Fun at Disney

We spent a week in Florida and 5 days at Disney for our vacation. It was Kirsten's turn to choose the vacation destination, and nobody was surprised that she picked Disney.

We spent pretty much all day everyday at the parks. I think we hit them all. Although, when we were at Epcot it rained quite a bit which shut down many of the attractions.

This poor girl got so sick while we were there. She felt terrible on this day. I think the next day we went to Animal Kingdom and she felt too bad to even make it. It really sucks to be on the vacation of a life time and not be able to enjoy it.

 

Someone was very excited to get his very own Chewbacca mug at lunch.

We even had dinner with the princesses. Kirsten was so excited to get to go inside of Cinderella's castle.

But this was on the day that Abigail was so sick, so Avery went in her place. Who can blame him? He got to hang out with princesses and have a great meal.

It was really a good time. It was exhausting and seemed to fly by all at the same time.

I took this quick video on the drive home. As you can see, everyone was pretty tired.

Too long again

I know. I know. It's been a really long time. But in my own defense, we got new phones and I had to get anything off my old phone. Then I had an update all typed in and I can't seem to get back to it. The drafted post is there, but I can't open it. Me and technology....get outta here.

The school year ended successfully. Wyatt was inducted into the National Honor Society. We are just so proud of all of our kids.

Still no new drivers. There has only been a little bit of interest with the other three, but hey, they have Addison to chauffeur them around.

Once more, my kindness was not repaid the way I wanted. Another of our cats had kittens!! That gives us a total of 11 cats around here. I've become the crazy cat lady without even trying.

Abigail went to spend most of July in Nova Scotia with her boyfriend, Avery, and his family. She really enjoyed it, but doesn't think she could live there. It was good for her to see what it might be like to live in other places. When she left there, she and Avery and his mom Jen, met us in Florida where we spent a week at Disney.

The rest of us took a few days driving to Florida.

We did a little high fashion shopping on the way.

We stopped at an alligator farm.

We also did a swamp tour in an air boat and saw a whole lot of alligators. The tour was with Swamp Fever and they were fantastic.

We finally made it to our destination and got to see Abigail again.....but we sure missed her on the way.

Vacation's over....

We didn't do a whole lot more on vacation. We spent some time bowling.

My game got off to a good start...

Okay, in the name of full disclosure, the pins had not set up so I had to roll the ball down the lane to do it. No pins? Strike!!! I'd be a great bowler if I could don it like that all the time!

Here's the master at work.....

I'm pretty sure that look is because I'm beating him so badly. 

And it's important to still look cute.....even if you have to wear bowling shoes.

We still did plenty of eating out and just kind of relaxing. It was a good time, even if it wasn't a far away or exotic destination. But we always have fun together!

Next Stop....NASA

The next morning we were up and at it again. This time our destination was NASA.

We were having fun, despite the look on Wyatt's face.

Addison took a quick nap while Kirsten and Abigail kept the Mars station going.

Then it was off to finish our tour with a visit with the President.

Another successful day complete.

The vacation continues...

Wow!!! Time sure dies get away from me!! We've been so very busy it's hard to keep up.

We were up and at it again the next morning and down to Galveston Island. We spent the day at Moody Gardens. There were several different things to do. We took a ride in the bay on an old fashioned paddle boat.

We hung out in the beach.

Abigail played in the sand.

We also went through the dinosaur exhibit and rode a Sponge Bob ride.

That took up a large part of the day and we were all pooped, so we had dinner and headed back to the Rogers Resort.

After the dog races .....

Since we had anticipated the dog races taking almost twice as long as they did, the cancellations left us with some unexpected time to kill.

We decided to head over to the Boardwalk at Kemah. They have rides and games and lots of places to eat. One of the things we decided to do was take on 'The Beast.'

The Beast won.

Once we were completely soaked, we headed to dinner. We decided on The Aquarium for dinner. 

After a full day and then with full bellies, we decided we were exhausted and it was time to call it a day.

