Maysen's Summer Piano Recital

He had been practicing Imperial March from Star Wars but I could see he just wasn't feeling it. With the help of Dave, they selected one song from his regular workbook (Romanian Rhapsody) and another melody from one of Dave's book called "English Woods". In this song, he uses the pedal throughout the whole piece and also learned "the cross-over" where his right hand crosses over from Treble and starts playing Bass.

Maysen wastes no time in getting to the stage. Normally Dave will introduce the student, they stand up and then walk to the stage. Not Maysen! This is the second year he's done this, where I don't think he's paying attention to Dave, he's nervous/excited to get up there and get it done that he just goes for it. Hilarious.

Easter & Nate's Birthday

Life has a way of passing us all by. This young man turned 39 this year and even as I sit and type this,   I have to add the years up to make sure I wrote his age right. I decided it would be nice to take him to the ocean/beach for his birthday for a nice quiet weekend. I planned it weeks before we left as a surprise. It backfired. 

It backfired because as the time grew closer and my calendars renewed, I realized I had planned this getaway on Easter Weekend. Oh, thank you for coming early this year Mr Easter Bunny. I had a dilemma on my hands; do I surprise him and have him disappointed because he doesn't want to leave the boys this year? Do I cancel it? I talked to the boys about it and promised that we would be home Easter Sunday and we would do a hunt like normal. Krystal had agreed weeks before to come and stay the weekend with the boys - and now she was had the added bonus of playing Easter Bunny. Luckily she is super cool and was fine with it.

We colored eggs on Thursday night and after eggs were colored, we busted out Nate's birthday presents. One included mine - the following day he would only work until 12:00 noon and then we would head out. I had pre-arranged this with his boss Justin before as well. He was overall excited but there was a part of him that was hesitant to leave the boys on a holiday weekend. He got over it once the boys assured him they were cool with it.

One of the first places we stayed at when I visited Oregon was the Fire Side Motel in Yachats. We noticed a small village of cottages nearby that belonged to the owners of the FireSide, and eventually the resort of Overleaf Lodge. The houses were so quaint and reminded me of the mushroom village where the Smurfs lived. It only took us 11 years to stay here, but alas we did. 

 T
here is a private little hike railway from the village to the beach. The weather was absolutely perfect. We honestly could not have had better weather. We spent HOURS watching the spouts as the tide rolled in and out. We'd move from place to place, getting different vantage points on the spouts.

 Best seat in the house. God's canvas laid right in front of us and most of Friday was spent here. Friday night we decided to head into town for dinner. Yachats is a very small town along the coast, so you don't have much to chose from. We also didn't want to visit the crowded restaurant that looked spendy. So we picked the restaurant a few blocks down that didn't have any cars there. That should have been red flag #1. We were approached by a waiter who was wearing black jeans that were too long and he was walking on the bottoms of them. He begins to show us the menu right at the door and point out the various entrees they did not have. He told us he'd give us a minute to look at the menu. So, there we stood, pretty much in the doorway, looking at the menu. He reapproaches us and says, "Sooooo, do you want to eat here?" 

Red Flag #2. "Sure." He smiles like he's relieved and replies, "Excellent!" (Red Flag #3) We round the corner to the main dining area. It was a mix of Rainforest Cafe and Cracker Barrel. It straight up looked like the restaurant from the Goonies (ironic since we're just down from Astoria where that movie was filmed). It had 59 ferns hanging from the ceiling everywhere. The wood floor creaked as we walked past all the empty tables, the only thing breaking the silence was Kenny G belting the Sax from above.

Nate got the SeaFood Mac-n-Cheese and I got the Fish & Chips. Amazingly, it was delicious. We watched 2 more couples get the same treatment at the door and only 1 couple made it inside. They were British and they looked just as puzzled as we did and the wife whispered, "Maybe this is how they do it here?" There had been a pause in Kenny's playing, that's why I heard the whisper.

