Cool hat!

I think I'm still tired from Christmas!! This week has gone by in a blur too. Tuesday Joe took Cammie to the Bennett's to pick up some ground beef and when they got there one of the goats was having her kid so they got to see that (it would have been neat but I'm really not sad I missed it, you know how I feel about the whole birth thing....). Then Cammie helped out and fed the chickens and collected some eggs. She was getting in her practice for when we get our chickens in the spring! Joe said she did really well with it and only broke one. Today Alice came over and we went to Frederick to the mall. JC Penney had a good sale and I got a bunch of stuff for Cammie (of course) for 20 bucks!! I forgot the stroller so it was hard to do any real shopping since the wild woman was running around touching everything. We also went in Bath and Bodyworks and they were having an awesome sale but again it was hard to look around when Cammie was unscrewing the tops off of everything she could, smelling it and declaring it Delicious!! She did like looking at all the toys in Barnes and Noble (I could spend all day in there, I think that is my favorite store!) since you know she didn't get anything to play with for Christmas and she even looked at some books! We were going to go to lunch at Cracker Barrel (I'm having severe withdraw) but someone got sleepy when we got in the truck and more than a little cranky so we stopped at Roy Rogers instead. That was NOT an adequate substitute for CB! So now I'm craving chicken and dumplings and Chinese food. Weird. And NO Theresa I am NOT pregnant!! Cammie did fall asleep for about 15 minutes on the way home and she actually passed out a little bit ago so I am going to relax (or try) and watch the Big Bang. The dogs are already in bed warming it up for me! Well Clyde is still in the living room he hasn't noticed that the lights are off and everyone is gone. He's so sweet.

The Christmas dress was a success.

It was a busy few days leading up to Christmas and on Christmas eve we did a ton of cooking and cleaning and then we went to the Brown's. It was really hard hanging out with the girls and not giving away their Christmas present but we managed. Cammie had slept all the way there and stayed awake all the way home. We got home around 830 and she then stayed up until 11. Then we were in a rush to get the tree decorated and her doll nursery together. The tree that we got (artificial) wasn't nearly big enough so I only put out less than half our decorations. Duly noted for next year. I couldn't fall asleep after all the excitement and was up til probably 3. Then Cammie woke up 630!! We managed to keep her in bed until 7. She was so excited when she saw the tree and she couldn't wait to start ripping into her presents! My Mom and Dad came over and so did Uncle Gary and Uncle Michael. Cammie liked showing off all her loot. Bill, Donna and Andrew came over for breakfast too. Once we all got dressed we went to Donna and Bill's. Cammie had more fun opening her gifts and helping whoever would let her open theirs too. She also let Donna put her in Christmas dress and was very happy as long as everyone told her how beautiful she looked. She couldn't wait to show Paul and Daniel. Luckily she had changed back into her play clothes when Kristen pushed her into the dogs water dish (just kidding I know she "fell"). Then luckily Donna had gotten her a new outfit because she was soaked. After eating a bunch we headed back home to get ready for everyone to come over to our house. Alice, Mike, Matthew, Emily, Edd, Donna, Bill, Daniel, Kristen, Mary, Bill, Zack, Theresa, Nick, Laura, Julie and Nicholas all came over and hung out with us. We had lots of fun and ate more food. Cammie was showing off all her stuff to whoever would pay attention to her. We had a great day!

Sunday I was so tired, Joe thought he might get called for OT but he didn't so I went shopping with Donna and Andrew. We met Kristen at Target, and then we went to Hallmark and Michaels. It wasn't as bad as I had feared it would be. I got a ton of stuff on sale and then came home for a nap. Joe did go to work today, it is crazy windy again and it drives the dogs crazy and they start barking which drives me crazy so it's been a long day. I also spent over two hours putting together Cammie's new barn. I think it would have been easier to build a real barn. So anyway, she couldn't wait to play with it and kept tossing animals in while I was building (and swearing). As soon as I finished and set it up she went over to it and hasn't even looked at it since. Grrrr.... Hopefully she will fall asleep soon because I am oh so ready for bed! Hope everyone had a great Christmas!!

