Mini-Golf is Fun...Isn't It?

Summer vacation is quickly coming to an end for my kids. In an effort to end the summer on a good note and have a little fun, last Friday I took the kids to play mini-golf at the Fantasia Gardens mini-golf course at Walt Disney World.
The day started off pretty good. Everyone was excited to go, although we were a little apprehensive because the weather was looking a little sketchy.

Caley teed off on the first hole and we were on our way. At this point everyone was having a good time, even if CJ was being ultra competitive with his sisters.

By the time we got to the 4th hole the weather took a turn for the worse. You can't tell by looking at this picture, but at this point we were standing under a tree waiting out a downpour. CJ wanted to keep playing and was mad that I made him stand under a tree out of the rain. Luckily, there wasn't any lightening...YET!

Once the rain lightened up we were back on our way. On the 8th hole, all 4 of us got holes-in-one. We were all very excited...well 3 of us were excited. Caitlyn, as you can see by the look on her face, was not excited because she was worried about the weather.

The 10th hole is where the real excitement came. Caitlyn and CJ had just finished the hole (both getting 2's) Caley and I were taking our 3rd stroke when...BANG!!! A huge lightening bolt hit very close to where we were. The Disney cast members working at the golf course announced over the PA system that the course would be closed until the storm had passed. We headed to the arcade to take cover for a few minutes and wait out the weather.

Of course, in typical Central Florida weather fashion, not a single raindrop fell and there were no more lightening strikes. So, back out to the 10th hole we headed.

This time we were able to finish the course, with only a few more minor melt downs. Caley and CJ had a good time. Caitlyn on the other hand got very upset because I would not let her walk through the water spouts that were shooting out of the ground on the 16th hole. Normally I would have let her junp in and get soaked if she wanted to. However, on this particular day she choose to wear her brand new sneakers(the ones that we just bought to start the new school year), so I said "absolutely not!"

Needless to say, Caitlyn did not end the golf course on a happy note. While CJ and Caley laughed and played around, she pouted. I think she was also hot and hungry, which did not help her mood any.

So, we headed over to the McDonald's on Disney property. After everyone ate, all was right with the world again. Caley took this picture as we were walking out of Mickey D's. As you can see the sky was still looking a bit stormy. All-in-all we had a good time, give or take a few minor melt downs.

Where Did the Weekend Go?

Look out Idol...here we come!!!

It's Tuesday already. What happened to the weekend? And Monday? Did we take Monday out of the week?

It was another event filled weekend for us. Saturday morning it was up early (earlier than a school day), and off to our annual Cub Scout Family Fest. Well, 3 of us went to Family Fest. And the funny thing was, it was me, and the girls, not my Cub Scout. Yes, the girls were scouts for the day.

Family Fest is an event in which each district within our council gathers at a central location to show the public what scouting is all about. Each Pack, Troop and Crew from the Sand Lake district sets up a tent/booth to show or demonstrate something about scouting. There were lots of cool things to do. The girls made bird feeders out of plastic bottles, ice cream in a plastic bag, a Cub Scout weather rock, and got their picture taken with Ronald McDonald. And that was just a small segment of the booths.


While the girls were scouting the boys were playing baseball. CJ's Little League team had their first playoff game on Saturday morning. I wanted to go so badly and hated missing the game, but in the end, I guess I didn't miss too much. The Royals ended up loosing. It was not a pretty game, from what I was told. The good news is, there is another game on Wednesday night. Here's hoping they play a better game!


Saturday night we were invited to a bar-b-que, but opted to spend some time with grandma and grandpa instead. Grandma invited us over for some pulled-pork and corn-on-the-cob. We needed a quiet night, and that seemed like the best solution for us.


Sunday the kids and I went to the Disney Hollywood Studios with grandma. We had this trip planned for about the last month. We wanted to go one last time before grandma leaves for the summer. We had all been looking forward to going on "Toy Story Mania," and "The American Idol Experience." We got to do both attractions plus many more. When all was said and done, it was a good day. We got to do all of the things that we had planned on and it was just a nice fun day!

Will next weekend be just as busy? I hope not!

