My brother and his kids are in town this week with friends and we were able to meet up with them last night. My original plan was to leave work not too long after lunch, grab the kids and make an afternoon of it, that definitely did not happen. The move from Friday is still lingering and I cannot wait for that fun project to be complete.
Anyway...
The kiddos have been excited to see everyone since I mentioned it on Sunday and they practically raced Kevin down the hallway to see their cousins. After some time in the room, we headed to Downtown Disney.
Aaron fit right in with all of the boys, and I'm not sure what it is about getting a group of boys together, but it definitely brings the sillies out. Jilly hung out with her Uncle Kevin while we were waiting for the bus. I'm pretty sure he heard all about the past week of her life at least a dozen times, plus or minus three.
When we arrived at Downtown Disney the kids took a ride on the carousel. As Adam says, "Who would have thought my first ride at Disney would be the carousel?"
It was then decided that we needed ice cream from Ghiradelli. If you know anything about my family, you know that we all love Ghiradelli ice cream and it is always somewhere we need to stop.
The ice cream trip worked out nicely because they were doing a dance showcase on the stage right by where we were sitting. I think all of the kids were thoroughly entertained while we waited for our treats.
When everything arrived I was surprised to see what Aaron ordered, apparently he just pointed to a picture and ordered a huge waffle cone with ice cream and sprinkles. He ate every bit of the ice cream and shared the cone.
After the ice cream we all headed over to the stage to see the show that they do at night. I guess you call it a show? They had a DJ playing music for all of the kids. We hung out for a while watching everything and then Jill disappeared with Meghan's friend Alex. Apparently, Jill thought Alex was a sucker and she could take her into the world of Disney to buy her something. You can't fault her for trying I guess.
I was hoping the kids would fall asleep on the way home from all of this, but not so much. They talked the entire way home and were up at their normal time this morning. They cannot wait to see their cousins and friends again today. I'm fairly certain they will talk the entire time again.
Needless to day, today is a several cups of coffee kind of a day.
This weekend was a whirlwind for sure. Saturday I was in Sarasota for a bridal shower, it was a fabulous time and I am so excited for this wedding! Aaron and Jill are the ring bearer and flower girl in this wedding, and Scott is one of the groomsmen.
After I got home we went to Downtown since Scott still has his awesome discount from the holidays. At one point though, Jill walked away. She got turned around, she was trying to find me and I had just walked around the corner and she went the opposite direction. I have never been so scared in my life. One minute she was there and the next she was gone. Thank God for Scott because he was able to slip into 'work mode' and start looking for her. I, on the other hand, was holding back vomit and freaking the eff out. All I could think was someone took her and left with her and I'll never see her again. Yup, 30 seconds and that's where my mind went. Thankfully, Jill was one room over and just as upset as I was. I was equally thankful that there was a cast member a few paces behind her making sure she found us. It was hands down the worst experience of my life and I hope to God I never have to go through that again.
Switching to a happier note, Sunday we had a get together with the B6 for the Super Bowl. The kids had their own party while us adults watched the game. I'm diggin' this idea of two parties and think it will be a new tradition.
Seriously, how cute are those kids? Thanks so much Dawn and Dys for coming over!
Yesterday we took Aaron back to RIDEMAKERZ at Downtown Disney since he loved the store so much when we went for the Car Masters Weekend on Friday. RIDEMAKERZ is a fun and immersive car building and customizing experience for the whole family with over 649 million ways to customize your favorite radio-control car or “RIDE.” This modern day car concept takes America’s love of cars and the massive car customizing movement to the next level. Its distinctive combination of real and online activities provides choice, unleashes creativity, encourages collaboration, fosters confidence and instills a sense of community. To help celebrate the release of Cars 2 they have an entire line of cars from the film for you to customize.
Here's how the experience (and trust me, it's an experience) works:
Customizers who visit RIDEMAKERZ, either online or at a physical SHOP, enter a dream car-customization world where they can find all the parts they need to personalize their car. There are so many body styles, engines, parts and decals that each Customizer will emerge with a RIDE that is unique. The journey toward making a dream car begins with:
CHOOZE Customizers pick from nearly 70 body and paint styles. Models come in a variety of eye-popping colors and designs, along with stock treadz and wheelz and most have soundz and working headlights and taillights. Then it’s time to pick a chassis – either Street or Monster.
MOTORIZE Now it’s time to choose Free-Wheel or Radio-Control.
MOBILIZE Here Customizers select wheelz and treadz, and then build their RIDEZ in the RZ Pit Challenge, a timed and age-handicapped race against the clock.
