Down and Up the West Coast

Yay, we are home. That was an awesome vacation, and one of the big pluses was, no stomach flu. If you remember last year during our Disney World vacation we all ended up getting the stomach flu at some point, and it was just awful. We did end up coming home a few days early and skipping the hiking days, because at that point we were tired of living out of a hotel. We missed our stuff and our cats. Well here I go, I'm going to tell you all about it.

Jeremy and Olivia had been passing around a cold for the past week and a half, before we left. My hopes were that I would not catch it, or if I did I would catch it early and be over it by the time we left. Well of course I catch the day before we leave. That night we were double checking the drive time, and the once 5.5 hour drive to crater lake, had turned into a 7 + hour drive because of the snow they were having. So instead of leaving around 7am, we decided to leave at 5am the next morning.

Wednesday (the first day) our alarm was set of 4am and of course I wake up a 3:30, and didn't see any point of going back to sleep. Our drive is peaceful and normal until 10 miles outside of Porland, and we hit some heavy traffic. From there it was smooth sailing until we hit the mountain roads. There was snow everywhere. It took us even longer the get to Crater Lake because of the snow. A lot of the roads were closed and we had to take the long way around the mountain. I myself was very excited to see the snow, Jeremy was nervous (he was the one driving), and wondering if we should have put snow chains on our mini van. Once we finally made it, the snow was coming down, and you couldn't see the lake at all. We still had fun at the visitors center, and the kids loved playing in the snow. When we finally made it to the hotel it was a wonderful feeling.

What surprised me about our driving thursday (which was our second day), was that we still had to do some mountain driving. By this time, my head cold was at it's peek, and the popping of my ears (because of the altitude) didn't help.

We were heading to San Francisco that day, and I was super excited, because I had aways wanted to visit that city, for two reasons. One Alcatraz, and two, that Mythbusters lived there (not that me going there would mean that I would get to meet them). We gave ourselves plenty of time to drive just in case of traffic. We had pre-paid for tickets for Alcatraz online, and couldn't under and circumstances be late (or so said the tickets). We ended up getting there really early, which was fine in the end, because we just walked around the city a bit. There were a lot of people there, in the city and taking the tour for Alcatraz. The island was great, but really hilly. You have to climb a steep hill to get up to the cell block. The view from the island was wonderful, and I really enjoyed myself, and I was glad that we plained this crazy trip.

Our hotel that night was super nice. One of the nicest hotels I've ever stayed in. I booked all of the hotels on Expedia, so I really had no idea how they really looked. I was most concerned with price and weather the rooms were big enough for all of us.There were fountains and waterfalls in the lobby with koi fish in them. It was the Embassy Suites in San Rafael. After dinner we took over the indoor pool (thats what you do when you have a family of 6, even when you don't mean to). We ended up playing tag in the water. That was so much fun. I noticed that night that I had some sunburn on my face. :( I guess I should have put on sunblock. 

That night was a nightmare. I had a hard time sleeping because of it being a strange place, and because of my cold. I didn't sleep much at all, and I was making up for it here and there during the drive the next morning.

That dive was also no walk in the park. We hit a lot of traffic. First there was Oakland and then their was LA. I really felt bad for Jeremy. A 7.5 hour drive turn into 9 hours thanks to traffic in verious places.

When we finally made it to San Diego, it was exciting. Our hotel was in Mission Valley, which I was excited about, because I feel it's a great part of the city to be in. Our room had a view of the highway, which really isn't ideal, but I'm one of those people who likes highway noise, so it worked out. That night we got dinner at Pick Up Stix in Murphy Canon, our old stomping ground. Just being there made me wish we could move back there again.

Saturday, was wonderful. We met up with our old friends Jessica and Justin with their 4 daughters. I'm not kidding it was us 4 adults with the 8 kids. We were a sight. We meet up at 10, and walked through the creation museum in Santee. Olivia was so excited to see other girls, and would say every so often, "Look it's girls! Hey girls." It was so cute. We next went out to lunch. Yes all of us, in a sit down place if you can believe it. We went to Mimi's, also in Santee. This is when I noticed that the kids had all paired off. Darien was sitting next to and chatting non stop with Claire. Zachary had become fast friends with Veronica. Nathaniel and Rachel were two peas in a pod, they even ordered the same thing, and giggled about it, and Olivia was attached to Zoe. I'm glad Zoe didn't mind, and actually enjoyed the extra attention. Lunch was great, the food was okay (well on my end, I know my husband loved what he got), but the company and conversation was awesome. I enjoyed myself despite the fact that I couldn't really talk. My bad cold had turned into a bad cough, and my vocal cords were swollen at this point, and I sounded like a chain smoker. Were all big nerds, so yeah like I said, awesome conversation.

