Beach Bums

So we are back, sunburned (actually peeling at this point) sand in all our luggage, and really tired, but so happy to be home

We had a great time at Dauphin Island, Alabama! We camped in the pop-up for 5 days and enjoyed the sun, and surf and lots and lots of sand!

The kids really loved it and can't wait to go back to the beach, they asked can we do this every summer... and Tom looked at me and i looked at him and we both shrugged and said I guess so!

Tho next time i think we will drive about an hour longer and get to the pretty water, since Dauphin is in the gulf... the water is brown and muddy looking like at Galveston.... not pretty like at Destin. So... next summer, beach bums will head out again and hit the waves ... i can see a tradition in the making!

It actually was a pretty affordable trip, with us camping and all, i mean our biggest expense was just the gas going and coming, cuz i packed food, and we grocery shopped once we got there for each nights dinner, so it was not an overly expensive trip very do-able each year...

now mind you all we did was the beach, and we treated to sno cones each day, ate ONE really good seafood meal and went to the aquarium one day. so not a lot of "extras" but still a really fun time relaxing and reading and bulding sand castles which is exactly what we were going for.

One of the favorites from the week was at night we would get flashlights and head down to the beach to chase the ghost crabs, the kids thought this was the best! also they kept finding little hermit crabs in the surf, and made a house for them, but we let them go the next day, they wanted to bring one home but i said NO WAY!

here's some pics from our week: and some new family pics i need to edit and get framed!

home improvement 101

We are in full home improvement mode, starting with cleaning out of every room, declutter and got rid of all the stuff we had accumulated over the years, had a HUGE yard sale a couple weekends ago, made enough money to buy the wood flooring for the kids bedrooms....

next we moved on to Mia's room, where we scraped the popcorn ceilings, painted the walls, laid wood floors, and then put it all back together again... the result is a very cute room and a very happy little girl!

next up is the beach, next week we are leaving for vacation!!! YAY! can't wait, i would leave today if possible. we have a whole lot of nothing planned, just playing in the sand, building sand castles, jumping waves, chasing crabs, looking for shells, good books, picnics and lots of sunscreen! our goal is TOTAL relaxation and take it easy kind of vacation, NO running all over creation, just us, just the biggest sandbox ever and hopefully warm weather, sunshine and nice breezes!

when we get back we get to start on Luc's room, we are not painting this time, just ceilings and floors, and putting up chair rail and crown moulding in his room. Papa is building a new bunk bed, with a desk on the underside, and luc is really excited about that.

summer is flying by, and i can't believe this year is 1/2 over. We are gonna be celebrating Chelsea's birthday on the beach, with a special gift from mom and dad to commemmorate her 13th year and the beginning of teen and grown-upness she is quickly approaching.

other than home improvement, our jobs are both going well, Tom is keeping busy building websites on the side, and i am keeping busy well keeping busy.. haha

so sorry for the boring play by play of our life, but really we have not had any thing too interesting going on, except home makeovers... which we are just beginning, and will post pix as we progress!

hope y'all are having a great summer with lots of popsicles, lightening bugs and pool time!

since disney...

so now that all that disney stuff is journaled about... since then we have been just busy living life
As my friend, Rhonda says " I've been too busy living life to blog about it!" and that is so very true!

Really life is just quiet and normal around here...
January and February we had lots of yucky noses, coughs and the typical winter crud. Lots of family dinners by the fireplace, marshmallows and popcorn with movie nights.
March and April looking forward to spring, getting the "fix it" bug around the house, anxious to get started as soon as the weather gets nice again. Planting our garden and enjoying the increasing sunshine and warmer weather.
The kids are all doing great in school, it is winding down, and they are ready for summer break.

My little Jr High wanna be is trying out for the track team (SHE IS FAST!) and we went last night to pick out her instrument for band (the trombone haha HELP US)! Jr High is fast approaching and we are picking classes, talking about sports choices and all those things mom is just not ready to face yet. she is also a professional texter... i swear the kid could text in her sleep!
Mia has really enjoyed her Kindergarten year, and is such a great reader, we are really proud of her for all her hard work.
Lucas is doing really well too. He is excelling in all his classes and continues to grow into a very sweet young man.

