Disney Vacation- the Back Story

This summer we decided we should do Disney before we lost that magical age. Of course the only time we could fit it into everyone’s schedules was the week of Thanksgiving. So I called up a friend and booked it.
We told Caroline the same way she hears all important news in our family- through shaped pancakes. She guessed her Mickey Mouse ears and we were off to the races. Every day we talked about our plans on the way to school; we created countdown calendars and list of rides. I even made a powerpoint of our decisions to show to Hunter each Sunday so he could be in on the planning fun

Disney Vacation – Day 1 traveling

We left our house at 5:15 am on Tuesday. Caroline slept in her clothes so all we had to add was shoes to get her going. She told us not to wake her until we got to Florida, but she was too excited to go back to sleep and started talking immediately. She told everyone we saw where we were headed. Though I can’t imagine anyone who couldn’t guess it since she was wearing a Mickey and Minnie shirt, a red polka dot skirt, red polka dot leggings and carrying Zazu who was dressed like Cinderella.

In Orlando, Disney snatches your bags for you and sends them straight to your resort. So we hopped in our first of many lines and rode the Magical Express straight to the Caribbean Beach Resort.
The hotel was decorated for Christmas with an island theme and looked wonderful. Our travel agent had sent a gift for Caroline and she tore into it before I could even get a picture. Her very own pink Minnie ears! She immediately put them on (and wore them every day of the trip through rain and shine). Our room faced the courtyard (that we would later find out was full of bunnies- the live kind not animatronic) but our building was on the beach. It was decorated with Nemo spreads and borders. We dropped our gear, grabbed the cameras and headed straight to the Magic Kingdom!

Disney Vacation Day 1- Magic Kingdom

We arrived around 2pm and definitely needed some food- but first we had to stop at First Aid for some Band-Aids. Caroline who lives in Crocs got a blister on each foot from her croc straps. So off to the first aid station and then to Casey’s for hotdogs and fries- and to figure out the Disney dining plan. We grabbed our food and realized people had ammased on Main Street and there was nowhere to eat. So, we grabbed a bit of sidewalk and chowed down while waiting for our first parade. Some very nice neighbors let Caroline join them on the curb and she got her very first taste of Disney Magic. Lots of characters walked the streets and shook hands with the kids as they went past.

When the parade (and lunch) was over we headed straight to Cinderella’s castle. Now I had read every guide book and printed out the touring plans I thought would work best for us, but this afternoon was a free for all since all the guidebooks say you are crazy to go to the park in mid afternoon when the lines are the longest and the kids are the crabbiest.

We went through the castle to Fantasyland. C and I rode Prince Charming’s carousel with no waiting. Our next adventure was right next door at Mickey’s Philharmagic- a 4D movie. We waited about 30 minutes, but Caroline was so enthralled with the hidden Mickey idea (they paint tiny Mickey heads into scenery to entertain you along the way) that she spent the entire time looking at a star mural finding them. I should stop now and tell you that Caroline is not the bravest of kids. She does not like loud noises and she likes to know exactly what is going to happen. She tends to take her glasses off at 3D movies and cover her ears. So, the very first scene of this giant movie is an orchestra of instruments flying through the air- not good for my little jumpy one, but the next one was Ariel and she was reaching out to catch the floating jewels. Afterwards she agreed that the movie was great and she dragged us to the next thing.

Winnie the Pooh and Peter Pan were both right there, but had waits over 70 minutes and no fast passes left so we walked over to It’s a Small World. Here the wait was listed as 45 minutes but the line kept moving and there was lots of chatting with other kids to do so it didn’t seem too bad. Caroline was amazed at the dolls and would have rocked the boat with all her wiggling and pointing if it had not been on a track. When we got off she wanted to go again! Her parents were not up for that on this day, but we had plenty of days left.

We carefully went around Dumbo without stopping to ride, wheew. Around the corner was the Mad Hatter’s tea party. This definitely had to be our next stop. A side story:
My dad went to Disneyland with his mom and brother when he was about 4. We have a picture of the three of them in a tea cup. When I went to Disney World with my dad, Mary and Jill in 1988 we took the same picture in the same teacup. So I was determined to ride in the same teacup and take a picture with Caroline.

The Teacups are not a ride for those with a weak stomach, Caroline was trying to spin it as fast as she could and I was making the motions but definitely trying to break the wheel to slow us down!.