Time for a Vacation

We decided that we needed a get away before school started back up. We didn't travel far. Just headed to Houston/Galveston to play tourist.

On Saturday night we went to see a performance of Guys and Dolls. It was in a very small theatre (like only seats about 75 people) and there were almost no props, but it was still fun.

After the play we were all hungry so headed to a local icon to eat.

Welcome to the 59 Diner.

On Sunday we took the kids for a life lesson. We took them to the dog track and taught them how to place bets. Ha! 

We were having a good time, even though we were not winning, not by any stretch of the imagination. Then a dog got injured near the end of a race. Then another dog got injured in the very next race. One of those dogs - don't know which - actually broke it's leg. They held off on the next race while they inspected the track. Eventually, they cancelled all races for the rest of the day. Boo for us, but better for the safety of the dogs.

Vacation Day 16

Sunday, June 30, 2013

We got up a little early this morning. We had scheduled horseback riding today and needed to make it to Hot Springs, AR (or there abouts) for our appointment. We had a great time and the kids were thrilled since they had been looking forward to it for the whole trip.

 

We really liked the fact that the paths wound through the woods and through a couple of creeks. There were fallen trees that we had to go around and branches to duck under and lots of hills. It made the ride so much more interesting.

After our ride we drove on to Texarkana where we met friends for dinner. It was so good to see them. I know our kids don't remember but they used to all play together.....almost every day!

We had intended to head on to Dallas for the night, but when we got back in the car we all decided that we were tired and it was just too late to drive anymore so we stayed found a place to stay for the night.

We got up the next morning and headed home. When we stopped to grab some lunch, though, it occurred to us that we were going to hit Austin right around 5:00 and traffic would be terrible. We couldn't decided what to do but finally decided to stop and see a movie to kill some time. I know, who does that on their way home from vacation?

We finally made it home and are so glad to be here!!

Vacation Day 15

Saturday  June 29, 2013

Our big goal today was to get to Lynchburg, TN. There we were touring the Jack Daniels Distillery.

Here's a free Jack on the Rocks...........

(sorry, their joke....not mine)

Anyway, the distillery tour is great! We really liked it and it's quite fascinating how it's developed and how they do it.

Afterwards, we walked into town and did a little shopping.

Wyatt stopped to play checkers. It's a hard game to win since the pieces don't move.

We also stopped in at the Moon Pie shop and bought a whole box, plus several individual flavors. I had no idea they had so many flavor options these days.

After we were done shopping, we got back on the road and headed for Memphis where we spent the night in a nice Hilton hotel. Dax and I sat down in the lobby bar for a little while and just watched people. It was both relaxing and entertaining.

Vacation Day 14

Friday   June 28, 2013


This morning our first order of business was a tour of Old Kentucky Chocolates. Time spent in a chocolate kitchen is a great start to the day. It was neat to see the machines and processes that they use, and to learn that they still do a whole lot of their work by hand. Then we shopped in the store and of course made a few purchases.

Once we were done there we headed on to Louisville, Kentucky. There we visited the Louisville Slugger Museum. It's a really nice place. There is a movie to be seen, a Lego room with some really impressive Lego art, and the factory. The factory tour was informative and a lot of fun. You get to see the whole process for bats they make and the different ways that they are made.

Just around the corner from the museum we saw this impressive car. If you can't tell, the whole thing is covered with red glass beads.

Before we left town we decided to walk down the to eat at Joe's Crab Shack which is on the water's edge. It makes for a lovely view and we had a great lunch.

We really didn't have anything else planned for the day so we decided to just get in the car and keep driving. I had planned to spend the night in Nashville, TN, but had trouble finding a hotel. We finally decided to stop in a small town on the state line. And since it was still early enough in the evening, the kids had plenty of time to enjoy the pool for awhile.

Oh, and I almost forgot our stop in Bowling Green, KY, at the Corvette Museum. The girls and I decided to wait in the car, but the boys went in to drool over the cars for a bit. They didn't have time to tour the museum, but there had been a big event going on that day so they got to sit in the newest model Corvette. They were in heaven!!

