Merry Christmas!

Hope everyone has a very Merry Christmas today!

Brooke decided to share her flu with us and Matt and I were both half dead yesterday. =P Thankfully we're both feeling a bit better today and should be able to survive the chaos. Our house on the other hand looks like a bomb has gone off!

The kids were up at 6:30am! Drew was so excited that Santa actually came... I think he was a bit worried he might get a bunch of coal since he's a little monster. ;) He quickly opened all his gifts and then ran to go play with all of his old toys. haha Hannah's favorite gift was her new Ipod and she's been uploading new tunes on it most the morning. Brooke loves her new DS and the new American Girl doll stuff.

Tomorrow I will have to hit the after Christmas sales... just doing my part to stimulate the economy. ;)

0

That's how much money I have left after shopping all month...I kid, I kid!

That's the current temperature here. And with the windchill it's -18! OH. MY. HELL!

Even the dog thinks it's too cold... he pisses on the deck and runs right back in. =P

Would anyone like to buy a nice big house in the middle of hell? I think I'm going to go pitch a tent on the beach. ;)

21,000

No that's not how much I've spent shopping this year. lol

That's how many texts Hannah had for the month of November! 21,000 texts! Now keep in mind that for 8 hours a day, 5 days a week she can't even have the phone on. And then she sleeps approx. 8 hours a night! So in those other 8 hours a day she manages to rack up 21,000 texts! THANK GOD for unlimited texting or this little girl would be in a whole heap of trouble! =P

Yes... this is the same kid that has atleast a 100% in all of her classes. She's obviously figured out how to text up to 700 times a day and get her homework and studying done... so no need to interfere at this point.

I guess I should be thankful that she's not gabbing on our phone ALL the time like I always was at this age. It's a good thing my parents couldn't keep track of the minutes I was on the phone... I'm afraid it would be a similar number. And my grades weren't quite near 100%... okay maybe in gym class. lol

Twas the week before Christmas...

and as always I have TONS to do! I said I was going to cut back this year. Each of the kids have coughcoughatleast20giftscoughcough! Um yea... I went a little over board... AGAIN! I just can't help it. The stores keep sending me all these personal invitations to come shop...you know the ones... Dear Jenny, please enjoy 20% off for being one of our top customers! And you know me... I just can't turn down an invitation.. that would be rude! So I just.keep.shopping! But here's where I've gotten myself into trouble.... the kids are done and I just keep adding crap... but I still have another 6 people on my list that I haven't bought for yet. And all of those gifts have to be given on Friday! And you would think by now, that living in Ohio my whole freakin life, that I would know that there's a possibility that we may get bad weather and might be stuck for a few days. But noo.. I've never learned my lesson. So here I am... 2 days before I need these gifts... and we're getting an ice storm! Now typically I don't freak about the weather ( I just bitch about it because.. well I hate Ohio). I know that Clifford ( Matt's HUGE truck ) will get us through a blizzard! But when it comes to ice... Clifford will just go slamming into the tree faster than the others cars. =P I do have the option of crawling over to the Esther Price candy store and getting boxes of that crap if I get desperate enough.

This morning was Drew's Christmas party at preschool. Parents were invited to attend as well. I must say that this was the best preschool Christmas party I've ever been to! Well it's also the only preschool Christmas party I've ever been to because the girls went to the Jewish Center for preschool... poor things thought they were jewish for years! haha Anyways.. they had about 15 different activities set up for the kids. From snowman bingo to making gingerbread houses. Lots of creativity going on! And since they did it all... I now don't feel the need to make the mess at my house. ;) Some of the parents were complaining a little about how chaotic it was in there with so much going on. But I really thought it was quite calm. This tells me something about myself... I must live in complete chaos. lol I apologize to any past or future house guests... you probably think my house is pure nuts. =P Santa was there as well and each kid got to sit on his lap and ask him for something. All the kids asked for something very specific ( transformers, pokemon, polly pockets, etc.). Drew is the youngest by far in the class and simply asked for toys. Santa asked what kind of toys? Drew's response... the kind you play with. Um yea... my 3 year old is a smart ass. I wonder where that comes from?! hehe

I'm hoping to get the girls over to meet Bennett on Thursday. I've tried 3 times now to get over there and every time he's napping. Poor kid is all screwed up with the different time zone here. But he's adjusting well over all so far and is just adorable! He kept smiling at Drew when I took him over there. The girls were at school and are furious that they didn't get to go yet! But between all we have going on with their schedules I can't just hop over there.

Drew is actually sleeping so I think I'm going to sneak to the basement to wrap a bit. Matt and I wrapped for 5 HOURS on Sunday and STILL didn't finish! Like I said... I was cutting back. ;)

Introducing baby Alex

Drew holding Alex




He's only a couple hours old here


I knew that we would be officially welcoming my newest nephew Bennett into the family on December 4th. But I thought we would have a few more weeks before Alex arrived. Apparently he had different plans. :)

Michelle's water broke around 8am December 4th ( Thurs. morning). She went to the hospital and I got up there later that day. I stayed with her throughout the entire labor and delivery. Amazing experience! I must admit though I'm glad I already had my kids... not so sure I would be willing to do it 3 times if I had actually watched when they were being born. lol

He was born at 12:37pm Friday ( Dec. 5th). He weighed 5 lbs. 14 oz. and was 19 inches long. She was only 35 weeks so a nice size baby for that early. Heck my kids were full term and none of them were 19 inches. I have runts though. ;) The dr. said had she gone full term she would've been looking at a 10 pound baby. Ouch!

He's just adorable! Had tons of black hair, blue eyes ( for now anyways). Michelle's chubby cheeks and nose. Ryan's mouth and lips... and obviously his height because that's a pretty long baby for 35 weeks! I put a preemie outfit on him today and he's almost too long for it.

I'll be going to pick them up at the hospital tomorrow to bring them home. I have plenty of room to bring everything home in the van. And of course I 'm volunteering to do just about anything at this point because then maybe I can sneak another holding session in. ;) I just LOVE babies! It's a good thing I had rotten pregnancies and deliveries or I would have 10 kids! of course they grow up and turn in to little monsters though. ;)

Julie and Chris are hoping to maybe get home a little bit earlier this week. I can't wait to meet Bennett for the first time and I just know Drew is going to teach him lots of bad habits. haha And I'm looking forward to Christmas this year to see how much damage he does to everyone's trees. It will be nice to have another kid to blame things on. hehe

I now have an equal amount of nieces and nephews.... 4 of each. It's fun to be an auntie. Spoil them rotten, get them all wound up and then leave! ;)

Lots to catch up on

I was soo busy shopping, decorating and not getting any sleep over the weekend that I never had time to post.

We did a TON of shopping this weekend. Enough that my big walk in closet is now covered in bags. We buy for alot of people so getting out there and getting some great deals was worth not getting ANY sleep Thursday night! Drew had a cold and combined with the fact that he was missing his beloved paci as well... he didn't feel the need to go to sleep until 2 am! Since I had to get up at 2:45 I just gave up going to sleep. We hit Walmart first and it was mass chaos! So much so that I really didn't think risking my 9 year old was worth getting a good deal. So we hardly bought anything. Then I woke Julie up and she came and joined me at Target. I figured if I would've called Michelle she would've thrown me across the room. haha Michelle just doesn't share my enthuiasm for shopping. ;) I did a lot of damage at Target and more at Meijer than I came home. Matt and I alternated between shopping and decorating for Christmas the rest of the day. I was soo ready to go to bed by 6pm but Hannah was having a bunch of friends over that night... ahh yes... a bunch of obnoxious 8th graders was just what I was looking forward to. =P

Saturday was MORE shopping. I really needed to put my house back in order after putting up my 3 big trees plus all my other Christmas crap... but the sales were calling me instead ;)

Sunday I finally have to face my wreck of a house! I got my new advent calendar out. It's a cute little wooden house with 25 doors. I put candy behind each door and apparently "someone" was watching me. Guess who that someone was?! That little shit ate ALL the candy in there. Guess he'll just have to open empty doors now. haha

Now I'm just sitting here anxiously awaiting the arrival of my 2 newest nephews! Julie and Chris are in Vietnam right now and will be meeting Bennett tomorrow! It's really warm and sunny there... soo not fair! =P Drew is fascinated that he's actually going to get to meet this little guy. He hasn't quite understood why he's only seen him in pictures and why there's an adorable room for him but he's not there yet. And I'm betting that baby Alex will be making his arrival by Christmas! By the looks of Michelle's belly... I'm fairly certain she's having a toddler! I've already volunteered to take some night shifts... I'm up anyways with Drew so why not add another one. =P

Happy Thanksgiving

I hope everyone is having a wonderful Thanksgiving today! The last of our guests just left and now I need to finish the kitchen... but I'm procrastinating instead. =P We only had 17 people this year. I'm so used to hosting big crowds that 17 feels like my family with just a few extras.