One of the things I had read was that you should go on the barnstormer kids roller coaster to bolster your kid’s courage and bravery before heading to the big mountains. So, off to Toon Town we went. The line for the barnstormer was not too bad and t was lined with great Disney imagery. We arrive at the front of the line and Caroline and I are in the first car. I was silently praying that this not ruin my chances of getting her on anything else for the week. So with Caroline as our pilot we were off. Barnstormer is fast and curvy but not very droppy so it is just perfect. As we were going around our second curve- with hands in the air- Caroline screams “ I feel so alive” I was sure I was good on rides from then on!
Mommy then made the mistake of going to Mickey’s house and the Judges tent to meet the big man himself. The line took forever and we were all hungry and tired. Caroline actually sat on the ground and stared off into space while we wound our way through. But at the end we were treated to both Mickey and Minnie. C got their autographs and we got to take pictures. Her face when talking with them is pure joy.

So we gathered up our belongings and took young children by the hand and rode the railroad back to Main Street USA and headed home for the night. She fell asleep in mid sentence as we were planning our next day.

Homecoming 2010

As told by Caroline:

Friday Daddy was in Port Aransas so Mommy and I went to the Ball high homecoming football game. Homecoming means the people from college came back to see the game. There were duchesses and dukes, princes and princesses, and even a king and queen.

We sat in the front row behind the cheerleaders. They threw waterbottles and tshirts. I caught a waterbottle. My teacher's daughter is one of the cheerleaders and her name is Ashley. Tuffy the mascot is my mom's student. she pated me on the back and gave me a high five. She is a funny dancer.

The band was fun to watch because the music made me dance. Some people in the band even played the trashcans.

At halftime I got to go out on the field and pass out flowers to the princes and princesses, dukes and duchesses. But we didn't know who the king and queen were until they put a crown on the them. I didn't have purple on so my mom bought me a tshirt from her students. It was too big but we used a rubberband just like the big girls.

The football players did a good job in the middle.

Mommy took pictures with her phone and will post them later.

Love, Caroline.

a double header

Sunday night we had the repeat of the bloody elation! C has now joined the ranks of all those kids before her with no way to start an apple. I hope the hole sticks around for awhile. It is pretty cute.

The bloody conclusion

C had a great Saturday. We skated for several hours, found the perfect "earrings" for her Halloween costume, and learned to play guitar from a confident Brownie friend (their challenge for this week was to teach someone something that you are confident about). She went to bed early and happily. Then an hour and half later she came running out with this face.

She had been working on the loose tooth while reading (note to self, unplug her lamp) and it "squeaked right out". She is pretty excited to add her name to the second grade tooth graph. Her mom is pretty happy that the tooth fairy keeps a stash of $2 bills for just this occasion.

Dinty Moore Stew

The weather has finally cooled off in Texas and it was a pretty busy week. So, Thursday night mom brought out the Dinty Moore Stew. I don't think C has had any since she was really little. Usually when items of this nature (also to include pot pies and chicken noodle casserole) make it to our table C asks "What is this" and Hunter replies "Mommy is trying to show us some of her culture and heritage" Not laughing!!!

So C picked around and identified all parts (we added frozen peas to cool it down for her) and tentatively tasted it. Then a big smile spread across her face and she looked at me and said"This is good. Why don't we eat this more often." She then proceeded to finish her bowl and look through the Hunter Dan section of the Cabela's catalog.

LEGO club

C joined the LEGO club at school this week. It is a program that brings science and technology to little kids by allowing them to design and think outside the box through play. Today they built a structure that showed how they felt about coming to Lego club today. C's was sort of a building with a shovel leaning against it. I asked her about it and she said the shovel showed she was confident and ready to try new things. OK. You go little girl.

Her team's challenge over the next 6 weeks is to design something that can help people who have been injured. I asked C what that meant and what she might build and she told me she could make folding hospital bunk beds so kids could feel like they were at camp but still have a cool moving bed.

Our school was hoping to field at least one team of 5 kids and 18 showed up for club today. It was a pretty cool thing to see. Hopefully I will get some pictures over the next few weeks to show you her team and their creation.

The first sleepover

14 months ago when Hunter's dad fell and broke his ribs, Caroline attempted to spend the night at a friend's house. Let's just say it did not go well and she came home at midnight. She has wanted to try again and it just wasn't ever the right time.