The Rockstar is ready for Christmas!!!!

HO HO... Snow???

Cammie and Joe had a great time sledding down the hill in the back yard yesterday morning. Emily came to get Cammie and Joe and I spent most of the day running errands. Cammie spent the night at Alice's and then Alice and Emily came over today to bake cookies. YUM!

Back to reality

Ugh..... I think we need a vacation after a Disney vacation. We were both wiped out over the weekend and I didn't feel good at all. Joe ended up going to work for 12 hours on Sunday and I don't think I finished unpacking til about Tuesday. Monday Joe and I took Cammie to her last session of gymnastics. She did a lot of showing off for Daddy but she participated a bit more than she usually does. She even did some of the stretches. We decided to pass on the next class and then sign her up again maybe in the spring. Tuesday passed in a blur, I don't remember what we did. Wednesday Joe went back to work and Cammie and I went to my appointment with Anneliese at Pain Management. She changed some of my pain meds around and then gave me injections in that muscle spasm I had in my shoulder blade. It hurts less but it's still there. Yesterday we were supposed to go to the Union Executive Board dinner at Ruth Chris Steakhouse at Pier 5 in Baltimore. It started snowing in mid morning while Joe was at the union meeting and around lunch time Kristen G texted me to see if we were still going and at that time we were. She wanted to know if she could come over then because of the snow and she did. As soon as she walked in the door Joe texted me that they cancelled the dinner. AHHHHH Kristen said as soon as she got out on main roads it was fine. It's just our driveway that sucks, which Joe found out when he got home. Mike Freeman's son plowed it in front of him so he could get up it and then Dean came over later to check something on Joe's plow so hopefully we are all set for the next snow on Saturday which of course will happen when Joe is at work. Got to do some shopping, grocery and otherwise today. Hope we can make it off the hill! Stay warm!!

Downtown Disney

We checked out of the lodge yesterday morning kicking and screaming. All of us were looking for a reason to stay! Well actually a reason to go home. We ate breakfast at Whispering Canyon in the lobby of the lodge and it was so good! All you can eat and they bring it to you! It doesn't get any better than that. Jennifer and I decided that they must put a little something extra in the Mickey waffles because they are addictive. After breakfast we took the bus to Downtown Disney and enjoy the beautiful day. The best weather days were the day we arrived and the day we left. It's hard to shop with Cammie in tow so Joe and I didn't do much but we did get a couple of things. It was really crowded too. We also found out that it was snowing or some such foul weather event at home so we began to hope that our flight would get cancelled. Cammie and Joe got on the carousel and then we watched some kids from Australia perform and Cammie entertained the people around us with her smooth moves. We ate lunch at the T Rex Cafe which was really cool. Actually it was more of a snack since we were all still pretty full from breakfast. After that we had to go back to the lodge to get ready to get picked up. We hung out by the fireplace for a bit and then Juan came to take us to the airport. We were still hoping that our flight would get cancelled especially when the 630 flight to Baltimore was delayed until 930. This sucked because a bunch of people got on our flight and it was completely full and then people had too much carry on luggage and they had to start checking baggage and we were late leaving. It was however the first time in a while that we left Orlando and it wasn't storming. The taxi to the runway is so long though it feels like you are just driving home. The flight was pretty uneventful until the descent, Cammie had some ear issues and started screaming. That was lovely. Of course when we landed and were waiting to get off the plane she was standing on the seat full of smiles saying Surprise! Mr Matt! Hi! and things like that so hopefully she redeemed herself to the other passengers. On a related note I do wish that grumpy people who don't like kids would not go to Disney. Why are they surprised when there are kids there who are all hopped up on Mickey? I find them irritating. So anyway, we made it home and up the driveway (that did take a couple of tries) and had a quick soak. The dogs (and Cammie) let us sleep in this morning which was really nice. We were disappointed to not have an all you can eat breakfast this morning but we'll have to work on that I suppose. We had a great vacation and can't wait to return as usual!

