highlights

No matter how little I blog each year, somehow I feel that I should always begin the new year with a blog post.  I’ve written several that were philosophical in nature, like this one, this one, or this one.  But, today is not the day for that.  Today is the day for a little trip down memory lane as we remember that 2015 was a fun year …

we had drama ~
Anne of Green Gables

Pilgrim

Two Dwarfs and Seven Whites

and Peter Pan (rehearsed, but not performed, so no pictures yet)

we had travels (some day trips, some vacations) ~

Disney World in February

Landrums in Laurel, MS

Day trip on the Natchez Trace

Atlanta for OCC

combined with a trip to Tennessee in November

we had church fun

and most importantly …

FAMILY FUN!

There is no doubt that 2015 was a good year and we are looking forward to new and exciting things in 2016.

HAPPY NEW YEAR!

life lessons from disney world

Our family recently returned home from our second trip to Disney World. Before our first trip two years ago, I was convinced that I would not enjoy “the happiest place on earth” … I was wrong. It is true that I don't like crowds and that I have always had a healthy fear of roller coasters. Add these things to the fact that a perfect vacation to me includes a good cup of coffee, a good book, and a mountain view … none of which are available in Disney and you can see why I was a little unsure about our first visit. But, I have learned some things about Disney and about myself (and about my kids) during these trips … here's a hint, most of these things have to do with experiences (good and bad) outside of our comfort zone.

So, without further ado, here's my list of things learned … in no particular order.

#1 You shouldn't expect a 9 year old to enjoy gourmet food just because he doesn't want a kid's meal. We chose to buy the dining plan that includes a table service meal each day. Ronnie and I carefully chose the restaurants and made reservations. We even looked at the menus to see if we thought that the kids would be able to find something they would like at each one. What we didn't anticipate was the fact that our youngest would simply get tired of the foods that he isn't used to eating. This little guy of mine isn't an extremely picky eater. Actually, he can be quite adventurous at times. But several days of eating under-cooked veggies (we are from the South, people … we don't eat our green beans crunchy!) and having raw beef delivered to your table (we sent his back … I wish I had sent MINE back) will likely take away any kid's adventurous spirit. So, we learned to ask for a kid's meal, just with a little larger portion (since we had paid for him as an adult). This worked well, but the process of ordering almost always brought on tears...and he usually ended up eating cereal back in the room before bed.

#2 Another thing about kids …. you shouldn't try to make a 15 year old ride the rides if she is dead set against it. And, you should ride the kiddie rides that she does like with her. With that in mind, I finally gave up on getting LB to ride the new Seven Dwarfs Mine Train and Big Thunder Mountain with me. These are my two favorite roller coasters, but my totally un-adventurous (when it comes to rides, at least) daughter is terrified of them. So, she rode Peter Pan's Flight and Winnie the Pooh and It's a Small World and the other slow-moving rides. She did ride one of the boys' favorite rides – Star Tours, but I can't say that she enjoyed it. She does have an absolute favorite ride … Soarin' … it may not qualify as a thrill ride, but we all like it. So instead of riding rides, she and I spent plenty of time browsing in the shops and we even met a few princesses and along the way LB rediscovered her desire to do the Disney college program and spend a semester working there. I hope she does.

#3 Someday, I really want to go to Disney with just Ronnie. That may sound a little strange and I hope it doesn't offend my kids, but I just can't help but think that it would be fun to get to walk around and do exactly what we want to do and actually spend some quality time together while we are doing it. I'm not talking about leaving our kids behind while they are still kids … just thinking ahead to future days.

#4 Another thing about food … there are a few things anyone going to Disney for the 1^st time should know. First of all, seared is not the same thing as cooked. I realize that I am revealing just how unsophisticated I am, but I don't really care. If I order a roast beef sandwich, I DO NOT want blood soaking into my bread. So, by the end of the week, I just made a point to choose poultry … no one serves chicken raw! The flip side is that I found out that I do like Brussel Sprouts if they are cooked properly and blueberry barbecue sauce may sound strange, but it is actually extremely yummy. In other words, a little gourmet never hurt anyone, you just have to know how to order. One more little tidbit about Disney food … thanks to my friend, Donna, we took time to try one of the cinnamon rolls at Gaston's Tavern in Magic Kingdom. Every visitor to Disney world should make time to indulge in one of these massive and delectable treats. It is well worth calories!

#5 This one is the most important thing that I have learned in Disney. The number one way to have fun (especially with your kids) in Disney World, is to step outside of your comfort zone. To that end, I did my best to ride every ride my kids wanted me to ride. It is true that there were some rides that I really wanted to ride. There were others that I really didn't want to ride (like Rockin' Roller Coaster and Expedition Everest) but my 13 year old son really wanted me to, so I did, and I LIKED THEM! It is also okay to do things that make you feel silly … like riding the teacups or taking pictures with characters. These are the things that the kids will remember and I want them to remember that I did these things with them, not just that I let them do them.

