WDW, Part II: First Day and a Half

After we got to the hotel, Craig and I were delighted to be able to shower. After being in the car for 18 hours, that felt awfully good! Then we grabbed a quick lunch and I proceeded to sit around chatting with my sisters until Craig finally was able to move me (and most everyone else, too) out the door to the Magic Kingdom.

And what a magical moment that was! Bentley and Kendra were already pretty excited just to ride the Monorail, but we managed to enter the park right as Mickey's Once Upon a Christmastime Parade was beginning. The kids were thrilled to see Mickey and Minnie right from the beginning! Unfortunately, the place was so packed it was difficult to get where they could see much of anything, but Craig and I managed to hold them on our shoulders long enough to see the important characters.



Then we shoved our strollers through the crowds to 'Toon Town, and took Bentley on Goofy's Barn Stormer ride, a fairly easy roller coaster for kids. I was sort of worried that if this ride scared him, we might scar him for the rest of the vacation, but he enjoyed it. Then we pushed through even more crowds to do Buzz Lightyear-- mostly because my Mom already had fast passes for that one-- and finally decided to call it a day. Yup-- two rides and we were done!

But no one said that Saturday, near Christmas, at the Magic Kingdom wouldn't be crowded...


The next morning we got up super early and headed back to the Magic Kingdom. We were thinking we could grab breakfast on Main Street before the rest of the park opened, but that turned out to be a big mistake. Unlike Disneyland in California, NONE of the park opened until, well, it opened. So we sat around feeding fruit snacks and goldfish crackers to the kids and feeling like the best parents ever. (I do a lot of that even when I'm not at Disney World, though, to tell you the truth...) As soon as the park opened, we rushed in and, completely forgetting about food, rode on Peter Pan and It's a Small World. While we were having fun, others in our group (Mom, Dad, and sisters) went to get fast passes for Space Mountain. And we rode the Motor Speedway, which Bentley thoroughly enjoyed. Some time in there we figured out that we should probably eat something, so Tracy, Rachael and I headed to the bakery on Main Street while everyone else went on the merry-go-round (a raging success amongst the three-and-under crowd). We bought so much stuff at the bakery that the workers made fun of us. Always a good sign.

Okay, I just realized that listing every single ride we went on is incredibly boring for you, so I'll try to stop doing that and just give you the highlights/funny stories.

So one last thing of note from the Magic Kingdom was meeting Winnie the Pooh and Tigger. It turned out to be WAY too long of a line and the kids were really grumpy by the time we got to meet them, and just as I was resolving to never, ever do that again, Bentley and Kendra walked up and gave them the biggest hugs. Bentley actually hugged Tigger for so long it began to get a bit awkward-- one of those times where I bet the guy in the costume was thinking that this poor kid didn't get much love at home! But it was all very sweet... I especially liked it when Pooh gave Teddy a hug.




That night, then, we headed over to the Animal Kingdom Lodge for a big family dinner at Sanaa. It was delicious-- African foods with Indian spices. The best of all worlds. ;)

More soon!

WDW, Part 1: The Departure

In January, my Dad announced that for Christmas, he was taking all of us to Disney World. Much screaming, squealing, and jumping for joy ensued, and that was just Craig's reaction. For my part, not only was I totally excited, but it would also be my first time going, so that made it an even bigger deal for me. (And it made it a bit more bearable to listen to my in-laws planning their trip for that March!)

All year long, Craig busied himself reading both the Disney Official Tour Guide AND the Unofficial Guide to Walt Disney World. He made reservations exactly 90 days in advance. He begged and pleaded to get extra time off work, sacrificing personal days rather than sick leave (that's the weird thing about being a school teacher-- lots of vacation time, but only when the school district gives it to you; it's hard to get any other days off). Tracy arranged plane tickets for everyone. We were all set to fly out Saturday morning, six days before Christmas.

Thursday night, Craig and I were literally jumping up and down in the kitchen in excitement and anticipation.

Friday morning, Craig woke me up because he was grinning from ear to ear and announced, "Tomorrow we'll be in Disney World!!!"

