Disney

Our visit to the Magic Kingdom couldn't have been better. Cooler and less humid, yes, but the trip itself was awesome. We started out at Guest Services where Bill scored the family military appreciation tickets. The guy taking care of us was a really nice guy and made our day. He was asking the date of birth for each of us and realized Kaitlyn's birthday was two weeks earlier, so he gave her a Happy Birthday button with her name on it. As we walked down Main Street all of the greeters were giving her high fives and wishing her a happy birthday. It made us so happy to see the joy in her face it literally brought tears to her Mommy's eyes and I have a lump in my throat retelling it. You see, Kaity was really bummed that Bill couldn't be there for her birthday, so Mommy told her we would find a way to celebrate when he came home. We couldn't have planned this better! We headed over to Tomorrowland and hopped on Buzz Lightyear right away, then switched partners and rode again! After that we hit the Grand Prix Races where the kids had a blast "racing" cars. Kaity steered and Kim hit the gas. Kaity was a wild driver, even telling Mommy to stop doing that (stopping and going) when her erratic driving made the wheels hit the tracks and stop and go. Bill made the comment that teaching her to drive is going to be AWESOME! I think the boys may have been thinking, "crazy women drivers!" Next we hit the tea cups and the kids had a blast. I am hoping to find a way to upload the video, so you can see the silliness.


Ryan just barely skated through to ride his first real coaster, Goofy's Wild Acre Farm and loved every minute of it. Last time we were at Disney it was so crowded we didn't get to go through Mickey and Minnie's houses, nor did we get to meet them. This time however, the lines were only about 30 minutes long and we got to meet the famous mice. Ryan was so excited to meet them...until we got up there. He is so slow to warm up to new situations and was having his standard internal battle of wanting to do something, but being too scared. Out of all of the character meet and greets, Mickey got the best response, even getting a kiss, but clinging on to Mommy for dear life while sharing the love.

We rode a few more rides, including Thunder Mountain and Splash Mountain. Our kids are roller coaster junkies just like their parents and we love it! Kim rode with Kaity first on Thunder Mountain and the whole coaster she was yelling that she loves this ride and that this ride is her favorite. She rode for the first time on our last visit when she was three and loved it then too. Bill rode with Kaity first on Splash Mountain, which quickly became her new favorite. When Kim went with her, she kept telling me, "don't worry Mommy. It's just a teensy tinesy little drop," with that silly little giggle in her voice. We had so much fun with her. We came back a few days later and met the fairies, rode a few more rides, grabbed a nap and headed over to Hollywood Studios. McQueen and the crew are Ryan's favorites and they do appearances over there. He absolutely loves the movie Cars and any time he sees anything from the movie, he yells "QUEEN!!!!!" He wanted to meet McQueen and Mater and Ryan was so excited.....again, until we got there. Then he wouldn't let go of Mommy. At this point the rides were packed and the storms were racing in, so after getting drenched and grabbing a bite to eat we headed back to the Magic Kingdom for more rides, the Spectromagic parade, and the fireworks. The kids were beat by the end and Ryan was delirious. We got some good laughs in at his expense! While watching the fireworks, our sweet firecracker was holding on tight to Mommy and being super sweet. While holding him, Kim would rest her head against his head and then try to straighten up to watch the fireworks and he would put his hand on the opposite cheek and pull her back in to snuggle. Kaity watched the fireworks from the best seat in the house...her Daddy's shoulders.

When we asked the kids what their favorite rides were Kaity said, "Splash Mountain!" and Ryan said, "GO!" We clarified. "Ryan, you like the race cars ride the best?" "Mmm Hmm" with a smile and a head nod confirmed our guess. To see all of our great Disney pictures, please visit our picasa site and click on the Dinsey folder.
We joke with our family with much sarcasm that Disney is the Happiest Place on Earth (you know, with all the hot, sweaty, smelly crowds and overtired children and adults), but I think this week were were quite possibly the happiest family on earth, so maybe Walt Disney had it right after all.

Orlando

Our first night in Orlando we spent the evening just hanging out. We fed the kids, ran errands, got Carrabas take out and shared a bottle of wine and good conversation on the balcony overlooking Lake Bryan in Lake Buena Vista. It was a wonderful way to start our mini-vacay.

