What I Noticed While People Watching At Disney World

Fanny packs are making a come back.... sadly.

I counted nearly 10 people with mullets. Are they coming back? I would say that is worse than the fanny packs.

Super high side pony tails are working their way back onto the scene. Can we call say..... OH NO! Ladies, just say no. Just say no to the horrible look of the late 80's and early 90's, especially the side pony. Don't you dare.

While on the subject of late 80's and early 90's fashion.... all the neon colors are not cute on anyone. Some fashion should not be brought back. I guess this is another year where I will look out of style cause there is NO WAY I will wear the big baggy off-one-sholder shirts in traffic cone orange. You may as well wear a trash bag ladies, it is just as attractive!

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A Strange Thing That Makes Me Happy

Planning Disney vacations.

It is not because I love Disney (even though we all know I so do) I think it is more because I love planning.

The ability to say "On this day we are going to eat here at this time" makes me happy. Why?

I like control.

There are few things in life (basically nothing) but Disney planning... I have control over.

I am pretty glad that Charlie is a go-with-the-flow kinda guy or I might not enjoy these plannings so much.

After Lula Mae and I return from our mother/daughter trip I am gonna work on a post of my best tips and tricks for an affordable Disney vacation. I LOVE saving money and mixing that with Disney.... well it makes me giddy.

Because these two kids....

love them some Disney, but they also enjoy eating, so budgeting is quite necessary :-)

Welcome Back To The Real World

Where there isn't always happy Disney music playing in the background and the bathrooms are not magically cleaned and kept clean all day long. Disney is my happy place. I can't explain how carefree I feel when I am there. Not that I don't love reality, don't get me wrong, but there is something wonderful about vacationing at Disney. Reality is just harder.

Reality is a toddler screaming and disobeying, a baby repeatedly throwing major fits over virtually nothing, a kitchen that needs to be cleaned, a trash can that seems to always need to be emptied.... and the list goes on and on. Even though life is chaotic I am grateful for every chore, every task, every mommy duty that arises. God has me here, in this place with these jobs for a very good reason. He is bigger than all of this and I trust Him wholeheartedly.

Leaving for our first vacation away from the kids was tough. I felt anxious and emotional. I felt like I was not going to have a good time at all. As we drove off I prayed and prayed and prayed, and as the miles went by, I felt more relaxed and ready to enjoy my time away from the kids. I knew that my husband and I needed to spend some time alone together and get reconnected. We both know that distance makes the heart grow stronger, two deployments will prove that point.

Our vacation was great. We had great weather and so much fun! It felt like we were on our honeymoon again, it was very nice. As much fun as we had, we both missed our little ones. The quiet was nice, but very foreign to us. Coming home we both felt very refreshed. I won't lie... I can see an annual trip together :-)

Now we are back to the real world. Enjoying the noise, duties and chaos that is our real world.

Much Needed

In just a few weeks my hubster and I are going on a vacation.

Together.

Minus the kids.

{sigh}

I am torn. I am going to have a hard time leaving them (although the best two people I know will be with them so I know everything will be fine.) but I know I really must. Charlie and I have not been anywhere alone for more than just a dinner in a little over 3 years now. We need this. Our marriage needs this.

The reason I don't want to leave them all boils down to one thing.... control. I won't be in control of what time they get up, I won't be in control of what they eat, I won't be in control of where they go (most importantly the car they are in)... I won't be in control of them. So wrong, I know, but it is where I struggle the most with my flesh. My flesh really thinks that I have something to do with all of this in the first place.

My faith knows better.

My faith knows that God is in control of my kids and their lives. My faith knows He is the better one for the job than me. My faith knows that me going on a trip for 4 days will not change how much God loves them and protects them. Yet I still feel anxious about the whole thing. It has kept me up at night, it has stolen my focus, it has cause me to have a million breakouts due to stress! Thinking about vacation shouldn't do that! For someone who struggles with fear that is exactly what vacation does.

I keep telling myself that God's plan is perfect. The fact of the matter is that it won't matter if I go on vacation or not, if something is meant to happen to one of my kids because it is God's will my being home with them would not stop it. We are going to be about 8 hours away from them and I have had several people say to me, "I could never be more than 2 hours away from my kids. What if they needed me?". Of course I thought that too... even more so once they verbalized it. But then I remember that God is in control. I could be an hour away or 20 hours away.... it won't change God's will. I have to let go.... if I don't fear will keep me in bondage for the rest of my life. I just can't live like that.

Another thing keeping me from too much excitement about this trip is the fact that poor Eric and Heather will have to deal with our kids. My kids can be tough folks, tougher than you can imagine. I just feel bad handing all that over to someone else... embarrassed almost. Like they will wonder "what in the world are they doing with these kids?????". I know it sounds stuck up, but I am just being honest here. I am certain though that The four of them will have a great time together and make fun memories that will last forever.

So I am praying for peace as our trip approaches. I am excited. I love how excited my hubster is about our trip together. I can't wait to get to talk to him, laugh with him, play games with him, eat a quite dinner with him, hold his hand instead of a toddlers hand, sleep past 7:30 if we want.... I am excited to just enjoy the man that I love.

I would encourage you to spend some time with the one you love. No one ever regrets spending too much time together.



15,000 bloggy points to anyone who can guess where we are going on our trip! (Heather you are not allowed to guess!!!!!)

Could We Add More Hours To The Day Please?

