We're at DisneyWorld!

Ryan just took the girls down to the pool and so I have a few minutes to check in and share an update on how our trip has been so far.  I don't have enough time to upload a bunch of pics, so I'm only doing a couple... okay, maybe three. ;)

Monday was a LONG day!!!  We got up at 3:20am, left the house just after 4am, and boarded our flight to come here.  All was going well, until the second leg was delayed just  few minutes, then kept having to rerouting due to weather.  When all was said and done, we finally landed about 2 hours later than we were supposed to, which meant that any plans of doing anything that night were out.  Which is okay, but  alittle bit of a bummer. :S

We used "Disney's Magical Express" to get to our resort, which was great because we didn't even have to get our luggage, they did that for us, so all we had to do was board a bus and it took us to our resort.  We had already checked in on-line, so that part was quick, which was nice.  We ate dinner at the food court and by then, we were beat!  That was all we were up for that first day. lol

On Tuesday, we woke up early (especially considering it felt like 3 hours earlier for us!) and headed into Magic Kingdom before it even opened!  Resort guests get to use "Magic Hours" to enjoy the parks before and/or after it opens/closes, to avoid crowds, and to get some extra playing in. ;) 

It was an awesome day!!!  We did a ton of stuff, had so much fun, and just loved it!!!  We had lunch at the Crystal Palace, where Pooh and his friends came to greet us, give hugs, sign books, and take pictures.  We had a truly magical day!  I LOVE Magic Kingdom!!!  It is my favorite park and I love starting our trip there!  We stayed for the Main St. Electrical Parade, then watched a super cool video that was made using photos and videos taken in the park that day - hundreds of pictures that the Photo Pass photographers took, and we might have been in it since there was a portion that used thousands of little pictures to make a couple big ones.  Hey, you never know, for all we know we WERE in it! lol  Anyhow, after that we watched Wishes, which is always awesome.  It was a very, very late night, which made Tuesday another very long day!

This morning we were up early again to take advantage of more Magic Hours, this time in Animal Kingdom.  We had another great day, except that I got queasy on the very first ride and it kept me feeling off and not totally well for most of the day.  It was the Yeti that did me in.  If he hadn't busted up the train tracks, we wouldn't have had to fly down that mountain backwards, and I'm sure it was whipping around those corners backwards that did it to me.  :(  But I still enjoyed the day!  Even when the rain cancelled the afternoon parade.  This is exactly why I booked this vacation for 2 weeks.  We'll go back to catch the parade another day. :)

Since we had just had two very long, late days, with early mornings, we decided to call it an early night today.  We came back to our hotel, ate dinner, and now the girls and Ryan and playing at the pool.  Tomorrow we hit Disney's Hollywood Studios, which means my very favorite Disney night show... Fantasmic!!!  Let's hope THAT one isn't cancelled! ;)

The mouse is out of the bag!!!

They knew we were planning a trip, they just didn't know we were going this soon!!!  Here's how we told them the truth...

Swimming Lessons

Last month, I had both girls take swimming lessons.  Rori had been taking them since last Fall, but Cadi hadn't taken them for a few years.  I figured it would be good to give her a refresher course.  They both did great and loved it.  Acadia ended up with the same teacher Rori had had most of the year.  Rori loves her!  She is so good.  And I'm glad Acadia got her because she did a great job helping Acadia overcome some of her fears and bad swimming habits. 

Rori is now at the highest level she can be at for her age.  She's ready to go to a higher class, but they make the kids wait until they are 6, so she has a whole year.  But that's okay because we didn't have time to sign up for more classes this summer, and next year I will want her to retake the same class she's been in, to freshen up on it before moving on. :)

I took my camera on the last day of the session:

Ryan and Rori's Fort

Acadia had a great time at Girls Camp this year!  It was her first year and she was very excited to go.  Rightly so!  While she was gone, Rori missed her.  One evening, after work, Ryan built her this awesome fort.  We left it up for a couple of days, letting her play and even sleep in it.  She loved it! 

Of vacations, computers, and catching up...

I am so far behind!!!  But fortunately, that is only true as it concerns photos and blogging, otherwise, I am doing alright!  Which, is pretty incredible, under the circumstances.

We had a wonderful week at the beach last week!  But when we came home my computer wouldn't start up.  So, I was without it for a day or two.  Then we hooked up our new computer, so I have internet now, but all my photo software is on the old one, so I still don't have any pictures uploaded, let alone edited.  It must be done soon, however.  I need to wipe my camera memory clean sometime within the next few days, as I plan to fill every last nook and cranny of all memory sticks very soon! :)

We have decided when to have the big reveal.  It was originally planned for the morning of; a wake up surprise: "Get dressed, we leave in an hour!"  But, other factors have led us to determine that even better than that would be to have a certain mouse send a note to the girls on Saturday, letting them know just how excited he is that they are planning on coming to visit, but that it seems too far away, so it's being moved up!  This way, the girls and I can enjoy some very awesome trip prepping activities in the full Disney spirit.  It will still be a total surprise and will likely get even more of a reaction since our initial plan would have had to take place at 3 o'clock in the morning and I was unsure if they would even be coherent enough to understand, let alone respond to, our announcement.

I hope to be able to share their reaction before we leave (it is absolutely going to be recorded!), so stay tuned.  Also, stay tuned for beach pics (if I have time), and also a few other things that took place before we even went to the beach but I was too busy then to post (as if I'm not now, lol).

I guess you can say that this month, we are just too busy living life to properly document it right now.  But it will come, eventually, all in good time. :)

Life happens fast.

Six months ago, the thought of having a whirlwind August sounded so fun and exciting.  And most of it is.  But my goodness, I have so much to do and I feel like I have barely any time left to do it!  I wake up every morning - EVERY MORNING! - at 5am.  I am not setting an alarm clock - honest.  I just wake up.  Totally alert.  And thinking.  Nonstop thinking.  What do I need to do?  What have I forgotten?  What is today's agenda?  How much time do I have left for this?  I'll try to make sure I do that.  I can't turn it off.

But, things are going well.

I still have a bunch of stuff to blog about from July.  And there will be TONS to blog about for August.  It's all going to have to be late though.  I go-go-go and haven't had time to even think about anything not trip-planning or lesson-preparing related. 

We head for the beach for a week in just a couple of days.  But first, I am teaching Gospel Doctrine tomorrow, which I have mostly prepared now, just need to fine-tune.  And I'm also teaching the FHE when we get to the beach, which I've kind of gotten myself into a habit/tradition of doing, along with videos and handouts, so it takes a lot of prep work.  I'm done with the handout, mostly done with the video, but still have work to do on the actual lesson.  I did make the food I had to prepare ahead of time for the meals I'm responsible for, they are sitting in the freezer now, but I have a major grocery store run to do today.  Then packing.  Lots of packing.  And I hate coming home to a messy house, so there is also cleaning to do.

The week before and the week after a vacation are pretty much useless for anything other than prepping and recovering.  But I get to have both in the same week when we get back!  It will entail even more planning/preparing (which of course, I've already been working on), all done in secrecy since it's a surprise trip for our kids, and still including a Sunday School lesson to prepare for.  I'm exhausted just thinking about it!  But excited, too!

I will catch up... at some point in September, lol.  In the meantime, forgive my neglect.  Sometimes living life (and getting ready to live more life) takes up so much time that there really isn't any time left to report on it. 

But we are all here, we are all well... and we are all going to have an amazing month!!!