- On this last day of May we were a pretty busy bunch. Campbell, Keaton, Whitman, and I left for the pool a bit after 10. We had to stop at Hobby Lobby to buy some more shirts for Collide. The kids are all in different color groups, so they need shirts of their color plus white shirts to tie dye. Not only is camp expensive, but preparing for camp is equally expensive.
- After that stop, we ended up at the pool with all of the buddies. I had packed lunch so the kids swam until 2. Traci left wtih 2 on my girls, just leaving me with Whitman. He was having fun playing with his buddies so we stayed for another hours.
- When it was time to go, I did give him to option of going straight home or checking out Tropical Smoothie. They had free smoothies today-the line was short, and we both liked our little sample.
- Reagan had work today-last year they closed in the summer, but this year they will probably close in another week or two. When Reagan did come home from work, she was here for about 5 minutes before leaving to spend the night with a friend.
- Anderson had a party to get ready for camp tonight-I am not really sure if it was a get ready for camp party or just a hang out party. Either way, he had a good time.
- Since there were so few of us at home for supper, we just had leftovers. Then Robby and I took Bentley on a short little walk. When we came back, Whitman finished his school work, and then went to work playing with his magnet toys.
- Campbell and Keaton came home from their afternoon away. They ate tacos, had fun, and were ready to watch a tv show with Robby and me when they came in. Anderson arrived not too long after they did from his party. It was a little strange just having 2 kiddos here for such a long time today-I was glad when the house started filling up again.
May 31, 2023
May 30, 2023
- Robby was already at the tire store waiting for them to open this morning when I did wake up. It took me a few minutes to realize where he was. By the end of the day, the spare tire was successfully reinstalled underneath the camper. Robby said that he had to use quite a bit of redneck engineering.
- I was able to get some schooling things done today-worked with Whitman on spelling, registered Anderson for his classes, and surely there was something else that I did manage to do. I did seem like I spent a larger time that usual this morning on my computer trying to accoplish a few things.
- I jumped on the treadmill at noon, and around 1:30 we left for the pool. Campbell, Keaton, and Whitman were all excited to swim today. We didn't join the pool this year, but I have told all of the buddies that we would go anytime they asked.
- The kids swam for about 2 hours, and then we met Robby and the big boys at Defy. Keaton did go home with Charlotte for a little bit. I think that might crew was pretty tired by the end of the day-swimming and jumping. I really am not too sure how much school work did get accomplished today since we were gone so often.
- This evening Robby and I went out to eat with the Wilsons. We celebrated Tony's 50th birthday a little bit late. Then we met the kids and a house full of other people back at their house to continue the celebration.
- When we did come in, we ended up watching one tv show before ushering the kids towards their bedrooms-I have no doubt that they will not be sleeping for a good bit tonight.
May 29, 2023
- This morning Robby went to work on his tire situations. Grandpa came over to help as well. The inside tire was bad too, and he tried to get it replaced today, but they were closed. So tomorrow that will be the task. He has also worked on a system to get the spare to where it belongs and tested it.
- I spent the morning working through my list of things. There was some school work to do today for everyone. Whitman and I did spelling and coding. We are getting there on spelling, but it will take a while.
- All of the kids were up at a decent time this morning which was kind of strange. Of course their school and chores were done as late as absolutely possible. Actually, Reagan is vacuuming downstairs right now.
- Robby and I did run a few errands today-we returned something at Lowes, returned something at Sams, bought stuff at Walmart, and bought more things at Hobby Lobby. This led to one project for me when I did get home-I had to make an extender for the velcro on Bentley's Halloween costume.
- Once we were back home, I walked on the treadmill and finished to see Whitman and Reagan coming in from a bike ride. Children-you never really know what they are going to do. Those two are the two that I would least expect to go on a bike ride.
- We had supper and read some of the book of Mark. The students at church are reading through Mark so we started at home as well. We did that, and then it was time for us to leave to see The Little Mermaid.
- Anderson and Graham opted not to go, but the rest of us did. It was a pretty good movie. But in full disclosure, Robby did have to wake me up once because I was snoring. What I saw of the movie was good though.
- When we came home, the kids had a snack, Reagan vacuumed and I'm going to try to read a little bit!
May 28, 2023
- The morning saga around here were the groceries. Robby had scheduled a delivery between 8-9 this morning. He saw that the delivery was on its way so he showered and got ready for church.
- At 9, the order had not yet arrived. Robby called the help center and spoke to the kind and unhelpful people on the other side of the world. At 9:45, when it was time for us to leave for church, he just called and cancelled the order. We weren't expecting the groceries to come, but we still left an ice chest in the middle of the garage just in case.
- We think that Robby did successfully cancel the order; however, it had already been picked up from the store. Our order was not anything exciting that anyone would want to steal so who knows where our order has ended up.
- Chuch was at Raymar today so we set our tents up so we could have shade. Thankfully, the weather was kind of mild so it wasn't too warm out there. The songs were short and the sermon was-well, I am not too sure. It is really hard to pay attention outside with 500 other people around you.
- After church, there were hamburgers or hot dogs. I devoured my hamburger. I am not sure what I I thougth that it was so good, but it really was. Maybe I had just the right amount of condiments and tomatoes. Maybe I haven't had a hamburger in a while. Whatever the reason, I scarfed it down-along with my whole bag of chips and cookies. I probably should walk an extra mile or two tomorrow!
- Anderson was watching car racing in Monaco this morning, and when we came home from church he watched some of the Indy 500. It was on as I took a short afternoon nap. My nap was short because I was paying too much attention to the silly race.
- Robby and I took Campbell to a swim/spend the night party this afternoon. Then we had to stop at the store to buy the few things that never showed up earlier in the day. We ended up buying a wide assortment of crafty items-tapes, magnets, felt-you would have thought that we had some big crafty project coming up. Nothing that exciting-I've been out of tape since Christmas, Robby needed magnets for the camper lights and Keaton is making a Disney pin book and needed felt.
- Back at home, Whitman started on making his chocolate cake from his cookbook. It ended up being pretty dry-I'm not too sure why. We followed the recipe plus I didn't baked it 5 minutes shorter than I should have. The icing was super sweet and pretty decent though.
