7 posts tagged “family”

Mickey's Not So Scary Halloween Party!

We had a lovely time this past week and I am so sad to see it end.  Unfortunately, back to work tomorrow.  I am consoling myself with the thought that I took the Monday after Thanksgiving and the Monday after Christmas off, so I have two five-day weekends to look forward to.  Also, Tadd and I are taking a long weekend in December to do all the Christmasy stuff at Disney, so we have another mini-vacation in the works.

We all really loved the cabins at Fort Wilderness.  I was worried that it would be too small or that the sleeping arrangements would be awkward, but it actually worked out really well.  Tadd and I got the big bed in the bedroom, Tadd's mom and brother got the bunk bed, and Tadd's uncles shared the murphy bed in the living room.  And it really was adorable.  Like our own cute little cottage in the woods!  We rented a golf cart for our four days, which was great.  I only wish we could have had two golf carts, since we had 6 people.  Instead, Tadd would take two trips from our cabin to either the Outpost bus stop or the Settlement boat launch, shuttling us wherever we needed to go.  Even with the 2 trips, it was much more efficient (and more pleasant) than the Ft. Wilderness internal bus loop.  I'm not huge a fan of Disney busses, although I understand how they have their place in the transportation system.  We also found that we preferred to take the boats whenever we could.  The only time we used our own cars was on the last day after checking out of the cabin.  Tadd and I agreed that it would be so much fun to get a group of our friends together and rent a cabin or two with them.  Even if we didn't make it to the parks, there is so much to do in the campground, it could be REALLY fun!  We would both love to stay in the cabins again, although the price is definitely too high for just the two of us, but would be great to split with a group of friends.

Epcot's Food & Wine Festival

I really think Tadd's family enjoyed themselves.  We tried to inject some special things into each day of the trip.  Sunday morning we checked in and spent the afternoon at the Studios.  We rode all the rides and Tadd's mom got to see Fantasmic for the first time.  Monday morning we went back to the Studios at opening to be able to get on Toy Story Mania before the crowds hit.  Then we went back to the cabin to relax before our late lunch reservations at Whispering Canyon Cafe in the Wilderness Lodge.  We got caught in a rainstorm on the way back from lunch, so we took a little bit to dry off and get ready for Mickey's Not So Scary Halloween Party at Magic Kingdom.  Tadd and I had printed custom shirts for everyone for the party, which was fun.  When we got to MK, Tadd took his brother into the Main Street Barber Shop and they got colored gel combed into their hair.  Between our shirts, the boys' colored hair, and our various other Halloween accessories, we all looked very festive!  Tuesday we went to Epcot for the Food & Wine Festival, but surprised Tadd's mom with tickets for a special behind the scenes tour of The Land Pavilion.  She is an avid gardener back in Tennessee, so she LOVED it.  Bet met up with us for part of the day too.  Tuesday night, back at the cabin, we used the grill in front of our porch to toast some marshmallows, which was a fun treat.  Then Wednesday, after checking out and returning our golf cart, we had a lovely breakfast at Kona Cafe at the Polynesian resort, before heading off to our last day at Animal Kingdom.  The four days were VERY tiring, but so much fun!

Then on Thursday, we introduced Tadd's mom to the wonder that is Ikea.  They don't even have Target in their tiny town in Tennessee, so Ikea was extremely exotic to her.  She LOVED it.  We went shopping a few other places that she doesn't have in her area between Thursday and Friday.  Then they headed home in the wee hours of Saturday morning.

As I am finishing up my vacation, my parents are just starting theirs.  They will be gone for the next three weeks on a European cruise.  They flew to Dublin today and tomorrow they will be in Venice for the start of their cruise.  Sooooo lucky!  I can only hope that someday Tadd and I are able to do something like that.

In the meantime...GO SOX!!!  We are watching game 7 vs. the Tampa Bay Rays right now!

Pictures from our vacation:

Album 1: http://www.facebook.com/album.php?aid=33547&l=f8edc&id=504344522
Album 2: http://www.facebook.com/album.php?aid=33556&l=4e260&id=504344522

Definitely time for some updating around here...

I am still alive and well.  Very happy that summer is over and embracing the start of my favorite time of year...FALL!  I actually pulled out all my Autumn/Halloween decorations over this past weekend and our place is looking quite festive.  And smelling festive too!  Lots of pumpkin/apple/cinnamon/spice-scented candles and wax tarts scattered around.  Not that we really have many people over to show it off, but I decorate mostly for myself anyways.  It makes me happy.  This past weekend I also baked some pumpkin sugar cookies and we had friends over for a somewhat impromptu autumn seasonal beer tasting.  We tried some Pumpkin Jack Ale, Oktoberfest, and Harvest Moon.  Ryan had to be the weird one who brought blueberry beer, but it was yummy, so I forgave him.

