The Lindemann Family

10 years.......

2009-08-14T02:54:00.000-07:00

15 years ago, I met the love of my life...I was 13, he was 17...the summer before my freshman year of highschool, the summer before his senior year.

I remember smiling ALOT. I knew he was something special.

Over the next 12 months, we endured alot, (and bickered alot).....he moved 4 hours away for college. NO ONE thought we could make it work.....I KNEW we could.

I remember the $300 phone bills.....worth every penny. Somehow we made it through.

11 years ago, he proposed. I remember smiling ALOT! :)

and

10 years ago, I married the love of my life!

the man who puts up with my constant sarcasm

who understands all of my quirks and craziness

who has always supported me in anything I wanted to do

who has always taken care of me

who has always given me anything that I want

who shares my love of everything Chicago Bears

but most importantly

who gave me my children. The loves of my life.

Rick,

I consider myself so lucky to have you in my life everyday. Thank you for being such a great husband and such a great father......You mean more to me than you will EVER know.

love....

-a

1 decade down....hopefully we have 6 or 7 more to go.

Time Flies........

2009-08-12T22:50:00.000-07:00

This summer has FLOWN by. I feel like everything has been going twice as fast as it should.

I am going to miss the kids so much when they go back to school.

I know alot of parents look forward to school starting, but I am not one of them.....

-a

My newest obsession

2009-08-10T19:48:00.000-07:00

In my quest to work a little less this summer and spend more time with the kids, I have planned a few outings this summer. One of my favs was heading up to Champaign and painting pottery at The Pottery Place!

You go in and pick your piece(s) and then pick a table and paint (tons of colors to pick from) and then you just get started.........

Heidi chose a teapot and teacupsRJ chose a canister for Snapshots snacksWorking hard We were there for 6 hours and painted so much stuff.......3 cereal bowls, 2 dog dishes, a dog canister, a teapot, 4 teacups, and a turkey platter (that's what I painted!)Here is RJ's canister. He painted it red and brown and wrote Woof Woof and added some paw print stamps to it. The paint dries chalky and dull and then they fire it in the kiln and it comes out beautiful and shiny!My turkey platter......with the kid's handprints. And they signed their own names......My kids have always called their hand and foot prints, pawprints. ever since they were toddlers....Hence the PawprintsOne of snapshots dishesHeidi's teapotOne of our cereal bowls (with fruitloops on the inside)And a few of the pieces after they were completed!

I LOVE my platter.....seriously, LOVE it!Heidi with her tea setand RJ with his canister.

We've already been back a 2nd time and I suspect it won't be the last!

;)

-a

Zoo Fun

2009-08-10T18:48:00.000-07:00

About a month ago, I got an itching to go to the St Louis Zoo. Rick was in Pittsburgh for work and so the kids and I packed a lunch and headed to St Louis with my friend Rebekah and her 3 kids.

After we had a picnic lunch, we headed in to see some animals.But not before everyone had to pose for a picture!The kids (especially Dawson) loved the snakes.There was some guy letting the kids touch crocodile skulls....gotta admit that was pretty cool. RJ and Dawson were super impressed.We bought Safari Passes that allowed us rides on the RailRoad, the sea lion show, a 3-D dinosaur movie etc.....We headed to the Sea Lion show first I have to say that I loved this show. Not only was it super cool with all the tricks, but also it was a nice chance to feed the kids a snack Notice RJ trying to crash my picture by sticking his finger behind my headGrowing anxious waiting for the train.......Miss Rebekah and Miss Payton on the train......RJ, Cooper and DawsonMe and the HeidsterWaiting to go to the 3-D movie. This was pretty much a favorite of everybodyMy favorite in the whole zoo is the penguin house. (Last year I grabbed a Puffin.....it was just so tempting.) This year I refrained.Cute little Puffin. I wish I would have grabbed it Everybody picked a stuffed animal in the gift shopEveryone except RJ. While we are standing there watching Heidi pick 2 $6 animals.....he just looked at me and said, "Can I just have the 12 bucks?"