The next day we woke up and took off for the Magic Kingdom. We were pleasantly surprised to find that the park wasn't very busy at all. We were able to meet Mickey and Minnie (our longest wait at 30 minutes) and ride a lot of rides in the small amount of time we were there. We caught the shuttle back to the condo, took the kids to CiCi's Pizza right next door, and got them to bed early. It was an awesome day at the park and a great way to wrap up the day.

The next day was Father's Day and we decided to take it easy and skip out on the parks. We took the kids to play putt putt golf at the course next to the hotel. They had a good time, but didn't really want to play the whole way through. Kaity just wanted to get to the top by the volcano and Ryan, once he heard the volcano, just got clingy. Just as he was able to get down and play again, the volcano would go off again and scare him. It was pretty humorous, but we tried not to laugh at him. We headed back for family nap time and then grabbed some grub at Pei Wei. Turns out Ryan is a HUGE chicken pad thai guy. Who knew?!



Monday we hit up Univeral Studios and Grandma drove over to join us for the day. That night, Grandma hung out with the kids so we could have a date night.

Tuesday was back to the Magic Kingdom where we rode the rest of the rides we wanted to catch and were we got to meet a few of the fairies from Pixie Hollow. We all caught another nap and headed back out, this time to MGM Hollywood Studios to meet McQueen and Mater and then back to the Magic Kingdom for fireworks. While there was a crazy heat spell and the humidity was really high during our whole trip, the crowds were pretty light (until Wednesday around noon), and that made the parks bearable. Even though we were theme parking, we had a relaxing and fun trip and really enjoyed being able to play as a family again for a little while.

Bill's Visit

Bill came home for 11 very quick days in June. We had a fantastic time together enjoying each other as a family. We spent some time at home with his fam, relaxing and catching up, then took off to Orlando for 5 blissful family days. To try to not make this post overwhelming for you or me, I have decided to break it up into segments so stay tuned.

Our Trip to Publix

Before I start, I have to say I LOVE Publix and have missed it since we left Florida 9 years ago. Now that we are back, I am there a few times a week. Here is a brief summary of yesterday's trip to Publix with the kids.
Before we got out of the car, I set the expectations. No yelling, no fighting, good listening or no free cookie. Did I mention I love Publix? We get out of the car and find the behemoth shopping cart that looks like a car and I load the kids in that. I remind them again if there is any fighting there is no cookie. We swing by the deli, order some meat and cheese and start down the isles. They are super sweet to each other with Ryan giving kisses and hugs as Kaity "drives" the big green car cart. The following dialog ensues.
Kaitylyn (as I am turning down the isle): I am a good driver because I know where to go.
Mommy: You are a good driver.
Kaitlyn: I know how to drive because I learned from you.
Mommy: Wow, thank you for the compliment. That is nice of you to say.

Phase to a few isles later. Kaity's upper body is turned around talking to me while her arm is stretching back behind the cart.
Kaitlyn: Look at me Mommy.
Mommy (while looking for something on the shelf): I see honey.
Kaitlyn: I am still driving.
I look more closely at Kaity and see what she is doing.
Kaitlyn: I am driving with my knee. I learned that from you too Mommy.

I about died laughing. Yes, I am ashamed to admit, I do this sometimes to tend to the kids in the back. If I pulled over every time they needed something, I would never get anywhere.

Later on in the back of the store I pick up two boxes of Scooby Doo Go-Gurts and Ryan says, "My Scooby Doo" so, I give him a box to hold and Kaity a box to hold.
Mommy (mostly directed at Ryan): You may not open these boxes. If you open your box you will not get a cookie. If only one of you opens the box than the other will get a cookie and you will not. Do you understand?
Ryan: Okay
Kaity: You don't want to open your box Buddy. That happened to me before and I know how that feels. It didn't feel very good.
A few times ago, I threatened the cookie loss for not listening and Kaity lost out.

Ryan ended up keeping the box sealed, but lost the cookie when he kept standing up in the cart and plopping down after I told him not to. He was not very happy that sister got the cookie this time. Hopefully he will remember on our next trip like his sister did.