Next we went to Balboa park. It's one of my most favorite places in the world. The all of us hung out at the play ground for a while, for the kids of course. Jeremy had his camera and took some awesome pictures. The kids were having so much fun, and that really made my day right there. We next walked over to the fountains. The last time I was in San Diego, I had Justin take pictures of Jess and me at and in the fountains, so of course we had to do it again. 

Last time

This time

We go some of the kids too...

The koi fish were next. Olivia loved this part. She loved how big they were, and she love that they all were different in colors. At this point Olivia only wanted to hold Zoe's hand, and walk with Zoe. Yeah she had a new best buddy. We walk through the botanical gardens and the art gallery. I'm not sure the staff at the gallery was use to so many kids walking through it on a non field trip day, but the kids were doing awesome at this point. They were all hand in hand with their buddy and it was so cute. When it came time to leave, it broke my heart to see them all say good bye. Olivia was really upset about leaving Zoe. When we got back in the car it felt really weird to only have the 4 kids, and mostly boys for that matter. Yes their girls always leave me feeling like that.

That night we ordered in pizza, and I finally got a full nights sleep. My cold had finally let up a little, and I feel asleep while everyone was watch tv.

Sunday was the San Diego Zoo. To Olivia's great disappointment the Samuels (the friends who we visited with the day before) weren't going to be joining us. She didn't find this out however until we were in the parking lot for the Zoo. She hopped out of the van and looked from side to side, then asked "Where are the girls? My girls?" Yes my heart broke all over again. Once we were in the park, we checked out the reptile room first, Olivia loves snakes. We then took the sky tram up to the polar bear exhibit. Darien was nervous about the tram at first, but once it was over, he said that he rather ride that all day. His logic was that when you are on the tram, you still get to see the animals, and great views of the city, and the big plus is you don't have to walk. San Diego is a hilly city, and the Zoo so no exception, so walking it in some parts can be a real workout. Luckily there are a lot of different ways to get around if you get tired. They have the bus tour which goes around the outer rim of the zoo, and starts and ends near the entrance. They have the Kangaroo busses that you can hop on and off at various places in the park, and the sky tram. We were dead tired and left the zoo a little after 1pm. We got some lunch then went to the Cabrillo National Monument. I love the views of the city from the monument.

I have been praying for some time now, that we would get sent back there. I love San Diego, and wouldn't want to live anywhere else. It may be a far fetched idea that we would get transferred anytime soon, but I'm going to keep praying for it. 

Monday was Seaworld. We were given 4 tickets for free because of my husbands wonderful service to our country, and I was more than greatful for that, but little did I know that we would be given another wonderful gift not to long after entering the park. We were on our way to the Atlantis ride, when a cast member stops us. She asks us where we are from, the if we knew that the San Diego Seaworld was celebrating 50 years. Since it is a big celebration, they are giving out free gifts to random families. Yes we were just in the right place at the right time. She gave us free meal vulters. So yes not only did we get 4 of us into the park for free, but we also ate for free, both lunch and dinner. I was of course blown away.

As far a weather goes there wasn't a cloud in the sky. Sunblock was a must and even with SPF 50 it didn't seem like enough. Seaworld has little shade, so we were feeling it by the time we got back to the hotel. We saw 2 of the 4 shows, we had fun on the rids, and we saw a lot of awesome animals. Olivia's favorite were the pigeons. She could have stayed there all day, and that would have been fine. I like the Walrus myself... see 

Look it's Jamie Hyneman...

If you are a fan of the Mythbusters you'll get it.

Zachary loved the new Mania Ray. Jeremy and I both agree that it was an awesome coaster.

We loved the Blue Horizons show, but thought the One Ocean show (the Shamu one), was a bit of a disappointment. You could tell, the whale were not willing to listen, and the trainer were a bit frustrated with them, but still carrying on.

