SAUCER SCHNANIGANS

Friday, June 22 nd , 2012 Today Uncle Tim took us to the neighborhood park and had the boys help him build a trebuchet (catapult).    First they tried to lift the 25lb dumb bell.   Then they used the lever part of the trebuchet to lift the 25kb dumb bell to see how much easier the lever made the job.   Then they launched tennis balls and water balloons to see the difference in distance they would go based on the items’ weight.   Finally we used our body weight to increase the force on the lever to see how far the items would go.    It was a BLAST!!! After Uncle Tim and the boys dismantled the trebuchet we headed back to the house for lunch.  After lunch we opened presents from Uncle Tim and Aunt April.  We played with our new toys!!  Then Uncle Tim had to go to work for a couple hours.  Simon took a nap and the older boys played hard J   When Tim got home he made us super tender chicken to make fajitas.  We ate qui...

Thursday, June 21 st , 2012 Today we got up bright and early to a wonderful breakfast of pancakes, sausage, and eggs!!  Thanks Deanna!!  We were on the road by 8:30am headed to Ann Arbor, MI to visit Uncle Tim and Aunt April.  We had extra time to stop and smell the roses so to speak.  We wanted to get there a little after 5pm when they would be getting home from work.  There was a HUGE Ikea just north of Cincinnati.  They have 1hr of free childcare to shop!!!  One of many reasons to LOVE Ikea J   I found some fun stuff and picked the kids up after exactly 1hr.  We went out to the van to check in with Daddy.  Then we all went back in to shop together for an hour.  All I can say is it’s a good thing there isn’t an Ikea near by and that we don’t have much space in the van J We divided a bag of Swedish Fish for lunch and got back on the road.  After about an hour of driving we stopped at Wendy’s for a real lunch.  The...

Tuesday, June 19 th , 2012 Today we drove  165  miles to the Mills family’s house in Frankfort, KY.  We took our time in the morning as it wasn’t far to their house and they had morning activities until 12:30pm.  We would have gotten there by 1pm according to the GPS.  Unfortunately, we had a meltdown, pit stop shopping fiasco, and traffic parked on the interstate for 20min.  We  arrived around 2:30pm for a LATE lunch.  The boys took right to playing and almost didn’t even care about having lunch!! After lunch they went back to playing toy guns and war while Deanna and I got caught up with each other.  Steve grilled burgers, hot dogs, and brats for dinner.  Then we took a tour of the garden out back and Daniel built a camp fire to toast marshmellows.  There were TONS of fireflies for the boys to chase in the yard as well!! Wednesday, June 20 th , 2012 Today we caught up on some very needed sleep!!  I got up arou...

Monday, June 18 th , 2012 Today we had to say goodbye to the Tuckers L   We got on the road around 8:15am this morning headed to the Tennessee/Kentucky boarder.  We stopped at Sikes & Kohn outlet store between Troy and Montgomery.  Mommy got some new shoes!!  Then we hit Mulberry street in Montgomery in search of Mommy’s favorite coffee beans only to discover the shop isn’t there any more L   Most of the other shops are closed on Mondays so we headed to Prattville.  It was just after 1pm so we decided to have lunch at Chick fil A.  It was PACKED and ended up taking us an entire hour to get lunch!!  We hit Wal Mart in search of Alabama T-shirts for the boys, but they didn’t have any L   We got some snacks and new movies.  Then we drove past our old house and Madison’s old house.  After that we decided to check Target for the Alabama T-shirts on our way out of town.  No luck there either.  The gas at Raceway was on...

Sunday, June 17 th ,  2012 Today we started the day with breakfast.  Then we went to 10am mass at our old church, St. Dominic’s.  After church we made a big spaghetti lunch and headed back to the beach at St. Andrew’s state park.  The parking lot was FULL so after driving around a bit, I dropped Chalane, the kids, and the gear off and found the last spot as far away as you could get from the boardwalk!!  We found a spot to plant the umbrella and enjoy another weather PERFECT day!!  After a few hours we got cleaned up and drove to Captain Anderson’s pier to catch the Dolphin Cruise.  Joey was asleep on my lap in less than 5 min.  He missed out on feeding the sea gulls Cheetos.  They are so trained for the boat they flock right to you and practically grab the Cheetos out of your hand!!  The kids were very excited to see the sea gulls catch the Cheetos in mid air.  When we got to the deeper water I woke Joey up to move to the...

