In case you missed it, our oldest child became a legal adult on June 1st! We've contributed a real life legal adult to the world! Isn't that awesome?
And while, we're still working on a lot of 'grown up' things like driving a car (we're totally getting there), I think Calib has a pretty good head on his shoulders. In the overall scheme of responsibility, Calib is much more responsible than your average 18 year old. Sometimes, living with Asa, I think he's slightly more responsible than a 35 year old.
So while it is awesome I got him to 18 without any major blunders- I'm not quite ready to tell him to pack his bags and get out of my house just yet. I mean he's only just starting his senior year since when he was five we were moving to Florida instead of enrolling him in kindergarten.
Since 18 is a big birthday, my mom came down to help celebrate and told Calib he could go stay anywhere at Disney that he wanted- and of course he picked the cabins at Fort Wilderness.
I always say for a big family, the cabins are the best. They are roomy as far as Disney hotels go, and they sleep six.
\
Plus you get a whole kitchen to work with- so meals are much easier, and cheaper because you don't have to go out all the time.
You also get your own grill- so if you want to cookout instead of using the kitchen, you can do that too.
Asa worked a TON of hours Tuesday, Wednesday and early morning Thursday (since Monday was a holiday) to have off on Thursday evening and all day Friday. Losing his spot at Verizon meant losing all those vacation hours too, which was a total bummer. But, at least his new employer worked with him so we didn't have to cancel birthday plans or get a really short check.
So after Asa logged all his hours on Thursday we were off to drop Etta and Porkchop at the kennel (shout out to our neighbors behind us for checking in on Maybel, Dipper, Ellie and Phenom for us!), and headed out to the cabins where we had hot dogs and hamburgers for dinner.
Now, Friday June 1st was supposed to be the last day we could go into a Disney park until we were blacked out -- coincidentally until my birthday on August 10th! BUT, after four days of being blacked out, they UN-blacked us out for the rest of June. Anyway, point being we thought Thursday and Friday were going to be the last days we could do Disney for a couple months. Mom would have to use one of her tickets, but with our passes we decided to make a quick evening trip to the Magic Kingdom, while she stayed behind to get some work done. As a fun bonus of Fort Wilderness, everyone drives around on little golf carts to get around. So, to get to the Magic Kingdom you just have to hop on your golf cart and go up to the boat docks, and then board the boat for the Magic Kingdom.
It was however a bit rainy that night, and we did all get a little soaked.
But we also had Fastpasses for the coveted Seven Dwarfs Mine Train. Those are STILL really hard to get, but since we were staying on Disney property, I could get them 60 days out instead of the usual 30- so I nabbed them for BOTH nights of our stay.
Hayden and I also did the Speedway while everyone else did Space Mountain (Fun fact: Tomorrowland is all done up for the Incredibles Movie this summer, complete with photo ops!)
And we hadn't been in so long, I was super excited about finally trying the new Pineapple Upside Down Cake Dole Whip! I loved it. Would totally recommend. (Also: use mobile ordering people, we got this thing in under 5 minutes when the line went all the way out the cue.)
Pretty much we exhausted our fast passes and were back on our way to the cabins.
And while the rain had cleared it was still pretty cloudy, but it made for a pretty boat ride back.
We even had a rainbow!
There are a couple of pools at Fort Wilderness. The main pool has a slide and a pool bar and such, but there are also various quiet pools, one of which was right by our cabin - so we did take a late night dip. It was not a bad way to end your 'childhood'.
Another perk of staying on Disney property is being able to take advantage of Extra Magic hours, when you can get into the park early (or sometimes stay later) than everyone not staying at a Disney hotel. Now, Calib REALLY wanted Fastpasses to Avatar: Flight of Passage, but even at our 60 day out window they were all gone. I told him there were extra magic hours at the Animal Kingdom from 8 am to 9 am on his birthday, so if he REALLY wanted, we could get up early (like BE at the Animal Kingdom by 7: 30 for 'rope drop'. He said that's what he wanted to do, but I was still skeptical we'd be able to get him up that early. He did it though, and so bright and early we were off to the Animal Kingdom. The gates were already opened when we got there at about 20 till 8, so while the boys all hopped in the 45 minute (and growing) line for Flight of Passage, mom and I walked right on the other new ride: Navi River Journey (and I mean walked RIGHT on- we got up to the front of the line after seeing nobody and walked right into a boat without stopping.
While the line for the Flight of Passage was growing by the second- the rest of Pandora was totally empty. It was super weird.
There wasn't much else open that early though, and after realizing that, mom and I grabbed some breakfast at Creature Comforts. I finally got to try the colossal cinnamon roll, and it was every bit as good as it looks (though mom and I each had an ear and we saved the big part for the boys).
