This fall is crazy for our family….not sure why it always seems to happen that way, but it does. Basically out of 9 weekends, Jason or I are out of town 7 of them.  CRAZY!

I was able to travel with him on a trip to Seattle that was half church stuff, half non-church stuff.  Then, this past weekend, I went to Chicago for a girls weekend with some of my BFF’s.

We had a blast! I love time away with the girls and I love time away with my man.  The fact that is all seems to be falling in the same few weeks can make things pile up around here, but I wouldn’t miss it for anything. Evidently, I am becoming quite the traveler.

I am planning some posts around our travels as soon as I get caught up!

I have so many pictures to post, but Jason has most of them downloaded on his computer.  Isn’t that how is always happens!

So, I am going to post a few of the ones I do have.

We had a total blast.  We arrived on Saturday and headed straight to Magic Kingdom.  We spent the rest of the day there!  When we got to the hotel, we found that Bradley was broke out in some major hives.  He got his first dose of Benedryl.

Sunday we went to Hollywood Studio.  This was a good day. We were still figuring everything out and walked around aimlessly a lot.  I took Bradley to the First Aid station and almost to the walk in clinic but it was a 2 hour wait not including the shuttle waits and rides.  He was dazed most of this day, due to multiple doses of Benedryl.  I still have no IDEA what caused him to break out, but the rest of the week, he was broke out in itchy welps.  Poor guy.  He did have fun, though.  We loved the Toy Story Mania ride, Rock N Roll Rollercoaster (the adults, the kids we scarred for life on this one!), Star Wars ride, Playhouse Disney Show, Monsters Inc, Laugh In and the Army Men from Toy Story.  They were walking around and were really funny! We ate at the Prime Time Cafe and it was really fun and the food was good!  FANTASMIC! was amazing.  Bradley cried quite a bit, but he persevered, triumphed, suffered through it and enjoyed the end.

Monday we went to Epcot.  This was a great, long day.  We went to the Land exhibit first and got fast passes to Soarin’, which we LOVED.  LOVED.  We also toured the greenhouse. We also went to the Sea exhibit and  rode the Nemo ride and look at the Aquarium.  We ate at Coral Reef that night and it was all right. The food was good, but the atmosphere was not that big of a deal.  Some of our favorites were Test Track, Mission Space, Spaceship Earth and the character meet and greet.  When we finally made it to the Nations, we only had about an hour before our dinner reservation, and the girls were going to do the Kim Possible World Showcase Adventure.  The dads totally ran with this while Ashley and I had Ryan and Bradley.  We barely made our reservation and didn’t see anything but Norway in the Nations.  When we finally finished dinner, the IllumiNations fireworks had started so we watched them and hustled to the bus stop.  This day was fun, but there is so much to do.  It seemed like we waited a lot to do our fast passes, but it was still a great day!

Tuesday we went to Animal Kingdom. More to come later….

Wednesday we were back at Magic Kingdom. More to come later……

Here is at least one picture from our trip!

Here is some random facts from our trip:

1. We used a travel agent.  She was amazing.  She made our reservations for the hotel and for all of our table service meals. The best thing was that she  made a list of each park and an itinerary of where to go, what to do, which ride to fast pass, and had a great list of insider tips! This was vital for us as we negotiated the parks with 10 people, 6 being little!

2. We went when they offered the free dining plan.  SO worth it.  Basically, if you stay in a DW resort, you get a table service meal (sit down), a counter service meal, and a snack per person, for each day.  This saved us loads of money, which we are all for.  We also got to ride the bus to and from the parks, got to use the extended hours, and once we were there, we really didn’t have many out of pocket expenses.  They are still offering the free dining plan through December!

3. We stayed at this resort.  Being a family of 5 limited our options, in our price range, but this worked well. It was a basic hotel room with a trundle bed. We were rarely in the room, so it was good.

4. We made the rookie mistake and tried to do EVERYTHING in each park…. which left for long days and late nights.   This made it hard to get up super early, but we did our best.  It also left us exhausted on top of already being exhausted from getting ready to go to DW! But, it was fun!

5. We got to Magic Kingdom before it opened one day and that was the BEST thing we did.  We zoomed through rides and shows for the first few hours.

6. Bradley was allergic to Disney….not even kidding.  He broke out in hives the first 2 days and itchy, welps the remaining days.  He tested for egg and wheat allergies as a baby, but has done fabulous the last year.  Not sure what he was reacting to, but he was in a Benadryl haze the entire time.

