workin’ on the ole vacay! :)

In case you didnt know.. we are planning a vacation this fall to Disney World.

 

We are super excited. Our girls havent been back in the World since March of 2006. Steven and I spent a day at EPCOT after our cruise in October 2009. But it was pretty guilt ridden as we didnt tell the girls we planned to do it and got QUITE the lecture when we were found out!

SO far the plan is September 16-21. Driving down to Orlando from here and returning on the 21st. We plan to stay at the Port Orleans Resort in the Alligator Bayou section

  

Normally we would stay at a cheaper value resort or even offsite.. BUT we have invited  Thing One’s BFF Patience along with us.(my cousin’s little girl.. we call her our “niece”)  We are so excited to show her our favorite Happy Place. She has never been… and I cant wait to see it all through her eyes. The girls are really looking forward to having her along too. She is really good and we have taken her on trips before.  SO.. having 5 in our room we will need an upgrade to the Port Orleans where some rooms sleep 5.

I have been working out some of our plans.. mainly where we will eat. So much of a vacation is eating in fun places. I will know a little more specifics as we get closer and Disney posts thier park hours and the dates and times for thier special Halloween themed party (which I think we will skip this time.. I know.. I know. I just cant pay extra for tickets when we will already have paid and everything. . besides we get worn out just doing regular Disney stuff) that take up the Magic Kingdom one night. We are also hoping to get a special deal where Disney will pay for our food all week.  With the Disney Dining plan you get One Sit down meal, One Fast food meal, and one snack (or two.. I gotta check it out) per person for every night you stay! Good deal for 5 people!

There is still a lot of time (7 mos!), but I have a basic layout of our trip! 

Day1. We like to leave home in the very early hours (2 am) to arrive in Orlando by midmorning. This is like adding a complete day to our vacation. Steven doesnt mind the nightdriving and we take it easy that day to allow him to rest. We will check into our hotel.. visit downtown disney and swim in the afternoon in all the fun pools at the resort.. then head to a fun dinner that night and an early bedtime.

       

Day 2

 We plan to head to Magic Kingdom today.. its quintessential Disney and I cant imagine a better way to start. I plan to have us eat most breakfasts in the hotel room.. we get a mini fridge which we can stock with milk for cereal and of course Thing One will need her POPTARTS!  But this morning I am thinking about a big breakfast to begin our trip.. either at the Crystal Palace or at Chef Mickey’s. Both will allow us to be at the Magic Kingdom when they open..or in Disney Speak.. at “ropedrop”  I love this park. Its an all day adventure. for a late lunch perhaps Cosmic Rays or Pecos Bills for those who are familiar. Then snacks in the evening time. I cant WAIT to stroll down Mainstreet USA with a Mickey Bar!  Or watch the parade sipping on a pineapple dole whip float! YUMMY!

   

  

Day 3

Today I would like to go to Disney’s Hollywood Studios. Thing Two LOVES this park. Her favorite Tower of terror ride is here. We will grab breakfast and be there for ropedrop. I love the old hollywood theming here.. and I think Fantasmic is my favorite show on property. We plan to grab an early lunch here at 50’s prime Time Cafe.. Its a neat place all themed like a 50’s kitchen or livingroom. The waitresses heckle you about eating your veggies just like mama!

     

Day 4

Today is a little bit easier day.. still very busy and exciting though. We adore Disney’s Animal Kingdom. This is Steven’s favorite because of the animal photography. The animals practically pose for you!  He loves Khali River Rapids, and the Festival of the Lion King shows..Not to mention the fact that there is a NEWish roller coaster here that I am DYING to ride. EXPEDITION EVEREST. this park closes a little earlier than the others, so we plan to head to Whispering Canyons at the Wilderness Lodge for Dinner. I hope to stay at this resort oneday.. so It will be fun to poke around there!

    

Day 5

Our last day in Walt Disney World will be at EPCOT. Another great fun day. We love it all here. Test Track, Spaceship earth, the world showcase and a lot of things that have changed here since our girls were last here. SO we of course cant wait to see thier reactions to the new tricks Disney has!  Im planning an early lunch here at Lecelier in Canada (Thing Two wants to eat in a fancy pants restraunt. I dont think she is up to a french place.. so this will suffice) Then we will snack around the world for dinner. We have done this before trying a new snack at each country in the world showcase. Sharing all the way around. YUM. I have a few favorites that I cant forget!

        

The following day we plan to check out.. and head home to Dillon. The girls MUST be in school on wednesday. We are already PUSHING it taking them out for 3 days. (im hoping for a friday or a monday teacher workday in september… I WILL adjust the trip according to the school schedule!)

SO SO SO EXCITED. now.. to earn the money to take this crazy trip!

