Count Down

School starts tomorrow! I know I like to post about how many days are left until summer, but I really do enjoy working and I am not wishing my life away. I just LOVE summertime! I love spending time with my kids and sleeping in a little later. I enjoy the freedom of summertime and the later nights. I enjoy spending time outside and in my favorite place. I enjoy being relaxed and not having to rush around in the evenings. So, I am looking forward to another school year (my 17th, if you want to know!), but I will still count down to Summer 2012! Only 277 more days! Have a great school year!

Fabulous Fours

I'm going to try to type out a blog post before my computer decides to explode or fly away. For some reason the fan won't stop running and it sounds like it is about to take off, or explode. If you know why it is doing this, please feel free to let me know. Drew used the shop vac to clean the dust off some little filter thingy or something last night. It's in the big box thingy. As you can tell, I don't know a lot about computer thing(y)s! Don't judge. I don't have a lot of time to devote to computer/technology education. (I don't really care to, either!) :0) Anyway, on to my post.

Addison turned four about six weeks ago. I can say without a doubt, today, that I just LOVE her at four years old! She is so much fun. She is pleasant most of the time and loves to be around me. She often says, "When I'm a big mama, like you, I'm going to..." and then says whatever it is that I am doing at the moment. For example, "When I'm a big mama, like you, I'm going to wear those big brawl." "When I'm a big mama, like you, I'm going to shave all the pokes off my legs." "When I'm a big mama, like you, I'm going to marry daddy." You get the idea!

She has become my little side-kick. Partly because she and I are the only girls in the house and the boys don't want a girl in their rooms most of the time. When she is with me she rubs my arms, plays with my hair and always (no matter what I look like) tells me how beautiful she thinks I am. She loves to hold my hand and will lay her head on my shoulder and tell me how much she loves me. She is just the most precious thing to be around right now.

I am reminded, also, that she is watching EVERYTHING I do, so I have to make sure I am setting a good example for her. The other day she sat on the couch, put her feet up and said, "Boys, who is going to rub my feet?" I don't know where she learned that whenever you sit/lay on the couch you are supposed to have your feet rubbed. ;0)

One day she and I were playing on the floor with her dollhouse. She was the mom and I was the dad, of course. The dad said to the mom, "Honey, I'm home from work. What's for dinner tonight?" She, in her best mom voice said, "Well, I don't actually know how to cook." Yeah, that one hit me pretty hard! Maybe I will attempt to cook more this school year. Then again, that doesn't sound like fun.

I am really going to miss hanging out with her when we go back to work next week. She and I have had a great summer hanging out together.

(Oh, I love my boys, too, but they aren't around me as much as she is. Bryson will still kiss my cheek or forehead and tell me he loves me. (No lips for him. Yes, he is at that age!) Jackson will tell me he loves me, but he is a little more stingy with his affections. That just makes them that much more special when I get them, though.)

So, here's hoping that the rest of Addison's four year old year will be just as sweet!

Oh, and just so you know, I AM counting down to Summer 2012!!! Only 287 more days until Summer 2012!!!

Florida Vacation: Days 9 and 10

There are no pictures of our last two days of vacation~ these were our traveling days. We left Florida at about 7:00 am and intended to drive to Mobile, AL to spend the night. Somewhere along the way, Drew and I decided to take a little detour so we could go by and see my dad in Houston. (I always wish I could be more spontaneous than I really am, so this was a good time to try it out!) We had to drive about 3 hours longer that day, but thought it would be worth it in the end. We considered calling my aunt in New Orleans to see if we could go by and see her and my cousins, but decided not to intrude on them. Then we thought Baton Rouge would be a good place to stop. Houston is about 4 hours from there and Fort Worth is about 4 hours from Houston, so the trip would have been cut in half nicely.

I got on my phone to try to find a hotel. I used priceline, which I had never used before. It was kind of fun! I found us a hotel in east Baton Rouge for about what we were going to pay in Mobile. We were going to stop in Gulfport to eat dinner, but Addison had fallen asleep and we didn't want to wake her up. If we kept driving (kind of fast) we could make it to Baton Rouge and eat a late dinner there. After dinner the kids would have time to swim before bed. That's is what we decided to do. Drew increased our speed, set the cruise control and on we went! We go to our hotel a little after 7:00.

There were several restaurants around, so we took our stuff to our room and went to look for a place to eat. We didn't, however, take into account that it was a Saturday night. There were people waiting outside for a table at EVERY restaruant we drove by. There was a Chili's right next to the hotel, but we really didn't want to eat there. I told Drew that we should just order Chili's to go and take it back to the room. He didn't want to do that, so we drove around a little bit more. EVERY place was packed and we didn't want drive through. Where did we end up? We ordered Chili's to go and took it back to the room. :0) The kids thought it was fun. We told them it was just like room service. They will never know the difference! We have told them Cabela's is the zoo before, too, because Drew hates going to the zoo! Hey, it doesn't stink and it's free!

We went down to the (quite small) pool and there were about 25-30 kids already swimming. We decided it was just too crowded to be safe and went back to the room. The kids weren't happy about that, but disappointments are part of life! They ended up falling asleep very quickly and slept until we woke them up early the next morning.