Tom and I are coming up on our 10 yr anniversary, planning a big trip somewhere, location still to be decided, but we are so happy and in love, neither will make a decision cuz it does not matter where we go as long as we go together!

We are planning a summer trip to the beach in June. The kids have talked so much about the 3 hours we spent at the beach, more even than Disney, and they have begged to go back, so we decided that we would take them back for a week long vacation and they are so excited. If you play the stock market, now would be a good idea to invest in companies that supply sunscreen because these WHITEYS are heading to the sand and surf. haha We are gonna be camping in the pop-up, 300 yards from the beach, which should be interesting at the very least. But we are really looking forward to it!

other than that, life is busy, normal, and wonderfully blessed!

i am such a terrible blogger!

and to leave all of my loyal (2) readers hanging about the remainder of our Disney trip was just unforgivable!

ok so i know you have been waiting, refreshing, and waiting some more. so here you go! (haha)

Days 3 and 4 Disney:

Magic Kingdom. Well named, it is magical in every way, right down to the sidewalks. Every detail, every flower arrangement, music, people singing and dancing in the streets, it was just amazing, It truly is one of the happiest places on earth, everyone is happy, well except the 2 yr olds about naptime, but besides that, really everyone is so nice.

We started day 3 December 30th, bright and early, stroller loaded down, and headed into the park. We made it down main street, stopped in a few shops, listened to a sidewalk quartet all dressed in Christmas best, and then made our way to the center hub. We had a stop off at the Chapeaux, to get our Mickey ears, watched the marching bands perform, and saw Pinocchio from a distance.

We made our way towards the Castle. OH MY GOODNESS!!! The kids were bouncing up and down, especially Mia who thought she was gonna meet a princess (yep but later) at the castle, had to stop and get a quick photo op at the castle, then made our way all the way down to the court. We got there just in time for the start of a stage show, where ALL the main characters performed... AND 3 of the Princesses!!! Mia was beside herself. Daddy put her on his shoulders so she could see better, and Mom snapped away with the camera!

Next we headed to the left to Liberty Square took in some sights and ran thru to Frontier Land. We got on Splash Mountain pretty quickly followed by Big Thunder Mtn Railroad. We stopped for lunch at Tom Sawyers Island, and explored a bit around that, caves, little hideouts and such, the kids really enjoyed this quiet spot to play.

After lunch we headed back across to do The Haunted Mansion and then on to some of the other attractions on that side of the park, lots and lots of rides that day, none too big or scary, and we all had a great time. We got to see the Christmas Parade in Frontier land, front row seats... all the characters were in this one too. Santa came towards the end and actually called out from his perch Merry Christmas "Chelsea Lucas and Amelia" the kids were all amazed that he knew their names, while the grownups shared a giggle (they had name shirts on), but it was magical for them, and we did not ruin the magic, altho Chelsea figured it out pretty quickly she was kind to keep that to herself.

We ended the night early, we took the train back around to main street and planned to leave by 4pm, but we ended up getting out by about 5:30, still a nice early day.

Day 4 Magic Kindom New Year's Eve countdown... 16 hours til midnight....

So the plan for the day was to go early, leave around lunchtime and then come back around 6pm and stay til midnight. That was the plan. It was a great plan. We did not pack a stroller, we did not pack snacks, we did not plan to stay past lunchtime.

Head into the park, first thing in the morning, we headed over to Fantasy land where we got in line for Princess Greeting, while the boys and chelsea headed over to Space Mtn. We waited in line about an hour, but it was so worth it. MIA got to meet Cinderella, Sleeping Beauty and Belle all in one fell swoop. The look on her face was just priceless, worth every penny we spent getting there. Mimi got us tickets for Peter Pan, then we headed to see Ariel while the others stood in line for Dumbo. Got Ariel, rode Dumbo, then Peter Pan, then a whole bunch of other things in a row...... we found out about 11am while standing in line for something... that the park was closed.

There were 80 THOUSAND people in Magic Kingdom, it was at capacity and they are not letting anyone else in. So after a quick conference, we decided that if we left we would most likely not get back in that night to see the big celebration. So we headed off to find lunch, and then spent the rest of the afternoon leisurely enjoying the sites on that side of the park. I have to say the kids were amazingly NON whiney even without the stroller, they did just great.

countdown... 8 hours to go...

