Eating like Royalty!!

Our package for the trip included a free dining plan. We got a counter service (you walk up to a podium, place your order and then pick up your food and sit down to eat it), a table service (where you sit down and are waited on, including character meals), plus a snack (a 20 bottle beverage, an ice cream bar, a bag of chips, a bowl of cereal with milk, etc...) per person per night we stayed, so we had a total of 44 snacks, 44 counter services and 44 table services (for 11 nights). Now the counter service meal included an entree, non-alcoholic drink and desert, and the table service also included an appetizer and covered the 18% tip. All of this was free because of the plan they offered. It was incredible! We took a picture at each sit down we ate at. Well the first one doesn't count. It was our first night and we went to Beaches and Cream which is a restaurant in the Boardwalk hotel, and we just had ice cream, not just any ice cream. We ordered the kitchen sink, which is this huge silver sink filled with 24 scoops of ice cream in a variety of flavors, every topping they have including, chocolate chips, cake, brownie, snickers bars, etc..a whole can of whipped cream and a ton of cherries. It was so fun and we used that as our dinner, but still only ate about half of it!!! We truly ate like royalty, it was wonderful. It made it even harder to come home and cook our own meals!! When we got home we were shocked that Skyline actually wanted us to pay for our food!! SM




This is the kitchen sink. When they bring it out, they dim the lights, a red light flashes, there's a siren and they announce it!! It was so funny!!




This is Boma at the Animal Kingdom Lodge. It's a buffet meal with some dishes with African tastes. I didn't like it so much, but Steve did a lot.




This is Le Cellier. One of our favorites. We went there twice on this trip. It's a Canadian Steakhouse in EPCOT. It is so yummy!!




This was at Chef Mickey's. It's a character buffet with breakfast, lunch and dinner. We had dinner. It's at the Contemporary Hotel




This was at Liberty Tree Tavern in the Magic Kingdom. It's a family style meal with ham, turky, roast beef, mashed potatoes, macaroni and cheese and salad. It was very yummy. They also have the best honey butter, yummmm!!




This is the Ohana breakfast at the Polynesian Hotel. It was normal breakfast food served family style. Very yummy!




This is the Akershus Princess Breakfast at Norway in EPCOT. Again it had normal breakfast food and was yummy!




This is the 50's Primetime Cafe at Disney -MGM Studios. They have lots of homestyle foods, like meatloaf, fried chicken, pot roast, etc. It's fun in there because the servers treat you like family and expect you to follow the rules, no elbows on the table, set the table, eat your veggies! It's fun!




This is the Whispering Canyon Cafe at the Wilderness Lodge. This is another fun one where the servers play around. If you need ketchup, they yell who has the ketchup and whoever has it has to bring it your table (usually around 10 bottles!!) and then you pass it on when someone else needs it. It's really fun, I liked it a lot!!




This is the Coral Reef at EPCOT. We really enjoyed this restaurant. We sat in front of the huge aquarium and saw sharks, rays and a sea turtle. They also had lots of divers in there that waved at us. One diver even helped a man propose to his girlfriend in the restaurant while we were there. It was so cool!!




And this is Tony's Ristorante which is from Lady and the Tramp. It's in the Magic Kingdom. We ate there right before the start of the Halloween Party. I think it's so yummy there. I love Italian food!!

Lots of Babbling!!!