- Keaton helped me make the enchiladas for supper. I made two pans even though the big boys ate at Rock Creek and Reagan was at a friend's house and ate there. Thankfully, the Wilson's were able to help us eat most of one pan.
- Tomorrow is a holiday for Robby so he won't have work, but I am going to try to mark quite a few of the things off of my list-I have about 2 weeks this summer where I don't have anything and the kids do not either and tomorrow is the start of one of those two weeks.
May 27, 2023
- Robby crashed about 9:30 last night. When he went to bed, he told me that he would get up in a little bit. However, after the kids had walked through our bedroom multiple times getting things before bed, and after I had come through the bedroom with laundry and then had to drag Bentley out to go potty, Robby still never stirred.
- After I had my shower and read for a good long while, he still never stirred. When I went to the bathroom in the middle of the night, he didn't stir-yes, I checked to make sure he was breathing. When I woke up this morning, Robby still was sleeping soundly. I guess he was pretty exhausted from the last few days of driving.
- The big activity today was cleaning and reloading the camper. I used the shop vac for a good long time, and then started on spraying down everything. Then I moved all of those laundry baskets full of camper stuff into the camper and put things away.
- I did run to the library during the baseball game today. I think that I may have gotten a few too many books-I might be a little bit obsessed. I guess I could have a worse addiction. I certainly could have a more costly addiction.
- This afternoon I played Monopoly with all of the kids except for Reagan. I have some kids that are great game players, but others that are not such good game players. Actually, there is just one that is not a good game player-I think that it might be too late to work on that. I'm not too sure how to teach good game playing skills to someone, but maybe I am going to have to figure that out.
- This evening Robby worked for a good long time changing out our thermostats. While he did that, the rest of us had supper. It was pretty much a flop-the mashed potatoes were too thick so I added too much milk. The meatballs were still not great-Robby thought that they were decent, but they aren't as good as Ikea meatballs.
- We have all had ice cream, and most people have had showers. Robby and I are watching the Rookie, but I have about 80 pages of my book to read tonight.
May 26, 2023-Disney or Bust!
I didn't hear Robby get up this morning, so he woke me up when he was heading to the front to start driving. I could have stayed in the back and rested more, but I was soon up front. The boys were still pretty out of it so I had to climb over both of them with my hands full of drinks and snacks on my way to the front of the camper.
We didn't stop at all on the way home. The only excitement was when the tv fell-it didn't fall all the way on Anderson this time; he was able to catch it. It is just pretty bouncy-we should probably check it every so often. There aws some more excitement when Graham's xbox did fall on Anderson's legs a bit later in the morning. That was behind a cabinet so I'm not really sure how it happened. Thankfully it was fine, and the next time we put it up there, we will put some of the sticky cabinet liner underneath it.
When we were on Lawson, Graham woke up Keaton and Campbell and told them that we were going to Fayetteville instead of home. That was probably a mean little trick. And Whitman and Reagan looked like they had just woken up when I first saw them this morning-after I had already take two loads of stuff into the house.
Robby had to do some real work when we did get home, but the kids helped take a few extra loads out of the camper. It took a good while, but soon the camper was emptied, and I moved on to inside the house. We still had soccer things to put away from the day that we left.
I never got around to cleaning the camper, but I do have 5 or 6 laundry baskets full of things to take back to the camper-clean sheets, towels, sleeping bags, plus things to restock. Tomorrow I plan on cleaning and restocking everything. I also didn't get around to giving Bentley a bath-I remember the day when the kids would fight about who would get to give her a bath. I did give her a good trim and brush though.
I did end up taking a little nap this afternoon. When I finished the second round of work for me, Campbell, Keaton, Robby and I went to On the Border for supper. Then we ran to Sams to pcik up a few things before stopping at Grannymom's house for a bit.
Once at home, the boys had their supper. Anderson was on the couch watching a Marvel movie so I ended up watching the end of it with him as I folded up my kroger bags into little triangles.
May 25, 2023-Disney or Bust!
I went to sleep at 12:40ish last night, and then I woke up around 3:40 to go to the bathroom...and I never went back to sleep. I was hot, I was cold, I was itchy (dang mosquito bites from this week), I was really everything but sleepy. Around 5, I had to go to the bathroom again, but since we were sleeping with the slides in, going to the bathroom meant crawling over Bentley and then crawling over Robby. I can't do all of that without waking him up, and since he needed his sleep (he is the driver and can't nap like I did this morning), I just waited until our alarms went off at 6.
By 6:30, we had hooked up the car, he had dumped, and we were on the road. I did sleep off and on for about an hour this morning. We originally had planned on stopping at a Buccees to fill up, but Robby had to stop 7 miles earlier at a Kroger since he was pretty much already out of gas and didn't want to risk it.
That was fine though, because most of the kids were still sleeping so there was no reason to stop at Buccees. Our next stop after that was a Buccee's In Leeds, Alabama, This is the stop where the kids did go in and get icees. From there, we had about 30 more minutes to get to Hoover, Alabama to watch the Hogs play baseball in the SEC tournament.
The boys realized that the Hogs might be playing on a day that we were headed home, so they were pretty tense hoping that we would win yesterday's game so we would play today. That did mean that we had to hit is pretty hard to get there in time, but time change did help us.
We found a spot to park near the RV lot there, and made it just as the Hogs were starting their game. We were in the sun for a good bit of the game, but it wasn't too uncomfortable-especially with the drinks, popcorn and peanuts that Robby bought for everyone.
After the win, we rushed back to the camper-and saw that some one had pretty much blocked us in. Thankfully, Robby was able to back up about 6 feet and squeeze out. Getting out of the parking lot and back onto the main road was a lot of work as well, but we did it.
We are usually pretty good about our meal planning on trips. We had meals planned for most nights of this trip. However, with the heat we never did make pancakes and sausage for our supper. This meant that we were behind a meal. Now, we could have just found something in the camper, but my hot dog buns, hamburger buns and bread are pretty much trash. I haven't thrown them away yet, but the best spot for them is in a higher cabinet which apparently got way too much heat on this trip.
