MGM/Hollywood Studios

I am starting off my Disney picture posts with Day 2. I had planned on putting all of my pictures in one blog post, but I have way too many, so I am doing this backwards...

We went to Hollywood Studios (which I grew up knowing as MGM) on Sunday. The first day the kids and I rode the shuttle from our hotel over to Disney. We stayed at a hotel near the PMA, and the website for the hotel said that it is 4 miles from Disney World.

Yeah right.

The shuttle only drops off at Epcot, and then we had to buy our tickets, get on a monorail to the ticket and transportation center, get on another monorail, and then finally arrive at the Magic Kingdom a little over an hour after we set out. That was Day 1, and I realized there is definitely something to be said for staying on Disney property.

On Day 2 we realized that we could drive and park at The Grand Floridian where my parents were staying and just hop on the bus with them. Much, much easier...

But on to pictures...

Bubba was really excited to get to "meet" Lightning McQueen. So excited, in fact, that he climbed right on top of Lightning. All of the Disney Cast Members immediately freaked out and asked me to get my son off the car. So, for the rest of our turn at getting our picture taken/getting to meet Lightning, I followed Bubba around the car, asking him to please just stand still and smile for a durn picture! He finally did.

Bubba also loved the big dinosaur in the pond in the middle of MGM. He wanted to get his picture taken with it while he roared. So, if you live anywhere in the southeastern US and you heard some very loud R-O-A-R-I-N-G on October 17, don't worry, it was just Bubba. He did it for a good five minutes or so! (Notice Bubba's Lightning and Mater shirt in the pictures. Grandmama and Granddaddy got it for him, and he wanted to wear it immediately!)

I have to say my favorite meal while we were there was our lunch at Hollywood Studios. We went to the 50's Prime Time Cafe, a kitchenette themed restaurant complete with black and white tvs and waiters who tell you how to mind your manners. The food is all home-cookin', and my dad and I both had the best. fried. chicken. ever. While we waited for our reservation, they had some hula-hoops outside for the kids to play with...and it was all fun and games until someone lost an eye...or at least, until Miss Priss whacked Sassy in the eye with her hula-hoop. Then both girls started crying, and we decided to wait inside. (And Sassy still bears that battle scar a week later.)

Hands down, the highlight of the day was getting to meet Mickey Mouse. Bubba told me that morning that he wanted to meet Mickey, so that was our mission for the day. I was a bit worried that we wouldn't see him, but thankfully we did! Disney World is one of those working vacations for adults -- there is a lot of carrying of children, dealing with whiney kids and meltdowns, etc. There are plenty of moments when you wonder why in the world you thought it would be a good idea to even come to Disney in the first place when you could have gone on an adults-only vacation to someplace tropical. But meeting Mickey was one of those moments (and there were plenty more of them, I promise!) that make a Disney trip totally worth it. To see the look on my little three-year-old's face was just priceless. The girls loved getting to meet Mickey, too (I know they don't seem to be getting much mention in this post), but Bubba is just at that age where he just believes and it is just so magical for him. It really made the day.

Favorites from the day:

Miss Priss: The Great Movie ride (I think because it was the only ride we went on...)

Sassy: Beauty and the Beast (a show)

Bubba: either meeting Mickey or Lightning

Next up...Magic Kingdom!

Surprise!!!

The Farmer and I took the kids on a surprise trip to Disney World this past weekend!

A couple of months ago, The Farmer came home and told me that he had to go to a big trade show in Orlando called the PMA. His idea was to take the whole family along and for me to get my parents to meet us down there to help me take the kids to Disney while he was at the trade show all day. I love Disney World, so I was immediately on board, and I knew that my parents would be, too!

A couple of days before the trip, I started telling the kids that we had a big weekend planned, but that was all that I was going to tell them about it. The day before the trip, my mom gave me a bunch of cute little signs that said stuff like I know where you are going tomorrow! and I am going too, and we will have a great time! and I am very excited! and I put those out at the breakfast table before school on Friday. We sent some very excited kids off to school, ready to be picked up at 11:45 with more clues as to where we were heading.

When we got the kids in the car, I started playing some Disney songs on my iPod, and it didn't take long before the guessed where our weekend destination was, and, boy, were they excited! I was never so ready to get out of the car as I was by the time that we finally made it to Orlando. Three very excited kids and a six hour car trip don't mix very well -- especially when you add in five o'clock Orlando traffic!

But, we had a great trip. Two days at Disney World is definitely fast and furious -- and very tiring with three little ones -- but I am very happy that we went. Disney really is a magical place for kids, and I love to see it through the eyes of my kids. I have a lot of pictures to post tomorrow, so stay tuned, but for now, I need to go rest and recover!

St. Simons, Part Dos

For part two I am just doing a photo montage because it took me forty forevers to get these uploaded on here last night, and then I was too tired to add any words. I was really hoping to have 3 posts in 3 days for the first time in who knows how long, but that was just too ambitious of me...So here you go this morning!

I just love these three of Bubba and Sassy because they are so ridiculous with Bubba in his purple, sparkly sunglasses!



