ilovedisneymm
DIS Veteran
- Joined
- Nov 6, 2014
- Messages
- 1,102
All work and no play makes Jack a dull boy.
If a midwestern winter was measured in movie minutes, we’d be at the typewriter scene. I’m kidding. A little.
Hello. We are a generational farm family in the Midwest growing traditional row crops, wheat, oats, and alfalfa. Our livestock includes Angus cattle, sheep, chickens for meat and eggs, honey bees, and too many furry little critters to count. We grow all our meat and increase our garden size a little more each year. I grow everything from seed that grows in our gardens, and I make most meals from scratch. We also home school our children. I think we’re on year thirteen if you count preschool. I’m not sure that technically counts, does it? I should just say since day one.
I could list my hobbies, but my hobbies are the work above, so I will list my toxic traits. My toxic traits include going down way too many rabbit holes and labeling everything we wear and eat as toxic. Cause it is. Lol. That’s why we have to grow our own…everything. Went to sheep shearing school, now we shear sheep, too. Spinning is next! Crazy. I know. It never ends.
We’ve done ten trips to Disney in ten years. I experienced Fort Wilderness for the first time when I was a young teen. My mom brought me to Disney and we stayed at the Swan. One afternoon she brought me over to the Fort to the waterpark area. I remember the rickety wooden structures you’d have to climb up and then zip line down. I remember the half slides that would just stop in thin air and you’d free fall for ten-twelve feet until you smacked the water. At the time it wasn’t much other than an afternoon at a water park. It wasn’t until decades later, when I returned with my own children, would I fully appreciate that dilapidated waterpark experience my mom gifted me. I should call my mom and tell her.
So about fourteen years ago we took our very young kids to Disney as a one and done. We stayed in the cabins for the extra room and kitchen. Well, like most here, we fell in love with Fort Wilderness. I had no idea about the camping side. I really had no idea about what the Fort offered until half way through the first trip. We ended up renting a golf cart and exploring the Fort in its entirety. I could not believe people and their huge rigs that stayed for weeks and months at a time. It was like a light bulb that went off. We returned nine more times over the next nine years. I’m glad we did Disney so much while the kids were little. Their memory banks are full of magical moments, ours, too!
The world got a little crazy in 2020 and the years to follow. It changed our travel direction from east to west. We’ve experienced numerous national parks the last few years and have been at a cross roads the last few weeks. Where to go. What to do.
Three days ago, I watched our diesel mechanic crawl out from one of our semis covered in grease. He is an adult in the eye of society, but a baby-faced boy in the eyes of mommas who know and care. He’s never been to Disney. I walked away from that conversation with deep empathy and five minutes later I had a trip booked. That boy needs a vacation!
So we’re bringing our diesel mechanic, too.
Pictures include…
Hubby & I on a whale watching tour last February in Maui.
Grace will turn eighteen later this year. Technically she’s still a junior, but also taking Agriculture classes at our local community college. She will graduate both homeschooled high school next spring & with an associates in Agriculture, too. Her plans are to farm first and livestock vet second. Our livestock vet knows he can’t doctor anything without the assistance of Grace. Hands on vet training is the best kind. She’s turned and delivered a few calves with assistance from our vet this last calving season. She’s taken vet classes for the past two years online & attended “lambing school” with a neighboring college. We have a healthy and beautiful flock of sheep and lambs, thanks to Grace. She has volunteered at our local zoo for the past three summers. She works the days the vets make their rounds and has sat in on numerous operations at the zoo. Hands on experience is the best kind! She has sat in the side combine seat in a baby carrier, played on the floor of the combine while her grandpa made the rounds, listened to her grandpa tell her what each and every button does over the years, and has graduated to full time combine #2 operator.