One more thing: I love to travel, but I also love coming home!  As a matter of fact, I think traveling is a perfect way to remind myself to be thankful for my little house in my own little hometown ... not to mention my friends and family!




So, now you have it. A little bit of my own personal, Disney inspired, life-lessons .... now, go be silly with your kids!

not your traditional turkey day

I love tradition.  That said, I don't mind breaking with tradition once in a while, and we most definitely did just that this Thanksgiving.

Not my Mama's Thanksgiving dinner ...

Since we had no way to cook dinner here in our hotel, we decided to head down to the nearest Cracker Barrel for lunch.  They had a special dinner for the day ... turkey, ham, cornbread dressing, sweet potatoes, and pumpkin streusel pie.  Let's just say that the turkey and ham were great.  Remember how I said that I love tradition?  Well, one tradition I missed was my Mama's cornbread dressing ... moist and lightly seasoned with lots of chicken cooked in and most importantly ... absolutely no sage!  Everything was okay, but it just made me miss being at home cooking with Mama and watching (or listening to) the Macy's Thanksgiving Day Parade while we work.  Of course, that was the Thanksgiving of my childhood and it hasn't been like that in a long time.

A birthday he won't soon forget ...

Besides celebrating Thanksgiving, we also celebrated JW's 10th birthday.  It was an unusual birthday, but I don't think he minded.  After lunch, we went to Stone Mountain Park.  I had no idea what to expect, but it turned out to be a fun day.  The Polar Express 4-D experience was quite interesting.  I didn't know what the whole 4-D thing was about and I am not sure that I would want to watch an entire movie with water blowing in my face and foam snow falling from the ceiling, etc ... but the movie was pretty cool.  I think that the only thing that the kids didn't like was that it was only a 12 minute version on the movie.  While at the park, we also rode the train twice, played mini-golf, watched the Christmas parade and the fireworks show, ate supper, and even did a little shopping, which included buying myself a snowman ornament.  :o)

If I had any question about whether or not JW enjoyed his birthday, they were put to rest as I listened to him talking to my Mama on the phone as we drove back to the hotel.  He was talking 90 to nothing and fairly bubbling with excitement as he told his Grandmother about his day.  It was sweet to hear how much he enjoyed the day, even though it wasn't all about him.

Why I don't do the whole black Friday thing ...

As we drove back to our hotel, tired from our long day, we passed several Wal-mart stores with their parking lots overflowing.  I was reminded of how glad I was to be headed to my comfortable room with a nice bed and no one pushing and shoving and such.  I know that there are some people who thrive on the excitement of getting the great deals and the whole shop 'til you drop concept, but I am NOT one of those people.  I don't even bother to look at the sale papers to see what I am missing.  I am happy for those who think it is fun to line up to shop, but I don't have any desire to join them!

All in all, I would say that we had a good Thanksgiving.  I won't say that I want to travel every year, but doing something different isn't bad once in a while. 

Still, I think I'll go home and make my Mama's turkey and dressing for supper one night next week!

are we there yet?

Our family, including Ronnie's Mom, drove from Jackson to Atlanta today to enjoy a short vacation before Ronnie and I join several others from our church to work in the OCC processing center this weekend.  Let me just say that this was an interesting trip!

What I didn't enjoy about the day ...

...leaving later than we had planned
...realizing that I had left a very important item at home and having to turn around to go get it
...the above problem making us another 30 minutes behind in getting off
...torrential rain off and on from Birmingham to Atlanta
...a half-cooked (not to mention half-eaten) chicken sandwich at Arby's
...a daughter panicking because of the weather
...what is normally a 7 hour drive taking somewhere closer to 10 hours
...whiny kids who got tired and started aggravating each other (which, in turn, aggravated the adults!)
...a 6 year old downing a coke and then needing to go to the bathroom at the worst possible moment
...the traffic in Atlanta


the good parts about the day
...getting away for a few days
...the kids' excitement
...only being about 10 miles from home when I realized we would have to go home to get my forgotten item
...the quiet that comes from the kids watching a movie as we drive
...the lovely remnants of the beautiful fall we have enjoyed this year
...hearing the kids laugh together in the back
...getting to our hotel and discovering that it is very nice
...adjoining rooms
...an excellent dinner at Chili's tonight
...free wifi
...kids who have settled down for the night and aren't fighting!

I would be remiss if I didn't say that no matter what happened on the drive over here, I am incredibly thankful that we arrived safely despite the terrible weather and the insane traffic.  I do hope that the weather improves for the rest of the week, but even bad weather can't dampen LB's excitement about going to the American Girl store, JW's excitement about spending his 10th birthday on vacation, or mine about working in the processing center this weekend!

a (hopefully) small setback

I am almost packed for this trip that was supposed to begin around 4 o'clock today.  But, just about the time that everything was almost ready and the kids had reached a fever pitch, the phone rang.