This did cause Robby to buy a bread box foe the counter. It was a set of two-they are clear and set perfectly on the cabinet. We are hoping that this will help keep our bread fresh. We have never had this happen where everything has gone bad and gotten hard, but we have had our pita bread turn moldy before (it did this time as well, so I had to throw a few away). Meanwhile, at home, I can keep it for weeks without having a problem, so surely it is all due to the heat. We shall see how the new breadboxes work on our next trip.
All that to say, since we really didn't have anything for supper, we had to stop on the way out of town. Robby found a ChickFilA that he ran in to grab us some food. We ate in the camper, and then headed back to the interestate.
The kids have just finished with their snacks and now we are headed to Holly Springs for the evening-at least I think that is the plan!
May 24, 2023-Disney or Bust!
We went to sleep with the drain pitter pattering on the roof-of course, we couldn't really hear it because the air conditioners were running, but I knew it was raining, and that made my heart happy. Thankfully, most everything was already dry today when we did put it up, but I am getting a head of myself.
We had a fairly slow morning. Robby and I walked around a few of the other loops. Our loop is right by the beach, but the others are way far away-we walked a good little bit. Then we headed to the beach-Campbell and Keaton rode back just as we were heading that way, but Anderson, Reagan and Whitman joined us.
Whitman did NOT want to get sandy this morning and almost refused to walk on the beach. We kind of made him, and he did have a great time. There was so much foam that would come when the waves would crash on the shore, and Whitman enjoyed kicking that foam at Anderson.
It was a pretty perfect beach morning-just there about 20 minutes, and then we walked back. We heated up some lunches, and then headed back to the historic district of St. Augustine. Whitman redeemed his 4th grade National Parks pass-this is my first year in a while that I will not have a 4th grader, and his pass just lasts until August so we may have to end up buying one.
Whitman was so happy about getting that card though-he held it the whole time that we toured the fort. We were here in October of 2015, but I am not so sure that the kids remember too much of it. After we walked all the way around the fort, Whitman turned in his Jr. Ranger book and received his badge.
We were right by some food options so we did that. Reagan and Whitman got popsicles from a fancy popsicle place. Robby and I tried one as well. Then Keaton bought some fudge. Next Robby and I tried some empanadas. And finally Anderson, Graham, and Campbell bought a milkshake for their treat. Robby and I also split a milkshake from there-when you are the one paying for all of the treats, you can buy a treat from where ever you want so we chose all of the places.
Then we hurried across town to Fort Mantanzas. There last boat was going out at 3:30, and Robby ran up to see about tickets. They said that they were out, but seconds later, we heard that they had 5 seats left on the boat. Robby said he would take Whitman and Anderson said that he would go as well. Reagan and Graham were in the bathroom (He can't have dairy without bathroom stops, and some times she can't eat anything without bathroom stops.) Campbell and Keaton didn't want to go either, and I'm not really sure why.
Keaton wasn't in an exploring mood, but Campbell and I went on the nature trail and tried to find the trail to the beach. We never did find the beach trail, so we just made our own. Robby left in such a hurry, that he didn't even think about handing me the car keys, but they were just gone about 50 minutes. Campbell and I had just sat down after all of our adventures when we noticed that they would be getting back in just a few minutes.
Anderson, Robby, and Whitman had a great time. Whitman enjoyed climbing up to the ladder to the top. Anderson said that he didn't remember the fort the last time we came there. I was so glad that they had the chance to ride the boat over to the fort.
Then we drove around for a little bit before coming back to the camper to put things up. Our goal is to pull out pretty early in the morning so just about everything is always put away to make things easier tomorrow.
The kids played on the playground, rode their bikes and watched the end of the Hogs game this afternoon. Robby and some of us ran to McDonalds to pick up some supper. The last time we were in McDonalds was in Orlando, and we waited about 30 minutes for our food. We were debating how long it would take tonight or if or order would be wrong, but as we drove up the man was walking to the car to tell us that he was out of caramel for Reagan's coffee drink. He gave us some other options and was patient as we called Reagan to ask. The order was prefect and out incredibly quick. That McDonalds should get a gold star.
After we ate, Robby put the clothes in the dryer. He had started them before we ran to get supper. Then the girls headed to the beach. When the clothers were dry, the rest of us also went to the beach, but we had Graham as our driver.
Robby didn't stay at the beach too long since he didn't have a jacket. I had actually even wrote on the kids' packing list that they did not need a jacket-now Graham, Reagan and I had still packed ours. (I am usually cold in the camper so I always have multiple jackets.) It was certainly a bit windier and chillier than I had expected tonight while we were walking on the beach.
Anderson and Graham brought a football so they played a good bit-except the wind was giving them a hard time. Campbell, the water child, could have stayed for another hour or so walking around in the water. Whitman was happy with his flashlight.
Soon we all ended up back in the car going back to the campsite. The girls all her showers in the bathhouse while I folded the laundry, Robby worked and the big boys watched baseball, and Whitman played a baseball game on his ipad. The next move is making beds for everyone.
May 23, 2023-Disney or Bust!
Check out was at 11 today, so Robby was up working well before then. Pretty soon after he climbed out of bed, I did roll over and apparently laid on Bentley enough for her to yelp and get out of the bed. Then I was awake and started stirring.
Graham and Reagan wanted to take showers before we left the Fort Wilderness. I take all of my showers in the shower in the camper and do all of my bathrooming in it as well. Reagan can not stand having to take a shwoer in the camper. She even wears shower shoes and asks me every single time where the "clean towels" are. Of course every time this camper rolls to Jacqueline Drive, all towels are washed and the shower is scrubbed so there is no need for any of that.
I will agree though that the bathrooms at Fort Wilderness are incredibly nice. Anderson did remind me that the ones at Camping on the Gulf and Catherine's Landing are also very nice. Really most of the kids except Whitman do go to the bath houses when they have a chance. I think that Campbell and Keaton enjoy the adventure of it and always choose to go. Robby will occasionally go especially when he needs to shave.
All of that to say, I had to wake Reagan and Graham up so they could go and take their shower before we pulled out. Anderson helped Robby with the last few things outside, and we were pulling out a few minutes after 11. It did seem like I spent most of the morning folding our laundry that Robby had washed so I wasn't much help.
