DISNEY 2013

DISNEY. . . what a great trip.  The kids absolutely love it.  It is exhausting but totally worth it.  This year we decided to drive.  With the cost of airfare and having to buy 5 tix it was just so much cheaper to drive.  We kept the trip a secret.  We thought- Let's just surprise them.  So few real surprises in life.  So On Saturday, Todd took the kids to the mall for 2 hours while I packed like crazy.  I am an overpacker, so of course I packed a lot.  You just never know what the weather is going to be like-pants, shorts, tshirts, long sleeves ect.  Then I locked all of our stuff in the computer room so the kids couldn't see it.  I wasn't quite done yet.  Then later in the day Todd took the kids to the library, Logan played at a friends and Paislee was napping.  I got the rest packed.  I even loaded the car with everything we didn't need for the next day.  Then locked the car so the kids couldn't get into it.  Early to bed. Then when I was feeding Paislee at 2am- I said, well I am up- let's get going.  We got all ready then woke the boys up.  We video'd waking them up.  They were so tired.  So, no one was jumping up and down b/c they were so out of it.  But they were super excited and they got more excited once we were in the car.  3am- on the road.  I drive the first part.  It wasn't bad.  No one was on the road and by 7am we were out of Ohio.  With the kids we took lots of stops.  Paislee didn't like the car ride.  She screamed for about a fourth of the drive.  Todd's driving through the mountains made me car sick and we had to pull over so I could throw up.  The kids liked the mountains and loved the tunnels in Virginia.  they watched LOTS of movies in the car.  yea for dvd players. Then in SC we had lunch and let the kids run around for a bit.  Next stop, Brunswick GA.  We stayed there the night.  Got dinner and went to bed.  Monday- got up early, had breakfast and then headed to FL.  We had a lunch reservation at Epoct with characters at 1:30 so I knew we needed to make it there on time.  Of course when we got to our resort there was a super long line.  I had to wait over an hour and a half to check in.  Which meant, we would miss or reservation.  Luckily, the nice disney worker (after seeing how frazzled I was - you would be frazzled too after driving for 18 hours in the car with the kids) paid for us to get a taxi to take us there right away.  We just make our reservation.  It was all so hurried and rushed.  Next time I would definitely a day early to give us more time to get settled and spend at Disney.  So lunch was good.  It was at Akershus Royal Hall in the Norway section of Epcot.  We got to meet so many princesses.  Then after we explored Epoct.  We got back around 10pm that.  Bedtime and of course the kids were up early ready for the Magic Kingdom.  Day 2 and Day 3- Magic Kingdom.  The Magic Kingdom really is magical.  The kids LOVE it.  We got to ride everything we wanted to, meet a lot of characters, watch the parades and relax.  We had dinner there at Crystal Palace- character dining with Pooh characters and then dinner at The Liberty Street Tavern.  No characters there but REALLY good food.  Day 4- we headed to Sea World.  The kids loved the shows.  The dolphins, sea lions and Shamu were a hit.  Then for dinner we headed to O'hana's at the Polynesian resort.  Delish.  Day 5- just hung at the resort.  We played on the playground and swam in the pool.  Then headed out around 4pm to go to Charlotte.  Day 6- Visited with the Todd's uncle and cousins.  The kids loved it there and all they can talk about now is Uncle Larry.  They had never been there before but they certainly won't forget it.  Then the long drive home.  The way down the drive wasn't bad but on the way home it just kept going on and on and on.  We hit more traffic on the way home, it rained most of the time and we were exhausted.  We finally got home around 2am on Sunday Morning.  Bed for a few hours then unpacking and Logan had a bunch of work to make up.  It was a wonderful trip with so many great memories.  here are just a few pics.  I took about 500.  they are all on facebook.  It is so easy to just put them all on fb.  enjoy


I am having a problem with the pics.  I will post them later

so it seems I can't stay up to date

I just looked and it has been over a month since I posted last.  I post a lot of pics to facebook because it is so quick and easy.  But then I miss out on writing all about our lives.  I do like doing the blog because at the end of each year I print out a hard copy of what I have written and use it as a journal of our life.  One day when I am old and gray, you will see me sitting by the fire reading the journals and looking at my 1,000's of pictures.  

So let me see what we have been up to the past month-
Soccer
Football
going to games- Mount Union, Brunswick
Halloween Party
Halloween 
Trick or treat
zoo visit
school
teaching psr

Emma's 6th b-day

helping in the boys' classrooms
PTO stuff
and just daily life

I have a bunch of pics I took but I can't post all of them.  I am finally glad that football is over (we turn equipment in tonight) and soccer is done (just had a 3 game tourney this weekend).  Logan's team did well in the tourney- 2-1-0 and Logan had 2 goals.  He gets so excited when he scores.  He is like a peacock strutting his stuff.  Of course, you can also hear Mommy shouting the loudest about what a great job he did.  Up next for sports will be- basketball for Logan and Hudson and indoor soccer for Logan but not until the 1st of the year.  

The kids are getting so big- Logan just recently told me that in public I have to say MOM and DAD instead of Mommy and Daddy.  Sometimes even Hudson calls us Mom and Dad.  Campbell is a little stinker and makes us laugh everyday and Paislee is now 16 months old.  She understands so much.  She is still working on her words and often gets frustrated at times when she doesn't know how to say something.  

Halloween was fun.  We had out 11th annual party and everyone had a great time.  Then for trick or treat it was pouring down rain.  It certainly made it memorable.  We got lots of candy.  The kids loved it.