As we were wrapping up, an amazing thing happened. The 2 homeless hitch-hikers we had encountered just prior to entering the restaurant came in. They were greeted by Pants-Too-Long, the chef/owner came out and greeted them, and then they were seated. They were given hot soup and bread. They were very thankful and it was neat to see. The owner came out to talk to them and agreed to let them come back the following day if need be for another meal. I immediately felt bad for judging the place, but seriously, I was wondering if there was a basement with a figure screaming "Hey you GUYYYYYSSSSS" and wanting Baby Ruths.

Saturday was filled with more spout watching, napping, and reading books. We did also get in some basketball watching. It was very relaxing! We had a brook that ran behind our house so sitting outside on the deck was fantastic. A great friend of mine had recommended a small, quant restaurant for which I had to make reservations for. I had done so the week before. Heidi's was so delicious. It was built inside a small home so literally the chef is in a kitchen and there are only about 10 tables. The only down side to such a small quaint eatery is that when there is some serious cooking going on, it gets hot as a mother in there. We had to sit by the window with it open so I didn't pass out. They have 3 entrees to chose from, 2 desserts, and local wines. The menu is so small because it's fresh and cooked right there that day.

Exiting Overleaf Village was bittersweet. We were so excited to get back to our little egg finders but left a piece of our quiet hearts in the Yaquina cottage. We really did drive about 16mph leaving. Until next time! 

Coach Scovils & The Squatches

I remember when Maysen first started playing basketball for the YMCA. I thought sitting in the stands basically was one of the most frustrating things to do. I wanted to yell and "coach" from the stands. Boy did I not have a clue. The following year Maysen played on KidsSports and we got a whole new lesson. One in empathy and wanting to coach some other lessons from the stands that you normally don't want to coach from there. 

So, while Griffin played his first ever basketball season with the YMCA (the Bulldogs), Nate and I decided we would coach Maysen's YMCA team. The idea was that I would be the brains (organizing the team, etc) and Nate would be the braun with the kids. Day 1 we knew this was all going to be a whole new ballgame for us (Pun unintended).

Griffin did just fine for his first year. His favorite part of the whole season/games was getting to throw the ball in once it was out of bounds, and getting to run it back to half-court after the other team had made a point. He would dribble as slllllllow as he possibly could, relishing in that moment of "power" he had. The other team could not interfere and waited at half-court for him. During one game, he sat on one side of the half-court line just dribbling while the entire team had lined up on the other side waiting for him. He didn't mind. It was Griffin Time and he was taking it all in.

He loved Ryen, the YMCA ref and coordinator and would spent a lot of time wanting to play with him. Other times, while the game was going on he'd just be chatting it up with the man he was supposed to be guarding because it was a pal from school. During one game he got hit in the head with he basketball and Ryen blew the whistle and asked if he was ok. Reverberating throughout the whole gym, he says, "Do I look like I'm ok? I just got nailed in the head with a basketball!"

He would be reminded to "hustle" down the court and when I'd yell out "Griffin, hustle!" he would find me in the crowd and give me that "I am - shut it!" look. Or he'd run down the court and out of th blue just pump his fist in the air.

In the midst of that, there was the Gentle Griffin I love and adore. If he would trip someone or foul someone, he'd be the first one to say, "Oh! Are you ok?" One little boy fell and Griffin went over to help him up and ask if he was Ok. That is the stuff you can't teach. It's just in there.

Do I think we'll have the next Shaq on our hands? No, nor do I think he wants to be! But it was sure fun watching him just be Griffin and not give a rip out on the court and just be himself.

Now, for Nate and I, keeping 8 kids under control and focused was one of the main challenges. We had a few kids that were more interested in messing around than listening, which would make the rest of the team just fall apart.  Nate started to run warm ups with the boys and immediately injured his knee. Ha! It was partially my fault by telling the boys to outrun Coach Nate.