CUSTOMIZE Customizers can add specialty lights, spoilers, side pipes, hood scoops, blown engines, roll bars, decals and much more.
CRUIZE Customizers load their RIDEZ into the RZ CRUIZECASE and head out for a spin.
RIDEZ are priced from $18 to $38, depending on body and paint scheme selected. Radio remote-control can be added for an additional $25 and custom accessories range in price from $2 for grille guards, spoilers and hood scoops to $15 for a deluxe “muscle kit” that includes a blow engine, spoiler, side pipes, muffler tips and roof vent. RIDEZ measure 10 to 12 inches long, about the size of a football, and range from approximately 1:14 to 1:20 scale.
Aaron was beyond excited when we told him he could pick out whichever car he wanted. He picked out the new Lightning McQueen, which happens to be the only one that has lights. Next we went to pick out which sound we wanted, and then we went to pick out the wheels. Aaron dug right into the wheels and found some awesome red ones. Then he picked out the rims from the huge wall. Next we got the street chassis and remote control motor. Finally, we headed to the pits to create the car.
I have to say creating the car was the coolest part. The crew member allowed Aaron to do all of the work, or at least all of the work that he wanted to do. There is nothing better than watching your child's eyes light up as they are doing this. I think his blurred face says it all, no?
This was definitely one of the coolest experiences we've ever had. Aaron is still smiling ear to ear ! A huge thank you to the people at RIDEMAKERZ for making this such an amazing experience and for allowing us the opportunity to make a car!
The kids and I got to check out a preview of the Car Masters Weekend at Downtown Disney. The weekend runs from May 13-15, 2011 from 10:30 am - 6:00 pm on the West Side. Here are the events for the weekend:
* Muscle cars will line the Downtown Disney promenade alongside the largest life-sized, radio-controlled replica cars ever built--which bring their big-screen "car-acter" counterparts to life for fans to meet face to face.
* Pixar Animation Studios' "Cars" Franchise Guardian and resident car expert, Jay Ward, has been tapped to judge the Classic Car show which takes place on Saturday and Sunday.
* NASCAR fans can get a peek at Richard Petty's racecar on display inside RIDEMAKERZ at Downtown Disney.
* The family-friendly weekend will feature special Disney-Pixar "Cars 2" merchandise --including new RIDEMAKERZ models -- and bonus entertainment.
* The 2006 Disney-Pixar "Cars" film returns to the big screen with a limited engagement viewing at AMC Pleasure Island 24 Theatres throughout the weekend. Moviegoers can even catch a glimpse of the new movie trailer from "Cars 2," which gets the "green flag" on June 24, 2011, presented in Disney Digital 3D™ and IMAX 3D® in select theaters.
We got to see some of the muscle cars that will be on display this weekend, and let me tell you, they are awesome! Aaron was definitely a fan of the Fabulous Hudson Hornet and I could have crawled into the Bonneville for sure.
Our next stop was RIDEMAKERZ which is this great area where you can make your own remote control cars. They just came out with a line of cars for Cars 2, check them out:
We are definitely going back to let Aaron make a car, he was in love with them. Also inside RIDEMAKERZ you will find Richard Petty's racecar (he is actually the voice of The King in the first cars movie). I was convinced Jill was going to climb in a la Bo Duke at one point. I figured as long as she didn't slide across the hood we would be ok, right?
After we checked out the cars we made our way to the event area, which is located between Wolfgang Puck and Bongo's (both crazy delicious restaurants). There are tents set up with different activities, games and contests. Also located in this area are the Cars replicas. I pretty much thought Aaron's head was going to explode when he saw these, and then they turned them on and he pretty much couldn't form a sentence. First up was Mater:
He is exactly like he is in the movie, down to all of the dents. I overheard Jay Ward say that he has a new dent, which you will see in the new movie.
Each location is set up so e-photos can be taken of you and your family with your favorite car.
The newest car is Finn McMissile:
He's a sleek spy car and if you notice, his grill is split so it looks like he has a mustache. Finally, we got to see Lightning McQueen himself. He has a different paint job for this film and I have to tell you it's awesome!
Jill full on gave Lightning a hug and Aaron was just mesmerized. He spent most of the time checking out the wheels and every little detail about the car. I was lucky I was able to get this photo of us:
The kids had a blast and it was pretty hard getting them away from the area when it was time to head home.
I also got a preview of some of the new merchandise for Cars 2. This is a new outfit for the Duffy bear, it's not out in stores yet, but look how cute:
I had to crop out Jill's hand in this photo, she was trying to take the bear, I think she thought it was for her.