Little Daniel is little no more. His daddy is 6’3” and the boy is almost there. He is not a fan of home education anymore. He says he’s grown and has real work to do. But you know, he’s been saying the same things since kindergarten, so there’s that. He’s not getting out of anything, though. What’s wild is he hardly applies himself to book-work and still does just as well as his 4.0 GPA sister. He says he’s not going to college, but the boy will be prepared to enter any top school, regardless! He can build anything with wood. He’s build me a barn, two chicken coops, three greenhouses, two sheds, and a milking stand for his sister’s goats. Yes, we milk goats. Yes, we make soap. It never ends…The boy can weld anything. He’s taken two years of welding through a local private school that allows home schoolers to participate. He’s putting in new front bearings on the golf cart today. They both take a single Ag class that allows them to be part of FFA. They both have top officer positions for their chapter & for their region, too. They are the future of Ag, no doubt. Little Daniel plays two seasons of baseball and we will return just at the start of the spring season. He is our main grain cart guy in the fall. They fight like siblings fight, but to watch them as a team in the field, makes it a harmony. Grown adults have difficulties dumping grain from the combine to the grain cart while in motion, these two do it with style. They are heavy machine operators. They are rockstars to me!
Both Grace and Daniel volunteer a great deal within their community. Grace plays piano at a couple nursing homes once a month. They both serve and assist, monthly, at our local food pantry. Their work ethic, loyalty to the farm, growing level of skill sets and independence, makes this momma boast more than she should. Their compassion to helping others and their community makes my heart full.
Charlotte is my little helper. She loves her cats. She inspires to be a cat lady and live next door to us with lots and lots of cats. She also grows a good bit of tomatoes and flowers. She has a separate area in the garden and keeps heirloom seeds from the year before. She has a huge passion for art. When a child finds something they love, we fuel it! She has three online art teachers and her skills are growing. She hopes to live like a hermit with her cats and write and illustrate books one day.
Well that’s our introductions. I’ll talk more about camping at Fort Wilderness in the next post.
Don’t ask our dates. When we arrive, there will be a domino like wave of cell phone dings followed by a couple phone calls. When we arrive, everyone will know it. Hahahaha. I’m just kidding.
I’m bringing my tin foiled hat, brightly polished, with a pocket full of conspiracy theories proven true and a premenopausal attitude larger than life. Ha!
We’re coming. It’s going to be great! I’m so excited!
It was like magic. Once I clicked booked, my winter frown immediately turned upside down!
If a midwestern winter was measured in movie minutes, we’d be at the typewriter scene. I’m kidding. A little.
Hello. We are a generational farm family in the Midwest growing traditional row crops, wheat, oats, and alfalfa. Our livestock includes Angus cattle, sheep, chickens for meat and eggs, honey bees, and too many furry little critters to count. We grow all our meat and increase our garden size a little more each year. I grow everything from seed that grows in our gardens, and I make most meals from scratch. We also home school our children. I think we’re on year thirteen if you count preschool. I’m not sure that technically counts, does it? I should just say since day one.
I could list my hobbies, but my hobbies are the work above, so I will list my toxic traits. My toxic traits include going down way too many rabbit holes and labeling everything we wear and eat as toxic. Cause it is. Lol. That’s why we have to grow our own…everything. Went to sheep shearing school, now we shear sheep, too. Spinning is next! Crazy. I know. It never ends.
We’ve done ten trips to Disney in ten years. I experienced Fort Wilderness for the first time when I was a young teen. My mom brought me to Disney and we stayed at the Swan. One afternoon she brought me over to the Fort to the waterpark area. I remember the rickety wooden structures you’d have to climb up and then zip line down. I remember the half slides that would just stop in thin air and you’d free fall for ten-twelve feet until you smacked the water. At the time it wasn’t much other than an afternoon at a water park. It wasn’t until decades later, when I returned with my own children, would I fully appreciate that dilapidated waterpark experience my mom gifted me. I should call my mom and tell her.
So about fourteen years ago we took our very young kids to Disney as a one and done. We stayed in the cabins for the extra room and kitchen. Well, like most here, we fell in love with Fort Wilderness. I had no idea about the camping side. I really had no idea about what the Fort offered until half way through the first trip. We ended up renting a golf cart and exploring the Fort in its entirety. I could not believe people and their huge rigs that stayed for weeks and months at a time. It was like a light bulb that went off. We returned nine more times over the next nine years. I’m glad we did Disney so much while the kids were little. Their memory banks are full of magical moments, ours, too!
