DISNEY WORLD 2011

I am sorry if I bore you with so many details but I never got this posted and we don't want to forget this trip and I don't think I will have time to scrap it so I need these memories somewhere. Disney is really magical and our kids were the perfect age.

We had been talking about this trip for a couple of years. Dave's family has a timeshare in Orlando and he suggested we go. I am not sure how but it seems to have gotten me by surprise so much so that when I least expected it, we were at the end of February and headed to Orlando.

We left to leave from Tulsa on Thursday night because we would be leaving from there on Friday since Jamie would be watching Molly for the week. She also was awesome enough to let us bunk at her house for the night and in doing so we were blessed with her wisdom regarding Disney since she had just gone the year before. As an interesting note with some pointers from Luis we traveled to Disney with just carry-ons. We were there 7 days. It was the first time I did anything like that and I am pretty proud of us.

The biggest nugget of info she gave us was about the trading pins. We loved them. We researched online and spent Saturday at the Outlet malls looking for them. We found some $2 pins and got 10 for each kid. By the end of the week, Rayne and I each had 5 and Jorge had 4. The more I think about it the more I really should do a post only about these but who knows if I ever will.

DAY 1 @ Epcot:
After much research that told us Epcot was the first park to visit and after checking our phones and seeing that it was the park to see that day we headed out. I was sure that it was going to be our least favorite park and so didn't even know how long we would stay. The plans told us to do Epcot in 2 days but we didn't have an extra day so we left hoping we could see most of it on this Sunday.

 We loved EPCOT! It was everyone's favorite! There was so much to see and like. Of course all the grounds of Disney are beautiful. We picked a perfect week and the lines were short. Memorable rides: Soarin: the kids and adults loved it. I didn't love it because of my fear of heights but did ride it twice at my family's insistence, Mission to Mars: My absolute favorite. I loved the low intensity one but the best part was when you got to the exit area and they had a game that we could all play together. Benjamin calls this one his favorite just because of this area. He didn't like the ride. Jorge and I also rode the intense one and it is the first time a ride has gotten me dizy. I didn't even know it until we got out of it and I couldn't walk straight and had to go get some air quick!

Chip and Dale were the first characters we met. Characters at Disney are superb! I love how they treat each kid with so much kindness and they have such personalities. These two didn't disapoint. They made us laugh and the kids couldn't wait to meet some more like Donald Duck and Duffy (disney's new character). We were too late to see the faries which was a bummer and decided not to make the line for Mickey. The kids were dissapointed but quickly forgot.

 Especially when we got into buildings and they were featured in their own video game and then helped Kim Possible capture the bad guys in China. This was Adreana's all time favorite in all Disney. She took it so seriously. She did a fabulous job with the clues. Unfortunately time ran out before we got to do all the countries and we were only able to do 2. We left Epcot completely exhausted. On the way out Benjamin let me know that his legs hurt. We all slept pretty soundly.

DAY 2 @ Hollywood Studios
Our research told us to go to Hollywood Studios (Formerly MGM) next. It was not crowded at all. The best part of our time there was that we got to see a TON of characters. So much so that we didn't even hardly stand in line to characters at the other parks. We got everyone we had on our list except for the princesses. It was awesome and there was NO line for them. You could basically walk right up to them! Perfect!

At the best ride of all the parks: Toy Story. Thanks to friends we knew to go straight there in the morning to get our fast passes. We also made the kids ride the Tower of Terror because I didn't want to ride it alone. It didn't go so well. They cried when we got off.  They did great though. They didn't cry while we were in it. This trip really made us realize that Benjamin is still little and that even though he acts fearless he is still in fact very afraid of the dark. We were late going to Honey I shrunk the kids play area and the kids only played for 5 minutes and they cried some more. We were tired by then I am pretty sure.

We saw our first parade and got our first high five by this guy. We ate our first Disney Treat also. To save money we packed lunches every day. We had told the kids we would be having picnics at the park and since they LOVE picnics we had a blast! They thought it was a treat and looked forward to it every day. We had also talked about the money and my kids surprised me by never asking for anything. We had to ask them if they wanted something as a souvenir. I am so proud of them. We also met with Disney for the first time! After Epcot, Hollywood Studios was a bit of a let down but we still enjoyed our time there. Rayne and Dave were not able to join us because Rayne ended up at the Drs since the scratch on her eye became red and swollen. We missed them but I think it was a good day of rest for them.

DAY 3 @ Magic Kingdom

It was a rainy day but we decided to leave to be there at 9 am and not miss a second. We had heard it would take us 2 full days to go through this park. Dave dropped us early and would come meet us later in the day. By the time we got to the park we were soaked. After we all got some ponchos we headed out. As we were on our way to Splash Mountain I noticed a sign that said Disney Princesses but there was no one there. After asking we were headed to meet the princesses with only 2 girls ahead of us.

