Friends, Fun, and Mickey Mouse!

What could be better, right?

Have you ever known someone but had not ever met them in person?  My friend Jenine and I have been a part of the same parenting message board for, oh, forever.  I joined when Hannah was about 7 months old.  I’m way down here in Florida and Jenine is wayyyyyyy up north where it is just too dang cold for me.  We’ve watched all the kids growing up in pictures and occasional videos, and lately Hannah, Kali, and Ally have been writing to each other.  I knew that someday I’d get to meet her, but I didn’t know when.  The state of our global and personal economy have left me unable to get, oh, anywhere lately!  :) 

Well, Jenine and her family planned a vacation to Disney.  OMG!  Disney!!!  Might as well be right next door.  I knew that I’d figure out a way to get out there.  They were not coming all the way down here without me finally getting to meet them.  Then Disney had their Give a Day/Get a Day campaign.  We volunteered our time and got Disney tickets for it.  Perfect!  I found a fairly inexpensive hotel, rented a car, and made plans to meet up.  (Just as a side note, there is no one I would go out to Disney for besides Jenine.  Anyone else on the aforementioned messaging board comes down here, and I am, for many reasons, no longer available.)

Jenine thinks she’s a funny woman.  She wanted to play “let’s find Jenine” since I had no clue what she looked like.  Okay, I had a small clue, but it was an old picture and my imagination was failing me.  I am not good with trying to find a needle in a haystack!  Nooooooooo.  Thankfully she let me off the hook at the very end.  Though, frankly, I think I would have been able to find her.  (I say that now, right!)  We all met up in Downtown Disney on Monday around 8:30pm.  Sometimes the people that you “know” online are not the people that you meet in person.  Not this time.  Jenine is as sweet and lovely and funny in person as she is on my IM.   It was so wonderful to finally meet her, Eugene, Ally, and Brandon.  It was almost surreal since I’ve seen countless pictures of the kids and then there they were, hanging out with my kids!  Too cool. 

We went over to the Earl of Sandwich to hang out for a bit and talk.

 

 

The kids had lots of fun, though mine take a while to warm up.  You know, they’re just some crazy, unsocialized homeschoolers!  We sat outside for a bit so the girls could paint their nails.  Jenine brought some UV-reactive nail polish and nail stickers for the girls.  That was fun.  I kept trying to talk Brandon into letting the girls do his nails.  He wasn’t falling for it.  ;)  They also brought some goody bags for the girls which was so sweet! 

We stayed there until 11:00-ish, then we all headed back to our respective hotels so we could sleep and meet back up in the morning over at Hollywood Studios!  Mary finally got to the hotel around 2am.  Her key wasn’t working in the door, so she had to call me and wake me up so I could let her in.  Took me a while to go back to sleep.  Of course, it seemed as though the alarm went off right after I went back to dreamland.  Ack!  We all got up, got ready, ate breakfast, and packed up the car.  I was really excited that Mary was able to join us and meet everyone, too!

 

Hanna, Ally, Mary, and Kali.   This picture cracks me up and yet it’s so cute.  Follow along now…..there is a 10-year age difference between Hannah and Mary (9 and 19).  There is a 1 year age difference between Hannah and Ally (9 and 8).  There is also a 1+ year age difference between Ally and Kali (8 and 6 – 7 next week).  It’s so cute how they’re all holding hands.

 

We met up and quickly went over to Toy Story Mania.  The lines tend to get long quickly and the fast passes go like hotcakes!  We got fast passes first so we could come back later and then got in line.  Kali had never been on it and once she saw the 3D glasses, she was a little hesitant to get on.  I joked with her and told her to get on so she could kick daddy’s butt.  ;)  She wanted to ride with daddy, Hannah wanted to ride with Mary, and that left me the odd man out!  Hey, at least I’d win!!!!  ;)

Gosh I have gorgeous kids!  And hey, looks like I have a son now!!!  :)  Dang, Hannah might as well be as tall as Mary.   Probably in a year or so.  Kali forever has those fingers in her mouth.  All.day.long.  Well, unless she’s eating!  I’m guessing she won’t go off to college like that, so I’m not worried.   

Yay!  Little green army men.  Mary said we had to stop and see them.  Nothing like a man in uniform!!!  lol

Kali refused to go over there, as did Hannah….for a moment.  Mary brought Hannah’s autograph book over, but he wasn’t going to sign it unless Hannah went over there.  :)

 

I think after this we went to Tower of Terror.  It was the first time I rode it with Mary!!!  That was fun.  Of course, I was screaming like a baby, hanging on for dear life.  Jenine and the kids loved it!  She said I screamed so much, I made her deaf.  Ha ha ha, very funny.  ;)  It’s probably a good thing she couldn’t hear me screaming!  I think the people in Georgia heard me screaming.  I love that ride, but it scares the heck out of me!

After that we went over to Pizza Planet so we could all eat.  We packed our lunch but not our dinner.  There just isn’t enough room in the little backpack cooler for that!

 

Look!  I do exist!!!! 

 

These two looooooove to talk.  I don’t know who talks more, Alex or Brandon.  It was cute to watch the two of them all day long just jabbering away. 

 

Mary had to leave in the afternoon, so after lunch the two of us headed over to Rock n’ Rollercoaster so we could ride it together before she left.  That was fun.  The line was short, too!  Yeah!  Alex rode it with Hannah when the rest of them made it over there.  He had never been on that ride, and I know Hannah enjoyed riding it with him.  I hung out with Kali and Jenine while everyone was on it. 