I am in the process of trying to make a vacation slide show of all our pictures. There are so many and I want you to see all of them! But posting that many photos would take.... well f-o-r-e-v-e-r! So, I thought I would just show you a few comparison photos for now.

Lula Mae's 1st birthday morning

Jayce's 1st birthday morning

Lula Mae swimming with Daddy 2009

Lula Mae swimming with Daddy 2011

Riding the carousel 2009

Riding the carousel 2011

Downtown Disney September 2009

Downtown Disney 2011

Now I am off to work on the budget, work on plans for Lula Mae's party this weekend, do some laundry, clean up a bit.... oh the list goes on! I hope your week has started off great!

We're Back!

Yes, vacation is over and we are home. I am trying to get everyone back into the swing of things. We are getting there. Overall our trip was a huge success. The ride down and the ride back were great! Lula Mae is slightly depressed that we are home.... only slightly. We all enjoyed ourselves! I am so glad to be home, but I sure do miss Mickey! Here is a sneak peak of our trip...


Can we go back now? sigh.

I can't wait to get caught back up on all of your blogs. I hope you have all been great!

On The Open Road!

Well Bloggy buddies, we are on our way to the happiest place on earth!

To see one of my best-good friends, as Forrest would say.

To visit my home away from home.....

Disney World.... HERE WE COME!
I LOVE the smell of vacation in the air... especially a Disney vacation!

It will be a trip of fun memories I am sure of that. The last time we went to Disney World I got to tell Charlie were were expecting Jayce. Now, we get to celebrate his first birthday there. How neat! We rent a house when we do Disney so we have a private pool, which I am sure will be fun for every one but me. The kids will get to enjoy Mommy and Daddy, we will get to enjoy them.... I just can't wait! Goodbye bills book, goodbye house work, goodbye school, goodbye army! This family has left the building! We are so blessed! Please pray for a safe journey for us. Also, pray that I handle the pool with my kids okay. I want so badly to enjoy it with them, but just the thought of it really makes me nearly throw up. I will come home with a billion pictures and lots of stories.... so be ready! Have a great week Bloggy buddies! I will catch up with you when I return!

Savannah Picture Walk

Before we get started I just have to say.... YOU ARE READING MY 200th POST!!!! Get excited!!!! You may now continue on to the regularly scheduled post! You may want to grab a snack or cup of coffee for this one guys. It's long, but I refrained from adding my 2 cents on each picture. Although, I wanted to. Really bad. Anyhoo, enjoy your tour of beautiful Savannah Georgia! I have to say, I would love to live there... and one day when I hit the lottery I will! Lets not hold our breath though *sigh*.

Savannah Dan aka The Best Dressed Man In Savannah


Savannah River (with the Peacemaker ship docked... more on that below!)

Paula Dean's restaurant. We wanted to eat there but did not feel like standing in line for an hour or so just to get a reservation. Next time we will, but this time it just wasn't happening.

Since I wasn't able to eat at The Lady and Sons, I went inside the gift shop attached to it and took a picture of the buffet. I wish you had smell-o-puters cause it smelled phenomenal.

My Mom, Sister and I

We had a banana tree out in front of our house.

The Sisters

There is a pretty amazing story behind this boat. You can read all about it here.

This is me on the Peacemaker. It's a pretty big deal for me to be on a boat so enjoy this picture please! Until my husband drugs me and takes me on a cruise this will be the last picture of me on a boat!

Me In All My Forrest Gump Glory

So, I love Forrest Gump. All-time-favorite-movie. I mean, I am borderline in love at an unhealthy level. That being said, I feel the need to share with you some of my favorite pictures from our trip to Savannah.

Here I am standing where Forrest Gump's infamous bench once sat. I was super excited to get this picture! I may or may not have forced Heather to put herself in harms way to get this photo. She may or may not have had to stand in the road to get this shot. She may or may not have had to stand on two separate street corners to try to get a better shot..... I'm just being hypothetical. Perhaps someday I will learn to suck in when full body pictures are being taken!

As you can tell, they have changed the area quite a bit. Then again, Forrest Gump is 16 years old. Google

This is the steeple that they dropped the feather off of in the movie. Can you see what a gorgeous day it was while we were touring such a lovely city!

This is me, looking like a dork. Please excuse my excited face. it really isn't the best look, but I just couldn't hold back. Why? Well, in the visitors center museum they have the bench from Forrest Gump. Now, we were too cheap to buy tickets to go through the museum, so I just stood at the gate and drooled. And obviously took fantastically dork-ish pictures. You have too really look through the gate, into the darkness, to even see the bench.

You may can see it better here, I cropped myself out so that I wasn't so distracting. It may help. Notice there were ropes around the bench too. Had they allowed you to sit on the bench I would have paid the money to go in! In a skinny minuet!

So, there are all my Forrest Gump pictures. Oh don't worry, there are real pictures to come. I promise! I will try not to add captions to the next post. That way you can just browse through and see the beauty without me adding my 2 cents to everything.

Happy hump day bloggy buddies!

Pictures

So here is an obscene amount of pictures for you. Well, I guess it could be worse.... I took almost 300. So you are getting of easy! Enjoy! I can't figure out why some of them look grainy... weird! I wanted to make a video of the pictures with music and everything but I haven't gotten around to it. So just imagine some wonderful music playing in the background and neat video affects! Use your imagination!