Week 45: I Totally Just Made This Blog.. Out of Nothing!

So, I just realized it's 11 pm and I never wrote my blog today. Which I guess is ok, because Justin is over and the boys are playing together quietly and nicely. By boys of course, I mean Asa and Justin.

This week was a very, very busy one. Last Friday after Asa got out of work we packed up the car and headed out. Our friends Kevin and Katie treated us to two nights at a hotel in Orlando (thanks again, guys!). We were able to get adjoining rooms, which was awesome. Friday Night we spent some time in the pool, and watched Despicable Me. If you've never seen it, you should. Good parenting lessons right there.

Saturday we got up and had breakfast at the hotel, they had a really nice free one including waffles you could make yourself- even Mickey shaped. Afterwards we spent some more time in the pool, and then went out to putt putt. Since there was 8 of us we had to divide into two groups of four: the kids group and the adult group. I'm not sure about Calib's score keeping abilities, but he did end up 'winning'. I think Asa won, maybe Kevin, or maybe Katie (she did get a hole in one even after her ball bounced out of the green, onto the sidewalk and back). I'm not really sure, I just know, sadly, it wasn't me.

We were lucky to have really nice weather. It wasn't too hot and it didn't rain, which was great since we spent most of our time last weekend swimming (by the end of it I was quite sick of changing into and out of my wet bathing suit). After putt putt, we headed back for another trip to the pool.

Then, Katie and Kevin were nice enough to watch the boys so we could go out for our anniversary. We had the best time! So again, thank you guys, you totally made the weekend for us (out of nothing). I put my flower from our wedding in my hair, and pulled out my flip flops I wore under my wedding dress- it's become sort of a tradition now, I suppose.

First, we ate at Cape May at the Beach and Yacht Club. Crab Legs? Yes please. Especially when my husband is being super nice and cracking them all for me. We had only been to Cape May once before, and the boys were with us. I remembered the good food- and the paper 'table cloths' where you got to draw on it in crayons. Apparently, they only give the crayons out to kids though, so I had to steal some at another table so I could draw on ours. Don't worry, the kids at that table were long gone. The waitress even saw my cute drawings, and brought us Happy Anniversary Buttons.

After dinner we took the boat over to the boardwalk, and got to see the fireworks from Epcot. I had decided we should go to Jellyrolls. I kept talking about it, and eventually Asa was like 'wait, what is Jellyrolls? Is it a bakery?' I guess that explained his lack of excitement. Jellyrolls is actually a dueling piano bar. And, after having been there, I can tell you - It. Is. Awesome. It was SUCH an awesome time. I had a fuzzy navel, and we got to listen to an array of songs- from 'I've got friends in low places', to 'brown eyed girl' to the fresh prince of bell-air theme song. Such an awesome time. Seriously, if you've never been- go. It's totally worth the $12 cover. Oh, and I got carded- yay!

After we left Jellyrolls my awesome husband tried his best to win me a terribly cheap stuffed turtle by flinging rubber lobsters into a pot with a mallet. He however, was not successful, so we continued on until we came across a cute little photo booth and we took a couple pictures.

We walked leisurely back to the Beach and Yacht Club since that's where we parked. As we were walking past one of the pools, I had a light bulb moment. We have another anniversary tradition (though it still was a few hours short of being our actual anniversary) of jumping in a body of water in our clothes. Our wedding night it was the hotel pool, last year it was the gulf. Asa couldn't believe I suggested it, but he went along pretty quickly with it. It was pretty cold running through the halls to get back to our car.

When we got back, everyone was 'asleep', until Angela ratted everyone out. We poured some Smirnoff in our wedding glasses (also a tradition- are you sensing a trend here?) and stayed up late playing bananagrams, and the bean game- which I totally won because I refused to sell out and buy a third bean field- while the kids watched a movie in the other room and fell asleep.

Sunday after breakfast, we checked out of the hotel. The original plan had been to camp all weekend at Disney's Fort Wilderness, but they were all booked except for Sunday night. We decided to book it for Sunday, but we had a little time between check out and check-in so we decided it would be best to fill our time with giant kitchen sinks full of ice cream. This thing is massive. It comes with 8 kinds of ice cream, a slew of toppings, and an entire bottle of whipped cream. It's kind of super awesome. All
8 of us couldn't even finish it, though we tried.

When we got to the campsite, we attempted to put up our tent in 10 minutes or less. I was so sure we could do it, but Asa was dilly-dallying around. He didn't even speed up when everyone gave the 30 second warning. Next time, we'll totally have it. Since it was our official anniversary, we had Katie take our picture of us holding a picture of our first anniversary. We're going to do this ever year with the previous year picture and it's going to be awesome in a few years!

By now, it was afternoon and we still hadn't swam, so we headed over to the pool for some swimming, hula hooping, and water sliding. Unfortunately, after all the fun Angela had to get back to her moms house, so I quickly got her an early dinner, and fed her some smores, and Katie and Kevin went to drop her off, and get a tent since we convinced them to stay another night with us.