This is one of my favorite days of the year. Not so much because of the turkey but because of the.... SHOPPING!! Ahh yes... all those fantastic sales that are just calling my name! I spent a good part of yesterday shopping with Hannah at the outlets. Then this morning I went shopping with Drew for about 2 hours inbetween cooking. And tomorrow Brooke and I will be at Walmart at 4am! I find it very important to bond individually with each of my children. What better way to do it then shopping. haha

Last year after only 2 stores we had to come back home and unload the truck and the Envoy! I'm fully prepared to do just as much damage this year too. ;) I just need to sit down and figure out my game plan.

I'll report back tomorrow with all my great finds!!

2 days....2 major events

I'll start with the first one. Drew FINALLY gave up his paci... on his own! I had decided that I would take it away at the start of Christmas break... Dec. 19th. But he had other plans I guess. Last night he took a bunch of his pacis and started cutting the nipples off of them. I about freaked when I saw him do it... because frankly I was tired and I knew that we would have a long night ahead of us if he didn't have a paci. As he was cutting them up he said, " I'm not a baby anymore and I don't need these". Sigh... I know you're not a baby... but you're MY baby.

See... everyone else was bothered by the fact that he still had that damn paci. Frankly... I just didn't care. I took the bottle from him right at a year ( just like all the dr.'s recommend). He was potty trained right on time. And he slept through the night.... oh yeah I forgot.. he STILL doesn't sleep through the night. =P Anyways... his paci just didn't bother me. It was a comfort item to him and to me for that matter. haha I could actually get him to sit for 5 minutes if I gave him that paci. ;) And frankly I was thrilled that he had used a paci and not his thumb ( or his wrist like my silly little nephew :) ). I knew that eventually he would give it up... I just wasn't quite prepared for it to be last night!

So night time rolls around and we begin the 3 hour saga of trying to get to sleep. This poor little guy was MISERABLE... and so was his poor mommy. =P He cried and cried and begged me to pull them out of the trash can and tape them up. Little did he know that I still have a dozen of them hidden! I was soo close to caving and giving to him... but I knew it was time. At one point he begged me to give him my finger. I asked him why... he told me he needed something to chew on. Um yea... not happening. lol I finally got him to sleep by rocking him like an infant... I told you he was still my baby. ;)

He woke up this morning all excited to see what the paci fairy left for him. Brooke had told him last night that he would get a present for giving up his pacis. Oh SHIT! Guess it's time to pull out a christmas gift and plop it on the counter. He happened to run downstairs while I was in the shower and I knew he was going to be one very upset little boy. Instead... he comes running into the bathroom to tell me that the paci fairy left him a Spiderman! Huh? Maybe there really is a paci fairy... and if so maybe there really is a Santa too. In which case... I'm going to save a lot of money this year. lol Then it dawns on me... Matt went into work for a few hours this morning. He confessed that he went to Walmart at 4am to get him a Spiderman. If that's not the sweetest thing ever. :)

Our 2nd major event! Hannah got her braces on today! She insisted on getting the kind where you can get the different colored bands with them.. so right now she has pink bands. =P She definitely looks like quite the teenager with them on. She's not liking them so much right now... but I know from experience that they are sooo worth it in the end! She wanted to eat Skittles today and was none too happy with me when I said no! Talk about wrecking them in no time flat. I just invested 6 THOUSAND DOLLARS in that kid's mouth! Do you know how many Vegas trips I could take for that kind of money? haha She had better take good care of those suckers!!

I think I got it!

After spending entirely too long messing with this damn thing... I think I've figured it out.

Now of course I won't remember how to change it so it will be dots for the next 6 months. lol

Gaah... I've screwed it this thing up!

I'm trying to mess around with some different background and such. So now I have a different background... but don't know how to change the rest of it. lol

So bare with me while I try and figure out how to do all this crap. Not that anyone reads my dumb blog anyways. lol

Mommy, I did the laundry for you!!

Yep... this is what Drew came running to tell me the other day. He was sooo excited that he did the laundry. Which immediately tells me that I probably have a HUGE mess to clean up!

I walk into the laundry room and don't see anything out of the ordinary. Then Drew showed me exactly what he did. He dumped half a bottle of liquid detergent all over the dryer... and all the laundry that was in there. AHHHHH!! I got to spend the next 1/2 hour wiping detergent out of my dryer. Thanks for the help Drew. =P

A new look!

Thanks Sara for changing the background! I had to giggle when I saw it. We all know how much I hate snow.... and I have a whole page of it. lol

And speaking of the dreaded S word.....we're supposed to get some tonight. Blech! Can I just crawl in a hole and not come out til Spring break??

And the quest continues...

I had a meeting with an advisor at Sinclair today to see if they could help me decide what I want to be when I grow up. I've been running a few ideas through my head like Occupational Therapy, Physical Therapy, etc. Turns out all these programs have wait list that are YEARS long and are eventually going to bachelor's degrees anyways. So basically... I could spend 5 years getting an associate only to find out I have to go back for even more! Um no... not happening. =P

So now that I have the whole "I'm going back to school" thing out of my system.. I'm trying to decide what other avenues I might like to explore. I asked the kids at dinner tonight what they thought I would be good at. Hannah thought anything with cleaning would be great...because I obviously must love doing it since I do it so much. Brooke said a school bus driver ( why is it I keep coming back to this haha). But then she recalled the unpleasant event of me ramming Jess's dads truck into our neighbor's mailbox last year even though it had beepers telling me I was too close. She said that back up over small kids might get me in a bit more trouble than it's worth. And my sweet boy said um... you want to get ice cream? Not sure if that means I would be good at scooping ice cream, eating ice cream or what?

So there we have it folks! I'm going to use ALL my talents! I'm going to drive a really clean school bus while eating ice cream! Hell yeah.... if that's not eveyone's dream job!

Okay....

You people suck! I should've known better than to think I could get any actual ideas from you guys. Although I now know what you all think my strong points are...

Jess said: Larry has an open position doing laundry at work.

I can do kick ass laundry.... but damn have you seen the size of some of those women that work the laundry room. Yikes!

Sara said: I'm looking!! Gonna find you something fantastic!

Look a little harder Sara... I've been begging you to find me a job for YEARS now. ;)

Dad said: You can take care IN YOUR HOME,your father as he gets OLDER.fEED HIM,TAKE HIM FISHING and what other fun things he would enjoy. NO MALL SHOPPING PPPPPLEASE!!!!!!

Hmmm...this one might be a possibility. Taking care of Dad all day long. I'll just do the same thing he did to Hannah when he watched her 1 time.... leave her sitting in a poopy diaper for 2 hours and pretend he didn't smell it. lol And I can just leave him in the fishing dept. when I go to Target/ Walmart/Meijer on a daily basis. ;) It would have to be a pretty good hourly rate though!

Julie said: I'm thinking the pageant circuit. You could start training for Mrs. America.

Um yea... that one was quite amusing! Last I checked Mrs. America didn't have boobs down to her knees, drive a minivan and list her volunteer work as wiping poopy butts and runny noses.

Misty said: You can join a direct selling group! ;) No explanation needed. You know what I'm talking about! Hehehe! I will take you on my team! :)

Now Misty... if I start selling what you sell... I'd be giving a whole lot of explanations!! haha

Bill said: You could be one of those sun glass vendors out on the curb at an outlet mall. Who needs sun glasses when it's over cast or you could always go back to being a life guard. At least you'd have the winters off !!!

I think Bill came closest to finding my dream job... a lifeguard again. But sadly I think my butt is just a bit too big to fit in those lifeguard chairs these days. I'm sure with a little grease on the thighs I could get in and out of that chair... but I feel sorry for anyone who has to view that. =P


Thanks guys for giving it a shot. But here I am.... still not sure what I want to be when I grow up. I'm contemplating the idea of going back to school... but only if I can take all online courses... that way Hannah can do the work for me! ;)

When I grow up...

I remember being able to list off a million different ideas of what I wanted to be when I grew up. Most of them involved working with kids... teacher, mom, school bus driver. Yes... I was dying to be a school bus driver! After my 5 year stint of driving a 15 passenger van for the Jewish Center I no longer long to drive an actual school bus. =P I've been a preschool teacher ( closest thing I can do without getting a degree) and I've been a mom for a looong time ( that job has enabled me not to grow up lol )

As Drew is approaching school age I'm debating with myself on a daily basis about what I want to do with the rest of my life. I need some ideas!! I would like to work part-time, on cloudy days only, preferably close to a major shopping mall, flexibile to take off whenever I feel like it. Can you think of any jobs that may apply? haha

Seriously though... I need someone to point me in the right direction.... what do you think I would be good at?

Can't wait to see these responses. ;)

Oh the joy....

of living in Ohio. This lovely picture stared me in the face as I looked at the weather forecast... it shows rain and GASP..... SNOW! Just lovely.... it's not even November yet and we have a chance of snow on the way.

I NEED to move to a warmer climate.... I'm allergic to this crap !

Name my new wheels!