The world got a little crazy in 2020 and the years to follow. It changed our travel direction from east to west. We’ve experienced numerous national parks the last few years and have been at a cross roads the last few weeks. Where to go. What to do.
Three days ago, I watched our diesel mechanic crawl out from one of our semis covered in grease. He is an adult in the eye of society, but a baby-faced boy in the eyes of mommas who know and care. He’s never been to Disney. I walked away from that conversation with deep empathy and five minutes later I had a trip booked. That boy needs a vacation!
So we’re bringing our diesel mechanic, too.
Pictures include…
Hubby & I on a whale watching tour last February in Maui.
Grace will turn eighteen later this year. Technically she’s still a junior, but also taking Agriculture classes at our local community college. She will graduate both homeschooled high school next spring & with an associates in Agriculture, too. Her plans are to farm first and livestock vet second. Our livestock vet knows he can’t doctor anything without the assistance of Grace. Hands on vet training is the best kind. She’s turned and delivered a few calves with assistance from our vet this last calving season. She’s taken vet classes for the past two years online & attended “lambing school” with a neighboring college. We have a healthy and beautiful flock of sheep and lambs, thanks to Grace. She has volunteered at our local zoo for the past three summers. She works the days the vets make their rounds and has sat in on numerous operations at the zoo. Hands on experience is the best kind! She has sat in the side combine seat in a baby carrier, played on the floor of the combine while her grandpa made the rounds, listened to her grandpa tell her what each and every button does over the years, and has graduated to full time combine #2 operator.
Little Daniel is little no more. His daddy is 6’3” and the boy is almost there. He is not a fan of home education anymore. He says he’s grown and has real work to do. But you know, he’s been saying the same things since kindergarten, so there’s that. He’s not getting out of anything, though. What’s wild is he hardly applies himself to book-work and still does just as well as his 4.0 GPA sister. He says he’s not going to college, but the boy will be prepared to enter any top school, regardless! He can build anything with wood. He’s build me a barn, two chicken coops, three greenhouses, two sheds, and a milking stand for his sister’s goats. Yes, we milk goats. Yes, we make soap. It never ends…The boy can weld anything. He’s taken two years of welding through a local private school that allows home schoolers to participate. He’s putting in new front bearings on the golf cart today. They both take a single Ag class that allows them to be part of FFA. They both have top officer positions for their chapter & for their region, too. They are the future of Ag, no doubt. Little Daniel plays two seasons of baseball and we will return just at the start of the spring season. He is our main grain cart guy in the fall. They fight like siblings fight, but to watch them as a team in the field, makes it a harmony. Grown adults have difficulties dumping grain from the combine to the grain cart while in motion, these two do it with style. They are heavy machine operators. They are rockstars to me!
Both Grace and Daniel volunteer a great deal within their community. Grace plays piano at a couple nursing homes once a month. They both serve and assist, monthly, at our local food pantry. Their work ethic, loyalty to the farm, growing level of skill sets and independence, makes this momma boast more than she should. Their compassion to helping others and their community makes my heart full.
Charlotte is my little helper. She loves her cats. She inspires to be a cat lady and live next door to us with lots and lots of cats. She also grows a good bit of tomatoes and flowers. She has a separate area in the garden and keeps heirloom seeds from the year before. She has a huge passion for art. When a child finds something they love, we fuel it! She has three online art teachers and her skills are growing. She hopes to live like a hermit with her cats and write and illustrate books one day.
Well that’s our introductions. I’ll talk more about camping at Fort Wilderness in the next post.
Don’t ask our dates. When we arrive, there will be a domino like wave of cell phone dings followed by a couple phone calls. When we arrive, everyone will know it. Hahahaha. I’m just kidding.
I’m bringing my tin foiled hat, brightly polished, with a pocket full of conspiracy theories proven true and a premenopausal attitude larger than life. Ha!
We’re coming. It’s going to be great! I’m so excited!
It was like magic. Once I clicked booked, my winter frown immediately turned upside down!
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