Sunday morning we left around 7:00 am and go to Houston shortly after 11:00. My dad fixed us hamburgers and we visited until 2:00. I would have liked to stay longer, but I said we would leave by 2:00 and we did. I was so ready to be home by this point. We still had about 4 hours of driving ahead of us.

We got home around 6:30. We had a little detour at a Dairy Queen for a dipped cone and Blizzards, so we were a little behind schedule. Once we got home I put on my workout clothes and headed to the gym. I couldn't stand it any longer. I haven't gone that long without working out since I gave birth to Addison and I was going CRAZY! Drew totally understands when I get like that and he just lets me go do what I need to do. When I got home he had everything unpacked and laundry started. Is he the best, or what?!

So, that was our vacation! We had a great time and I am so glad we decided to go. I can't wait to go back when the kids are a little older. Thanks for following along!

Florida Vacation: Day 8

Day 8 found us back at Magic Kingdom. We thought we would go back for a few hours to do some of the things we had missed. We split up from David and Kelly and said we would meet up later.

Last day~ still smiling!

Anxiously waiting for the gates to open!

A trip to Magic Kingdom isn't complete without a ride on the Jungle Cruise! I know this is a cheesy ride, but it ended up being one of Addison's favorites! I am glad we took the time to go on it.

Swiss Family Robinson Treehouse. We almost passed this up, but thought it would be fun for the kids to walk through it. They were less than impressed. I remember climbing those stairs with my sister when we were kids and we thought it was fun then. I guess kids aren't as imaginative these days! I enjoyed it, though!

Yes, she had her tiara on, again! She was squeezing out all the princess time she could get!

Can't you just read Jackson's mind? "Alright mom, enough with the pictures! Cheese."

We COULD NOT leave without seeing the Country Bear Jamborie! Yes, it is the same as it was when the park opened 40 years ago. Yes, it is just as cheesy now as it was then. Addison thought it was funny and laughed through the entire show. I'm not sure she knew what she was laughing at, but she had a good time! We met back up with David and Kelly at this point.

Of course, we had to circle the park on the Disney Railroad. It was good to be able to sit down and relax a little bit. It was HOT that morning. The weather had been pretty mild until the day before this. We were very fortunate in that regard.

Drew and I on the railroad. Yes, I have a shirt on. Jackson took the picture, so it's just a weird angle!

Standing at the door of Cinderella's Castle. You can tell by the looks on Bryson's and Addison's faces that they had had enough.

One last view of the castle before we left.

They were hungry for lunch at this point and Addison was tired of me taking pictures! Again, they will thank me one day!

Me and my prince at Magic Kingdom. We had a magical time!

We went to lunch at Planet Hollywood at Downtown Disney. Drew was a little quiet at lunch because of the prices! He doesn't spend money freely! :0) I think that is an understatement! He got over it, though, and we moved on. We stopped to take a couple of pictures by the fountain before walking around. We let the kids put their hands in it, but had to stop that because Addison came pretty close to falling in. She's not the most graceful little girl!

She may not be graceful, but she sure is cute!

After a VERY hot walk to the Lego store and a quick look around we decided to go back to the house for one last swim. Drew and I swam with the kids for a couple of hours and David and Kelly joined us a little later. We ordered pizza that night and went to bed early so we could be ready for a long drive the next morning. I hated thinking of leaving, but I was ready to get home.

Florida Vacation: Day 7

The first ride we went on at Hollywood Studios was the Tower of Terror. Jackson, David, Drew and I were the only ones who wanted to ride. Jackson was scared, but he said he would do it. After it was over I bought him a Tower of Terror pin so he could show it off! He was pretty proud of it. Then they wanted to ride the Rock N Rollercoaster. I kept Addie, Jarrett and Bryson with me. I wanted to ride, so we got a child swap ticket so I could ride later with two other people. Meanwhile, we went to get FastPasses for Toy Story Mania and saw Chip and Dale on our way back.

We got back to the exit of the Rock N Rollercoaster just as the rest of our group was finishing. I wanted to go so Kelly and Drew went with me. It was so much fun! I would have ridden it again, but the line was really long at this point.

I wanted to make sure Addie saw the Beauty and the Beast show, so I sat by the entrance while the rest of them checked out some other things. I sat there for about 1 1/2 hours before they started letting people in to sit down. I didn't mind because I wanted us to have a good seat. She LOVES Belle and I wanted her to see her. We go in and sat on the fourth row right in the middle. The seats were PERFECT! We waited about 30 more minutes and the show started. During the opening song Belle's microphone went out. She finished the song then an announcement was made that the show was being cancelled due to technical difficulties. WHAT?!? I waited in the heat for 1 1/2 hours to get those seats and they cancelled the show. Addie immediately started crying. I felt so sorry for her. She was so excited to see Belle and to see her so close up. I was determined to bring her back if that was the only thing I did that day.