Well I finally decided that it was time to get practical and admit that being comfortable overrides looking cool. ;)

After 2 years of trying my damndest to make the Envoy work for our family... we decided that it just wasn't cutting it. Flipping over seats on a daily basis to buckle kids in carseats is a major pain in the ass. Not to mention that when we're all in there its just not a comfy ride. So I finally gave up and started looking at minivans. I gave Matt a mile long list of things I wanted in it since I'll be driving this van for the next 10 years. =P He was finally able to find a Dodge Grand Caravan with everything I required. It's metallic silver, has power everything ( including all the doors), the seats all fold into the floor, and the coolest feature is the dual dvd players! God forbid if all 3 of my kids can decide on 1 movie to watch to this way they can watch 2 different movies. They don't make them with 3 players... so I'm sure somebody will still whine. =P Brooke thinks the new van is so cool that we should add a toilet and live in it! haha

I haven't actually driven it yet but Matt loves it and can't wait to take it to Disney! He keeps going on and on about all the storage in the floor and how we'll have no problem getting all the luggage in there and won't have to use our dorky luggage carrier. Personally I think we should cram a kid or 2 in the storage and we could have a really peaceful trip. ;)

I haven't come up with a name yet for my new van. We call Matt's truck Clifford since it's big and red. The Envoy... affectionately known as the pain in the ass. lol But I'm stumped on this one. It's definitely a soccer mom car... and to embarass Hannah I'm considering adding the little family people on the back window. haha Shoot me some ideas if you come up with something.



On a side note... I hope you like the splash of color to my blog! I have my SIL Sara to thank for that... she's a bit more computer savvy than me ;)

Mommy..... I watered your flowers!

Drew: Mommy I watered your flowers!

Me: Well that was very nice of you... which ones did you water?

Drew: The ones in your bathroom and on your dresser.

Me: Uh thanks bud.


Just so you know.... those "flowers" aren't real. =P So I now have water running all over my bathroom ( which isn't that big of a deal because it seems like he floods it atleast once a week anyways), my dresser and my nightstand ( he forgot to tell me he watered those too).

Like I've said many many times before... it's a good thing he's my last... or he'd be an only.

Too good to be one of mine!!

See that sweet little face.... for the past 9 days that was ALL mine! This little guy came to stay with us for a week.... we let mom and dad stay too. ;) I was so anxiously awaiting his visit. I got out the high chair, jumperoo, pac n play, toys, blankets, etc.... um yeah... I still haven't gotten rid of any of it. =P I think Robert and Kathy were in the door 5 seconds before I grabbed him.... yep I'm a baby hog! In the time he was here I got to do everything from feed him, bathe him, change big 'ol poopy diapers, take him for walks, rock him and just plain enjoy having a baby in the house.

It's quite obvious he wasn't one of my babies... he was actually quiet in restaurants, slept through the night ( which Drew STILL doesn't do!) and was quite the little shopping buddy. Of course by the end of the week I had somewhat corrupted him. ;) Due to the cold we so graciously shared with him... he had a hard time sleeping. Poor little guy was up every hour on the hour... now that's the kind of baby I'm used to! Kathy and Robert were starting to look a little like I did for the first year of my kids lives by the time they left. =P

They all took off on Sunday for PA. I kept secretly hoping they would leave him behind but damn them being all organized and not forgetting a thing!

And kudos to Kathy and Robert for being able to survive in my crazy loud house for a whole week! I have a feeling they left with a headache, a cold, and the desire to have NO more kids!! haha

My little politician

They had student council elections at Brooke's school yesterday. My shy little Brooke decided she wanted to run because Hannah has always been in it as well. They only pick 2 reps. from each class. I was a little worried about this because she's still new to the school and most the kids in her class in her class don't know her very well.

But apparently she's worked her charm on these kids and has quite the fan base. ;) They were supposed to make posters for the election. Some kid came up with the slogan... Vote for Brooke, she's off the hook! haha These kids went nuts making posters for her and before long her whole classroom was covered in them.

She won the election by a landside... and rumor has it that every single boy voted for her! What are we in for with this little girl? lol

A hurricane in Ohio???

Okay I realized I haven't finished the Disney trip yet... and I think you all lost interest a month ago anyways. haha But I just HAD to post about this!!

We got to feel the effects of Hurricane Ike on Sunday! Now one of the perks (well actually maybe the only one) of living in Ohio is that we don't have hurricanes. Blizzards... check! Tornados... check! Earthquakes....believe it or not..check! But hurricanes.....most definitely not! Until now =P On Sunday we were told that we would have some gusty winds... and as usual our moron weather guys were waay off! We had heavy heavy winds ALL day long! Knocked power out to hundreds of thousands of customers. And we lost our swingset. The wind picked it right up and smashed it against the fence. just lovely! =P Dad's roof had 2 big holes we quickly patched til he can get it fixed and Matt's parents lost a huge tree in their front yard... it's still teetering over their garage. A lot of our family still doesn't have power either. For some reason they haven't asked to come over here yet... might have something to do with the fact that Matt and I both had the flu this weekend. =P

So yes folks.... I have yet one more reason why living in Ohio sucks... as if we needed yet another reason!

Disney Day 8

Jess and Drew in Minnie's house




Larry not following the rules




A float during the Spectromagic parade


Yes... I am slacking... again!! I suck at this whole consecutive blogging thing. =P

Anyways... on to Day 8! And my memory is starting to fail me now that it's been 2 months since we've been home... so maybe just maybe I won't have posts quite as long! lol

Day 8....We're headed back to Magic Kingdom today!

We sleep in a bit because everyone is about ready to keel over! Brooke wants to dress as a princess AGAIN....really getting my money's worth out of this dress! And of course I have to get her hair up back in that same exact hairstyle... good thing she has Matt's thin hair and only has about 50 hairs on her whole head. lol

We arrive around 10 am and quickly realize how much different it is to go into the park an hour after opening! We're parked way in the back and have to ride a tram quite a ways. Hugo is really becoming a pain in the ass on these trams... takes up half the row! I'm starting to notice the stares of others as Hugo takes up the seat they could've had. =P We hop on the monorail after the tram and Drew is in heaven. He thinks this might possibly be THE coolest ride at all of Disney. ;) We make it into the parks and I can't remember for the life of me what we rode first... like you guys care anyways. lol But I can assure you that Matt and Larry started collecting fastpasses! We decided we would take some time and meet some characters today. We went through Mickey and Minnie's house. And then went to the big character tent to meet Mickey and Minnie, Goofy, Pluto and Donald. Wasn't sure how Drew would do as he hasn't been overly fond of these characers up close but he loved them!! Brooke wanted to meet the princesses but the line was super long... no damn fastpasses for that. =P Jess took the kids Mickey ears to get their names embroidered on them... spoiling them just a bit more. ;) And Matt, Drew and I rode It's a small world several times. This is definitely Drew's favorite ride overall! Personally I think it's some sort of chinese torture device... the song just goes on and on and on! I figured we would just ride it once and then go back to the hat shop... but there wasn't a line.. imagine that.. so they said we could go through again and again... lucky us! =P We then proceed to ride a bunch of things we did 2 days before and then we were all so hot and tired that we decided to take a break back at the condo.

We were supposed to have a character dinner at the park tonight but after yesterdays nasty dinner... and finding out that this place has the same exact menu.. we decided to cancel. We ate at the Steakhouse near the condo that we've now been to 3 times! Not my favorite... but it's edible. We got back to the park and used up some of our fastpasses and got a spot for Spectromagic... the nighttime parade that's floats with tons of pretty lights. We're packed in like sardines yet again and it's thundering and lightning and threatening to pour any second! Since Hugo is packed to the gills with all of our stuff... we cover him in the $30 stroller cover I got for him. The rest of us have the 2 for $1 ponchos... sure those are going to keep us dry. lol I figured the threatening skies would encourage people to get the hell out of there... but nope... apparently there's lots of morons just like us! haha Some lady is yelling because she and her kids can't see... well look dearie.. get your ass here an hour before like we did and you'll get a good spot! Nothing like a little Disney spirit there heh? lol The parade was really neat and the kids really enjoyed it! And luckily... we didn't get rained on! I tried to get everyone to stay for the fireworks that were afterwards... as that's what I had written on my notecard lol... but they were all party poopers and wanted to go home. And since we were staying offsite... I didn't have the option of keeping a kid or 2 and staying behind... damn!

We get back to the condo and pretty sure we were all out within 5 minutes!

Next up: Animal Kingdom and Chef Mickey's.

ETA~ When we went back to the park in the evening we had a whole monorail car to ourselves. Jess and Larry took it upon themselves to act like monkeys and hang and swing from the safety bars. They're such a wonderful influence on my kids. haha

Disney Day 7!!

The Sorcerer's hat at Disney Studios




Beauty and the Beast show




I think I'm going to shape all my bushes to look like this. LOL




Hannah and Larry during the fireworks


I apologize in the delay of my trip report.... school started which always throws me for a loop the first couple weeks.

So onto day 7....

Today is the 4th of July! This is one of my favorite holidays.... basically because it's one of the few holidays where it's actually warm in Ohio. lol Disney is expecting record crowds today so we're opting to do Hollywood Studios today ( formerly known as MGM studios).

