Disney Magic

We are having a wonderful time and of course as usual the time is going by way too quickly. Sunday will be here before we know it and then Tuesday starts a new school year. 2nd grade for Tommy & Kindergarten for Austin.

The weather has been beautiful, we had a major rain on Monday evening which we missed most of thanks to having dinner. And we just got chased out of the pool for a storm so we are just vegging in our room. It looks like we sandwiched our trip perfectly between Tropical Storm Fay and Hurricane Gustav. I guess this place was just drenched last week. Cool for us!

Tommy has been the man and rode all the major rides including Rock n'Roller Coaster which is now his new fave and Tower of Terror today! Austin likes the Big Thunder Mountain Railroad. I can't imagine my Grandparents riding that, but they did back in the day. `My magical moment was being cast as an extra in the Indiana Jones Epic Stunt Spectacular today. It pays to be a big ol' loudmouth jumping up and down like a crazy person. I was the first woman picked! Maybe I missed my calling, I should be in pictures. ;) hehe.

The crowds seem lighter this late in the summer and the heat and humidity though still there, just don't seem as intense as our other summer trips.

Thanks again to everyone for the congrats on our earlier thread. Joe is pumping me full of water so don't worry. ;) Plus, I find all the shady spots while they are off riding. I'm feeling great and seem to be gaining momentum as the week goes on. We haven't needed naps as we are coming home earlier in the evening than we have on other trips.

I'll go ahead and close with a few pics. It's hard to pick just a few. Love to all! See you soon!

Greetings from Walt Disney World

Airfare ~ $800
Hotel Room ~ $700
Park Hoppers ~ $800
Meal Plan ~ Free
Knowing there are 5 Papesh's in this picture ~ PRICELESS!!!!!

Our Lucky Charm is due March 20th, 2009!!!

Catch Up Postie!

Seems I've been away hasn't it? Actually we've been around, just busy. Here is life in a nutshell. Each stanza is 25 words or less.

~Angie & Tim's wedding - Finally! Nice time. We also had my friends stay with us, we had four guests representing, NJ, IL, PA, and CA!

~I witnessed 2 tattoo's. It was interesting.

~Austin's MRI - went well. I get the results tomorrow. My Mom almost passed out in the recovery room though. It was kind of funny.

~Gabbie & Lupe's 50th birthday party and Damon's! Yummy!

~Softball party at the Wark's. More Yummy fun!

~Back to work this week. My classroom looks great and I'm pretty much ready for Florida guilt free.

~Meagan & Jacob's wedding - Absolutely beautiful, and we had a wonderful time. Dad & Scott were particularly entertaining that night too.

~Autumn Rose's marker was set in the cemetery. It is really nice. Joe has a picture on his blog of it.

~Enjoying the Olympics.

~Got a 30% off at Kohl's so we went crazy. Yeah!

~Chuck E Cheese - I wanted the salad bar and they had to wristband me. Are people really that cheap that they steal off a salad bar?

~Bowling party with the volleyball team. It was great to see the students again.

~Guitar Hero 3 quit working, a new disc is being shipped. Thank the lord! ;)

And there you have it! Life is good!

Hola!

Warning! You may get the following song stuck in your head for days and days! Spanish Mike is quite the internet craze but many of my friends have never heard of him so here I am posting this for ya'll.

My Mom will brag that she was teaching me Spanish when I was a toddler and that is why I am so smart. hehe. Sorry Mom, don't remember anything. I was impressed that she was able to understand this video; I didn't have a clue until I got the English subtitled version and realized it's absolutely hilarious.

This is also in honor of my bilingual boss Gabbie who hails from Argentina. She was very impressed yesterday with my increase in Spanish language and it's all thanks to this song!

Enjoy!



This version has the subtitles.

JoDa Adventures

Yesterday Joe and I celebrated our 11th wedding anniversary. It seems like forever ago and we've experienced so much together, the good, the bad, the ugly. Thankfully the good far outweighs the bad and ugly thus far.

Our 12th married year together had a very interesting start.

Good - We went to the Tiger game with the family and they won!

Bad - The game was delayed an hour due to rain.

Ugly - I-75 was shut down in 2 different places and our MDOT didn't have proper detour signage and we ended up in the Detroit ghetto. Scary.