We took the opportunity to head into the Magic Kingdom. A perk of Fort Wilderness is the boat running directly from there to the Magic Kingdom. It was pretty crowded, but we had a good time getting another anniversary button (since I forgot ours), playing in the fountain, eating a heavenly dole whip pineapple float, trying on the cute newlywed mickey ears (they're $20 if you want to buy them though- no thanks!) locating some hidden mickeys on the Pirates of the Caribbean and FINALLY convincing Peyton and Hayden that the Haunted Mansion was not terrifying at all.  On our way out we stopped and got a red velvet cupcake from the Main Street Bakery. It was all followed by a really nice trip back to the campgrounds on the boat.

Once we got back it was time for smores with chip n dale, some sidewalk chalk drawing, and one more trip to the pool. (I told you, I changed A LOT). After all that we managed to get back to the beach in time to watch the fireworks, and play on the playground.

When we got back to the campsite the kids were out almost immediately. We stayed up for awhile, had our cupcake (which we cut with our 40 year old wedding cake knife- thanks mom!), and laughed a lot while Kevin and Katie attempted to put up their tent for the first time in the dark. Which, I'm pretty sure it's a christening you have to go through as a couple. And then.. there were the steaks out of nothing.

Unfortunately, bedtime didn't go so well. Asa isn't really a camper, though he never objects when I say we should go. He complained about me snoring, and Kevin snoring, and the crane whooping, and the guy next door with his flashlight at 3 AM. He did have a valid point about the air mattress losing air though. By the morning he was in the car, and I was sleeping next to Peyton on the ground as the air mattress had almost completely deflated. Needless to say, it did not come home with us.

After a quick brunch of grilled quesadillas, and Peyton capturing and releasing all kinds of frogs we packed up camp. We went over to the Meadow after that though, and rented a couple of canoes. For Disney they were totally reasonably priced. Katie and Calib went in one canoe, Kevin and Peyton went in another, and Asa, Hayden and I went in another. Hayden in a canoe made me terribly nervous, but it ended up being fine. After that it was quite hot out so we decided one last pool trip was in order, then we headed home. 

We didn't have the energy for a lot Monday evening, but we did squeeze in the point auction. The mystery item this week was a Night Owl #2. Let me tell you, Night Owls are the most coveted item in the auction. It allows the card holder to stay up as late as they want. Calib won the one in the auction at the steep price of 35 points. Hayden is hilarious when he uses his- he waves it in the air and smiles super big. It's adorable. 


By Tuesday everyone was pretty exhausted. But, I had big plans for Science Week. In an effort not to bore you with the mid week lull- and in an effort to finish this blog so Asa and I can watch Fringe (best.show.ever.)- I'll quickly go through our activities this week. So, Tuesday we made diet soda and mentos volcanoes, and clouds in a jar. 

Wednesday we made it rain in a soda bottle, made cloud dough, and blew up balloons without actually having to blow them up. FYI, Hayden ran screaming from the table as soon as they started to inflate.

Thursday we made fireworks in a jar, and slime- which was a big hit.

And today we made a bottle ecosystem- complete with guppys, a snail, and crickets. The cat eventually knocked the bottle over and we had at least one fatality in the form of a crushed cricket. Overall though huge success!

We were planning on the drive in tonight, but the weather had other plans. I took this opportunity to check another item off my list. We went puddle hopping. After a disappointing run through the small puddles out front we found a massive one down at the park. Hayden was the only kid cool enough to join in on the madness though. Thanks for the inspiration Brandy!

Phew. Busy Week. Here's your added bonus's

Best New Dessert: Jello Roll Ups. You. Must. Try.

Best Figure of Speech: Looks like the boys had to walk on eggshells around us today!

Biggest Fear Faced: I changed the water in the fish tank today. I have been terrified since that terrible terrible day when I was the only one home and the cat knocked over the beta fish bowl and I was the only person home. My choices: pick up a flopping, out of water fish or watch him die and have to tell Peyton. To this day I can't believe I picked up the fish. I should have just bought a new fish, and not told him.

Most Hated City by Calib: Cleveland. He has to hate the city, first he's a Steelers fan which he certainly didn't get from me. Second he's apparently now a LeBron James fan. He even used his birthday money to buy a jersey, which luckily got here in time for watching the game last night.

Cheater, Cheater: Asa. Three time Bachelorette Bingo Champion. Something smells fishy.

Just in Time: Hayden. He's bedtime was 10 pm, and he came knocking on our door at 9:58. When we asked who it was he said 'Hayden. And the night owl number two!'

Funniest Comparison: Asa: "Did you ever notice one of your bra pads look like a Mr. Potato Head butt?'

Up Next: Looks like it's going to be a rainy weekend/possible week with a tropical system out there, ruining a whole lot of plans. But it is Game Week! Jeopardy, Wheel of Fortune and Minute-to-Win-It Waterstraut Style!