Our drive was maybe 3 hours to Anastasia State Park in St. Augustine. We stopped at Sam's for me to buy some granola, but they were out of it. However, our main reason for stopping at the exit was because Buccee's was right across the street. We filled up wiht gas and grabbed some slushies before hitting the road again. Actually, I didn't get a slushee-I found a tiny things of Dr. Pepper float Blue Bell ice cream. I like Blue Bell and I like Dr. Pepper, but it was a disappointment for sure.
It was around 3 when we arrived at the campsite. It is like we are in the middle of a jungle-such a neat campsite. And we are right across from the bath house, but most importantly we are on the closest loop to the beach.
As soon as we parked the camper, the kids started getting their bikes and rode to the beach. We all soon joined them. It was so pretty, and the weather was at least 20 degrees cooler than it was at Disney. We set a few things up-though of course after working hard to dry everything out last night, it is raining tonight and things are getting wet again. Oh, well, We can set it all back up at home if we need to.
This evening we went to downtown St. Augustine and walked along St. Georg street. We, of course, found us some supper at Pizza Time which some say is the 2nd best pizza in the US. We all bought a slice (mine was ravioli pizza), plus Robby bought gralic knots, a ceasar salad, and a potato ball (not really sure what it was-kind of like mashed potatoes shaped into a ball with meat and cheese on the inside and smothered with marinara.) It was all delicious-and I think that the majority of Dennie's liked tonight's pizza better than the pizza we had in Italy at Epcot. (Reagan and Anderson were the ones who liked Epcots better.)
We made it in before 9 tonight which is earlier than we have the last few nights-last night was well after 11. Robby is catching up on some work while everyone else is on their devices. I have ran out of books to read so I am downloading one on my phone. Soon we will make beds and make some plans for tomorrow.
May 22, 2023-Disney or Bust!
This was supposed to be kind of a lazy last day around the campsite. However, it is almost 1, and we are still going strong. Most people are in bed, but we still have a few to go. I will do my best to remember what all we did today.
I did wake up a few minutes before 7 and was looking at my phone when Robby's alarm went off. His alarm is set to wake him up so he can try to get us early morning tickets for Gaurdians. It is just random what times you are assigned-the ride fills up for the day in seconds so miliseconds are what you are dealing with when you try to snag tickets. He usually goes to the government website to look at the official time to help him.
I guess today, he was a little too quick and snagged one of the early morning boarding groups. This was all well and good, but it did mean that we had to get up and get going. We started waking everyone up at 9 and were headed to Epcot by 10ish.
We walked right to Gaurdians and jumped into the super long line. That was fine because that line does move very well. Then some of the people rode single rider for Test Track while the rest of us had popcorn and some drinks. Afterwards, we went back to the campground for a little bit.
After a few hours, Robby took Campbell, Keaton, and Whitman to the Magic Kingdom for a little bit. When they started to leave, it started to rain-they dealt with showers off and on the whole time they were there. This also caused many of the rides to be down limiting what all they could do.
While they were gone, Reagan took a walk-in the rain. Anderson sat under the tent during most of the rain showers, but he did do some bike riding during all of it as well. Graham came back completely soaked. Bentley and I stayed dry in the camper. It was really coming down-hard enough that I checked the spot in the bathroom where we deal with some leaks. I guess we are sitting at the right angle, and there was no leak today. That was good since really all of our other outside stuff is wet.
Well, I shouldn't say that. Robby and I did take down quite a few things this afternoon. We would have take everything down and put it away had we known that the rain was coming. It was so super hot though so we decided to save the rest for tomorrow. Now, we need it to be sunny and warm in the morning to dry everything out.
The Magic Kingdom folks watched the Monsters Inc show. Campbell's joke was used in the skit so that was fun. They rode the People Mover and even stopped to get some ice cream before heading back. They had a big time and were gone for quite a while.
When they came back, I made suppers-it was a new package of meatballs, and they were pretty much a bust, but the mashed potatoes were good. Then we decided that we would at least drive to Hollywood and hope that the rain slacked off.
It did so around 7:30, we headed towards Tower of Terror. Campbell abhors that ride so she went her own way. This was a very good thing! We were all on the very back row. Just as we were about to start dropping, the car kind of shuttered and stopped. So we just sat in the pitch black for about 2 minutes beore an emergency light came on.
After a few more minutes, someone came on the speaker asking if we were ok. We were just setting there, but we could hear machines making all kinds of sounds. Anderson said later that he did not like that at all and was gribbing tightly pretty much the whole time that we were up there. (Remember how he doesn't like enclosed spaces and heights). Graham, who I was sitting by, was pretty much the same way.
People started pulling out their phones. At first one girl said she didn't have a signal, but thankfully we did and could text Campbell. She had a big time while we were sitting on the ride-she rode Buzz, Slinky Dog twice and the spinny ride.
Eventually, they came on the speaker to say that maintenance was coming. We could hear them behind us. The man did tell us that he was going to back us up, but then he couldn't because the cart was uneven. Later he said we would go down "a little ways" real quick, but then come back up. Everyone in the car held on for dear life-you know everyone's definition of "a little ways" is different. We did drop about 2 inches before coming up.
Then they were able to use a remote control to have our car come back. Everyone in the car was filming and taking pictures of the behind the scenes until they asked us not to. The rolled up a little stair thing, and helped us out of the car. Then we rode down in a real elevator and received 2 fastpasses each.
This was fine except we were planning on coming back to the park tomorrow, so we wanted to use them today. Reagan, Keaton and Graham did ride Tower of Terror successfully. The rest of us went to ride Slinky Dog and catch up with Campbell. Then we all hurried out of the park and headed to Magic.
Robby dropped us off at the Ticket and Transportation Center where we caught the wrong (resort) monorail. He drove back to the campground and caught a boat to Magic. From earlier today, they had 4 passes to Tron.
I hurried there with Campbell and Whitman for one last ride on it. Everyone else went to Space and rode it once. Then they rode again while Reagan did the People Mover. Robby caught up with them, and they did Space two more times. When we were off of Tron, Reagan joined us on Space Mountain one last time.
It was a super busy evening for sure. After all of this riding, we needed a little something to eat, so we did stop and get a few ice cream dishes to split. We ate them before taking one last picture on Main Street and headed back to the campground. Even a relaxing Disney Day is a busy day!
May 21, 2023-Disney or Bust!
