AHG Mother Daughter Bowling/Laser Tag

So the first thing I heard from mom and the girls was that when you go to play Laser Tag, you DO NOT where a neon shirt, as you will be a glowing target.  Ruby told me "Mom was a light bulb, everybody shot her.  I shot her three times."  Ruby also told me that it was so funny when it was Mom's time to bowl one time, and she was over getting cheese fries.  Everyone was hollering for her to run back, and she did, but not without her cheese fries.  And apparently bowling got boring for all the girls except for Sarah Beth, who ended up bowling for everyone at the end.  And there were smiles all around below, but the feedback I got was ditch the bowling, we want more laser tag.  I am glad the girls had fun, and mom gets these times with them.  And fun sometimes to do something different, as this one has traditionally been a tea or pottery or painting event.  Pew Pew!

Other than Disney

 It is the end of February as I finally get to this blog about the non-disney days in January.  Oh well, let's see what was going on once we got back home...

So first off was a biggie...Magan got COVID again, which made us think that was probably what Davis had the whole time in Orlando.  And probably what Sam and Ruby had with sniffles while down in Orlando.  But it also kept the kids out of school for even more days where they almost did not go to school the whole month of January.  Quarantine also brought back the giant tent where Davis, Belle and Ruby would sleep for about a whole week.  And it also prompted a couched mom into hitting the Kid's Market clothes a little earlier than usual this year.  Magan is in one of those pictures below of our living room...see if you can find her.  

I forgot to get a picture into the December blogs about the boys advent calendar.  It was really cool playmobil back to the future set.  I was probably more excited each day than they were.  It even had a picture of playmobile marty and his siblings that would disappear if you held it at the right angle...Sam was excited that I brought him a Louisa toy from walmart...Sam and Davis, after missing a game or two while down in Orlando, got to join their basketball team...And the Ford Escape, to which Sam had named "Alfred" was resurrected by 280 auto and sold in the same day on Facebook.  Good riddance to that horrible car.   Altho I do hope it does well for the new owners.    

Career Day

Career day is the best, and we have not been able to do this since 2020.  So Magan and I jumped on the list and scheduled to present together.  It was so much fun, I think we both have our routines down, and we could probably switch roles if we wanted to.  

I get the kids laughing with the snap circuits always "accidentally" letting the fan spin up high in the classroom.  Then bring out my magic bag of protons (marshmallows) that "vanish" from my hands showing they are invisible to the eye making some of the kids eyes get real big.  Squishing them together to show Oxygen, and making my body into a Uranium molecule that breaks apart to release the energy.  I love doing this, and love getting to come be in Ruby's class for at least a few moments.  One little boy made my day when he said "Wow, you are as funny as my dad".  

Magan also killed it with her presentation.  She has them all laughing at the funny pictures on her slide show, but then aaahhhing and ooohing at the cute babies in her slide show.  They always have fun guessing her different jobs she has worked in.   But when she brings out the happy bag, with all the toys she uses to make kids smile, they love it.  And if any are not laughing at first, they always are when she brings out the whoopie cushion.  Ruby sat on it to give it a little toot.  And I know that Magan's day was made when one little boy said "You remind me of my pre-school teacher.  I really liked her".  

And in hindsight, we both wished we would have gotten a picture with Ruby, but it appears that we both missed that opportunity.  But we both remember her hugs when we came in the room...and the bonus hugs from so many other friends as we tried to leave.  

 

DISNEY Day 17 - Packing Up and Going Home

And so began the long drive home.  Packed to the top of the van as usual, Magan did great with the food she bought for us, but we still had some snacks/food/toiletries shoved all over the van.  We said our goodbyes to our Florida home, bringing back with us also all the memories we could get loaded.  Perhaps a few got left, but I think we brought all the highlights with us.

By the time we were back in Alabama, the temperature was down to 41.  Yeah, I love living in the North.  Ugh.  Our drive home brought us back to Confederate Flags, and trucks stacked way to high with pallets.  Our journey including a sleeping mom, that started talking in her sleep a few times.  