After our long day yesterday we're having a bit of a hard time getting the kids moving this morning. Fortunately it won't take long to get them ready because we don't have to bother with hair... their hairstyles from the boutique and the barbershop lasts for a couple days. How Brooke ever slept with her hair pulled that tight is beyond me.. but she was insistent on being a princess again today. :) My bed is covered in blue paint from Drew.... spoiled monster is loving sharing a bed with us everynight. haha

Finally get moving and into Hollywood studios. They let you in the entrance and then hold you on the main walkway. There is NO shade at this park! So there we stand... with several thousand other people... sweating our asses off! My little notecard says that we must hit Toy Story Mania first. This is a brand new ride and has had wait times up to 4 hours!! No way in hell am I waiting 4 hours for that!! But everyone else thought it was a better idea to head to Tower of terror and Rock N Rollercoaster first. Okay... but it's not on the notecard that way. =P They drop the rope and Matt and Larry run to get fastpasses for them. Jess, the kids and I get a few pics taken along the way.... we're starting to look as if these kids don't have a father in our pics. haha We get to Tower of terror and I wait with the kids while the 3 of them ride. During this time Hannah's having a "teen attitude" moment, Brooke is complaining about how her princess dress is itchy and Drew... well he was just being god awful! Surely the 6 hours of sleep after 14 hours at the park the day before should've been enough. =P He was throwing fit after fit... you know the kind where people are looking at you saying my god I would NEVER let my kid act like that! Um yea....I've been that mom too. But now I'm the mom trying my best to deal with the out of control child without beating him to a pulp. =P he threw himself on the ground and when I tried to pick him up he bucked and I hit my back on a cement bench....ahh this is going well! haha As soon as the others get out of the ride they want to ride the coaster. Knowing I'm not going to last another wait in the hot sun with my 3 crabs.. I tell them we're going to go walk around the park a bit and we'll meet up as soon as they're done.

I head with the kids to find something to do for a few minutes and Drew is just not a happy boy this morning. One crying spell after another. :( A guy looks at me and says this is the happiest place on earth. Um yea... screw you. ;) Larry then calls me to let me know they won dream fastpasses... okay very cool! This will allow us to double up on fastpasses all day long! And then he tells me that they got more fastpasses for the tower and the coaster. And here comes the fit of ALL fits... given by me! haha What do you mean you got MORE fastpasses??!! That is sooo NOT on my notecards! We are supposed to be getting them for Toy Story.... which Drew can actually ride! Not more damn rides that we're going to be waiting with him while others ride! After the wait I've had so far this morning with him... no way in hell is he going to make it through much more of this! Do they not understand they need to follow MY plan! Damn fools. =P By the time we all meet up I am not a happy camper because we will have to wait another 2 hours before we can get our next set of fastpasses! Grrr! We stand out in the blazing sun ( remember no shade at this park) and Matt and I have a few "words". haha I've been watching couples argue all week in Disney and thinking to myself how could they possibly be standing in Disneyworld having an argument over something that's probably so stupid... and here we are. lol I realize that it's okay to deviate from the plan just a little bit... but it better not happen again. lol

We head to a show to get inside for a bit to cool off... I'm pretty sure it's 115 degrees by now! We see Playhouse Disney and Drew is in love! He loves this show and stands the whole time dancing and clapping away. Brooke even thought it was cute. Hannah... well she was just glad that she didn't know anyone there... she would just die if her friends knew she saw that. haha

We then go to see Lights, Motor, Action. It's a car stunt show that Larry's been talking about for 2 years! It's getting close to lunch time and we're all starving so I buy $30 worth of snacks to get us through the show....nothing like soggy pretzels, chips and popcorn for lunch. haha The show is awesome and Drew is just mesmerized with the cool cars. Larry has decided he's found his calling in life... a stunt car driver. Not so sure about that though Lar... I think they have to know how to parallel park. hehe There's fire in this show... so the temp in the arena is approx. 140 degrees! Pretty sure the rubber on the bottoms of our shoes in melting to the stands. =P

We walk around for a bit afterwards... and once again can't find an ounce of shade! OMG.... it's unbearably hot today! We're dousing ourselves with $2 a piece water bottles just trying to stay cool! We finally get to ride Toy Story Mania... very cool ride! Wait time was several hours long... but with the fastpasses... we're only in line about 10 minutes!!

We then head to watch Beauty and the Beast. They have a quartet called 4 for a dollar that sings beforehand.... very neat! Larry misses most of it because he's out getting McDonalds fries... the soggy pretzels just aren't holding us over til dinner. =P The beauty and the beast show was awesome and I could see Brooke eyeing Belle's costume. Look girlie... you're NOT getting another $70 dress today. lol This show is also outside though... so once again we're nearing 140 degrees!

Jess talks Hannah and I into riding the Tower of Terror so we head back over that way. I will ride anything.... but I HATE free falls! Especially this one... because the ride is different each time! Larry rides with us as well. THe queue for this is very neat and I'm glad that I rode it. but once was enough. haha Also rode Rock N Rollecoaster using the fastpasses Matt got earlier without my permission. lol This coaster runs to Aerosmith music which I love so pretty cool ride! Matt wants to ride them again so Larry, Brooke, Drew and I head to see the afternoon parade. This parade isn't your typical parade. It stops and does a whole show in front of you. So depending on where you're standing everyone gets to see something different. We had characters from It's a Bugs Life in front of us as well as the army men from Toy Story. These guys were going nuts over Drew and his blue mohawk! They kept pulling him out in the street to be a part of the parade! He was adorable playing along with them.

It's now time for our first sit down dinner of the week.... Hollywood and Vine. It's a dinner buffet. We've really been looking forward to this. On the menu is Prime Rib which is one of Matt's favorites!! We're all starving by this point since we relaly never ate lunch. We anxiously fill our plates and start eating away. I immediately don't like the food... but since I'm the world's pickiest eater this comes as no surprise. Matt's not much caring for his either.... he also can be a bit picky at times. But Larry... who is the human garbage disposal... is hardly eating anything. That's when I knew it sucked! Drew by this point is sound asleep on my lap. Since it's air conditioned in there and we've now paid $150 for a meal we don't like... we decide to atleast get our moneys worth in air conditioning. =P They did have a decent dessert bar... so once again... we're surviving on pure sugar. lol

After dinner we ride a few more rides and see the Indiana Jones show. I really had no desire to see this show but everyone else did. Glad they talked me into it as it was a really neat show!! Very loud with lots of fire, etc. Once again Drew amazed me with how well he deals with all of this!! Not scared at all!

We decide not to spend 2 hours staking out our spot for the fireworks tonight. Since we got to see such an awesome display last night we'll just stop wherever we are and watch them. The kids were all pretty tired by this point... hell so were the adults!! We ended up having to kind of watch them through some trees... but still got to see them.

Since we ate at Hollywood & Vine ( if you can call it eating =P) we get reserved seats for the Fantasmic show. Turns out this was a very good thing! We get to the show 1 1/2 hours before it starts and it's already at standing room only!! People have been waiting up to 4 hours to get into this!! It's a 25 minute show morons!! We walk right in with our little pass and get our seats. Everyone is starving again... the $150 dessert just isn't holding us over. lol So I head off to stand in the hour long line for popcorn!! Who knew you could spend 2 weeks living off rice krispy treats and popcorn!! And do you see a pattern here...I tend to be the one volunteering to stand in these long ass lines for snacks....why you ask?... because it gives me a break from the kids. haha Of course while they're all sitting my feet feel like they're going to fall off!! Anyways... when I return with the snacks I see that the kids are wearing yet another new souvenier.... Jess "the sucker" has bought them more stuff! Red,white and blue star necklaces that light up. Very cool but good lord these kids are spoiled!! We realize that we're now packed in like sardines and if we don't figure out an exit strategy we're going to be stuck like last night.... shuffling like little old ladies trying to get out of there! Matt decides that he will go get Hugo about 5 minutes before the show ends and meet us at the exit of the park. The show has a lot of the villians from the Disney movies in it. Brooke was a little scared at one point... but Drew once again was just fine. Since I ruined it for myself and watched it on youtube beforehand... I knew exactly when it was going to end. With about 2 minutes to go we all bolted out of there. Larry has Brooke on his shoulders, Jess was carrying Drew.... ahh I love this idea of others lugging my kids around. haha We were actually able to get right out of there and out to the car... thank god! We were all sooo tired by this point!

We head back to the condo and I being the mean mommy that I am... make my kids take a bath. Oh the horror! lol Drew turns the whole tub blue with all the paint that was in his hair. Hannah has a ton of hair and could hardly get hers undone! And Brooke... well she was enjoying being a princess so much that she didn't want to dare wash her hair. Um yea... she was starting to look ( and act) like one of the wicked stepsisters at this point! haha She was so exhausted that she just didn't know what to do with herself. She just kept falling apart and even all the bribes in the world couldn't making her happy. I think Jess and Larry were contemplating never having kids by this point. =P She finally dozed off after I promised to get her all done up the following day. :)

Tomorrow we return to the Magic Kingdom for another full day of fun!!

Disney Day 6!!

The first of Jess's overindulging!!




My little princess




My divine diva




My cool little dude!!