If you're local be sure to head over to Downtown Disney's West Side all weekend from 10:30 am - 6:00 pm to check out all of the activities including a video kiosk, e-photo opportunities, games and giveaways. You can also enter the "Agents on a Mission" sweepstakes, which features 18,000 prizes, including a new car.
A huge thank you to everyone who made this morning possible! You made my three year olds day, ok and their Dad's too....and maybe mine ;)
I'm fairly certain the ear infections are going away, we are almost done with our antibiotics and Jill is no longer complaining about the bee in her ear. I'm probably going to take them in again this week just to be sure that they are gone, I'd hate to go through everything again.
Since we are feeling better and the snot has dried up (thank God) we went to Disney yesterday. We started out at Downtown Disney since Aaron keeps talking about wanting to go on the yellow balloon. My MOM said she would take him on it and Scott agreed to go as well. When we got to Downtown Aaron was still excited about the balloon until we got up close then he decided he didn't want to go on the balloon. I don't blame him, and I think everyone was happy they wouldn't have to go on the balloon.
We decided to head over to Magic Kingdom after that and try and see Rapunzel. That was a no go since you have to be in line for at least an hour to get to see her. Instead we met some of the other princesses and went on some of the rides.
Since the Mommy and Me photo from last week was Jill and I, I thought it would a good idea to do one of Aaron and I....well Aaron is at least in the picture.
So I accomplished my goal of the week, we saw Santa. We decided to go to Downtown Disney this year and made sure we were there early. I think we waited maybe 15 minutes? The kids seemed excited when we were waiting in line. Aaron has been talking about Santa for weeks now, so I figured this was going to be smooth sailing (you can see where this is going, can't you?).
It was our turn and Jill literally ran to Santa, jumped in his lap and immediately gave him a hug. Aaron on the other hand would not move past the yellow-please-wait-here-line. So being the kind caring mother that I am, I scooped him up, sat down, motioned for Scott to sit down and told Aaron to smile.
And there you have it, the Santa experience of 2010. In case you were wondering, Aaron immediately began talking about Santa once we cleared the other yellow line. Sigh
We went to Downtown Disney the other night to meet up with my brother Chris and sister in law Pam for dinner. For once in our life post twins we were really early (if you have twins or more you know this does not happen often) so we had a chance to let the kids run around in the Lego playground. They had actually just opened it because it was too hot earlier in the day, so nobody was there, which was perfection.
Notice how Aaron is sliding, my sister Cathy calls this the reverse Superman. He does it every single time he slides, I have no idea why. Aaron was also a super big boy and climbed the rock wall they have there without any help. Jill was content walking up the stairs and going down the slide. Naturally, she smiled and made sure everyone was watching when she went down the slide. I have a serious diva on my hands.
After they played for a while we thought it would be better to go cool down somewhere, I mean it is only 100 degrees without the humidity outside. As we were walking around Jill spotted "the pretty" aka Cinderella. Jill and Aaron both ran over and gave the statue tons of hugs.
Do you see how tan my children are? Definitely not a gene that was inherited from me. It's probably that not-enough-of-a-fraction-to-get-a-scholarship Cherokee that they have. Lucky kids.
We ended up having dinner at T-Rex which is a favorite of mine because the kids can be loud and nobody cares. Genius I tell ya! The only problem is Aaron was not a fan, at all. He laid in my lap the entire time. I know he got spooked the last time we went to Rainforest Cafe, giant animatronic gorillas can do that to a kid, but I thought we'd be ok at T-Rex. Not so much. He was crying the second we walked in. He survived though and I just went ahead and added another $5 to his therapy fund for when he's older. Really, it's the least I can do at this point.
Minus Aaron not having a great time, dinner was good. Jill talked the entire time (I know Cathy the apple doesn't fall far from the tree blah blah blah) and reminded everyone that there were in fact trees above us, in case we missed that.
I'm wondering though, how can I get Aaron over the fear of these restaurants? Any tips?
I had a really fun MoM's night out last night. Seriously, it's been a while, like a long while, possibly an eternity.
Lani and I meet up at Houlihan's first to have a quasi-meeting and dinner. The disturbing funny part of dinner (read: drinks) was the creep-o at the bar in the Hawaiian shirt. I'm not a fan of people staring in the first place, it makes me self conscious, like I have spinach in my teeth, or my boob just fell out of my top a la Tara Reid, so when this guy was just staring in our direction I was a little disturbed. Add the fact that he was old enough to be my Dad just made it that much more creepy. It's moments like these that I fix my hair or adjust my glasses with my left hand and give the "please stop staring you're creeping me out" look. PS get the seared rare tuna wontons, they are to die for, always have been, always will be.