Managing the different talents was hard as well. We had some kids that were 2 steps from being on the NBA, and another 2 that had never dribbled a basketball before. So that was a challenge trying to coach to the different levels. Another challenge was trying to find a balance of firmness. if you were "too nice" the kids would walk all over you. If you were too "firm" you were afraid of offending either the parents or the kids.

Parents! Wow. I learned that I was probably one of the most challenging parts of having my kid in sports. Having parents try to coach from the stands was so frustrating. We had some great parents but boy did I learn that if I've turned my kid over to another coach to just shut my mouth.

I mentioned trying not to offend child or parent; well we head to learn as coaches not to be offended as well. We lost a few kids along the way and trying not to take it personal is hard! But it is what it is, and we are so grateful that we got to experience the other side. I will certainly never take other coaches for granted again!

When we lost a few kids, we gained a few new ones. Making sure the kids had a great time, learned at least one thing new, learned how to respect one another, and work as a team was our main goal and I think we accomplished it.

I will say that one more thing I learned is that refs have a hard job. I also learned that there REALLY is a difference between a good ref and a bad ref. And it has nothing to do with their calls. It has to do with their personality and ability to maintain control over their court ... and themselves. I got to experience a BAD ref at one of our Eugene games. He, unfortunately, had no control over himself and really acted like a juvenile, despite being probably a decade older than myself.

He was making some pretty horrendous calls - calls that were overly inappropriate for the age group of our kids. When somewhat called out by myself, I learned that he thought pretty highly of himself - and his calls. I was told to sit in my corner and shut it or be expelled from the game, because - afterall, I was only the assistant coach. What surprised me the most is how upset it made the kids. They were very protective over me and didn't like that at all. Another surprise for me!

One of the proudest moments was watching the other boys welcome the "newbies" with open arms. Watching them encourage one another, help one another, and support one another was beautiful. I haven't seen that on any other team - in fact it was quite opposite for Maysen last year so showing him this and having him be a part of it was truly a blessing for us as parents. And man has Maysen come a long way! We watched him be a bit timid last year playing on a much more advanced team. He wasn't ready for all the aggression of his team mates or the other teams. However, that must have simmered within him because he came out elbows swinging this year! He pushed himself more than I've seen and was hard on himself probably more than he should have been. But I suppose that's what growing is all about. In anything you do. I can't wait to watch him next year! 

Hay Bails and Cheat Notes

Every February, if you are good all month, you get to participate at the months-end Soap Box Derby race. Apparently Griffin felt he need to push the teachers all week with various things such as not following directions, arguing with instructions, eating his pencils. You know. All the good things parent's love to cringe about.

Griffin had been picked to push his class soap box derby race car until the morning of the race. All students were lining up in their classes for pictures with their respective derby car. This morning proved to be nothing out of the norm from the rest of the week. The teacher explained not once, not twice, but THREE times that children were to stop picking out the straw out of the hay bails because these bails were only borrowed and would be going back to the owner soon. The teacher lined up the class for a class picture. As she took the first picture with her digital camera she looked at the shot to see if everyone was lined up. Griffin was immediately removed from pushing his derby car. He cried and cried, not understanding why. So Ms Leonnig showed him her camera. This is why:

About a week later as Griffin and I were practicing his spelling words, I was noticing he was having a hard time differentiating "ou" words and "ow" words (like ground and crown). So I set up words that had 'ow' and we made a sentence: "Now, go through down town, through the crowd, to see the powerful cowboy wearing the crown" It seemed silly but all other words that he was given if they weren't in that sentence then they were "ou" words. I had told him, to heighten the motivation, told him if he made a 100% on the test I'd take him for ice cream. I didn't realize that boyyyy this made him nervous!! 

The next morning I put a little love note in his lunch box. On the back of the note, I told him "remember..." and then included the sentence for him to recite before the test. 

I got an IM message from a friend of mine who happened to be subbing for Ms Leonnig that day. 