Olivia fell asleep on the ride back to the hotel. Yup the 5 minute ride was just to much for her. While she slept Jeremy took the boys down to the pool, and I packed our room up a bit. After swimming and Olivia's cat nap we went to the mall and got ice cream. We were sitting outside (mission valley mall is an outdoor mall), and Olivia says out of the blue. "I love San Diego. I have a lot of fun in San Diego." This was our last day in that wonderful city. Yes it's was a little sad. Beside that though, I felt like at this point I had already had a great vacation, and it wasn't over yet.


Tuesday... Our first day in Disneyland... I'm not even sure where to begin with this one. The park was very crowed that day, we'll start with that. I'm not sure why, it was late April, and school wasn't out yet. The other bad thing was a third of the rides where closed... good rides like Pirates and jungle cruse. The rides that were actually open kept breaking down, and had extremely long lines. At one point Jeremy actually said "I hate Disneyland!" This coming from a guy who is one of Disney's biggest fans. I do feel bad complaining about it, since we had such a lovely time at seaworld, and the reality is, you really can't always have a good time. We had a great vacation, and I didn't want to let this one day ruin it for me. So out of the few rides we did get to ride Olivia liked Winnie The Pooh, Splash Mountain, and the Buzz Lightyear Blaster one. She was scared and clinging to Jeremy during Haunted Mansion (despite the fact that she rode it last year and loved it) and the Rodger Rabbit ride in Toon Town. The Rodger Rabbit ride... yeah about that one... We saw that the line was 35 mins long, but decided to stand in it anyways. It was hot and the line was inside (I think our logic was sound). We stand in the line slowly making our way to the front, and we are almost there when the ride breaks down. YUP... We kept our spot in line though, because like I said it was hot out, and the park was packed, so why go back out there. They had it fixed in about 15 mins, and we did finally get to ride. We when back to the hotel around 4, played in the pool, and ordered pizza.

The next day at Disney was much better. We when to the California adventure park. It was less crowed, and more of the rides were working. They did have a few closed due to the winds. The Stanta Anas were blowing really hard that day. We did get to ride Soarin, the big ferris wheel, and the Triton Carousel as a family. Jeremy and Zachary went on California screaming, I took Zachary on the Town of Terror (Zach likes trill rides more than our other boys), and Jeremy took the boys on the Goofy coaster. The new Cars ride had a 60+ wait on it all day, so no we didn't ride that. On our way out we stopped by Down Town Disney. We got some dinner, and let the kids build a bear.


I got so much sleep that night. I fell asleep at 8:30 and woke up at 6:15, yes I must have been really tried from everything that we did that day.

The Last day, we went back to Magic Kingdom. Olivia and I went around to different characters and Jeremy and the boys rode the rides that didn't have to big of lines. This day went better than the first day at Disney, but not a good as the second. The lines to see the princesses (which is Olivia's favorite part), were crazy long, especially the line for Anna and Elsa which was 4 hours long. Needless to say, we didn't stand in that one.

I'm so glad we got to go on this vacation. It's something I will never forget. I hope and pray that someday I'll live in San Diego again, so I can hang out with the Samuels on a regular basis.


Here are our links to our vacation videos :)
Crater Lake and San Fran
San Diego
Disneyland
Extra stuff

Walt Disney World Vacation

Hey everyone, I know I've been talking about this vacation for a while, and I know that a lot of you have been waiting to hear about it, so here it goes...

The trip started last Sunday, we took the red eye flight from Seattle to Atlanta. Our plane was scheduled to leave at 9:50pm, but after boarding the plane, it was announced to us that the fuel gage on the plane was not reading right, and they were troubleshooting it. This really had us worried. We only had a 90 mins layover in Atlanta. In most other airports it would be no big deal, but Atlanta is confusing, and has this tram system, and I was depending on those 90 mins to get us were we needed to go, along with a much needed bathroom break (they need to happen often when traveling with kids). During all of this troubleshooting that was going on, I was trying to encourage Olivia to sleep. We had, on purpose skipped her nap that day, I know she was more that a little tried. She started resisting me. She was excited, she was on a plane, and she was on her way to Disney. Even though she's a three year old, that has never been to Disney world, she knew from what she was told, "It's magical." After about 40 mins of sitting at the gate it we were told things were looking up, and we would take off soon.