Kindergarten Registration

Well, it is official. Our baby is enrolled in Kindergarten. I am so not ready to have to send her off all day, every day, but I know she will love it. To be honest, I was feeling a little guilty because there were a couple of days last week where I was thinking she REALLY needs to go to school and I couldn't wait for school to start. Now I am back to feeling sad when I think about full time school. She is so excited, but worries that she will miss me while she is at school all day. She is afraid we won't have any time to play together. Me too! But I don't tell her that. :)

When we moved into Grandma and Pa Paw's house we showed Kaity her new school and every time we drive by she says, "there's my school!" Now Ryan even yells, "Kaity" and points out the window as we drive by. Kaity and I took a mini tour of the school when we got her registered and now she tells everyone that her school has a library upstairs, she will get to eat lunch there, have quiet time in her class, and play on the school playground. If only she could go all day (8-2), three days a week, we would all be happy. Her first day of school is Tuesday, August 25th. Kaity can't wait to start and make new friends. I can't wait for her to meet some friends, especially in the neighborhood, as she tells me daily that she misses her friends and doesn't have any friends at her new house.

Ryan Turns Two!

The Birthday Boy

Ryan turned two yesterday and we celebrated with Bill's family yesterday and my family today. Ryan is really into trucks, cars, motorcycles, trains, boats, planes and construction equipment. Anything that moves really. Driving down the interstate is quite entertaining. Especially here in Florida where trucks are pulling boats on trailers. That comes in just ahead of the semi transporting the cars as his favorite freeway sighting. So, to celebrate his love of all vehicles he got a plethora of things that go.

Happy birthday to you......

Getting a little help from sis

Our little guy, who usually shies away from the limelight by running to Mommy, ate up all of the attention and really liked everyone singing Happy Birthday to him. He wasted no time unwrapping the presents this year. He knew just what to do! Just in case he didn't, his cousins and sister were there to give him a helping hand. Aren't they sweet? In fact, the only reason I am able to upload pictures and blog this evening is because Kaity is using the precious time that she is awake and Ryan is asleep to play with his new toys. I haven't heard her this quiet in quite a while. We had a great weekend celebrating with family, but Daddy was sorely missed. The pictures from his birthday have been uploaded to our Picasa album.

Hey Strangers!

Wow! After complaints that we haven't been updating our blog, I decided to see what the last thing I had written was. The most shocking revelation was that when I starting typing the blogsite into my browser, nothing came up! My computer had forgotten the site! So much for blogging more once we sold the house and got settled in Florida. At least I had blogged about selling our house. I thought I was going to have to start there.
So, I am going to take the advice I have given to many scrapbookers who are so far behind and have no idea how to catch up. I am going to start with today and work my way back. A quick summary of the events of the last 8 weeks.

May was a busy month for us. We started the month out with Kaity's first dance recital, packing and moving out of our house, selling our house, and a variety of end of the year preschool activities with Kaity Mac. The middle of May we bid our Sumter friends and Shooter family a very sad farewell as we headed down to Florida to live with family for the next 7 months. The day we left we threw Kaity a Bolt themed birthday party where she got to say goodbye to most of her friends. While it was hard to say goodbye, the party was lots of fun and a good distraction from the tears. We also celebrated the birth of our first niece Rylee Patricia Shomaker. My sister gave birth on Memorial Day and we can't wait to meet the sweet sugar when they come into town this Friday! I wrapped up the month competing in my first triathlon. I competed with one of my best friends and had a really fun time. If I can fit in some time to train and it works with our travel schedule I would like to do another one this summer or fall.

June rang in Kaitlyn's 5th birthday, our 9th anniversary, swim lessons for both kids, a fantastic visit with Bill, Universal, Disney, a lot of pool time, more sad goodbyes as Bill left again, and lots of time with family. The kids and I returned from visiting my grandparents just in time to celebrate the 4th and our little firecracker's 2nd birthday.

While there hasn't been a dull moment, we haven't done much. I feel like we have been very busy. Funny how that works, huh? July is looking pretty busy too as we will be spending time with Sharon, Jack, and Rylee, another trip to visit my grandparents to get all the grands and great-grands together, and my solo trip to Korea to visit Bill. We are both looking forward to the time together, but I am nervous about leaving my babies for so long. On a recent facebook posting after leaving the kids for one night (my triathlon) I was wondering what it was going to be like leaving my kids for 2 1/2 weeks if it was so hard to leave them for one night with Kaity crying and me being sad. My dear friend Marianne responded with a priceless one word answer. Romantic. I love it!

Well, that pretty much sums it up. I am going to try to do a MUCH better job sharing our adventures and our pictures, so start checking back often. Hold me accountable people! Thanks to those of you who are keeping on us to post.