Animal Kingdom

Could Hunter's smile be any cheesier?

Daisy is always dressed to the nine -
even when she's on safari!

Goofy is one of Hunter's favorites

Mickey loves Maisie; Maisie loves Mickey

We started off our day bright and early today because we had a character breakfast to get to - Donald's Breakfast Safari. Once again this was a character meal and this time we were dining with Mickey, Minnie, Goofy, Daisy, and Donald; all were dressed in their safari outfits of course since we were in Animal Kingdom. Hunter had a great time- they came around with instruments and the kids could get out there and shake their groove thing with the characters - poor Hunter, he has undoubtedly gotten his rhythm, or lack there of, from me! After we finished breakfast it was off to the rides! Hunter rode a "log ride" at the rodeo and has been fascinated with them since and just dying to ride one again, well lucky for him the Kali River Rapids are here - I personally can not think of anything more unpleasant than walking around in wet clothes for the rest of the day, so this was undoubtedly a job for daddy! There is also a roller coaster called Expedition Everest - Hunter wasn't tall enough to ride last year but was this year and I thought he would like it - WRONG!!!! It was supposed to be like you were on an expedition in search of the Yeti - Hunter informed me he knew all about the Yeti from a Backyardigans episode. Anyway, a lot of the roller coaster is in the dark (which Hunter is currently deathly afraid of) and at one point you back into this tunnel where the Yeti is flashed up ahead of you like he is blocking the way out - at this point the screaming began! Once Hunter was off of the roller coaster the tears started coming - he informed me that "the Yeti was an angry monkey". He has no intentions of EVER riding that one again! Oops, bad judgement call on my part, sorry about that! We did the Safari Adventure and I must say I think this is the best one we have ever been on; either they have gotten some more animals or there just happened to be a whole lot of them out today. I've got some video from the safari that once I figure out how to finalize the DVD I will attempt to post - we all know how technology and I get along! There is also a part of this park called Dinoland and there is kind of like a carnival set up in it - Hunter wanted to play one of the carnival games and ended up winning a stuffed turtle (okay actually Scott won the turtle but we won't tell that) - nothing fancy just your typical carnival stuffed animal. He was ecstatic about this turtle - if I'd have know that was all it was going to take to make him that happy we would have just stayed home and taken him to Sylvan Beach Day in La Porte!

Epcot

Butterfly topiary that is part of

the Flower and Garden Festival

Lifeguard Stitch topiary & Hunter

Maisie working over Dale's furry fingers!

The boy and I
Awesome Minnie topiary

Ahhhh, what a difference a day and a dose of heavy duty antibiotics makes! Hunter was 100% better today than he was yesterday - although there was only one way to go! Since his ear wasn't throbbing today he actually didn't whine - thank god! I have to say Hunter has never been a whiner, only when something is wrong with him, so I have absolutely zero tolerance for whining! It is like nails across a chalk board to me - screeeeeech! Today it was off to Epcot and what a lovely day we had. Epcot used to be my absolute least favorite place to go, but I thoroughly enjoyed myself there this time. They have redone Innoventions to be much more little kid friendly; before I thought it was really for teenagers and adults. The Flower and Garden Festival is also going on so there were all kinds of fabulous Disney inspired topiary everywhere! Disney does a thing called "rider switch" so that if you are travelling with an infant or a child too short for a certain ride you only have to wait in line once and then you switch parents and ride again - thank you Disney! Hunter had a blast riding Test Track and because of the rider switch he got to ride it 2 times in a row - he was happier than a pig in you know what! Hunter also got to attend a "special" character greeting with Mickey and Pluto because we have the Disney Visa card, they even give you a free 5X7 picture of it - thank you Chase! Maisie had a great day too - she is really enjoying being carried around in the papoose facing out so she can "people watch" - I can almost hear the caddy comments coming from her, she is a Nichols after all! We had a character dinner at the Garden Grill - Chip and Dale's Harvest Feast. It was really a cool restaurant, although everything Disney does is cool, the restaurant spins around and you go through all kinds of different scenery from the jungle, to the desert, to the mountains - and of course it wouldn't be complete without the appropriate sounds! The food was really good, but I haven't eaten anywhere here yet that wasn't good; Hunter's dessert was a make your own cupcake, they brought the cupcake out and everything you could dream of to top it with. Mickey, Pluto, and Chip & Dale were all there and came by the table more times than I can count! Again Hunter was happier than a pig in you know what! Maisie quite enjoyed the characters too - Dale was stroking her cheek and she grabbed his hand and started sucking on those furry fingers - ooohhhh gross! Who knows where those fingers have been! YUCK!!!! Pluto was rubbing his whiskers along her face and she just smiled and Mickey just couldn't get enough of her - Scott said she probably had nightmares last night about giant animals coming to get her! Again it was really quite a nice day and I look forward to going back there again; this is the kind of day that makes you remember why you came on a family vacation.