Fast forward to yesterday. Hunter was headed to Port OConnor to fish with a film crew (another post about that later) and I had nothing on my plate so I asked C if she would like to invite someone over to spend the night. She went NUTS-SO. I called the other Caroline and they made plans for the next night.

I picked up both Caroline's (which makes yelling for or at them much easier and a bit confusing) along with 3 American girl dolls and LOTS of pet shops from Lego Club (also more info later). They played American Girls straight through from 5-9pm with a quick intermission for some noodles and pears. They opened the door from Caroline's room to the dining room so they could spread out the game and still keep the dog away which I thought was a pretty good plan. Then they changed all 6 American girls into pj's, put them to bed and climbed in the teepee (set up in her room)and attempted to go to sleep.

A trip out for water, a trip out for a snack, a trip out for a better snack, a trip out for a different book. But now, at 10:54 I think it is safe to say they are finally asleep.

Is this what it was like every Friday night at my house growing up? I think Heather stayed with me or I stayed with her almost every week for 10 years!

Brownie Bridging on the island

A couple of my girls missed the bridging in May and I wanted to make sure it happened before we started back up in the fall. We happened to be all together for a swim party and I went for it.

C was in her swimsuit with her vest over the top. Maddy in her bikini- which proved hard to pin a brownie pin to, and Ellie in her cover-up. The mirror we used was a princess hand held and the bridge was decorated in beach towels. The perfect bridging event for a bunch of island girls.

Car games

Yes, school started, we went back to ice skating, Girl Scouts started back up, but it is no excuse. So, here are a few funny stories for you.

Graveyards- We played with a little girl this summer who taught C all about driving past a graveyard. C will tell you that you have to hold your breath when driving past so you will not wake the spirits. This was sweet at first, but after driving around Galveston a bit, I realized how funny it was. To get to C's school we pass a four block long one with stoplights at either end. To get to my school you have to drive around one. To get to the skating rink we pass three! There is lots of breath holding and gesturing at me to stop talking. After every one she lectures me to stop talking. We now have a complex set of rules governing when I can talk that includes number of cars between us and the cemetery, if those cars are playing music and if we are driving faster than the speed limit.

Overpasses- the same week C learned about the graveyard she told me she had to hold her hands on the roof of the car as you pass under another road. She can be seen holding her breath (cheeks puffed out , eyes bugging out) and holding the roof up fairly often.

punch buggie- Hunter used to drive a Tahoe and Caroline would see them on the road and yell "Tahoe". She was pretty good at it (maybe 4 years old) with just a few Explorers and Suburbans thrown in. This summer someone taught her about slug bugs. She understood the game, but there aren't enough Volkswagens around for her to truly catch on to the type of car she is looking for. This last weekend we saw four and was in heaven.

Car colors- You pick one color and she picks one color and you count the number of cars you see of that color while you are driving. I liked this game because it kept her entertained and she was counting in big numbers since she usually picks silver or red. I pick yellow- easy to see, not alot of them. The other day I asked if I could pick RV's. She agreed and I thought I had hit on another easy one, until I realized we were going to pass two RV parks and at least one RV sales lot. I won my first game that day.

Family Pictures

We had family pictures taken in June down at the beach. The photographer put together a few of her favorites and put them on youtube. To view them click here.

We did traditional family pics up in the dunes and then went down to the water. With Caroline and waves it was not long before she was in the water having a grand old time.

Surfer Girl

There was a photographer at the beach the last couple of days and he has some pics of C riding the waves on his website. I am headed down Friday to watch her surf and will get some pics of my own. Until then, click on the link and you should be able to see the pics he took. There are usually several in a row so you can click on the arrows to move from picture to picture.

http://www.gscottsgirl.com/images/TSC-3/pages/DSCF0260.htm

http://www.gscottsgirl.com/images/TSC-3/pages/DSCF0261.htm
http://www.gscottsgirl.com/images/TSC-3/pages/DSCF0265.htm

Her friend Tres http://www.gscottsgirl.com/images/TSC-3/pages/DSCF0312.htm
http://www.gscottsgirl.com/images/TSC-3/pages/DSCF0336.htm

http://www.gscottsgirl.com/images/TSC-3/pages/DSCF0337.htm
http://www.gscottsgirl.com/images/TSC-3/pages/DSCF0338.htm
http://www.gscottsgirl.com/images/TSC-3/pages/DSCF0341.htm look at the kid behind her. She is in maybe 2 feet of water! Gotta love the easy waves.

http://www.gscottsgirl.com/images/TSC-3/pages/DSCF0379.htm
http://www.gscottsgirl.com/images/TSC-3/pages/DSCF0468.htm great series.
http://www.gscottsgirl.com/images/TSC-3/pages/DSCF0476.htm smiling for the camera

Happy Birthday Caroline

Caroline had an awesome Science Seventh birthday party today. Here are the highlights.