Twenty minutes later, Craig had called me from work in a panic. There was a snowstorm predicted to hit DC in a big way, starting Friday night and lasting all day Saturday and Sunday. NOW what would we do? We called airlines and asked about changing our flight to Friday evening, but all flights were booked. We asked about flying stand-by, but the customer service rep told me not to bother because everyone else would be trying that, too (bless her for her honesty!). I was ready to resign myself to our fate, and perhaps begin praying for the snow to somehow miss us.

And then Craig's parents had an idea.

"We're driving to Houston in a few days anyway. We could just take you there ourselves..." they offered. We considered this idea. Drive? Really? 14 hours in a car to kick off our trip? But then we realized it was either that, or be stuck in Virginia missing out on WDW until probably Tuesday or Wednesday. And suddenly, "Let's drive" turned into, "Let's leave tonight!" This meant that I spent the afternoon frantically doing laundry, cleaning up the house, and, of course, packing for most of us (Craig finished up with his clothes, but I had at least thrown in his cell phone charger and his toothbrush-- the two things he always manages to forget-- for him!). But we did it! The only thing I forgot to pack was Bentley's Mickey Mouse ears.

We left our home at 4:00. We left Culpeper (where Craig's parents live) at 5:00. And that was right when the snow started falling. We headed straight into the thick of the storm, so things got slower for the first few hours. We didn't get out of Virginia until around midnight, but right when we crossed into North Carolina the snow turned to rain and suddenly we could really move. After that, it was mostly a matter of who was awake enough to drive. I took a shift from 3:00am to 5:00am, and didn't stop until I realized that I was losing my ability to interpret what I was looking at very clearly. (Scary, huh? Fortunately, there wasn't much traffic on the road then...)

We arrived at Shades of Green, the military hotel, around 11:30 the next morning. We were exhausted, but so happy to see the sun shining in beautiful Orlando! We were also pleasantly surprised at how nice the hotel was. I think I'd been picturing something along the lines of La Quinta-- a perfectly decent place, but nothing too fancy. But not Shades of Green! Granite counter tops in the bathroom, enough space in our room for two queen beds, a sofa, and two cribs without feeling crowded at all, and we were right on the golf course, so the view was lovely. Add to that a fabulous (and cheap) buffet restaurant, a couple pools and a hot tub, and you've got the nicest hotel I think I've ever stayed at! (Not to mention tax-free-- yay for the U.S. military!)

Shades of Green.

Not only was the hotel nice, we saw weather reports and heard from friends that Virginia was indeed hit hard by the snow-- 22 inches in a day! Friends of ours who had flights around the same time didn't manage to leave until the following Thursday, so we definitely made the right choice leaving Friday night!

And extra bonus: Craig's school was canceled all week, so Craig didn't use up any of his vacation time after all! (And, perhaps better yet-- we didn't end up sitting around at home because he didn't want to ask for the vacation time, only to have school canceled anyway!)

It wasn't what we had planned at all, but the beginning of our trip turned out to be the best thing we could have hoped for. Phew! So extra big thanks to the Smiths for being willing to drive us, and a huge thanks to my Dad for a fabulous vacation, which you will hear about next post.

Just to show you that I am not exaggerating about the snow, I'm stealing pictures from my friends (hopefully they won't mind...). This one is from Delilas.

And this is from Andrea. Yup-- we missed it all.

MLIA

Last night as Craig and I were getting ready for bed, he commented that it's really hard not to look bored while brushing your teeth. We proceeded to try our best to look ecstatic while brushing. I have a new-found respect for everyone involved in marketing toothpaste. I also have a new game to play with my husband while getting ready for bed. Life is good.











For those of you not familiar with mlia, check it out! I've been addicted for three days now...

7 Strollers Strolling!

There are plenty of women who seem to have a pair of shoes for every occasion. I am not one of these types. I have tennis shoes and flipflops, and a couple dressy pairs for church. And that's pretty much it.

But last night, Craig pointed out that we seem to have strollers for every occasion. All told, we have owned seven strollers. (Eight, if you count the double-stroller twice!) And most of them are still in our possession. This may not seem too ridiculous until I remind myself that we only have two children. What in the world could we possibly need seven strollers for?

