and studying it each day. I do pretty good with the reading habit- picking up the scriptures each day and reading from them, but I have a hard time focusing and concentrating and really "studying" from the scriptures. I'm hoping taking this institute class will help me regain some of those questions that arise from studying the scriptures.
So I came in here and had a great time reading the scriptures and reading from the manual. Marking passages from the scriptures and the manual that really stood out for me and writing down thoughts and insights that I gained while reading. I am such a procrastinator that so many times I'm playing catch-up, and I don't get to really enjoy the process of doing something. At least for today, right now- I got to enjoy the process of studying this morning and learning. I hope I can continue to do this and enjoy it and grow from it.
Of course something happened in the house while I was doing that. Angela climbed up onto the cabinet in the laundry room and found the water bottle that was full of black beach sand from our trip out to Santa Rosa last summer... 1/5 of the bottle wound up all over the top of the washing machine and cabinet and the floor. I can still be grateful for two things though:
*it was only 1/5 of the bottle, and not the entire bottle!!
*just this morning I took the clean clothes that I had folded and stacked on top of the washing machine yesterday, and put them in a basket and took them to my room; so it didn't get dumped on top of all of my hard work yesterday washing and folding the clothes... :)
I'm starting to attend an institute class one day a week. It is for two hours on Thursday mornings. The first class I decided that morning to attend, and then went home and forgot all about studying the next two lessons until the night before the second class. Angela wound up getting sick that night, so I missed the second class. I really didn't open my manual to read anything at all, until today.
Today is Stake Conference- it is held in an auditorium at a High School and Rich and I in the past wind up really not hearing any of the speakers because we are so busy trying to keep the kids occupied and quiet. With auditorium seats that the kids can't sit in very well and no good area out in a hallway to listen while the babies toddle around- well we decided not to take the entire family to the Stake Conference today. Rich went and took Ashley with him for a special Daddy daughter time. He would have taken Alex with him as well, but lately Ashley has been provoking and picking fights with Alex and Alyssa so we thought the day would be calmer for everyone if she was taken and given a lot of one on one time with Daddy. So... Rich and Ashley are off at Stake Conference for the majority of the day. They'll get home around 1:30-2pm I'd guess.
Alex just thrives in the big brother role here at home when Ashley isn't around to but in and boss all of them around. He has been playing games with Alyssa and Angela and helping them do things. We played Monopoly Jr all together, and then he played Jenga and DVD Bingo with them and I decided to come into my room and read for the Institute class a little bit. I'm hoping I can get myself into the regular habit of reading one chapter for the class and studying it each day. I do pretty good with the reading habit- picking up the scriptures each day and reading from them, but I have a hard time focusing and concentrating and really "studying" from the scriptures. I'm hoping taking this institute class will help me regain some of those questions that arise from studying the scriptures.
So I came in here and had a great time reading the scriptures and reading from the manual. Marking passages from the scriptures and the manual that really stood out for me and writing down thoughts and insights that I gained while reading. I am such a procrastinator that so many times I'm playing catch-up, and I don't get to really enjoy the process of doing something. At least for today, right now- I got to enjoy the process of studying this morning and learning. I hope I can continue to do this and enjoy it and grow from it.
Of course something happened in the house while I was doing that. Angela climbed up onto the cabinet in the laundry room and found the water bottle that was full of black beach sand from our trip out to Santa Rosa last summer... 1/5 of the bottle wound up all over the top of the washing machine and cabinet and the floor. I can still be grateful for two things though:
*it was only 1/5 of the bottle, and not the entire bottle!!
*just this morning I took the clean clothes that I had folded and stacked on top of the washing machine yesterday, and put them in a basket and took them to my room; so it didn't get dumped on top of all of my hard work yesterday washing and folding the clothes... :)
Tuesday, September 04, 2007
Slowing down... or is it?
It seems as if life is starting to slow down a bit, but then I look at my calender and it's fuller than ever! I think having this time while Alyssa and Ashley and Alex are at school and Angela takes a nap is really really helping me deal with the business of things. I have missed having regular nap times- I haven't had any from Angela since she was born, so it is a nice little blessing that she falls asleep when we take Alyssa to school each day- and stays asleep when we get home and I put her in her bed and it's QUIET so she doesn't wake up from hearing others in the house. I'm able to do a little bit of cleaning, and just spend a little bit of time relaxing and doing whatever I want to do in the house for a couple of hours. I've really noticed that I have much more patience with the kids during their cranky hours after school and before dinner.
That doesn't mean I'm not very ready for the kids to go to bed at bedtime, but I know I am handleing things a lot calmer than I have in the past during the few hours after then get home and before Rich is home when we have to work on homework go to Karate, and I work on making dinner.
One bonus about being busier, is that we are in the house a lot less, and it isn't getting as incredibly messy. It's much easier to get the kids to pick up a few things than when they get out every single toy and article of clothing and it's all over their rooms. :)
I need to get some pictures up soon of the kids... maybe I can get them up this next week. :)
That doesn't mean I'm not very ready for the kids to go to bed at bedtime, but I know I am handleing things a lot calmer than I have in the past during the few hours after then get home and before Rich is home when we have to work on homework go to Karate, and I work on making dinner.
One bonus about being busier, is that we are in the house a lot less, and it isn't getting as incredibly messy. It's much easier to get the kids to pick up a few things than when they get out every single toy and article of clothing and it's all over their rooms. :)
I need to get some pictures up soon of the kids... maybe I can get them up this next week. :)
Tuesday, August 21, 2007
Ah... busy life
I've had three busy days this week, and tomorrow is going to be busy too.
Sunday was Alex's birthday, so that was a big day and we had church and stuff... it just seemed very long and full between church and celebrating Alex's birthday, and getting ready for the first day of school the next morning.
