A New Cousin - no babies, it's a grown-up!!

Waaay back when I was in Med Tech school, I got to do my lab clinicals at Centrex Labs at St. Luke's Hospital at home in Utica, even though I was living and going to school in Binghamton. So I lived at home for 8 weeks, and in the meantime, managed to secure a weekend job bartending at The Hook, Line & Sinker, where I used to wait tables before moving away. (You know, before Dick Zdyb sold it to a Dunking Donuts franchise and they frigging tore it to the ground, leaving lots of my friends and family jobless....but I digress.)

While bartending with my Mama on weekends (we made an awesome team, by the way), I met Ashley, one of the servers there. She was actually pretty awesome and I really liked her.

Fast forward a few months when I hear the family talking about my Cousin David's new girlfriend Ashley. I had no idea they meant Ashley from The Hook. When I realized it was her I was ecstatic!!

Now, I should back up a bit here in regards to my cousin David. We've always been very close, and when we were little we hung around each other so much (and both had the same blonde hair), that people thought we were twins. We've always just called each other "twin", and it has since then represented our bond.

That's the 2 of us in the middle, my brother on the far right, and my cousin Jamie on the far left.

I don't just accept anyone to marry my twinsy, but if I had to choose it would be the one person he chose for himself.

I got to take their engagement photos before moving to TX

I love Ashley. She and David make a great team, and I'm so happy they found each other!

I am so thankful she is family now. Not that you really need a marriage license to make you family...but it makes it legally harder for her to get away from us now ;)

Remember Ashley: we are all related by birth, we can't help it. But you chose us, and now you're stuck in our big, crazy, wonderful family.

Welcome to the Family.

I managed to get home for the wedding, (by myself because I didn't want Aidan to miss any time from his first week of Kindergarten). Ryan got a few days off and was able to stay home and play Daddy Daycare so I wouldn't have to miss the wedding. He was super bummed he couldn't go though. Back in our younger, crazier days in Utica we had many a "fun" (aka drunken) nights out with my twinsy.

It was really nice to get together with our family for a happy occasion, seeing as the last time we were all together it was for Dad's funeral in February.
We had an absolute blast! I love love loved seeing everyone!!! XOXOXO

Lar, Sandra, our Cousin Rich, and his girlfriend Christina.

Me & my bro.

Me & my Sister in Law, Sandra <3

A pre-wedding toast to the happy couple! Love my family.

With my Auntie, my Dad's twin sister.

with Auntie & cousin Melissa

A trip home always means I'm in high demand for photo sessions, and I LOVE it.

My first night in town I stayed with friends in Syracuse and got to do a cake smash/first birthday session for their little girl. Was it really only 2 short years ago I was doing her big brother's first birthday photos too??

I love spending time with the Parker family, and I almost always try and stop in for a quick visit when I'm home!

The next night I got to do my "little" Cousin's Breana & Kara's senior photos as well. 

Bree asked me months ago if I was going to be home soon and if I could do them for her. It worked out perfectly that I made it up for David's wedding and was able to do them!!

I had to make her do her own location scouting, and she wanted a field of sunflowers, and she found one!! The photos came out amazing. The field was perfect!

Breana

Kara

Gah how can they be so grown up already?

I hope to be able to get home again soon to spend a longer time with family!

Kindergarten!!!

Aidan's first day of Kindergarten was great. He had already met his teacher the Thursday before, and he had a chance to see his classroom and the school. He said how excited he was, but a little nervous too.

The night before his first day of school, we read a poem from his teacher that included "jitter glitter"; which was a small bag of glitter that he was supposed to sprinkle under his pillow to calm him down so he could sleep. It was adorable! 

Daddy even helped him sprinkle a little under his bed too...you know, just to be sure.

He only one had one moment of tears while we were getting ready when he said "I don't wanna go to school"! But he got over it almost instantly when I reminded him he would be making all sorts of new friends that morning.

I planned on driving him and we decided to walk him into his classroom on the first day, and it went very smoothly!

He found his name on the table, and sat down and started getting situated and I took off pretty quickly so he couldn't change his mind, haha.

Mason and I headed home and I got so much done, even though Mason was super bored without Aidan. But it's ok, because the next day Mason started preschool and he'll go the same hours as Aidan on Tues, Wed & Thurs.

Sadly we may need to find Mason another preschool closer to home because the one he's at now is just too far from home to drive during morning and afternoon rush hours. I find myself in the car for far too long between waiting in Aidan's drop-off/pick-up line at school, and sitting in traffic heading to Kingwood for Mason. The plan needs to be rethunk, I think. Perhaps Aidan may even start riding the bus instead too. 

I have lots of details to tweak now that we've done the first week and I've seen how it all goes.

I didn't cry on Aidan's first day, contrary to what Ryan said was going to happen. Instead, I relished in the thought of a few hours of peace to get stuff done around the house, and getting groceries alone without screaming kids.

I did have a teary meltdown the night before though, thinking about how sad I was that my Dad wasn't around anymore to see Aidan's first day. But I know Dad was with him, and he was even using the backpack Grandpa got him last year for his new preschool in TX, so all was well.

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.