Ah, flip flops. The single best thing about living in Florida. Can I just take a second to comment on our weather, which is surely going to anger many of my northern readers? It has been a GORGEOUS winter here. I would say we've had less than 2 weeks of cold weather (by cold I mean the high not reaching 60- and yes, I know, I grew up in Ohio). For the most part it's been upper 70s, to low 80s (some days even high 80s) and sunshiney. The humidity has been low, which my hair is grateful for. I never had to buy any winter clothes for the boys, and 95 percent of the time they were able to wear shorts to school. It's just been so warm and lovely. Although, I feel like if the winter has been this warm, the summer is going to be brutal. Just, brutal. And, I'm not spending the usual month out of the state that I have the last two summers. No big trips, no weddings. Whatever will I do with myself?
So, lets pick up where my last blog left off: Leap Day, and Disney's 'One More Disney Day'. In case you missed it, on Leap Day Disney was open for 24 hours. 6 am Leap Day morning, until 6 am on March 1. I wasn't about to spend all 24 hours there. Once, when I was in high school I went to Disney with Cort, Holly, and Clint. We had three park hopper tickets- and one regular ticket. And so, I spent 18 hours in the Magic Kingdom. It's really just much more a Kingdom- and a lot less Magic- after about hour 14. But, we did want the kids to have this special day, since it only comes around once every four years, and figured we'd go in the evening and stay as late as we could make it.
We took off for the park after dinner, around 7:30. We were all sporting our pajama's, though Calib was not thrilled with this prospect- he's getting all 'teenager' on us lately *sigh*. When we got to the Disney exit it was CRAZY. There were tons of cars leaving, but just as many heading in. I noticed at the toll booth though, that it was just passholder after passholder. People were just sticking their passes out the window, and the guys were frantically waving everyone through. When it was our turn, he hardly looked at the pass and instead screamed 'Can you handle the magic?!?!' I wonder 1. How long his shift had been. And, 2. How much longer he still had to work. The parking lot was horrible. Though, the employees were doing the best they could. It was so much volume in and out, it had to be a nightmare for them. There was no big open space to just corral all the cars into- and instead they had to let cars down rows where people had left. Once we parked, we noticed how many people were leaving and thought that had to be good for how busy it was- but, for every full tram of people leaving, there was a full tram coming.
When we stepped on the monorail there were some families, but mostly just couples- some complete with glow sticks and energy drinks declaring their intent on staying until 6 am (when the park officially closed) It took awhile to get into the park, at that point it seemed WAY more people heading in, then out. It was near Christmas levels of crowds- and the boys were not super pleased- But, we were committed to being part of this day. When we got into the park, they were directing the in traffic through one tunnel- and the out traffic through the other. Stepping onto Main Street, it was FULL of people- at least 10 people deep- more in spots- waiting for the parade to start. They had opened up the back gates for the in traffic to go around the parade route. I had never, in all my trips to Disney- been 'behind the scenes' due to crowds- not even on Christmas. It's a little less magical that way, because you get to see where everyone calls their boyfriend to complain about working in an amusement park, and gathers round some cheese fries to whine about their boss. (I worked in an amusement park, I know these things- I had flashbacks watching employees going to clock in with their badges and backpacks)
They were feeding all the traffic into tomorrowland- so we quickly turned back onto Main Street to avoid the crowds the best we could. We crossed over in the circle just in front of the castle and heard the music start for the electrical light parade. Now, there was at least a dozen people deep where we were, but they were all sitting, and the pavement there is on a bit of an incline, so we decided to sit down and watch the parade. Considering people had been sitting there for at least an hour for a good view, I was pretty impressed with the spot we got right at the start of the parade.
Theres something about the Electrical Light Parade that's just awesome. After the parade we headed over to Adventureland for some Jungle Cruise. Asa then sent me text messages to keep track of what was going on. Here are his messages in it's entirety, along with pictures he sent, and some that I took.
10:15 Pm: We accidentally stumbled on a whole light parade. Already yawning, and no Tinkerbell. Also, a mad hatter coffee mug would be sweet.
10:22 Pm: Currently Happening.
11:03 Pm: Just got off the Jungle Cruise. Everybody zoned out. Terrible Jokes, and I think the boat might just be on a track.
11:28 Pm: About to get on Pirates of the Caribbean. Heard the dead mans chess joke, and discussed game rarity of price to ratio concerning game cube library.
11:59 pm: Almost midnight. Kids are getting whiney in line for Peter Pan
12:05 am: Peter Pan line is moving, but everyone is too tired to talk about it. Nobody here in Pajamas, just old dad's with pink shirts and fanny packs.
12:25 am: Peter Pan Rules! You can fly, You can fly, You can fly, You can fly, You can fly, You can fly, You can fly, You can fly, You can fly!!!!!!!!!!!
12:34 am: Waiting in the big room of Philharmagic. Peyton is in no mood. Minnie just gave the 5 minute warning. Yawwwn.
12:56 am: Oh the things you see
1:03 am: Calling it. We are so done. We = Peyton and Hayden. Phone and morale both low on energy.