Olivia finally fell asleep after take off. This is about when I discover, we are in one of the few rows that doesn't recline. Great now how am I going to fall asleep? I ended up dosing off and on, for most of the four and a half hours of flight. I maybe got two hours of sleep tops. Not a very good way to start a vacation, but what could I do about it. We booked the red eye because we hoped all of us would sleep on the flight, and this would put us at Orlando early, and we would get more time in whatever park that day. Darien got about the same amount of sleep as me, Zach got three hours, Olivia got about three and a half, Nathaniel slept the full flight, and Jeremy didn't sleep at all. Okay so maybe the red eye wasn't the best plain, but oh well.

We finally land in Atlanta and we only have 30 mins until our next flight. I guess making up the time in the air wasn't an option, in fact they must have flown slower, because yeah we only have 30 mins, and to top it all off, out ticket didn't have a gate number on it, so we have no idea at first were we needed to go. Once we finally found the flight board, we were surprised to see that our next flight was very close, and we would have enough time for a bathroom break.

We boarded the plane for Orlando, and we were more than excited to be this close. We were sitting behind this family of five, that seemed to be destine for Disney as well (they had a magical express envelope, just like us), but boy were their kids bratty. Okay, maybe my kids are just really well behaved, but these kids were a mess. I mean if your parents are nice enough to take you to Disney World, then you think you would be on your best behaviour (maybe). The whining and fussing that came out of these kids just really surprised me, and made me look at my own kids, and thing "Wow, I'm so lucky." We toughed down in Orlando at about 7:30am EST, and we were so thankful to finally be there.

We stayed at the Art Of Animation Resort, in one of the Cars rooms. It's the newest of the Walt Disney World Resorts, and it's awesome. It has rooms that fit up to six people (same size as our family). The resort has four themes Nemo, The Lion King, The Little Mermaid, and Cars. The resort is really nice, but is also really crowded. If you want to get breakfast without fighting a crowd, you need to get down there at 7am right when they start serving. If you wait until 8am you are going to have to fight for your food.

Our first day we were going to spend it at Epcot, so we hopped the bus. For those of you who didn't know, if you stay at a Disney Resort, they have buses going to all of the parks, so you don't have to worry about transportation. Once we were off the bus, I spotted a soda machine with Jeremy's favorite monster favor in it, so he had to get one. We walk up to the machine, and a dollar pops out (I'm not joking). So we take that, and then another one pops out. Yup the machine gave us two dollars. Once we were in the park, we went to Soran first to get a fast pass. We've always wanted to ride that. Then we went on the finding Nemo ride. After the ride, you exit into the aquarium, and boy did Olivia love that. Jeremy took the boys on Mission Space, and then we had Ice Cream. We were on vacation so it was okay. We went on Ellen's Energy Adventure, and Olivia thought it was so relaxing, that she fell asleep. We woke her up just long enough to make it back over to Soran (to use our fast pass), and she fell asleep again waiting for everyone to get back from riding. Soran was awesome! I went first and took the boys, and we were clapping by the end of the ride. Around 5pm we ate at the Coral Reef Restaurant, it was beautiful and the food was excellent! After dinner we met up with our friend Lauren. She was at Disney because she did the half Princess Marathon the day before we came. This was her last day before going home, so it was really our only time to met up. She is awesome and sweet. She goes to Disney all the time, because she loves it, and she also has friends that work in the parks. She rewarded us with text messaged savager hunts almost everyday of our trip, tailored to which ever park we were going to that day. We met up in Mexico (the Mexico in Epcot), and went on the Three Caballeros ride together.

By the end of that day we were super tired, as I'm sure you can imagine, so shortly after saying good bye to Lauren, we made out way out of the part, and on to the bus, and back to the hotel. There was no saying up, we all were sleeping by the time we hit the sack.

I was awaken the next morning by a loud and desperate cry. So I jump out of bed thinking, Olivia has woken up in a stage place, and is scared. Nope! I find Olivia out of bed at the mini fridge trying to open a little carton of milk. She was not scared, just thirsty.

