Flowers, Segways & DIS Meets, Oh My! - Updated 10/26, Final Thoughts-FINALLY!

[RachelNinja]

Whoa! Can you imagine if a little girl saw that man?!?

 

[brookelizabeth]

I'm here! I am going to start reading tonight and will try to catch up as soon as I can.

 

[brookelizabeth]

Thanks to your handy links those 10 pages flew right by! It's almost 1 am here, so thankfully I was able to stile the huge laugh that came up about the naked man!!!!!!!!! Oh man! That's hilarious!! Looking forward to more!

 

[MiNniEDrEameR]

Yay all caught up and subbing!!!! Can't wait for more laughter and food porn... That mac n cheese from Jiko is my favorite dinner dish ever!!!

 

[Janny]

Sooner Girl,
Congratulations to your son!!! Great accomplishment....on 2 teams!!!!
I'm not so thrilled when my 17 y.o. plays summer baseball....after playing varsity football all summer and fall and varsity baseball all spring, I feel overwhelmed and need a little break from sports!! Dinnertime gets so screwed up in the summer when I'm BBQ'ing.....I feel like I never get done!!!!!

Wigdoutdismom,
We'll be at BC 6/28-7/2

 

[SoonerGirl]

Whoa! Can you imagine if a little girl saw that man?!?

As an adult I thought it was somewhat amusing, but I do hope that no little one's saw him!

I'm here! I am going to start reading tonight and will try to catch up as soon as I can.

Hey Brook! How the heck are you? Have you moved? You've been missed around here

Thanks to your handy links those 10 pages flew right by! It's almost 1 am here, so thankfully I was able to stile the huge laugh that came up about the naked man!!!!!!!!! Oh man! That's hilarious!! Looking forward to more!

Links sure do come in handy when you come in late on a TR don't they?! I love it when people include them I've barely gotten started here though, so there wasn't too much to catch up on.

I had to stiffle a laugh when I saw him too!

Yay all caught up and subbing!!!! Can't wait for more laughter and food porn... That mac n cheese from Jiko is my favorite dinner dish ever!!!

Hello & glad to have you! You're in luck - I don't normally take food pics, but I did this time, the DIS guilt got to me I figured it wasn't fair for me to always enjoy other peoples food porn and not contribute myself!

Sooner Girl,
Congratulations to your son!!! Great accomplishment....on 2 teams!!!!
I'm not so thrilled when my 17 y.o. plays summer baseball....after playing varsity football all summer and fall and varsity baseball all spring, I feel overwhelmed and need a little break from sports!! Dinnertime gets so screwed up in the summer when I'm BBQ'ing.....I feel like I never get done!!!!!

Wigdoutdismom,
We'll be at BC 6/28-7/2

We'll see if I'm still so excited about it in a few weeks - his schedule is packed! I'm used to going alot, with two kids in sports, basically playing something or another all year long, I live for those few weeks here and there when we are between sports!

 

[KatMark]

Thanks Kathy, I'm sure you remember these days with your boys - we're going to be busy, busy!

Oh, I remember very well. We started in the fall with football and basketball (the youngest played football, the oldest basketball), then both of them played baseball and then the youngest started with wrestling. I remember years when there were days I didn't see one or the other of my kids because the other one was somewhere else. And that didn't even include the many camps they went to.

I will say though that I am going to miss it. Our youngest finished his college wrestling career this past February and there will no longer be any "running around" to get to sporting events. Both boys now coach (the oldest coaches two baseball teams and the youngest coaches at the youth wrestling camp and will coach at the high school next fall), and I'm sure we will go watch them pass on what they learned through all of their years of playing.

Enjoy...it goes so fast.

 

[SoonerGirl]

I figure it's totally unfair for me to brag on one kid and leave the other one out, so if you'll indulge me for just a minute, I have to give the baby of the family his due

Today was Jared's 3rd grade awards assembly.

Here he is, sitting down waiting for his name to be called

Headed on stage for his first award, honor roll. The lady on the left is his principal, on the right is his teacher

I absolutely adore this little girl. She and Jared have been in the same class since kindergarten and I'm sad because we will be leaving to go to a new school next year (redistricting) and she will still be at the current school - I'm going to miss her!