Last week, we got to see the Red Sox beat the tar out of the Rays.  We went with Betsy, Richard, and Ryan.  Richard's coworker worked out a deal with a rock star tour bus, so for a grand total of $60/person, we got to ride over to Tampa in total luxury and see the game at Tropicana Field.  It was SO much fun!  The bus was huge...two living rooms each with stereos and flat-panel TVs, a bar, kitchen, sleeping quarters for (I think) 12 (and each bed has its own flat screen TV!), etc, etc, etc.  It was SO nice!  We also got unlimited food & drinks on the bus.  The game was great too...6 homeruns, one of which landed about 6 seats away from us.  The final score was 13-5!  Of course, they lost the next two games in the series, which led to the operations director at work teasing me that we were lucky we picked Monday night's game instead of the others.

The next few weeks are going to be kind of crazy, especially for Tadd.  He leaves for a week in Memphis for work next Sunday, then the weekend after he returns, his mom, brother, & uncles come to stay with us for a week, then the week after that, they may be sending him to Virginia for another week.  I'm not looking forward to spending so much time away from him, but it's for the best.  Things at his job are going very well, so I won't complain...too much.

My job is going pretty well too.  I'm SO much more at ease than I was when I first got promoted back in June.  They just did a little reorganizing, which means a few things are being taken off of my plate as of October 1, but for the most part my responsibilities will be staying the same.  I'm happy about that because when they announced all the changes, I was worried that now that I am finally into a good groove in this position, they were going to change everything around on me and I would be stressed out all over again.  Luckily that will not be happening.  For now at least...  

I'm one day late, but happy birthday to my dad!  He turned 52 yesterday.  Hopefully now he'll give my mother a break.  He always teases her that he married an older woman.  She was born in late December of 1955 and he was born in early February of 1956.  So they are barely over 1 month apart in age.  But every year, during that 1 month, he rags on her constantly.  It's all in loving jest, of course, but give Mom a break already!   Besides, in the world of modern women, 52 is the new 42, right?

We'll be celebrating his birthday on Sunday when the whole family gets together for the Super Bowl.  It will be very fun to watch a Patriots Super Bowl with my grandmother.  I'd better bring earplugs, because she can really SCREAM when it comes to football.  It cracks me up just how into it she can get!  We thought we'd invite some friends over to my parents house as well, but it looks like everyone has other plans.  That's fine though.  We considered going to Betsy and Richards' Super Bowl party, but it's just too far of a drive and too late of a night for us on a work night.  Besides, I really wanted to spend Super Bowl with my family, since this is the Patriots we are talking about...

Well, as of yesterday, Tadd and I are officially back on track, financially.  Tadd got his first paycheck yesterday and I got my second paycheck Thursday.  I reinstated our automatic savings plan this morning, and paid a TON of bills, so we are 110% back in business.  It feels sooooooooooo good!  And we are enjoying having nights and weekends together again.  I really hope this works out in the long term.  The only thing I could really do without is my commute, but I really can't do much about that unless we move.  And I really don't want to move unless it's into a house.  So I'll just deal for now.

I watched the democratic debate Thursday night and I was so impressed that Tadd sat and watched it with me.  He's not a very political guy, for the most part, but he watched the whole thing intently and we were both surprised how much he liked Hillary.  I'm an Obama girl myself, but I will happily vote for Hillary if she gets the nomination.  They were both so inspiring during the debate...so excited and ready for change.  He made a comment of how nice it is to have two democratic front-runners who are both people he would be happy to vote for.  I must say I agree.

Christmas day itself was nice.  I tried to allow myself to just enjoy it and forget about all our problems for the day, and I think I accomplished that. 

Even before all the work crap happened, Tadd and I already weren't planning on buying much for each other this year, because we considered our WDW season passes our big gift to each other when we bought them back in September.

We woke up pretty early and immediately exchanged gifts with each other.

MY GIFTS TO TADD:
 - Super Mario Galaxy for the Wii
 - a silver ring for his right hand
 - a "3rd eye" head lamp/flashlight thing for when he works on our cars
 - Family Guy Volume 4 DVD
 - a subscription to Maxim
 - stocking stuffers: a Red Sox key chain, Hershey mint truffle kisses, lip balm, a 6-way screwdriver, and a cheezy kung fu DVD I found in the dollar section at Target.