 

Vacation Day 13

Thursday  June 27, 2013


This morning we got up and got out of hotel Hell as quickly as possible. We went down the road and had breakfast then headed over to do a coal mine tour. I don't like closed in places like that so I waited while Dax and the kids did the tour. They seemed to have liked it alright.

As we were heading out of town, Dax found a place where we could pan for gems so we stopped and did that. It was really hard to find because you drive down what looks like someone's driveway. Then you get to a metal building where business is going on. You kind of drive through their parking lot and around the building and find another driveway from there. Then you finally get to a gate that you have to open and close (horses on the property) and the panning place is in an old shed in front of this guy's house. Of course there were no signs up anywhere to let us know we were on the right track. It's a wonder we actually ever found it.

Anyway, it was fun but we didn't find any gems......just some pretty rocks, I guess.

After we left there we were back on the road to Lexington, KY, where we're spending the night. What a difference a day makes!! Tonight we're staying in the Crowne Plaza which is a far cry from what we stayed in last night. Our room tonight is about three times the size of the one we were in last night and it's far, far cleaner.

Vacation Day 12

Wednesday   June 26, 2013

We got up this morning and headed for West Virginia. There were some things that I had thought we would do, but after looking more closely Dax and I decided that it probably wasn't what I had originally thought it was. So that kind of left us with a day of just driving.

On the way into Gettysburg we had seen a sign for Mr. Ed's Elephant Museum and Candy Emporium so we headed there first. I had been able to get some coupons for free fudge online as well so we hit the jackpot! It was a quirky little place but the people were nice. I even got some free day lily plants while I was there because they were thinning the beds.

Here's a couple of the nuts I saw:

After we all bought some candy and fudge we got back on the road and out of the blue, Dax decided that we should go see the battle field in Antietam. So we did.

We watched a short film about the area and the battle and then did the car tour of the battle grounds. Well, during the film they mentioned Harper's Ferry and the battle there so guess where we headed next?

We had a little trouble finding the area because the visitor's center is quite a ways from it. And it has a parking area separate from the tour destination and the visitor's center. You park and get on a bus that takes you to the Harper's Ferry Historic District and drops you off.

It looked like a really neat little area, but we only got to see a little bit of it because they closed everything down at 5:00. So we walked down to the river to look around and then headed back to wait for the bus to make it's next round to the parking lot.

Since it was already late in the day and we still had a very long drive ahead of us we decided it was time to get serious and hit the road.

We spent the night in Beckley, WV, in what it probably the nastiest motel I have ever been in. It was surface clean (the parking lot was clean and at first glance the room looked clean) but deep down it was dirty and nasty. The only plus was that the towels did smell of bleach when I went to take a shower. We probably would have gone somewhere else for the night except it was already very late and we didn't see anything else that looked any better. Ugh!! But, it builds character, right?

Vacation Day 11

Tuesday June 25, 2013

We had a little bit of a hectic start to the morning. When I got up I called to arrange for a tour in Gettysburg but had to leave a message. The man doing the tours called back while the kids and I were still down at breakfast. As it turned out they only had room left on the morning tour and that was it for the whole day. We were not packed yet and were still a ways away so we had to put it into high gear. I called again when we were getting close to let them know that we were on our way and they were gracious enough to wait for us. We did a tour with the Historic Tour Company that is more geared towards kids so it tells the battle stories in a different way.

It was really interesting tour and pretty much hit on each battleground and gave us the backgrounds for what was going on as we drove all over the area. There some very pretty country in the area.

After the tour we decided to go ahead and spend the night in Gettysburg that night so that we could do some looking around town instead of having to get back on the road right away. It took some work but I finally found a hotel so we went to have lunch and do some shopping around town until the room was ready.

When we got back to the hotel I took the girls to the pool while Dax and Wyatt went to get tickets for a ghost tour that night. Then we all just relaxed a little.