It's our last day. :o(

I forgot to mention that yesterday we also got on the Haunted Mansion ride which everyone braved!! Today was much warmer and would have been super nice if the wind wasn't blowing. Of course it is supposed to be 70 tomorrow because we are leaving. After spending most of the day at Downtown Disney of course!! The firsts continued today, as we were leaving the villas EMS was rolling a stretcher in for someone. Then we headed by boat over to the Contemporary to have breakfast at Chef Mickeys. It was the best! Mickey, Minnie, Goofy, Pluto and Donald all visited our table and the food was so good. We were full most of the day afterwards. It was lots of fun. From there we went by monorail to EPCOT and everyone checked out Innovations. I went to get fast passes for Soaring and while I was there, EMS rolled a stretcher by. (I know.) Then coming back up the steps this man tripped and almost knocked both of us down. I did make it back to the group in one piece and we found the place that has the different flavors of Coke, some are pretty bad. Cammie liked the one from Israel, it kind of tasted like Sierra Mist but more sugary lemony if that makes sense. We tried to go to the countries after that and made it to Canada where we listened to Papa Noel tell the story of Christmas. It was really neat and Cammie sat on the ground with all the other kids and Daddy. The cute Cammie ended not long after the story did and she turned into tired mean Cammie so we didn't make it very far around the world. We decided to try to go to Hollywood Studios instead. Aerosmith was on the to do list and we caught the end of the Block party which was AWESOME. Cammie loved that and we thought that since she had had a brief nap she would be OK but she morphed back into a bear so we returned to the room. It was about dinner time so we picked up sandwiches from the canteen and then Alice took Cammie down to get in the pool and Joe and I got in the hot tub. It was nice but I like ours better. Oh and in EPCOT Alice almost had a seagull fly into her head and then a duck tried to trip her. Sadly we are getting things ready to leave for tomorrow. We are having breakfast at Whispering Canyon and then going downtown. Going to pack one more day of fun in before we head to the airport.

Our Disney Princess

Today was warmer than yesterday but still pretty chilly. We all met in the lobby and took the bus to Magic Kingdom. In some combination of the group we got on The Flying Carpets, Tree house, Pirates, Jungle Cruise, Big Thunder Mountain, It's a Small World, Snow White, Peter Pan, the Race cars and we also saw the little show Captain Jack Sparrow's pirate tutorial. Brooke and Brody got to be honorary pirates and we also saw the Philharmagic show for the first time. It was really cool. The mandatory rest period was late this afternoon so we had a late dinner at Trails End with everyone plus David and Michelle and Jake and Sarah. After dinner we took a walk around the campground and checked out the Christmas lights which were AWESOME!! Dinner was really yummy too! While we were waiting for the boat to take us back to the lodge we caught the water Electrical light parade and then we hit up the arcade for a little while. Cammie just finally fell asleep and soon it will be lights out for all of us. Another magical day in the happiest place on earth!!!

The Crew

Another COLD day in Disney. We are NOT going to go by pictures from the previous year again. Bought a scarf and hat and a coat for Cammie today. We all met in the lobby this morning and headed to Trails End by boat. After a yummy breakfast the kids all had pony rides and we saw the big horses then we caught the bus to EPCOT. While everyone else went in to ride Spaceship Earth Joe and I became annual pass holders, which was very exciting for us! When we regrouped we headed for the land and got fast passes for Soaring (which Joe, Alice and I didn't use) they were for the evening but we'll get Alice on there!! We rode Living with the Land which even the kids liked. Then we rode the Nemo ride and saw the manatees which was super cool as usual. We headed for Mexico after that and Jenn, Alice and I enjoyed a margarita. YUM then we had lunch at the new quick serve place there. Cammie was cranky then so we split up and went back to the room for a nap. After a short nap we were ready for dinner so we rode the bus to the monorail at the Magic Kingdom got on it there and rode to the Polynesian. We had dinner at Kona which was really good. We caught the monorail to the Grand Floridian and enjoyed the festive atmosphere there. Christmas music was playing, the gingerbread house was cool. We took a picture of the ingredients so we can get Meaghan to make us one next year. (in her spare time). We did a quick tour of the grounds and magically caught the Water Electrical Light parade, on the way back to the lodge we saw the fireworks. Lots of neat things today and it is definitely bedtime!!!!