7. We rented a double stroller from here.  We did this for several reasons- they were cheaper, they were more comfortable, they delivered it to our hotel and with our kids still relatively young, we knew that a double would come in handy.  And, it did!

8. We took advantage of the Fast Pass option.  I honestly don’t know why in the world you would wait for 20 minutes to an hour for a ride when you can fast pass it, come back at your designated time and basically hop right on.  With small kids, this was a lifesaver.

9. We did some research.  We talked to a lot of people who had gone before us to DW and got a wealth of info. We also checked out these websites: allears.net; Disney World; a guide to DW and discussion boards.

10. We waited til the kids were tall enough to ride most rides and old enough to remember going.  We wanted them to be able to handle long days, waiting and not have multiple, complete and total meltdowns.  So we waited. And , I am so thankful. They had fun, they were excited, they caught the magic of DW and they will have lasting memories.  At least the girls will for sure!Disne

Last Monday, we had a little family day and hit the road.  Jason and I had a BIG ANNOUNCEMENT for the kids.  We were super excited to share some fun with them!

We themed it out somewhat, so see if you can guess what our surprise was!

So, we hit the road and didn’t let the kids in on where we were going…

Can you guess where we stopped? The DISNEY STORE, aka DISNEYWORLD.  My kids have always called the Disney Store, Disney World and we did not feel the need to tell them otherwise!  They are just now catching on!  We gave each of them some cash to spend.

Parker, the lover of stuffed animals, chose a Pluto stuffed dog.  Surprise, surprise.  She does know that if a new one comes in the house, an old one goes out!  She still went with ol Pluto though.

Bradley chose a Lightening McQueen car.  It is cool, you can change its wheels, but of course we have already lost a the screw that keeps it on!

Emery has been suffering from a little bit of the gimmes lately, so she could not figured out what she wanted.  She ended up with a TInkerbell pencil set and case.  Afterwards, we went to the food court and got some lunch.  After eating, we gave them each an envelope and told them it had hint to what our surprise was for them.  They opended them and Parker knew very quickly that…… WE ARE GOING TO DISNEYWORLD!!!! Yeah.  We are braving DW this fall.   The girls were very excited, Bradley, didn’t really  have a clue!

What is the big surprise??

I am excited/dreading this vacation. As exhausting as it will be, I can’t wait to experience DW with the kids.

To say that I am back in reality is putting it mildly! I just left the girl’s school, after picking Emery up, with Parker having a complete meltdown because she wanted to go with me. Then, Bradley cried half the way home for Parker. Emery was upset because her take home book from her teacher is way below her “skillz” and she was not happy about it!

So, since Calgon can’t take me away, I am going to settle for some beach pics!

The highlights of the week:

• Date night with Jason- I must say that it is nice to go with family or friends to the beach because you have a built in babysitter. We traded off date nights with the Hales and it worked out well. We ate at Landry’s, which is one of my favorites! It did not disappoint
• Riding the waves. I spent hours riding the waves at Myrtle Beach as a kid, so I have a deep love of doing this and watching my kids starting to learn! The waves at MB are so much better than Orange Beach. So, I spent some time braving the cold water and caught some waves!
• Eating out every night! Such a blessing to not cook.
• Watching the kids play with their friends. The kids were so good this trip. They all played well together. Poor B, got tattled on, continually. It was like having 5 sisters, as opposed to 2. He didn’t stand a chance!
• Being with friends. The Hales have been such great friends to us since we moved here, almost 5 years ago. Our girls have been bff’s since they were 2. We have been in small group with them, watched Nathaniel come on staff at our church, walked through the early years with twins with them, had countless laughs and gone on trips together! We value their friendship and feel very blessed to share life with them. We also got to spend time with the Sullivans. They are a precious young, married couple who celebrated their first anniversary while at the beach! We were amazed that they chose to spend time with us old married people with 6 kids between us! We had a lot of laughs and fun with our friends!
• Sleeing with the door open to the balcony and hearing the waves crash. LOVED IT!
• Having quiet moments with the Lord, early in the morning, listening to His Creation.
• Going to Alligator Adventure with the kids. We saw a lot of alligators and crocodiles. We also saw snakes and “wiserds” as B calls them. Loved being with my family.