Add a comment January 25, 2010

Menu planning monday!

yay for monday and the weekly menu plan.. without which I might never post at all. hehe. I have a lot to post .. but this is just the menu… so thats all you get here 😉 ( I feel very ornery today . must be the weather) We did pretty ok with the menu last week. We did BLOW it and eat out friday night. NO MORE EATING OUT. and I mean it.. well except for Friday when we are going out for our anniversary.. and wednesday when I hope to take my best friend out for lunch. But thats it. I mean it mister!

Monday- Leftover buffet- I have a ton of leftovers in the fridge today.. so its mashed potatoes and gravy, taco salad, pizza, and all manner of odds and ends and bits and bobs tonight.

Tuesday-   

Sweedish meatballs, buttered noodles, sweet peas (mushy nasty ones from a can, because my husband and kids wont eat frozen ones. ew) Ikea lingonberry jam. sauteed spinach for mom.. because I just cant eat canned peas.

Wednesday-   

salmon, brown rice, sugar snap peas (never got to it last week)

Thursday-   

 baked chicken, oven roasted potatoes, green salad

Friday-  or

Mommy and Daddy’s date night. (cant decide between eating at Outback where we have a gift certificate.. or hibachi grill. YUMM on both of them really cant loose there)

Saturday-  

chicken fajitas, mexican rice

Sunday-  

crock pot stew, biscuits

Add a comment January 25, 2010

weekend!

We had a pretty laid back weekend. It was actually really really nice. Thing One had a friend over (who is exhausting and eats everything in sight. PHEW she wears me out) and my niece also came over. So it was sleepover city around here.

Friday evening we had our friends the Parazoo’s over to play cards and to shoot off the fireworks we had planned to shoot off new years eve.. but couldnt because of the rain. It was all kinds of cold outside and our stupid dog was chasing the fireworks.. it was hilarious until she attacked one very large shot and it hit her in the side! I dont know whether to change her name to FLASH or to SPARKY? She was slightly singed and has a sore spot on her side…but she seems ok now. silly mutt!

Saturday the girls spent the day cleaning thier room. We had an old bunkbed in the barn and my dad brought it over to help the girls put it up. I was afraid it would be too tall for our ceilings, but it turned out ok. It sure gives them a lot more space in thier room! The mess is seeping a litte into our little hallway room.. but I plan to get it all organized this week.

Sunday was spent in discussion about this years vacation. Of course we want to go to Disney world!  We are SO excited as we havent been since 08! Steven and I had been discussing it a little and had decided that we really needed ONE more big vacation before Thing One goes off to college and all. We also decided that we’d like to take our niece with us. She has never been to Disney.. or anywhere really. So we are super excited to show her the world! The girls are So SO SO excited. Now. Disney just needs to cooperate and release a free dining promotion for september! I am nervous that they might not do it this year. But they have for several years.. so Im hoping they will again. Otherwise we may have to push off for spring 2011. (which I dont want to do at all!)

My mind is spinning with posibilities and restraunt choices and and and and! I LOVE planning a trip more than just about anything!

Add a comment January 18, 2010

Menu Plan Monday

We are still working on weight watchers.. pretty much anyway. We count points all week long and then the weekend comes and we slack off.. which I guess is pretty ok since we dont use any of our flex points all week. Im sure it comes out pretty evenly. anywho. on with the menu (The pictures arent mine.. they are just for fun)

Monday-  

Turkey Chili and corn muffins

Tuesday-  

Grilled pork chops, baked potato, sauteed spinach w/ garlic

Wednesday-   

BBQ chicken sandwiches, baked tater tots, fresh fruit salad

Thursday-   

Salmon and veggies in parchment pouches, brown rice, green beans

Friday-   

Penne pasta w/ shrimp, feta, tomato, and spinach,  whole wheat rolls

Saturday-  

Homemade Pizza! (this is the first time I have EVER made homemade pizza crust by myself.. sort nervous about it.. but I have a kitchenade.. how hard could it be?), salad

Sunday-  

Waffles and bacon (YUM! I love love love breakfast for dinner!)

1 comment January 18, 2010

wednesday recap

phew! I was busy yesterday… and I meant to post before bed… but it was so darn cold coming back from church I didnt get to it. I just jumped straight into bed. It called to me like a siren in the sea. 🙂 Besides my honey likes to snuggle while we watch criminal minds and CSI NY. I meant to watch ghost hunters with him.. but I woke up an hour later to a blank screen and Steven gone into the livingroom. well! of course it was I that abandoned him and not the other way around. 🙂

Thing Two  had a KILLER school day yesterday. (we are homeschooling now. since you got no update you might not have known that) We got her progress report yesterday.. I had thought we were in pretty good shape. But not so much. We have some catching up to do in a few subjects. Science and Language arts more than anything. SO. we will have rough couple weeks ahead of us. She will survive. Its just a matter of will power.  JUST GOTTA DO IT. Then we will be finishing on time and not have to work in the summer months.

