Disney in July....clearly we're nuts.

Traditional "golf ball" family photo

When Ryan's new boss said "Take 2 weeks off before you start", we decided to go to Disney. 

I mean, where else do we go?

Since all of our vacation club points are tied up in upcoming Run Disney race weekends, we were able to pay a la carte and book a room wherever we wanted. It didn't have to be a vacation club resort villa. Our options were endless this way.  We ended up getting a regular old room with a queen bed and bunk beds for the boys...which were a hit. You are much more limited to choices when you book through the vacation club (yes I love it but don't get me started on sometimes having regrets of buying into it. Mostly because your room choices are so limited)......

We knew this vacation was going to be to just relax. We've done Disney a bunch so we're not in any mad rush to ride the rides or squeeze it all in before we go home. We went into this vacation with the mentality that we would just hang out by the pool, eat, drink, relax, and hit the parks as we felt like it.

traditional first night stop: drinks at the UK

Lefou's Brew at Fantasyland. SOOOOOO good!! It's like an apple juice slushy, with some sort of marshmallow flavoring in it, with a whipped mango foam on top. We ALWAYS get one when we go. MMMMMMmmmm

Chillin

Some super sickeningly sweet drink I got at the hotel pool bar while it was raining.... not one of my favorites.

Another tradition: patron margaritas in Mexico

turkey legs!!!

Aidan loved the turkey legs. He asked for one every day.

Olaf helping me out with a drink at Hollywood Studios

Eat, Drink, Chill, Repeat.

(Don't get the wrong idea, we didn't spend our vacation getting wasted by ANY means, but we always find a place at each park and have a cocktail.)

It was great!

And as a bonus, because we're season's pass holders we got a free "memory maker" which is the photo service where they take your photo and you get the digital prints. We took full advantage of it and we got family photos every chance we could! I even have some printed waiting to be framed in the new house!

We chose The Wilderness Lodge. By far my FAVORITE resort on Disney property. (We've stayed at Caribbean Beach, The Contemporary, Saratoga Springs, and the Treehouses at Saratoga Springs). The place is gorgeous, and it's all in one building, which is so much nicer than Caribbean Beach or Saratoga where you have to walk a mile each morning just to go fill your mug with coffee. Argh.

However, this was our first time going during "peak time", and I have a few thoughts.

Yes, the first week in July in Orlando is HOT. We were expecting that. Every afternoon a tropical rain blows in. Sometimes it lasted an hour, sometimes it lasted all night. Blech.

 One night the storms were so bad we ended up buying Disney Candyland at the gift shop and hanging out in the lobby playing it and having snacks. And we weren't the only family doing stuff like that. Nobody wants to venture out in thunder and lightning. Rain I'll do. Storms, just no.

This is the view from the dock looking back at the lodge, where you can board a boat to Magic Kingdom.

I got both boys Birthday buttons since we were smack dab in the middle between both their birthdays (Mason June 24 and Aidan July 28). I eventually made them stop wearing them because as people said "Happy Birthday Aidan" or "Mason" my kids were rude and didn't respond with "Thank You's" Actually some of the time Mason would wish them a Happy Birthday back... I guess maybe he just doesn't get it yet. So I decided instead of constantly saying "what do you say?" I would just take them off so we could enjoy our days.

The lines for rides and characters was not nearly as bad as I was expecting. Not much different than any other time we've gone I suppose. I was expecting crowds so bad you could barely move. I was pleasantly surprised.

Except for July 4th. We read somewhere that July 4 is one of the handful of days a year that the crowds are so insane you can't move at Disney. 

SO we decided to hang by the pool that day and hit up Downtown Disney for dinner. Completely avoid the parks.

(We even went to magic kingdom on the 3rd instead for the preview of the fireworks, and I had never seen such crowds. We were ushered out through a backstage area of the park behind main street (behind casey's corner/crystal chandelier, because Main street was so crowded with guests watching the fireworks we couldn't get out that way. We had decided to try and beat the mad herd of people exiting by not actually staying to watch the fireworks, so I grabbed a few pics on my phone as we walked out.)

It was pretty cool to be behind the scenes though because we saw the electrical parade floats and all those cool old-timey cars they drive around on main street USA.

With all the construction that is going on in Downtown Disney we could barely move. It was horrible. We had a hard time finding a place to sit to eat and we couldn't even let the boys play at the Lego Store. It was bad, so bad. We just couldn't wait to get out of downtown on July 4th. 

the boys and I did our traditional spin on the teacups!

We caught some of the new Festival of Fantasy parade...a parade is a parade in my eyes. We never actually sit and watch them. We all get bored. Instead, while all the crazy people are standing in the hot sun watching stuff slowly drive by them...go get in line for a ride! The lines are shorter then.

Oh and on July 4th we thought about doing a guided fishing tour hosted by wilderness lodge but the price was more than we were willing to spend. So we hung out on the playground at the lodge for a bit instead.

Spice Road Table is new since we've been last Nov. Highly recommend if you like Mediterranean/Middle Eastern food!!

I love taking pics of the treat counters at the bakeries. This was actually from Wandering Oaken's Outpost at Hollywood Studios for Frozen Summer Fun.

Wilderness Lodge is actually a vacation club resort...we always send some pics to our Vacation club "guide" when we come home. She's the main person who handles our account. Her name is Deb and she's awesome. I sent her this picture.

I started pin collections for both my boys before they could walk or talk. I always let them pick a pin when we go.

The boys and Daddy had a blast earning badges as Wilderness Explorers at Animal Kingdom (still my least favorite park for fun stuff, but GREAT for photo ops!): see below...photo taken in Asia with all those cool fabrics hanging from a tree.