Hollywood Studios (The artist formerly known as MGM)

Hunter took time out from being a turd just long

enough to have his face painted up with the movie make-up.

We ventured off to MGM for our 1st full day here, and let me say it was a truly heinous day! Hunter started out his day on the wrong side of the bed; he was just really being a whiny little brat. He wanted everything his eyes came in contact with and then proceeded to get all kinds of pissed off when the evil word "no" rolled off my or Scott's tongue. I wasn't so sure he was going to live to see the end of the day the way he was going! All I could think was what an ungrateful little donkey - here he is in kiddie heaven and this is how he thanks us? After Scott threatened to kill him about noon he started complaining that his ear hurt - great. I had said to Scott on Saturday, as green snot rolled out of Hunter's nose, "I hope he isn't getting a sinus infection". Well I guess not only did he get a sinus infection but he got an added bonus of an ear infection. Scott had some tremendous daddy guilt working for being ugly to the boy earlier in the day so Hunter scored an extra toy out of him. I was afraid I was going to have to haul him in to the urgent care clinic here to get him a prescription - and you know what a germ-a-phobe I am so that wasn't going over real well, but fortunately my fabulous pediatrician just called him one in to a pharmacy here that delivered it to the hotel. Guess it is a good thing he has had recurrent sinus infections after all, otherwise I would have been sitting in that urgent care clinic for sure! We had dinner at the Sci-Fi Dine In Theatre - my absolute favorite place to eat in this park! It is set up like a drive in movie and you eat in a 1950's style car while watching old cartoons and other advertisements, etc. from drive in movies. After dinner we headed back to the hotel so we could load Hunter up with some Motrin and then he was good to go! He was nice for the rest of the night so his life was no longer in danger! Poor kid, poor mommy, poor daddy! Keeping my fingers crossed for a better day tomorrow!

M-I-C-K-E-Y M-O-U-S-E

We packed up and headed for the land of all things mouse bright and early Sunday morning! It went rather smoothly, surprisingly so, but I also began preparing for this trip earlier in the week. I am the world's WORST packing procrastinator; no joke when I was in college I would pack for cruise (60 days away from home) the night before the ship sailed and would be moving onboard hours before leaving the dock! This time however since I had to pack for all 3 kids and myself I figured I had better get an early start. Saturday afternoon we loaded up the 4 legged beasties and headed off across town to deposit them at Chez Bayridge; Sophie is a non issue, but I don't trust Timon and Pumbaa to either not dig their way to freedom (they don't dig, but I'm afraid they might if left alone for an extended time) or to not eat the house from the inside out! There is usually someone home with them, but when they are left it is only for a few hours except for one day before Christmas when they had been left alone all day long and then we came back only to leave again a couple of hours later. When Scott and Hunter returned that night they walked in to find that the 2 precious pups had selected a present from under the tree to unwrap and then proceeded to play tug-of-war with it! The present was for Lee and it was a necklace with beads that I had picked up for her in Canton the month before, not like I could just run out and pick up another one; Scott said there were beads everywhere! So, he was already beyond pissed at them and then Timon (obviously showing is displeasure for being left alone) went in to Hunter's room, got in bed with Hunter, and peed on him! I really thought Scott was going to blow a gasket! Fortunately I was not home to witness this, but got to hear the yelling as soon as I walked through the door. So you see my need for concern about leaving them alone! Now, off of my tangent and back to this vacation! We actually managed to make it out of the door for the airport on time, a feat rarely seen in our world! I was a little worried about how Maisie would do on the plane, but she did very well! We selected seats at the very back of the plane along with every other family with kids. There was a family sitting directly in front of us with 2 kids, a boy and a girl, that I would have liked to have slapped! The little boy was fine, never heard a peep out of him, but the little girl really enjoyed shrieking in that shrill little girl tone! It was even less cute when she stood up on the seat and looked back at us to do it; every time she did it Maisie was just falling asleep and the little girl would shriek and wake her up and make her start to scream. The parents were completely oblivious to it; I guess they must be used to it so they have just tuned it out. Finally she shut up long enough for Maisie to get good and asleep, but the next thing I know I hear some god awful children's show singing coming from up there - obviously the parents have never heard of headphones either! The kids were watching Veggie Tales with the volume way up so everybody on the plane could enjoy the show! Seriously people - Hunter was sitting there all nice and quiet watching Spongebob with his headphones on have you never heard of this worthwhile invention? I looked at Scott and said I am in hell! Maisie stayed asleep until we parked at the gate and it was time to get off - thank you Maisie! I, as well as everybody on that plane, thank you! Once we got to the resort and all checked in the boys went straight for the "hippy dippy pool" while Maisie and I went and walked around. This is our 3rd time to stay at this resort and I have never made it out of the 50's section to check it all out. Now I have seen it all, and as always Disney has done it all up right - you really just can't go wrong here!