MY GIFTS FROM TADD:
 - a retro Epcot Center 25th Anniversary t-shirt
 - a pink laptop cover
 - pink fuzzy slippers
 - a folding book light
 - 8-color lip gloss compact from Victoria's Secret

We also opened gifts from his family at that time.  We got a rubber spatula, a cookbook from my mother-in-law's women's club, and a Hamilton Beach ice cream maker.  I also got the movie Hairspray on DVD from them, and Tadd got a few other gifts too (the new Harry Potter movie on DVD and a few other things I can't recall).  Then we opened the big gift.  Tadd's uncles decided to be extra-generous this year.  They sent him the limited edition Halo X-Box 360 game system and a copy of Halo 3!!!  Tadd was nearly beside himself with joy.  The system itself is $400, so we were floored at their spontaneous generosity.  I guess they heard about our hardships and wanted to cheer Tadd up.  We will be sending them a big thank you, along with an invitation to come visit us if they are ever in need of a vacation.

The kitties also got tons of toys from both sets of "grandparents".  We probably spent a good 20 minutes just watching them go nuts over all their new stuff.  They got catnip mice, suede mice, colorful plastic spring toys, catnip-filled fringe-covered balls, and squishy fabric rings with feathers attached to them.  So much fun!  At one point, Logan was so overwhelmed and hopped up on catnip, that he just rolled onto his back under the Christmas tree, surrounded by toys, and just randomly batted at one after another.  It was adorable.

After our initial gift-opening session, I threw some cinnamon rolls in the oven for breakfast while we got ready to go.  Then we ate, packed the car with gifts, and headed over to my parents' house for the rest of the festivities.  When we got there, everyone (parents, grandparents, Ryan, Megan, and Megan's boyfriend Dale) was awake and waiting for us to arrive before they started passing out gifts. 

The whole fam damily.

GIFTS FROM THE FAMILY:
 - tanzanite and diamond pendant (from parents)
 - silver Isaac Mizrahi laptop tote bag (from parents)
 - Yankee tarts and car jar (from parents)
 - Bath & Body Works Temptations 3-in-1 shower gel and lotion in the Strawberry Mint scent (from parents)
 - another ice cream maker (we ended up exchanging it for more Yankee Candle stuff, some kitchen utensils, and a new throw blanket for our living room sofa) (from parents)
 - Ratatouille DVD (from parents)
 - pink and black floral silk PJs (from parents)
 - an extremely generous and incredibly unexpected check from my parents
 - Alice In Wonderland DVD (from Megan)
 - chocolate-colored fuzzy scarf (from grandparents)
 - money (from grandparents)
 - money (from other grandmother)

Tadd also got a DVD of all the Pixar short films, Pirates of the Caribbean: Curse of the Black Pearl on DVD, a comfy gray plaid bathrobe, Big Brain Academy for the Wii, a cocktail shaker with drink recipes on the sides, and a few other things.  All in all, we were spoiled rotten by everyone.  We had a wonderful time sitting around, laughing and watching each other open gifts.

The rest of the day was pretty low-key.  We had the traditional dinner in the early afternoon and quickly realized we had made/bought way too much dessert (5 different pies for only 9 people!).  By the end of the meal, we were all so stuffed!  For the rest of the day, we hung out, watched TV, and tried out the new X-Box.  Around 5pm, I realized I was really tired and could not wait to be at home relaxing in my new pjs, so we said our goodbyes and went home.  We spent the evening watching some of our new movies and trying out the new video games.
 

Ok, I am trying to catch up on the rest of what has been going on in my life...

My mother-in-law Peggy and brother-in-law Keith, as well as Peggy's boyfriend Brian came down to visit us for the week of Thanksgiving.  They stayed from Tuesday to Tuesday.  It was a nice distraction from what had happened with my job, and gave me a good emotional buffer zone before I really had to deal with it head-on.  We all went to my parents house for Thanksgiving dinner, so we had a pretty large group.  It was me, Tadd, Peggy, Keith, Brian, Ryan, my sister Megan, Megan's boyfriend Dale, my Aunt Pat & Uncle Ken, my parents, and Bet. I always love big gatherings for holidays, so that was nice.

Our Thanksgiving table.

Bet was stuffed.

Keith, Tadd, me, and Peggy at MK

Castle Dreamlights

Sunday, we went to Epcot.  This was probably our most successful day.  I mean, come on, who doesn't love Epcot?  Even Keith enjoyed himself, since there weren't many thrill rides for him to worry about.  We snacked and drank around World Showcase, including a really nice sit-down lunch at Le Chefs de France.  We also met up with Ryan and Justin at one point, as well as Brian and Peggy's friend Mike and his wife Laura, so by the end of the night, we had a nice-sized group.

Tadd & I next to Maelstrom.

Les Chefs de France

Ryan, Justin, Tadd, & Keith

The last day, we started in Animal Kingdom and ended at MGM.  It was Peggy and Keith's first time ever at Animal Kingdom, so it was fun showing them around.  By the time we got to MGM, I think almost everyone had just about had enough of Disney so we didn't stay there long.   We were all extremely tired.  We did stay for the lighting of the Osborne Family Spectacle of Dancing Lights, which was pretty neat.  I had never seen those before.  I would have probably enjoyed it more if the rest of the group was in a better mood.  Maybe next year.

