Solace's Disney World Adventure!

On our vacation we went to the 4 main amusement parks and Downtown Disney at Walt Disney World. The amusement parks are Magic Kingdom, Hollywood Studios, Animal Kingdom and Epcot (Experimental Prototype Community Of Tomorrow). My favorite park was Magic Kingdom. I will tell you my favorite ride at each park.

My favorite ride at Disney's Magic Kingdom was Space Mountain by far. I liked Space Mountain because it went really fast and it actually looked like you were in space! Even before you got onto the ride vehicles.

My favorite ride at Hollywood Studios was Twilight Tower of Terror. I liked it because it had a really scary setting but my favorite part was the drops. I also liked that I got to go with only my brothers Armour and Ender-no adults! It was an itty bitty scary but I reminded myself it was only mechanics.

My favorite ride at Animal Kingdom was Expedition Everest, and not just because it is named after my brother! :) I liked it because you went up the mountain then you saw the tracks were broken up and there were footprints in the snow. Before that when you were waiting to go in, you saw all this yeti merchandise. So, it got you all scared. Then the train takes you backwards into the mountains really, REALLY fast. And you see a shadow of the yeti breaking up the tracks. Then once he sees you, you go really fast, but you don't go the same way! You go straight out of the mountain toward the yeti. And here is the funny part-they take a picture when you pass the yeti and the yeti always looks like he is lashing out at my head (even when I sit in a different spot!)

My favorite thing at Epcot wasn't actually a ride-it was an adventure, a Kim Possible adventure. We took our KIMunicators on 3 different missions in Epcot. The first mission was in the UK and we did 2 KIMunicators so we could race to the finish, boys against girls. It was really fun AND the girls won!!!!!!!!!!!!!!! We did 2 other missions together as a family, in China and in France. (I am looking at the KIMunicator in the picture above.)

My favorite ride at Epcot was Test Track! Test Track makes you the test dummy! So you go through different car tests in a test car. The tests are break tests, climate tests including hot and cold, uphill tests, a bump test, a barrier test and a speed test. When you get to the barrier test, you think you are going to bonk into a brick wall because they show other cars that have hit a wall on either side. Right when you are about to hit the wall...wait...I'm not going to ruin it for you! But you will survive!

We went to Downtown Disney a couple nights. On Mom's birthday we ate at Benihana. I liked their food and their hats! It was cool that they cooked on the table. After the dinner we walked over to Downtown DIsney where we shopped for my new earrings! They are Mickey Mouse birth stone earrings and I LOVE them!

One of the other things I really liked on our trip was going to Fantasmic at Hollywood Studios with Mom and Ender. It was AWESOME! Mickey saved the day and it shows a lot of the Disney characters!

Another favorite thing was out hotel. I liked it because every night at the pool there was a different movie on a big screen. Since we stayed at All Star Music Resort we had a guitar pool. There were actually 2 pool-the guitar pool and a piano pool-but we only went to the closest one which was the guitar pool. In the middle, where the whole would be on a real guitar, the pool had a small island with 3 people on it (one was Donald Duck). They all 3 squirted water on people. Around the island it is 5 feet deep, but I swam all the way there from the outside edge of the pool. That is how good a swimmer I am now.

One last thing I want to tell you about is how good the food was. I especially liked the Pinocchio restaurant in the Magic Kingdom. I really liked the food there and the setting. It peers out onto it's a Small World after all. I took the picture above in it's a Small World.

Overall, I LOVED Disney World. There is a lot more I could talk about but that is all I have to say for now. If you get a chance to go to Disney World, GO.


I Love Disney World!!!!

Solace
(Mom note-all word are Solace's-I just typed to make it faster. Also, all pictures were chosen by her!)

Tower of Terror...staring Solace, Ender & Armour

As I mentioned in one of my earlier Disney posts, Kindle is 40 inches tall and thus barely tall enough for a lot of the big rides. At first we got her to go on a few, then she decided she only likes flat, slow, non scary rides. Yeah-she's a real dare devil! So, by the time we got to Tower of Terror, we were pretty sure it was not for her as it falls (not flat), is fast and scary. However, we got to the line, got a rider swap, and Kindle measured herself and walked over to Wes to go in. We told her it was scary, it drops, and was fast, and she insisted she wanted to go on it with Wes. INSISTED. We didn't think she would like it but we had decided before we left that we were willing to let them try the rides and form their own opinions. So, Wes entered the line with Solace, Ender, Armour and Kindle. I went to a shady spot to wait.

