Our Family: May 2009

Many of you have probably heard of Randy Pausch... a professor at Carnegie Mellon University who delivered his "last lecture" after being diagnosed with terminal cancer. I watched it on You Tube last year... and it REALLY made me think... reminding me to value & make the most of the time I have. He encourages everyone to really achieve their childhood dreams, while reminding each of us how to live our lives. I remember watching his lecture... have thought about it several times over the past year... and then saw his book. I bought it... (put down "Breaking Dawn" - the last book in the "Twilight" series)... and WOW... what an inspirational book! Randy Pausch had such great words of wisdom... "We cannot change the cards we are dealt, just how we play the hand." (17)... "The brick walls are there for a reason. They're not there to keep us out. The brick walls are there to give us a chance to show how badly we want something." (51-52)... "You can always change your plan, but only if you have one." (108)... and one of my favorites... "Each of us must decide: Am I a fun-loving Tigger or am I a sad-sack Eeyore?" (180). I encourage everyone to read this and/or watch the lecture http://www.thelastlecture.com - I promise it will be time well spent. As for me... I have started reading "Breaking Dawn" again and love it... but I will always keep "The Last Lecture" close by and I am sure I will read it several more times... and I hope one day my kids will read it because I agree with Randy Pausch, "A parent's job is to encourage kids to develop a joy for life and a great urge to follow their own dreams." (197-198)... and this book is a great tool to do that!

Last week we were able to take the kids to Disney & SeaWorld! James had a conference in Orlando, so the kids & I joined him and ventured to the parks! Our friends - Severin, Maria, Colin, & Anderson did the same!! Severin works with James and attended the conference, too. We headed down a couple of days before the conference started so they could go to the parks with us... but I did 3 days w/o James. Our trip was FUN... and EXHAUSTING! This was the twins' first visit! Here are a few of the pictures we took:

MAGIC KINGDOM:

Our family on Main Street

Maria, Colin, Anderson, & Severin

Jessica on Cinderella's Golden Carousel... our 1st ride!

Dream Along With Mickey... Castle Stage!
Jamie & Jacob loved this... except the witch and the fireworks!

Jessica, James, & Jaycie front row on Splash Mountain!
All you can see of Jaycie is the top of her hat.
They loved this and rode again with me... while the twins played on the playground.

Colin, Jessica, & Jaycie after riding Big Thunder Mountain RR!

Jamie on Goofy's Barnstormer

She does NOT like roller coasters... until she gets off.

Jamie cried the entire ride and then argued with me afterwards...

"I did too like it, Mommy!"

The guests of honor in the Celebrate A Dream Come True Parade!

Jessica & Jacob dance with Goofy during the parade!

Jamie liked the characters FROM A DISTANCE ONLY!

We had dinner at the Rainforest Cafe in Downtown Disney... then went back to Magic Kingdom for the SpectroMagic parade & Wishes fireworks! It was a full day!

ANIMAL KINGDOM: Our 1st attraction in Animal Kingdom was a Kilimanjaro Safari ride. Jamie was terrified the entire ride, everyone else loved it. In this picture, the mommy elephant is teaching the baby how to mix dirt & water to make mud... this protects their skin from sunburn! Jacob would probably prefer this method of sunscreen, too!

Jacob's one request while at Disney was to meet Mickey. While on the character greeting trail to meet him, we discovered this "Hidden Mickey" - Jessica was DELIGHTED!

Meeting MICKEY MOUSE!! All of the kids were excited to meet Mickey... even Jamie. This is the ONLY character she would pose with... and she still kept her distance!

On the Maharajah Jungle Trek! Each one of the kids took a map through the Trek to find the animals on the map. At one point, Jacob told me "Stop right here while I find where I am on my map, okay?" We were also able to watch the tigers go in as they responded to their "dinner bell."

We also saw "Finding Nemo - The Musical" in Animal Kingdom. It was a great show and all of the kids really enjoyed it!!

DINNER AT THE GARDEN GROVE: Since we made our Disney plans on such short notice, getting character dining reservations for 10 people at a reasonable time was difficult! Fortunately, we did get to eat at the Garden Grove with Goofy & Pluto! Jamie & Anderson were not too sure about meeting them, but the other kids had a great time! Since the restaurant was not crowded... we got A LOT of time with Goofy... the kids even played several games of "Ring Around the Rosie" with him... where he "fell" down the steps once. Jacob got a kick out of that... "Mommy, Goofy is funny!"

Jacob, Jaycie, Colin, & Jessica with Goofy!

Ring Around the Rosie...

HOLLYWOOD STUDIOS: We packed a lot of shows into one day at Disney's Hollywood Studios! We started the day grabbing fast passes for the new Toy Story Mania ride... then caught "Voyage of the Little Mermaid"... went through Journey into Narnia, met Prince Caspian... ate lunch at Toy Story Pizza Planet... saw "Beauty and the Beast" and finished up watching Playhouse Disney. Afterwards... I took my EXHAUSTED crew back to the hotel for naps! Since James was not with me this day... I only took my small camera which didn't take good pictures during the shows... so here are only two from the day...

Jaycie & Jessica on Toy Story Mania... all of the kids LOVED this ride!

Colin, Jacob, Jaycie, & Jessica with Prince Caspian.

SEAWORLD: I LOVE SeaWorld... and Jessica has a dream of working there training animals one day... so we do NOT go to Orlando without going to SeaWorld. My dad took me to Disney & SeaWorld when I was 8 yrs old... and the ONLY vivid memory I have of that trip is seeing Shamu at SeaWorld. This time, we actually spent 2 days at SeaWorld! Dare I say it... but if I had only one day in Orlando... I would go to SeaWorld (sorry, Mickey)!

Jaycie, Jacob, & Jessica meet Shamu! Jamie was TERRIFIED... "I not want a whale to touch me!"

First stop - feeding the dolphins! This was GREAT, Jessica LOVED it!

One of the dolphins decided to splash everyone!

Colin, James, Jessica, & Jaycie got a kick out of it... the little ones... not so much!

Clyde & Seamore Take Pirate Island - I love this show!

Grabbing a quick snack before the big show!

We watched "Believe" at Shamu Stadium! I was sad to find out they were not doing Shamu Rocks right now... that show is the BEST. I am always amazed at what they can train Orca Whales to do and I could sit and watch them all day long! James, Colin, & Jessica sat on the 2nd row in the Splash Zone... and got WET! When Jamie found out there was a chance she might get splashed... she quickly let me know "Mommy, I NOT want whale water on me!" So, Maria & I sat up farther in the stands with the other kiddos!

A quick video...

All the kids after watching "Blue Horizons" - the dolphin show!

Meeting the Clydesdales... this one is Kelley! Jessica doesn't look nearly as small next to him as she did in 2005 when she could walk under him!

And finally... the roller coasters! We rode the Kraken... it was great! And then much to our surprise... the Manta was allowing people to ride in the afternoons... before the "Grand Opening" at the end of the month! Jessica & I were able to ride it... she LOVED it! When you get in... the belts come over your head, as usual... then your legs are strapped in! Once everyone is strapped in... it raises up so you are horizontal... your back is parallel with the track... SO... when you are going downhill... you are going HEAD FIRST! Again... Jessica LOVED it! She got off giggling... but I have to admit... even though I am definitely a roller coaster person... this one made me a little dizzy and I was happy to be back on my feet! I could have ridden it again... I just needed a few minutes in vertical position!

Our turn next... these guys are coming in!