Another year winds down

I cannot believe tomorrow is the last day of 2011. I recall growing up my Mom would always tell me as I got older the years would go by faster, to stop enjoy each day. She was so right. I look at my girls and cannot believe they are ten and eight. I look in the mirror and cannot believe I'm over forty! Time seems to be moving more quickly every moment.

2011 has been a year of firsts for us. The girls were in their first play. The first time I taught a taekwondo class as a black jacket. I taught my first taekwondo classes...on my own. The first time we camped out in the backyard. The first time we had a pool in the backyard!

Our year has been a roller coaster ride, full of ups and downs. Overall, I have to say it was a good year. I spent December not stressing or worrying. I even cancelled school for the last three weeks of December. No worries! I cannot wait to see what next year brings us. I know we'll see my parents more, so I can help out around the house and yard. I am excited about the chance to finally help out around there. So many new things and people are in our future. The future's so bright I gotta wear shades. :)

Happy New Year to all!!

Not sure how I should react to this

We went to Books-A-Million tonight. John and the girls had gone out a few weeks ago shopping and wound up there. They had vanilla creme frappes and John said I had to try one. So, while running some errands, we went over for a frappe fix. They were wonderful, but not the point of this post.

After we finished Jesse and I, headed over to the gardening section. Three teenagers were sitting in the chairs right behind us.  So, as I was browsing the titles I heard one of the boys say, "That is Princess Diana. On that book."

The girl replied, "Who is that?" (that one bothered me enough, just wait).

Then the boy proceeded with, "She was princess of England. And the night she became Queen, or crowned, or something, she was in car wreck and every one died."

Oh my word!!! This was only twenty years ago! Her son was just married earlier this year and all this was splattered all over the news! Seriously, boy follow a news channel or use Google!!!!!!

I admit I did not correct him. Where would you start?

Christmas 2011

I think I ended Christmas night still not feeling the full warmth of Christmas this year. Sad, but true. I have higher hopes for next year. :)

Of course, the girls were completely the opposite! I think at first Chloe was disappointed Santa only brought a total of four packages. But she didn't show it. John wanted them to open our presents before Santa's. I think he is a smart man. ;)  We got Chloe a new Betta tank; she was so happy! We gave Jesse, yet another, remote control car! She has received several over the years and something happens to make the stop working (i.e. John driving it off the front steps at full speed!) or it just never worked. Her last one she had to be within six inches for it work. The new one seems to be working great and she is very happy!

The girls opened their smaller package from Santa. Jesse thought Santa had a warped sense of humor by giving her a mouse pad, with Gerber daisies, for her "imaginary laptop". Personally, I thought it was hysterical. Chloe was confused as to why Santa would bring her a TV wall mount for her TV that clearly could not be hung on the wall. Oh, so much fun! Then they opened their big boxes. Jesse received a laptop and Chloe a brand new LED TV with a built in DVD player. Then Chloe excitedly exclaimed, "that is why Santa only brought four packages!!" Smart girl. ;)

By dinner last night, the laptop was up and running and the TV was hanging on the wall. Each girl in her own room doing her own thing. Okay, so that was my Christmas present...quiet. :) My parents bought me a cookie press and a Wilton turn table for cake decorating. Yeah! John bought me two pair of pajamas, Jesse gave me a Peanuts coffee mug and Chloe gave me a Peanuts notepad for my pocketbook. I was also surprised with a Mater and Zen Master Pitty cars. Pitty was MY favorite character in the new movie, especially how Mater related to him. So funny!! Everyone got a Mattel car this year!

Chloe bought Jesse a Stitch car at Disney World and I bought John a Indian Jones car. Jesse and Chloe both received two Cars 2 cars from Santa in their stockings. It was a Mattel car Christmas! lol

Jesse also made Chloe a scarf and Chloe added three more rubber ducks to Jesse's collection. I believe they were both thrilled with everything they received. My parents gave them the pajamas they had been bugging me about at Target (I knew they were getting them). Jesse wanted a pair with Scottish Terriers and Chloe wanted a pair with owls. Owls seem to be her new obsession. John keeps telling her she needs to drop an obsession before she gets a new one, because she is running out of shelf space. He is just too fun!

John had a great Christmas. He received Jenga!, a table top Cars 2 pinball machine, Big Buck Hunter Pro shooting game, a dart board and some chocolate! Oh, yeah. He is happy shooting at the aliens trying to steal his cows and trying to shoot Pappy!!! Poor Pappy!!

Everything said and done we had a great Christmas.