Decorations- yes we used posters from my classroom. We put them up all over the house.

We had six stations inside the house (magnifying glasses, tornadoes, check the weight, UV beads and sunscreen, make a hat and of course snacks). Most of the stuff was from my classroom or scavenged from other classrooms in my hallway.

C's best bud Ryan. We invited all the girls in the class, the girl scout troop and Ryan. He was a bit overwhelmed but hung in there.

Safety first!!

We also had a couple of outside stations. We made goop or silly putty and we made volcanoes. the volcanoes were a hit! we went through two large boxes of baking soda as the kids exploded things over and over. The hand washing got a bit out of hand so c had to go change clothes.

I love decorating cakes. C told me she wanted a world map cake this year. I had it worked out on paper when Hunter suggested I make a globe. I have never worked with a sphere before, but had fun trying. When we put the globe (yes it is all cake and icing) on top of the base (also all cake and icing) it sank a bit and Africa got lost. But overall I think it looks pretty great!

Blowing out the candles- or melting the Arctic circle depending on how you look at it.

She is now in playing with, you guessed it, Littlest pet shops. You can not imagine how many new pet shops she got. Many of the girls at the party are the ones she plays LPS with at extended day (after school care) so they were excited to see what Caroline would be bringing to the playground this coming year. Of course Kaya was the hit of the party (thank you Grandma Mary and Grandpa Jim) and she has already made a camp fire with Kit and Kayley.

Now all we have to do is sit back, eat cake and wait for 8:55pm so she can actually be 7.

Here we go again

June 1 brought the beginning of hurricane season. We usually don't see any real tropical disturbances until mid July and then we don't see any coming this way until September (The Great Storm and Ike hit the same weekend 108 years apart).

But this year we had Alex come ashore on June 30. Now, it came ashore hundreds of miles from here, but we had high tide (over the bulkhead), rain and wind for a week because of it. Now we have another one coming on its heels. This is our tide at 7 am this morning.

This is my favorite weather site. Click on computer models for a look at where they think the storm will go. We are the bay shaped like a K closest to the Louisiana/Texas line.

Hopefully we will dodge the big ones again this year.

VBS program

C and her friends Maddy, Ellie and Roy had a great week at VBS. One of the women in our community has lived all over the world and has all sorts of wonderful artifacts that she brings out for the kids to play with.

This year she brought a set of ong kloons- a musical instrument from Africa. The kids learned to play Jesus loves me on these and performed on the last day of VBS. Each child plays one note by shaking the instrument- the perfect thing for this crazy crowd.

after VBS

Caroline and some friends are attending VBS at the local Tiki church this week. On Tuesday I picked up all and we headed to Maddy's (next to Caroline in the top picture) to do some swimming. Three hours later we had some tired happy kidos so we are doing it again on Friday! The first two kids were in Caroline's preschool (Ellie and Roy), all three girls are in my GS troop.

San Marcos trip part 1- Aquerena Springs

The forecast said wind so we packed up and went to the Hill Country to go tubing for the weekend. New Braunfels had some flooding early in the week and they closed the river to tubers so we moved over to the San Marcos river which flows out of the Aquerena Spring.

Saturday morning we went over to the Aquerena Spring Education Center (part of Texas State University). They had a great wetland boardwalk where we saw lots of fish, turtles, birds and dragonflies. This hawk was protecting his turf. He flew off when we walked by, but landed again on the same picnic table.We took a glass bottom boat tour around the springs. Caroline is not frooping (a word C created years ago which translates as "throwing up in your mouth" ) in this picture, but is looking through the glass at the spring bottom.

After our "science" morning, we grabbed our tubes and set out for the river. Our float was about an hour and we did it twice before succumbing to hunger and heading back to the hotel for our next adventure.

San Marcos trip part 2- Natural Bridge Caverns

Saturday afternoon we went to Gruene for lunch and a quick look at the flooding on the Guadelupe river before heading to the Natural Bridge Caverns.