"Umm, we had a problem with Griffin this morning. He was caught cheating on his spelling test. He was using a cheat sheet that he said you gave to him. He said you really wanted him to get a 100% so you MUST have put that in there for him to cheat with. He then later admitted that B had talked him into using it to cheat. Never the less, he got a WHOA for it." 

What!? Yes. I put that note in his lunch box for the MAIN purpose of slipping him a cheat sheet. I'm hard core momma at 2nd grade. Can you see it now? 

Sweet Hearted Griffin

Griffin came running into our room last night, "Mom! Mom! You have to come see this!"

Of course we were busy chatting about something so I was putting him off and telling him to hold on and on and on. Finally "Ok, what's up buddy?"

As if he was waiting for us to stop talking, I looked at him and tears were filling his eyes. His face immediately fell and all he could get out is "This is so sad ...."

I walked into the office and he had this video up:


Griffin was so worried about the young boy who said, "I came all the way from India to see you..." I tried to comfort him by telling him that he got his card signed after the convention but just not right then but it didn't matter. Griffin was upset because that little boy was so upset.

I tried my best to then distract him with laughter. Lots of hugs, tickles, stories. I thought it was over. As they climbed the stairs to bed, I got in the shower. I hear the door creeeeak open and there he stood. Tears back.

"Mom ... I'm having that feeling again?"

"What feeling?"

"I'm just so upsetttttt...."

You're damn right I came out of that shower at 100mph! Up the stairs we climbed together. I told him when he was feeling sad for that boy, remember how happy be was when he finally DID get his card signed. And then to think of happy things.

"Like our cuddles?"

I was the one walking down the stairs with tears in my eyes. Love that boy ....

Growing up is bittersweet .. so make funny faces and videos

 When I started this blog 9 years ago (I can hardly believe I've been yapping on this thing for 9 years) I did it for two reasons. For one, I wanted to document the times in my life that seemed to be going by so fast. I knew in my heart that I would not remember the finest details to such treasured moments, even with the best of memory. I also knew that age would fade those memories and I wanted to be able to relive them. I regret that as life sped up, time also snuck away from me.

It's only natural as we get older that things change. I've got to tell you that that lately I've been having a hard lesson in reality lately. I have two things pulling against me. One, my boys are just getting older. Two, they're boys. The natural progression of both of these things is that as they age, they find other things to occupy their time and no longer does it require me. Five years ago I would have sighed with relief. Today? I weep with bittersweetness. I struggle to find things that connect me with them.

Maysen, although gentle at heart, he is always on the go. He is very interested in guns and games that contain such violence I cringe, so therefore that stuff is not allowed in the house. We fight about that daily. He reminds me so much of myself. I can remember hearing my mom say, "You want to grow up so fast!" Maysen is 11 going on 18 and really wishes  he was 18. In fact, most of our time it seems we spend arguing about why I've said "No, you can't play Call of Duty." We argue so much I fight not resenting it.

Griffin is my quiet soul though he does play off his brother. It's like watching 2 dogs into a fight, it's easy for more to just join. He will argue about getting more apps downloaded on his iPad and fighting with how much computer time he gets. I still get my cuddles and requests for snuggles from him, though.

This weekend, we forced the boys to get off any and all "monitors" and it was a struggle. We laid in bed and talked about our favorite summer-time memories. That led to me getting out the old computer and we looked through this old blog. We laughed at things I wrote, pictures from the past, and stories until all 4 of our tummies hurt. It felt good. We felt like a family - not pieces of a puzzle all doing their own thing, which is our normal lately.

That.

That is why I write this blog. So each of us, each piece of the Scovil puzzle, can come together and be whole again. We used to laugh. A lot! If you've read even one year of stories from this blog you will see that we've had great times together. But we're all aging. I'm thankful I have a place I can turn to and remember what it's all about.

Here was a great memory from this weekend. Such fun discovering this little gem of an app on my computer.