About 5-10 minutes passed then I saw Wes and Kindle coming out the front. I assumed he was bringing her to me, then running back in line with the others. But he told me that right at the point it takes you into another room, at the point of no return, Kindle refused to go through the door. The other kids were already in the room, so Wes yelled to them to go on and we would meet them at the exit. Solace tried to bail and go with Wes but he told her she needed to stay with the the boys.

They were on their own on the Tower of Terror...an 8 year old, a 7 year old and a 5 year old...interesting...I went into the exit and talked to a very nice lady about what had happened and she told me they would come out this way whether they went on or got too scared. She let Wes, Kindle, Everest and I wait in the area where you can buy pictures. I got more and more anxious as I waited and after what seemed to me like an eternity, the 3 of them walked out holding hands with Solace in the middle. All with fake grins. We asked how it was...Ender and Solace started reciting a rehearsed answer about how good it was and how they were hardly scared at all. Armour said "It was terrible. I did not like it." We asked them all 3 who wanted to go use the rider swap with me...they all refused!
We were glad to have our crew back and were grabbing the stroller to go when a lady-a random stranger came over and handed us a card and said "This is their picture number-you will want this one!"

Our curiosity peaked and although we had vowed not to purchase any Photo pass pictures at the outrageous prices, we went to the counter to see the picture (how could we resist with the strangers recommendation). We bought the download...Have you ever seem sheer terror before? Well, check out this picture:

Well-we managed to test out their fear level and scare them sufficiently. And they got to be big kids and do this all on their own! How grown up are they?!

Solace was Baptised!

We had a really important thing happen in our family in December. That I have neglected to blog about. On December 28, 2010 Solace Rebekah Johnson was baptized a member of The Church of Jesus Christ of Latter Day Saints! We were SOOO blessed that Wes had the week off and we were able to drive out to Utah where our families could be part of this special day with us. It was so neat to have our parents and so many other family members come out to support us! We love you all so much! Here are some pictures of the big day (following the pictures, I have asked Solace to tell you about this day in her own words).

 Kindle and cousin Sam

 Look at the crowd

 Papou gave a talk about Baptism

 I sang the song "When I am Baptised."

 Grandpa gave a talk on the Holy Ghost

 All the cousins (and one uncle) there came up and sang "I am a Child of God"

 Grandma (and Kindle) led the music

 XiaXia played the piano

 And I was baptised...this is the picture we used for my announcements.

Hi! When I was baptized I felt warm but, when I got out I felt cold because it was Winter and I was wet. When I received the Gift of The Holy Ghost I felt warmer than I ever felt before. I was excited that I was finally a true member of the Church of Jesus Christ of Latter Day Saints. That is a day I will always remember. I loved to be in Utah with my family. That was the most special part because it wouldn't have felt the same if I did it with just friends. Bye!

Solace

Picture Day:Long, but funny read-you will laugh!

Oh friends and family! I usually consider myself pretty on top of things. I rarely miss things I am supposed to do and tend to over organize our schedule on multiple calendars where all can check and see what is going on. So, imagine my surprise when on September 14 Solace came home from school just upset and devastated and said "Mom, you forgot picture day." I though she was teasing so I asked Ender and he said "Oh yeah-you missed it, you missed it good!"

WHAT?! How did that happen?! I wrote it on the calendar...on September 21. Oops. My bad.

Well, I should mention that this had been a particularly poor morning. We had very few clean clothes as our washer was in the process of breaking down at the time and I was sick of fighting with it. So, picture that the kids are basically down to their worst clothes. And, we woke up late that morning (I hate mornings anyway and when I am pregnant, it is all I can do to get out of bed in the mornings...). So, the kids were in charge of quickly washing their own teeth and brushing their own hair. Solace actually ran out the door that morning brushing her hair as the bus honked for her out front.

Needless to say, it was not a great looks day for my poor children. So, when they got to school and discovered it was picture day, Solace was really frustrated. I may not have mentioned on here that this year for the first time, Solace's teacher is a man. We love him-he is great! But, I did learn that there is at least one downfall to a male teacher. When Solace was upset about having to go take pictures, she told him that she was upset that her hair was not brushed enough or fixed as she would like it. To which her teacher replied "that's ok, just go in the bathroom and wet it down."