It was Tuesday, and we were going to Magic Kingdom. We were able to get into the park before it opened, because we had reservations at the Crystal Palace for breakfast. It was nice walking though the almost empty park, on our way to eat a character breakfast with Winnie the Pooh and his pals. We made our way around the park going clockwise, after breakfast. We went through Adventureland, riding The Magic Carpets, Jungle Cruise, Pirates of the Caribbean, and walking through the Swiss Family Tree house. In Frountierland, we went on Big Thunder Mountain, but couldn't go on Splash Mountain because it was closed. We rode the Haunted Mansion in liberty Square, then went on to The New Fantasyland. Wow that place was packed. Because there were so many people there we only got to ride Dumbo, and the tea cups, but we did get to see Ariel. She was the first princess we were able to see, and Olivia thought she was wonderful. It was great, she asked Olivia about her bears (Olivia had to bring Cinnamon and Nutmeg with her to the parks). In Tomorrowland we went on Space Mountain, The People Mover, and Space Ranger Spin. We also got to meet Buzz Lightyear here, and Nathaniel was so excited. After a late lunch we made our way back to Main Street, to see the princesses in The Town Square Theater, and watch the parade. Olivia got to meet Rapunzel (her Favorite), Aurora, and Cinderella. Rapunzel asked Olivia if she ever made things for her bears, like she does for Pascal, and Olivia just giggled and smiled. Cinderella asked the boys if they were going to take Olivia to the ball, and Aurora told Olivia she is so lucky to have such wonderful brothers to look after her.

That night we had dinner at Tony's Town Square, and stayed in the park well after dark. We ate ice cream while watching the fire works and it was wonderful. On the ride home on the bus, Olivia fell asleep in my arms. Perfect ending to a perfect day.

Early Wednesday morning I was woken up early on this day as well, but by someone else. Jeremy was sick, and throwing up. It was bad, he had been up a few times during the night, and he was miserable. He was so sick that leaving the room was out of the question. I made the decision to take the kids to Universal (to see Harry Potter) by myself. I didn't want them to miss it, not after coming all this way, but with only me, and the four of them, there was no way we would be able to ride any of the bigger rides. The boys were very understanding, when I explained it all to them at breakfast.

The four kids, and I made out way to the front of the hotel, all of us wearing a Hogwarts hats, representing which ever house we were. Darien (my oldest) is a Slytherin, Zachary (my second son), is a Hufflepuff like me, and Nathaniel (my third son) is a Griffindor. Olivia had on a Griffindor hat to, but she's 3 and we really have no idea what house she is in. The Valet notices right away, and asked wondering if we had any Ravenclaws in the family. I told him we do, because my husband is a Ravencraw, but he is sick today. He told us that he is also a Ravenclaw, and that he knows how to do "Wingardium Leviosa" without a wand. He took out a quarter, held it out in his right hand, then said "Wingardium Leviosa", and it flu up into his left hand. Nice! Then he flagged us a taxi.

One thing you should know about Universal, most people (like us) only go there for the Harry Potter stuff. The park was mostly empty, until you get to Hogsmeade. We were able to tour the castle without going on the ride, and we saw the Ollivander's demonstration, and the boys each bought a wand. We had Butter Beer, and bought Pumpkin Juice. I got a Hufflepuff shirt, and I bought Jeremy a Ravenclaw Stein. They did a wonderful job with Hogsmeade, it really does fell like you are there. The shops look just like you think they would. The staff is friendly and in character, and you can even hear Moaning Myrtle crying in the bathrooms.

We spent a somewhat short day in Universal, getting back early so we could swim. That's what we did when we got back. Jeremy was feeling better by this time, and he went with us. We tired out the Cars pools then the finding Nemo pool. The Nemo one was warmer, but in both pools I had the hardest time keeping a hold on Olivia. Her brothers can swim, so because of that she thinks she can too. She is not scared of water, not one little bit. After warming up, from going in the pool, we ate dinner, then did some shopping at the little store in the hotel. We bought everyone a pin trader set, so the kids (and us really), could trade pins with staff members. It's another little fun thing you can do at Disney. We went back to the room early, watched some Disney Channel and called it a night, hoping that no one ease would get sick.