For an off day from the parks, we sure have had a busy day-and we even ended up at the parks. We all slept incredibly late, but that was the plan this morning. We played around the campground this morning.
We thought that someone would want to swim but had not takers. So after we had golf carted, pin traded and walked as much as we could, the boys and Keaton went with us to the Polynesian. We rode two boats to get there, and it was warm.
Once we made it there, we did cool off with Dole whip for all of us except Keaton. She opted for a chocolate croissant. Then Robby also ordered an order of fries and potato chip/pork/pineapple nachos. That was certainly a good snack.
Our way back was much easier than our way there-the monorail was waiting on us, and then the boat was waiting on us. When we made it back, Robby and I changed our clothes and headed to First Baptist Orlando.
They were having a night of worship so Robby and I went to that. We knew most of the songs they sang. Even though that church is pretty different than our own, we always feel at home there.
While we were there, Campbell and Keaton headed over to Magic Kingdom. We told them that they could if they wanted to, but they didn't waste any time getting on that boat as we were pulling out of the campground.
They had a big evening-bought some French fries and a doughnut. They also rode the Tea Cups, Speedway, Space and when they were getting off of Buzz, the rest of us were getting on to Buzz. As soon as Robby and I made it back to the campground, we loaded up with everyone else on the boat and headed to Magic Kingdom.
After Buzz, we all rode the People Mover. Campbell and Keaton did the Speedway cars while the rest of us took a turn on Winnie the Pooh. For our last ride, we chose Seven Dwarfs again. The line was a less tonight so that made the evening more enjoyable.
We took a few pictures in front of the carousel pulling out the sword. Sleeping Beauty also stood behind Keaton as she tried to pull out the sword. Then it was back to the boat and campground.
As we were walking back to our spot, Reagan said that she always feels like she is in a zoo when she sits under our tent behind the camper. She was meaning that she felt like an animal with the people walking by. However, a few minutes later Reagan saw a possum, Campbell saw bunnies and an armadillo-Reagan really was in a zoo!
May 20, 2023-Disney or Bust
What a big day we had! My alarm was supposed to go off at 7, but somehow I had clicked an alarm on my phone that will not go off on Saturdays. That was fine because Robby was the grown up, and his alarm went off on time.
Our goal was to leave the camper at 8 this morning which is the earliest we have left this trip. Heck, it is the earliest we have probably been up this trip. We were close-it was about 8:05 when we walked to the boat.
We caught the boat and made our way to Magic Kingdom. We hopped on Buzz where I scored a perfect score and recieved a pin. If you remember when we were here in December, Anderson, Graham, and Robby all earned perfect scores so I was glad to join their ranks. Now, it did help me that we were briefly paused today, and I was able to snag a few more points during that stoppage.
After Buzz, we headed to Space Mountain. The line looked promising, but it stopped long enough that Reagan, Anderson and I had to exit since we had our Keys to the Kingdom tour. Robby and the others were able to ride Space.
Then they went to Tron. Robby didn't ride, so the 4 of them could use our tickets plus his to ride twice. Of course everyone enjoyed this. When they finished with that, the had some popcorn and headed back to the camper.
They had lunch and even did a load of laundry. Graham and Keaton rode a pretty long bike ride, and there was lots of pin trading and golf cart driving during the day.
Anderson, Reagan, and I headed to the front of Main Street to start our tour. Reagan and Anderson received their tour for Christmas, and Robby gave me mine for my birthday. There were 20 people in our tour.
It was super interesting, and our guide was wonderful. We started by walking down Main Street while she talked about things. Then we moved on to Adventurland where we rode The Jungle Cruise. The most interesting part of the day was when we went backstage and watched the cast members get ready for the parade.
We saw Mickey and Minnie without their headpieces standing on the float talking. It was two women. There were 2 princes standing together talking while Ariel was standing right nearby putting on her tail and being lifted with a forklift up into her parade float.
Then it was on to lunch for us-we had our lunches ready at Pecos Bills. Next up was a ride on Haunted followed by getting to go down in the Utilidors-the underground tunnels that the workers use. This was neat to see, but really by this time we were getting a little bit tired. There was a lot of walking plus it was often sunny on us.
I know that I had fun today, and I really think that Reagan and Anderson did as well. I know that they really liked the ice cream that I bought them when we did finish with our tour. We needed a little something to give us enough energy to get ourselves back to the boat.
Robby was at the boat dock to pick us up when we arrived. We had a bit of time to relax before Robby, Campbell, Keaton and I left to go to the Character Warehouse. Keaton was really hoping to find a Loungefly backpack, but we did not. We did find a few pairs of ears to hang on their wall along with a Halloween costume for Bentley.
Then we ran to Sams to pick up a few essentials. I did just remember that we forgot granola-ugh. However, we did buy some gum, candy and pretzels. And of course we picked up some pizza pretzels for supper along with some pizzas to eat back at the campsite.
Around 8, everyone but Reagan and Anderson headed back to Magic Kingdom for a little bit. We rode Buzz, the Peoplemove and finally Snow White. It took a while to get on Snow White, and it took a while to get back to the campground, but Anderson was waiting for us on the golf cart when we arrived.
It has been a long day-I'm pretty exhausted. Tomorrowe we think we are going to take it super slow!
May 19, 2023-Disney or Bust
We slept incredibly late for a Disney day, but actually we are having perfectly wonderful Disney days. Robby was able to get us Tron tickets which were called a little bit earlier than we were expecting. We had a little bit of the morning before we left for Magic Kingdom.
I am enjoying Tron a bit more each time. It does start off super fast and then gets a little bit faster. However, that lasts for about 2 seconds so if I can stay calm for those two seconds, then I can quickly start enjoying the rest of the ride (which is actually about 59 more seconds-it is super short.)
When we left Tron, Campbell and Keaton headed to Starbucks to spend a gift card. Then they rode the boat back to the camper, walked Bentley, and retrieved the laundry from the dryer. Now, they knew the rest of us were going to Gastons to get a cinnamon roll, but I think that idea of doing all of that alone is what appealed to them.
The rest of us drank some water and ate our half of a cinnamon roll. Graham then headed back down Main Street to catch the boat back. He then drove the golf cart back to our spot. It takes us less than 2 minutes to walk from the boat dock to our campsite, while it takes about 5 minutes to drive the golf cart, but I guess you can imagine the appeal of a golf cart to a teenage boy.