DISNEY!!!!

Sunday morning we drove through snow flurries to get to BWI to get on a 0745 Southwest to Orlando. The flight was packed but relatively uneventful. Uncle Gary gave us drink coupons so we all enjoyed an adult beverage. Our fun group consists of Cammie, Joe and I plus Aunt Alice and the O'Neill family: Jennifer, Matt, Brook and Brody. By the time we landed in Orlando (early thanks to the Southwest pilot) we were all sweating and ready to have a blast. We hopped on the boat and headed for the Magic Kingdom. As we walked in the Celebration parade was starting and we all loved it!

It was a gorgeous HOT sunny day. We got to get on the Barnstormer Ride, Big Thunder Mountain, Space Ranger Spin, the Carousel, Jungle Cruise, Winnie the Pooh, Pirates, and Snow White. Not everyone got on every ride but everyone had lots of fun. We ate lunch at the Starlite Cafe and then headed back to the lodge to grab a bite at Roaring Forks.

Day 2= We got up early to take advantage of the early magic hour at Animal Kingdom. We headed right for the safari ride and saw tons of animals!! Then we went to Dino Land and got on the flying Dinosaurs and Joe and Alice got on the Primeval Twist roller coaster. They also got on Everest and said it was really cool. We had breakfast at Pizzafari and around lunch time headed back to the room for a nap since someone (Cammie not Alice) was getting grouchy and needed a nap. After we all took naps we headed over to Hollywood Studios to catch back up with the O'Neills and we ate dinner at Pizza Planet and then looked at the lights in the Osbourne show. It was so cool and they even incorporated Phineas and Ferb into it, so you know I was loving it. As warm as yesterday was, it was freezing today. I could have done with at least a hat and gloves. We have heard some conflicting weather reports but the general consensus was that this was going to be the coldest day. Looking forward to lots more fun and we are having breakfast at Trails End!! YUM!!

Cooking away!

Had a good day today. Joe had union stuff again this morning so Cammie and I hung out and played. When he got home I got to go get a mani/pedi and I swear I felt like a celebrity because they did my nails and my toes at the same time. All that was missing was someone rubbing my shoulders and the paparazzi outside the window! When I got home Joe left to go to the doctor and he got a z pack, cough medicine and a nasal spray and she told him to get mucinex also. That stuff is expensive and I had to sign my life away to get it!! Geez. We met Granny Franny and Poppop Fish at Bob Evans for dinner and that kind of got cut short. Cammie was having a little tummy issues and had a huge code brown and kept crying. She had another one on the way home but she enjoyed looking at the Christmas lights! Now she is watching Baby Einstein dvds and singing. I thought she would have fallen asleep by now!

I know it's not a picture of Cammie again but doesn't this alpaca have awesome hair???

Anther tiring day again today. I could bottle Cammie as the five hour energy drink! She doesn't give up for a moment. Joe had union stuff this morning so he didn't get home til late. It was an odd stormy day too. There were tornado warnings most of the morning and it was like waking up in OZ. The dogs were not happy about all the wind and rain. The front door blew open at one point and I swear Clyde fainted. He and Bailey were hiding in the bathroom for quite a while. This afternoon we all got our hair cut at Ms Sue's. Cammie looks cuter than ever! Joe is liking not having to wear a hat and I love mine! Oh and Cammie spent the whole night in her own bed last night! It was awesome, except for the part about Clyde barking in my face at 6 am this morning. He woke her up so I'm not sure how late she would have slept. Getting ready to eat some pizza and hang out for a bit. Hopefully there will be time for a soak after Survivor!!