They were more like guidelines, anyway...

Congrats on hitting 30 days. For me time usually flies by after that. Hopefully it will be the same for you.

It will be awesome to have the house finished so you can spend the next month working on your tan at the pool instead of out in the hot sun working on the house.:rotfl2:

Great save by Matt. Although we have never surprised our kids with a trip I am very strict about them all being surprised at Christmas. I do not ask for lists or anything because I want them to be 100% surprised by what they get. I have had to pull off a couple of manovers like Matt did when things came in the mail at unexpected times. It is not easy especially when the kids are older.
 
Before:


Garren had to get a picture with this guy. He's dressed like a character (Cratos) from the videogame God of War. He was a very good likeness. Awesome costume!! I watched him lose his last flag right at the end of the race. Bummer!


Evading Zombies:

My sis is on the far left. Em is on the right.


I don't see Deb in this picture. Em is dead center.

The doctor zombie was determined to get one of Emily's flags, but she managed to outrun him. This time.


While the girls were running part of the course we couldn't see, Garren tried to win the pull-up challenge at an Air Force Booth. The number to beat was 28. Garren managed 25. :upsidedow He was bummed, he did 34 at school during the President's Physical Fitness challenge this year.


Exiting the Smoke House. There were electric shocks in here too. lol.

My sis had lost all her flags by this point in the race. Em had one left.

Into the Blood Pit: Emily had lost her last flag by this point.


And Out of the Blood Pit:


After: The girls medals read "Infected." :rotfl:



My BIL and nephew participated also. They also lost their flags and joined the Zombie Horde. My nephew is heading off to boot camp for the Marines next month. His dad was also a Marine and was in the reserves until recently. I married into a very military family. :)
 
Looks like a fun, interesting race! Cool that Emily got to run in it! Bummer that Garren didn't beat the pull up record
 

My daughter would so love to have been in that race. Sounds like Emily held on longer than most. Amazing that Gavin could do 25 pull ups let alone 34. Seems like that would be some kind of record.

Glad you guys were able to have some fun over the weekend and take a break for the house. :cool1:
 
Cool race! Looks like everyone had a good time!

I hope your husband has diffused the suspicion and your surprise is still a surprise.


I'm getting ready to go on our family's 10 day camping trip next week....I'm making my list and checking it twice! :thumbsup2
 
The race was a lot of fun, even as a spectator. We're definitely going again next year if they're back in Indiana. Garren will be old enough, and I want to give it a try too.
Emily is so sore today. lol. She could handle the running, BUT, was not prepared for the obstacles that required core and upper body strength. :rotfl: So, I might have to hit the gym if I run it with them next year.

I'll try to get some last photos of the house, now that it's done. All that's left is a bit of landscaping and the shutters (once we are certain what shade of blue we want).

Matt had a great idea to confuse Emily more. He wants me to research a trip to the Wisconson Dells as if we are going there. We actually would like to go sometime anyway. He wants me to compile a bunch of info, type it up like an itinerary, and save it on the laptop where Em will have a chance of finding it. lol. He is so evil. :lmao: But, it just might work. Especially if I get a lot of details and include some fake confirmation numbers, etc. :worship: It's worth a shot, right?? :thumbsup2 At least, it should confuse her. ha.
 
Wow...it is almost scary (in a good way) how good Matt is with coming up with the diversions.

Honestly, after almost 20 years, it irritates the crap out of me. He always seems to keep his secrets, and someone always figures out mine. Grrrr.
Someday I really want to pull a fast one on him. lol.
 
:banana: 22 DAYS!!!! :cool1:

It's getting closer!!! And I'm starting to get really :hyper: !!!!! :rotfl:

Poor Matt, he comes home from work every day and whispers, "I can't wait until we're in Disney." :rotfl2:

Today he texts me, "I want to be on vacation. Now." :laughing:


So, I can't remember if I did an official report...
But, the house is done, and I've moved on to landscaping. Matt put up the new mailbox, and I painted all the door trim, inside and out, house and garage. I'm planting some new shrubs and hope to get it all mulched this weekend.
We're also pricing out topsoil to fix the old play area. If we're lucky, it will be growing some grass by the time we leave.