Thursday was Hollywood Studios day. We grabbed a quick breakfast (thankful that Jeremy was feeling much better), and caught a bus. While getting on the bus, one of Zachary's pins fall off, and while I was able to find the pin, I could find the backing. This is what we were soon to find out is the problem with Disney pins. The backing is a rubber Mickey head, and they don't always stay on, so you pay anywhere from $5-13 for a pin, and if your not careful (or even if you are), you may lose it. Sure you can buy locking pin backs at almost any Disney store, but their not cheap ($7 for a pack of 14). Of course!

The first thing we did when we get to the park was get a fast pass for Toy Story Mania. From what we had read, and from what we were told, fast passes for that ride run out quick. I can see why it was a fun ride, and even Olivia could go on it. So if you want to ride it without a long wait, get a fast pass early. I went on the Tower Of Terror with Zach (only Zach), no one else was brave enough. I love that ride. We also went on The Great Movie Ride, Studio Backlot Tour, and Star Tours. We saw Muppet Vision 3D, Light Motors Action Stunt Show, Voyage of the Little Mermaid, and Beauty and the Beast. We looked in a lot of shops and I bought myself a Cheshire cat plush, that Olivia now thinks is hers, and she named it Linky. That night we ate at the 50s Prime Time Cafe, and that was a lot of fun, but we did end up being there a lot longer than we thought we would.

After getting back to the hotel, we took a walk, just around the Art of Animation Resort. We wanted to see the different themes, and it was so nice and beautiful and the kids loved it. Olivia had to get her picture taken with every wonderful thing she saw.

That night I could tell someone else was sick. I kept hearing frequent trips to the bathroom, and the awful noises to follow, and it was also confirmed when I woke up and saw the mess it the bathroom. Yup that morning, while everyone was still asleep, I was wiping chunky vomit off of the bathroom floor. Yes the glamorous life of a mom. Darien was the sick one. After Jeremy got up, I went down to the food court, to get breakfast for everyone. Jeremy and I sat down together on our bed and came to the conclusion that I would stay with Darien today, and also keep Olivia, while he and the other two boys went to Animal Kingdom (it was the best choice, and I didn't want everyone to miss out). It was okay for the most part (poor sick Darien), we watched TV in bed, and I updated my blog post. Yup I wrote some of this post then, but not much. We took a nap, and Olivia played with the new toys that Nathaniel bought.

By the time Jeremy and the boys get back, Darien is feeling better, and we decide to go to Downtown Disney. That place was packed! WOW! Yeah so maybe not the best idea. It was Friday night, so maybe we should have known better. We also got caught in traffic on the way back to the hotel, on the bus. Yeah that was also not fun. I think this is why some people never leave their house.

Saturday was Epcot again. We were going to be spending most of the day in the World Showcase, and that sounded nice. A little walking a little site seeing and shopping, great pictures. It was suppose to be a promising day... Yeah I'll get to that part... I went on Mission Space with the boys, we stood in line to see Mickey and Minnie, had lunch, and walked the showcase, but then I started to feel sick. The kids were doing Turtle Talk with Crush, when I realized I may need to go back to the hotel. I told Jeremy to stay there, and have a good time, while I took Olivia back with me. I'm really glad I took her with me, because not to long after I threw up, so did she. By this time I figured we were all bound to get it, and I just hoped that it would happen and be over with before we had to fly home on tuesday. Just an hour after hoping this Jeremy came back to the hotel with two sick boys in tow. Yup that's all of us! Boy it was a ruff night. Olivia and I sharing one bed, and Zach and Nathaniel were sharing another, which left one non-sick bed for Jeremy and Darien to share. Jeremy and Darien we helpful, and nice about it all though.

By mourning (Sunday) our hotel room smelled awful, and it was clear that even though Nathaniel and I were doing better, Olivia and Zachary were not. Since I still felt like I could use some rest, I once again told Jeremy to go ahead without us, take Darien, and have a good time. They went to Hollywood Studios and they had a really good time. I was glad to hear about it when they got back. I on the other hand, well I'm sure you can imagine, but you know how it is. I was just so worried about Olivia, she seemed so sleepy and she wasn't eating much. I just wished we were home. We hardly ever get sick, and now of all times we are sick, and we're 3,000 miles from home. We're suppose to be on vacation, eating good food, and having a blast. Well not anymore.