Our Christmas Eve Adventure!!!

I have told several people lately I was not in the Christmas spirit. I was starting to get into it yesterday afternoon. We decided to go to my parent's home on Christmas Eve this year. My spirits were lifted some by Christmas Eve afternoon. John was helping Mom with her laptop, in the office. The girls were doing something. I think they were watching TV, but I'm not positive. Dad and I were in the living room chatting, while I searched his Park Seed catalog for flowers and veggie seeds.

Then John and my Mom walked into the room, both with worried looks. I heard John say something about a man with a shotgun and a pistol in our yard. A what?! I was standing at that point right in front of their large living room window. I turned to look and there were two sheriff deputies with guns pulled crouching down in front of my mother's car...twelve feet from the front door and a lot less than that from the window. What does my Mom do?? She opens the door! Crazy woman!! I was fussing at her to close the door; okay, I was trying not to yell but I was loud for sure for her to be five feet from me. As soon as she opened the door, I saw the woman deputy shoo her several times. I finally (after three times of telling her) convinced my Mom to close the darn door! Then immediately I sent John with the girls to the back bedroom. This really could not be happening!! There they crouched for an hour, or more. Time stood still for quite awhile.

During this time we assessed the fact the road was blocked. We could see cars blocking the road in one direction, but not the other. We also knew there were two more deputies across the road in the between the trees on the hill. We also knew "our" deputies were looking across the street, but we didn't know which house: the preacher's house or the house next door. Nor did we know what was going on. I never thought I would fear for my children in a cross fire of bullets on Christmas Eve. I just wanted to know what was going happening.

Two Sheriff Deputies on Christmas Eve, leaning on Mom's car

After an hour, the male deputy left our yard the same as they had come in, just inches from the flowerbeds. He returned a little later with a coat, then left again. The woman officer then came to our door. She told us there was someone across the street barricaded in the house and armed. I asked which house. She told me and I said, "Not Archie." She replied, "Yes, Archie." (Mr. Archie is the preacher across the street that we have known since I was seven.) My Mom then replied something like, it isn't someone who lives there is it? The officer then informed us it was Archie was armed and dangerous. He was threatening anyone who came to the house. Are you kidding me?! Wow! I was so shocked I didn't even ask if his wife, Hazel, was alright. I hope she is. They did, within thirty minutes of that conversation, capture him alive. No officers were harmed from what we could tell as they all began to leave. Mr. Archie left on his own feet also.

Mr. Archie had (as my mother said) "gone crazy" a few years ago when he had a tumor on his brain. He had surgery and was fine. She is now worried another tumor may be there. I hope he and his family are safe tonight and he is getting the medical treatment he so greatly needs, and deserves.

More on our vacation

Okay, the truth is we took over 1500 pictures! I know. Crazy! There were a few pictures that reminded me of great moments and others the girls just wanted to share. This post is going to be more pictures with, hopefully, short stories to go with them.

Tom Sawyer Island at Magic Kingdom

This was actually the first time any of us had ever been on Tom Sawyer Island. John asked me why we had never gone over there before. I have no answer, but can tell you this is, now it is high on our list of things to do while at MK. This is the barrel bridge. The "hills" are actually barrels that hold the bridge up, but when you step on it the bridge dips all the way down to the water. And the trip is wobbly! I told a couple of friends the other day I got the giggles crossing the thing because that is the same feeling I was getting when I would get off the elevator. (Yes, I need to get to the ENT soon!) The entire island was a total blast. Next time we are going to pick up some lunch and take it over to eat at the picnic tables there. Can't wait!!

Phineas and Ferb with the girls

Our girls LOVE Phineas and Ferb. I have to admit I like it too. John even enjoys some of the songs and will sing them time to time. Seeing them was totally unexpected, but one of Jesse's favorite moments. They even had their picture taken with Duckie Momo!

Girls with the GIANT gingerbread house at the Grand Floridian.

We took another trip to see the gingerbread house. Chloe talked for weeks about getting a gingerbread cookie from the gingerbread house, then at the last second wanted a chocolate Mickey Mouse. :) 

John with Eeyore!

This was at the Crystal Palace (a character dining experience). Eeyore came up behind John and I said something like, "that would have been a cute picture". John replied with, "go ahead and take one". So, Eeyore leaned back in for the picture. John was so relaxed all week, picking on all of us, so I know he was in a good mood all week. ;)

Jesse, John and Chloe at Flame Tree BBQ, at Animal Kingdom.

