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.  ;)