Well... The first one we ever got was my Graco. It's one of those great ones where the infant carrier can lock in, it's got a great basket, it fits in the back of the van. I love this stroller. But when I got pregnant with Kendra, Craig's brother offered to sell us his double-stroller, which seemed like a good investment, so we bought that one, too. It's made by Jeep, which cracks me up, and has served us well when we take both kids into the city. But then I wanted a small umbrella stroller just to have, something small and easy for going to the park. So I got one off FreeCycle, but it turned out to be pretty grimy, so I threw it away. Then I got a second one, which is quite nice and I have kept; it's cute with little zoo animals all over it. We also got a toy stroller for Kendra for Christmas last year. This one is getting pretty beat up these days, but it remains a favorite toy, so I can't bring myself to throw it away.

But with the trip that we have coming up, Craig decided that none of these strollers would do. They're either too big and bulky to put on a bus, or they're too short and will cause us back problems from bending over to push them around. So we bought two more. One of them is basically the Queen of All Umbrella Strollers: it folds up like a dream into a tiny little thing, but it's tall and has nice handles AND a basket underneath. Bliss. (Can I use my blog to call dibs on this stroller?)

The other one we just bought is basically the ugly, lesser sister of the Queen Stroller. It's nice-- or at least, it folds up really small. But there's no basket. And it isn't tall. No luxurious handles here. Craig, naturally, has plans to modify this stroller. He's going to cut the handles off our zoo-themed umbrella stroller, and attach them to Ugly Sister Stroller, thus making it tall enough to not give anyone back problems. Fortunately, Ugly Sister Stroller won't be made worse at all by looking a bit uglier.

So where most women go crazy over shoes, apparently I go crazy over strollers. But just when I'm about to decide that this is incredibly lame, I think-- but when I'm pushing a stroller, which are you more likely to notice? My shoes? Or the stroller? Since the stroller completely blocks any view of me, my legs, and especially my shoes, I'm going to have to bet on the stroller. So it's a good investment.

Now I just need one that will match my leather jacket better...

Glee

I am rapidly becoming obsessed:



Okay, okay, you're right. I'm already there.

The Emotions of Motherhood

I'm trying to decide which makes me happier: the fact that Bentley just announced that he's good at stopping bad guys because he's "really tough," or the fact that this conversation occurred within the same hour that he happily spent lunchtime playing footsies with me.

I'm also not sure which gives me greater pleasure: writing this story on my blog for all of you to laugh at, or promising myself that some day I will tell it to his fiance...

And all of this happiness and pleasure almost overrides all the guilt I feel over letting Bentley eat goldfish crackers and cheerios for lunch.

Almost.

Picture Time

Have I been THAT remiss in posting pictures? Because I realized that what's on my camera is pretty out of date now... Especially since it's been snowing all morning. So we're going to stroll down memory lane for a bit and eventually and bring you up to the present. This is what things looked like just a few weeks ago:

Bentley enjoys playing in the leaves

Daddy was wearing ear plugs so Bentley decided he needed goggles. So safe!

Craig's newest toy tool. He's very proud of his leaf blower.

Kendra manages to be even messier than Bentley when she eats.
What-- isn't this how you eat a peanut butter sandwich?

Bentley builds forts out of my couch

Couldn't resist this shot...

Aren't we all just trying to fill our Daddy's shoes?

Eating cookie dough with the cousins and Grandpa
(while Grandma & Daddy makes Christmas cookies; and Mommy watches and takes pictures)

Happy boy.

Watching TV with cousin Maya

Looking very festive; I'm especially excited for the beautiful nativity set I got off FreeCycle.
And if you could see the snow outside, you'd want nothing more than to sit down with a mug of hot chocolate and sing "White Christmas" with us! Drop by any time!

So that's my picture update for now. I'm sure I'll have more soon!

Poetry Post

I can't say I'm a huge poetry reader. It's probably because I'm too intellectually lazy to bother really teasing out the meanings, usually. But there are poems that I read in college that I still love. And this is one of them. It's by e.e. cummings (and yes, he insisted on not capitalizing his name-- that's not a mistake) and it's usually just called by the first line, "Anyone Lived in a Pretty How Town." I think it's fairly open to interpretation, but I love to read it out loud and let it roll off my tongue. And the story that's hidden in there is really quite sweet, I think. For whatever reason I kept thinking of it last night, so I had to look it up and read it again. And now I have to share it with you-- enjoy!