Here are a few pictures (we didn’t get any formal shots on the beach this trip because we waited to the last few days and it was cloudy or rainy. Live and learn.)

Fudruckers Stylin Hat!

This is the kids at Alligator Adventure- a reptile zoo. This is what most of our pictures
look like with B!

Group Dinner!
Me, catching a wave!

Putt Putt Extravaganza

Bradley and Reese chasing each other, which they did for hours!

A rare moment!

They found a tunnel and proceeded to inspect it!

Filling up holes with water- hours of entertainment!

Evan, Emery and Parker- catching waves

Recovering from catching waves!
Ryan playing in the sand!

I am a beach person, if you have failed to figure that out from reading my blog. The beach and the ocean have a way of relaxing me, reminding me of the Greatness of our Creator and refocusing my heart, like few other settings can. I love the sand, the waves, the time with family, the time away.

So, are you a beachy person? What place relaxes you?

Finally! Can I just say that I have had the busiest week since returning from NY.
Jason married a sweet couple on Sunday and we had dinner with our dear friends, Chris and Dawn. We had soccer and swim lessons on Monday, same on Tuesday, except no soccer but dinner with a couple from our church, swim lessons and church on Wednesday, Soccer and swim lessons on Thursday and soccer tonight, plus cleaning our garage. So, usually by the end of the day all I have wanted to do is veg on the couch. Therefore, I am only now posting about my little trip to NEW YORK!!

( Aunt Jackie, Haley, Kim, Mom, and Pam)

Our plane left at the crack of dawn, or 7am on Wednesday, so we were at our hotel by noon. We stayed here. We looked out our window from the 41st floor and here is what we saw: Times Square. It was a great location for us, since most of us had never been to New York.

After we ate at Juniors, we went straight to Macy’s, which takes was 7 stories and took up almost a full block! It was overwhelming, to say the least! After Macy’s we headed walked back to our hotel. We went and ate at Carmine’s that night, which is a great family-style Italian restaurant. We walked around Times Square and went to the M&M’s store, which was fun!

Tuesday, My mom, sis, and aunt Jackie went to see:It was so fun. Joan Rivers was a guest that day and she was a hoot! My sister actually got to ask a question for Joan during one segment! We had requested tickets from all the talk shows, but only got tickets for Martha, which was not my first choice, but it ended up being fun! She was very personable after the show and answered a few questions.
After Martha, we walked towards our next stop- lunch at Mesa’s!!! This was a good little walk, so we stopped for some coffee and some shopping. I made a few purchases at H&M. Loved that place! We all had different things to eat at Mesa’s and it was wonderful. I LOVED it.

After that, we walked to the SUBWAY and made our first subway ride to Rockefellar Plaza. That was just fun to see, live in person, instead of on t.v!
We also walked through St. Patrick’s Cathedral, which is where the Pope conducted Mass on Saturday morning (and prohibited me from finishing my shopping, by the way). It is gorgeous and very large.
Next, my sis and I went to the American Girl Store. It was 3 stories. 3 Stories. They had a hair salon for the dolls, lots of clothes and books, a theater and even a cafe. We did a little damage here, I must admit. Emery’s birthday is next week and so, I picked up these. We already have the double stroller, so now she will have the twins to go in it! We also picked up several outfits for the girls! It was fun. Kim and I are going to take all the girls to the store in Atlanta this summer, we think.
After that, we went back to the hotel to rest for a few minutes and then went to see our Broadway shows!! Kim and I went to see Mamma Mia, my mom and aunt went to Jersey Boys, and my other aunt and cousin, Haley, went to see Wicked. I had so much fun! Kim and I loved it and afterwards, we all met up at Roxy’s for cheesecake and dinner. We all loved our shows, which is not surprising because it is BROADWAY!!!

(All of Us After our Shows!)

Friday, we all slept in a little and then headed to Little Italy and Chinatown. We took a cab, which was great because we saw more of the city. We ate some pizza at a great little cafe in Little Italy. It was easily the best pizza, ever. It was so relazing and we had the most fabulous weather while we were there. We then ventured into Chinatown and bought some fake purses. I got 2 Gucci’s, wink, wink. I also bought some sunglasses and a Coach sling, wink, wink. I called my dad while I was waiting around in Chinatown and jokingly asked if he wanted a “Rolex” and a man immediately came up to me and asked if I wanted a “Rolex.” Kinda funny!
My poor aunt Jackie was sick in the room, so she missed all the excitement and dead fish on the sidewalk!