Later Dax, Wyatt, and Abigail left to go do the ghost tour (They said the tour guide never mentioned ghosts, spirits, or anything of the sort. Very disappointing.) and I stayed with Addison and Kirsten. The girls decided to go ahead and get their showers out of the way while the others were gone. Kirsten went first. Then, when Addison got out of the shower she asked Kirsten if she thought the soap made her face feel slimy when she washed it. Kirsten told her that she had used her body wash and that the soap had been in the shower when she got in.......the maid must have missed it when she had cleaned the room last. Addison FLIPPED OUT! She was going on about how she had washed her face with a stranger's used soap. It was hysterical!! When the others got back and she told them about it Wyatt told her that some man had probably used it to wash his butt. You gotta' love brothers.

Dax and I decided to go to a pub in town before we stopped to get dinner, but when we walked out of the hotel the wind was blowing like crazy and alarms were going off in town. It was crazy! We went back to our room and waited for about 30 minutes and all the activity had passed so we started over again. The pub had closed already (it was only like 9:00) so we stopped at another place in town, had a drink together, then grabbed some dinner and headed back in for the night.

It was another busy day and we were once again a tired bunch.

Vacation Day 10

Monday  June 24, 2013

What a day it was!! We started the day by going to Hershey Chocolate World. Heaven!!!

They have several different things to do there. We took their Chocolate World tour which was very cute. And at the end of it, they give you a chocolate bar. What? Let's do that again!! (Which we did, but not right away.)

They also have a 4D movie that we watched. It was cute.

But the very best part was the chocolate making experience where you get to create your own chocolate bar. You choose the base, any add ins, and sprinkles on top. Then while the bar cools you get to design the wrapper for it and it all gets put together and placed in a silver tin. It was a lot of fun!!

 

After we finished at Chocolate World, we headed into Lancaster County to do a little bit of shopping and had lunch at Good & Plenty. It had been recommended to us by a client.

Once it was getting into the late afternoon/early evening we headed back over to Hershey and went to Hershey Park. It was perfect!! I guess since it was a Monday night there weren't many people there. We didn't have to wait in long lines to get on rides or anything. As a matter of fact, I think we only had to wait at all maybe once or twice. Mostly we just were able to walk right up and get on the ride. Dax and Wyatt rode every roller coaster in the park except for one. And they didn't ride it because it broke down while they were in line.

We stayed until the park closed and they kicked us out. We had a great day but boy were we all tuckered out by the end of it.

Vacation Day 9

Sunday June 23, 2013

This morning we got up and into the city to see Independence Hall and the Liberty Bell. Both are free to see, but you have to get a ticket and appointed time at Independence Hall. We got our tickets and had some time before the tour, so we decided to see the Liberty Bell first.

The line was rather long, but moved quickly. The building it's housed in has a lot of other items and information about the Liberty Bell also.

By the time we were done there, it was time to walk over for our tour of Independence Hall.

The tour was informative, but, unfortunately, they don't let you see much of the building. Really, just two rooms downstairs. That was a little disappointing.

One thing we found ironic is that we were there to see the birthplace and symbol of American freedom, but you have to go through security (where they search your bags and everything) to get into both places.

By the time we were done there we were all hungry and decided that since we were in Philadelphia we should probably have a Philly Cheese Steak. So, we walked a few blocks and bought sandwiches. Let me tell you, they are very proud of these sandwiches in Philly. Four sandwiches, a couple of fries, and drinks. $51.00!!! Holy Cow! The sandwiches were good, but they weren't $51.00 good.

After the sandwiches, we stopped next door and got some frozen yogurt before walking back to the car and getting back on the road.

But, once we were on the road and ready to head out of town, we remembered the Philadelphia Art Museum. We didn't go inside, but we couldn't resist a chance to 'go all Rocky'.

Trust me, we're all so tired that there was no running up those steps.

After this, we did make our way back to the car and headed to Harrisburg where we're spending the night. It's good to just take it easy a little.