anyone lived in a pretty how town
(with up so floating many bells down)
spring summer autumn winter
he sang his didn't he danced his did

Women and men (both little and small)
cared for anyone not at all
they sowed their isn't they reaped their same
sun moon stars rain

children guessed (but only a few
and down they forgot as up they grew
autumn winter spring summer)
that noone loved him more by more

when by now and tree by leaf
she laughed his joy she cried his grief
bird by snow and stir by still
anyone's any was all to her

someones married their everyones
laughed their cryings and did their dance
(sleep wake hope and then) they
said their nevers they slept their dream

stars rain sun moon
(and only the snow can begin to explain
how children are apt to forget to remember
with up so floating many bells down)

one day anyone died i guess
(and noone stooped to kiss his face)
busy folk buried them side by side
little by little and was by was

all by all and deep by deep
and more by more they dream their sleep
noone and anyone earth by april
wish by spirit and if by yes.

Women and men (both dong and ding)
summer autumn winter spring
reaped their sowing and went their came
sun moon stars rain

And a couple quick Bentley-isms, too

Bentley just said, "Wadawewons." I'm not quite sure how it was that I figured out that he meant "watermelons," but I'm sort of proud of myself for understanding. I'm awarding myself extra credit mommy points.

He will also randomly announce, "I'm a boy." He says it in a way that manages to be matter-of-fact and also enormously proud of himself, all at the same time. One of these days I'll capture it on video for ya so you can see what I mean.

Speaking of which, we just got a new computer (huzzah!). So hopefully I can post video on my blog now! Consider yourself warned.

And one last Bentley-ism: Craig's whole family was here for Thanksgiving. During their stay, it suddenly occurred to me that Bentley was mixing up their names. He was switching Uncle Jason and cousin Kamryn's names (a fairly hefty mistake, since Kamryn is a 9-year-old girl). I was perplexed by it all, until I realized that my poor kid ALSO has an Uncle Cameron (on my side), so he was assuming (since he was hearing the name) that it must apply to this new uncle, also. Which left the name Jason for his little girl-cousin. That's either the smartest thing ever or the stupidest, I'm not sure which yet. But I did think it was pretty funny, even while I felt bad for all the confusion!

Things I think about when I can't sleep

Does anyone else worry that no one is still alive who knows how to call a square dance? Who will keep the fine art of square dancing going strong in this country?

Kendra-isms

For those of you who haven't been around her much recently, Kendra talks a lot now. Mostly she's really good at repeating whatever Bentley or I say-- especially my directions to her as I dress her-- Stand up! Now this arm! etc.-- but she's got a few phrases that have morphed into sayings truly unique to her which I enjoy hearing.

"Behold." It sort of sounds like she's practicing to be a King James Bible angel, but what she's actually asking is to be picked up (and held). Behold.

"Ticky." This is a double-edged sword. What she's saying is, "tricky" but what she means is, "I need help." This came about because whenever she had a hard time doing something I would try to console her by admitting that whatever she was doing was very tricky to do. Now it's just a plea for help.

"Bucky Dames & Kena Wee." This is what she calls her brother and herself. She's really into middle names all of a sudden. I don't really know why. (Just for the record, her brother's name is Bentley, not Bucky. And her middle name is Lee, not Wee. Although I guess Wee could have been kind of cool. Or perhaps Wii?)

"Oookay..." I really wish I could convey the tone of her voice when she says this, because that's what makes it funny. Let's just say that she sounds very resigned to her fate. But she says it this way all the time, even when she's getting her way. And it always makes me laugh.

"'Pie." This means "up high," and is loudly proclaimed whenever the road we are on is an overpass. Somehow the 'uh' has gotten left out...

"Miss Chu!" This is what I got in response to me telling her I had missed her.

"Ah wuzz you, mommy." That one's not too hard to figure out. And yes, it does melt my heart, even when she says it at two in the morning as I'm rocking her to sleep because she has a bad cold and is miserable.

"Uppy-down" (or sometimes "Upsy-down") Upside-down. She loves to have me or Daddy hold her this way, but once we start she never wants us to stop, so you should only begin this game if you're feeling particularly energetic.


There's tons I'm not remembering right this minute, but you get the idea.