Whew, getting back to normal life is exhausting!! It's been really hard for me to get back into a normal rhthym. I just don't feel like unpacking, doing laundry or planning curriculum!! Oh well, it must be done!! Yesterday was fun, it was Homeschool Day at the National Air Force Museum at Wright-Patt, and they had lots of activiites for the kids to do and it was all free. I'll post more about it later this week. I still have so much to share about the Disney trip!! We ended up taking over 850 pictures!! But just one for now. This picture was on Abby's Birthday. We had her Princess breakfast at EPCOT that morning and it was scheduled before the park opened so we got in before everyone else and it was so neat to get a picture of the park with no one else in it! We felt like it was "our park"!! We will definitely do that again. We really enjoyed the breakfast and being there so early!! Today Abby had her dance class. Last year her class was the only one at that time, so there was just a few mom's waiting around and it was nice, but this year there are two classes and it's packed with mom's waiting. I bring Noah with me and he usually reads and then plays gameboy. Today I brought a notebook to work on a budget and make a list of my many things to do and while I was writing, I would hear some of what the other mom's were discussing and sometimes I just wonder if I am anything like these other people! They were talking about how their closets were laid out, where their clothes hanged, where their shoes were etc..I don't think I've told anybody that except maybe someone who asked me what we wanted when we built the house. I don't know, sometimes I really feel like I am so different than other people. One time last year I remember how two mom's went on and on about where they bought their kids clothes and it was all the expensive places and I remember a few days later I saw one of them shopping at Target and I just wondered if she was participating in that conversation to fit in or if she really was snooty like she seemed. I don't know. I just don't care about that stuff. I mean it's just clothes. It covers me so I don't get arrested!! I mean, yeah I like to look pretty sometimes (most of the time I don't really care), but that pretty outfit could come from Wal-Mart or Lane Bryant and I wouldn't care either way. Oh well, enough babbling. I need to go tackle my big to do list!! Have a great evening!!

Mickey's Not So Scary Halloween Party!

These are all pics from the Halloween party (Mickey's not so scary) at the Magic Kingdom that we went to on Friday. We dressed up as characters from Alice in Wonderland. Abby was Alice, Noah was the talking doorknob (the only character he would agree to be!! SM), I was the Queen of Hearts and Steve was the Ace of Clubs. It was so incredibly fun to all dress up together. I was a little nervous about it at first because I wasn't sure how many adults would do it, but I was pleasantly surprised. I'd say at least 1/3 dressed up. I really think our kids loved that we did it with them. What we didn't know was that Alice in Wonderland was kind of a featured film for the party. They had a big long trick or treat trail that was full of the characters from the movie. We got to meet pretty much all the characters from the movie. They all loved that we had all dressed up in that theme. All the people who were back there handing out the candy were dressed as different cards. So Steve got a picture with a heart, diamond and spade and with the Queen of Hearts, I love that picture!! I got to pose with the Queen as well and because she's so big, it makes me look thin!!! Everyone loved Noah's costume too. I made his. I got a white foam posterboard, handpainted it to look like a wood door, added real hinges that I painted gold, carved it to look like the shape of a door, painted Noah's face gold, bought a red foam clown nose and painted it gold to be his knob and ta da a cosutme!! Several people ran around us just to see the front of it. Several of the candy hander outers gave him extra candy for his cool costume. I have to admit that it felt really good to get so much attention from something I made!! I also made Steve's costume. For his I bought a white shower curtain and cut it to fit. I cut out black felt clubs and the A's, then glued and later sewed them all on. He had black gloves, a black hat and I put a club around his nose, although you can't always tell that's what it is, it smeared when he sweated so much!! Mine and Abby's were just bought. I didn't know it was going to be so much fun to dress up, I can't wait to figure out what we're doing next year. Even Steve loved it and wants to do it again. It really made the party that much more fun!!




Minnie was dressed as a Halloween princess!




Mickey was a scarecrow!




The MadHatter was so funny, he kept knocking on Noah's door and asking him if he had found his key yet!




Two beautiful Queens!!




The Queen and her Court!




Waiting for the special fireworks show called Happy Hallowishes!!




Luckily the White Rabbit wasn't too late to stop for a picture!!




We also got to meet the Walrus which we had't met before




Abby, I mean Alice posed with one of the teacups after we went for a ride on them




A pair of Alices and some other characters!!




Having fun with Tweedle Dee and Tweedle Dum!!!

quick hello

HI, just a quick note, I'll be taking the kiddies to the national air force museum up in Dayton today, so after that I'll post more pics from the trip as well as our field trip. Sonya, I'm sorry I didn't see your voicemail until this morning, I'll call you on the drive up. I hope everyone has a great October 1st, yay I'm so glad fall is here!!!

We're Baaaack!!!

Here's a few pics for you while I'm cooking dinner, I'll post lots more including how we were all dressed up for the Halloween party, it was awesome!




Playing on the beach at our hotel, Caribbean Beach




Hangin' with Stitch at Ohana for breakfast




Noah was chosen to be Gaston during storytime with Belle!




We surprised Abby on her Birthday with balloons, decorations and a chocolate cake in our room!




