Well I never got to finish uploading some of my favorites when I was last posting (yes, several weeks ago) because I kept getting an error message from blogger and, well, I just gave up that day and have not had time to try it again (can you hear my frustration?). We have had so much going on here. I always thought that as the girls got older, life would get much easier too! Man, was I wrong! It seems that the older they've gotten, the busier we've gotten and there does not seem to be a light at the end of this tunnel that we're stuck in! I would not trade it for the world because we are doing so much FUN stuff now and the only thing that's gotten easier is just that they are much indepedent and do not require our 24 hour constant hands-on attention. It is so nice to get home in the afternoon and just let them "loose" in the backyard to play and "get their wiggles out!" And my favorite part is getting to hear their sweet (most of the time) sisterly chatter and conversations - so cute!
So back to the point of this post:
As I write, we (me, the girls, and my mom) are all in Palm Harbor, FL (close to Tampa) visiting my brother and his family for a week. My nephew is still in school, but this was the best time for all of us. We decided (for the first time) to drive down here with the girls, but it is such a long haul. We broke up the drive by leaving Sunday and staying at our condo in Destin for the night and making the remainder of the drive Monday. It does add several hours to the total trip, but it works better for the girls. We plan to leave here this Sunday and do the same return trip except to stay until after Memorial Day in Destin (with the addition of my dad - wish us all luck - he's used to traveling solo and not making stops every hour).
Side Note: We have just discovered that Anna seems to have inherited Sam's family's car sickness tendencies! And instead of relying on a hope and a prayer that we could drive 12 hours without a vomit-laced car, we opted for a little Dramamine - worked like a dream! I hate how it makes her so drousy, but then again, it does make for at least a few minutes of a quiet drive (since Anna talks NONE.STOP).
In the weeks leading up to this trip, Sam was traveling with work for about a month straight (home on the weekends, but I was still a C.R.A.Z.Y. momma that probably needed mental assistance), we had the ballet recital, swimming lessons (I will save this tragic story for another post - poor Anna), horseback riding (of course), tennis (my sanity and stress relief), hiring a few new people in our office, WORKING, a few crafty things (saving for another post) I was dying to create, PRESCHOOL GRADUATION (yikes!), preschool graduation party at the playground, and my college pledge class 10 reunion weekend(again, yikes!). Oh, and I can't forget Mother's Day and mine and my mother-in-law's birthday (May 19) and then packing for this trip in between all of this! Wow, no wonder I'm exhausted!
While here in Florida, we are celebrating my nephew's 7th birthday (party is Saturday) and we took a very-much anticipated trip to Magic Kingdom yesterday. Does it make any sense to say that it was the longest, shortest trip to Magic Kingdom? This was Anna's first trip to Disney and she got to do and see everything she asked for! We left here at 7:30 am and did not get home until 11:00 pm! Blake got to skip school (shhhh) for this Birthday trip to Disney so he was NOT complaining about having to do all of the "girly" stuff. We met several princesses (Cinderella, Belle, Sleeping Beauty, Tiana), watched the parade, watched the show at the castle, rode rides, saw lots of fun stuff (and people too, I might add)! We then headed to LegoLand (wow what a place) and dinner at the Rainforest Cafe (another really cool place). Needless to say, we have ALL been worthless today and just chilled out! Our favorite memory of Anna's first time meeting the princess' was when she walked up to Belle, she curtsied to her!!!!! I mean, where would she have seen that to know that you are supposed to bow to royalty (even if it is just Disney's royalty)?! She then blew her a kiss as she left the room. And at the parade, as Cinderella "waved" to her she was yelling, "Hey, Cinderella, It's Me, Anna!" as if she remembered her from all of the thousands of kids they meet in a day! So fun and cute! Both she and Mary Mac told us that yesterday was the BEST day of their lives! We are so fortunate to be able to give our girls these experiences - thank you Dad and Sam for working so hard for us! And THANK YOU Gran for being such a trooper and helping Molli and I corral the kids around Disney! It was a trip to remember for sure!!!!!
We decided that we would give Anna 1/4 of a Dramamine for the Disney trip b/c of the car ride, as well as any other possible ride she may want to experience. We all got so tickled on the way there b/c she was sound asleep and I said I was having visions of her sleeping (drug-induced) through her first trip to Disney and us just holding her up next to everything (still sleeping) and taking her picture with captions (and commentary) of, "Look how much fun Anna had at Disney!" "And here she is with Cinderella (asleep)", etc... That would have been a hilarious childhood story, but, don't worry, she was wide awake for the WHOLE day (yes, that means, NO NAP AT DISNEY). She was such a trooper though and did not whine or complain hardly at all. That's not exactly how our recovery day has gone, but it was worth it!
Another funny conversation was Tuesday with Mary Mac. Blake asked to go to Macaroni Grill for his birthday dinner and she was curious to know what they had there (since we don't have one). Molli asked her if she like pasta with spaghetti sauce or the white sauce, which she explained was Alfredo sauce. Mary Mac's reply to her explanation was priceless: "I'm not afraid of no sauce!" How funny!
And of course, I have taken TONS of pictures, but have not loaded any of them...stay tuned. I'm also waiting on my brother to give me a "tutorial" on how to use my fabulous new camera!
So far, we have had a blast, but I'm not going to lie - I am really looking forward to the summer! The girls will not be in school, but will just be doing some camps, Vacation Bible School, and just hanging out at lake/pool/home (that is, if Anna learns to swim)! Hopefully, it will be a nice break for Mary Mac before she starts Kindergarten in the fall. I still cannot believe that I have one child already starting real school in the fall!