My first thought when I woke up Monday morning was "thank goodness we are leaving tomorrow." Olivia was doing a little better but not much. She wasn't holding down much still, and I was just so worried by how out of it she seemed. We went back to Downtown Disney that day, and the only reason we went there was because we figured it would be the lease crowded place, and we were right. At this point we really didn't want to deal with crowds. We ate at the T-REX for lunch, and we loved it. It's an awesome Dinosaur restaurant. The kids thought it was great! We took it really easy that day and just rested, we were really looking forward to getting home.

Tuesday, the travel day. I was so ready. I was still trying to get Olivia to eat, and not to fast. It was a struggle. She wouldn't eat, but she would drink milk, but then she would drink it to fast and throw up again. We boarded the bus bound for the airport at 11am. Disney had already taken care of our bags and boarding passes, all we had to do was get through security. The line for security was crazy long. Olivia was sleepy and insisted on being carried. She also insisted on carrying her bears, and got really upset when they had to go through the scanner. Poor baby. After trying to get her to eat something at the airport, she threw up all over me... eeek.... it was in my hair and on my shirt. Lucky I did pack an extra sweater, and having to wash your hair in the sink of an airport bathroom really isn't that bad :(. I was more worried about Olivia then myself at this point, so I just stuck my bad smelling wet hair in my hufflepuff beanie and moved on. We had a short flight from Orlando to Atlanta again, and that went fine. We had a two hour lay over in Atlanta and that wasn't so bad... until... We were about the board the second plane and Zachary throws up. I know! When will it all stop? ... Oh just wait it's not over yet. The second plane ride was five and a half hours long... eeek... Olivia borrowed my Ipod and watched the fresh Beat Band, while the other boys played DS. Everything was fine until Nathaniel threw up... Yup there it is. We had packed an empty shopping bag in one of the carry-ons for an event such as this, and most of it did make it into this bag, but boy did we all stink when we finally made it off of this plane.

We land in Seattle and I feel like cheering. We go down to baggage clam and began to wait for our four bags. All of them came but one. Oh no! I've never had this happen to me before. Jeremy ended up waiting in an hour long line (the kids and I were sitting near by), just to find out that it is on a later plane, and they will deliver it to us tomorrow. Well okay thats fine, I just wish we didn't have to wait an hour to find that out. We finally find our car, and it looks like a long lost friend, and we drive an hour to get home.

Ahhhh home, I love that word. So we are home now, safe and sound, and I am also happy to report that Olivia is doing much better. I think she just really wanted to be home. The cats also did fine without us (Jeremy had a friend of his stop by and check on them daily). I may never leave home again! ;)

Bigger school room, and about to go to Disney

 Hey everyone, I'm finally blogging again! YAY! I've been busy, and not with anything really interesting. We are about to go to Disney, and I'm currently getting ready, and we had extra school work to do, so we could go.

Jeremy (my husband), had the idea to switch the play room and the school room, and make the school room more of a computer and school room. So that's what we did yesterday. It was very tiring. I made the mistake of staying up until 1am the night before, to finish season 2 of The Game Of Thrones with Jeremy, and I was really tired. (I'm one of those people who like to go to bed at 10pm and no later, so I'm not use to staying up) We got it done though, and this was the end result...

The boys' desks

Numbers on the wall, with the solar system

Found great educational posters at Barns and Noble   

It's much bigger, and I love it.

We are about to go to Disney. We have less than and week, and everyone is super excited. This week I'm going to focus on cleaning the house, and double checking our suitcases. 

Remember this? This was our Disney chain when we first started it, in January 

(I think we started with 36)

This is it now! It's so exciting to see it shrink day by day!

Kids' questionnaire

I asked my kids some questions about Disney, just to get in the Disney spirit. :)

Darien

-What park do you want to go to the most? Magic Kingdom

-What ride do you want to ride the most? Space Mountain

-What foods do you hope you get to try at Disney? All of the different kids of Coke

-Who is your favorite Disney character? Mickey

-Use one word to describe how excited you are. Crazy

Zachary

-What park do you want to go to the most? Magic Kingdom

-What ride do you want to ride the most? Mission Space

-What foods do you hope you get to try at Disney? Hamburgers

-Who is your favorite Disney character? Tigger

-Use one word to describe how excited you are. Crazy

Nathaniel

-What park do you want to go to the most? Magic Kingdom

-What ride do you want to ride the most? The Buzz Lightyear One

-What foods do you hope you get to try at Disney? Mickey Pancakes

-Who is your favorite Disney character? Buzz Lightyear

-Use one word to describe how excited you are. Wild

Olivia

-What park do you want to go to the most? Magic Kingdom

-What ride do you want to ride the most? a Princess one

-What foods do you hope you get to try at Disney? Hot dogs

-Who is your favorite Disney character? Rapunzel

-Use one word to describe how excited you are. Magical

We can't wait to go, and we'll tell you all about it, when we get back :)

Getting ready for Disney :)

Hey everyone! So our family is getting ready for Disney. My husband is going to be filming our trip and this is our first video.