Since we had Fastpasses for Magic Kingdom on Friday night, we couldn't get anything for Animal Kingdom that morning. But, we were in line for Kilimanjaro Safaris right when they opened at 9 am, so there really was minimal waiting- 5 minutes or so! Plus, that early in the morning meant we got to see lots of animals out and about.
After the safari, Expedition Everest was at a 15 minute wait, so we sent Calib, Peyton and Asa ahead to do that while we watched some animals and walked over to Dinoland.
A few rides later and a nose through the gift shop and everyone was done with the Animal Kingdom just as the crowds for the day were pouring in.
Shout out to the person who was coming in, and asked if we wanted our picture taken.
We were back at the cabins in time for lunch. I brought along my griddle and made everyone quesadillas, per Calib's request.
Then we went down to the main pool for an afternoon of swimming, drinks, and water sliding. I managed to get sunburnt, so that should count as my one time this summer.
Fun fact: If you all squeeze in real close, you can actually fit six people on a four person golf cart.
Even though we were staying at the cabins, we did go out for dinner on Calib's birthday over at the Wilderness Lodge. That too is just a boat ride away.
Whispering Canyon Cafe at the Wilderness Lodge is a family favorite. The boys like it because it's 'all you care to enjoy' milkshakes.
But they also like the 'all you care to enjoy' family style barbecue, complete with brisket, ribs, chicken, pulled pork, mashed potatoes, green beans, corn, baked beans, cornbread and salad.
Plus, even though we heard the 'shenanigans' had been toned down, they were still doing some of the rowdy fun the restaurant has been known for. You still get to scream 'we need ketchup' across the whole restaurant (in which everyone brings you ALL the ketchup- but then later it'll be your turn to return the favor).
The wait staff there used to be very sarcastic, if not a bit rude to you (totally joking around and on purpose), but I guess they had to tone that down a bit too. We asked our waitress about it, and she said basically it was getting a little too out of control and loud and they are bringing it down, for now, but adding in bits and pieces here and there. But, she played along for us. Mom told her it was Calib's birthday, so she brought him out the cupcake, sang happy birthday to him, and then proceeded to eat his cupcake.
Of course, she brought him a new one after that, but it was pretty funny. (She did tell us part of the problem was the newbies working there who didn't quite understand their audience. Like, you can't just snatch a three year old's cupcake and just start eating it.)
After our awesome dinner- we headed back over to the Magic Kingdom.
But everyone was pretty full, so Calib, Peyton and Asa were not super into their fastpasses for Space Mountain. Instead I gave Calib my magic band so he could go on Space Ranger Spin with grandma and Hayden- while Asa, Peyton and I nosed around the giftshops.
And while I know it isn't Calib's favorite (but it is totally mine), we got to do Philharmagic.
And of course our Seven Dwarfs fastpasses.
It was crowded though, so we didn't stay for the Fireworks, but we caught a glimpse of them on our way back on our boat.
Not that anyone was super hungry- but I did bring cupcakes from Gigi's cupcakes for Calib's birthday, per his request.
Calib is also notoriously hard to shop for, but he had been asking about a Fitbit for his birthday. You only turn 18 once, so we went ahead and got it for him. Overall, I think he had an awesome birthday.
The next morning, Calib and Peyton slept in while Asa, mom, Hayden and I took the boat back over to the Wilderness Lodge.
They have a really nice counter service breakfast, and I told anyone who got up early enough, I would treat them. Asa got pulled pork over grits, Hayden got a Mickey Waffle kids meal.
And mom and I got banana fosters french toast. It really is a great (and for Disney, inexpensive!) counter service place, so if you find yourself over there for breakfast, totally stop by.
We also hit the boats just right- and both there and back, we were the only ones on our boat.
We did have time to make one more trip to the pool, too.
And we took advantage of the just-opening pool and used the waterslide a bunch without any line at all.
Calib and Hayden stayed behind while the rest of us went to go pack up the car.
Shout out to mom for an awesome trip to Disney!
We swung by Pet Paradise to pick up Etta and Porkchop on the way home. Weirdly enough, Porkchop had a great time. The staff enjoyed him so much they took him out for extra play time (apparently he really enjoyed the obstacle course). Etta had a very different experience. She sat in the corner and refused to interact with anyone, and quivered her lip at them a few times. Now, she had an indoor/outdoor suite so she could go out and do her business on her own, but I still felt bad for her. Ellie was super excited to see Etta when they got home, but then Etta snapped at her. I was all concerned, and Asa was like 'You know, when you've been in Ohio, and I get there and I'm all excited to see you--- but you're totally fried and grumpy because you've been in Ohio--- that's pretty much Etta right now.' She got over it though, and all is good again in the Waterstraut dog world.