We listened to quite a bit of Jim Gaffigan on Pandora.  And even tho we have heard some of those stories many many times, they are still so funny.  The bit that cracked us all up on that journey home tho was from Kathleen Madigan talking about her mom giving her a pill from her stash.  "Oh no, what color was that one that I gave you Kathy"..."I don't know, I didn't think I had to question when my mom gives me medicine".  So funny.  

The kids brought back their Pirate Adventure maps...and when they completed them all, they got the special note from Jack Sparrow below.  There was also a pin trading event when we got home, and display of all the ones together making a complete collection.  Mom finally got her Christmas present that I had ordered, but it was late being shipped.  Sam got to try out his new car.  

And my favorite story of that night was Ruby bringing me a bracelet she had in her room from Thanksgiving.  It was made of string and paper, and had pictures she had colored of the lives of the pilgrims that came over on the Mayflower.  In seeing one picture of them in the snow, where it appeared they had not survived I said "Oh, I didn't know that the many pilgrims died during the winter".  "Yeah, Dad, they showed that in the EPCOT show.  You would have known that if you were awake".  

DISNEY Day 16 - Hollywood Studios

I hated to get the ponchos out, as they never really go back into the bag like you want them to.  But on this last day of Disney, they finally came out.  With some pretty heavy rain, we were up and ready to go for the opening of Hollywood Studios, but none of us wanted to go out in the downpours...so we waited till there was a little break that got us to the park around 10:15, and I forked out the extra cash to get Priority Parking...I did not want to walk far when we left either.  So my plan to avoid the ponchos worked for a little while, we jumped out of the car and ran to a ticket booth area and waited under an overhang, then over to the entrance stiles where we were covered.  Then we made our way thru the stores almost all of the way down sunset boulevard.  Then a break in the rain took us directly to the line of Rockin Rollercoaster, where it started to come down, and we finally got the ponchos out.  And a couple of pictures to prove that we needed them.  Then after the ride, we never had to use them again.  I knew it!  We hit our two favorite rides first as we did every hollywood morning, then took some last strolls through the park.

I had to have a Wookie Cookie or two before we left on this day, as they were so good.  This time we picked up some green and blue milk to go with them from Galaxy's edge.  It was sad to finally leave, but that is what we finally did.  And we drove to our new favorite chain of Chedders for supper.  

Here, while waiting for our food, we started through these notes that I have used for the blogs.  We remembered all the fun stuff that had happened.  We picked on each other again for random things.  Davis laughed that after the 10:30PM mac and cheese dad moment, that he felt bad that Anabelle's mac and cheese was not eaten...so he ate it.  I was probably asleep by then, but "You don't eat mac and cheese at 10:30 at night.  Are you crazy" came up again at our house last night...Maybe the kids can put that on a t-shirt for me one day.  And Magan at this point in Chedders was a little loopy.  It happens occasionally when she is really tired, so we all laughed at mom who was in her sleepy spacey giggly mode.  

What was our anthem of this vacation?  It was Encanto.  Every morning of every day, it was playing in the van.  And what song of that movie was our family song?  Not Bruno...but "Surface Pressure".  I was driving and focused on the road, but there was never a morning when they weren't all watching Louisa on Magan's phone, all singing together in her deep voice "It keeps Growing, Growing, Growing".  Davis may have been the only one wanting it turned off...but I think it was all a big act...he liked it just as much as the rest of us.  

So what were your favorite rides?  Belle:  Slinky dog at night, Splash Mountain.  Davis:  Tower of Terror, Rockin Rollercoaster.  Sam:  Space Mountain and Tower of Terror.  Ruby:  Rockin Rollercoaster and Rise of the Resistance.  Mom:  Soarin and Tower of Terror.  Dad:  Rise of the Resistance and Avatar.

Back at our condo for the last night.  We all sat and watched Monsters University together.  I also remember just sitting at the top of the stairs with my sweet girl Ruby.  Sharing some memories before she had to go to bed.  Treasured moments, and we would bring home a chest full.  

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