Mama:  we've got a problem ...
Me:  uh-oh ...
The kids ... what, what?????

Mama proceeded to tell me that on the way to church this morning, Daddy noticed an unusual noise coming from the van.  He has a preliminary diagnosis of a wheel bearing going out.  But, we won't know for sure until he can get it checked out in the morning.

When I told the kids what was going on, LB and JW just groaned and went on about their business.  D cried at first and then proceeded to tell me that now he will NEVER get to climb a mountain.

So, for now, the trip is on hold and for the sake of my kids extreme excitement (and my parents' pocketbook) I am praying for a bad wheel bearing and a departure only delayed, not canceled. 

And finally, I am thanking God that, whatever the problem, it was discovered while in the comfort of our own city and not in the middle of nowhere between here and Montana, 'cause trust me, there is a lot of nowhere between here and there.

i can't believe that i am actually going to do this

Let me be blunt ...

I am going to take a trip to Montana ...

we'll be gone for two weeks.

I am going with Mama, Daddy and my three kids ...

and without Ronnie.

Oh, and another little tidbit of information ... we just finalized this decision today ... we leave Sunday!

YIKES!

Before you accuse me of having taken leave of my senses (which I have been accusing myself of all afternoon) or of being a bad wife, let me tell you that I didn't plan to go at first.  Actually, when Mama called me yesterday the invitation started out for my two oldest children.  You may think this strange, but I actually thought it would be nice for them to go and me stay at home with my little guy and do some organizing of bedrooms and major prep for school.  Then Daddy mentioned that maybe D and I would like to go too.  My first reaction was, no thank you.  I just wasn't (and still am not) completely sure that I want to be gone that long without Ronnie.  It was only after talking to Ronnie that I even considered going and then only because he basically told me that I should go.  He didn't say that the kids couldn't go without me, but for whatever reason, the just thinks that my going is the right thing to do.

I am not sure if it is because he thinks I need the time away from ordinary responsibilities, or because he thinks my parents really want me to go, or maybe some peace and quiet sounds good to him, too.

But, whatever his reasoning, I have agreed and we leave in less than two days.  I know that I will enjoy the time spent with my parents, especially since Mama should be feeling pretty good after her last chemo treatment and since when we get home they will have to change the type of chemo she is getting and who knows how the new one will make her feel.  We have learned to take advantage of the times when she feels good.  The other nice part is that I will be able to help with the driving.  The trip goes much faster when you have three drivers ... our goal will be to drive straight through from here to Anaconda, Montana, about a 48 hour drive.

Oddly, the kids aren't as excited as I thought they would be.  I think they are kind of like me.  A little nervous about leaving their Daddy for so long.  I think that they will be fine once we go, but I know that we will all miss him.

With all that said, let me introduce you to our destination.

Anaconda is, or rather was, a copper mining town.  The town was built around the smelter and the Anaconda Company was everything.  At least that is how I understand it.  The picture to the left is the smelter stack, surrounded by large piles of slag ... the junk left over after the mining process.  (Please forgive me ... I don't really know all the technical terms!)  The stack really isn't very pretty to look at, but they keep it around because it is a very real part of the history of the town.  My sister-in-law is from there and I am sure that she could do a much better job of sharing the history ... but for now I'll just tell you that if you happen to be interested, they have a really nice website you can visit by clicking here.

The town is really very nice.  It is small and you can walk to many places.  One of LB's first comments to the boys is that there is a Dairy Queen that you can just walk up to the window and order ... no dining room, just tables outside and they are only open in the summer!

You can take a short drive and visit Georgetown Lake, which is absolutely breathtaking.

I don't know what all we will be doing while we are there.  I do know that this is mainly a trip to relax ... so we won't have a whole lot of predetermined plans.  I would like to take the kids to the fish hatchery and to Lost Creek Falls.  I also know that I plan to do a small amount of school work while we are there.  I will probably take the big kids to the library and let them learn a little local history and we plan to map our trip and do some geography on the way.  My Daddy has a wealth of information about Montana and specifically the areas we will be visiting, so I am sure that will be a great history lesson for the kids ... and lets face it, history is more interesting told to you by your Papa than reading it in any dusty old book!

For now, I really need to go start packing and help LB solve the very real crisis of which of her dolls/stuffed animals will make the journey with us and which ones will have to stay behind with Daddy!

Since I don't have a laptop, my computer access will be non-existent once we leave.  I will have lots of blogging to catch up on when I return ... both reading y'all and posting our experiences.  Who knows, two weeks with no internet may be really good for me!

So, I suppose I will see you guys in a couple of weeks.

Unless I chicken out ...