 The princesses were so sweet to our own little princess. Our knight decided he wanted to have nothing to do with them and even after Belle called him by his name he chose to hide instead of talking to her. It was pretty funny and made a point of conversation for our girl. We ended up riding Splash Mountain, the jungle cruise, and pirates of the carribean and the flying carpets in less than an hour. Everyone at the park was amazed. People were riding Pirates 2 or 3 times since you could walk straight in. It was amazing! All I can say is Thank you Lord for a little rain!

 By noon we were done with over half the park. We stopped for lunch and met Dave and Nay. Right in time to ride some of the rides. The kids favorite People mover. They still talked about that one today. Closely followed by Buzz Light Year I think they rode that one like 4 times. My favorite is still Space Mountain. Dave, Jorge and I rode it twice. No lines! It was as great as I remembered.

 Magic Kingdom is also were we learned that we truly love Stitch. Benjamin thought he was so funny. Disney even makes waiting fun. The Pooh ride is the longest line we made that day (and maybe all week) and the kids loved waiting. They wanted to go back in the line just so they could play. I had to put this last picture because I saw this alot. Benjamin won't take a picture without this. Sorry Texans we are Sooners all the way!

DAY 3 @ Animal Kingdom
Even though our phones were telling us not to do Animal Kingdom this day we did it because we got a character breakfast. They were running behind at Tuckerhouse but in the long run it didn't matter. We had a blast and the food was worth the wait! They had a jungle fruit punch that had passion fruit and mango and lots of other things I am sure my kids would not have had if we had not been at Disney. And then the fun began. The characters started coming to our table! Oh how fun.

Disney characters are amazing. When we told Goofy he was Benjamin's favorite character he got on his knees and gave him an extra hug. It was so sweet and it made my boy's day. We saw Donald, Mickey, Goofy and Daisy. It was the meal we planned at the park and it was perfect!

Of course at animal kingdom we got to see Animals and it didn't dissapoint. I loved the stores and I loved the trails. I can't remember any of the rides except the one that takes you to see the animals so none of them must have made a great impression on me. This park was packed and I felt like we were being herded from one place to another so I didn't enjoy it as much as I did the other parks. Next time we will have to plan it for a better day.

This parade was the BEST. It was the funnest and we got the best seat. A worker at the park suggested were we should be and boy was he right. We waited for the parade on the return right at the end and we got a TON of high fives which Benjamin and Adreana loved. My favorite high fiver... Pluto! I love Pluto!

DAY 5 @ Downtown Disney

We decided to take Day 5 off and so we went to Downtown Disney in the morning. We traded a lot of good pins at the stores and even went to the trading post and had fun looking at the pin sets and at what we could find. They even have a pin book so you can look at the pin collections. By then Rayne and I were already trading so we were very interested too.

We went to the Lego store but it was undergoing reconstruction so it wasn't as fun as I remembered. This day the kids also got to pic their special something to remember the trip from Nay and Dave and that is when we met STITCH! Ben fell in love with it the minute he saw him and they have been inseperable ever since. We also treated ourselves to the Dinosaur themed restaurant T-Rex Cafe. It is like the Rain Forest Cafe except it is all Dinosaur themed. Boy did we love it. Every so often the dinosaurs come to life and roar away. The kids had a blast walking around and looking at all the different rooms. The food was pretty good also.

 After spending most of the morning there we went back to the hotel to go to the pool while Dave and Nay went to one of the parks. When they got back we all headed back to Downtown Disney for a ghiradelli treat, some dancing with Radio Disney and some Pollo Campero. Jorge and I just couldn't pass it up.  Adreana loved the dancing. She was up there every time it was allowed. In the picture they are singing the mickey mouse club song. They had no idea what it was.

DAY 6 @ EPCOT

We had one day left and we had to decide as a family where we wanted to go. Incredibly enough the unanimous decision was EPCOT! We all felt like there was something else we wanted to do and something we had missed. It rained a little so my camera stayed well gaurded.

 We finished the countries and then we left for the airport. It was hard to say goodbye to soo much fun. The only bright side for the kids was seeing Molly again. They were both a little worried that she wouldn't want to come home with us again and were both relieved when she remembered us.

So that was Disney 2011 for our family. I hope there is another one for us in the near future. Hopefully after this LONG post I won't forget.

Field Day 2011

We love field day! It is a great day to meet up with friends and play around the playground and the competitions. To tell you the truth I didn't want to go because I was tired. We still weren't done with school but I had promised the kids that we would indeed go and so we did.