Monday the kids went to school, the bus was 20 min later than the paperwork said it would be, but if finally got here. I then dropped everything (house was a mess from breakfast) and went to the Y with the younger girls since I had missed the last week and a half of exercising. I did the elliptical for 45 min and then we raced home. I got a quick shower in and then my friend came over.
We cooked from 11am till 2:30 pm and made about six or seven casserole style dinners. Then I used the next two hours to package them up into more individual portions and to clean up the kitchen from all the cooking. It seems like a long time, but it really went by quickly and I was glad that I could do it for someone.
So I was in the kitchen from 11am till 4:30 with really only a couple 5 minute breaks to put Angela down for a nap and stuff. Then the kids got home at 4:15 and they had 20 minutes to relax and then it was time to go to Karate. We went to Karate and I took the kids in and realized that I forgot to bring my checkbook, and I had to pay for belt testing yesterday, or there would be a late fee of $10 per kid we would have to pay too. So I left Alex and Ashley in their class and ran home to get my checkbook. I got back and normally their class is relatively small with about 8-10 kids in it at the most. I think there were about 20 kids there yesterday. The parents area was packed! So I stood by the front desk for the rest of the class taking turns holding Alyssa and Angela.
Then we went home and had dinner and FHE. By the end of FHE you could tell the kids were not used to the busier schedule of school days because we had melt down after melt down from the kids... One after another for about 20 minutes when we decided that it was bedtime for everyone right away.
We got everyone asleep and instead of doing the smart thing, I went upstairs and watched a movie with Rich and we wound up staying up till 1am by the time we went to sleep... dumb dumb.... lol!
This morning we got up and got the big kids off to school. Then we went to the Y and I got on the treadmill. I got on there and probably tried running too fast- I did 1/2 mile at a 10 minute mile pace and was gasping for breath, so then I walked for another 1 1/2 miles and then did a circuit of weight machines before it was time to go home. At home I grabbed a 5 minute shower and then we had people coming over for playgroup at our house. They were here from about 11:30 till 1:30 and we had a fun time.
Then Alyssa and Angela and I went for her to see her classroom. We met the teacher last week (well we already knew her, but found out we would have her) and today the kids got to go around and look and play in the centers around the room. Then we came home, and had about an hour until Alex and Ashley would get home. Now they should be home in about 15 minutes... Ashley and Rich have a date tonight and are going to Incredible Pizza, so the other kids and I are going to eat leftovers- I don't have to cook... lol!
Tomorrow I have a dentist appointment in the morning, and then Alyssa goes to her first day of school at 1pm. I'll take Angela to our friend house and go with Alyssa for the first 1/2 hour or so. Then we'll have karate after school, and home really quickly to eat and cub scouts that night after dinner.
Sunday was Alex's birthday, so that was a big day and we had church and stuff... it just seemed very long and full between church and celebrating Alex's birthday, and getting ready for the first day of school the next morning.
Monday the kids went to school, the bus was 20 min later than the paperwork said it would be, but if finally got here. I then dropped everything (house was a mess from breakfast) and went to the Y with the younger girls since I had missed the last week and a half of exercising. I did the elliptical for 45 min and then we raced home. I got a quick shower in and then my friend came over.
We cooked from 11am till 2:30 pm and made about six or seven casserole style dinners. Then I used the next two hours to package them up into more individual portions and to clean up the kitchen from all the cooking. It seems like a long time, but it really went by quickly and I was glad that I could do it for someone.
So I was in the kitchen from 11am till 4:30 with really only a couple 5 minute breaks to put Angela down for a nap and stuff. Then the kids got home at 4:15 and they had 20 minutes to relax and then it was time to go to Karate. We went to Karate and I took the kids in and realized that I forgot to bring my checkbook, and I had to pay for belt testing yesterday, or there would be a late fee of $10 per kid we would have to pay too. So I left Alex and Ashley in their class and ran home to get my checkbook. I got back and normally their class is relatively small with about 8-10 kids in it at the most. I think there were about 20 kids there yesterday. The parents area was packed! So I stood by the front desk for the rest of the class taking turns holding Alyssa and Angela.
Then we went home and had dinner and FHE. By the end of FHE you could tell the kids were not used to the busier schedule of school days because we had melt down after melt down from the kids... One after another for about 20 minutes when we decided that it was bedtime for everyone right away.
We got everyone asleep and instead of doing the smart thing, I went upstairs and watched a movie with Rich and we wound up staying up till 1am by the time we went to sleep... dumb dumb.... lol!
This morning we got up and got the big kids off to school. Then we went to the Y and I got on the treadmill. I got on there and probably tried running too fast- I did 1/2 mile at a 10 minute mile pace and was gasping for breath, so then I walked for another 1 1/2 miles and then did a circuit of weight machines before it was time to go home. At home I grabbed a 5 minute shower and then we had people coming over for playgroup at our house. They were here from about 11:30 till 1:30 and we had a fun time.
Then Alyssa and Angela and I went for her to see her classroom. We met the teacher last week (well we already knew her, but found out we would have her) and today the kids got to go around and look and play in the centers around the room. Then we came home, and had about an hour until Alex and Ashley would get home. Now they should be home in about 15 minutes... Ashley and Rich have a date tonight and are going to Incredible Pizza, so the other kids and I are going to eat leftovers- I don't have to cook... lol!
Tomorrow I have a dentist appointment in the morning, and then Alyssa goes to her first day of school at 1pm. I'll take Angela to our friend house and go with Alyssa for the first 1/2 hour or so. Then we'll have karate after school, and home really quickly to eat and cub scouts that night after dinner.
Subscribe to:
Posts (Atom)