We went back to Toy Story Mania with our fast passes.  This time Kali rode it with me.  I kicked some major booty.  It was fun riding it with her and I hope we can do that again someday!

Later on we all split up for a bit.  They had dinner reservations and since we didn’t have the dining plan (dang it!) we were eating elsewhere.  It was nice to sit for a bit and take a break.  After dinner we took the girls over to the Honey I Shrunk the Kids play area.  It was crowded!

If I could buy mushrooms this big, I’d only need one at a time! 

 

We met back up at the back lot tour and since my brain is shot, I think after that we headed over to get in for the last show of Fantasmic.  I had never seen that show!  Any show with Mickey is perfect for me.  I tried to get some good pictures, but I really just wanted to watch the show!

Seriously!  All the Disney characters!?!?!?  Be still my heart!

We had such a wonderful time with them!  It was if we all had known each other for more than just that day.  Well, technically we did, but you know what I mean.  I was sad to see the day end.  When we finally made it back to our car, we saw that Mary had got her sisters some sticker books and tucked them under the windshield wipers.  That was really sweet of her.  Kali fell asleep on the bus, and Hannah passed out in the car.  We had to switch drivers twice – we were both wayy too tired and had to take short snoozes to get some energy!  My 5 hour energy stuff did absolutely nothing for me! 

When we finally got home, my head hit the pillow and I went into a coma.  I spent all day yesterday being a house bum with the girls.  Movies, sofa, blankets, and pillows.  Yes!  Today I am cleaning and making some bread.

A little birdie whispered in my ear……I’m pretty sure we’ll see them again before they head home.  ;) 

Just a vent, ranting, whatever…..

Ahhhhhhh….I just need to vent.  Feel free to ignore me.  :)

 

Do you know what sucks?  What sucks is watching your 6 year old laying on the couch, unable to sleep because she doesn’t want to close her eyes in case the bad thoughts come.  So you watch her, for a good hour, lay on the couch and stare at anything in an attempt to stay awake.  I am helpless to help her in these situations.  I can rub her back, hold her, rock her, and try to make her smile.  But no matter what I do, she will still cry, still feel bad, still ask me if everything she touches is clean, still have that nearly constant neck tic, and have nights that she does not want to sleep.

She’s the most loving, thoughtful, and possibly the funniest child I have ever known.  OMG, don’t get her started; once she’s on a roll, you will be laughing your ass off.  She tries to make everyone happy, and thinks about others before she thinks about herself.  But it’s this “thing,” this thing that has its grips on her that I cannot fix.  I don’t want to change who she is, I just don’t want her to suffer because of it. 

So I will sit on the couch with her, hold her, and tell her that everything is okay.  And once again, she will thank me, tell me that she loves me, play with my hair, and hopefully drift off to sleep.

Beach

My neighbor is out of town until Thursday and left us her car to use.  :)  Thank you, Dot!  We took the girls to the beach on Saturday to play and have lunch. 

 

The girls promptly found the swing.  :)  They were there for quite some time just enjoying the fabulous weather.

 

It was such a beautiful day!

 

 

I could have sat here all day long. 

 

But then I thought I could sit on this boat all day long.  Think they would have minded me jumping aboard?

Kali said I have to make more of these dresses for her.  She is not fond of short right now.

I think her fingers are permanently attached to her mouth.  :) 

My girls are just too dang cute.

 

 

I was trying to get a picture of the red highlights in Hannah’s hair.

 

She was using me as a back rest. 

 

After we left the beach, we went to get Kali some new shoes.  She picked these and decided one needed a pink shoelace and the other one needed a white one (they both came with two).  Then she put on one light pink sock and one dark pink sock.  There’s the famous polka-dot dress that should really be retired soon.  She wears it every chance she gets.

 

Happy Easter!

Happy Easter everyone! 

The Easter Bunny was nice and left tons of chocolate for the girls.  :)  So far, they haven’t eaten any of it, but I’m sure they’ll be on a sugar high this afternoon.  Oh wait, I made cinnamon rolls for breakfast; that’s sugar high enough, isn’t it?  I’ve decided that calories don’t count today, so the cinnamon roll I had for breakfast just cannot possibly end up on my thighs.

 

Kali searching for eggs.

We could not find the baskets anywhere.  Hmmm…maybe next year I’ll make some.

I made wayyyyyyy too much glaze for the cinnamon rolls.  Oh darn.  ;) 

Yes, they are as good as they look.  Maybe better.  :)  And if you want some, you have to show up here on a birthday or holiday because that’s the only time I make them. 

There’s enough left over for tomorrow, too. 

Later on I’ll make some egg salad sandwiches for lunch (gotta use up all those dyed eggs!) and tonight I’m making some grilled chicken salads.  The weather has been fantastic lately so we’ll eat outside again. 

I miss my Mary today.  :(  She has to work at Universal and make people cry on the roller coaster.  lol  Hopefully we’ll see her soon!  Maybe her sisters will save some chocolate for her since she called them this morning.  Hey, call my girls and ask for chocolate, they love when people call them so maybe they’ll save you some, too!

Psst…….

Go check out the cute little straps on my Domestic Goddess blog.  Link on the right side in the Menu section.  :)