Tribute

Craig's grandmother, Mary Dalton-- Grandmere to us-- passed away on Tuesday. She was 91, so while we are sad and miss her, we are mostly glad that we got to have her in our lives for so long. I certainly can't claim to have known Grandmere very intimately; I think I can count on one hand the times when we were able to visit her. But she was a lovely lady. Despite the health problems she faced later in her life, namely dysphonia and vision loss, she still managed to spend time with and be involved with her family.

I wanted to share some of the photos we have of her here as a way of expressing my condolences to her daughters, my fabulous mother-in-law Donna, and her wonderful sister Lynda.

At my wedding, the first time that I met Grandmere

Mary with her grandsons and great-grandchildren, in South Carolina for Christmas 2006

With her two daughters and sons-in-law, Tom & Donna and Lynda & Greg

The whole family

Extended family (I could try to guess at names, but I think I'd get too many of them mixed up)

Lynda and Mary

Watching the great-grandchildren open presents Christmas morning, 2006

Holding Bentley at 3 months

Still buddies now that Bentley is two

And I have to include this one since Kendra is finally on the scene!

May you rest in peace, Grandmere. We love you and miss you.

Cold

I always assume that that first cold day means the next three or four months will be exactly that temperature or colder, and I hunker down and begin wearing strange combinations of socks, slippers, and a fuzzy bathrobe over my pajamas, just hoping to survive until spring. Plenty of people, especially Craig, don't understand this attitude at all. Craig will point out all the fun things about winter-- snow days, hot cocoa, building a fire-- and try to cheer me up. And while I do enjoy those things, it never seems worth all the cold to me.

I think Craig is starting to understand me better, though. Several times recently, as I cuddled up to him in a desperate attempt to steal some body heat, he's pointed out that the tip of my nose is cold. This seems to surprise him.

"How can your nose be cold?!?!" he asks.

And I respond with, "ALL of me is cold! This is why I hate winter so much!"

Seriously. I'm not sure if I just have poor circulation or if I somehow missed out on the warm-blooded aspect of being human or what. But it is a fact: I get cold all over way too easily. And for those of you who aren't afflicted with this problem, let me just assure you that if you spent three months with most of your body cold, you'd hate it, too. I'm a summer person, through and through.

But, having said all that, I have to admit that it's always a happy and welcome surprise when the weather warms up for a few days, even though winter has hardly even started yet. We had one of those lovely days this last Sunday. The morning started out really foggy, which is unusual around here, but by the time we left church, it was in the mid-seventies outside, and we drove home with the windows rolled down.

It was heaven.

Quote for a Monday

Let me just say that I am tired. Bentley refused to take a nap yesterday, which means I didn't get to take a nap either. And then for reasons that are completely unfathomable to me, I kept waking up every hour last night. EVERY FREAKING HOUR. One of those reasons was when Bentley came into the room at 3:30 because he lost his binky. And that was pretty annoying. But the rest of those wake-ups I can only blame on my body forgetting how to delve into REM sleep or something... And naturally, the kids woke up super early this morning, too.

So when I'm this tired, there isn't a whole lot I can do except admit to myself that I'm a complete grump and hope that maybe honesty will allow the situation to be humorous and help me move on a bit from the grumpiness.

Anyway, here's a quote that makes me laugh. It's from the TV show The Simpsons, which is perhaps one of the most brilliant cartoons ever to be animated:

"I don't have to be careful, I've got a gun!"

-Homer Simpson

Gotta love it.

Here's to Monday!



(By the way, don't worry-- I don't actually have a gun. Good thing, too!)

Social Evolution

I read a book review in the National Review a few weeks ago that got me thinking. The book was about the many men in our society who refuse to grow up and take responsibility for their lives (and no, I can't remember what the title of this book was), but that's not actually what I want to write about here. The review briefly mentioned how men and women's roles within the family changed with the industrial revolution. Not to draw too much attention to my own ignorance here, but this was something I'd never thought about before. Usually we hear so much about how women's roles changed with WWII and with the feminist revolution and the impact that this has had on the family. But we rarely hear about men's changing roles, and we hear even less about how men have changed our families.