The caverns were incredible!! We went 180 feet below the surface to explore the rooms in the cavern and learn about how they were created. (FYI cave= one room, cavern= series of rooms) Caroline took the no touching rule VERY seriously and was our chief safety officer as we took the 75 minute tour.

Before we went into the caves, we came upon this insect. A live locust. I have only ever seen the shell from a locust, never a live one. He is one creepy looking insect!

San Marcos Trip part 3- Gospel Brunch

Sunday morning we went back to Gruene for the highlight of our weekend, Gospel Brunch at the oldest dance hall in Texas. Or as Hunter put it " We went to church last Sunday so we could eat and pray" (a song by Lyle Lovett) . Gruene Hall is a great honkey-tonk where some of our favorites like Lyle Lovett and Robert Earle Keene got their starts. One Sunday a month they have a catered brunch (by the Gristmill restaurant next door) and a performance by several Gospel groups.
The Gospel Silvertones were the headliner for this event. C was hot (no AC) and tired (too much weekend :-) ) through the group before and when these guys came on, she stood up on the bench and started doing a little toe tapping. I don't think they have music like this during chapel at Trinity.

Be prepared for crazy video. I rested my elbows on the table while filming and of course the table was doing a bit of rocking. Then I turn the camera sideways to show C, but I can't do that while filming so ... here you go.

When they started singing "this little light of mine" C got her dance on a bit more and then the last song of the morning was When the Saints go Marching in." In New Orleans, the tradition at brunch is to swing your napkin and march around the restaurant as you leave, C thought that was a great idea and joined in the parade.

Pelicans

Whenever cleaning fish, we have seagulls and the occasional heron that come to pick up the scraps. This weekend, we had a brown pelican land in the canal. I grabbed my camera and Hunter's friend started throwing scraps directly at him. This is what we saw. You can click on the pictures to blow them up.

I love having pelicans in my "backyard."

Green and Gold games

The last week of school at Trinity has several special events like honors day and citizenship breakfast. But the thing the kids look forward to the most is the green and gold games.

The school is divided into two teams (green and gold). The kids stay on the same team throughout their Trinity time. They then compete in wacky field games such as the toe marble pickup (Caroline's specialty), hula hoop hopping, spoon relays, and of course, tug of war. The trophy (with the winning team's colors) is placed near the front office for bragging rights for the next year. It is neat to see the "big kids" work with the little ones and encourage them throughout the year. Caroline and I run into two of her seventh grade teammates often and they always talk.

Thankfully Caroline and Maddy were both on the gold team. Notice Caroline is in a skirt. She has a new denim skirt with a mermaid and she didn't want to miss an opportunity to wear it to school (free dress day).

King Fishing

We took Caroline to the rigs to go kingfishing over Memorial Day weekend. With her new belt and rods, she is a champ and loves to reel them in (as long as daddy does the casting).

We started out fishing for spade fish and queen triggers (not eating fish). We would tie up to the rig and toss the bait out close to the rig and C would reel in when the bobber went under. She did this for hours it seemed!

After lunch we unhooked from the rig and I drove the boat around rigs while C and H cast for kingfish. This was Caroline's first one. She stuck it our for several more until she told us that her arms were going to fall off.

Of course this boat ride ended like all others... with both of us asleep on the deck.

,

Mayfete 2010

I forgot to post these pics from Mayfete.

Mayfete is the celebration of Spring and fifth graders at Caroline's school. Each grade performs a dance for the fifth grade who then performs the May pole dance. These kids are leaving elementary school and moving up to junior high. This year the theme was island life. Songs such as Hula Baby, Hot, Hot, Hot and Surfin Safari were performed. C's group did Limbo Rock.

It was funny to see that most of the "costumes" for this theme were found in each child's closet. No need for fancy costumes when all of our students own board shorts and hula skirts.

C's partner is a boy who has been in Caroline's class since she started preschool. They are great friends and C was happy to have him back on the island this school year (he lived elsewhwere for kindergarten due to IKE).

When we were getting costumes ready, Caroline told me that Hawaiians have curly hair. We discussed this for over a week to figure out what she was talking about and then to figure out a way to make her hair"curl". So, we washed on Wednesday night and I braided it in cornrows. She kept her hair braided until Friday morning when we unbraided and very gently pulled the sides up in a side ponytail with lots of flowers (also how Hawaiians wear their hair according to C). She was really happy with it and the straight haired kids were jealous. The parents I spoke with had a good laugh since they thought I was out of town and had braided it before I left so it would be easier for Daddy.