About 4pm, we headed back to the castle, found a spot on the sidewalk in front of the castle, spread out beach towels and camped out... there were many people finding similar spots and doing the same thing. we had a great couple of familes around us, and towards show times random people would try to crowd in, but the security made them leave and told them that we had chosen to stay there all afternoon and they would not allow anyone to come crowd us out.

So we had front row seats for marching bands, christmas parade, Spectromagic Parade, all the castle court shows and such thru the evening.

About every 30-45 minutes there was a show or parade, so we were entertained and sitting after 4 days was pretty nice. Somebody went for dinner, then the magic started about dark... first with the Spectromagic parade, then with the Wishes show where Cinderella comes and makes a wish and they light the castle. Now we did not see this the night before because we left early, so this was the most amazing show! They lit that castle up from top to bottom with crystal icicle lights, and i have to be honest i cried... i just cried like a baby, it was so pretty and my kids were so amazed and it was really very magical to them. I took so many pictures of that castle it is just crazy!!

Then radio Disney started broadcasting and it was just a big street party only with out the drunks.... people were singing the songs, and dancing... Chelsea did the cuban shuffle and some other things they learned at school with Lucas on main st in front of the castle, even Tom got in on the fun... Mia passed out after the 2nd Spectromagic parade... and slept all thru this part, we woke her up just before midnight, and the HUGEST fireworks show i have ever seen...

who says white boys can't dance?!

Earlier in the day Disney was handing out black top hats and noisemakers for the big party, so we all donned our gear and got ready for the countdown... IT WAS SOOOO MUCH FUN!!! 80000 people blowing their horns, yelling Happy New Year, fireworks, kisses, lots of hugs and laughter. fun i tell you. Then came the grand finale... and we gathered up all our stuff and made a mass exodus down main street all joined together like a train. it was NUTS getting out of there, but we did not lose anyone and ended our Disney days with a big celebration.

We decided we had to come back... again... when Chelsea is a Senior we are planning another trip... only maybe not at new years, but it was one to be remembered for sure.

Hollywood Studios

Monday we went to Hollywood Studios. We planned another long day, with stroller, snacks and autograph books in hand, we set out...

Today was the day for autographs!

We set our sites on the Big Sorcerer's Hat in the middle hub of the park, and headed there, where we were able to meet all the gang by tag teaming.

We met Minnie, Donald & Daisy, Goofy & Pluto, all in quick succession. The most hilarious was Lucas who did NOT wanna meet Minnie Mouse... he pouted and really pitched a fit, and i got some great photos of his embarassment in action. he was just very angry and upset to have to have his picture taken with a GIRL! He told me later that he would not do any more pictures with girls. PERIOD NO way NO how... haha

Then we met Stitch, who true to character was a MESS!! He kept trying to take the kids sharpies and write on their hands while they were holding the book for him to sign, he managed to get chelsea a time or two with the green sharpie. He licked his finger and stuck it in chelsea's ear during photos... he picked his nose and wiped it on mia's shirt... Mia could not stop laughing at him the entire time. That belly laugh that makes everyone around you laugh too... it was so cute

My Dad loves Goofy... i know, explains a lot right?! haha so he had to get his autograph and photo too!! When Pluto came up to the site, he went over to a bush and hiked his leg... which i thought was kinda funny, but not sure who all saw that...

We headed over to Pixar place and met Mickey and The Incredibles.

Then we got our fast passes and started enjoying all the rides..

Lucas was scared of EVERYTHING... every ride, every attraction, he was terrified, but after each one was like" well that was fun", so we just kept making him get on stuff, so he would not miss out on all the fun everyone was having. But there were many laughable moments standing in line with him reassuring him that it was all gonna be ok. Bless his heart, he is my over-cautious little guy which could be very beneficial during the teen years, but right now... his sisters drag mr scaredy pants along. They are not afraid of anything... they could use a good dose of fear, but... they are my daredevils and were more than willing and excited to ride everything.