In front of the castle.. all done up :)




Fireworks... obviously =P


Even though Jess, Larry and Matt got just a few hours of sleep last night... they're all ready to go by 7:45am! The kids were really excited to see them. Matt and I were excited because we had some extra hands. LOL Plan today is rode drop at Magic Kingdom. Since we've taken Disney transportation all the previous days... this is the first time we will be driving to the park. Very easy to navigate... and when you drive to Magic Kingdom you get to ride either the monorail or the ferry to get to the actual entrance. Drew thought the monorail was the coolest thing ever!!

Now Jess has a habit of over indulging the kids too much.... and I knew Disney would be no exception!! We weren't even into the park yet and she was already buying them stuff. lol She bought them their Mickey ears. They got a big kick out of the rope drop ceremony but couldn't believe how crowded it was! It's July 3rd... and they are expecting record breaking crowds today! I give Jess and Larry the low down on how we will casually make our way around the park... yea right! haha They vacation with us frequently so they're well aware that we will push them to the limits...of all the people we've vacationed with... they're the only ones who have actually been willing to go on another trip. lol Anyways... Matt and Larry are going to get started with the fastpasses and Jess, the kids and I will start towards fantasyland. Rope drops and the guys are gone and we run from the entrance all the way to Dumbo. Jess looks at me and says please tell me we aren't moving this fast ALL day... nah... just for the next few hours. haha We pretty much follow the same tour we did our first day there and since this is Jess's first ever trip to Disney she's in awe over everything... too bad we're moving so damn fast she isn't getting a chance to take it all in. lol

Guys make it back to join us and they were given "No Stampeding" cards....something the employees give you if they see you pushing your way through... meant to be funny... but serious at the same time. Of course the guys think these things are cool... and now they'll be trying to get them again all week. haha We make our way around Fantasyland and end with the teacups.... Matt and Jess both get major motion sickness as does Hannah. So they all ride together along with Drew so they can have a mellow ride. Larry makes it his mission to see just how fast we can make that damn cup turn! Now typically spinning doesn't bother me... but he would spin it really fast one way then stop it... and spin it really fast the other way. Um yea... I was a bit green getting off that ride!

Next stop is Splash Mountain. On the way over Larry sees that there's no line for Haunted Mansion and doesn't understand why we're not stopping to go in. Look boy... do NOT question what the index cards say. lol Just follow my plan and no one will get hurt! We ride the mountains, Pirates of the Carribean and then by this time we're all getting a bit hungry. Jess is just about as picky as I am when it comes to food so I know she's not going to much care for it either... but atleast we have those Rice Krispy treats and funnel cakes to fall back on. lol

Our original plan was to eat lunch and then go back to the resort for a while. But we see the crowds and realize that if we leave... we may not be able to get in. And we have something VERY special planned for the girls in a few hours that we have to be back for. So we decide to stay.... even though everyone is already wiped out. We'll take it a little slower for the rest of the day though!!

We ride Space Mountain, Buzz Lightyear and a few others... and then it's time! Time to tell Brooke about her big surprise!! We told Hannah about it months ago.. but decided we would surprise Brooke. The girls are going to get their hair done at Bippity Boppity Boutique!! She's been admiring these girls all week walking around with their fancy hair do's. And some of them have these fancy princess dresses on too. The Boutique was a gift from Jess... see what I said about over indulging. lol Matt was a big sucker too and told me to go ahead and get her the Cinderella dress. Seriously... that little dress is $70 freakin bucks!.... the jewish in me was definitely coming out. haha But Matt made a very good point... we've spent thousands on this trip.... what's a mere $70 bucks! lol So Brooke is about to be completely transformed into a princess! The ladies that do their hair are called Fairy Godmothers. The girls pick their hairstyles... Brooke a princess ( of course) and Hannah a Diva. They do their hair and then they also get make up and their nails painted. They looked adorable afterwards!! Matt was pretty floored by how grown up they looked when they came out... I can see future issues when them on prom nights.... daddy is NOT going to be happy with his little girls looking like grown women! ;)

While we were in BBB... Matt and Larry took Drew to the barbershop for a hairdo all of his own. He got a blue mohawk with a mickey head in the back. Definitely the cool dude look! Matt contemplated getting him an actual mohawk while he was in there... but was afraid I would freak. lol Unfortuantely.. they were typical guys... and didn't take one damn picture of him getting it done despite the fact that we sent them with a freakin camera! Grrr!

We took TONS of pictures of the 3 of them all done up... and people were oohing and ahhing over them :) And the attention Brooke got being all dressed up like a princess... let's just say it was unbelieveable! I think the employees are trained to really indulge these little girls... so you'll turn around the next day and spend all this money to do it all over again. haha Everywhere we turned we would hear them say "Hi princess". On Space Mountain the employees asked her if she wanted to start the ride. An employee on the tomorrowland bridge came up to her and gave her a royal bow and then kissed her on the hand... of course she promptly said yuck. lol She's such a 9 year old... boys are still yucky to her. ;) Typically Brooke is pretty shy... but she quickly warmed up to all this attention and was loving EVERY. SINGLE. MINUTE!! I have to say we really felt that Disney magic that night!!

Disney does amazing fireworks for the 4th of July... and at Magic Kingdom they do the show on the 3rd as well. Because it's ungodly crowded I know that we need to get our viewing spot about 2 hours before hand! I was prepared and had beach towels for us to sit on. We took turns with 2 adults sitting with Drew while 2 others would take the girls to go ride things using fastpasses. Once again those fastpasses are like gold! Waits for rides were running 2 hours or more... and we were just walking right on with our fastpass! Why people don't learn how to use these damn things is beyond me! But hey... that just leaves more for me to use! haha I had brought stickers and markers for Drew to play with while we sat... and he was so content being in the middle of Disney World coloring away. :) About an hour beforehand it was getting unbelieveably packed so we had everyone take a seat at our perfect viewing spot. I got in line to get us popcorn... not knowing I would stand there for 45 minutes... for freakin popcorn!

Fireworks were the most amazing I have EVER seen! Now I've really only seen them here in Englewood and Vandalia... so I don't have much to compare them to. lol But people were in tears with how unbelieveable they were... of course I wasn't one of those people. As you know... I am sooo not a crier... let alone crying over explosives. =P They're lit off right behind the castle... and the castle was constantly changing colors... so cool! And the music they played along with it was perfect! The only music I've ever really heard with fireworks was someone blaring Motley Crue out of their trunks speakers once. lol Never realized how cool that could be to have it all syncronized like that... okay I obviously live in a hole. ;)

Now getting out of there is going to be a bit of a challenge. It is wall to wall people! I have never in my life been in a crowd like that! Jess made this little sling type wrap thing to carry Drew in... so she put him in that. He loved it... probably because he was smashed up against her boobs... and well... he loves boobs! ;) Brooke really wanted to just sit in the stroller but she was getting hit in the face by other kids that were being carried so we had to put her on Larry's shoulders. Matt shoved the stroller through which was no easy feat...once again he was cussing me out for bringing Hugo. lol And Hannah and I just shuffled along behind everyone holding on for dear life. And I seriously mean we shuffled. There was NO walking! And this went on ALL the way out of the park! Jess... who is claustrophobic at times... did unbelieveably well getting out of there... I'm sure Drew massing her boobs the whole time helped relax her. haha

We hop on the monorail... once again Drew's loving it! And then head to the parking lot trams! OMG... the crowds are ungodly here too! And since there's 7 of us... it's a bit hard to get 2 whole rows in order for all of us to ride at the same time. Well actually I should count us as 8... because Hugo takes up a TON of room! We finally get on a tram and realize there's just enough room for all of us... except me! I was at the end of the line. Matt was holding Hugo so I couldn't hop on his lap. Jess has Drew on hers and of course I can't sit on the girls. No way in hell was I waiting for the next tram... so I jumped on Larry's lap and off we went. Poor Larry... he had to suffer the consequences of me eating all those Rice Kripsy treats all week. haha

We head back to the condo and we are all just beyond exhausted! The kids go right to sleep but the 4 of us sat up for a bit and chatted for a while. We all agree that the BBB and the Cinderella dress was worth every single penny! Every little girl needs to be a princess at some point in their life :) The kids all went to sleep with their hairdo's still in.... hoping to get to walk around the parks getting all the attention again tomorrow. ;)

Next up....Disney Studios.... 4th of July!!

Disney.... Day 5!

The kids with Buzz Lightyear.... Drew thought he was pretty cool :)




The kids with a dragon made entirely of Legos... somebosy has a damn cool job there!!