That left Anderson, Whitman, Robby, Reagan and I. We rode one section of the train. Whitman didn't act like he remembered riding the train, nor did he really care anything about it, but we still made him ride with us. Then we caught the boat back to the camper.
I folded laundry while Robby carted the girls around on the golf cart. There was lots of hiding things plus quite a bit of finding items. We have to limit everything that they find-though some things, Keaton has decided that they are going to bring back to hide in July. Bentley went to the dog park with different kids a few times.
Robby made quesadillas for supper tonight. He had just about decided that he was not going to do any blackstone cooking outside because it is just too hot. However, it got a bit cloudy this evening, and the weather turned pretty nice. We had cheese, bean and chicken quesadillas and tacos-it was a pretty perfect meal.
Afterwards, Robby and I took a walk. We ended up not really getting lost, but walking about a mile longer than we had expected. We actually called the kids to come and get us on the golf cart. Once we made it back, we loaded up with Keaton, Whitman and Campbell for the campfire.
We went to the Chip and Dale Campfire Singalong. We made s'mores-I think they all had at least 2. Then we moved on to the swimming pool. They swam for quite a while. Now, we did get a phone call from the boys-they wanted to know where the golf cart was. Actually, more specifically they wanted to know where the s'mores supplies were. I didn't noticed that any marshmallows or graham crackers were gone, but there was certainly a reduction in the amount of hershey candy bars that were in my bag.
Campbell, Keaton, and Whitman swam for a long time. There was lightening all around us, but the lifegaurds never blew the whistle. It was lightening enough that Reagan put all of the bikes under the tent so they wouldn't get wet. As of right now, it hasn't rained-the rain that we had yesterday while we were at Magic Kingdom has been our only rain thankfully.
It is almost 10-probably one of our earliest nights for everyone to already be in their beds. We laughed that we aren't really doing a ton of park time, but we are still so exhausted. We are busy all day long, and it really is pretty perfect.
May 18, 2023-Disney or Bust!
This morning Robby was able to snag us Gaurdians tickets again. That is the kid's favorite ride at Disney, but the only thing about Gaurdians is that our number is called earlier in the morning than it would be if we had chosen to ride Tron.
Our number was called a little bit before 10 this morning. We had to wake pretty much everyone so we could get to Epcot. Before we left Robby, Campbell, and Keaton went to the pool and filled up their drinks. Then we headed to Epcot and went straight to Gurdians, I can only ride that once or else I'll be one of those people hovering over the trash can. After Gurdians we went to Connections and had some ice water and popcorn.
We then headed out and got in line for Spaceship Earth which is one of Whitman's favorite ride at Epcot. I am pretty sure Robby and Campbell were on there phones the whole time though. After that we headed back to the campground. Anderson, Keaton and Campbell drove the golf cart to go and pin trade.
I sat under the tent and read my book, the girls came back asking me if I could drive them around to scavenger hunt around the campground. We ended up finding about 4 things, Whitman also came along. Then we decided we would hide a few things, so we came back to the camper and grabbed some of our stuff that we brought to hide.
Robby, Anderson, Keaton, Bentley and I drove aound on the golf cart for about 30 minutes. Once we headed back, Campbell and Graham found us on their bikes. We went to Walmart with everyone but Graham and Whitman. Reagan and Keaton both found shirts, Robby bought a sun shade and he even ended up letting Campbell get some candy.
After Walmart we went to Panda Express to pick up dinner which we broght home and ate. Robby tried to put a new pedal on Anderson's bike that he happened to have in his miscellaneous bucket but he had the wrong side pedal so he had to order a diffrent one. Once everyone was ready we headed to the boat and went to Magic Kingdom. The boat is always a little slow, but we make it there when we need to be there,
We decided to get some popcorn from the Confectionery on Main Street. We bought 2 different kinds: butter popcorn with milk choclate, m&ms and twix. The other one was carmel popcorn with marshmallows, dark chocolate and fudge brownies m&ms. Everyone liked the first one the best.
When we started heading to Big Thunder Moutain, it started raining on us but it wasn't terrible. We all rode that once, and Campbell and Keaton ended up riding it twice. While they rode that we went and drank some water at the Pecos Bill restaurant and tried to stay dry. The girls came and found us and we made are way to Pirates. The line wasn't too bad since the fireworks were about to start.
(All of the blog above this point was written by Campbell. I laid my computer down while I was doing something getting people ready for bed, and she saw that I had started on the blog and took over. I did cut her off at 12 so that is the reason that I am finishing it myself-if it hadn't been so late, I would have let her finish and possibly even handed over full time blog responsibilities to her.)
After Pirate, we did the Haunted Mansion and hurried next to Seven Dwarfs. The line was short, but we did make it to the front of the line when they shut the dang ride down because of lightening. That was a little bit disappointing, but we still had time to make it to Space Mountain before the park closed.
That is what we did. While we were waiting in line, Whitman asked me if I remembered when Anderson had his birthday on Space Mountain. I sure do-he turned 13. Whitman doesn't remember too much about the 2019 trips (He didn't remember Fantasmic), but he does remember a few things.
After Space, we headed out of the park with everyone else. We were happy to see that they were running the boats. We thought that they may not have been becuase of the rain/lightening. We were soon back at the campground eating snacks, getting drinks at the pool, and taking showers.
It is midnight now, and everyone is in bed. I still have my shower to take and then possibly I will still be awake for a little bit and can read some.
May 17, 2023-Disney or Bust!
I think that we all did sleep perfectly last night. Robby did wake up at 7 to secure us tickets for Guardians for later in the day. Then at 8, our air cut off so he had to put on shorts and go outside to fix that.
He has had a time with the power this week. It isn't us; it is the campgrounds electrical stuff. Each morning at 8, our air cuts off. He is having to work around pretty much everything so we don't continually lose power. He has it figured out, but we know that they have been occasionally closing loops in this campground, and now we wonder if they are working on the electical things when they do.
Our Guardians number was a little bit earlier than our Tron numbers have been so we were at Epcot around 11. We jumped in the line to ride that. Then we stopped and ate some popcorn and drank some coke before going to Mexico to ride the little ride there.
