Monday Mayhem - the Disney trip

We have been scheming and planning for a while to surprise Garrett with a trip to Disney for his birthday. You must understand that Disney really isn't my idea of the perfect vacation spot--we don't really like crowds or lines or commercialized stuff. But Garrett has been asking for a trip to Disney for a while, especially for a birthday present. Even though his birthday isn't until May, we went this past weekend because A. It will be unbearably hot when his birthday roles around and B. Brad's parents could get the weekend off and were able to spend it with us.

This trip was a total surprise for Garrett. We told him on Monday (two months before his actual birthday) that a big surprise was coming and he would get a hint in two days. His first guesses included only material things (like a Transformer), so when I told him it wasn't something he would get but something he would DO he was stumped for a while. Then his guesses were limited to Chuck E. Cheese and Dandy Bear. On Wednesday we told him we wouldn't be back to school for the rest of the week, so he thought THAT was his special surprise. Silly boy. On Thursday morning we packed suitcases and the guesses included going to Grandma's, going to see Grandpa Hosein, going camping, and going camping on the beach. Then he started asking questions to narrow it down. "Are we driving a long way? Are we getting in an air plane?"

Once we hit the road he got out his leapster and basically stopped guessing for a while. It was until we were IN orlando that he started guessing where we were. And once he figured out it was Orlando, he assumed we were going to see Shamu. We picked Grandma and Grandpa up at the airport, and although he didn't know for sure who we were there to get, I think he knew it would be them, because while he was happy he didn't seem all that surprised.

We went to McDonalds and told Garrett that it was his special surprise. He actually was cool with that, acting all happy and then said "But why did we drive all this way to go to McDonalds?" We gave them each a Mickey and Mini and finally told them we were going to Mickeys house. :-)

It was yucky and rainy, so we spent the rest of the day chilling at the house that Brad's parents rented. Grandma loved reading to the kids all weekend long!

Summer enjoyed modeling her new "Kitty glasses"

Friday was Epcot.

Since Grandpa Lynn works for GM, we were able to get the VIP treatment for the Test Track, which he LOVED. He rode it twice and STILL asked for more.

Riding the test track with mommyGrandma and Summer being silly :-)

Brad, Garrett, Grandma and Grandpa at Epcot

Lightening McQueen! Cars 2 will be out in no time at all :-)

Summer drumming away from the Oh Snap.

Summer took a break from playing at the playground to bring Daddy a flower :-)

and she was in LOVE with the sea horse from Nemo at the Seas With Nemo and Friends.

Garrett loved all of the rides

Summer-not so muchBut everyone enjoyed the fish!

And we lucked out while we were leaving by catching Daisy with no wait.

We did movie night, watched Tangled, and otherwise just enjoyed each others company for the rest of the afternoon. Summer swam, but I didn't take any pictures.

Saturday was Magic Kingdom. I really didn't take that many pictures. We rode Thunder Mountain Railroad and Splash Mountain. Garrett really wanted to check out the Swiss Family Robinson tree house.

We got our pictures taken with Goofy, but Garrett didn't want to do the Pirates of the Caribbean, which surprised me.

We went to the T-rex Cafe for dinner. Summer was too tired and completely scared to death of the dinosaurs. Garrett, on the other hand, loved it like always. He especially loved digging for dinosaur bones.

And on Sunday we took him back to build a dinosaur. He picked a saber tooth tiger that he has named "Tooth."

It was a super fun weekend that went by way too quickly. And this pretty much sums up how we all felt afterward!

Monday Mayhem - Continued Chaos

Sorry that I haven't updated in a while. Things have been extremely chaotic around here, but not in any way that's noteworthy. Spring break was exhausting and returning to school was a bit of an adjustment too. Work is busy, and with gas prices like they are Summer and I have been playing around at parks and the library a lot so we don't have to drive home every day between dropping Garrett off and picking him up again. She loves both the library and the playground, so its pretty easy to spend 3 hours there.

We took Aspen to the vet for his annuals, which was a whole big to-do of course. We've been to the pool A LOT. The kids are still having a hard time with the time change, they are completely fried by 5pm but having a hard time getting to sleep before 8 or so, and are back up by 6-7.

Brad and I ran the Move It 2011 budget 5K on Saturday, which was a budget race for the miles challenge we're both participating in. We ran separately because of the kids, but he smoked me as always. He finished in 25:51, I finished in 31:41. I also biked the last 8 miles to work on Saturday due to the tennis tournament on the key. It was actually a fun ride, and it was nice to not sit in the car for nearly as long. Brad took the kids out with the neighbors on their boat on Saturday.

I have only taken ONE PICTURE this week, which is just ridiculous. On Tuesday the Shuman boys came home from school with us and we all went to the pool. I think we're going to have a repeat tomorrow. This is a short week for us-we're surprising Garrett with something fun on Thursday, which is going to be fun for ALL of us. AND I get to see my mother in law, who I've really been missing.

Monday Mayhem

Surprise, surprise. Things have been crazy around here. THERE'S something new and exciting. Work, a dead battery in my car, Lowe's craft, and general stuff that needed to be done around the house are included in the less exciting stuff we had to do this weekend.

Garrett's good friend Aiden, who we haven't seen in a while, had a birthday party this weekend. Garrett was stoked to get to spend some time with him.

On Sunday we went to the Beaux Arts Festival at UM. The kids did great, and we all had a good time.

Picnic snack

They had a fun little craft area where the kids could do projects.Garrett worked VERY hard on his mask.

Despite being on-the-go all weekend, Summer managed to not have an accident. She remedied that today, but she's doing so great!

Garrett had a busy day today-he went to school with the Shuman kids, then went to My Gym with his little friend Alex. He had blast, of course. I got a ton a ton of work done--my boss is leaving on Friday for 6 weeks so we're busy.

Garrett starts soccer tonight-he is SO very excited. In fact, he is putting on his gear as I write this post and getting a little upset that I'm not helping him put on his shoes.

Monday Mayhem

Maybe I'll call our week-in-review Monday Mayhem. Because that pretty much sums up things around here. After another very busy week, we had a fabulous weekend. Garrett and I did a project at Lowes on Saturday. He some of his money to buy a pirate ship model there, which he and Daddy made when they got home. We went to the VERY cold pool so that he could test out the snorkel gear he got from the ocean kids event last weekend. We went down to the track, since it was championship weekend, even though we did not actually go to the race. And we had to go buy the boy a new pair of shoes because for some reason the little stinker won't stop growing! :-) Random pictures from this week:

We'd be lost without our produce!
Playdough provides endless sources of entertainment.
Kid loves doing his homework. Which is AWESOME.


Guess who can write his name, and is insulted now if you try to help him?After spending his money on the pirate ship, he wanted to see what he had left. This was his creation:

Monday was our thankgiving potluck at school. The kids made Indian vests and headbands. This will get its own post (pics are on FB already), but here's a preview.