We usually spend one morning at Animal Kingdom and that's it. We went early to ride the safari then stayed until lunch at the Tusker House, then we left.

Did I mention I also got to see one of my very favorite townhouse-mates from college and her hubby?

This is Rossy, one of the freaking coolest people I have ever known. When she texted me to ask if she  and her hubby should do Disney the first week in July I almost pissed my pants; I mean we would be there too!  They decided to go and we even got to meet up for some fun (she tried to take me down on Hollywood blvd at Hollywood studios, I mean straight up body slammed me. Typical Rossy style) and we had an awesome dinner at the Hollywood Brown Derby.

It was Ryan and I's first time there. We always pick a place to get a filet mignon and this one was amazing.

So her name in college was Kristen Ross, we called her Rossy. Now she's married and is Kristen DeWilde. I still call her Rossy. Once, I forgot her first name was Kristen. No joke. .... and Aidan was referring to her as "Uncle Rossy" before he actually met her and I was absolutely dying.

Oh, and Frozen Summer Fun or whatever it's called? You're not missing much. I promise.

Wandering Oaken's Outpost was referred to as "Wandering Oaken's Cluster F@*k" for the rest of our trip after we wandered into there. It was so crowded you couldn't even walk through there! We didn't even try and do the ice skating thing.

But we had FUUUNN with our paper Olaf's!

#olafsummervacation

Of course we had a great time, but would we ever go in the summer again if we could avoid it?

NO WAY.

We'll stick to Fall and Early Spring.

Houston Dynamo Soccer Camp 2014

When I was coaching Aidan's old soccer team in Pearland, we were given info to share with our teams about soccer camps being hosted over the summer. The one that caught my eye was the one being hosted by the Houston Dynamo, our Major League Soccer team here in Houston. How cool would it be to be taught by the pros? Also, Ryan's good friend (and old college roommate, and groomsman in our wedding) Jordan used to play for the Dynamo after college so we already feel a connection to the team! ;)

Aidan loved the idea so we signed him up!

It was held for 4 nights from 5-630. I was a little worried about the heat since it was outdoors in Houston. In August. But I guess these kids here in the South just adjust.

We got there the first night and the kids were each given a Dynamo jersey and their own Dynamo soccer ball. So cute to see them all in their orange gear!

Mason, however, was pissed as all hell that he couldn't play too. This kid is going to be my athlete, for sure. He's much more aggressive than Aidan with that ball. Aidan is always the last one to be seen running along behind his teammates, not caring about getting the ball. Sadly Mason has to wait 2 more years until he's 5 to do Dynamo camp.

Aidan loved every minute of it and was extremely upset the last night that it was over. I promised him we'll do it again next summer!

2 of the 4 nights Ryan even managed to stop in for the end of practice after work, which was great!

On the second night the kids all got their balls signed by a player on the team. He's a rookie who is apparently out right now because he just had knee surgery for a torn ACL. Ryan chatted with him quick because he wanted to see if he knew Jordan, but being he's only a rookie and Jordan hasn't played for them in years he didn't know him.

Aidan and his coach on the last night.

A few of the nights we just went out to eat afterward because we were 45mins-1hour away from home so it just made sense to eat while we were out so far from home, plus we avoided the rush hour traffic in the city.

On Tuesday of that week Aidan finally got to have his Taco Tuesday. The sports park we were at was only about 5-10 minutes form our old apartment so we decided to hit up our favorite Mexican place in Pearland while we were so close. 

He was in Heaven.

Now I need to sign Aidan up for the fall for soccer. I've found a league up here in NE Houston that also has a 3 year old team so Mason's finally going to get to play too!

Chalkboard wall!

So the builder painted our entire house in a cream colored FLAT paint. Flat paint shows every mark, scuff, rub, tiny handprint, etc.

It's obnoxious. We also dealt with it in PA in our townhouse in the rooms we didn't paint ourselves.

So when we added stools to the breakfast bar in the kitchen I knew we were going to have an issue with scuffs from feet and shoes rubbing on the wall.

It got really bad recently and we knew we had to do something when Ryan suggested painting it with chalkboard paint.

Cool idea!

Here is our before and after:

I also got Ryan to complete his entire "Honey-Do" list while he was home this past weekend. He's been so ridiculously busy at work, it's been hard for him to find time to do the things I needed done around the house. And trust me, if I could hang curtain rods myself I would. And to be honest we still have windows with absolutely no blinds or coverings on them, and our bedroom was the first and only room so far to get curtains hung. I can't even decide on a pair of curtains for the living room yet! Gah too many decisions!!!!

Oooh, now I have my new button knobs on my laundry room cabinets, and I think they look adorable!!

ps- what the hell am I supposed to hang on that rod under the shelf? Socks? Why put a rod there if you know the dryer has to go there (it's where the hookup was)?

I also decided to create my own roman shade for the glass window in our bathroom. however it is quite see-through, so since then I have gotten a blackout shade that I've cut to it's size to hang behind the fabric (I tried lining it with a fleece blanket first, but it was too heavy to be inside the fabric and kept slipping down).  Even with 4 tension rods (one for the blackout shade...you only need 3 to make the roman shade), 4 yards of fabric, liquid stitch and the blackout curtains from Target it was still way cheaper than buying a real roman shade!!

I got the idea from this blog, which also happened to be the blog I got the idea to "cartoonize" our house for our moving announcements. (It took many hours of using the shape tool and trying to remember which layer was which shape in photoshop, but I think I did a pretty good job for a first-timer):

We are slowly but surely putting this house together, and it's certainly an adventure! Now if I could keep the boys from throwing things off the upstairs balcony we'd be golden......