After dinner we met up with April and her niece Katie at Downtown Disney. Can I just tell you I am so not ready for Jill to be a teenager, but may need to spend more time with Katie or have April take copious notes on what teen girls are like now. She was a riot though.
We decided to catch a movie, and can I admit something? The last movie I saw in the theaters was Indiana Jones and the Kingdom of the Crystal Skull. Seriously. I'm not even close to kidding. We originally got tickets to see Salt but the only seats available were the first two rows, um no. Besides I have a thing against Angelina Jolie, a) she was a part of breaking up Jen and Brad's marriage (GO TEAM ANISTON!) b) She had that genetically perfect Shiloh the weekend of my wedding c) she had twins around the same time I did. It's like she's copying my life. *Sigh* Back to the topic at hand....
Since none of us had the desire to watch a movie that was thisclosetoourfaces we switched out our tickets for The Other Guys:
They had Lani and I at Mark Wahlberg (say hi to your mother for me). I'm going to be honest I didn't care if the movie was good or bad I was just excited to be in a theater watching a movie. Thankfully, the movie was pretty good and seriously hilarious. Like a typical Will Ferrell there's a million one liners that you're going to be hearing from everyone.
Thanks to the ladies for a great MNO, I totally needed that!
Today has definitely been a WTF?!/totally random kind of a day. Please bear with me in this post...(ps you have been warned, just sayin')
This morning I had my yearly sun-spot check at the dermatologist. Ever since moving to Florida it's become extremely important that someone with vampire-esque skin tone should have their skin checked every year. I like my derm, she has boy girl twins as well. She also promises every time I see her that it gets easier, I wonder if she's lying. So today I told her about this bump I have on the top of my head. It doesn't hurt, doesn't itch, just annoying and kind of well ugly. She looked at it, said it was probably a cyst caused by product buildup from shampoo, conditioner, etc. I'm thinking to myself, "ok, no big deal, we can talk about removal at some other point and time". Now what I thought and what happened are two completely different things. She said, quite matter of factly by the way, "Oh I'll just shave off the top of the bump and remove the cyst." Ok, do you know where the top of your head is? It's where your BRAIN is! So there I am with a needle in my head so they can numb the area and you know just shave a little off the top. AH! She did her thing and the bump is gone but oh my God. I'm traumatized, seriously.
So that happened, great way to start my morning. I definitely deserved a Starbucks run, agreed? And the real stuff, not some tea latte like I have been getting. I wanted the full on caffeine, possibly double shot, deluxe, biggest size ya got. It was delicious by the way and made everything seem so much better.
I get home and begin finalize my grocery list and Scott was cutting the rainforest that seemed to have grown in our yard. Apparently feeling extra motivated he decided to trim the small tree in our backyard. Now, I've mentioned before that we have a wasp problem. When we had the big tree trimmed the guy found a wasp nest the size of a softball (he also got stung three times, I didn't feel bad, does that make me a bad person?), so it is safe to assume that the other tree would be harboring terrorists as well, no? Now I have no idea what made me look out the window at this time, but, the look on Scott's face when he discovered the nest that had "at least 20 wasps, swear to God" was priceless (him jumping backwards and doing a slight arm flail was just icing on the cake). I wish I had video, I really do. I decided this was the time I needed to flee and hit the grocery store.
Upon my return from the store I noticed the air conditioner guy was here. We've been having an issue with our unit, it drips water in the main vent, so the guy was coming back to clean everything out and hopefully it would stop. Our warranty company decided that it was homeowner error because we don't have our unit serviced every year and we would be responsible for the cost ($430 in case you were wondering). Whatever, it had to get done, I mean I cannot imagine trying to survive a Florida summer sans AC. There is not a deodorant strong enough to mask that smell. So after 3 hours of repairing (sans AC, during the hottest part of the day, we are so smart) it's still leaking. Turns out it was the pan on the unit. It's all rusted out. The guy was really bummed that it wasn't what he thought and get this, didn't charge us. I swear to God! We asked what we owed him and he said nothing since he didn't fix the problem. Who does that? Needless to say that man has our business and possible a few dozen cookies for life.
Since the house was still warm we decided to take the kiddos to the library. I completely forgot that the library closes early on Fridays (apparently librarians like to party it up on the weekends or something), so I just ran in real quick and got the kiddos some new books. This didn't go over too well with the kiddos that were just promised we were going to the library, or as Aaron calls it, the house. So we decided to go to Downtown Disney for a little bit. We let the kids run around the playground by the Lego store. They had a blast:
The fun, unfortunately, was cut short because my little Southern gentleman decided to walk up to a little girls block tower and push it down. He did say sorry though, so that counts for something.