Trusting her teacher, Solace did just that right before going to wait in line for pictures. According to Solace, her hair was wet and a bit drippy but starting to dry when they took her picture.

To make it worse, Ender had been told a recess that day "Do not play on the slides today-they are wet and muddy and we have pictures right after recess." He forgot. He got all muddy, so they sent him to the nurse to get something not muddy to wear. Sadly, all they had for him was clothing 2 sizes too big. So, he took his picture with muddy skin and clothing 2 sizes too big. Awesome.

Wes told everyone at work that our children will look like a wet puppy and a homeless man in their pictures.

Now, as I forgot about picture day and did not order, I have not seen these (and likely will not unless they end up in the yearbook...), However, I expect they are not good.

Fast forward to today...picture retake day. I had great intentions of baths and curlers (for Solace) last night and perfection this morning. Nope, late night out practicing a song for the upcoming program for church and we did not get home for all that.

So, this morning we woke up early enough to clean, curl, and make cute. We had picked out outfits the day before, but Ender would not let me see his until this morning ("It will be a great surprise mom") So, he came in my room this morning and yelled "Surprise!" He was wearing a nice Sunday button up shirt with tie and ripped up old jeans with his favorite shoes-ripped up old camo shoes. I asked him if he wanted to maybe wear pants and shoes that matched his top better and he laughed. Laughed and laughed. When he got his laughing under control he said "Oh mom, these pictures are only from the shoulder up-I will be lucky if the tie makes the picture!"

Solace had the same idea and wore her lovely dress she chose, we curled her hair a bit, and she looked lovely from the shoulder up-under her dress she wore these crazy capris that sort of match and she wore tall socks and Ender's other pair of camo tennis shoes (she couldn't find hers and they wear the same size). She told me, "Well, I need to look great for the picture part of me, but the rest of me needs to be ready for Gymsic today." (Gymsic is a combo of Gym and Music that the 2 teachers do together each Wednesday.)

Well, I cannot wait to see how the pictures turn out, but I swear to you, if they come home today and say, "Mom, I forgot to tell my teacher I needed retakes, here is your check back," I think I will scream...

Talent Show auditions and day of...

Our poor little Ender had to miss a full week of school in mid May due to medical issues (he had a staph infection in his kidney). During that week was the audition for the talent show, and since Ender was technically not supposed to be at school, Solace had to audition without him. She did well and when he got back to school the music teacher asked Ender to come do his own audition during class, and they ended up getting in. If you want to see the video of the performance, it is here.
Below are a few pictures of audition day, and one of them waiting to go sing on the actual talent show day:

Solace a bit nervous to audition alone...

A

During the audition...

Show day...waiting to go up...

They were nervous but fantastic!! I love having my kids perform, it reminds me of the good old days! :)  But they are much cuter than I ever was!!!

Solace and Ender in the Talent show at school

Solace and Ender rockin the Talent show (they could not hear the music very well, but they did well in spite of that!!)

Nicely done Solace and Ender!!

Boy have I got a deal...and it's bigger than the kids are tall!!

The other day I posted about our amazing deals at Hy-Vee (you can read that post here). In that post, I mentioned that the reciept for the great deal Wes got (50 cans of soup and 4 boxes of Frosted Flakes for $10.52 and he got a coupon for a free gallon of milk value up to 4.19-see picture above) was taller than our kids. Just thought you all might want to see a pictur of that! So, here are Ender and Solace next to the reciept:

Funny, right?!

School Party

I am the "Room mom" for Solace's class. They split the class a couple weeks into the school year, so we combined the party with the other class. We wrapped the teachers as mummies (with TP), made a bat craft (super easy), and played a spider ring toss game. All of this was after the school wide parade, and before we ate a ton of treats! The 2 boys went over to a friends house while Kindle and I went over to run the party. Here are a few pictures:

Kindle the monkey Cowgirl Solace
Another monkey shot

Making her bat

Solace (and a little Snow White) wrapping up their teacher (The 2 teachers dressed up as Thing 1 and Thing 2)

Solace's class with their wrapped up teacher.