No more stitches!

After 7 days of ugly black stitches in her chin Reagan was ready to have them taken out.


The novelty had worn off.


The ER told us to come back in 5-7 days to have them removed but we were going to be in Disney World.


Lucky for us we were going with a ER doctor!







There they are in Uncle Kevin's hand.


She was a very good patient and he was a very good doctor. Of course, I haven't gotten his bill yet!

Epcot

So here's my thought. How about I just show you my favorite pictures from each park?


Like you have a choice:)


Let's start with Epcot.


My grandparents took me there when I was in high school. Either very late eighties or very early nineties.


Please do not be frightened. The hair is scary. The shirt is a little frightening. But the shorts....well, actually, the shorts are back in style. I saw a lot of plaid in Florida. Not just on old men, either. And nothing needs to be said about my cousin Steven's pants. Well actually, A LOT needs to be said, but let's not go there!


And let me just say this now. It's humid in Florida. Very humid. You have no idea how humid it actually is unless you've been there, melting. Within a few minutes off the bus each morning I would have sweat rolling down various places. All that to say...my hair was scary. Afro scary. Each day it got worse and worse. I tried straightening it, but it wouldn't be straightened. It was cute for a few days but it eventually went downhill. My uncle even told me on the second to last day that he thought my hair had been cute up until then...but at that point it was a little scary.


Thanks for the love and understanding Uncle Kevin. I got the natural curl from YOUR side of the family.


I think these pictures are better. Of course, my girls might post these in twenty years and mock themselves! They better not mention anything about me.

If you go after dark you have to look down! The sidewalks are amazing!

You have to ride the ride that's inside the golf ball thingy. The name escapes me right now, but it's a blast! They take your picture and at the end have you answer some questions on a screen inside your car. You then get to watch a little cartoon of yourself based on your answers. Here's Chris and me. I warned you about the hair...but forgot to mention the constantly shiny face. Please forgive.

Kennedy and AJ had different answers then us apparently!

Our friend Rick (who my girls call the good smelling guy) told us we needed to ride the Figment ride and stomp Figment for him. That intrigued us so we had to do it. Apparently it's the constant song that is still stuck in his head that had him feeling the need to have Figment stomped. It was annoying, I must say, but I quickly forgot it. When I called Shawn that night to tell him about it all he started singing the song!! He hasn't been there in 20 years!

We took these pictures to share with Rick.

He told me that if I bought these hats for the girls he was going to report me to DHS!

There were a lot of fun computer things to do after the ride. I was a cat and Reagan was a....? I don't really know what she was!! Can you tell?

After this ride there is a theatre where you can be interactive with Crush. It's amazing!! He talks to the audience. Soooo hard to explain. You just have to experience it.

And you have to take the shark mouth picture.

DON'T be fooled by this cool moon outside of Mission Space.


DON'T be fooled by your uncle and older cousins when they tell you that if you survived Rocking Roller Coaster, you can ride Mission Space.

DON'T be fooled when they tell you that the 'Orange' version of the ride is much more fun then the boring 'Green' version.

DO get the provided 'barf bag' out as soon as you are seated in the ride.

DO keep your eyes open even though you don't want to because it will keep you from getting more sick.

DO sit with your head between your legs for at least 30 minutes following the ride to regain a normal stomach condition.

DO start planning your revenge on uncle and older cousins while your head is between your legs.

DO, most definitely, take cute astronaut pictures of the girls in the gift shop!

And of course...

DO take an amazing trip with an AMAZING group of family!!

First Family

Go grab a pen and some paper.

Are you back?

Here it is. My number one, best kept secret, no money needed, tip to survive Disney World:

-Take my Aunt Carrie

There it is. You can thank me later.

What? That's not possible for you? Okay, okay. I'll give you my second tip. This one is no fail, a sure thing.

-Take my cousin Chris

What, that won't work either? Oh good grief.

But wait. Let me show you what can happen if you do take them.

