Monday, September 8, 2008

Wow, talk about amazing!

the "Fantasia" pool at our hotel, open and very much occupied until midnight







this was 5 yr old Joel, one of her many friends she picked up along the way.



You would not believe how much pizza this girl ate!

my sweet and very lovable pirate Brian

enjoying being turned loose at Grammie Adam's house


my most original 'fish extender' bag I made to catch gifts from other DIS members!

my sweet pea posing in front of the actual 'Flying Duchman' from Pirates of the Carribean
notice the only tiny 2 yr old squirt out on the platform would be the Bit

my little disco diva heard those steel drums playing on our way off the island and she had to grab mommy's hat and dance for a good while first!!! Man we were cracking up!
My sweetie on a 'secret deck' he read about just for us to play on one night
yeah, Dad would have loved this!
a good example of how much 'relaxing time' we really had.....ok, so worth it!
could be wrong....but I think she's having a good time!

Brian rocked w/ his dance moves this trip!! Abigail ate up every minute!
Ya know..... isn't there an old saying about a blood red sunset on the seas....we should have know we were close!
this was formal night, she wore a princess costume and we modeled our matching pirate tatoos from the night before....oops! I tried to cover mine w/ make up

she learned real fast how cool those Disney princesses are!
she loved what they could do w/ her 'woobie', and yes, there's her tatoo on her baby arm!

yeah, that's right....Mickey taught her the chicken dance!

notice the age and activity of the other swimmers, she soooo held her own in that big pool!



What an incredible time we just had circling the sunny side of the world...well..sunny most of the time. :) A couple little hurricanes might have shaken up the sky's and the seas just a bit! I have a mountain of stories and 902 photos (!!!) taken of our trip. A little too much to blog adequately about so I will be doing a photo/journal book of just our trip. But I didn't want to not do something on the blog to share w/ family so I'll do a sampler post here. I just may loose my sweet familial readers if I post all 900 photos and blog all the beautiful details. I think it might crash the eblogger site forever! :) So, in a nut shell...It was an amazing 10 days. Disney once again didn't let us down. They just know how to make a family feel special.

We arrived at our favorite All Stars Resort with smiles beaming from our faces. They pinned the Bit with a "My First Visit" button for her overalls. We hit Downtown Disney Thursday night after checking in and swimming a while. The Rainforest cafe was a hoot! Abigail wasn't too fond of the every 30 minute 'thunder storms' they put on but other then that we had a great meal while the skys conveniently opened up outside just long enough to cool things off. We hit the Magic Kingdom early Friday morning to 2 nice surprises. One they had their fall decorations out which was a hoot. There were mickey pumpkins and scarecrows everywhere. And 2!!!.......We got to see Michael Phelps!!!!!! Yes, his first American appearance back from China and he picked Disney World to do it and the day we happened to be there!! It was so stinkin cool! Of course Abigail was much more excited to see Mickey Mouse sitting beside him but we all had a great day enjoying all the above.
We hit Epcot and Hollywood studios over the next day. Abigail danced and had breakfast with Jo-Jo and the Little Einstiens which was so adorable. Actually Jo Jo was quite taken w/ her and kept getting her to dance w/ her!
We headed Sunday for Bri's grandmother's house near West Palm Beach and had a great time. Abigail was quite a hit w/ Grammie Adam and her little dog princess. We relaxed, talked a lot , did a lot of laundry and drank some good wine in good company. So glad we went out of our way a little to get some quality time in with her. So worth it!

Monday morning we were off to "Mickey's boat" as the Bit referred to it. That was an experience all in itself. Such an incredible ship and staff. We had an awesome time living it up like kings for a week. The best day was at Disney's own island 'Castaway Cay'. Photos will show what an incredible place that is. We were supposed to get two days there but good ole Hannah messed up day two the end of the week. It was a perfect vacation. All 3 of us slept great, ate huge and even didn't miss a beat of the 2 speeches during the Republican National convention. (Go Sara!!). We even saw the NFL season kick off on a 30 foot flat screen over the Atlantic ocean up on deck 10. So fun! Abigail ran the ship like the wild woman she is and had the time of her life meeting princesses and getting doted over w/ her squeaky shoes (that she rarely took off, thank you grampa Mike!), and Brian and I had the time of our lives watching her have her little "baby fits" as we would call them. She literally would get over excited, start spinning in a circle and squealing w/ giggles.

It was the trip of a lifetime (so far). We definitely love our cruising and want to keep the good times rolling. We have a lot to come home to but God is in control of all these spinning crazies this fall. I'm so glad! Thanks for the prayers for our fun and safety. The boat was rockin but we didn't mind. Nothing could spoil a trip like that. Mom and Dad, you rock for making it possible!!!












Tuesday, August 26, 2008

Mickey Mouse here we come!!!

Ok, just a quickie update. We'll be out of communication for a couple weeks. Just so you don't think we're anti social. We leave Wednesday night and will be back with lots of stories to blog about next Sunday. Until then keep us in your prayers and love you all bunches!!!

Tuesday, August 19, 2008

More Summer fun at the Lake,,,



























This has been such a fun summer of fun at our favorite Smith Mt Lake. Recently my sister Sue and family in tow came in for a quick visit and we squeezed in as much play time as we could fit with those crazy Ratz's! The kids had an absolute ball together and Abigail and Alexander showed how things rolled at their Mi-Mi's house. The Bit impressed all her cousins w/ her fearless "one...two...phree...splash" as I heave hoed her as far as my arms could throw her tiny body from the dock out into the lake, and much to Mi-Mi's shock and awe. We had such a good time seeing how little Madeline has grown so fast and Hamilton and the Bit hit it off as trouble 1 and trouble 2 again. We captured some classic Kodak moments of them all together and it was just heavenly to sit back and watch everyone play in the warm August sunshine. Our sweet Nonee tried to keep up with everyone and did scarily well at it even w/ Dad's slammin boat ride. Nothing slows that lady down even at 80 something! Just some more good times for the blogg memory book!!





Tuesday, August 12, 2008

Scrooge Memories...





























Well I'm posting these memories wayyyyy after the fact because I didn't get around to working on it till now but I want it in my book. I had an absolute blast this past December working in my church's production of 'Scrooge' the musical. Rehearsals started in September and our 4 performances in the Roanoke Civic Center ran December 4th, 5th and 2 on the 6th to full houses almost every performance, a first for the 9 yrs our church has been doing this!!! It's become a Roanoke tradition for locals. I always knew I was born for broadway (from my impressive bedroom performances of Summer Stock and Funny Girl songs in my childhood mostly only ever viewed by my sister Sue) but life never gave me the opportunity until now. I know I made an idiot of myself enjoying rehearsals way too much and probably more then anyone else. What can I say, it was my first mommy time out pretty much since the Bit had been born. I sat taking instructions on the edge of my seat all fall only complaining that I didn't get to twirl as much as I was willing and able to. Never the less I was in the chorus line and had such a blast doing it. My buddies from my Thursday Bible study (well the wives anyway) all joined forces together to perform and we just had a ball spinning in our big skirts and ridiculously curly bobbing hair. I don't think I'll have time to do it again this year (Booo) but maybe another year down the road when we're moved and I'm done spitting out babies I can have another go at it. Until then, only 8 months later......here are my photos of the rehearsals, some from performances and dress rehearsals. Enjoy!