Sunday at Animal Kingdom Lodge

For our last day of Spring Break the girls and I decided to meet Grandma (she had to work at Animal Kingdom) and go explore the Animal Kingdom Lodge. We looked around the resort for a few hours. Looked at the animals, checked out the pool, had a little snack poolside, and of course looked around the gift shop. In this picture the girls are standing on a balcony that overlooks the "Savannah" on the backside of the resort. We saw 5 giraffes and 3 zebras out there.

This giraffe was very active that afternoon. He/she walked from tree to tree looking for leaves to eat.

Here are the girls acting crazy and making their mom nervous. We were walking across a bridge that spans the lobby of the resort, on the 5th floor. I was feeling a little fear of heights up there.

Can you find the hidden Mickey in this picture? We found them all over the lobby of the resort. They were in all of the light fixtures, the carpet, and many other pieces of decor.

Caitlyn put her feet in the pool to cool off. It was hot outside, but the pool was still pretty cold. Both of the girls wanted to swim, but we forgot to bring swimsuits.

After checking out the pool we stopped in the gift shop to pick out one more Spring Break treat, and then we headed home.

Back to school...sigh...can't we have just one more week???

Where Did The Week Go???

Spring Break started last Friday for our kids and what a week it has been. We jumped right in on Friday by headed up to Camp LaNoChe for a Cub Scout campout. The theme for the weekend was "Fun With Son - Jurassic Pack."

We arrived at the camp on Friday afternoon. After a quick camp set-up, and a dinner of fried chicken we headed out for the Friday night movie, "Ice Age 2." The movie would have been pretty good if not for the 300 Cub Scouts that talked through the whole movie. I guess that is what you get when you put that many 6 to 10 year olds in a room together. Oh well!

Saturday morning we woke up, had breakfast and headed out to the daytime activities. Our group started off the day with crafts and then headed over to scout skills. Scout skills ended up being one of the cool activities for the day. The Boy Scouts had constructed a rope bridge that all of the Cubs and their siblings got to climb across. Here are some pictures of my 3 going across the bridge.

CJ takes his turn on the bridge.

Next it was Caitlyn's turn.

Then came Caley. Yep, she cried the whole way across. The funny thing was that she walked across the bridge better and with more ease than most of the other kids. She just had to add some drama.

A little girl talk and some hiking!!!

The rest of the days activities included BB Shooting, Archery, a nature hike, and we were supposed to go canoeing, but it was very windy and the water was too choppy. This was our 4th or 5th time at Camp LaNoChe and we still have not had a chance to go canoeing. Maybe we will make it onto the lake one of these days.

After dinner on Saturday night many of our c0-campers packed up and headed home for the weekend. They all had good excuses for leaving, but I would find out in a few short hours that I should have packed up and left too, excuse or not.

About 2:30 am I got a call from Chris. It seems that while we were sleeping the weather had decided to turn bad. I had a really bad connection with him so all I got in my half asleep state was... the radar is all red, be careful. GREAT!!! What do I do now??? I sat in my tent for about 10 minutes running through my options. Finally, I decided to wake up the other campers. By this time I was hearing thunder and seeing lightening in the distance. After some discussion I decided to go get my car and park it close to the tent, just in case we needed a quick get away. Of course we were in the woods, so the car was a ways away. I jogged to my car, looking for large furry animals the whole way. When I arrived back at the campsite all of the other campers were awake. We determined that we might have just enough time to pack up and make a get away. WRONG. About 5 minutes later we were in the middle of a downpour. We got the kids and our stuff into a shelter and decided to wait out the rain. Sadly, it rained until 8:30 am. So, 13 of us spent the night in the shelter. We did not have a very restful night. Everyone slept wherever they could. I was in a camp chair. Oh joy! But, thank goodness we were all safe and made it home without too much rain soaked equipment. I'm all camped out for awhile, REALLY!!!

Monday was a much nicer day. It was a sunny day and we decided to go to EPCOT. Monday and Tuesday were the last two days that our Disney passes were good, so we had to go one last time. After the weekend that we had I would have liked to take one day to regroup, but that was not possible. So, off to EPCOT we headed.

EPCOT is currently hosting its annual "Flower and Garden Festival," so the whole park is decked out in all kinds of flowers and topiaries.

We had a great day. We got to go on most of our favorite rides. We even got Grandma to go on "Test Track" and "Soarin" with us. We ended the night with "Illuminations."


One last look at "Spaceship Earth" as we headed out of the park. We can't wait to go back.