We did force him onto Rockn Roller Coaster and i thought the kid would have a nervous breakdown before we ever even got on it... but after we rode he was high fivin everyone and jumpin up and down and was like "i did it!!!" and he thought it was really cool. HE is such a goofy kid... haha

We rode many fun things that day, the favorites were :

Chelsea: Tower of Terror... and Rockn Roller Coaster

Lucas: Buzz Lightyear & Star Tours

Mia: Loved Voyage of the Little Mermaid show, and her favorite ride was also Buzz Lightyear

Tom: Rockn Roller Coaster he actually screamed like a girl the entire time.. he says he was saying "WHOOO HOOOOO" but to me sitting behind him sounded more like "EWAWAHHHHHHHHHHHH" (actually that may have been me screaming like a girl)

Mel: Rockn Roller Coaster... i loved that it went 0-60 in 2 seconds and straight into an upside down loop... yep instant face lift.. i could see the benefits of riding this several times in a row!! hah are you hearing the sarcasm?! But it WAS fun... once.

We took in all the sights and sounds the park had to offer, many different shows... the highlights of the day were:

Lucas: Jedi Training Academy, he got chosen out of the audience to participate on stage, and learn the ways of the Force, and then in the end battled Darth Vader in a light saber duel... funny he was amazingly BRAVE during this... not afraid of DARTH VADER at all, swinging his light saber with uncanny accuracy (ahem poor darth) and was super excited about that whole process, but of course this kid eat, sleeps, dreams Star Wars, so this experience was right up his alley!!

This was one scary lookin dude. Right after i took this photo he came and stood like 2 inches from my face and stared me down... i just shrugged and laughed at him (yeah thats me brave haha) and then i hugged my mommy... haha

Mia: Loved Beauty and the Beast show, live on stage, we had near front row unobstructed view, and the kids loved it... (i admit i did too!!) Mia was just totally engaged and the look on her face was something i will never ever forget, even tho i did not get a photo...

Chelsea: Riding Rockn Roller Coaster two times in a row (with fastpasses) and then Hollywood Tower of Terror... and still wanting to eat lunch!!! haha she really enjoyed this park with the more activities and attractions to do. She was still excited to meet all the characters, and i am glad she played along with my inherent need to photograph every moment and not ruin the magic for the little kids. I was incredibly proud of her maturity all week, the way she was always looking out for the little kids safety, comforting them, and helping us keep up with them, buying them little treats and such. It was very sweet to see.

The kids got to enjoy trademark mickey ears ice creams.. .mia loved hers, lucas did not like the chocolate and traded with me for my plain vanilla...

The funniest thing, now that we are home was the stroller hunting... most times it was right where we left it, but at this park, the stroller mover parker guys were very ambitious and kept moving them WAY down out of the way from where we originally left them.. Frustrating somewhat during times when you are trying to get somewhere fast and hunt for the stroller for like 20 minutes cuz no one could tell you where they moved it to....

We ended the day by taking in the late show of Beauty and the Beast... followed by a detour exit down hollywood & vine. lost our stroller again... then headed back thru the park for Fantasmic... and we ended up at the end of the line, but it was actually beneficial because they opened up the last section of seating as we entered and we got great seats, and they were near the exit. The night ended with a bang, the kids all had a wonderful time and we were happy that the night ended early at 10pm (haha).

Epcot

Our first official day at Disney was Sunday, we went to Epcot. We started the day early... park opened at 8 am. So we loaded up lunches, stroller, people and headed in. Everyone was perky, slept well and very excited about the adventure ahead of us.

We got into the park and headed to Spaceship Earth... the big silver ball that is so recognizable... but it was broken, so with much hoping that this was not to be a theme for the day, went on around and headed the opposite way most people go... we headed to the right towards Great Brittain and that area. I cannot tell you how cool this park is and how authentic they try to make every building, gift shop and restaraunt to be like the actual countries they represent, complete with interns from every country working the shops and stuff, talking to the kids in their home languages and all that. THIS IS COOL!! We walked, and shopped and enjoyed the sights and a few ride thru attractions that day. Ate fish and chips in Brittain and then enjoyed feeding the seagulls on the bridge over into France. The kids were really liking the Kidcot stations at each country . These were little tables set up with a craft project. They gave us a mask at the first station, and at each country you got to add something to your mask representing that country. Most of them were little die cut shapes, some were plastic little charms, stamps and stickers and such and at each station were the interns, and they liked to write the kids name on their project in their native language. The kids loved hunting for the Kidcot stations in each country. Another thing they loved, was hunting for the penny presses. We gave each kid a roll of quarters and a roll of pennies and they had to find the penny presses around each park to get cheap 50cent souveniers... they LOVED this!!! and kept them occupied in a not so exciting park for kids. They did not complain and really with kids this is the park to begin with because they have no "disney expectations" so it was all new and exciting to see.

