It has been a while...

Finally a chance to sit down.  Ever since the move and Disney, we have been busy.  Will give you a quick update to get back up to speed.

The rest of summer flew by, we had much to do before school started with unpacking, painting, and making our new home feel like home.  It was a pretty easy adjustment for the kids.  They both love their new rooms and we have some separation space.  Granted the basement which was to be a combination place for my bar and toys, has pretty much become toy land.  That is ok as now they have a place until some start to migrate up the stairs to the great room but they quickly get taken back down.

Quickly into August Cross Country started for both kids and myself.  It was a cooler August so it was much more enjoyable but that meant school was near.  With changes at school I have been busier that ever, which isn't bad but tho Thanksgiving break is very welcome.  The Boy is doing very well in the fourth grade, taking fifth grade math along with kicking butt in most areas.  The Girl loves Kindergarten.  My AGW is busy but doing well and it will be great to be able to spend some time with her over this extended weekend.

The Girl has deemed every day shorts and flip flop weather even though it is freezing out.  I figure she must be very warm blooded as any day of the year she is in shorts.  At least now we have gotten her to regularly wear clothes of some kind.

The Boy is well the Boy.  He definitely marches to his own music.  He thinks so differently (not in a bad way) but am always amazed at what goes in his head.  The other day he was trying to be cool, making a serious face as he was walking by.  I asked if something was wrong and he said, "No, I am just being cool."  He is now 9 and about the tallest one in his class. The kid wears size 10 pants and they are already too short.

Disney World

After making the move a week ago, we took off from a week in Disney World.  This turned out to be an awesome week but now I need a vacation or at least my AGW and I need a night out alone.

Disney knows how to do the whole package.  We decided to fly down partly due to work schedules and partly due to driving that long in a car both ways.  After our week I was thankful that we flew as the drive home would have been brutal aside from the fact that my legs either hurt or are numb from all the walking.  The greatest thing was is that Disney gets you where you want to go we did not have a bad experience with any employee.  It must be in their contracts to be happy.

We stayed at Port Orleans Riverside, the cheapest closet resort to the Magic Kingdom.  We really wanted to be closer to the Magic Kingdom but couldn't justify the cost for basically sleeping in a room. We also had the dining plan, it worked out great as with not knowing to schedule character meals so far in advance (6 months) we still had a character meal almost everyday and the times actually allowed us to get away with two meals a day as breakfast usually happened around 11:00 am and lunches 3-4:00 pm. The portions were great even on the quick service meals.  Within a month of going to Disney I scrambled for Character meals, only ended up with Whinnie the Pooh and Friends; Mary Poppins, Alice in Wonderland, Mad Hatter, Pooh and Tigger; Princess Breakfast (Belle, Sleeping Beauty, Snow White, and Ariel); and Lilo, Stitch, Pluto and Mickey.  Not bad for not knowing what to do.  

In our six days at Disney we went to each park and the Magic Kingdom twice.  Animal Kingdom was a half day park for us as we arrived before noon, got lunch and got on our way.  It was probably the best choice for the first park and a half day as we missed the one new big attraction but were so tired from getting at 5 am to travel to Disney that day it didn't matter.  The Safari was pretty cool along with our first parade, as the Girl wanted to see Minnie (which was new to us), with Minnie in the parade.  The Boy rode his first ever coaster, wasn't sure how it would go but he laughed and cheered the whole time.  

The second day we conquered the Magic Kingdom.  It lived up to the hype and then some.  We walked to a show right at the beginning of Main Street.  The we were all in awe as we walked up main street towards the castle.  We arrived there and a show started with Mickey, Minnie, Goofy, Donald, Princesses, Peter Pan, etc.  Awesome way to start the day.  We rode rides, met characters, and had our first character meal, a 3:45 pm lunch with Pooh and friends.  Even the 8 year old boy was excited for that.  It didn't hurt as we learned most character table service meals were all you can eat buffets.  After that we rode a few more rides and decided to stay for the electric light parade, again a fantastic event.  Get seats early so you can be in the front row, we lucked out as someone left their space and I got it for the family.  After that we stated by the castle for fireworks but there was a show projected on the castle about 9:45 pm and ended up being one of my favorites of the trip.  Then came a great fireworks show.  The worst part which wasn't all that bad was getting out of the park and on the bus back to the resort.  I carried the Girl out of the park and onto the bus as she was spent.  Surprising we didn't have to wait that long for a bus although our resort had a long bus line.  

Here are a few pictures from the first two days with other days to come in later posts:

 

Aww Nuts!

I know 5 years ago I posted this with the Boy (http://daddyimstinky.blogspot.com/2008/07/aww-nuts-turn-off-tv-dad.html), but the Girl has taken up this saying.

Often times while doing something you will hear her exclaim "Aww NUTS!"  I wonder what they think at school about this.  I guess it is better than other things that could come out of an adult's mouth.

I am sure our laughing when she says it doesn't help her being upset about whatever just happened but it is hard not to crack a smile when she exclaims it.

Moving...

It has been a while since I was able to last post.  We have been a busy bunch.  Not only was the school year winding down we had put our house up for sale.

The Boy was a little upset with this at first as this was the only house he has ever lived in.  I will admit I was sad too as this was our second house and the one we brought our kids home to.  Although his new room has helped him get over the sadness, although with only moving a short distance both kids still miss the old house.

The Girl was a little more excited as she got a great pink room with flowers and butterflies on the wall.

My AGW is also very happy as we now have a master bath and a walk in closet.  So a happy AGW makes me happy as well.

Moving itself was an adventure as we sold our house very quickly, less than a week.  Then had to deal with some repair issues, inspectors and various other small details.  Then came moving all of our stuff, thankfully timing of selling and buying worked out very well for us.

This time, as my AGW pointed out that I am not 25 anymore, we hired movers for the furniture and big items.  We moved all the boxes and remaining items with parents, a great friend and myself.  There are two things I currently do not like anymore - STAIRS and BOXES.  I was amazed at how much stuff we pulled out of our basement and the shed.  The great thing is it all took about 3 days, while the bad thing is I think I will be sorting through boxes the rest of my life.

All this was coupled with the end of school, the end of coaching track & field, Field Day (the one day I am in charge of coordinating a whole day at school), and the rest of things I do as a teacher.  It has been busy but no complaints here.  Plus the kids over the past few days in the new house have been making it to 7:00 am with sleeping.