You could get chosen as the 'First Family' in the Toontown area of the Magic Kingdom.

That means that you get to enter that area before it opens and be Goofy's guest on his roller coaster.



And if you're really lucky, he'll ask if you want to go for a second ride.


Then he will walk you off the ride and past the now hundreds of people in line for character pictures and autographes.


And since you would have a personal photographer for all of this you would get some wonderful pictures!




So you see what I was saying. You really need to take these two incredible people. They know the ins and outs and inner workings of all things Disney.

You know, they might do it for the right price!

The Beach! (for 30 minutes)

Because we wanted to do 'all things Disney' while we were there we decided not to spend a day at the beach and Kennedy Space Center. Kennedy was saddened at first but excited that her Daddy would be able to go with her if we waited and went in two years. Uncle Kevin surprised us on the way home and took a detour to Pensacola Beach. All my girls have been to a beach before. McKinley went with my aunt and uncle 6 years ago and spent some time at Amelia Island and we all traveled to my dad's 5 years ago and spent some time at Gold Beach in Oregon.

Interesting facts about Gold Beach:

-the sand is black

-there are no shells, only rocks

-the water is freezing

-the wind is so hard that you understand what sandblasting is

But this beach....was perfect. Bathing suits were packed and time was short but we had fun!

And just because I didn't want to get out of my recliner....and I love Pioneer Woman's actions....I'm blessing you all with three different versions of my feet!!

We are experiencing technical difficulties.

That's right. I can't get it to work! I am having the hardest time uploading pictures and I can't save anything! I also figured out that there are too many stinking pictures to begin with!! I will spend some quality time tomorrow deciding my new plan of attack.

Stay tuned!

I know you are all trembling with anticipation:c{

Disney-Days 1 and 2

If you will recall (oh, let me just tell you) my uncle and aunt offered us this Disney trip and even volunteered to come from Lubbock, Texas to pick us up and drive us there. They own a home built airplane so actually 3 of the 6 of them were flying. The other three (Aunt Carrie, Tyler (17), and Amelia (11)) drove here Monday night to pick us up. They were just lucky enough to get to go to the girls voice recital with us!

We left Tuesday morning and started the 20 hour drive there. My aunt Carrie (I might also refer to her as The Scrapbooking Queen), sorry Kristie, LOVES to take pictures. So if possible we would stop when we entered each state and take pictures with the sign.

Three of those girls would be my Oklahoma daughters. Notice the two little ones signing OU and the third trying to cover the word Texas. Yes, I'm proud!

Yes, I was looking for something to do.

It's always a good sign when Cracker Barrel has your family name in the crossword puzzle!

After spending the night in Gulfport, Mississippi and having breakfast with this guy-

we were off again!

To the outlet mall that is. Let's focus on what's important here folks. Since in our excitement we got there a little early we spent some quality time with the playground.

And what, you might ask, do you do when the playground gets you all sandy? Apparently you ignore all parental suggestions and find a puddle in the parking lot to clean off in.

Another state down! Louisiana missed out by ripping out their Welcome Center and getting rid of their sign. Their loss. We would have made Louisiana look good!

Imagine my excitement when I realized that my favorite Missouri restaurant, Lamberts, has an Alabama location! If you've never eaten there before, go now!! Stretch your arms first so that you'll be able to catch some rolls!

Warning***They serve A LOT of food! It will wear you out!

We found lots of interesting things to take pictures of at gas stations!

And found a dolphin friend to deflate and take to Florida. There are two girls behind there working on the deflation thing.

As we approached the Orlando area Carrie and I were the only two still awake. The excitement gave way to exhaustion.

This is right before she threw up.

Twice.

Sometimes I hate being a mom.

They did all wake up to walk into our room in The Boardwalk and each spent some time on the patio overlooking the pool.

McKinley of course showered first while I started a load of laundry. We all crashed around 2 am and were up a few hours later to get started on all things Disney!