760 Blairmont Drive- our new humble abode

Here are some pictures of the house...the guest bedroom is still in progress but everything is feeling very homey! You can find more pictures on facebook if you would like to see more.

Disney World With Family

Vacation began on Friday July 10th when we took the dogs to the vet and loaded our things up in the car. We didn't leave until a little before 5 and we drove to Advance to Billy and Pat's house. It was a great time but we were already tired. We went to bed seriously at like 8:30-9:00 so that we could get up at 2 in the morning. We successfully woke up at 2 and I took a shower and got ready for the drive. Josh had gotten up and made coffee so that he could function for the day if he was getting up that early. He needs his coffee as do Billy and Pat. I just can't bring myself to drink the coffee. I don't know why. I need to probably pick up that hobby in the future though.

We set out on the road. It was dark and of course I fell right to sleep. Josh was in the front with Billy so that he could navigate us there of course. Everyone was excited. We stopped in Columbia for breakfast at Cracker Barrel and it was of course good and especially with no crowd. Did you know that Cracker Barrel opens at 6 in the morning? I had no idea! After this we set out on our way again and stopped at Chick-fil-a for lunch in Georgia. We arrived at the resort in Orlando about 3. Our rooms weren't ready yet so we went to wal-mart which conveniently was located almost next door. We got our groceries for the week so that we wouldn't have to eat our breakfast or lunches out every single day of the week. That could get old really fast. After this our rooms were ready and went back to the resort and checked in. Josh and I were in 402-202C and Billy and Pat were in 203. These suites were really nice. We had a 1 bedroom but it had a big living room, kitchen, and kitchen table along with the bedroom and bathroom. We immediately put our things out and made ourselves at home. That night we went out searching for dinner and ended up at Logan's Steakhouse. It was so so food! Our waitress was a bit overaged and we thought that anything could happen with her at any moment. We decided that we would go to Animal Kingdom/MGM the next day.

Sunday we set out for Animal Kingdom. I love this park because there are so many animals around that you really as if you are in Asia or Africa. The Safari was my favorite. I like how you are in a safari bus and you are going through the wild right along with the lions, cheetahs, hippos, alligators, etc. It was so cool! Josh had never been on it before and he thought that it rocked also. I was glad that he enjoyed it. We went back to the hotel for some lunch and then we went to MGM. Of course as you know Rock 'n Roller Coaster is my favorite ride. It is so much fun and we actually got Pat to ride it too. Some nice family gave us a fastpass so that we didn't have to wait in the long line. We would have had to wait like an hour and a half if that family had not been so nice to give us those. We rode Tower of Terror, watched the Indiana Jones show, and rode the Great Movie Ride. This park is a lot of fun as well.

The next day we went to Magic Kingdom. Magic Kingdom is always the best because there is so much to do. We were there for the fireworks that night and enjoyed the time that we had there. The next day we started out by going to the water park and then going back to Magic Kingdom in the afternoon to go and do all the things that we didn't get to do. In the end we rode every ride at Magic Kingdom including Thunder Mountain, Splash Mountain, etc. Space mountain we discovered was closed for renovations and wouldn't open until winter 2009. I was sad but I'm sure that it'll be bigger and better when it opens again. I hope that they do make sure that it's safe so that nobody can get hurt on the ride. The water park that we went to was called Typhoon Lagoon. Josh and Billy loved riding all of the slides and I hung out with Pat. I was fine not doing the slides and running around like that but enjoyed the wave pool and the water that was placed in random places throughout the park. It also rained a little while we were there but the rain quickly came back out again.

Wednesday we relaxed all day long. We started out going to the Wide World of Sports to see Josh's baseball player from App play rookie ball for the New York Yankees. This was a fun time because there were games going on all over there and we bought a Wide World of Sports baseball and let Isaac sign the ball. Now we'll have that when he becomes famous. We went to the outlet stores and I got some things from the adidas store and Josh got Banana Republic pants for only $25. That is an awesome buy at Banana Republic. That night we went to Downtown Disney and looked around at the shops there and even got to go to Disney Quest which is a big huge building filled with 4 stories of arcade games. We played a motorcycle game and then didn't want to stand in line for these other games that had lots of people wanting to play them. They did have a big screen and several things such as whitewater rafting that you could do with the whole family. That is such a neat idea. Downtown Disney is always fun and we ate at The Rainforest Cafe. This place is definitely overpriced for the food that you get but I believe that you end up paying for the atmosphere that the restaurant has. It storms in there every 20 minutes.