Saturday, June 16 th , 2012 Today we met the Tuckers at St. Andrew’s State Park to spend the day at the Jetties Beach!!  It was PERFECT beach weather; sunny and 80 with a breeze!!  The kids had a BLAST with Madison and Alex.  After the beach we headed to Madison and Alex’s grandma’s house to take showers and get cleaned up for dinner.  Then we went to Bob Evan’s to have dinner.  After dinner we had some extra time so we went to play at the mall and see The Lorax at the cheap theatre.  Joey fell asleep shortly after the movie started.  We decided to get ice cream after the movie so we went to McDonald’s and discovered the ice cream machine was broken!!  The next stop was Burger King and you guessed it, the ice cream machine there was broken too L   Finally we got ice cream sundae’s at Dairy Queen!!

Monday, June 11 th , 2012 Mommy was up all night sick so we took our time getting started today.  We got to Epcot around 10:30am and went straight to Soarin’.  Next, as promised, we went to the Captain EO show starring Michael Jackson!!  The boys wanted to buy the movie and couldn’t believe it was so short J   This attraction came to Epcot in 1986 and they brought it back shortly after Michael Jackson died.  One of the people working there told us this would be the last year it will be open L   So glad we were able to see it again. Next we returned to the Land to ride the boat through Living With the Land through the greenhouses and fish farm.  The exit is right by the entrance for Soarin’ so we hit that right one more time too. On our way to Mission: SPACE we stopped to watch the new Jamminatiors street show of janitors that stomp and drum on metal trash cans.  It was a great show!!  Alan, Eddie, and Daddy got in line for Mission...

Sunday, June10th, 2012 Today we slept in today and didn’t make it to Hollywood Studios until 10:00am.  We went to the Star Wars Event Exclusive Darth “Mall” to check out the Star Wars specific events and merchandise.  They had all kinds of cool art and Star Wars stuff.  They also had a station where they took a picture of your face and put it on an 8X10 photo of the different characters.  When we got through the tent we headed to the Rock ‘n’ Roller Coaster staring Aero Smith.  Alan, Eddie, and Mommy went first while Daddy and Joey waited to use the parent swap.  Mommy found out this roller coaster goes upside down while we were waiting in line!!  Alan was totally freaking out as he claims he almost fell out the last time Daddy took him on it.  Mommy not only survived, but actually enjoyed the ride.  It was in the dark so I didn’t know when I was going upside down J   Daddy and Joey were waiting at the gift shop exit.  Alan an...

Saturday, June9th, 2012 Today was early hours for Animal Kingdom so we were all up by 6:30am and headed to the first bus at 7:30am.  The park opened at 8am and we headed directly for Expedition Everest rollercoaster!!  Everyone was tall enough to ride this year J   Then we headed to Africa so we would  be close to check in for our Wild Africa Trek.  We had plenty of time to walk through the Pangani Forest Exploration Trail for a preview of what Alan and Mommy would be exploring on the Wild Africa Trek.  When we finished the Pangani Forest it was almost 9am our meeting time to check in at the Tusker House Restaurant.  Missy and Aidan got there shortly after we did and the moms and boys got all checked in and sent Daddy, Eddie and Joey on their way with the camera.  I can’t believe I was going to trust the included photo CD for the big excursion!!  We had to step on the scale and get harnessed up at the beginning of the trip.  Everyone...

Friday, June 8th, 2012 Today we woke up bright and early at  6:45am to catch the 8:15 am bus to the Magic Kingdom.  We rode the bus to the Monorail and arrived at the park in time for opening ceremonies!!  After waiting in line to get in we were told to take the tickets to guest services to activate them.  It only took a couple extra minutes to  take care of that and we were off to Tomorrowland.  We went right for Space Mountain before anyone could work up too much fear we got fast pass tickets for 11:15.  Next we got in line for Buzz Lightyear’s Space Ranger Spin.  Then we took the Tomorrowland Transit Authority People Mover to take a tour of all things you could do in Tomorrowland.  Afterwards we saw the wait time for the Tomorrowland Speedway was only 20 min so we got in line to RACE!  Alan was 54” so they let him drive alone, next was Joey and Daddy, and finally it was Eddie and Mommy (Eddie drove).  Alan was having ...