Now, here's where I'd like to give a shout out to my niece Gwen, who spread her germs to her whole family (who mom just happened to be with the week and a half before she showed up here), who then spread their germs to mom, who spread hers to Hayden. Fortunately, it ended with Hayden. But, I was on high alert with my hand sanitizer and airborne. But, we did ostracize mom and Hayden to eating at the bar, as not to infect the healthy people at the kitchen table.
Besides Disney, we didn't do a whole lot while mom was here (no worries, she will be back for Peyton's birthday in a couple weeks!). Calib drove her to get shakes one night, and then we all went out another night. Sonic totally botched our shakes this night though (we did email them and then they did treat us all to free shakes later).
And she was able to help Calib with his math for his SATs. Some of that is just beyond me and even Asa. We don't use a lot of trigonometry around here.
In other around the house news, we've been trying to hit the pool at the lodge on Asa's lunch breaks. He hated hour lunches when he had to be in the office- but now that he's always work from home, one hour lunches are lovely. It's plenty of time to do lots of things!
I've also been working on our home school for the summer. We decided the boys need to work on some things around the house, as well as some life skills things. So, twice a month they will be applying for jobs. There were four postings this time around and they had to fill out applications, and have an interview for those jobs. (They ranked what they'd like one through three).
Applications came complete with social security numbers, so they are working on memorizing them.
After the interviews, Asa and I sent out offer sheets for them to read and sign. This go around they all had different jobs in their number one slot, so they didn't know it, but there wasn't really any competition.
Then they had checklists (complete with deadlines), put up along with their normal summer work load for the week.
Currently, Calib is our room attendant. He did everything on his week one checklist but scrub the toilets. But, my bed seems to be getting made later and later these days.
Hayden is our groundskeeper. He's been mowing the lawn, watering the plants, pulling weeds and taking out the trash and the recyclables all week.
Peyton is our sous chef, so he has been assisting in the kitchen all week.
He even planned and made two meals, including Jordanian Mansaf, and Barbados Macaroni Pie.
At the end of their first week they got performance reviews and their paydays.
Contracts for their jobs last two weeks, and then we mix it up a bit. So, yesterday I posted a new set of jobs.
We took a break from speeches our last two weeks (but we're back this week with Conspiracy Theory Speeches), to make some items for our Summer Bucket List. Each day they had to write down something, and as soon as Amazon decides to deliver my laminating pouches I'll put them up on the cork board and we can start checking them off.
We've also been taking advantage of lots of library events. The bad news is that now that it is summer, all the events are filling up super fast, and I think I'm going to have to start getting up at 8 am on registration days to get them into some things. Hayden is currently on the wait-list for his second 3-D printing class, and his second Art History class.
But, he did make to his first art class and learned about cave drawings.
And you don't have to register for the summer reading events, those are just whoever shows up, shows up. His first event was about legos.
He also made it into the Jr. Woodworkers class this week and built a stool.
Peyton has been doing his anime club, and Calib's registered for a 16 plus event in the Foundry, so they've also been taking advantage of our summer library programs. Tonight is their first summer reading event too.
And then there's our project here. Since our countries is over, I've decided we're going to very casually do the 50 states (and maybe the US Territories too), since we're about half way through the year, I'll only have to do two states or so a week to finish by the end of the year. I have all my recipes and info cards done for the states too. If I had done this before the countries, I might have not followed through- since I would have seen how long 50 states took me to do. But, since I did it after, I was like 'wow, this is going super fast!' 50 is a whole lot less than 196.
Sunday June 10th, marked 15 years since Asa walked into Sneak Peeks and I met him for the first time, so we went out and about to celebrate.
For said meeting anniversary, Asa got me the egret I'd been eyeing at Costco for the front flower bed. I also picked up a cute little dragon for my cactus fairy garden at Duncheon's. It's not quite to scale, but it was so cute!
In your gardening update, my sunflowers are attracting lots of butterflies and TONS of bees. Pollinate little guys, Pollinate!
The pepper plants are doing really well, we've got a super tall one, and tons of peppers on the Bolivian rainbow pepper.
And all of our avocado trees are coming back really well after they were killed off by the frost last winter.
And while most of our flowers are getting trampled by Ellie, we do have a few hold outs.
In your dog update, when we got our free Sonic shakes, I might have given Ellie the leftover whipped cream, and she may have really enjoyed it.
Also, Etta is settling down even more, and actually sleeping and laying down around the house.
And they all like to watch Asa while he works.
Look at my cute puppies! I love them so much!
Next Up: We're onto year 8 of marriage here! Time for another trip to Disney and a picture in picture!
No comments:
Post a Comment