Interesting - We stopped in Flint for gas and it was 1:00am. Not the greatest area in MI. Well some biker guy comes up and asks if we have jumper cables and can we give him a jump. I'm always the compassionate one and chime in yeah definitely before the more "street smart" Joe could decline. My Dad, Joe's brother & Mother were there with us. It was quite crazy as the guy's starter wasn't working and so he had to take a wrench and try to start it and sparks were literally flying everywhere. He asked me to rev my engine a bit and after about 5 minutes Sparky got his motorcycle running.

Joe was just worried as it was 1:00am in a bad area, you don't know who this guy is he could have been some sort of crazy, plus he was worried about the electrical system in our van being destroyed by this man's decrepit motorcycle.

Once it was all over and we were safely on our way again we were happy we were able to help some stranger in need. It made for some interesting conversation for our last 1/2 hour of the trip. Joe and I went back and forth over was it right to help him or wrong, or simply crazy? Dad mentioned the story in the Bible of the good Samaritan and how no one would help and so I felt that helped my case. I have promised Joe not to do something like that when it's just the boys and I. I then also stated I would not be out driving after midnight by myself with the boys. Poor Joe such a worrier, but I love him. Can't help it.

Happy Anniversary Sweeters!

On a lighter note

Or cooler note...hehe. Tommy had his hockey tryouts this week and we just got the email about 20 minutes ago. Tommy made the team!! He is very excited as are Joe & I.

He looked awesome out there this week so I was pretty sure he was going to make it, but until you see the official roster you never know. It's going to be a very good year (and an expensive one) and we are so proud of him. He worked so hard!

Helicopter Mommy

"A helicopter parent is a term for a person who pays extremely close attention to his or her child or children, particularly at educational institutions. They rush to prevent any harm or failure from befalling them or letting them learn from their own mistakes, sometimes even contrary to the children's wishes. They are so named because, like a helicopter, they hover closely overhead, rarely out of reach whether their children need them or not." ~ wikipedia

I'm always joking this is me. But seriously being a helicopter parent is not healthy for growing independent children. Austin obviously has this worse but Tommy isn't that much better off.

This summer I watch kids from our neighborhood biking all over the place, the little girl down the road comes down unsupervised in her Barbie car. Clans move along and I'm sure Tommy would have a blast joining them but I fear letting him off on his own. Plus Austin would be upset because I'd certainly make him stay home.

Just this summer I've finally let Austin play out in our yard by himself. Of course I open the window so I can hear the basketball bounce but as soon as I don't hear him for even a minute I go check on him. Sometimes I'll panic because he's gone, only to find him playing in the backyard or in the garage. Why am I so paranoid? I live in flipping Mayberry, nothing bad ever happens here. I have this irrational fear of that one strange time where the kids get snatched, or a big dog attacks, or they upset a bees nest. I know I'm strange. Our kids are the only ones in the neighborhood that are forced to wear bike helmets and Tommy can't ride unless I'm out there.

I always thought I would just hover over them for safety issues but now I'm starting to worry about school. Just for Austin, Tommy has never had an issue with school academically and he is one of the lucky ones who probably never will. But Austin, Austin, Austin. I'm highly questioning this move to Kindergarten. He's not excited about it at all and I fear he will be crying all day. Then again, he would probably cry going to school regardless after being home all summer. But he's just not seeming like he's a. mature enough for Kindergarten and b. smart enough and c. mobile enough. Let's expand on this.

a. Maturity - See the crying above. Also, behavior wise he'll copy others and he also tends to not listen. He does what he wants and sometimes just refuses to stop something even if knows the consequences. He's a whiner and tattle tale too. Not a good student combo.

b. Brains - Could he have some sort of mild learning disability? We work everyday on numbers and letters. The letters and sounds he does great individually. But ask him like what does pig start with and he'll say some odd letter and I'll even give him a "p" and "s" and he might say "s." Numbers are even worse. We've really been working for over a year and he can't count higher than 13 without getting jumbled. He recognizes "26" and "15" because they are my hockey numbers. Every morning he gets on the scale and is either 33 - 35 pounds and he won't know what the number is. Isn't that strange? And sometimes he just doesn't want to perform and won't do anything. I've noticed he has trouble patterning a huge skill.

c. motor skills - scissor work could be downright dangerous. His printing is not too bad but he holds his pencil wrong and doesn't write fluidly. i.e. he'll form his letters in unconventional ways. Then you've got the problem of getting him lunch, he can't change his shoes, or put on his coat. I'm putting him in a classroom where he'll surely dominate the teacher and how fair is that to the other kids?