We rode the ole subway back and then tried to get the half price tickets for another Broadway show, but they sold out of all we wanted to see, so we did an evening bus tour around the city. Definetely not the highlight of the trip, I must say. Mostly, because we had a very unprofessional, obnoxious tour guide. She actually reprimanded an elderly couple for talking, before we even left, over the microphone. It was still nice to see the city, but next time I would choose Legally Blonde, the musical.

Saturday, we were leaving at noon, so I had planned to finish up my shopping on 5th Avenue, but you might remember, the POPE was in town and security was a little tight. So, I came home with money that I had planned on spending. I was very sad about that.

It was such a great time with my mom, Kim, Aunt Jackie, Aunt Pam and Haley. I loved being with the ladies in my fam and I can’t wait for the next trip!

Words can not truly describe what a fantastic week we had while on our cruise!
I am not one of those moms who can’t bear to be without my kids for a period of time.
As much as I love being with them, I also love being without them! This is the longest I have gone without them and I was somewhat apprehensive leaving them but only because I know what a hard job they are!! Blessings, but they have some hard moments! I was so excited to be able to spend a week with Jason and I know that the time we invest in each other reaps huge benefits for our kids as well.
We arrived last Sunday and it took us about an hour or so to get on the boat. We went with two other couples and we were all first time cruisers so we walked on the boat and had no idea what to do really! We finally set sail and explored some and then got ready for dinner. We were seated with a man and his 3 boys. We had a great time at all our dinners trying new things and ordering whatever we wanted. It was so cool! We went to the opening night show and were not impressed with the dancing portion, at all! We joked that watching “So You Think You Can Dance” has made us all experts in the area!
Monday we arrived in Freeport, Bahamas and took a taxi to the beach and shopping area. 4 of us decided to ride on the Banana Boat which is like an inter tube for 8 people! We had a blast. Then we did a little shopping and it was time to get back on board. This was formal night, so we dressed all up and I actually fixed my hair (every night). We went to the show again and it was a little better but we still left early to go watch Talledega Nights on the big screen. It was cool to watch a moving outside.
Tuesday was a day at sea, so we sunned on the deck and read. We went to some of the festivities on board and mostly relaxed. We went to see a comedian this night and he was pretty good and since it was a family show it was fairly tame!
Wednesday we arrived in Grand Cayman. This was by far the best port we were in. We had chartered a private boat for just the six of us and it was awesome. Our guide was great and we loved not having to battle the crowds and be able to explore on our own. We went to Sting Ray City and fed the sting rays. I was a little freaked out I must say, but i managed to feed one huge sting ray. Next, we went snorkeling on a coral reef and saw some cool fish. Then we went to a beach and saw some starfish and ate lunch in a beach side restaurant. Then we tubed around for a while and went on a mini eco tour. After our tour was over, we did a little shopping.
Grand Cayman is beautiful and I would definately go back again. That night it was 70′s and 80′s night in the disco, so we shook our groove thing a little! It was fun. We also went to see some karaoke and that is always fun!

Thursday we were in Costa Maya Mexico. Jason and I went to a local beach and relaxed on the beach which we love to do. It was a great day. We also did some shopping and got most of our gifts here. We had another formal night and we almost missed it. We had about 30 minutes to get ready before dinner! We went to a broadway review show and it was the best of the week.
Friday was another day at sea and we did some shopping on the boat and went to some of the games. We went to see a comedian that night and he was okay.
Saturday we arrived back in the States and began our trek home. We got home around 4:00 and only had one delay, but they held the plane at our next stop. Can you believe that???
I was glad to see my kids. They had done great while we were gone. Mom got Parker to school and they had a good week. Bradley has done well since we got home and not been overly clingy!
I was reminded on our 10 year anniversary trip that I am so glad to be married to Jason. He truly gets me! We have so many shared interests and have such a great time together.
I know it seems getting away without the kids is not important and we can all come up with a million excuses why we don’t, but the bottom line is that it is important to focus on each other and regroup. We all get caught up being mommies and daddies, but we are first wives and husbands.

We are off for our cruise!

I will post some pictures when we get back.

Thanks Mom and Sister for keeping the little ones this week! You are blessing us more than you know. We love you!