We went to lunch and David and Kelly went to do things with their boys and we went our way. We ended up back at the Beauty and the Beast show right before the next show started. Of course the only seats that were left were in the sun, but we decided to stay. Drew and the boys went and stood in the shade, but Addie and I stayed in the sun seats. Let me just say that she did not complain one time about the heat. She kept her eyes glued on that stage. She didn't want to miss one second of seeing Belle. I was so proud of the way she acted. She was such a trooper.

Mrs. Potts, Chip, Beast and Lumiere. The costumes were amazing!

Our favorite part!

Ready for the Toy Story Mania ride! Peace!

Honey I shrunk the kids playground. I wishe we could have stayed here longer, but it looked like it was about to start pouring down rain. We went to the Backlot Tour and it was pretty disappointing. I guess everything can't be great.

Before we left Hollywood Studios, we saw a couple more shows and ate some ice cream and chocolate covered bananas. It was a fun, but exhausting day.

The next day we planned to go back to Magic Kingdom for a few hours. More on that tomorrow!

Florida Vacation: Day 6

Day 6 we went to Cocoa Beach in the morning and stayed several hours. I didn't take many pictures because I didn't want to get more sand in my camera. I got quite a bit in it when we were at Daytona Beach. I built another sand castle this time with the help of David and Drew. It only took about 45 minutes instead of almost two hours. A couple of people came by and took pictures of our sand castle, so I think we did a pretty good job!

David rented a surf board and some of us tried (in vain) to surf. Jonathan, Bryson and I did manage to "surf" on our knees. It is WAY harder than it looks. I gave up after a little while. Bryson gave up after he ran into a lady! In his defense, you can't really steer a surf board and she walked right into his path.

After the beach, we went back to the house, got cleaned up and headed back to Magic Kingdom for the Electrical Parade and fireworks show.

A pink Cinderella's castle~ so magical!

Drew and the castle.

We waited in this spot for about 2 hours. We waited for and watched the parade and the fireworks right here. It rained/sprinkled on us a little bit, but nothing too heavy. Drew did put the umbrella a couple of times, but it wasn't too bad. We were so tired by this point, but we stayed around to ride some rides and left the park when it closed at midnight.

Me and my little princess. She got her tiara on Monday when she went to the Bippity Boppity Boutique and she wore it every day afterward. Sometimes she would get tired of wearing it and she would hand it to me to "share," but she wore it most of the time. All the park workers refer to the little girls wearing tiaras or crowns as "princess," so I know that is why she like to wear it!

Drew on the "Spinner go round!"

We were exhausted after a day at the beach then a few more hours at the park, but we had plans to be up early to go to Hollywood Studios. More on that tomorrow!

Florida Vacation: Day 5

Day 5 found us at Epcot. Since the boys weren't really into the bigger rollercoasters and rides at Magic Kingdom, I thought they would like Epcot.

Our first ride was Test Track. We didn't have to wait in line since we got there right after they opened. Addison rode with us since she was tall enough. I told her it was just like riding in a car. She seemed okay with it until the ride was over. Let me just say that she WAS NOT a fan. She cried and kept saying that she didn't like it. At least she wasn't screaming throughout the entire ride. She saved the crying until we were getting off! Some of them wanted to ride again, so Drew and Bryson took Addison to meet TinkerBell.

Here is Addie waiting in line to meet TinkerBell.

And here she is! TinkerBell was just the tiniest, cutest little thing. Bryson is 5'1" and she is just about his height. I know Bryson thought she was really cute, too!

I took Jarrett and Addie to meet some characters while everyone else went on Mission Space. We met Mickey, Minnie, Donald, Pluto and Goofy. After they rode Mission Space I went back with Jackson and Kelly and rode with them. We rode the green version since I am a wimp. It still made me feel yucky. Drew, David, Bryson and Jackson rode the orange version. Drew wasn't right the rest of the day. He had a little motion sickness going on. Yuck!

After lunch we tried to meet some of the princesses. Here are the kids with Snow White.

Jasmine and Alladin. Addie wouldn't stand by or talk to Alladin "because he is a boy." We'll see if she still feels the same way about boys in 10 years! I hope so!

Belle~ Addie's favorite! The princesses were so sweet and talked quite a bit to the kids. Bryson liked them because they are pretty. Jackson didn't really want to meet them, so he stayed out of most of the pictures. We also met Mulan, but I didn't include the picture for some reason.

We went inside for a little whie to the Innoventions area. The kids played some video games while I tested my balance on a Segway. It was interesting.

We played a saving money game. Addie didn't save too much! She cried when we had to give the piggy bank back. I think she was getting tired at this point. We didn't stay too much longer.

We HAD to see the Nemo ride before we left. It was really cute and Addie liked riding in a "clammobile." I took this picture before Jackson reminded me that I couldn't take pictures with a flash. Oops! I guess I wasn't paying attention during that part!

Drew's face cracks me up. He doesn't usually play around like this, so I had to include this picture. He is a pretty serious guy.

Our last stop was at one of the gift shops. Drew is buying a magnet every time we visit some place new. See? Isn't he fun! (Just kidding, Sweetie! You know I love you and all your little quirks!)