I asked a neighbor boy to water my plants during our trip awhile back, and I guess I'm going to have to ask him to water the yard too. :worried: I'm a little worried, because I don't want to come home to dead grass, shrubs or flowers after putting in all this work. :sick: I wonder if I can talk to his mom one day when he's not around to make sure she'll remind him. I don't want him to think I don't trust him. But, well, he's in the same age range as my son; and judging by mine, he just might forget... For days. :eek:

We're going to pull out all the camping gear this weekend and make sure it's in working order and we don't need to replace or repair anything. Matt wants to get started on the extendable tent poles he plans to make from PVC. And, we'll set up the tent, seal the seams, and give it another coat of scotchguard. We'll also have to practice setting up our new screen room. Yep. New. :rolleyes1

Here's how that happens. We have a 10X10 Easy Up like this:

Stock Photo
But, we never bought the screen for it to keep bugs out. We just used it for rain and as a sun shade. But, I read that the bugs at Ft. Wilderness can be pretty bad, so, I went shopping to pick up the screen.

Stock Photo

At the store, all the screens are $40-$45, and I'm not sure which brand I need. AND, right next to those, are 14X14 screen rooms for $60.

Stock Photos
And they are packaged MUCH smaller than our Easy Up. Like 1/3 the size. So, for $20 extra, we get a larger screen room, that breaks down smaller. Hmmmmm.... I called Matt to get an opinion and, of course, he says, "whatever you think." :rolleyes:

So, I bought it. I figure that gives us even more room in the trunk, right? When Matt gets home from work, he's like "You bought it?" Uh, yeah, you said 'whatever I think.' :laughing:

G was excited. He's seen this kind on camping trips and was going on and on. "I always wanted one of these. These are way better than the one we have. Really, this is what I thought the front of our new tent would be like, when you said it had a screen room. Wide open like this." You'd have thought it was his Christmas present he was so excited. :rolleyes1 :rotfl:

Honestly, I do think we'll be happier with that extra square footage. In the past, it got a bit crowded trying to keep the picnic table and all our camp chairs dry under that tiny easy up. You can somewhat tell from the photos how big of a difference that four feet will make. This should give us a bit more space under cover and make it easier to move around the picnic table.

In other news:
My sister from Destin Florida will be in town for a little while this weekend. It'll be nice to see her again, but I wish she could have brought the family with her. She's just riding up with a friend who is picking up her boys from their summer visit with their dad. The friend didn't want to make the trek alone. So, they won't be here long. :( But still, I get a little big sister bonding time.

My baby sister is heading to Orlando on Friday to visit Universal Studios. They're also visiting the big sister in Destin, going to the beach, and hitting Nashville on their way home. It sounds like quite a trip, but she's got a very eclectic family.
One son who doesn't do coasters, but loves the beach. One who's a thrill junkie, but kinda small to let loose in the ocean. DH who likes to sleep in and take it easy, maybe hit a great bar or concert. And DSis who is an early riser and enjoys shows and is a Harry Potter junkie. They tried to hit something for everyone.
Makes me feel very lucky that DH, the kids and I all enjoy similar things. Keeps vacation planning very simple.

Garren gets to "house sit" for them while they are gone which includes feeding Pedro, my nephews Bearded Dragon, watering the plants, picking up the mail, checking on her suddenly leaky fridge?, and mowing the lawn. Hopefully, he can keep everything running smoothly.
I think I'm going to have to keep an eye on the fridge myself, that worries me a bit. She thinks it's a bad seal and the freezer is defrosting a bit at that corner and dripping down the side of the fridge door, but I know how much damage water can do... :eek: So, I think I'll have to check up on that fairly often.

So, we will probably be a bit busy from now until Monday. Hopefully I can post an update then. Maybe with a few photos of the house, tent setup, and extendable tent poles finished. Hmmm, sounds a bit ambitious for one weekend. :rolleyes1 I guess we'll see how far we really get. :lmao:

Have a great weekend everyone!
 
Your weekend may sound ambitious but after all that you have already accomplished this summer I bet you get it all done. I can not wait to see a picture of the house absolutely complete. Did you get the shutters hung or are you still deciding on colors for that?
 
Your weekend may sound ambitious but after all that you have already accomplished this summer I bet you get it all done. I can not wait to see a picture of the house absolutely complete. Did you get the shutters hung or are you still deciding on colors for that?

No shutters yet. We haven't had a chance to look at roof samples, which we really need to do if we're going to match the shutters (this really matters if we go with the blue). It's one thing to see it online, entirely another when you've got the samples in your hand. We found that out with the siding.
But, I think there's still some room for debate on the color. Emily keeps telling dad that my idea (black shutters, red door) sounds better. And my dad (the contractor) agrees. So, I think Matt's still debating a bit.
I'm staying out of it. I got the siding I wanted, so I'll let him make the call. Just so long as it all coordinates in the end. :rotfl2:
 
I splurged a little bit today. :rotfl:
Yes, Again.

I can't seem to stop myself from spending money on this "cheap" trip. ;)

I couldn't find one of our Universal lanyards from our last trip (mine, actually).
And one of the three I did find was broken.