Now keep in mind, that's all from Asa's perspective. You know, Asa who had been up since 5:55 am at work, and had to be up at 5:55 that very morning for work. We did both agree it was a whole different crowd. People were cheering in line, there were squeals of joy from adults on the carousel, the whole audience was singing a long with the songs in Philharmagic: Asa and myself included. It was just a whole different crowd, but I think you had to be hardcore Disney to want to be there, with a bazillion other people into the wee hours of the morning. This was just training, 4 years from now- I want to be one of the crazies staying until 6 am. As we were leaving, there were very few people stepping on the monorail to head in. We both decided the requirement to arrive that late was that you had to be a college kid. We did actually let one of the sneak peekers- or whatever they are called there- take our picture, and I may have to buy it. It was a great time, and I think we'd all do it again. Plus, I let the boys stay home from school the next day to recuperate, which they were happy about.
Friday after dinner we headed out to Dade City. They have a drive-in up there, that I can't believe we didn't know about when we lived there. The boys REALLY wanted to go see the Lorax, but it's so expensive to go to the movies, so I thought this would be a good alternative. We brought our own popcorn I popped at home, our own candy and drinks- and it was only $1 for kids and $4 for adults. Plus, thats for two movies- not only did we get to see the Lorax, which was very cute- they were also showing Big Miracle, a movie about Whales getting stuck in the ice in Alaska. We put down the back in the Fit, and cozied up. Hayden fell asleep part way through the second movie, but we all had a good time- and for the price, if they were showing two movies we were interested in, we'd surely go again.
Last Saturday we went out to the Wiregrass Fresh Market to get some fresh fruits, and veggies. Asa got coffee, which is nice- the place he had wanted to go down to in Ybor was there so it saved him the trip, and we all split a very yummy, and reasonably priced $3 snow cone. The boys loaded up on free stuff from the Busch Garden's tent including sunglasses, and Cheetah Hunt bracelets. We tried all kinds of other things, olive salad, bread- but it wasn't in my grocery budget. I'm still waiting on our tax return! We did get some money from another tax return this week- but it wasn't nearly as much as it had been in the past. I did go to the grocery store and buy that 17 double roll package of toilet paper I'd been eyeing. We will never run out of toilet paper again! I also bought a new brush- apparently those little black balls on the end of the bristles have a purpose. Best $4.99 I ever spent.
After the fresh market we headed down to Brandon to go to Angela's birthday party. We were late and missed the cake, but made it in time for the bounce house and pinata. It was at this point, I realized my children had never done a pinata before. I also requested a penguin shaped one for my birthday. The kids had a nice time, and it was really nice of Katie and Kevin to invite us.
Sunday was painting day. I painted Calib's dresser, and night stand Steelers colors. I wanted to post a picture of it- but I still don't have the drawer pulls for it- so look for that next week. We also discovered Sunday about the big fat cheating going on with the Saints. Monday they re-aired the NFC Championship on NFL network- Way to rip my heart out again, NFL network. Oh, the pain.
The rest of the week has just been getting things done, nothing too exciting. My sewing machine has pooped out, when I'm nearly done with quilting- but I do have a good Joann's coupon, so I may have to look into another one. Hopefully, I can get one and finish that stuff up next week. We've been getting packages non-stop of Madden games. I'm going to do a super cool project with them once they are all here- and most of them were less than a dollar. I finally sorted through all the papers, mementos, and pictures I had in boxes, bags, and laundry baskets. All thats left now is making my Alaska scrap book. As a bonus, I finally got our wedding pictures into albums! Yay- only took a year and nine months. Not to mention, Hayden and I discovered a great spot for his puppet show theather in the new house. He put on a great show for me, complete with the humming of 'It's a small world' for travelling music.
Peyton went into mourning with Peyton Manning no longer being a Colt- he even wore his jersey to school and then said 'We can always say this picture was taken the last day Peyton Manning was ever a Colt; and Gwen's girl scout cookies arrived. The boys came home and were fighting with Asa over a box, not realizing there were three more in the pantry. We also got Hayden's birthday present from Cort and Holly- a 255 piece lego set. Calib was more than happy to help put this together- but I still am not a fan of all the pieces. He can expect nothing less than 256 in Gwen's birthday present next month.
I leave you with a funny story that just occured. I was in the bedroom blogging, and Asa was in the livingroom playing video games. Hayden finished his lunch, and went out to the garage to throw away his strawberry tops. Apparently, the door shut behind him, and his hands were too slippery to open the door. He called to us, but nobody heard him. So, because the garage door was open- he had to come around the house, to the front door. Asa was sitting in the front room and saw the door fling open. He went to see what happened, and there was Hayden- standing in the doorway, angry in his pajamas- and thanks to the sprinklers, soaked. Needless to say, Hayden didn't think this was as funny as the rest of us.
Thats it, I know I was wayyyyy behind on posting my weekly blog. But, I've counted- so I know to stay on pace, I just had to post by this coming Wednesday to be on pace with 31 weeks.
Funny Misunderstanding Time!
Me: 'Or else you'd want to be one of those people who stay at work longer.'
Asa: 'What? You want to be an ant farmer?'
Up Next: Leprechaun Traps, Cave Field Trips, Board Game Night, and Our Florida Anniversay. And, hopefully our tax return!
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