Finally the time as arrived!

As you all know.... sage is a HUGE fan of Mickey Mouse. She has been waiting all week to go see him. The time finally arrived. We stopped and bought her book for them to sign (the other two already had one from previous visits..this was Sage's first time at Disney) on our way to find Mickey! She was soooooo excited! We got in line...yes, the worst part of Disney...there are always lines, and our children are not patient at ALL! Here is is waiting in line to see Mickey, showing off her new book. I think we ended up waiting like 30 mins to get to our turn. Not really bad! It went by fairly quickly... and not only were we able to see Mickey, but Pluto, Minnie, Goofy, and Donald. That made their day! Ok, but back to Mickey. I couldn't believe how excited Sage was to go see him, but when it was finally her turn to go up to him, she wouldn't until Rachel went with her. After that she was ok with everyone else. I think it was the initial shock of seeing him! Here are the Rachel and Sage with Mickey Mouse! Sage had to give him a hug goodbye. :) The place we were at was called a Character Spot, so after you waited in line, you go in a line thru the 4 characters... next up was Pluto. He follows
Mickey were ever he goes right?? This was really the first time
any of them will remember seeing them. Hunter was 2 the last time we were at Disney, so he was just as excited as the girls, even if he wasn't showing it all the time! Sage was so cute going up to all them, she would repeat their names, and jump up and down. Rachel was shy, but couldn't stop giving them all hugs. It was really just to cute for words. Of course this was the most exciting part for me to see how the kids reacted to seeing them for the "First Time".



Next in the line was Minnie Mouse. Sage was very excited to see her as well. As she has a Minnie and Mickey Mouse that is always with her. (along with her big bird) Here are the kids with Minnie Mouse! They are so cute!! Hunter even smiled for the occasion! Next up was Donald Duck! All Sage could say was where is Daisy Duck??? I guess she associates them in pairs. :) I couldn't get them all to look at me again at the same time. Probably cause there was a photographer talking at the same time... They had to many directions and got confused! All the cared about was Donald of course! Last but not least was Goofy being Goofy! The kids didn't know where were to go, cause Goofy wasn't where he was suppose to be, he was wandering around. Notice Rachel and Sage were clung to his leg... They wouldn't let go, it was kinda funny! That was it for inside the Character spot, but we found two
More right outside the door. It was two silly Chipmunks! Chip & Dale... Sage wanted to know which one was which. I would have loved to help her out, but I can never remember. So, we had to ask Aunt Stacey, as she knows them very well. She works with most of the characters, so she knows them all very good! So there you have our Character encounters for this trip. It was fun to see their faces. :) I'm happy they got to see some of their favorites, and we still have many more times to meet more of the Characters. After all this fun, we headed off to see the Sea part of Epcot, were we got to see Nemo and his friends on a ride. After the ride we went to "Turtle Talk" which is where you get to meet Crush, and he ask the crowd questions, and people from the crowd can ask him Turtle questions. It was really cool. Wouldn't you know that Hunter even got picked out of the crowd to be one that got to talk to Crush. Crush asked if he was a good swimmer... Hunter said "yes', then Crush asked if he could swim fast. Hunter said "no".... and then Crush said "Honesty is the best policy" it was funny...but you probably had to be there to get the full humor. The kids really liked it. Which is all that really matters right?? After that ride, we went to catch the Monorail to head over to the Magic Kingdom....which will be in my in my next post.

Saturday....

Now because I don't want to have this 15 mile blog, I'm going to do this in multiple blogs.... Saturday arrived, and the kids were anxious! They knew Disney was on the agenda. Waiting was not their style...and dying to go they were. We piled in the van, and off we went. They saw the signs with Disney on it, Mickey up ahead... excited would be an understatement! Our first stop Epcot..... not really a spot for kids, but a central location and you can catch the Monorail (or train to my kids) to any other destination. We got thru the gates, and kids in the strollers, off we go. Our first stop was in front of the flower display... right now is Epcot's Food & Wine Festival (on the lands side of the park). Andy and I went to this 4 years ago... I think. We saw Davey Jones play, that year. Oh how cool that was... anyway back to present time. Here you can see the kids in front of the fountain. I had to get a pic of them there, cause Andy and I had our picture taken their the first year we went to Disney together. Of course the kids can never look at you when you want them too! From here we went up in the park, were there is a bigger fountain...that for some reason I never got a picture of....but it goes up so high, if you are in the right stop, the wind will cause it to spray you. The kids obviously loved that part! Not much time for stopping cause they were on a mission. Our next stop was to see the Characters......

Questions for fun!

Here are the rules: I have to answer the following questions with one word answers and one word only! Then I must pass it on to seven others.