Today we have to switch resorts and aren't going to go to any parks. So we are letting everyone sleep in. Of course I woke up bright and early anyways. I walked around the resort and took some awesome pictures. And then just sat outside our room... ate my breakfast ( not going to even tell you what that was lol) and then added up all the receipts from everything we had eaten and bought so far. Holy shit! Why did I do that? =P And here I thought we had been pretty conserative in our spending so far. haha

Once the fam FINALLY decided to get up I suggested the kids go swimming so Matt and I could take turns packing up the room. Fortunately the pool was pretty much right outside our room. I thought this shouldn't be too hard. I hadn't really unpacked the suitcases since there wasn't any room to put all of it anyways. What I had forgotten was that somehow we now had to fit that HUGE box of crap I mailed down there! We rented a van but no way was that box going to fit in there along with everything else! And we also had a good 6 loads of dirty laundry by this point. Now y Type A personality would've typically taken forever to pack everything up and amde sure it was doe just right... but I finally said screw it and let Matt take over. Those of you that know me well.... you know that I don't give up control easily. lol So this was a HUGE step for me. haha But I had shopping to look forward to and I knew Matt was going to get it done a hell of a lot faster than I was. So I watched the kids at the pool while Matt dumped stuff in bag after bag and shoved it all in the van. =P

The kids were a bit bummed about having to leave Pop Century with all it's huge icons, hippy dippy pool.... and all the other fun things they had there. And I'll admit I was sad to have to leave the free refills at the Coke machine and the ease of getting a Rice Krispy treat whenever I wanted. lol But I was ready to get out of the 1 room we had been sharing for nearly a week...that's enough togetherness to last me a while. lol

We head to Downtown Disney and this place is Matt's worst nightmare. haha Not only does this man hate to shop... he also can't stand having to chase after Drew while I shop. =P We pick up McDonalds there for lunch.... FINALLY a decent meal. Normally I don't much care for McD's... but after some of the crap I've eaten the last week this stuff tastes like Gourmet! lol There wasn't a table inside big enough for all of us to sit at so we had to eat outside. Not big deal... it's in the shade. WRONG! They have these birds who are a little human friendly and have no problem swiping food right out of your hands. Seriously! Drew was sitting there with his cheeseburger in his hand and a bird came right up and took it. Which he found hilarious. So he then proceeds to feed them all his fries. by this point I feel like we're in that Alfred Hitchcock movie " The Birds". We are being swarmed by these damn birds!! And when you have birds... with them comes lots of bird shit! Fabulous! I can't tell what's mayonaisse and what's not. =P There goes my gourmet meal. lol

We hit the shops and Drew... who has been a really good kid all week decides that today is the day he will grow his little devil horns! He wants nothing to do with sitting in the stroller or holding onto the stroller. All he wants to do is destroy these stores as fast as possible. ....and he's doing a pretty damn good job. lol The girls and I are finding quite a few things but Matt is beyond done by this point and is heading to the car with or without us... can't say that I blame him. haha

So shopping didn't go quite as planned but we'll be coming back later in the week. :) We head to the new resort.... Windsor Hills. This resort is considered offsite since it's not Disney owned... but technically it's closer than Pop Century is. The condo is really nice with 3 bedrooms, 2 full baths, a kitchen ( which I am NOT cooking in!!) and a washer and dryer.... desperately needed at this point! It's so nice to be able to finally unpack our suitcases all the way! And what a mess they are! Matt did a fabulous job of getting everything in them.... but we had to completely dump all of them to find anything. Yep.... in 5 seconds we have completely destroyed this condo.... a new record for my family. lol We get everything organized and get the laundry going and we head to Walmart.

The Walmart trip deserves it's very own paragraph! Drew is sound asleep in the car at this point so Matt drops the girls and I off at the door. Never did I imagine I would need a freakin bodyguard in this place! We walk in and I immediately have culture shock! I'm definitely one of the few English speaking people in this place. Which is no big deal... except there are numerous people screaming at each other at the top of their lungs, pushing and shoving their way through, etc. and I have NO idea what they're yelling at me. Yea... me taking German in high school isn't doing me much good at this point! lol I tell the girls to hold on tight and do not make eye contact with anyone and we'll go through as fast as we can! We grab the few things we need and then head to the check out... at which point I realize I forgot milk... no way in hell am I going back through that mess! We'll find someplace else to stop on the way back! As we head out of the store there's 2 guys ready to have it out right by us... and 4 girls that looked like they could've easily kicked all of their asses. lol I didn't think it was possible for my girls to learn any new cuss words at this point but guess I was wrong. =P My god... now I realize why Disney wants you to stay on Disney. LOL

We grab a quick dinner and head back to the condo. Matt has talked Larry and Jess into taking an earlier flight which was supposed to get them in by 11pm. Turns out it ends up being delayed and they don't get in until 2 am! They are going to be a bit wiped out tomorrow when they realize we'll be at the park from open to close!

Next up.... Magic Kingdom with Larry and Jess on their first day!!

Disney... Day 4!!

Drew at the fountains... love this pic :)


Matt and the kids on some big dinosaur.




The girls with Chip.. or Dale... not sure which




Drew with his little girlfriend. :)


Today is Animal Kingdom. This is the park I am least looking forward to. I HATE the zoo... and I'm a bit worried this is just a glorified zoo. =P

Our plan is once again waking up early and getting there when the park opens. Everyone wakes up pretty well and we have our room service breakfast... donuts again. lol This time we added a little juice because I'm starting to feel guilty at all the crap I've let these kids eat. =P

Hop on the bus... no problems this morning. And arrive at the park. I tell Matt that I have a "secret" entrance into the park that not too many people know about. This will allow us to be ahead of all the crowds. There's a Rainforest Cafe that opens right into Animal Kingdom. He of course is skeptical that we won't be able to get through that way but since all my other plans have worked out so well he's willing to try it. We get there and there's only a couple other families there. Start talking to them and discover they were subscribers to the same VIP site I was. And here Matt thought I was the only nut who did this. lol This one lady's husband admired my little notecards and turned around and told his wife she needed to do it my way. Apparently they had been carrying around this HUGE binder of info all week... which he looked none too thrilled about. haha Anyways... so they open the doors about 15 minutes before the rest of the park can get in and we walk right in. Then we had to go stand where they have the actual rope drop... where you can go further into the park. Since we went through that secret entrance we were at the very front...awesome! Matt and Hannah are going to be riding Expedition Everest and Brooke, Drew and I will go get fastpasses for the Safari. Now this park is HUGE and the amount of walking you have to do is unreal! Add to it the fact that it's 400 degrees hotter than the other parks because of all the plants and trees that they have for all the animals! Ropde drops and once again we are stuck in the middle of a herd of cattle. AND we have to go uphill the whole way to get there! And this is when Brooke falls apart... I sooo knew it was coming! lol She tells me she can't walk anymore.. it's too hot... she's too tired... take Drew out of the stroller so I can sit... or push us both... are you freaking kidding me! It's all I can do to push Drew and Hugo... let alone add her to the mix! So I start making all kinds of bribes... I'll buy you ice cream... a toy... hell I'll pay you just to get where we need to go. But she's NOT having it! And here we are... stuck in the middle of a thousand people who are all trying to get to the same place. =P Ahhh. this is such a relaxing vacation. lol

We finally get the fastpasses and then have to walk ALL the way over to the other side of the park to get back to Matt and Hannah. Matt calls me and tells me to hurry so I can ride the roller coaster right away too. Um yea...not happening! As much as I love roller coasters.... there is no way in hell I'm hauling ass yet again in this ungodly heat! And Brooke is finally settled down again and god knows we don't want to repeat that little scene! So we took our time and stopped to smell the roses... or was it elephant shit? lol We see a few different kinds of birds along the way and of course Brooke asks me what they are. Um..not a clue! Then this cast member hears her and stops to tell Brooke all about the birds. OMG... I should've just told her they were vulchers and been done with that. But nooo... we have to listen to this lady go on and on about what they are, how long they live, where they're from... did I tell you I hate the zoo! =P Seriously... my idea of hell is having to work at the zoo! We finally break free of this woman... thank you Drew... he no longer wanted to hear this lady talk. lol

We all meet up in Dinoland and ride a few rides. Drew can only ride a few things here so he wants to ride this ride that goes round and round 15 times! Since there's no wait they let us ride as many times as we want. Now normally spinning rides never bother me... but at this point I'm about to hurl. =P We then go play at the boneyard... which is basically a glorified playground that's about 150 degrees! We've already gone through $10 in water and it's only 9:30!