I love these boys with all my heart. I'm so proud of the rascals they're becoming. 

Loyalty

A boy and his dog, Charlie Murphy. Loyalty with a hue of red...

Limo Christmas Lights & Christmas 2015

December is a big month; not only is it Christmas but we have 4 very important birthdays ... well, 5 including Jesus! We have Nate's mom's birthday on 12/3, George & Papa on 12/23, and Griffin on 12/27. This year we decided to combine Bobbi and George's birthday and go on a Limo ride around Eugene, something none of us have done.

It was George's first time in a limo so the boys thought they'd be the ones to tell him all about things. We had taken Papa and Sherrill on a limo ride in Las Vegas, so the boys have been in one and of course, were pros. 

There are a lot of people in Eugene that have a) a LOT of money budgeted for lights and b) have waaaaay too much time on their hands. I will take it, though, because it allows us such great beauty to look at. It's one of my favorite things to do during the holidays. I can remember climbing into the car with hot chocolate and blankets as children and driving around looking at the lights of Dighton, Kansas.

We have a Scovil tradition with the "other" Scovils. Usually on 12/23, Danielle and Andy will have an "Open House" where people can come and enjoy pot luck time. After the Open House, Josh and Jessica come and spend the night at our house before going to Bobbi and George's for Christmas Eve. I don't remember when it started, but Josh started making breakfast for everyone the morning of Christmas Eve Day. The year, he made home-made donuts!!! Chocolate and Maple. They were A-MAZING! He really out did himself this year. He was awake at 6:00am working on these. We were very grateful and our belly's also were very thankful.

No, that's not an "dad" that snuck in the picture there. That's DeShawn!! He's grown into such a wonderful delight. His younger cousins enjoy him just as much. Following right behind DeShawn is Jonas ... who is "only" about 4 years younger! He'll be towering over all of us in a few years!

Griffin was so excited to get Pixels from Grandma and Poppy so he was in hug-mode. Always nice to get hugs from Griffin!!

This was our gift to the Bauers this year. I think it matches their house perfectly! Can't wait to wipe my feet on it ... haha! 

We usually have Jenn with us on Christmas morning at our house, but she was in the Netherlands this year so it was nice and quiet on Christmas morning. 

Santa left these hummers in the garage this year. Gear bikes!!! They'll be getting lots of use when the rain stops and the sun comes out!!!

We had a blessed Holiday Season. Looking forward to what 2016 will bring!

Griffin's Wunderland 8th birthday

If there's one thing that Griffin loves more than his Momma (yeah right...) is video games. I had taken Griffin to Salem to the nickel arcade during our Momma & Me trip and he loved it so much he wanted to come back for his 8th birthday party.

The one thing that stinks about having your birthday right after Christmas isn't the loss of presents that some people think, but its the IMPOSSIBLE task of gathering friends over the Christmas Break. I need to learn how to pre-invite his friends because as a mom, I certainly would appreciate a mid-Christmas Break BREAK for the boys. So, note to self: do pre-invites next year before the actual break gets here.

We were able to borrow Andy and Danielle's 15-passenger van and hauled cousins and a few friends up to Salem, stopping of course in Albany for Burgerville! I didn't even have to come up with baking a cake or cupcakes - we treated everyone to Burgerville Shakes. It doesn't get much better than that!

Linus & Lucy

The fighting. Ohhhhh, the fighting. You'd think I was pulling toenails out with tweezers. I don't even get "Maysen it's time to pract-..." before I hear "Noooooooo!!!!!!!" like I've just told him that government put a ban on internet and therefore it was banished.

His relationship with his piano is love/hate. I haven't figured out the ratio yet. If I've heard it once, I've heard it 948 times "He'll never regret it ..... if he quits now he will wish he never quit ..... I used to play but quit and now I wished I hadn't." I know all of this. I tell him all of this. He does not believe me because I am, after all, an idiot in his eyes I'm sure.