I am so glad we did because it was so much fun. I was rereading this post about our first field day and how we didn't know anyone. Well know we know a bunch of people so I get to talk to friends as well as watch my kids interact. Every year I fall in love with homeschooling a little more.  I guess God knew what he was doing when he called me to do it.

Both kids got first place in running. After Benjamin won he told me I was running like the wind! How exciting! Benjamin was one of the oldest in his group but Adreana ran against 7-9 yr olds so she did pretty great.

 We still run the 3-legged race together. I think that is what gives us a pretty good advantage (that and the fact they are the same height!) Next year I don't think they will be able to because she might be in a different category so I wanted to cherish this moment (although with homeschoolers it is all about who shows up so you never know!). They won 1st place in this too!

 This year Adreana had asked me for a hoola hoop (our cheap dollar store one broke last summer) and I forgot to go get it. She borrowed one but it was lopsided. But don't worry the next day we went to get one and a good one too. Next year she will be ready. She has been practicing already!

This year my favorite part of the whole experience was watching the water balloon fight. Jorge helped fill them thankfully that morning (as I had thought I might not go and didn't do it the night before like any sensible mom would have done!). What I loved though was that this is the event where kids from K - 12 go at it together. On the bottom photo you can see Adreana chasing a teenage boy with her water balloon. He later turned on her and emptied his water cooler soaking her.  These kids are used to being together. They don't care how old you are, they help and acknowledge each other. If homeschooling would leave us nothing else I would be happy. My kids have role models and good ones too. These kids share their knowledge and lives with those who are younger. It is expected and they know nothing else. This is what my kids themselves know so when a little one toddles around to them they are enchanted and become mini-role models themselves. I hope this is a lesson that will stay with them forever.

Homeschool: Eating like Romans



We are learning about the Romans. We have talked about how the Romans made roads, we talked about what it meant to be a Roman citizen and we talked about Roman soldiers and gladiators. But the thing that stuck in my kids mind was that the Romans ate lying down sooo we had to give it a try. It didn't last long as after a little while they realized it was easier to eat sitting down.  Little things that make our homeschool day so much funner!

Bible Story Snack

Benjamin rushed into my room and said "Look mama! I am eating a Bible story Snack!"

Can you guess which one? Jesus feeds the 5,000! See the bread and the fish!  I LOVE THIS LITTLE BOY! and I love how closely he pays attention in church.and I love his teacher who is superb at leading him to God! Thank you Jesus for such a great year!

The rabbit

This is the story of the rabbit. It is a bit long. I will try and keep it short.

As is usual in beautiful spring days the kids went outside to the  backyard to blow bubbles and play. They came in all excited to tell me to come see and bring my camera. There was a rabbit in th backyard. I knew there was a rabbit.  I had been picking up its poo so Molly didn't eat it. I had seen Molly chase it but I decided to go see fully expecting it to be gone. But it didn't leave it was there watching us.
 
 It was so bold. Waiting and then it hopped right past us to my herb garden. It isn't much of an herb garden but there are some chives and rosemary that came back. It was using its hind legs to hide something and that is when I knew. It had made it burrow in my garden. That couldn't be good so I complained out loud. Little girl was happy at the posibility of bunnies! I was not. We watched it and it stayed. I decided it was time to go inside and leave the bunny alone.

 The next day, a Saturday, Jorge had class. I decided to go outside with Molly so I could check out teh rabbit and see what I could see. Adreana followed me. What we found was pretty dismal. Something I wasn't prepared for. An overturned burrow and 4 half eaten bunnies on the ground. I couldn't bring myself to pick them up so I left them for Jorge. Little girl was sad but composed. I was sad and I said so. She said she didn't believe me because just yesterday I had said I didn't want them in my garden. There was no denying it; she keeps track of everything I say. I explained that it was true that I didn't want them in my garden but that there is something about dead bunnies that makes one sad.

She asked why it had happened and God in his infinite glory gave me wisdom and we had a talk about how predators like eagles have a few birdies and not very often but rabbits whom so many other animals eat have many and often. God had it all planned out and how great is He. We were able to give God glory despite dead bunnies! How exciting!

And because I don't want to leave this blog post in such a sour note... Here are some pictures of fun things growing. Some beautiful June strawberries and a beautiful purple flower from the chives! Have I ever told you purple is my favorite color... well it is!

Spring decorations

A little peak at our spring decoration this year. Our beautifully tinted eggs with gorgeous flowers. The kids did them for me. Crochet butterflies. And spring flower balls. Some with silk flowers and some with paper flowers using my cricut! Hope you are inspired! Now to think about summer...