We also took her to the Princess Storybook Breakfast in EPCOT on her Birthday where she got to meet Belle




This was also her Birthday, Daddy asked to get us a ride in the front car of the monorail and I took this photo just as another monorail was coming towards us.




Big smiles with Tigger at Animal Kingdom




We saw Chef Donald at Chef Mickey's dinner.




The Magic Kingdom was all decorated for fall, my favorite season!!




Noah and I rode Primeval Whirl at the Animal Kingdom with a couple of strangers! Daddy rode it with him first and he then wanted me to go with him too!




Posing on the bridge that leads from the pool and food court to our building at the resort. I loved this place, it was so beautiful.




Swimming in the hotels main pool, both kids wore life jackets and swam without holding onto me or Daddy for the first time, it was great!!

more party pics

party pics

Long time, no post

Hey, I thought today was a good day to give you all an update on us and to also post some special words for my dear daughter who is celebrating her 5th birthday coming up. Abby's party was yesterday and I posted the pic up here because I thought it was gorgeous. Sonya took all the pics and she did an amazing job, thank you so much. I especially loved the ones of her blowing out the candles though because the sunset was coming in through the window onto her face and that big ol' pucker just looked so cute. I can't thank you enough Sonya!! Abby's actual birthday is next Monday and we'll be in Disney then. We have some special things planned for her that day and I think she'll be happy for that. The party went really well and eventhough cooking all the food made to order was a bit difficult, everyone seemed to enjoy the food and that was worth it. It's so funny how you spend so much time on the games and they seem to go by so fast, I hope the kids had fun!

I can't believe my baby is almost 5. That seems so big to me. When did she stop being the "baby". When did we have to stop telling Noah to be gentle with her because she was so little. When did she become big enough for everything Noah is big enough for? Boy the time has just gone by so incredibly fast. I'm so proud to be her mama. She is such as pure joy to have in our family. She is our daredevil and our comedian. Everyday I find myself in stitches over something she has come up with. The other morning we were sitting at the breakfast table and something was on t.v. that she said she liked and I looked at her and said I like you and she said yeah, because I'm funny and cute!! I just thought it was so funny!! I love how she always uses vocabulary that you don't usually hear a little girl say like Well I suppose we could.... or What shall we do? One time something fell out of the refridgerator when she opened it and said, I didn't see that coming!! My parents and Steve and I just love telling and hearing all the things she says and does. It brings joy into our lives. She really is a special girl and I don't think we could possibly love her more.

Well I guess for a little update now!! Our homeschooling is going very well so far. We've had two unit studies one on saftety and one on flight/airplanes. Both went really well and I was amazed at how much I even learned doing them. I was so excited when Noah took his first math quiz and got the answers correct. I ran down to tell Steve "I'm doing it, he's learning!!" It was such a relief to see them both learning something new that they didn't previously know. I love knowing without a doubt that they are getting one on one attention from their teacher and a godly Christian curriculum to learn from. I never have to worry about a teacher pushing their beliefs onto my children. I really feel happy and blessed to have made this decision. It hasn't been easy, but it's definitely been worth it. I love knowing exactly what they are learning at every minute of the day so I can work that into our everyday life. Noah's last teåcher was not so forth coming about what she was teaching and trying to get it out of a first grader wasn't easy either. Now I know for sure and that's a big relief to me. I am happy in this new role.

Abby is completely back to being Abby after her surgery. I have to say though, that if I knew how difficult it would be on me, and her I probably would not have done it. The first week was pretty awful. And I was racked with guilt knowing that the surgery was elective. She went in a healthy and energetic girl and came out in horrible pain and just not the same person. I guess if she more restful sleep it was worth it, but that was a lot of trouble to get to that point. I always feel guilty when something like this happens though. I got that from my Mom, she was the best at guilt trips! Now I'm afraid I've taken the crown! Oh well, it's over now and she's fine and we should just forget it all happened, except for when I scrap it of course!!

Noah is still in karate and has signed up for Upward Basketball again this fall. It starts in November. Abby's dance class has started up again and she may be starting karate soon, we haven't officially decided on that yet. Our Disney trip begins this Wednesday and we won't be back until the 30th. We're very excited about it and I still have a lot of things to get done. In fact I should probably go work on the costumes now. We're all dressing up for the Halloween party. I'll show pictures when we get back. Well have a great September and we'll see you in October!! Love you all!!