If you look behind all the kids heads, you'll see Jared getting a medal. I was a little bummed that they chose to do this where you couldn't get a clear picture!

I was trying to get him to look at me, but he never once did - little stinker knew where I was sitting too....

Afterwards, with his haul

With Dad

And with me

He ended up with a certificate for the honor roll, top percentage in his class in math and reading, a trophy for being in the 100 point club for Accelerated Reader, a library award, which is basically a book chosen from the Sequoyah list for the following year, he got that for reading all of the books on the Sequoyah list for this year. And last but not least, a Citizenship Award for excellent behavior. I was a proud mama indeed this morning!

OK, I promise to get back to my real report soon - maybe even later today, we'll see how it goes!

 

[KatMark]

Jared, you are the man!!!

 

[marsa1969]

I'm subing, man I haven't been on in a week and your up to 10 pages.

 

[jenjolt]

Just want to say CONGRATS to both your boys! You definitely have many reasons to be proud of both of them!!!!! YAY!!!

 

[MeMom]

I figure it's totally unfair for me to brag on one kid and leave the other one out, so if you'll indulge me for just a minute, I have to give the baby of the family his due He ended up with a certificate for the honor roll, top percentage in his class in math and reading, a trophy for being in the 100 point club for Accelerated Reader, a library award, which is basically a book chosen from the Sequoyah list for the following year, he got that for reading all of the books on the Sequoyah list for this year. And last but not least, a Citizenship Award for excellent behavior. I was a proud mama indeed this morning!

They're all great, but I would be the very proudest of that one.
Good job, Jared!

 

[kschafer]

Way to go Justin and Jared!! I know part of who kids are is nature and a whole lot nurture. As parents, we try to do the best we can and sometimes just hope it's the right thing. It is such a great feeling to see our kids doing well!

I started our summer activities calendar this week and it is insanely busy! (better to keep them busy than bored at home and driving me crazy!) The funny thing is, I have nothing on the calendar that says "mom"....guess who the chauffeur is going to be?

 

[SoonerGirl]

Oh, I remember very well. We started in the fall with football and basketball (the youngest played football, the oldest basketball), then both of them played baseball and then the youngest started with wrestling. I remember years when there were days I didn't see one or the other of my kids because the other one was somewhere else. And that didn't even include the many camps they went to.

I will say though that I am going to miss it. Our youngest finished his college wrestling career this past February and there will no longer be any "running around" to get to sporting events. Both boys now coach (the oldest coaches two baseball teams and the youngest coaches at the youth wrestling camp and will coach at the high school next fall), and I'm sure we will go watch them pass on what they learned through all of their years of playing.

Enjoy...it goes so fast.

I'm sure there will come a day when Don and I are sitting here wondering what to do with ourselves!

Jared, you are the man!!!

Thanks Kathy!

I'm subing, man I haven't been on in a week and your up to 10 pages.

Hey there, glad you made it over!

 

[SoonerGirl]

Just want to say CONGRATS to both your boys! You definitely have many reasons to be proud of both of them!!!!! YAY!!!

Thanks! I am pretty proud - most of the time....

They're all great, but I would be the very proudest of that one.
Good job, Jared!

You know what's funny, that child is a Chatty Cathy at home. He's into everything and all over the place. But when he crosses through those school house doors he flips a switch! Wish he'd flip it at home every now and then!

Way to go Justin and Jared!! I know part of who kids are is nature and a whole lot nurture. As parents, we try to do the best we can and sometimes just hope it's the right thing. It is such a great feeling to see our kids doing well!

I started our summer activities calendar this week and it is insanely busy! (better to keep them busy than bored at home and driving me crazy!) The funny thing is, I have nothing on the calendar that says "mom"....guess who the chauffeur is going to be?

Raising kids is like throwing darts in the dark - you just hope and pray that you hit the right spot and it sticks! It's to think every now and then that we're doing something right

I hear ya, chauffeur reporting for duty! In addition to Justin's stuff, Jared is still playing baseball and he always goes to a baseball and basketball camp every summer - this year he wants to add a football camp too!

I've got an update ready to post - I get to meet you!!!