However. Before we left on vacation in October, he was given the music to Charlie Brown's "Linus & Lucy". When we got back he started practicing it. He could play about one measure before losing his mind. Then one night, we sat, together and worked through it. Then he just "got it!" From that moment on I'd hear that song coming out of the spare room. Then as he got more into it, the faster he would try and go. For his birthday in November we took his friends to see The Charlie Brown Movie and when that song came on, he caught his breath, leaned forward and looked at me with a beaming smile.

Then my heart broke. I mistakenly booked our winter vacation to Eagle Crest on the same weekend of his recital. How could I tell him? He'd been so excited to go to Eagle Crest. He'd worked so hard on his songs. The look on his face when I told him my goof-up was so tragic. We were NOT missing this recital! Thankfully I was able to re-arrange a day and we came home early in time for his recital. He did amazing!!

I could not have been more proud of him. A big improvement from his recital last year. 

Griswold ... I mean, Scovil Christmas Tree

There's no denying that one of the greatest Christmas movies of all time is "Christmas Vacation". It's on ABC Family's Count Down to Christmas, for crying out loud!

This year, just like every other year, we went to our favorite Christmas tree lot (didn't recognize Dan because he's lost about 100lbs ... stress he claims. Hell, I've had a lot of stress and everyone knows Leslie hasn't lost 100lbs!).

We had Andy's truck this year because we traded our Tahoe right before Christmas for our new Avalon. Now, I'm not sure if that had something to do with our choice, because for whatever reason we seemed to have picked a very large tree this year.

We asked for a 10-foot, which it seemed we got. But when we got home, Nathan hauled that hummer in straight from the driveway into the house through the laundry room. He couldn't make the 90-degree turn so he got stuck. So what did he do? He wedged it even tighter into the pantry.

God Bless his soul. He tried so hard. He even went and got ratchet straps to strap the branches down. I finally got fed up watching him get mad, so I just went in, grabbed 'er by the trunk and horked her through. We may or may not have lost a few branches, but hey. She got up that this year and looked as beautiful as ever.

 

Disney World and Disney Cruise 2015!

We had been taking chains off for weeks; 9 weeks in fact. The chain had been so long we had to wrap it back around the wall twice to keep it from hanging on the ground. And now we were down to 2 links. We took these two links (to be removed by each boy on the last night) to Portland with us before our flight out. 

One of the main fun things we do at the hotel before our flight out is 1) pool and 2) room service/movie. It's tradition. The boys (since they had their own room attached to ours) chose to rent Paddington Bear while Nate and I watched San Andreas with The Rock.

We flew out the next morning. First flight was from Portland to LA. The two-hour flight was pleasant and non-eventful. We had only a 50min lay over in LA, so literally we landed, got off the plane and got in line to get back on another. That 5-hour LA flight took us directly to Orlando which was nice to just get there. Thankfully there were screens on the back of the headrests for this flight so the boys were entertained by Inside Out and other cartoons for most of the flight.

When we landed, we got our bags, grabbed a taxi, and went straight to our hotel. We stayed at the Wyndam Bonnet Creek Resort, which does have a time-share section. I had read the reviews before booking our 2 bedroom villa for the week. Some of them said to prepare for a 30min check in because you get the sales pitch. We got there, and what a beautiful resort it was! I had pre-ordered groceries and they were waiting at bell hop for us. She handed us the room keys and then I was waiting for the schpeel. She says "If you could go to the Welcome Desk (AKA: SALES DESK) they will have your vehicle pass. Lucky for us, we had no vehicle. We grabbed our room keys and walked out. Well, we did get stopped by a man in a suit directing us to the Welcome Desk but we told him we wouldn't need a vehicle pass and away we went. Quick. Easy.

Nate got on the horn right away to Papa Johns as we were all ravenous! The boys were going through ipad withdrawal.