I know you all are going to come in here and blast me for this but it's really how I feel. And don't get me wrong, I'm proud of Austin and am so happy with all he's accomplished. These fears seem almost silly compared to what I feared back in 2004. But you always strive for more and I just want him to do well. I think I've done a very good job realizing he's not Tommy, however am I doing Austin a disservice by pushing him so hard? And I do know there is nothing wrong with Austin repeating Kindergarten if necessary. But what if this is the longest year of his life and I set him up with a hatred of school? Once again that irrational paranoia gets me.

Oh what to do? I suppose for now I'll just keep hovering close by. ;)

Fore!

The trees taunt you; the sand mocks you; the water calls your name...and
they say golf is a quiet game. ~ Bob Hope

Yep we hit the ball everywhere! We were hoping to resurrect our NYC group and play golf but poor Lupe hurt her knee and was out. So it was just the three of us in our fancy dancy scramble. Guys vs. Girls!

Here are a few of the finer points of the day.

Golf Shoes - I practically stole them from Meijers at $19.99 for Nike's. They weren't in the computer but the price tag said $19.99, no other shoes were found for under $40. Yeah! I can't golf, but I look good.

Jill's dream - I'm not going to steal her thunder, but hopefully she'll post soon so you can here about her "dream" the night before golfing.

Joe's practice - In the yard before 7:00am, Joe is already out hitting practice balls. The neighbors probably thought he had been drinking or something.

Vegas/Mulligan Hole - We are all up there blasting away with our #1 woods at this 148 yd hole and Lisa W (who is running the hole) says, "can I give you some advice, no one is using their woods on this hole." Amy then looks at her with her #3 wood and says "I am using an iron." The club is made of iron right? hehe.

The Prank - Only good the first time! On I think our 4th hole, I managed to unclasp Amy's golf bag from her cart. She took off and bang bang bang go all her clubs! Yup it was great. She then proceeded to get me with the same trick twice. ;) I then got her for a final time on our 17th hole.

Her Retaliation - At one point she parked her cart right behind mine and before I could get on it again she drove pushing my cart for quite a ways before it finally veered off on its own. So I had to run to get my cart. That was a good one.

1 great shot - On the $10,000 Hole in One hole. I actually got a hold of the ball and got my drive on the green! Woot!

Divots - I think we dug up more land than an excavation company.

Gas Gas Gas - Amy's golf cart kept "farting."

The Race - It was a race back to the clubhouse after the 18th hole and I think we maybe thought we were Indy racers or in bumper cars but that hoser Amy cut me off and nearly ran me into a ditch! Biatch!

It really was a great time. We easily got last place, possibly setting a record for the worst golf scramble ever. Next year we are hoping we can stay under 100. ;) Yup, that bad. We were 36 over par. Very easy winners of the toilet paper.

The guys didn't do too poorly and finised 8 over par and too won the TP case.

On our way back to Reese we drove by my Dad's as it's on the way and we flew in to visit because he was out mowing the lawn. It was a nice surprise and he was shocked at how good looking everyone is as he's used to seeing them all grubbed up and ready for softball. He probably didn't recognize Dennis as he didn't have any blood pouring off of him. ;)

The crew stayed at our house for a few because my neighbors had dropped off a giant bag of "belly flops" Jelly Bellies for us that were deformed. Amy & Jill were making all kinds of recipes. Mike killed our bathroom and all was right with the world.

An excellent day!

Jill using the ball washer.

Another great Amy drive!

Crazy Driver!

The hook! This got lots of productive use.

Gabbie takes time out from watching for hole in ones and tees off as our 4th golfer on hole 17.

So looking pro!

The happy TP winners!

The SE gang!

It's Jelly Belly time!

Now He Really Looks Like A Hockey Player!

His first top shelf tooth is gone! Maybe that will be good luck for his tryouts next week.