Epcot! (Disney World Trip part 5)

February 2017

Because Feta LOVES Frozen, and because the rest of my kids don't....
she and I made the most of the Early Hour available at Epcot to visit Anna and Elsa.

The ONLY souvenir she wanted. An Elsa dress (that has since been worn to death!)

Thanks again Uncle Lon and Aunt Liz, and May-May and Jared for souvenir money!!

 The first line, for the Frozen Ever After ride was happy. And twirly. (new dresses do that to you)

Then we got in line to meet the princesses...

we waited...

and waited...

After an hour plus, the goal was in sight!

When her turn came though, she was suddenly shy.

I think she was in awe of it all

Elsa introduced her sister, and as Feta walked over she finally opened up a bit.

 (It helped that Anna was less regal and much more chatty)

For our little monkey, this was definitely the highlight of the whole trip. 

We met up with Dad and the big kids right after this

 (they sort of got to sleep in!) and we pressed onward.

Epcot had SO many other adventures. The kids loved Mission Space and the Test Track.

 We tasted lots of yummy food this day. Mexican tacos, sushi, German sausage (as a bonus we saw Snow White!) and then delightful pastries as we walked back to our bus.

It was a very warm day, and we loved the snacks too!

(not pictured, but we fully loved the frozen lemonade as well!)

We also accidentally found BayMax and the boys were THRILLED.

Not to be forgotten- the Turtle Talk with Crush (where Pencil got to ask a question, and asked, "I don't actually know how fast you breathe." (not technically a question, but that's not important)

After everyone laughed, Crush responded, "I don't either, Dude! But that reminds me, I need to breathe now!"

It was beautiful- and that evening I couldn't help snap a picture of the Epcot Ball. (I think going inside it was my favorite ride of the day!)

Autumnal Recollections... of our own insanity

The Doctor is remarkable. (And so I remark...)

He decided to run another marathon this year. This time in St. George, Utah.

The timing was tricky, though, because it happened to be the weekend BEFORE our kids had a "Fall Break" from school. It also happened to be at the same time as the LDS temple open-house in Star Valley, Wyoming. 

SO- I hatched a daring plan (facilitated by $35 one-way flights from Southwest Airlines.)

It looked like this:

Green represents Me

Red represents my kids

Blue represents my husby

And somehow (with tons of help from BOTH sides of the family) we pulled it off!

Then June Happened

Walk with me, down short term memory lane.
Just a summer ago....

We really WERE busy! We traveled and visited and celebrated!!
First- a wedding dinner then wedding for Uncle Lon and his sweetheart, Liz!!

Grandpa Dee and some of the gang.

Christmas trip

We had the privilege to travel to Utah and visit lots of family over the Christmas break.
In all honesty- the more times we do this, the more I struggle with the visiting. We only get to see these awesome people a few times each year, so when we get together we try to cram as much as possible in, logically. I love seeing them and spending time together.
Sadly, with children, trying to spend long hours in cars for days on end, and spending time with people doing lots of crazy fun things quickly turns into a nightmare of grumpy kids, little to no sleep (thus resulting in a grumpy mom) horrible eating habits (that mom gets to take care of/clean up after) and ridiculous expectations for when we get home again.  (ie: "Why can't I eat more chocolate orange for breakfast? I don't want to to CHORES! I'm not getting up for school." to name a few direct quotes from the last few days)

I'm very glad we went. Don't get me wrong. We made some brilliant memories and loved on some dear, dear people. I just need a vacation to recover from my vacation.
(My work trip, lets be real. I was working on this trip)


Things we want to remember:

Before this trip our darling aunt Amanda came to AZ to visit us. We loved every minute of it- we just didn't take any photos. Boo. It was a delight to have her here, and we'll hopefully take better pictures next time! While she was here there was some crazy weather and my kids ended up having some school cancelled for snow days. We also had church cancelled- so there was lots of hanging out in Jams and being together.

Amanda flew from Phoenix to Utah with us- and our adventure began!

We got together with the Doctor's father's extended family for a Christmas dinner- I didn't take great photos there either. BUT-- I caught Feta hamming it up with our sweet Cousie E and Aunt Amanda and Grandma Jen.

We're still here!

Life may or may not be trying to do me in this time.
Just as post baby sanity begins returning, and I'm swamped with all the everything else!

I've been thinking about blogging. After months of such thinking, here we are.  A post of pictures.
Because I don't want to forget the little stuff. These little stuffs. (not that they'd let me forget them even if I tried....)

So- Photographic evidence that we do, in fact, exist. At least, we did last September.

In no particular order:

A rain-gutter regatta. Our cub scout's boat didn't fit in the rain gutter due to his (and his father's) over-active imagination. SO he used a borrowed boat for the races.

After all, there's only one more sleep 'till....

Christmas!

Better late than never...

I know today is New Years Eve...

but I thought I would share a little of the last holiday before things got too far out of hand.

We decorated!

Fall Break part 2

Where has Fall break gone?!

We spent some time in a 3D movie- it was a gourmet movie experience wasted on my generic-brand mac&cheese crowd. Pencil wouldn't even keep his cool gwasses on. He just held them and squinted at the screen for most of the movie. Oh well.

Pencil and Unk-Won became fast friends. Naptime sticker moments can do that to you.

 They also shared some serious Lego-Hero-factory building time. Some kids never grow up.

Grapes and Sock built rock pals. (a Bird for Sock and a frog for Grapes) and they found it to be SO easy. (maybe because Mom did all of the rock hot-glue-gunning and they just watched)

We also did some soccer-ing. I only have pictures of Sock's game because Grapes' game was at the exact same time in a different part of town. We had to divide and conquer on that Saturday.

A few funnies I'd like to remember:
In family prayers the first night Lon was here, The Doctor was helping Sock, and he suggested Sock say "We are thankful Uncle Lon is here." Sock paused, thoughfully, then said, "Please help us volunteer."  It's almost the same.

One day at lunchtime I was making sandwiches when suddenly a can of Fresca began exploding all over the floor. When I asked how it happened, Sock answered, "I have strong hands."  (He had also opened the can while holding it upside down, but that was not the important part)

We went to eat at El Charro (the favorite family Mexican restaurant) and Pencil smeared ketchup all over his beans and rice. We all moaned in sadness, but he wasn't sad. He ate it all gone. Yum! (?) Also, Uncle Lon Tried a Hamburger Taco (literally a hard shell with a ground beef patty inside) and it was strange, but almost good. Almost.

We took him to the airport, and my monkeys were sad to see him go. The surprise of the day was when, 30 mins after the airport trip, Grammy showed up at our door. And Fall break continues!

When school is out... Fall break part 1

In a warn climate like ours, schools sometimes use a modified year-round schedule. It allows for three weeks of break time each Fall.
This first week has been highlighted by a visit from Uncle Lon.

  He was kind enough to bring cool electronic devices to share

(and my monkeys took full advantage!)

 

 He sprung for new lego Paa-ger wange-ohs. And little pet shops. Very cool.

 And wrestled like a good uncle does. (It reminded me of my Uncle Kenny in years gone by)

 We also played with my eye-liner so that we could have facial hair like Uncle Lon.

But no Facial hair for this beauty!

 

 

Here's to more fun before he heads home!
 (Like a 3D movie and a visit to the favorite El-Charro Mexican restaurante!)