Wednesday, June 6, 2012 Today we used the 2 nd day of our 2 day passes to Universal Studios Orlando.  The forecast is for rain so we bought cheap rain ponchos yesterday and put them in the pack.  We got to the park just as it was opening and got to park in the Spiderman section today!!  Once we entered Islands of Adventure we stopped at the bathrooms and had a slight miscommunication as Mommy thought we were meeting at Harry Potter’s castle and Daddy was waiting at the bathrooms.  We got it all straightened out thanks to cell phones.  Mommy and Eddie got in the 65min line to Harry Potter and the Forbidden Journey while Alan, Joey, and Daddy went to do the Flight of the Hippogriff and Pteranodon Flyers.  They met Mommy and Eddie at the castle when the ride finished and the whole family headed to Jurassic Park.  We all rode the Pteranodon Flyers and then hit the bathrooms.  Daddy took Eddie and Joey on the Jurassic Park River Adventure ...

Monday, June 4, 2012 Almost a year ago Mommy commented on a blog and won 4 two day passes to Universal Studios Orlando for FREE!!  They sent the actual tickets with an expiration date in mid-June.  We headed to the park this morning after FREE breakfast at the hotel.  When we were 5 min into morning traffic I asked Daddy if we had the tickets and he promptly took the next exit to go back to the hotel to get them.  I’m glad we caught that early so we wouldn’t miss much time at the park.  The boys were excited to park in the Cat in the Hat section of the parking ramp and they all even remembered the row number all day!! We had to wait in the line to purchase one more ticket so we could all get into the park.  We got one child ticket for 2days for $150.  Not too bad for a total ticket price for our family of 5 to spend 2 days at Universal Studios!!  Once inside the gates we headed straight for The Wizarding World of Harry Potter!!...

  Friday, June 1, 2012 -  Sunday, June 3, 2012 Today was a short driving day.  We only had about 3 hrs in the van to get to Uncle Harold and Aunt Joyce’s in Pensacola, FL.  It was great to spend some time with them over the weekend!!  We had sandwiches and chips at the house with Uncle Harold when we arrived.  After lunch we settled in the living room and Mommy and Daddy took a nap while Uncle Harold headed out to pick up his grandson, Riley from day care.  We were very excited to meet him and later to see his mom, Heather!!  It was a very relaxing weekend just hanging out.  I really got homesick for living near Uncle Harold and Aunt Joyce and as we spend more time in Florida I miss living here more and more.  The boys had a BLAST!!  They get spoiled every time we visit Uncle Harold and Aunt Joyce.  They spend all of Saturday playing the back yard kiddy pool and sprinklers with Rachael!!  On Sunday, Uncle Harold to...

Wednesday, May 30, 2012 Today we were up early again and headed to Johnson Space Center in Houston, TX.  As we walked through the turnstiles into the museum the ticket lady directed us way to the back to catch the Tram Tour of NASA right off the bat.  They take your group picture in front of a green screen before you board the tram.  The first stop was to see the control room for the Apollo missions.  The software is way outdated so it’s just there for display.  We toured all kinds of things and saw some of the new projects they are working on.  The space shuttle program has ended and they are now working on sending a way advanced rover, Curiosity,  to MARS in August this year.  We also saw some of the components of the Orion program that will continue exploration of space. The Orion Crew Exploration Vehicle was originally part of NASA’s Constellation Program, which is no longer an active NASA program. However, the design for Orion was car...

I don't post on the blog in "real" time for safety reasons. Daddy had to fly home today so we can start sharing our Saucer Summer Tour.                                                                                                       Sunday, May 27, 2012    Today we embark on our Saucer Summer Tour Adventure!! Please keep all hands inside the vehicle at all times and fasten your seatbelts!! First stop, Aunt Kristine’s house in Seminole, TX. We got to Aunt Kristine’s in time to rest a bit and have Daddy fire up the grill to make hot dogs and hamburgers. While Daddy was grilling Eddie helped Aunt Kristine mix up some yummy lemon cupcakes!! After dinner Alan helped her mix up some blackberry icing for the cupcakes a...