Thursday was Billy's birthday and he loves Epcot so that is where we went. We were there when the doors opened and he got to wear a birthday pin on his shirt. I don't think that he really enjoyed that part but it was fun when people told him happy birthday because they saw his button. We went straight to ride test track and then when we were finished got a fastpass to come back to it later. I think that we did every ride at Epcot and it was so much fun. I however did not ride Mission Space because I just refuse to get that gross sick feeling that you get when you are blasted off into space. I just don't like that. So Pat and I didn't do that with them but I'm glad that Josh had Billy to ride it with him. When we previously had been in December another year I didn't do it and he ended up finding his aunt and cousins on the ride to ride it with him. I bet that they thought that I was a wuss for not riding but I just don't like that ride. Haha! We saw some good shows and we also loved walking around to all of the countries. I love to walk through and experience the different cultures even right here in America. Speaking of other cultures I believe that there were more languages there than English. It was almost difficult to find an English speaker during the time that we went to the parks. There were tour groups all around and a lot of them were from South America- Brazil and Argentina. These were big huge groups that we saw and we tried to avoid the lines that they got into because they were so big. The fireworks at the end of the night were very good and we had a good spot to stand in to see them. It was fun!

Friday we just spent all day relaxing indoors away from the heat. I did end up going to SuperTarget with Pat and I also went to the pool at our end of the resort and going to the gift shop at the clubhouse. This was my idea of a great day as well because it was much needed relaxation. That night we cooked dinner in the suite. It was chicken, corn, potatoes, and bread. It was very yummy and we considered it Billy's birthday dinner. He had a nice lemon tart dessert and we had a chocolate dessert. I would say that that was the best meal that we had all week long. We got up early on Saturday morning and made our way out the door with our things. We dreaded the drive back home but we did it with triumph. We got back to Advance about 5:30 or earlier and Jake got home from work right after we got back to the house. It was nice to see Jake again. He is always on the go. I do wish that he had been able to go on vacation but I'm sure that there will be more to come. Billy and Pat have a new adventure coming up in about a week: Dominican Republic. We get to go there with them next summer, if they enjoy the time that they have now. I am looking forward to more vacations to come! :)

Independence Day

I feel that over these past few months I have grown as a preschool teacher and as a person because of these children. I think that through developing lesson plans for them I have learned more about society, more about holidays, and more about how people interact with one another that I feel even more proud now to be an American. America is a wonderful country filled with celebrations, Americans, families, and communities.

I found this on the computer as I was looking for things about the 4th of July that I could share with my students. Here is what I found..."The Declaration of Independence is more than just a piece of paper. It is a symbol of our country's independence and commitment to certain ideas. A symbol is something that stands for something else. Most people can look at a certain little "swoosh" and know that it stands for "Nike." Well, the signers of the Declaration of Independence wanted the citizens of the United States to have a document that spelled out what was important to our leaders and citizens. They wanted us to be able to look at the Declaration of Independence and immediately think of the goals we should always be working for, and about the people who have fought so hard to make these ideas possible. The people who signed the Declaration risked being hanged for treason by the leaders in Great Britain. They had to be very brave to sign something that would be considered a crime! So every time we look at the Declaration of Independence, we should think about all of the effort and ideas that went into the document, and about the courage it took for these people to stand up for what they knew was right -- independence!"

Being free I am thankful for being able to eat what I want to eat with my family, go to church where I want to go to church and when I want to be there, and being able to elect into office the people that I want to be in office. This country is need of many things right now and one thing is definitely protection from other countries that may not like us as much as we would like them to. I believe that our country's leaders will do the right thing and ensure that we are safe and out of harm's way. I also think that God will help point these leaders in the right direction and ensure that we are following the path that we should be. I should pray more often for our country's leaders and I should pray more often that we will live each day free from troubles.

Happy Birthday, America!