Here are the questions:

1. Where is your cell phone? Nightstand
2. Where is your significant other? Bedroom
3. Your hair color? Red
4. Your mother? Working??
5. Your father? Union
6. Your favorite thing? Pictures
7. Your dream last night? Nada
8. Your dream/goal? Life
9. The room you're in? Living
10. Your hobby? scrappin
11. Your fear? Failure
12. Where do you want to be in 6 years? Here
13. Where were you last night? Disney
14. What you're not? Productive
15. One of your wish-list items? House
16. Where you grew up? Maine
17. The last thing you did? Talk
18. What are you wearing? Clothes
19. Your TV? Off
20. Your pet? Nada
21. Your computer? IBM
22. Your mood? Ok
23. Missing someone? Always
24. Your car? Dodge
25. Something you're not wearing? Shoes
26. Favorite store? Unsure
27. Your summer? Crappy
28. Love someone? Always
29. Your favorite color? Purple
30. When is the last time you laughed? Today
31. Last time you cried? Unsure

Frist Day of School Florida Style

As you have probably gathered from most of my posts... getting Hunter into school has been a challenge to say none the least. From sitting for two hours to get his immunization record on the "Blue" card, to having papers notarized. After a week of running around, and getting the necessary paper work together, he was able to start today!
To say he was excited would be an understatement. (That is until we got there) He got up fairly well for having been out of the loop for a couple weeks. Got on his uniform, something he isn't so happy about. Yes, in Florida they are all mandatory uniforms at schools. Which in theory is not a bad idea... I guess. At his school they are a little more laid back. They allow them to wear jeans (which is not allowed at most schools) along with their Khaki pants, and they have to wear either white, or navy blue polo shirts with a collar. If they have belt loops in their pants, they have to wear a belt. The biggest part Hunter hates is having to tuck in his shirt. (poor thing I know) Got his lunch together, and he was ready to go. Of course I was dragging my feet.. but he was anxious to get out that door. I had to take him this morning, so I could give them the rest of his paperwork.
We arrive at the school, he almost runs into the office. (which is in a temporary building right now, cause they are doing a complete overhaul of the school) We give them the rest of his paperwork and assign him a teacher. Andy & I get our visitor passes on. Not allowed on school grounds without it. Then we are shown to his class. This is when Hunter starts to get a bit more nervous. They show us were the cafeteria is, the 2nd grade rooms, art, music, and the big square in the middle for Gym... where the teachers meet their students in the morning. Then we continue on for his classroom. Keep in mind there are 8, first grade classrooms. :) We arrive at it, knock on the door and step in. The kids turn around, stare at us, and Hunter just puts his head down. His teacher comes out, and introduces herself... Her name is Mrs.Smith....(yes the same as last years teacher) She seems very nice... I quickly look at Hunter and ask him if he is going to be ok, cause he looked scared...He says "yes mommy, I'm ok" Not sure if I embrassed him or not. So, we leave him with his teacher and headed back to the office.
So, as you all know... I was sitting here all day, worried about whether he was ok or not. He got home around 3pm, and he looked ok, and says he had a good day. Couldn't remember any of his friends names, but said he made some. :) Told me he had Gym today, and the ran a lot....but that is about the most I could get out of him. Other than, "yes mom, I had fun"...... Another successful first day of school. ***Sigh of Relief***

Creatures

What is more fun than finding the new creatures where you live??? Of course, Hunter was the first to discover most of them. The little lizards that run across the ground, but blend in so well you can't see them. When I finally catch one, I'll post a picture. Another famous one is the bug everywhere here.... they are called love bugs, cause they are two bugs hooked together...Weird I know, and annoying. They are all over everything! Last but not least, is the tree frog. Hunter thinks these are really cool, cause they are all over the house. Most mornings you can see one stuck the to window outside the bathroom.... or near the roof on the house. Tonight I managed to catch one on the window outside the front door. Thought, I would show you a picture! I'm thinking the most fascinating thing for the kids, is that they stick to whatever they are climbing on.
Speaking of creatures, I have to tell you... Andy's dad has these two fake snakes outside the front door. A yellow and black one on the column as you come to the front door... and this thick nasty black one on the ground by the front door. The yellow one, spooked me but didn't scare me. The nasty black one, on the other hand nearly gave me a heart attack! I hate snakes! Those are the only creatures we have seen so far. No crocodiles yet!

Checking out the new area.....

We found the library! So, next on the list of course is a playground. What makes a kid happier than that right? The playground is about 3 blocks from the house... literally... isn't that cool. Its beside the fire station. Papa had shown Andy a few days ago where it was, but of course he couldn't remember how to get there. Well, we decided to venture around, and we found it! Isn't it a cute little playground, its both of these places.

Its kinda part of a park. With a man made pond in the middle with a water fountain coming up. Benches around the brick walkway, and a covered area with picnic tables. Its next a school as well..(no not hunter's... a private school, that I would someday like to send my kids too) It is really a lovely park though. Sage & Rachel seems to think that their is crocodiles in the pond though. :)

Now, all we need to find is a good Rec Center. Which I may have found. Let you know when I check it out further. I leave you now with some photo's of the kids playing on the playground!

Doesn't that look like fun! They were trying to stay out of the "water", so the sharks didn't get them!


Sage's favorite place to be on the playground!

A new month...

Well October is upon us... Can you believe that?? I can't, man the time is just flying by. Which means we have been in Florida for a week now. The time as seemed to fly by... I'm finally caught up on my sleep, and trying to get into a new routine. As you all know in someone else's house that is not always easy. Hunter is set to start school tomorrow.... finally. He seems to be a bit more excited about it now. Which makes me a bit happier. I was worried he was going to fight me on this. Also this month is Heather's Birthday.. which is today.. "Happy Birthday Heath!" Mom's birthday, my anniversary, Holly's birthday, and Rachel turns "5"!! Can you believe that??? I have the rest of the month to worry about that...so I will post more on her at the end of the month. :)
I will be back tomorrow with an update about Hunter's first day at his new school. Miss you all! :)