Orlando Vacation - Part One

Welcome to the Nickelodeon Family Suites! Phil and I took our girls to the Nickelodeon Family Suites in Orlando for the weekend. Sarah and Emily had Friday off from school, so we thought it would be a good idea to spend the long weekend in Orlando. Unfortunately, Phil ended up having to work overnight Thursday night, so we got a very late start on our trip. By the time we were ready to head out, it was getting close to dinner time, and the after work traffic was still pretty bad. So, we stopped at Cracker Barrel for dinner. We eventually made it to Orlando. That is, after we got lost trying to find the hotel because the directions on their website were completely incorrect.


As you can see from these pictures of the swimming pools at the hotel, the girls had a great time while we were there. With all of the water slides, it was more like being at a water park than a hotel pool.


There was a party Saturday night at the Lagoon pool. Phil took the girls and they had a blast. Emily swam while Sarah danced and participated in contests. Sarah actually won the musical chairs competition, so she was very proud of herself.


These next two pictures were taken from up high on the Skytower at Sea World. They are of the new Aquatica water park that Sea World is building. Aquatica is scheduled to open up in the Spring of 2008.


The girls have been excited about Aquatica for a while now, but after getting a "sneak peak" of the park, they are even more excited about going. Good thing they only have a few months left until it actually opens!

Ouch!

We are currently on a mini-vacation in Orlando at the Nickelodeon Family Suites. I'll post about all of that after we return home.
Right now, I just want to say that I HATE hotel beds! I have slept on this bed, which feels more like a rock, for the past two nights and now I am in so much pain I want to shoot myself. I realize that you're not going to get top of the line mattresses in hotels because they want to actually make some money on the room rentals, but do they really have to get the most uncomfortable thing out there? Couldn't they compromise somewhere in the middle?

Happy Birthday, Phil!

Happy 37th birhtday to my dear husband, Phil. I love you, baby, and I truly appreciate all of the wonderful things you do for me and our family. I wish you were home right now, and I can't wait to see you this weekend.

Happy 60th Mom!

Just kidding! My mom's only 52 today, but I love to tease her and call her old.

Happy Birthday, Mom! You are my SUNSHINE! Hee-hee...

My Day... So Far

It took me THREE HOURS to take Emily to school and come home this morning. Why did it take that long? Well, because apparently, I drove Emily to school on a FLAT TIRE this morning. I had no clue that my tire was flat until I was almost to her school this morning. My car kept bottoming out when I went over the speed humps on the street that her school is on, which I thought was a bit strange considering that I was not going over them any faster than normal. I got out of the car when we got to the school and found that my tire was flat.
So, I had to call AAA to come help me. Luckily, they got to the school where I was in only 20 minutes. Instead of putting my spare tire on, the service man just filled up my tire so I could drive to Sears to get it replaced. Those of you "loyal readers" might recall that I had to replace my tires a couple of months ago when I got a flat on my way to the zoo. Thankfully, this tire was under warranty because it was so new and it didn't cost me any money to replace it this time. Yea!

Sarah is home sick today for the second day in a row. She has some sort of stomach virus, which I am pretty sure she is just about over now. So, she'll be back in school tomorrow whether she likes it or not. I just have to pray now that she hasn't passed it along to me or Katie.

Waiting...

So, I've been waiting all day long. And it sucks!
My BFF Ann called me last night around 10:30 to see if I thought she could be in labor and should go to the hospital. While she is the nurse, this is her first baby, and since I've had three already, I am the expert in this area. So, I diagnosed her as being in early labor and told her to call her doctor and go to the hospital. And she's been there ever since. And I haven't spoken to her since around 8:00 this morning when she told me she was 2 cm dilated and was about to get a pitocin drip to help her along.


Okay... The wait is OVER! While I was typing, my phone rang, and guess who it was? That's right! It was Ann calling to tell me that she finally had the baby (7:26 pm; 6 lbs. 15 1/2 oz.). I am so happy and relieved.

Welcome to the world little Alison Marie! I'll be coming to see you on Saturday.

Picture Time

Can you believe that this child...



has turned into this child...



in just five short years?!?

Sometimes I am amazed at how quickly the time flies by. My babies are no longer babies anymore (except for Katie, but not for long!). I almost cried when Emily brought her school pictures home yesterday because she looks so grown up in her pictures. Where did my baby go?

Excuses

So, it's been nearly a week since I admitted that I am overweight and need to do something about it. Have I done anything about it yet? NO. Why not, you may ask? Well, because I haven't gotten around to buying a new scale, and I don't want to start without being able to track my progress. Also, I found these jeans that fit me so perfectly that I bought multiple pairs of them, and my husband said to me, "Well, if you lose a lot of weight then those jeans won't fit you anymore." And, because the jeans fit me so well, I don't feel as fat as I did in my old jeans, which also doesn't make me want to rush out and starve myself.

But, I will lose some weight eventually. I'm going to stick to my goal weight and date, even though the longer I put off starting my diet the harder I'm going to have to work to meet those goals. Oh, well.

Overweight

Here's something probably of no interest to anyone but me... I am officially overweight. There, I said it. And I can't blame it on the baby, because I lost pretty much all of my pregnancy weight right away. I have just been overeating and eating fattening foods far too often. So, I have decided that I am going to have to put some effort into shedding some pounds.

I can't afford to pay for a gym membership right now, and even if I could, I doubt I would go. I had a Shapes membership a few years ago, and in the two years I was a member, I went a total of three times. What a waste of money! So, on the exercise front, I think I'm just going to have to get out and walk. With the weather getting ready to cool down some, it should get easier to be outside walking. Until then, I guess I could always go walk at the mall. Of course, I hate doing things like this alone, so maybe I can convince someone to walk with me. Any takers?

As far as the d-word goes, I know that it will be the hardest part. I'm going to have to limit my Coke intake, increase my water intake, and try to cut out the donuts. I'll cut back on my fast-food visits, and try to go without the fries when I do go. And I *might* take a look at my caloric intake, but I'm not making any promises.

So, I think I'm going to set myself a goal weight and date. I'll take an idea from Stacy and choose my birthday as my goal date, which falls the day before Thanksgiving this year. And my goal weight will be 135, which is about where I was before and after I had Katie. After I reach my goals, I will then set new goals, so I can try to lose another 10 pounds.

Now, I just need to get a new scale since my old one was killed during the flood, and then set my plan into action. Wish me luck!

Fundraisers

Let me just say that I hate fundraisers. I realize that they are a necessary evil, and of course I participate, but why do they have to all happen at the same time?

School started just two weeks ago, and last week, both Sarah and Emily came home with fundraisers. Hello? Didn't I just max out every credit card I have to buy school clothes and supplies? Why do you people feel the need to squeeze even more money I don't have out of me? Give me some time to recover first.

Oh, and did I mention that Sarah's fundraiser isn't even her school fundraiser? Yeah, it's a fundraiser for the school music program. (Sarah plays the violin.) So, that means that I have her school fundraiser still to look forward to. And then both girls will have their first Girl Scout fundraiser of the year next month.

And Emily's school picure day is tomorrow. Luckily, I am volunteering, so I don't have to pay for her pictures.