 

[SoonerGirl]

Day 2, Sunday May 2nd

We set the alarm for 7am, and got moving without much trouble at all. We were ready and headed out to the bus stop in plenty of time to arrive at Animal Kingdom before park opening at 9am. Our plan was to grab a FP for Everest and then go ride the Safari before it got too terribly hot (which it was on this day!). As we approached the bus stop we saw that there was a bus there, and it was going to Animal Kingdom - uh oh, better hurry! We picked up the pace to a slow jog and waved our arms trying to get the driver to wait, but he either didn't see us or he didn't care, because he drove away when we were just steps from the stop - drat!

So, we sat down to wait, and wait, and wait...........

Not sure how long it was, but I counted two of every other bus before another one came for AK. So much for being at the park before opening! The only bright spot in having missed the first bus was that Katie (kschafer) was on the same bus as we were, heading to AK. It was standing room only on the bus, so we didn't get a chance to talk on the ride over, but Mom and I waited for her when we got off. We greeted each other like old friends, it was so nice to finally meet in person!

We headed into the park on what was supposed to be a 'level 4' day, meaning LOW crowds - ummmmm, sure whatever! When Katie posts about this morning I'm sure she will post the pic of the entrance that she took showing what a 'level 4' crowd looks like - it was far from sparse!

Since we were late getting into the park and were going to hang with Katie for a bit on this morning, we decided to wait on the EE FP and just head straight to the safari. First we stopped for a photopass pic though, and I had the photographer take one with my camera as well

Then we made our way to

and back to

The posted wait time said 20 minutes, but the line looked considerably longer, so we decided to grab a FP and go in search of the baby gorilla on the

First we saw some naked mole rats

and a HUGE toad

Next were the hippos, but they were too far away from the glass to get a decent photo. I did however have to take a pic in honor of my boys

They stick their head in this skull everytime we walk this trail, so I had to do it for them!

Next we saw the meerkats

And finally the gorillas. I think I could spend an hour or more in here watching the gorillas, they are just so fascinating to me! Their eyes are so expressive, makes you wonder what it is that they are thinking. Here are a few pics - enjoy!

We were searching high and low for that elusive mama gorilla and her new baby though and hadn't been able to find her. A CM told us that she was hanging around towards the back and to keep an eye out for her, she also told us that the baby had learned to hang onto the mom, so to watch for that as well. Finally, we saw her, pacing towards the back, the mama wasn't interested in putting on a show for us however, so we had to snap fast! This was the best of the few shots I took - see the sweet little baby hanging on underneath the mother?

Continued in the next post

 

[SoonerGirl]

When we finished the trail, we still had about 3 minutes to kill before our FP window opened up. Mom found it quite amusing that they would be that particular about the FP return time, we assured that they would indeed not let us into the FP line even one minute before we were supposed to be there. I took a few pictures while we waited

One of our 'level 4' crowd (keep in mind it was still morning - you should have seen this place by lunchtime!)

Soon it was time to board our jeep for our two week safari!

We were treated to some very good views of the giraffes, they were right next to the road

Saw the baboon, which I think I've only caught sight of once before

Always love the elephants!

To be honest with you, I didn't even see these cheetahs - I pointed my camera in the direction that our guide said they were and snapped, this is what I got

This white rhino was incredibly close to the road as well - I probably could have reached out and touched him!

We were also able to catch a glimpse of the lioness and the lion

We enjoyed our trip, but darned if our safari wasn't cut short by those dreaded poachers AGAIN!

Coming up: Did that tree move?

 

[ladybugmom]

Holy cow!! YIKES on the crowds!! You got some amazing pics of the animals!! Love the Mommy gorilla carrying her baby! Too cute!!

 

[LilAnn]

We had gone to AK on that Saturday and I think it was just as crowded and hot! We got to see the baby gorilla hanging of the mama gorilla too!

Looks like you had a fantastic safari trip! You saw quite a few animals in you two weeks!

 

[kschafer]

I am SO stealing some of your pictures from this morning! Yours turned out much better than mine...in fact maybe I will reference this post in lieu of my own when I get to this point in my TR

It was so great meeting you and your sweet Mom and getting to hang out with you for a bit!