We head back across the park to ride the Safari. This is really cool... if you're into animals. It's basically like an African Safari... and I promptly tell the kids this is the closest they will ever get to Africa! No way in hell will you ever find me paying that kind of money to chase a bunch of zebras. =P On our little safari we see elephants, rhinos, giraffes, hippos, ostrichs, crocodiles,flamingos, tigers, wildabeast...can't remember what else. This is definitely my way of touring a zoo. Sit in a little jeep for 20 minutes and see it all! lol

We then see the Lion King show... best show ever! It's a long show and Drew was just mesmerized the whole time! Hannah got pulled up to be a part of the show for a few minutes... the rest of the kids were all really young so she was so embarrassed... she's definitely a teenager. =P

We ate a quick lunch ... pizza which wasn't terrible but definitely not my favorite. And then headed over to the water ride.. Kali River Rapids. Drew just misses the height requirement so I go to find us a shady spot to wait in and Drew enounters a fountain along the way... and in he goes! It took them about 20 minutes to ride and in that 20 minutes Drew had a blast! He decided his clothes were weighing him down since they were soaked so he took them off... right there... underwear and all ! People were cracking up... and I'll admit so was I. :) He didn't quite understand why he had to put atleast his shorts back on. lol

After that we did a few more rides and then decided if we didn't all want to have heat stroke we needed to get the hell out of there! And since I didn't get to ride the water ride... or run through a fountain naked ;)... I was complaining about how hot I was. So Matt decided to cool me off and dump an entire water bottle on me! OMG... do you have any idea how long it will take this padded bra to dry! lol

I've decided that I definitely like Animal Kingdom more than the zoo.. but it's not my favorite park by any means. Maybe if they could air condition it and add a few more coasters I would enjoy it more. lol

We head back to the resort, shower and change and decide to head offsite for dinner. The kids choose Golden Corral. Can't be too bad right? Wrong! Obviously Florida doesn't have health codes... because this place is sick! Flies everywhere... I kid you not! Food clearly isn't cooked properly and the ice cream is green! So we paid $65 for dinner that no one ate. Thank god they have those Rice Krispy treats back at the resort. lol

Since we don't have to get up early tomorrow... not doing any parks... we decide to let the kids stay up late and swim. Drew and I seek out to find the fountains because he seems to really love playing in them. We get there and immediately this little girl befriends him. Drew of course is showing off for her.. typical boy. lol She follows him all over the place and Drew's loving every minute of it. Another little girl comes up and wants to play with Drew too... but the first little girl tells her she can't play because " he's mine!". Fabulous... he's 3 year old and already taken. lol We then head back over to the pool after hid "girlfriend" leaves and he gets in with the girls. All 3 of them play for over an hour... passing a beach ball back and forth, diving for toys, catching Drew as he jumps in, etc. Matt and I sit on the side and relish in the fact that for the first time ever the 3 of them are getting along AND enjoying it! lol We didn't go back to the room until after 11pm! Showered.. which this whole business of 5 people and 1 shower si geting to be annoying lol .. and then hit the food court for a snack... aka dinner. lol

Tomorrow we have to switch resorts... I just can't wait to clean up all this mess! =P And we're hitting Downtown Disney for some serious shopping! Matt is already dreading the shopping....

Disney.... Day 3!

The kids in front of the Nemo ride




Room is already trashed and we've only been there 2 nights! I refuse to clean it since I'm on vacation too! I just continue to top the maid really well. LOL


Didn't realize how many people were actually reading this until I started getting emails asking me when I was going to write another post..... glad my family has given you a little cheap entertainment. haha

Okay.. so day 3! Epcot! Matt has really been looking forward to going to this park!

We start the morning off at about 6:30 again... except this time the kids aren't getting up quite so willingly. A few little threats of ice cold water on them took care of that problem though. ;) Matt decided we would eat a quick breakfast in the room today as opposed to eating at the bus stop. Today's menu.... Entemann's donut holes and Coke. A nice jolt of sugar will help anyone get going. lol

We made our way to the bus stop just as the bus is getting ready to pull away. We don't want to have to wait another 20 minutes for the next bus to we haul ass! Now if we just had to worry about getting ourselves on the bus then this wouldn't be too hard. But remember .... I have that big ass stroller ( I think we'll name it Hugo), a big bag full of crap, water bottles, etc. Everything has to be taken out of the stroller in order for Matt to fold it up. And once again... the girls have Gumby arms... why does this keep happening?! So I've got Drew in 1 arm and mountains of shit in the other. Matt's trying to haul Hugo up the steps and the girls... well since we're in Disney I'll just call them little princesses. =P We make it on the bus though.. and off we go! I'm really enjoying this letting someone else chauffer us... even if I am standing, holding a 35 pound kid!

We arrive and once again I see that people must just camp out the night before to be at the very front. Not too worried though because yesterday we made it through just fine. Matt and I go over our plan for rope drop.. he heads to Soarin to get fastpasses and I trek it to Nemo with the kids. No problem! Matt shimmies his way to the front again and I'm getting more and more squished! Drew decides he doesn't want to sit in the stroller... uh sorry kiddo... they're are thousands of people practically standing on top of us and I'm by myself! The girls are starting to get a bit nervous with not being able to move. I reassure them that this will be just like yesterday and when they drop the rope... the crowd will spread out and we'll have plenty of room. Rope drops... Matt's gone... and why the hell aren't these %*#&@ people moving out of my way! I clearly see it's time for me to take matters into my own hands. To hell with being nice! I quickly learned the art of ramming my stroller into the back of people's heels! For some reason.. it makes them move every time! lol Unfortunately the asses behind us are doing the same thing. =P And don't even get me started on everyone riding those damn electric scooters. Brooke's screaming at me to let this lady on a scooter go ahead of me... over my dead body! That woman has run over my foot 5 times in the last 2 minutes... no way in hell is she going to get to Nemo before I am! haha We finally make it to Nemo without any major bruises... unless you count the people's ankles in front of our stroller. lol

Drew goes nuts the second we get to Nemo! This is one of his favorite characters! I let him climb on the fish statues outside the ride.. which I'm sure you aren't supposed to do. =P But it turns out... I could've taken a little more time getting there. haha The soarin fastpass machine is pretty far into the park.. and although Matt was the first one there.. again!... it took him a little while to get all the way back to us. We all ride Nemo ( very cute!) and then see Turtle Talk with Crush.. cool show but way over Drew's head. We then make it over to see Figment and Honey i shrunk the audience... both over Drew's head as well. We take our turns riding Soarin... and Drew has officially decided he hates Epcot! The only thing he's liked so far ( and understood) is Nemo. And he's going ot let us know how unhappy he is with being "stuck" at Epcot. Let the tantrums begin. lol Over the next 2 hours we continue to ride things that he doesn't understand and continue to take turns riding things he isn't big enough for...thus him having to wait an awfully long time for both matt and I to take a turn. We eat lunch... my god is all the food the same in Disney =P And then try to fit in one more ride before we leave for break. This one wasn't on my little notecard to ride at this time... and we now know why! This was the longest we waited the entire trip! Half the line is in the blazing sun... which is so unlike Disney... they usually do a very good job of keeping you in the shade or a/c. Drew is DONE! DONE! DONE! at this point! He proceeds to spend the next 1/2 hour letting everyone in line know that he is DONE! Yes folks... we were THAT family... you know the ones with the crying screaming kid that just can't be controlled, consoled, whatever. =P We enjoyed a full 1/2 hour of evil stares. People thinking to themself that if this was their child they would spank them, or leave, or whatever. I was more than willing to let some of these "perfect" parents try their luck with him... but for some reason no one volunteered. lol We finally make it on the ride.. Matt looks at me and says "we'll stick with the plan". haha

We leave after that and make our way back to the resort for a much needed swim and rest! After swimming for a bit Matt and I decide that since Drew despises Epcot so much..he would head back with the girls and I would stay with Drew for a while to hopefully get a nap in... yea right. lol He takes Hugo with him so I don't have to try and hold Drew and that big old thing at the same time! nice thing about Disney is you can leave stuff sitting around for hours and no one bothers it! Kings Island that crap would be gone in no time! =P I swim with Drew for quite a while and he has so much fun just tossing a beach ball back and forth. I can't believe this is the same child that grew devil horns just a few hours ago. =P I tried to get him to nap but he was more interested in seeing how high he could jump on the beds. lol So we hit the food court on the way to the bus... just needed a little sugar rush ;) and then picked up the bus.

The whole bus ride Drew is talking to a lady about how he was at his new house at Disney World and how he was going to Epcot... you know the park with the big golf ball. lol He was so excited to go back to Epcot! Awesome... he's in a great mood and it's already 6pm so surely we'll all make it to the fireworks tonight. :) Meet up with Matt and hit the world showcase. This is the ONLY way you will ever find me traveling to other countries. lol I quite enjoy being in Mexico, then Norway, then France...etc. all within 5 minutes of each other. I've never had a single desire to backpack through Europe... but I have no problem walking through it in 10 minutes. haha I quickly see though that once again there is NOTHING for Drew to do here. Which means he isn't going to last too long. I see that there's a show of Chinese acrobats on in a few minutes and I was hoping he would enjoy that. It was a very cute show... if we didn't have to stand there with kids on our shoulders. =P It was packed and standing room only. Matt is hot, tired and beyond done by the time we walk out of there. Drew's also starting to get antsy. I suggest we find something to eat as it's getting pretty late and we haven't had dinner. We walk into a couple more countries and there isn't a thing that the kids and I will even think of eating... thus the reason I will really never go to Europe. lol Matt announces he's going back to the resort with whoever wants to go. Damn... there goes my plan of fireworks for all of us again. lol Hannah jumps at the opportunity to go back and Drew going back was a given. Brooke decides that she would love the chance at having another evening with just me so she decides to stay. Good! I was getting worried that they would all abandon me and I would be forced to go back too. lol

After they take off Brooke and I set out to find something to eat. Here we are in Epcot... which is known for it's unbelieveable restaurants with food from all over the world. And what do we eat... Brooke a soft pretzel... me a funnel cake! lol We find the perfect spot to watch Illuminations.. their night time show. We sit down, eat our dinner ( if you can call it that lol) and talk about the day. I am loving having this one on one time with her. She is so taken with all the magic at Disney and is just enjoying every single minute of it!