Thing one got her report card back yesterday too. She did awesome. 3 B’s and an A. Those are honors classes. I am very proud of her. A little worried that she is stacking herself to hard this semester though. Honors English, honors physical science, Algebra 2 and computer science all as a freshman! Sounds more adventurous than even my TOUGHEST semsester.But she thinks she can handle it. I think its gonna take a lot more homework than she realizes. Hopefully next year she will be easier on herself. I dont want her to burn out before she gets through it all!

The venison roast for dinner last night was a huge success. I didnt really care for the consistency of it. I am all about mouth feel though. The kids ate it up. SO. thats a winner. I made mashed potatoes and carrots and salad to go with it.. so that made it filling without using to many weight watchers points. Maybe 12 for the whole meal. Tonights breakfast for dinner isnt such a deal. 15 pts for 2 eggs sausage and grits. isnt as filling. But Ive been craving it. I will just have to eat soup for lunch! (progresso makes a 0 pt soup)

 While shopping the other day we found a YUMMY new yogurt flavor. Its soooo good. Pear is refreshing and tasty. As I dont like the old standby strawberry yogurt I love that there are always new ones to try from Yoplait (and no I am not a paid endorser.. however I wouldnt say no if I were asked!)

I started back singing in the church choir last night. I had layed out for a while last winter with steven’s illness and then summer and then my illness. The new year seemed like a good time to get back into it. I love to sing and have really missed it a lot. Just gotta streeeetch those vocal cords a little. I felt all rusty last night.

Hopefully later today or tommorow I will post pictures from our Baltimore trip. I may have to filch some from Lisa since I didnt get to many shots of the girls playing with Alyssa. They had such a good time.. but I will save that for the trip report!

Add a comment January 14, 2010

menu plan monday

ok so its really tuesday.. but I was away from my computer yesterday..and I dont want to fall off of the roll that I am on!

Monday- We stopped in Roanoke Rapids and at at a Ryan’s. It was about $40 for all 4 of us. Not great.. but it was quick and pretty good.

Tuesday- Broiled Marinated Chicken Breast, Steamed brown rice, sugar snap peas, salad

Wednesday- Venison Roast, Baked Potato, Broccoli

Thursday- Sausage, eggs, grits, fresh pineapple

Friday- spaghetti with meat sauce, whole wheat rolls, salad

Saturday-  Mommy and Daddy’s date night. ( I dunno where we will eat.. maybe mexican?)

I plan to shop and cook sunday to sunday.. so I will know what I plan for sunday on sunday. 🙂 there ya go!

Add a comment January 12, 2010

back!

yeah, you missed me. heh Im trying to focus on ME some these days.. weight watchers, taking walks by myself, buying things to make MY life easier. I think this will make ME a better me. That cant hurt anyone right? Getting back to blogging is part of that.

You get no update.  Im just jumping right back in as if Id never been gone.  123. Here goes…….

We got home last night from Baltimore. We had such a good time.  It has been fun listening to my girls giving the recap to everyone. They had a blast.  I loved having an “un-plan”. it made for such a fun relaxing weekend. I hope we didnt wear our hosts out toooo much! 🙂 We just love Lisa and Pete and thier family. They are such good people. I only wish they lived closer!

 We stopped off in DC on our way home. There is so so much to do there. I dont think you could ever get done seeing it all. This time we went to the National Archives and to the National Museum of American History. It was ALL KINDS of cold in Washington though so even though we intended to walk to the Washington Monument and go up in the elevators we didnt. My bootie was frozen. The museum was really cool though. I loved seeing Julia Child’s kitchen. It was neat. She was one organized chick!

We got home about 11 last night so today was pretty chill.  A vacation day for Thing Two in homeschool so I was thankful for that. We slept in and then ran to the grocery store. Steven, Thing One and I are starting back with Weight Watchers again so it was an expensive trip. WHY does healthy food have to cost so much? YIKES. I have a pretty yummy meal plan for the week though so it wasnt all bad.

I also  bought myself/the family some new drinking glasses. The ones we had were 10 years old and getting pretty manky looking. Many of them were chipped and nasty. I really like the new ones. They are wide and shorter than the others. Cute. I also sorted through all the plastic cups too. Pitching out all the restraunt themed cups and assorted wierdness felt good.  I went through all my cooking utensils today too. Out with the old cheap crap and in with … some new cheap crap. heh.

  Tonight is the premiere of American Idol.. which is always big news in this house. Both girls LOVE that show. And Thing Two LOVES Ellen.. so it should be a fun season. I mostly just like to watch with them because its a fun thing to do as a family… actually I HATE the audition part of the show. I always feel so bad for the singers who have been led to believe that they are really good singers. Its sad to me. But the Things laugh and laugh. mean butts.

Add a comment January 12, 2010