I'm so thankful we decided on the 2 bedroom villa, which was about $700 cheaper than a standard suite room at a nearby Radisson. The boys had their own space, we could cook, we could do laundry. It felt like a little bit of borrowed home.

After a long day of travel we were all ready for the week ahead of fun! Both boys were dead in bed at 7:30pm. Nate and I enjoyed our pizza in quiet and gearing up for the day ahead when we heard "BOOM!" We both looked at each other and ran to the balcony only to realize we had a front row balcony view of the Firework display at Magic Kingdom. Perfect ending to a long day and anticipation for the fun ahead.

Monday, October 19: Magic Kingdom

We decided to not rent a car while we were there and just take taxi's. Our resort actually arranged for this car to pick us up every day to take us to the Resort. It wasn't any more expensive than a cab, and then we'd just grab a cab at the exit to take home. Much easier than renting a car and fighting/paying with parking. And it only ended up being about $15 each way.

Such a beautiful time of year. They had the parks decorated so beautifully. Our first day was Magic Kingdom and we hit Tomorrow Land first. We were immediately hit with waves of people. We were shocked at how many people were there! Most of the lines (mind you, on a Monday) were already 120min long! We decided to ride the Race Car ride and upon looking at our Fast Passes realized that none of them were until later at night.

We ate lunch and then hit a few smaller rides. I really wanted to go on Small World (because it's always shut down in DL) and Peter Pans flight was next door. Both rides were 120min long waits. We decided on Small World. It was heating up and standing in line at 90 degrees was not fun. We finally convinced Nate to take a break and head to the hotel for some swimming before coming back to the park. We'd decided since the park was open until midnight that a break would be fine. The Small World was fun, then we split for the door. Of course they were having the parade right then and getting through was enough to make any person pull out daggers.

We had a nice cool off at the hotel, dinner, and went back to the park in time for shorter lines and cooler temps. Everyone felt rejuvenated. We were able to do our Fast Passes on the fun rides like Splash Mountain (Griffin would duck under my arm on the big splash!), Haunted Mansion, and Pirates of the Caribbean. We rode Thunder Mountain Railroad at night, which was fun.

The fireworks were magic, as always. Nathan and I both tear up because it is so beautiful with the music and lights. We rode more rides clear up until midnight. By then the monorail was closed so we had to take the monorail to one of the resort hotels. Then we had to wander around there until we could find the way out and hail a cab. It was about 1:00am before we actually got back to our hotel.

Tuesday, October 20: Hollywood Studios

Today was Hollywood Studios! Since we slept in after our late night, we didn't get to the hotel until about noon. Honestly, we were all a bit disappointed in HS. The Indiana Jones show was closed and the boys were not into the shows at all. We did watch the Car Stunt show, which was cool. The boys rode Rock'n Rollercoaster using our Fast Passes while Nate and I relaxed. What's funny is the 2nd time they went, about half way through the line, Maysen chickened out. So Griffin went all by himself and loved it! That's my brave boy!

The Fantasmic Show started at 7:30. We got there about 45 minutes in advance to get decent seats. Griffin chatted with the boy next to him the whole time. Nate and I got to watch some couple behind us (and by couple I mean a man and an entirely too young for him girlfriend) making out the whole time. We got a chuckle out of what grumpy crusty couple we must seem and took our "loving" picture. Haha!

Images displayed up on the water spray. We left the show staring at the Tower of Terror. No one was brave enough to ride this ride, and that was OK! We got back to the hotel and ordered Chinese and hit the sack. We'd walked just a smidge over 15 miles in the last 2 days (according to iPhones) and were looking forward to a day off at the resort the following day!

Wednesday, October 21: Resort Day

It was nice to take a day away from the parks and just stay around the Resort. I think we could have spent the entire week at the resort.

Local ducks hanging out by the lazy river.