We enjoy the show... which is awesome by the way... and then make our way back to the bus. Thinking it would be similar to last night's crowds I figure we'll be back to our resort within 1/2 hour or so. Wrong! We get to the bus stop and it's beyond packed! Even with numerous busses coming for our resort it's taking forever! Then we get to the very front of the line and they cut us off! We just missed being able to ride the bus in front of us! Damn! We had to wait another 15 minutes for the next bus to come. We start chatting with people around us and meet a family with 4 boys and 1 girl all under 8! Oh. My. Hell! Either these people are saints to have the patience to tour the parks with that many little kids.. or they're nuts. lol Turns out mom was insistent that this wouldn't be hard at all and would be nothing but fun. Dad didn't look like he was having too much fun dealing with the 4 older kids and the 2 double strollers while mom held the baby most the time. =P I helped him get one of the strollers on the bus and help him with the kids as well. He thanked me and said he just couldn't wait to get up tomorrow and do this all over again. haha

We get to the resort and I glance at my watch and realize it took us over 1 1/2 hours to get back to the resort! Shit! It's after 11pm and we'll need to get up early again tomorrow to get to Animal Kingdom when it opens. I'll be fine.. but Brooke needs her sleep... or else we ALL pay! We'll see how it goes.....

Disney.... Day 2!

The kids and I in front of the castle... poor Matt is too busy running all over the parks.



Drew got the biggest kick out of this little guy with one eye :)



Brooke and I on our way out of Magic Kingdom


Today is the day.... our VERY first day at the Disney parks... and we've chosen Magic Kingdom. You just can't start a Disney trip in any other park but the original. I can't wait for the kids to see that castle!

Now me being the major Type A personality that I am.... I planned this trip down to the last minute! Matt has watched me plan this trip for about 8 months now. From reading books the size of the yellow pages, to scanning message boards, to actually paying for a subscription to a site that gives you the touring plans that the VIP tour guides do. I had little index cards for each day. Starting from the time we needed to arrive at the park, what we would ride first, where we would eat, when you were allowed to pee, etc. lol These touring plans are supposed to help you stay ahead of the crowds. Not going to be an easy feat considering we're going at the 2nd busiest time of the year!! Matt was VERY skeptical of these plans and basically thought I had lost it. haha

The key to these plans is to get there at rope drop ( park opening). Park opens at 9am... so this shouldn't be hard to accomplish right? HA! I wake everyone up by 6:30 to be out of our room by 7:15am. Why are we leaving so early you ask? Because it takes forever to get to the parks when you have to wait for a bus, monorail, ferry, etc. I also want to make sure we are towards the front of the crowds going in. The kids get up pretty well since we got them to bed at a decent time the night before. Drew has successfully peed a good 2 gallons all over the bed... which remember he's sharing with Matt.. hehe. Normally I will moan and groan at this and then have to strip all the bedding, etc. Not this time. I say thank god for housekeeping! We wad all the sheets in the middle, throw $5 on the bed and call it done. =P Go to give Drew a quick bath but realize that I now have a teenager that god forbid anyone see undress/dress. So she's now occupying the bathroom while she gets ready. Damn! Guess we'll be running a few minutes behind. Brooke is literally bouncing off the walls with excitement... I'm sure the pure sugar diet she's been on for the last 24 hours is helping with that too. lol We get everyone out the door and head to the foor court to fill our refillable mugs. Disney has these mugs you can buy at the resort to use for your entire stay at that resort. Fabulous deal! Even more fab when you use Julie's that she bought 2 years ago. haha! Soo not the way Disney intends for you to do it... but don't worry... they'll be making a fortune off of us in the following 2 weeks!

We decided to try the free Disney Transportation and get in line for the Magic Kingdom. Ahhh... our very first line of the day. :) I dole out breakfast... Rice Krispy treats again... plenty left over from yesterday. We enjoy our breakfast while sipping our frozen Cokes... good thing we aren't diabetics. lol I sunscreen the kids up and Matt and I quickly glance over the itinerary for the day. Rope drop, rides, break by 2, return by 5, then stay through fireworks at 10pm. Matt says to me that maybe we won't need to take the break... suuuurrreee

Bus pulls up and we all board. I hear this grumble behind me. Oh that's Matt.... cussing under his breath at me that I just HAD to bring the 40 pound stroller... why didn't I bring the lightweight $150 stroller I specifically purchased for this trip... because I'm a woman and I changed my mind. lol Plus I knew that I wouldn't be the one hauling it off and on the busses so what do I care. =P We get on the bus and it's standing room only. A little old lady offers to hold Drew on her lap while I stand in front of her. So very nice of her... I think I'll skip mentioning that sometimes he pees his pants. hehe The lady beside her is quite surprised at how easily Drew goes to her. What she doesn't know is Drew has an obsession with boobs... and will go to anyone with big boobs... which this lady had. lol We make our way to Magic Kingdom and really enjoy letting someone else do the driving.

As we arrive at the gates it's 8:15. There are already several hundred people in front of us! Good god what time did these people get up to get here! We squeeze our way into the mob. An employee comes around and asks if the kids would like a little pixie dust... which is little mickey head confetti. You're supposed to throw it when they do the countdown to the park opening. The girls thought this was really neat... they were there for 5 minutes and already received a little bit of magic. :) Matt and I take a look at the little card again and he knows he has to head to Space Mountain first to get our fast passes. I feel bad that I'm sending him to go running through the park while I get to walk down main street with the kids for the first time. But we HAVE to get these fast passes. lol And I would go and get them... but let's face it... my fat little legs don't move near as fast as his do. lol

We watch the little opening show... which is absolutely adorable! As the gates open Matt is gone in a flash! I try and keep up with him a bit... but with pushing a big ol stroller and 2 kids hanging on for dear life it's not working too well. =P I'm being very polite and not running over anyone's toes and letting the little old ladies in the scooters go in front of me. And then we see it.... the castle!! Hannah's exact words... HOLY CRAP! They were just awestruck by it. We stopped for a quick picture in front of it and then made our way to our first ride of the day. Winnie the Pooh. We wait for Matt and hope that he made it through the stampede okay. He makes it to us much quicker than I thought... turns out he was the first one there. Which is no easy feat! He shoved his way to the front. lol We all hop on Pooh, then Peter Pan, Snow White, the carousel, Tea Cups ( the girls made Matt nice and sick lol), It's a small world, Haunted Mansion, Splash Mountain, Big Thunder Mountain, Jungle Cruise, and Pirates of the Carribean and Philharmagic. This is all by 11am!! Matt is calling everyone he knows letting them know that my plans works. lol Yes Matt... I'm always right. ;) We have a quick lunch... ride a few more rides and matt declares it's time to take a break. Geez Matt... I thought we didn't need a break. =P He's quickly discovered that being in 100 degree heat with gobs of people gets a little exhausting!

We head back to the resort for a swim and maybe a little nap. I know there is no way that the kids will nap though.. but Matt and I sure could have!! lol We head to Magic Kingdom and get to enjoy our first of the summer storms that Florida has. We duck in and out of a few shows... Tiki Room and Country Bear Jamboree... my god that thing needs to be shutdown! Anything that is older than I am is not entertaining. =P Most of the rides are shutting down due to lightning and we still have quite a few sets of fastpasses to use! We stop for dinner and I've already come to the conclusion that I hate Disney food! No big surprise there... being that I am the world's pickiest eater... but what the hell are the kids and I going to eat for the next 2 weeks.... I'm about out of rice krispy treats. lol We ride a few more rides and then Matt declares he's tired and he wants to go back to the resort. WHAT?? Matt... the guy who runs everyone to the point of exhaustion is giving up first? Wow... Disney really is Magic! haha He volunteers to take Drew with him... and Hannah says she's pooped and wants to go back too. What is this? Did they not read the card? It says we are staying through the parade and fireworks! Matt says he thinks there won't be any because of the weather... nah.. it will blow over soon.... I hope! =P So Brooke and I stay behind and stake out our spot for the parade. We've got an hour before it starts. We sit there and talk about all her favorites for the day.... she goes on and on about how she loves seeing all the little girls done up like princesses. Little does she know she has a little surprise coming later in the week. ;) As were sitting there the sky is getting darker and darker. Damn! And then it begins to pour! We run into a shop and hear the announcement that there will be no parade due to weather... I swear Matt paid them to say that. =P Damn damn! I admit defeat and we make our way out of the parks with all the other suckers that thought there would be a parade. Hop on a bus and head back to the resort. It was nice to have that one on one time with just Brooke. :)

Get back to the resort and Brooke and I decide we're hungry and would like a little snack. Stop at the food court and OMG... you are NOT going to believe what they have there.... Rice Krispy Treats! But not your ordinary rice krispy treats... these are in the shape of Mickey... and the ears are dipped in chocolate! Holy shit...I've found what I'm going to live on for the next 2 weeks! lol We sit outside... the damn storms have stopped by now =P... and eat our treats and talk about tomorrow..... our first day at Epcot!