Can I tell you how ready I am for bed? This has been the most crazy, slightly insane, warm day ever. I hope you at least found it comical. Have a great weekend everyone!
I think things are starting to finally get back to normal after the holidays. I cannot wait to take down the Christmas tree though, I won't know what to do with myself not having to say "No, don't touch that! Yes, that includes touching it with your feet!". We've just been hanging out with my folks the past few days. My sister and niece went back to Chicago on Saturday, they had a tough go though. Because of the weather they were delayed several hours and because one of the flaps didn't work they had to land in St. Louis and switch planes. The finally made it into Chicago close to 4 am (no fun).
Last night we met up with my parents for dinner at Captain Jack's at Downtown Disney. We had perfect seats right by the water so the kids could watch the boats during dinner. I had to laugh though because our waitress clearly sounded like she's smoked a carton a day since she was 12 and Aaron noticed as well and mimicked her raspy voice at one point. I literally almost shot all my food out of my mouth.
After dinner we just walked around with all the other crazy people that are in town (and I say that in the nicest way possible, trust me). My Dad ended up buying, I don't know, like 10 pounds of chocolate covered raisins and nuts. I don't even think I'm exaggerating on that one. He also hit someone with my Moms wheelchair (her hip has been bothering her, nothing serious). I cannot tell you how that situation turned out because, like any good daughter, I ran in the other direction and pretended I was not with them. I was told in the car though that (please imagine this in a heavy Chicago accent) "She turned around and looked at me and didn't say a G-D thing! She knew! She knew she was in the G-D way! These people..." and it went on for a little bit. Then Jill ended up talking to him which seemed to calm him down and if my Dad wasn't listening she would say "Dzia Dzio" until he acknowledged her and then she would continue to talk. He just may have agreed to buying her Cinderella's Castle.
Hope you are getting back into the groove after the holidays!
Today we went to Downtown Disney to do a little last minute Christmas shopping. It was actually a lot busier than I thought it would be. The kids got some stickers from one of the cast members, it was the highlight until the morning, well until the pretzel. The kids had their first soft pretzel today from Wetzel's Pretzel's and they could not shove it in their mouths fast enough!
OH! And then we were in the World of Disney and I was trying to get out of the store since people were standing thisclosetome when this lady (and I do not say that in a nice tone) was blocking the walkway. Before I could say "excuse me" her husband tapped her shoulder so she could move and she said (for real not even kidding) "she has a mouth!". Oooooooooh you did not. I tell ya what there were a lot of cleansing breathes and will power to not hit her with my stroller. I did thank her husband though and gave him that "sorry your life/wife sucks" look.
In other not the best news, still no phone :( AT&T said it would be here today and yet, here I am, Blackberry free. Scott called to find out what was going on and they said that it should be here tomorrow, oh and that they extended my contract for 2 years. Funny, I don't remember that being mentioned. Awesome AT&T! We at least got our shipping reimbursed plus a few extra bucks. We'll see what happens tomorrow...until then...
Jill on the boat heading back to Magic Kingdom Jill and I waiting to go on the Magic Carpets Scott and Aaron On the Magic Carpets Scott and Aaron on the Magic Carpets Getting ready to go on the Jungle Cruise Scott and the kids in front of the wishing fountain Me and my honey
We went back to Magic Kingdom today for a second try and it went much much MUCH better. Jill took a really good morning nap, so that definitely helped, and the park wasn't as crowded. We actually went on a lot of rides (Pirates, Magic Carpets, Haunted Mansion, TTA, Jungle Cruise). After that we went to Downtown Disney and walked around. Oh! And we saw Bucky Covington (he was on American Idol a few seasons ago, sings country) checking in at the Wilderness Lodge. It was pretty cool. So, that's pretty much it over here. Hope you had a good day!
Yesterday we went to Downtown Disney with Lani, Lily, Ben, Cameron, April, Hunter, Hadden and Hendrix. It was pretty cold, and we definitely didn't take into account that there is a huge body of water right there, whoops! It was a good walk though, we walked all of the West Side, Pleasure Island, Marketplace and then looped through Saratoga Springs. What made it even better was that there were hardly any people there, so no dumb questions! Well, not as many I should say. It's supposed to be cooler today, so I think we're just going to lay low. Hopefully the kids will really nap for me today. Jill is on this new kick where all she needs is a 45 minute nap, well she thinks that's all she needs. Yesterday she didn't even nap at all, I wanted to pull out my hair. Here's hoping, right? Hope you have a great day!
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