Relay for Life

2008 Beauties vs. the Beast Relay for Life Team

Dad's Luminaria during the ceremony

Always the life of the party!

Relay for Life was last night, FINALLY! It seems like I have been preparing for this forever instead of just for the last 2 months! I think we did a fantastic job, especially since this was our first year at it - we exceeded out team goal fundraising amount of $1200; I don't know an exact number yet, but I think we must be pushing $3,000! Way to go Beauties vs. the Beast! I have walked away from this event with a new appreciation for all of the work that goes into one of these things - I really had no idea! My reason for getting a team together for this was to honor my dad who has once again managed to beat the odds against him and survive cancer! He came out for the opening ceremony and the survivor lap and as you can plainly see from the above photo had a great time - not too many men would willingly don a pink boa and tiara! After dad went home to snuggle up in his warm bed for a good nights sleep, the rest of the team stuck it out and walked, walked, and walked some more. We were tracking our miles by adding a bead to a string every time we made a lap around the track - I walked 10 miles last night! My legs hurt badly enough today to prove it too! Cindy and I got home at 6:00 this morning and headed straight for bed; I'm pretty sure my head hadn't even hit the pillow before I was fast asleep! I guess technically the last "all nighter" I pulled was the day Maisie was born, but before that I couldn't tell you the last time I was up all night; fortunately Maisie allowed me to sleep until 10:00 and then it was back to life as we know it! We all had a good time doing something extremely worthwhile and I look forward to doing it again next year - since we are now seasoned veterans next year will be even better! So dad this one goes out to you - you are my inspiration and because of you I know I can do anything I set my mind to! I look forward to doing this with you again for many years to come.

Darwin Nominee

There is a reason The Darwin Awards exist and this guy should definitely be a nominee. I saw this story on the news last night and then again on Good Morning America this morning. It's not often that Brazoria County makes a national newscast - typically only happens when a hurricane has plowed through it! http://abclocal.go.com/ktrk/story?section=news/local&id=6083338

What a bonehead!

What Nobody Tells You About Being 4!

He only looks cute and sweet - his hat is covering

the devil horns that have sprouted up from his skull!

Let me just say that 4 is an ugly, ugly age! Nobody forewarns you about this year; all you ever hear about is the terrible 2's. Turns out that the terrible 2's weren't so terrible after all. Actually Hunter was a pretty good 2 year old; when he turned 3 now that was a different story -but it was also relatively short lived. Since he has turned 4 though he has been unrelenting; 4 is 2 with a mouth! I spent my morning fighting with him over a freaking waffle! Asked him what he wanted for breakfast and he requested a waffle so that's what I fixed him; then all he wanted to do was throw a fit and tell me that he didn't want a waffle. Too bad I said, that's what you asked for and that's what I fixed! I told him he could eat that or he could go to school hungry - he went to school hungry screaming the entire way that he wanted some breakfast. I feel confident that he won't wither away before snack time, but I'm not so confident that he will live to see the ripe old age of 5! For all of you who have not yet reached this "lovely" age let me be the first to warn and suggest that you pack your bags and leave the country and for those of you who are currently living through this "lovely" age I feel your pain!