Flame Tree BBQ is truly one of our favorite places to eat. I cannot believe that our friends, the Smiths (who love Disney as much as us) have never eaten there. John loves their ribs because they put a rub on it and really do slow BBQ the meat. Personally, I love the BBQ sandwich. My mouth waters just thinking about it. The girls meal grew this year! Instead of one chicken leg, they had two!! Disney gave us more?! We were all surprised, but happy.

John and Chloe on the bridge from the boat to the lodge, at Wilderness Lodge.

Chloe and Jesse with the Christmas tree in the lobby, at Wilderness Lodge.

One place John hopes to stay one day is the Wilderness Lodge. We visited on our way to the camp ground there, where we had dinner reservations. The tree was enormous!! There is even a water spring running through the inside of the lobby. And oh so many rocking chairs! I adore rocking chairs.

Jesse working on her mime skills.

This box was in the room you go through waiting to see Buzz and Woody at Hollywood Studios. Jesse loves to mime and I think she did a great job with this! Chloe is simply happy to be there. :)

Osborne Christmas lights at Hollywood Studios

When it came to planning our vacation (way back in July). John said he wanted to see the Osborne Christmas lights. He didn't care what else we did, but he wanted to do that. He also only wanted to do three parks (there are four, not including the water parks or Disney Quest). I told him he had to decide which park we would not go to. Our next conversation was John telling me he booked the vacation and we were going to four parks. He couldn't drop a park, each for its own reasons. So this was his moment. I have never seen so many lights in one place ever! This picture does not even begin to do it justice! This was just a tiny part of the lights that were there and they all danced to music!!

Entire family with Jessie and Woody!

Entire family at the Contemporary Hotel.

Just a couple of family pictures.

Jesse, Goofy and Chloe doing the robot!

I will admit I thought Jesse taking her robot pen to Disney was a bit odd. But, as usual, I was proved wrong. Many of the characters were taken by her pen. Jessie and Woody went a little crazy over it. Many of the characters had to show the photographer that was with them. They loved the pen! But Goofy was the best. He broke out into the robot, followed shortly by the girls. The photographer was laughing so hard and was very impressed by Chloe's robot. The whole line of people waiting to see Goofy was laughing. It was SO fun! Chloe keeps saying, "if they tell you you're good at something at Disney, you have to be good!"

That is the end of our vacation. We are happy to be home and waiting for Christmas, but part of us is still there. While our next trip will be the mountains, the focus right now is what we want to do the next time we are at Disney. It sounds crazy I know. But like the Smiths' we cannot help talking about our next trip. Planning it is almost as fun as being there. Okay, not really. But we cannot afford to live in Disney year round. :)  So here is hoping you and yours have a "Magical" holiday season.

Yeah!! for vacations!!!

Yes, we had the most fabulous time on our vacation. And yes we went to Disney World...again. John and I were talking on our way home Sunday about people. The people who don't know Disney always think we do the same ole' things there, while other Disney people are always asking what new thing did you do? So for those Disney people (and those about to take their first trip - you know who you are) here is what we did.

We arrived Sunday at a hotel we have not stayed at before, Pop Century. The girls had been asking to stay there for a couple of years. Chloe really wanted to see the giant Foosball players, while Jesse wanted to see the Yo-yo stairs. I have to say the hotel was fun.

The golf cart at our hotel. It was too COOL!

Can you find Chloe?

Twister!!! Yes, this was at our hotel!

The gift shop was smaller than what we are used to and in the same room as the quick service restaurant, which was a bit unusual. That night we ate at Boma (Animal Kingdom Lodge) which is John's all time favorite. I think he asked me at least three times if we had reservations for our first night. He loves to start there. The food is awesome!! And the desserts are even better!

John and I at Boma (Animal Kingdom Lodge)

Monday was Animal Kingdom. Chloe was still too short for Primeval Whirl, but John finally rode it. He now understands what I mean when I say I love it and I hate it. That sucker whips you around curves like you would not believe! Jesse said it was going faster with me than it did when John rode it. Of course, just my luck. :)

It is a Santa Goofy!!!!

Tuesday was EPCOT. How we all love EPCOT. Chloe wanted to see the Santa's around the world. We had a chance to see a couple but not Pierre Noel (France), who she wanted to see the most. Our lunch and dinner reservations prevented us from all of those shows. She was sad, BUT she did see the gnome from Norway.