Loved this eatery (ok, "bar") poolside. One night we swam late and then ordered food to take back to our room. We were walking right by the pool and I asked Maysen to hand me the food. When he handed it to me, I pushed him right into the pool clothes and all. It was great - he was so shocked but then cracked up laughing. Griffin as pointing and laughing, so I pushed him in too. Fun memory.

Life-sized checkers!

Thursday, October 22: Epcot

Today was very hot and humid! There was a beer and wine festival going on so this place was CROWDED! The boys' main event on their mind was riding the Chevy Test Track ride and that was it. We had it FP'd for the end of the day. Nate wanted to see some things over in The World, so we were planning on a full day.

The first ride of the day was Mission Space. It think it's very considerate of Disney to warn it's riders that there could be claustrophobic situations and maybe some dizziness. But by the time we had gotten to the front of the line, we'd heard this warning 457 times and I was getting a bit paranoid and worked up. So we get in this thing and by then we'd been "given our assignments" on how to run this space ship. Mine was to be the controller so I had to push a certain button once we blasted off.

By the time the shoulder strap tightly clamped down and the simulation screen came about 3" from my face, I'm starting to rethink this whole gig. I start having a full-blown panic attack and I know the only way too get through this is to close my eyes and breathe. Focus. Since I was the "controller", as we're blasting out into space which meant that I was being hammered back into my seat, Griffin's yelling 'HIT THE BUTTON, HIT THE BUTTON!" and all I can mutter out while trying to breathe is "SHHHHHUUUUUUTTTTT UPPPPPPPP!"

It was silent for a few minutes while everyone else started to enjoy the ride. I finally opened my eyes once the G Spinning was over. Then I was okay! Just in time for the ride to be over! Haha. That was enough for me, but was fun. We started walking out of the ride and I look over at Nate and he's looking pretty green. We decide to go get lunch and he just couldn't eat. He was about to puke. He's not so good on fast motion so he wasn't feeling great. I gave him some phenergan at lunch and shortly after he was feeling much better.

Nate wanted to make it over to Japan to hear the girls drum. Unfortunately we didn't have much time to get over there, so we were hiking it pretty fast to get there. So fast that we were passing through really cool worlds I would have loved to have stayed in and looked - like England. But we had to get to Japan.

The drummers were fantastic! The energy that goes into such a performance was felt by everyone. it moved Nate to tears.

The boys were melting and juts like any pre-teen boys they were complaining the whole time about being hot and "can't we just go back to the hotel?" I'm going to be honest when I tell you I was on their side. I don't like heat - never have. I hate to be hot and sweaty. But there were some things that Nate wanted to see and we had a fast past for Chevy's Test Track ride at like 4:00pm. So, here we were.

Cooling off in the wishing well. I don't think there are bad Omens attached to that as long as they didn't steal the wishes.

Just a few countries away is Italy where we always love to go. It's such a neat place and there's always a performer - today it was Isaac.

This was super cool - it was a whole village with a model train that ran through it. But the village was humungous!

Ahhh, Test Track. Chevy is a smart company - to put a ride in Walt Disney. Here the kids walk in and with a partner you can design your car that you are going to race. You can design all components, engine, wheels, graphics, etc.

This was Maysen and I's car. We raced Griffin and Dad and they ended up winning. What happens is that you get in the car and your design car goes up against everyone else who is in the car with you. Based on the run (they did brake checking, 0-60mph check, race lap check, wet road check) they could decide who's car did the best. At the end of the ride when you get off, you walk through a Chevy showroom of all the newest Chevy models. Clever!

Friday, October 23: Bye Orlando, Hello Lake Placid! 

We checked out of our hotel around 10:00 and by the time we got in our rental car and off onto the road it was time for lunch so we stopped at my favorite place (but we don't have in Oregon) ... CRACKER BARREL!! I was a kid in a candy store - they boys thought they needed this giant Rice Krispies Treat!

We made it to dad's by early afternoon and it was nice getting to see all the renovations that they've been making on their house.