Thanks for the bump... it's been awhile since I've felt like I've had anything interesting to write, plus life has been a tad busy the last few weeks. But since someone was kind enough to know they're still interested
, Here we go!
I've been thinking, I need to come up with a better way to refer to our DS4! The last few weeks he's been all about Indiana Jones. In a big way. Our glass door knob on the closet comes apart and we've had to go searching for it since it's the "crystal skull". A jump rope was tied to the porch so he could swing like Indiana Jones. The best was the other day when we pulled out some clothes so he could even look the part.
He wore it all day. To work with me. To the store. Everywhere.
Where was I going with this? Oh yeah, the name. So I'm thinking I'll refer to him not as Indiana (because that's the dog's name you know!
) but as Junior. It's become our little joke this week that I'll call him Junior and he'll say "No, my name is Indiana!"
Trying to keep this trip a secret from Junior, yet have his input has been tricky!! Since we have this tenative trip planned with friends in 2010, we use that as our "cover story". That way I feel like we can get away with watching YouTube videos of rides (so we can hopefully go on a few more things than Fantasyland rides - he has said yes to Goofy's Barnstormer and even BTMRR!)
The other night the 3 of us were playing Go Fish! Junior decided that whoever won got to pick a trip to anywhere. Well, it was a 3 way tie at the end, so we let him decide where we should go. And the smart boy that he is, he picked Disney World. I'm been training him well, methinks!
"Let's pretend we're going on some rides," he says.
So he hops up on the couch between us and DH put his legs over our laps. We've got our safety bar, all our items have been carefully stowed... let's get some rides on!
First up - GOOFY'S BARNSTORMER!
Picture Junior and I with our arms up in the air, leaning this way and that, as I point out things on the ride... we're going up a hill, and now we're going DOWN! WHEEEEEEEEEEEEEEEEEEE!! A corner to the right, now the left, look out there's the barn! And we're done.
Next up - BTMRR!
Picture, well, the same as above except insert there's a man in the bath tub for the barn!
We got some roller coaster screaming practice in and our dog looked as like we were nuts. He actually whined and looked a little scared. He should be used to us by now. He's pretty weird himself... who is he to judge us?!?!
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And we're shifting gears...
Yesterday we celebrated Junior's 5th Birthday with four of his friends and some of our family. It was a pirate party and boy did we have fun!!
I tend to get into party's for him. I think it's that planning gene in me. We decided on a pirate theme and it took off from there! We had a little pirate treasure hunt for different things that pirates would need. The party was held at our church (where I'm an employee) since our house his teeny-tiny for having many people over, namely four 3-5year olds!
They each received a treasure map (a placemat from Oriental Trading Company) with 8 X's on it.
First X - They had to prove they were pirate material by following commands
· "Scrub the decks!"
All the kids get down on the floor and give it a good clean...
· "Climb the rigging!"
Up to the top of the rope ladder they go.
· "Walk the plank!"
Kids must walk heel-to-toe in a straight line, with arms outstretched.
· "Shark attack!"
Kids put one hand on their back with their elbow in the air and zoom
around like sharks, showing their teeth!
· "Land ahoy!"
Everyone puts one hand above their eyes to protect them from the sun,
standing with legs apart and swaying from side to side to check the
horizon.
· "Marooned!"
Kids sit on the floor and pretend to row to freedom from a desert island.
With successful completion of those activities, they received some pirate headgear. A bandanna to be more exact! At this point they looked like little gangsters with their bandannas on.
Then they followed dashed lines put on the floor (DH's idea since I was not feeling witty with written clue) to their next stop...
Second X - Pin the Eye Patch on the Pirate. For successful completion, they received their own eye patch.
Third X - an eye glass to look for pirates that were down the hall (playmobile pirates set up in "attack" mode!)
Fourth X - Looking for treasure hidden in the youth room. (I had sewn up these gold velvet-like bags and in them were jewels, and beaded necklaces.)
Fifth X - Try to fill up a treasure chest with gold coins by doing a coin toss. They received gold coins for their bags for this one.
Sixth X - Then they were off to WALK THE PLANK! I set up a board supported by 2 stage sections pulled apart, so they were maybe 5 inches off the ground. Underneath the plank was a blow up crocodile and bunch of rubber ducks dressed up like pirates! They got to pick out a duck after they went over the plank.
Seventh X - After that they did a ring toss (rolls of masking tape trying to land on 2-liter bottles of pop) - you know, to work on casting nets. Their reward for the ring toss? A Ring Pop!
Eighth X - The last stop was their table, where they received pizza to give them energy.
And there was pirate cake.
I have to admit, 5 may be a much better age for Junior. There was no whining yesterday, no "fights" with one of his buddies (they tend to hug, which turns into a wrestling move, and one gets hurt and cries. The other feels bad, so he starts crying. They apologize, make up with a hug. And it starts all over again.) They were all so good and made me so proud!
Junior received lots of nice presents - Pirate stuff, Indiana Jones stuff, and Star Wars stuff. He was in 7th Heaven. Then there were all the clothes that the grandparents bought... He'd dig through them to make sure there wasn't anything else good in the box/bag before moving on to the next present!
There was one clothing item he got excited over... a
Lego Star Wars t-shirt that yours truly picked out! (Makes me feel like a good mom that I nailed this present!) I'm thinking he'll have to wear it to the Jedi Training Academy to increase his chances of getting picked. DH is still bent out of shape that he's too old to go fight Darth Vader!
Well, a tornado looks like it blew through the house with all the new presents so I best use my home-alone time to get things back in order. Or I could could just sit and procrastinate on the DIS some more... I'll let you know tonight how that self-battle goes!
in the Captain Jack Sparrow skit, and then my DW was picked to portray Stinky Pete in the Woody's round up skit (she was kind of sweaty but was about 400 degrees that day). 
We were at the AKL, it was excellent-we probably planned about 45 minutes to get to another resort and always ended up arriving early.
DH!
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like nobody's business. He's also learned that mom has a very little knowledge of all this stuff so conversations go further with Dad. He's asked repeatedly to watch the video again and again with requests to see if he can try to get on stage. I'm thinkin' we'll be willing to sit through 5 shows in one day too if that's what it takes to get him up there! Of course, DH was quite disappointed when he learned he was too old to fight Darth. We'll have to find something else for him to look forward to!
It was on the Disney Channel on Monday and I let him watch it while I was doing some housework. 
Your poor little guy, I bet he's itching to get out and PLAY. I know I am! 
since we are down to 99 days until we leave.