On the way out of Mexico, Robby bought an empanada and some tacos for us to try. Reagan got herself an orange coffee as well. I did try a sip-it was interesting, but there was little orange flavoring in it. After this, we headed back to the campground.
Reagan, Campbell, Keaton and Whitman went to the pool. Robby, Graham and I stayed there for a little bit, but soon went back to the camper. I guess a storm rolled in nearby causing them to close the pool so the pool goers had to walk back until we were able to reach Anderson on the golf cart who was out looking for pins.
It never did rain here but it did cool things off which was nice. Our air conditioners had been struggling to keep up for a little bit. We are pretty much in the direct sun so the thunder and clouds made things bearable. Quite a few of us ended up outside under the tent when the weather did cool off.
At 6 we started towards Epcot. We decided to park at Hollywood and ride the Skyliner over. That would have been a super quick way to get over there-quicker than the boat or the mile plus walk. However, the skyliner stopped-and not just paused, but stopped for about 25 minutes.
We were fine and no one seemed to be too concerned. Campbell is usually the most nervous of the group, but she didn't seem to be bothered. However, Anderson does not like heights at all, nor does he like enclosed spaces, so I think if it went on much loner he would not have been too pleased.
After that slow down, we headed right on over to Italy to eat supper at Via Napoli. We ordered a Ceasar salad which was ok. Robby also ordered manicotti-the kids weren't crazy about it. Graham said that it reminded him of Chef Boyrdee ravioli, but I really thought that it was good.
We also ordered 2 pizzas-they were huge! We ordered "half meter" pizzas. We figured that up, and it would be around 20 or so inches. These babies were closer to a whole meter. One was a white 4 cheese pizza while the other was made with red sauce and had sausage on it.
We did have leftovers, and we carted them all the way back out of Epcot, back to Hollywood via the Skyliner and for the rest of the evening. Epcot closed at 9 so we caught the fireworks there as we walked out.
Hollywood was open until 10 so we were able to ride Toy Story Mania. Anderson continues to be the champion on that ride. Then we walked on over to watch the 10:30 showing of Fantasmic. It wasn't crowded at all, and we had perfect seats.
It was late when we did get home, but beds were quickly made and everyone is not in their beds. I still have my shower to take, but I bet that lights will be off before I am out of the shower.
May 16, 2023-Disney or Bust!
I woke up at 7:30 this morning, and Robby was already sound asleep. He had been up before 7 to secure us tickets to ride Tron again today. I went back to sleep and not too much later, he woke me up to tell me that he was going to pick up the tire.
I must have quickly gone back to sleep because I woke up to someone knocking on the back of the camper. I wasn't really sure what I was supposed to do-so I did cautiously open the door and look out. Robby had left his wallet and camper keys and had come back. He had been trying to call me, but I guess my phone was on silent or I just didn't hear it.
Before he returned, Cambpell and I did get up and went outside. I had my breakfast and read some, and then we drove and got some drinks at the pool. Before too long, Robby was back, and we took Campbell, Keaton, and Whitman to the pool. They swam for a good bit before we headed back to the camper for lunches.
After eating lunches, we rode the boat to Magic Kingdom around 2 to get in line for Tron. Yesterday, we had to wait in the sun for about 30 minutes, and it was hot. Thankfully, today the line was a little bit shorter so our sun wait time was less than 5 minutes.
I think everyone enjoys the ride, though Guardians is still the favorite. I do not enjoy the ride at all-well, I don't enjoy the first 10 seconds of the ride. It takes off and goes 60 miles per hour-probably for about 3 seconds or even less, but it is those 3 seconds that I think that I might just die. Maybe I am just getting old, but sitting on the bench holding shopping bags doesn't seem so bad anymore.
When we finished Tron, Campbell and Keaton rode the Speedway again while the rest of us went to eat the Orange Dolewhip. I am not really sure what the name for that is, but is was super good. We met the girls at the boat and rode back to the campground. It is pretty amazing how hot it can be, but on that water it is incredibly pleasant.
We were back at the camper for about an hour today before we left for Animal Kingdom. That park is the least favorite of my kids. However, there are still some fun rides there. We arrived about an hour before they closed so we were able to ride Dinosaur, Everest, and Avatar all within an hour. The one thing about Animal Kingdom is that there just seems to be a lot of walking-or the rides we do (Dinosaur, Everest, and Avatar) are incredibly spread out.
Once we were back in the car, we came back to the campground to start on suppers. Campbell and Keaton had potato soup while all the other kids had air fryer pizzas. I had a salad, and Robby had leftover hot dogs.
Graham, Campbell, and Keaton rode their bikes some around the campground. Robby, Reagan, Bentley, and I drove went to the pool to get some drinks. And right now everyone is laying in their beds. The last few nights have been eventful-last night, Whitman was hiding from Reagan under Anderson's bed. We didn't know this, but soon we all heard the carbon monoxide detector going off. Anderson was quick to point out that maybe Whitman had bumped it, but really that didn't make me feel much better. Robby reset it, and quickly looked up that it would be completely reset in 6 minutes. After those 6 minutes were up, and it didn't beep again we did feel better. Whitman will never get under that table again because I am sure that scared the mess out of him.
The night before, we were sleeping soundly and it sounded like my computer, book and phone all fell off of the bed. Whatever it was woke Robby and I both up. We quickly decided that Bentley must have been the one to fall, Robby found her panting in Graham's bed, and she was pretty reluctant to come back to her spot on our bed. I tried to give her a little more space last night so she wouldn't fall, but after the carbon monoxide alarm I forgot about it!
Here's to a night with no one knocking on the window trying to wake me up, no carbon monoxide detectors going off, and no dogs falling off of the bed.
May 15, 2023-Disney or Bust!
Robby and Anderson left before 8 this morning to meet the golf cart man. They had to deliver two golf carts-one for us and one for someone else. When Anderson returned with one golf cart, he woke me up and come and retrieve the second one with him.
We went and did that, and afterwards I sat outside reading some while eating yogurt and granola (we bought some granola from Sams, and it is delicious. Reagan and I have been fighting each other to eat it.) Soon some of the kids started slowly trickling out of the camper.
