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......

Taco Tuesday

I don't know where he heard it, but Aidan asked me what "taco tuesday" meant. So I explained it's very simplistic definition.

It's a tuesday when you eat tacos.

Of course he loved the idea and asked if we could have Taco Tuesday this week, and I agreed. however, I forgot that we had a photo session in the city around dinnertime, and of course didn't have any of the makings for tacos in the kitchen...at all.

And Aidan had not forgotten it was Taco Tuesday, even if Mommy did. (Damn that Disney Junior for announcing what day of the week it was!!!)

Ryan was meeting me at the park for the session to take the boys off my hands while I worked...the park we were shooting at happens to be across the street from his hospital. I asked him if he wanted to grab tacos afterward, and he asked some of his buddies for a good spot for tacos, and we ended up going someplace in Rice Village. 

Aidan chillin with the iPad while Mommy works.

However, we got there and while they had amazing tacos that adults would eat, they had zero ground beef style tacos for Aidan and Mason. Plus, on the kids menu they had some sort of peanut butter and banana burrito thingy. That automatically means we don't eat there because the risk of cross contamination with the kids food and that damn peanut butter is way too high for my liking.

So we walked across the street to this british pub place that Ryan has been to before, and grabbed some Pub Fare instead. Aidan didn't complain because he got his chips and guacamole...that makes him happy. And he had calamari for his dinner. My kids love calamari!

I had a summer Saint Arnold beer with fish n chips, so Mommy was happy too!

And that my friends, is how Taco Tuesday turn dingo Pub Fare Tuesday. Perhaps next week I'll make Taco Tuesday work!

Swimming Lessons

When we joined our new gym we were told that one of the sign-on incentives was a month of free swim lessons for each child. The sales rep then also told us we had an allotment of "lifetime bucks" that you could spend on anything at the gym so we decided to use those for a second month of lessons. 2 months of swim lessons for free? We'll take it!

Mason heading off with his teacher

Aidan heading off with his teacher

At one point during their first lessons, about halfway through, I noticed Aidan was crying so I went over, but he couldn't explain to me what the problem was. The teacher thought maybe he had gotten splashed or was scared of something. I wasn't overly concerned, but he managed to shake it off and finish out his class, which I was proud of.

Mason of course loved every minute of it.

They've only had a few lessons so far, but Aidan is progressing very nicely and his teacher tells me after each class he's doing great. (I even caught Mason making these hysterical big scoop swimming strokes while in the pool at Disney...so something must clicking from class!)

During their second week of classes Mason decided to get out of the pool and come to me asking to use the potty, so we did. He then refused to go back in the pool. It was our last lesson before heading to Disney and I knew he was going to miss the next two classes so I was slightly worried that this was a bad sign. I was worried that after 2 weeks off he definitely wouldn't get back in the water....but he proved me wrong and this week the boys went back and both did a great job! Mason's teacher even said he followed all instructions and she was proud of him.

Mason pouting during the second week of class....refusing to go back in the pool!

We'll have to decide when our free lessons are up whether or not we want to pay for them because they are a bit pricey at this gym. I like the idea of the boys being able to swim though, to sort of put my mind at ease. I guess only time will tell.

Shoulda, Coulda, Woulda

I find myself having "shoulda, coulda, woulda" moments lately thinking about my Dad.

I'm sure everyone who has lost a loved one has moments like these, and I've tried for months just to not think about it. Some days I can't keep the thoughts back and it's overwhelming.

There are so many things I wish I would have just said to him when we found out he was sick. We knew he was dying, yet I couldn't allow myself to tell him the things I wanted to say. It was as if by saying all these things it made it more final, you know?

My way of dealing with it was probably not the best. I feel like I just tried to push all the scariness and truth away and hide from it. It scared me to see Dad sick, it scared me to think about life without him, and I just froze.

I didn't say all the things I should have. I said "I Love you", but I feel like that just wasn't enough.

 I feel like I should have told him thank you for being an amazing Dad, for teaching me so many things. From cooking to tools, he taught me all. He never missed a choir performance/musical/awards banquet. He would drive all the way up to SLU for every Laurentians concert and every Radio Bob Band gig. He had patience when I had none with my kids. He would always laugh when I was frustrated and say "by the time Mason is 6, they'll slow down, just hang in there". HE was always there to help out ion PA when I needed a babysitter but couldn't find one. He would drive to PA just to watch the boys when Ryan and I had to work the same weekend. He never missed a birthday party or Holiday in PA.

I just wish I had had the courage to tell him thank you for all this while he was still here. I was a coward, I was scared and I was trying not to face the reality of the situation.

I find myself thinking about him so much lately with all the new and exciting stuff going on in our lives. He was always the first person I would call to talk to or to share a funny Aidan/Mason story. My brother and I have both said for the longest time we both would still have the quickest flash of an urge to call Dad when something happened. So we call each other now instead. 

I know time heals all wounds, but I know the idea of not having my dad around will never get easier. I just hope that as time goes on (it has only been 5 months after all) that the unsuspecting bouts of missing Dad so bad it hurts will ease up.