They loved all the fountains with the dancing water, and trying to catch it.

The best part at the end of the night they had an open area that squirted up water from the ground... the kids saw it and wanted to walk thru it, but it was just "trick"-ling a little bit, so they did not know it would soon shoot up high into the air... so they are skipping and running thru it getting their shoes wet and just laughing... then all of a sudden.... YEP... it came on FULL blast, and little Mia got caught in the middle. She just DIED laughing and just turned around and around giggling, and people were stopping and laughing with us, and we heard many people were like "that is sooo cute" and it realllly WAS!!

That night, we had dinner in America... Hamburgers and fries for everyone....( I know i know... so crazy considering the FOOD all the countries represented... but we were STARVING, and the lines to sit down and eat anywherelse were just tooo long.) So after eating we then headed across the street to the pavilion for the Candelight Processional. It was just beautiful. They had the HUGE choir come down the street carrying candles (they were electric) in a looooong line, up to the stage all decorated for Christmas. Then sang traditional american and other countries Christmas songs in between the reading of the Christmas Story... FROM THE BIBLE!! (which i loved)by Angela Bassett and Courtney Vance (who by the way did a phenomenal job of reading it with enthusiasm and just a bit of dramatic voice.) At the end of the traditional Christmas Story, Courtney Vance gave the crucifixion and ressurrection a very nice moment, and we cheered when he said the "tomb was empty, He IS RISEN". It was just beautiful, really.

OH!! I need to tell you how cool, while we were sitting down to dinner, the kids noticed an airplane flying over the park skywriting... something....

JESUS LOVES U :)

that was so cool and they did it over every park that week... some big church down there does that... and i think what a cool way to reach SOOO many people!!!

When that was finished, we headed over to Italy got some cappuccino, and got near the water to watch the evening fireworks show. Then we headed home... tired and happy from a great day.

The Christmas lights were wonderful, the music piping around the park was Christmasy and cheery, the cast members at the park were so incredibly sweet and we had a wonderful first day.

We met Donald Duck in Mexico... and Aladdin (not the genie, the boy) in Morrocco. We caught a glimpse of Snow white and a few dwarves somewhere around Germany, but the line was too long to wait cuz she was leaving. We met Mulan and Mushu in China, and i think that is all the characters we saw that day. But it was enough to get the kids really excited about their autograph books!

Disney days...

Our first day at Disney was actually Saturday night, we got to Orlando early and checked into our condo. (which by the way was SO amazing!) It was townhouse style but bigger, had 4 bedrooms, 3 up one down, 3 bathrooms, marble countertops, tile floors, nice NICE big beds and comfy bedlinens. It was just perfect, honestly! I wanted to move in permanently! It was located only about 10 minutes from the parks... but hidden in a little suburbia just inside city limits.

So the night we got there, we decided we better get our park tickets, so we headed to Downtown Disney, the shopping mecca of the parklands... all kinds of wonderful stores, restraunts and just a taste of what we would see when we got into the parks. As with most things Disney, this shopping mall (think promenade style) was very eclectic, and had a wide range of things to look at... from Ghiardelli chocolates (smelled divine) and coffee shops, little boutiques for clothes, kitchenwares, and lots of "kid" stores related to toys and Disney souveniers, but like most, were not cheapie type things, these were cool.

We walked around and oohed and ahed at all the christmas decor, all the "disney-ed" up stores the way only they can do it... and shopped just a bit

Legoland was a big hit with the kids and we thought that some of the creations were just amazing.. built with LEGOS!

We went into a toystore and they had a Mr Potatohead station where you could build your own... fill up a box of parts for 19.99... so guess what?! We HAD to do that for all 3 kids.. and spent probably an hour building and hunting parts, some you can only get at Disney, mouse ears, all kinds of princess parts and such, that was a blast!!! Then Lucas spotted a build your own lightsaber station, for again 19.99... so he did that! and we just had such a good time there!

We finally get our park tickets, and head back to the condo... to rest up for the next days journey to Epcot.