Okay, I will add some words...We did go to the beach a little bit at St. Simons. For kids who live at the beach, it was hard to get them to want to go to the beach on vacation. Having a pool in our courtyard was much more appealing to them than having to take a short drive to the beach, but we did force them, against their will (just kidding), to the beach at least once...




Miss Priss kind of looks like a teenager in this one and the next one of her, and it depresses me...



Sassy got a kite for her birthday from her Aunt L and Uncle A, and the kids loved taking turns flying the kite. The kite was shaped like a butterfly, and Sassy's dumb mommy (although I will say that I was not the only one -- many other beach goers did, too!) mistook it for a stingray as it flew over the water! So that is the random string that the kids are all holding onto in the following pics...






The Mud Monster:

A cute baby bottom:


Miss Sassypants on a mission:


Joni and her chillens:






Pouty McPouterson:

Future husband and wife:


The little nut, EC:

The gang's all here!:

Stay tuned for Part 3 (yes, there will be a Part 3!), in which I will show you the adorable t-shirts I got for all of the chillens from Smitten & Company!

The Best Egg Salad

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I used to never have lunch food in my house. The Farmer always ate lunch at his mom's house because he was too far from our house to come home for lunch. I always ate lunch at my mom's house because I was out at the farm during lunchtime, and I still do when I commute to work. At the most, I would have PB&J at the house for the chillens or other such kid food.

(The funny thing is, even though my mom has my brother, sister, and dad, and me at her house for lunch, she has never had lunch food there, either...hmmmm....)

Now that The Farmer and I are eating lunch at home together several days a week, I have had to come up with some good food for us to eat. I really am not one for a plain ham or turkey sandwich. I am totally of the belief that a sandwich is just not as good if I make it -- especially if it is something like plain ham or turkey. Sometimes we eat leftovers, or "layovers" as our childhood babysitter "WillaMEANa" called them. But sometimes we need something else.

So, all of that long nonsense to tell you about this delish egg salad recipe that I found recently on Tasty Kitchen. I have made it twice now, and I love it. I have eaten it as a sandwich -- which is just as tasty if I make it myself because I haven't had it made by anyone else. I have eaten it with crackers. I have eaten it just by the spoonful. It is really, really good.

Here is the recipe:

6 whole, large boiled eggs, coarsely chopped

1/4 cups minced red onion

1/4 cups extra virgin olive oil

1/4 cups pitted kalamata olives, coarsely chopped

2 teaspoons minced fresh oregano leaves

1 tablespoon lemon juice

1 pinch salt and ground black pepper

Mix all ingredients, including salt and pepper to taste, in a medium bowl and serve.

Yes, you read that right -- there is no mayo in this recipe. And it is sooooo good that way.

A word of warning, though. Don't go eating a whole bunch of this egg salad for lunch and then go power walking out in the 90 degree heat. Those two things just don't mix well, and you won't feel so good. Just sayin'.

It's Beginning To Look A Lot Like...

Nope, not Christmas...

(although my sister has been cranking the Christmas music in our office since Tuesday. That would be October 5th. And I would not be kidding on that...but I digress.)

It is beginning to look like The Farmer and I might actually start building a house soon, and I could not be more excited. We have been living in our little house in the middle of a watermelon/blueberry field for a little less than two months now, and I am already so ready to get out. Our washer and dryer is on the back porch, which isn't so bad while it is still pleasant temperature-wise, but isn't going to be so great when it gets cold in a couple of months. And our cars and floors are always covered with a film of dust. And I can't tell you how many times I've almost had a collision with one of The Farmer's employees as I've gone rushing out of the field to get the kids to school on time -- and then they all love to go straight to The Farmer to tell him about how I drive like a bat out of you-know-where and won't get over to share the road!

But back to the new house...

The only problem with building soon means that right now we are going through the unpleasant, relatively painful experience of deciding on a contractor. I know that it is a contractor's business to bid jobs, and that in doing so they get rejected sometimes, but I just hate that we are ultimately going to have to tell someone that we aren't going with him. I don't like to be told "no," and I don't like to have to tell someone else "no" (unless it is my kids -- I can totally do that), so this just makes me anxious. We like both of the guys that we are working with, and the final decision is probably going to come down to the bottom line, and that just makes this whole decision even worse, I think; I sort of wish I didn't like one and he just happened to be the more expensive one!

The Farmer and I are also having to haggle over what we really need versus what we can live without. This house that we are building isn't one that we will live in for a while then sell. This is our house, forever and ever, amen. So we are making decisions that have to last us a lifetime, at least as far as the bones of the house go. I know that we can make changes on the interior eventually, but not for a very long time (probably), so we have to make good decisions. And this girl is not good with a budget. I would really like to go out and spend a million dollars and have this awesome house that I absolutely love. The only problem is that I don't actually have a million dollars, nor is a bank going to give me that much (and I would not ask, seriously!). But I do have a hard time saying "well, I can live without this because I really, really want this."

I'm probably going to be a nightmare to work with when we start picking out light fixtures. Or cabinets. Or counter tops. Or really anything.

So, while I am excited that it is looking like we are making some progress on the house front, I will be really excited when we have made a decision on our contractor and he is actually out there doing something. Just pray that I don't have a stomach ulcer before this is all said and done!