Robby ran to the tire shop. Of course they told him a time, so he decided to just come back, but by the time he made it back, they had already finished with the tire. That was fine though because he can get it another day. They did think that possibly it wasn't the mud flap, but that the wheel locked up and was drug. That really isn't what we wanted to hear-hopefully, it was a fluke and won't ever happen again.
Soon it was noonish so we started making lunches before heading to Magic Kingdom. As we were headed into security, Robby realized that he had some pliers in his pocket from earlier in the day. (I'm not sure what he was doing with the pliers). I shoved them in my bag and hoped to make it through the security line. I did, but Graham did not. I'm really not sure what set the security off for him.
In Magic Kingdom, we had tickets for Tron. The line was outside and hot! Eventually, we did get into a shaded area, and it was much better. Tron was a good ride-but it was super short. When it was over, some of the kids rode the Speedway cars while the rest of us set in the shade and had some water.
Then it was back to the campground. I don't know why Robby and I love this campground so much. Yesterday, Campbell jokingly said that it was "good to be home" referring to Disney World, and I'd agree. I think one reason we enjoy this is because it is like camping but there is also so many things that we can do. It is kind of the best of both worlds-busy and relaxing.
Back at the campground, Reagan, Campbell and Whitman went to the pool. Graham played on the xbox. Keaton ran around with Robby-taking people to the pool, putting the laundry in and out of the washer and dryer, and getting drinks. I'm not really sure what Anderson did because I had myself a good little nap.
Soon though, we were starting on supper-Robby grilled burgers and hot dogs. We ate, and then headed to Hollywood Studios. It was probably 8 when we went through security. And gracious, I had not remembered to take those pliers out of my bag. Well, they caught them this time. I was quick to throw Robby under the bus, and say that my husband had them in his pocket. He had to call over a supervisor, but they did eventually let me in. I did probably say about 12 times, that they could keep them if they wanted, but they didn't, and yes, the first thing I did when we got back in the car was to take those pliers out of my bag.
In Hollywood, the wait times were really short, so we went to Tower of Terror first. Robby and Campbell passed on that one, and opted for popcorn instead. Then we rode Mickey and Minnie's Railway followed by Buzz. Then we were able to fit in Rise of the Resisitance before the park closed at 10. The lines were all super short, and we were pleased with everything we finished in just 2 hours.
Back at the campground, I took a few people to get drinks, but soon after we were all in the camper eating cookies and getting ready for bed.
May 14, 2023-Disney or Bust!
I really can't remember where I left off in the blog last night. I believe that we had about 100 miles left or so until we got to our Walmart to park for the night. We went right there with no problems at all. There were 2 other campers so we parked in between those two but still right up next to the woods.
I immediately started hearing a cat meowing. It was incredibly loud. I was worried that it was going to super bother Robby, and I was even afraid that he was going to move the camper away from that cat. Once Robby turned on all of our noise makers, we couldn't hear that cat at all.
Now, before the noise makers were turned on, I also worried that it was going to bother Bentley. That dog was so tired that she just laid on the bed and listened to the cat.
We all slept well though I had thought that Robby would sleep a little bit longer than he did. I did probably groan when I saw that he was standing by the bed this morning wearing clothes-that meant that it was time to wake up. He urged me to stay in bed since he was just driving 30 minutes until he stopped for gas, but there is really no sleeping in this thing.
I changed my clothes and soon joined him in the front. We stopped at Buccees. Robby filled up with gas while I took Bentley to potty. Then we went inside where he bought himself a sausage biscuit, and I found a scone. The kids were all still sleeping-and really they slept until around 11ish. Whitman didn't stir until we arrived at the campground at 2.
We have the perfect spot (116), it is right near the boat. Now, we were completely set up when I did see that the spot right next to ours, which would also be perfect, was completely shaded where we aren't really that shaded. I mentioned that to Robby thinking that maybe we could ask to move, but he would hear none of that.
Our site is great and huge. The big boys helped Robby plug in and all while Keaton and Whitman went off to the playground. Reagan and Campbell walked Bentley, and soon they were all helping take off the bikes and put up the tent.
We worked on getting the camp all set up-the rugs, tent, lights, drink tent (yes, we have a tent just for our drinks), tables and everything else. It was super hot at this time, and we were about to wonder why we were here.
However, the clouds came out, and it became super nice in the shade. The kids rode their bikes, we took Bentley to the dog park, we explored some and even put out our pin board to trade some pins. Robby went to the bathhouse to take a shower.
Then when he returned, we went to town heating up supper. Tonight's supper was tortillini that I had already cooked at home and had in the fridge. It wasn't that hard to heat up and with a little extra sause it was great. We also had bread that we heated in the oven so our meal was delicious-a definite keeper meal.
We then headed to Epcot. The Skelleys were here for one more day, so we had plans to meet up with them tonight. We rode Soarin-this is when Robby realized that he was a little bit tired since during the 2 minutes show, he kind of closed his eyes for a bit.
Then we rode Test Track in another short line. So far it looks like this might be a good week to be here because the crowds have seemed low. After Test Track, Robby sat down and reached for his phone-which wasn't there. He left it on Test Track, but thankfully, they had it back in his hands in about 10 minutes. That wasn't nearly as stressful to me as when he lost his wallet (it was just in the car) that last time we were here.
Then we did catch up with the Skelleys-Campbell was so happy to see Brooklyn. Those girls rode Test Track while I waited with Whitman because he rode Mission Space. After the girls finished their ride, we all went to watch the fireworks.
Afterwards, we walked around the loop-the park was closed, and everyone else was going the other way, but we really enjoyed walking through the countries with no crowds at all. It was so nice, and the weather was just pleasant-maybe even a little cool for me. When we reached the end of the loop, the Skelleys headed off to their hotel, and we went to the car.
We then decided to go and get some ice cream from McDonalds. Unfortunately, that McDonalds trip took a very long time-over 20 minutes, but it was worth it because it was a good treat to end the day. Back at the camper, Anderson went to take a shower while Campbell and Keaton went with Robby to look for ice. Reagan walked Bentley and I worked on making beds.
I told Robby that it would be nearly 1 before we were able to go to sleep tonight, and it is getting close: 12:15 right now. The kids are in bed, prayers have been saie and now I just need my shower, but I bet that Robby will be asleep before I get out.
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