Tuesday morning we got up and headed out for our last day at the "Magic Kingdom."

We started the day with a ride on the Tomorrow land Transit Authority, The Carousel of Progress and Buss Lightyear's Space Ranger Spin. Next we had lunch at Pinocchio's Village Haus, toured Mickey and Minnnie's houses, road Goofy's Barnstormer and It's A Small World. Then we got a Fast Pass for Splash Mountain and spent a little time on Tom Sawyer's Island.

Here are my 3 crazy kids climbing across the barrel bridge on Tom Sawyer Island. I guess the theme for this week is bridges. We went across this one twice. It is a wild ride!

After our ride on Splash Mountain we headed to the center of the park to watch Wishes and the Spectro Magic parade. It was another great day. We sure will miss having our annual pass. We will just have to see what the future holds and how soon we will get to go back to Disney!

Spring at Animal Kingdom

For the last year the kids and I have had Florida Resident Seasonal Annual passes to Walt Disney World. We love to go to the Disney parks. We just can't seem to get enough. Sadly, our passes are going to expire on April 1st. So, we are in the process of taking one last day at each park. This past Sunday was our day at Animal Kingdom.

Spring is definitely in the air at Animal Kingdom. There were baby ducks everywhere. These baby ducks were walking and swimming around right inside the front entrance of the park. There were so many of them that we could not count them all. How much better could life get for a duck than to be born at Disney?!!!

They are so cute and fun to watch. I think we spent a good 20 minutes just watching them swim and play. We almost forgot that there were rides to go on and shows to see.

Our next stop was for a photo-op in front of the "Tree of Life." There are so many great places to take pictures of the tree, that it is hard to pick just one. Caley was playing tour guide on this visit. She put her arm up in the air in every picture to show off what we were taking a picture of. Silly girl!

These flamingos were playing around, with more baby ducks, in a small pond near the "Tree of Life." The animals just seemed so much more active on this visit than they sometimes do. I think they were just loving the nice spring weather.

When we got to the back of the park we decided to take the train ride out to "Conservation Station." We had a really crazy conductor telling us about the park on the way out to the station. He was telling us about some of the celebrities that had recently visited Animal Kingdom. Since January he had seen Tom Cruise and George Hamilton. The only celebrities that we saw on this particular day were Pocahontas and Jiminy Cricket.

Caley loves Pocahontas. She loved being able to get her autograph and take a couple of pictures. It was pretty quite when we were there, so the girls got to talk to Pocahontas for a few minutes. Very cool.

After our visit to "Conservation Station," we went on the "Kilimanjaro Safari." Again the animals were very active. The giraffes were standing so close to the road that you could almost reach out and pet them.

We ended our day with a ride on "Tricera Top Spin," a visit to "Finding Nemo-The Musical," and we couldn't leave the park without seeing "The Festival of the Lion King," one last time. We can't wait to go back. When we do it will all be fresh and new to us again!!!

A Disney Saturday

After a month full of scouting activities, we finally had a Saturday off to go to one of the Disney parks.

We had not been to Animal Kingdom for a while, so that was our choice for the day.

The park was only open until 5:00 pm, so I knew it would not be a real late night, which is always a good thing.

As we entered the park,Brer Bear and Brer Rabbit were greeting the guests.

Caley and Caitlyn love to have their pictures taken with the characters.

There was a time when they were terrified of them.

I am glad that they like to visit with them now.

Chip and Dale were waiting to greet us as we walked out of the "Festival of the Lion King" show.

Twin chipmunks with twin girls! ;-)

We happened upon this cool walkway that goes around the "Tree of Life."

It is a great place to take a quiet walk and get some great pictures of all of the animals that are carved into the tree.

It was a perfect day to go to the park, not too hot, not too cold, and not crowded at all!!!

Weekend Fun!

Last weekend we spent a long awaited day at Disney's Animal Kingdom. We went with the express purpose of seeing the Pocahontas show. Disney announced earlier this summer that the show would shut down at the end of September. Caley is a big Pocahontas fan, so it was important to her to see the show one last time. Our visit to the park that day ended up being fun and educational. The kids went to all six of the "Kid's Discovery Club" locations. They really did learn something at each location and had a great time doing it.

Here are a few pictures of our day.