I have also started packing :)

New Year Resolutions, The everyday, and Leaving for Disney soon

Hey everyone!


New Years Resolutions

Right now I'm taking my time, to write a normal post. YAY! Okay first off, New years resolutions. I know we are already almost through this month and I'm just now talking about them. Oh well... because posting on my blog more often is not one of my resolutions :). So what are they? You ask...

Number one is, "Make an effort to find the good in every situation" This past year has been stressful and very frustrating, most of that was due to moving and buying a house, but I know in years to come I'll most likely have to go through all of that again. So for now on, I'm going to try and take a step back, see the whole situation, and not just what I'm going through right now. Romans 8:28 says "And we know that all things work together for good to them that love God, to them who are the called according to his purpose." I feel that God has always taken really good care of us, and I know He's not going to stop now, so I just need to trust Him, and see Him in every situation.

Number two is, "To be more social" I have, not so great social skills, and my biggest problem is I'm not good at continuing the conversation. Wonderful people will come up to be, and ask me how I'm doing, and all I'll says is "fine thank you" and then I'll walk away... Not even thinking (until later) to ask them how they are doing. I think I can hear God shaking His head as I write this, because I pray for friends all of the time (I do have friends, they just live far away), and He sends people, in church mostly, (wonderful people) to go and talk to me, and I don't even notice it until later. So if you were one of those people, then I am sorry.

Number three is, "To keep things as simple as possible" Now this doesn't mean to be lazy, or to not try anymore, it just means not to complicate things. Like if you tell the kids they can watch a movie, and they pick Willy Wonka for the 3rd time this week, and I don't want to watch that again. Instead of telling them to pick something else (because if I do it's going to take them 15 mins to work it out), just let them do it, and I'll go into a different room. I'll be happy that quite time is about to start, and I'll not worry about how often they watch that silly movie. This also means that I won't worry about things that I don't have any control over.



The everyday

Things are good over here at the Legates' house. Mostly normal. I'm glad football is coming to an end, but I'm also glad about the outcome. Go figure the one year I don't follow it, and don't watch any games, is that one year that my team is in the super bowl. I grew up in Maryland, so yes I do mean the Ravens. I'm still debating if I should break this football fast, and watch the super bowl... Yeah I have no idea.

It seems I am raising another Star Trek fan. Olivia (the 2 almost 3 years old), really likes to watch it, and also will request it. I really don't know what to say about this. I love my kids, and I love how they love the same things I do. This also tells me to be cautious about what I love, and what I do around them. I think the main reason she loves Star Trek is because of the scenes with the ships flying by. She loves space ships. Her and Nathaniel love to build ships together out of legos. She also really loves super heroes, her two favorites are The Hulk, and Iron Man. There is a Hulk cartoon on netflix, and she loves it. She loves to stump around the room saying "Hulk Smash" while it's on.

I put together a new schedule for us! Yay! It use to be that the first half of the day was set in stone, because of the home schooling, and the second half was just what ever. That was fine until that boys started to play more video games, and were reading less books, so I fix it...

:)





















Leaving for Disney soon!

We only have 5 weeks left until we fly out to Orlando. I'll have to let you know how it goes. The only thing I'm really worried about is flying with Olivia. Other than that I'm really looking forward to the trip. It's been a while since we were able to take the kids on a real family vacation. We are already making list of what to pack, and making list of what to see. I'm also looking forward to warmer weather (yes please), and a chance to see the sun again (you don't get to see it in Washington often). We also made a count down chain!

 Jeremy came up with the poem on the Mickey head, and I put everything together. I got the idea from pinterest.

Okay we'll that's all I have for now. Thanks for stopping by :)