Well, those things are very useful when you are using Express Pass at Universal.
So..... I debated about getting new ones.




In particular, these new ones.....



This morning, I caved to the shopping gene inside me, and ordered them using one of the gift visas I was hanging onto for the trip. :rotfl:

They are PERFECT for our family, and I had to have them...

For those of you who are NOT Harry Potter junkies like myself. These are the Hogwarts House Colors.
There are four houses
.
Ravenclaw (Blue): Known for their wisdom/intelligence.
Gryffindor (Red): Known for their bravery/daring.
Hufflepuff (Yellow): Known for their loyalty/friendship.
Slytherin (Green): Known for their ambition. (Most wizards who "go bad" come from this house.)

These house lanyards actually divide up pretty well between our family members and I think everyone will be happy with their colors. I'm going to give:
Emily-Ravenclaw. Our academic.
Garren-Gryffindor. Our fearless one.
Me-Hufflepuff. Matt always says I'm a Pollyanna.
Dad-Slytherin. Our evil genius.

I figure we've got to show a little HP spirit on our first visit to the Wizarding World.
Obviously, I'll hold on to these until we make the reveal on our way "home" from Disney.

I'm kinda excited about my silly purchase. :cool1:
 
OOPS, I meant to edit my previous post. I guess I quoted it instead. lol.
Anyway, yet another post....

On a side note, my lil sis (the zombie runner who was heading for Orlando today, or I guess yesterday, boy can night shift get confusing) was visiting with the family and big sis from Destin for a couple hours (before they hit the road), and she was soooo giddy about visiting the WWofHP she got me alllllllll excited. :lmao: As if I needed anymore anticipation.
She is going to have an absolute blast. She was my Harry Potter cohort when the books were coming out. By Book Four, we'd order from our local small town bookstore in advance of each book. I'd go out at midnight for the little party and pick up our books, drop hers off (she had a baby at the time) and head home. We'd read all night and compare notes in the morning. We are such Dorks. Before the last book, we spent months debating whether Snape was really all bad, whether Harry would have to die, and all the other fan-related debates. :blush: (Proud to say, I WAS right about Snape. :rotfl2:)

She also told me she is planning to run during her vacation, so she'll be able to give me an idea of where to run while we're at Universal. She's going to try the same route I had in mind, which includes running through City Walk, so I'll get a sneak peek at how that works out. lol.

I can't wait to hear about her trip. I hope she has a great time, and her family does too.
 
The lanyards look great. What attaches to it? Do the Universal FPs come in something that will attach or do you have to get someyhing extra?

With all the trouble I had this past trip with my cards I am wanting to go this route for September. I just need something that will hold AP, KTTWC, TiW, and Photopass+.
 
No one in our family ever got into the Harry Potter books but as an avid reader, I can definitey relate to waiting anxiously for a favorite author to release a new book that is part of a series!

I am sure you will all have a blast exploring his world!
 
I splurged a little bit today. :rotfl:
Yes, Again.

I can't seem to stop myself from spending money on this "cheap" trip. ;)


For those of you who are NOT Harry Potter junkies like myself. These are the Hogwarts House Colors.
There are four houses.
Ravenclaw (Blue): Known for their wisdom/intelligence.
Gryffindor (Red): Known for their bravery/daring.
Hufflepuff (Yellow): Known for their loyalty/friendship.
Slytherin (Green): Known for their ambition. (Most wizards who "go bad" come from this house.)

These house lanyards actually divide up pretty well between our family members and I think everyone will be happy with their colors. I'm going to give:
Emily-Ravenclaw. Our academic.
Garren-Gryffindor. Our fearless one.
Me-Hufflepuff. Matt always says I'm a Pollyanna.
Dad-Slytherin. Our evil genius.

I figure we've got to show a little HP spirit on our first visit to the Wizarding World.
Obviously, I'll hold on to these until we make the reveal on our way "home" from Disney.

I'm kinda excited about my silly purchase. :cool1:

Oooh! Exciting purchase! I am a VERY huge Harry Potter fan! Sounds like each of you have your own perfect Hogwarts house!
 
I totally get it Susan...I have been looking at those exact lanyards for months. I plan to bring one home for my security pass at work. ::yes:: Ravenclaw for me and ds, Gryffindor for dh and dd is torn between Gryffindor and Hufflepuff. Did you order them from the Universal store online? I will wait til we get there, as duty and shipping to Canada effectively doubles the price on something like that. But, totally cool for you guys. :cool2: I'd be excited too. Heck, I'm excited for you!!
 














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