Girly Girl

Maisie and I went shopping over the weekend and she got her 1st pair of sunglasses and a bathing suit! When we got home I told Scott that she got her 1st bikini - his reply was "no she didn't, only one piece suits for her"! It isn't actually a bikini, it's a tankini that is just too cute! All we need now is Summer to officially start; she will get a little taste of it when we go to Florida!

What was she Thinking?

I must say that I am truly appalled! Today on the news they reported of a 14 year old girl who gave birth in the bathroom at her junior high school! Once she had the baby she then proceeded to try and flush it down the toilet! You have got to be kidding me! I think maybe my first question is how was this girl at school for several hours, in labor, and a grown up didn't notice the fact that she had to have looked to be in pain and was probably breathing a little heavy? Honestly, I have been in labor twice now and didn't make it past 6 cm before only the finest oilfield phrases were flying out of my mouth! How did nobody notice this?
www.abclocal.go.com/ktrk/story?section=news/local&id=6057161
This is the 2nd report THIS WEEK about a 14 year old girl giving birth and disposing of the baby; the other story for those of you who don't live here happened aboard a Continental flight from New York to Houston. That girl miscarried her baby in the bathroom and then stuffed it in the trash can where the cleaning crew later found it. Fortunately that baby was stillborn, and apparently was nowhere near term, and didn't suffer like the one today who was born alive and then drowned. When are the schools, and parents for that matter, going to wake up and realize that teaching abstinence isn't going to keep kids from having sex; they are going to do it so why not prepare them a little better for it? What is wrong with these teenage girls?
I will get down from my soapbox now.

Murphy's Law

Well as it always happens Scott moves out and Murphy moves in! Honestly, if something is going to break in this house it is going to do it in Scott's absence. Last week I went to get a new compactor bag from under the kitchen sink and noticed that they were wet; I did some looking around but didn't see anywhere that water was coming from, so I cleaned it up and thought I would just keep an eye on it. The next day I was going to fill up my mop bucket with hot water, now mind you in order to get the water hot I had to let it run for a little while, and noticed that I heard the distinct sound of water coming from inside the cabinet! I opened the cabinet door and sure enough water EVERYWHERE! I had managed to completely flood the underside of the sink! Water was running down the garbage disposal motor and when I touched the drain pipe from it the pipe just completely popped out. So, I "fixed" the pipe with the hopes that it would last me until Scott's return, but just in case it didn't I was smart enough to leave a bucket under there. Fast forward to yesterday when I was once again getting a compactor bag out and they were once again wet, ugh! I checked my bucket but there was no water in it; where the hell did it come from this time? I looked around, tugged on the garbage disposal drain line, but everything seemed alright, so I made sure my bucket was in place and turned the sink on to see where it was coming from - water immediately started pouring from the drain line that comes from the other side of the sink! Scott is convinced that I am sabotaging the plumbing so that he will have to re-plumb the whole thing when he gets back and I can get the new sink i have be longing for out of the deal. I have assured him that if I was going to sabotage a plumbing job I would do it when he was conveniently located at the office, not in Florida!
The laundry room smells like something has died in it - I have tracked down the stench to the washing machine. I was told by the Best Buy repairman, who was here at 7:30 this morning by the way, that High Efficiency washers just start to smell after a while and to try these tablets that are supposed to deodorize the thing from the inside out. I have been through 2 tablets already today and it still smells; not as bad as earlier, but still smells. I will run the 3rd tab through once I get Hunter's uniform washed since he has a game tonight and would look rather silly playing naked!
Oh, and something appears to be wrong with my POS computer - I fear it may very well be working on checking out on me! If it dies, I'm buying a Mac this time! I hate computers!