Norway's gnome (whose name I cannot recall)

We also saw Father Christmas (the UK). Okay. I have to tell you this story. So, Father Christmas starts his story. He gets to the part about the mistletoe and how each man will get his own from the woods. For each kiss he gets from a girl, the man will remove a berry from the mistletoe. So Father Christmas comes right over to me and puts the mistletoe over my head. Then he repeats the part about the kiss. John just stands there. So Father Christmas says it again. John kisses me! On the lips!! IN PUBLIC!!!! Most of the time, the man won't even hold my hand in public! I thought it was funny. Too bad we have no pictures of it. So the Christmas stories were new to us.

Jesse wanted to do something new too. She wanted to do the Kim Possible Save the World thing. Well, we started it in Norway then went off to China. We did the first clue in China. IT WAS SO COOL!! (the cricket for those in the know). But we had lunch reservations so we couldn't finish. During lunch she was thrown off the mission and we had to be reassigned. Our next was in Germany. Which again was WAY COOL!! I always wondered what was making all those things go off and now we know. John loved being in the know and watching all the other patrons looking around trying to figure out what was going on. Too funny!! We did get back to China, but it was a different mission. This time it involved the monkey! Chloe and I missed the monkey because we were in the gift shop.

We also ate at new restaurant, at EPCOT, the Coral Reef. It was wonderful! John and I both wound up with the lobster ravioli and it was delicious!! We also did a new ride, Journey into Imagination and we all loved it. The end caught all of us off guard! After you get off the ride, there are (it is hard to describe) hands on electronic devices where you make music. The girls loved them.

Wednesday was Hollywood studios. We did quite a few new rides there. We did the Little Mermaid show and the Behind the Scences and something else (I cannot think of right now). We also did what I've been waiting to do for three years! Yep, three years!! We finally ate at Sci-Fi Dine-In Theater. The tables are replicas (partial) of cars from the 50's and they face a big movie screen where they play bits and pieces of old concession comericials from drive-ins and really bad "scary" movies. I really loved it!

Thursday was Magic Kingdom! Our favorite park. In two hours, we rode four rides, saw five characters and saw one show. That is awesome for MK!!! Chloe got to meet Terrance (one of the male fairies) and she saw Tink again. John and Jesse rode a new ride, the Rocket Orbitor. Chloe refused, politely. ;)  Jesse said it was really fast, but she liked it. We also went back to the Crystal Palace for dinner. This is the place where Jesse, when she was two, decided she did not want to see the characters and faced out the window the entire time we were eating. I am happy to report she did much better this time. lol We also saw Pirate Goofy for the first time!!!! Yes, I AM a Goofy fan! I know you didn't know that.

Friday we went to O'hana. We were all looking forward to this breakfast. A friend told us the juice was excellent and it was!! John said we need to find something like that at home. I will start looking. :)  Chloe was happy to see Stitch because we missed him at MK. The food was wonderful. They just keep bringing it to you, including hot Mickey Mouse waffles!

Friday night was the best! We spent the evening with my college roomate and her family. We had such a good time. I hope we get to see them again before eight years passes again. Doug (her husband) was saying maybe they could come up for a short visit. I hope so. I'd love to see them all again soon.

Saturday we went around to the hotels we wanted to see Christmas decorations at. We did not get to see all of them we hoped for, but we'll put them on the next to do list. We still did not make it to mini-golf; one day we will though.

We had a great time with wonderful weather. John said he never sweated once, which is probably why he was in such a good mood all week. He was being so goofy!! LOL  As his Mom told me years ago, the more he picks the happier he is. I tell you now that was one happy man for nine days!!

We have already started talking about our next vacation. We are wanting to get back to the mountains. John would love to have a cabin in the mountains. He speaks of it often, but winter in the mountains is really not for me and I think he would go a bit nuts too. We'll have to settle for visiting for now.

John's first Christmas present!!

John has been talking for awhile about getting a new TV. Yes, I know ours is old. I mean OLD! The thing has to weigh one hundred pounds! Ridiculous!! We rearranged the living room a few weeks ago in an attempt to see if we would like a TV where we were thinking of putting one. In fact, we moved the TV from our bedroom into the living room to try to get used to it. We loved it!

Late last week John found the TV he wanted for a good price. He had been watching the prices the last few months, so he would be prepared. :)  Last week he ordered himself us a new TV. It arrived yesterday morning and by 9:15pm everything had been downloaded and it was ready for TV viewing. It is not the largest television we could have purchased, but it fits the room perfectly! He also insisted on getting one that was already internet ready. The girls had fun last night going onto the Disney site and poking around with the new remote.

I know he loves the new set. He waited so long before buying one. I just know we are going to enjoy it...once I figure out how to use the remote. :)