Brian, Peggy, Keith, & Tadd

Tadd, Peggy, & Keith at MGM

Blurry shot of Osborne Lights.

I'm on my way to beautiful Clearwater, Florida in a few hours.  I can't wait to see the Red Sox beat the Devil Rays! 

I think tonight we're going to go to John's Pass and watch the sun set over the Gulf of Mexico while enjoying dinner and maybe a little shopping.  Tomorrow, we'll probably sleep in a little bit, explore the resort, take some pics, maybe walk for a few minutes out on the beach if the weather is nice enough.  Then we have to meet up with my family at their hotel in the early afternoon.  My sister wants us to see her school (she goes to Eckerd College and lives over on that side of the state), then where she works (a gellato shop).  At some point, we'll have a late lunch, then start heading out towards Tropicana Field.  The game starts at 7:10pm. 

Not sure what's in store for Sunday, aside from checking out of our resort in the morning.  I figured I would leave that open and we can decide how long we want to stay in town before heading back to Orlando.  It's only a 2 hour drive, so we can pretty much stay in the Tampa area as long as we want.  John's Pass has some neat charter boat tours, so while we're there on Friday, I thought maybe we could see if there are any that fit our time schedule and budget, and we could do that on Sunday.  There's also the Tampa Bay Aquarium, the Salvador Dali Museum, and several other fun places in and around Tampa.

I had a decent weekend.  The highlight of it all was meeting Stephanie and Betsy for lunch on Saturday afternoon at PF Changs.  It was lovely just hanging out with the girls.  Sometimes I really wish I had more close female friends, but I also have to remind myself that quality trumps quantity.  We decided that we are going to try to get together once a month.  I'm going to really push to hold them to that, because I do want to have a day like that to look forward to once a month.  Maybe we could do more than just lunch next time too...maybe we could see a movie or do one of those pottery painting things.  I don't know.  It sucks that we don't all live closer, because I would be all for making it a weekly thing, but we all live on different sides of town.  Regardless, girl-time is beneficial for all and I think it's worth it to make an effort to make that a bigger part of my life.

I gave Stephanie a Smashing Pumpkins compilation cd that I pieced together from their entire discography, which Tadd downloaded for me last week (nearly 450 tracks!).  I chose each song specifically because I thought it had some element (lyrical or musical) that might appeal to her.  I have been wanting to do that for ages, because they are and have been a really important part of my life and, as silly as it sounds, it's important to me to share stuff like that with the people I love.  Even if she ends up not liking any of the songs, I still had a great time making it.  I guess you can say it's a sentimental thing.  I would love for her to do the same for me someday with Talking Heads songs (hint, hint, Stephanie...if you're reading)!

We did the Fathers' Day thing yesterday at my parents' house.  My grandparents were there too, which was nice.  My grandfather got a beautiful large framed photograph of Fenway Park with the skyline of Boston in the background from my mother.  My dad got a Red Sox cap from Ryan, and a Red Sox t-shirt and car flag from Tadd & I.  So it was definitely a very Red Sox Fathers' Day.  We ate a ton and the boys went swimming in the pool for awhile.  I've got some funny pictures of them taking turns diving off the diving board that I have to upload.

We took my dad's old camcorder home with us from my parents' house, in the hopes to take some of the stuff we have sitting on tapes, and transfer them either to DVD or video files we can share online (or both).  So last night, for the first time in years, we sat down and watched our entire wedding video.  I'm surprised how emotional it was for both of us, and a lot of fun to remember the funny and cute things that happened.  We were cracking up at how Bet looked like a sly politician with all his little nods to the camera.  And then there was my cousin Brittany and Tadd's little brother Keith (age 11 & 13, respectively) slow dancing, and Tadd headbanging during our first dance.  The actual ceremony itself was just as moving as it was the day it happened, and when we got to the part where I started walking down the aisle with my dad, Tadd looked over at me and grabbed my hand and squeezed it.  Then we both got weepy.  It was a very sweet moment.  I remember how I wasn't sure I even wanted a video of our wedding.  At the time, the photography was much more important to me than video.  In the end, we decided to just have our friend Dan use my dad's camcorder to capture whatever he could of the day.  I just couldn't see spending an additional couple thousand dollars for a pro videographer, but thought I might regret not having any video.  Looking back, I am SOOOOOOO glad we have the footage Dan got for us.  We'll be able to show our kids this video someday, and it is certainly something we will treasure forever.

Could this post have gotten any sappier???  I don't think so!