So let's look at this for a moment: before the industrial revolution, when the majority of families farmed to survive, they would have functioned completely differently. Men would have been with their families all day long, just like the women. Sure, they would go out into the fields to labor, but the sons would be out there laboring with their fathers as soon as they were old enough. And everyone would share most of their meals together-- not just dinner! So daughters would be with their mothers and sons with their fathers, all learning their trade side by side. So parenting was truly both parents' job. (Not that it isn't still, but in Mormon culture it certainly falls on the Mom's shoulders for most of the day. In the rest of the world, it mostly goes to the daycare workers, a fact which I can't even think about for too long because it makes me so worried for the coming generations, which is why I've never blogged about it.)

How different would our world be if both parents spent all day long with their children?

It's so weird, because I definitely have no desire to go back to that time period (I'm a big fan of our day and age, where even a major famine doesn't lead to starvation-- at least in America-- and I also happen to like things like indoor plumbing), but I think we also need to acknowledge that there are things humanity lost without even noticing, and perhaps we need to give these things a little more thought. And losing both parents' involvement in their children's lives, one after the other, is perhaps the most tragic loss we've experienced. I don't know how or when we can ever recover from this.

Standards

The other day, Bentley and I had the following discussion:

Bentley: Captain Hammer* is kind of a wimp.
Me: Yeah? How come Captain Hammer is a wimp?
Bentley: Because he starts crying over a little tiny bruise.
Me: Yeah, that's pretty wimpy of him. What about Dr. Horrible? Is he a wimp?
Bentley: No, Dr. Horrible's not a wimp.
Me: Yeah. He's pretty tough, huh. What about Daddy? Is he tough like Dr. Horrible?
Bentley: Yeah, Daddy's pretty tough. (Pause as Bentley thinks.) Except, Daddy's kind of a wimp with peanut butter...

Apparently in Bentley's mind Allergies = Wimpiness.

Who knew?



*Captain Hammer is Dr. Horrible's arch nemesis, for those of you still unfamiliar with Dr. Horrible's Sing-a-long Blog.

And a few more Halloween pictures, too...

We took these pictures right before we left to go trick-or-treating. The kids were kind of excited...

(For comparison's sake, I'm slipping in this picture of Bentley from 2007-- I like that my kids have the exact same "excited" face...)

Looking a bit more normal just for a split second...

I love Kendra with her tongue sticking out. Totally love it.

Posing for Church Magazines

Bentley recently discovered that there are pictures in the Book of Mormon! This made it infinitely more interesting to him than it had ever been before, and led to what might possibly be my favorite pictures EVER. Let me warn you in advance: these are ridiculous and cheesy, and that's why I think they're funny. And, of course, why I have to share them with you:

Doesn't this look posed for the Ensign or something? If only it were backlit, and possibly the bed looked neater, it would be PERFECT. Okay, okay, and no t-shirts, either. They ought to be in their Sunday best. But STILL!!!
(Just for the record, the bed was made, but the pillows got tossed around, so it looks messier than it actually was...)

Totally engrossed. So righteous. Eat your heart out, Seriously, So Blessed!

He liked the story of Samuel the Lamanite.

And how's this for looking like a completely whacked-out religious zealot?!?! We were dying laughing. Guess Bentley's ready to serve a mission and call the masses to repentance!

I expect photographers from the Church News to be knocking on our door any day now.

Health

I can't swallow pills. At all. When I was in the hospital after Bentley's c-section, the nurses used to watch in fascination and horror as I would chew up my narcotics (percocet-- good stuff!) every four hours. It was gross, but worth it.

But, as you can imagine, I usually try to avoid medication whenever possible, because it's just not worth the taste. Or sometimes I'll even request the liquid version of things, which usually gets me weird looks at the pharmacy (one time the pharmacist was about to give me an infant dropper until she noticed the birthdate on the medication and realized the antibiotics were for me, not for Kendra). And, for obvious reasons, I've never been big on taking vitamins or any of that "healthy" stuff, because they usually make me want to throw up, which doesn't make me feel very healthy. But recently I discovered these:

And they're wonderful. I heart gummy vitamins.

Sneaky Sister, Part II

Apparently it wasn't just Bentley's new toys that were worth investigating during his nap time. Kendra also liked his Halloween costume:

This picture is my favorite. I love that devious little grin.

This happened a while ago. You can tell because the hat is still in one piece! I guess Kendra's costume is all figured out for next year!