Okay, deal. He's his father's son!

-a

Misc Summer

2009-08-09T21:24:00.000-07:00

Just posting a few misc. snapshots from our summer.......

watching Ice Age 3 at the Drive-inCounty Fair They always look forward to corn dogs!I have no idea what this one is or why Heidi has something on her face or velvet glovesMy brother and his wife were able to make it home for a few days. Heidi took to him right away.Poor Uncle JerWe had a cookout at mom and dads......here's one of Aunt Tiffany and Uncle JerMy mom has a ton of outside cats. Heidi was in heaven!RJ playing a little wiffle ball with 1 boot and 1 sandleMaking s'mores (I know my brother has been waiting for me to tell this story......)

I would like to say first off that we are a super busy family and don't spend much time on the yard.......we are that house in the neighborhood. It's a goal to make the outside of the house look as good as the inside but it's a work in progress.

So Jer and Tiff come over while they were home and while walking them out while they were leaving, my dad says, "You do know that you have poison ivy growing up your garage right?"....Uh no I was not aware of that.

We head out to look and HOLY FREAKIN COW! This wasn't just any poison ivy, this was the mother of all poison ivy plants!

I may have called Rick "Nature Boy" for allowing poison to grow 2 inches from the house. And then I may have also bitched at him for having a car battery sitting next to the poison ivy plant. pretty sure that the battery is still there......

RJ wrote "NO HEIDI" on his bedroom door in INK! I was livid, but thankfully it came off. He felt bad and asked, "where was I supposed to write it?" I told him if he MUST banish his little sister from his space, then he needed to write it on a paper and tape it to his door.

The next day I walk by and see that he has written "NOT FOR TREE DAYS" on a paper towel and then taped it to his door with medical tape out of the bathroom.

Apparently, she broke one of his lego creations and she was banished for three days!Miss Kaitlin gave us a couple of kittens. Unfortunately, one of them already ran off and we are pretty sure that our neighbor stole the other one. Ah well, the kids had fun playing with them for a couple days.....RJ is brushing up on his golf skills. He had lessons once a week at the golf course. I thought he looked cute with his clubs. (Thanks again Papaw!)RJ has also recently learned the game of chess. It's amazing how quickly he picks up on things. He has already beat both Rick and I at least once. And he won fair and square.We all love the wii fit at our house. Heidi especially loves the ski jump (above) and the 1 person jog.

This picture was one night before bed, she was doing the 1 person run and it told her to put her remote in her pocket....this is what she did. I almost died.School is coming up quickly! Heidi sure is gonna miss him when he's gone all day.

-a

2009 Ballpark Highlights

2009-08-09T19:22:00.000-07:00

While I still can't say that I love spending my evenings at the ballpark.....I do have to say that this summer's ball season wasn't half bad! I think the fact that we really only had 1 super hot week played a part in that.

RJ was in Jr league (the Rangers) and Heidi was in t-ball (the Grasshoppers) this year.This was Heidi on her first game of the season with her brand new glove and bat. She HATED her ball pants and ended up wearing a green skirt and random crazy socks for every other game.Heidi LOVED the drinks in the dugout.And when she ran she insisted on staying directly on the chalk lineHanging with Jack after they played each other Heidi did a really good job this year not having to hit off the tee. She usually hit it when the coach pitched to her.But the thing she managed to do pretty much every game was bend down, play in the chalk and make what looked like gloves on her hands.Couldn't be prouderRJs season went well too. He was on a team with alot of good players and then won almost every, if not every game.RJs favorite position to play was catcher. I thought he looked super cute in his catchers gear But I think the kids favorite part of the ballpark was the concession stand.On the last day of the season, Heidi's coach handed out cupcakes......RJ's team got a medal

I was a little worried that Heidi would be upset that she didn't get a medal. We weren't in the car for 30 seconds when she starts rubbing it in his face that she got a yummy cupcake and all he got was a silly medal. that's Heidi.

-a

Swimming, Sand, and Slip n Slides

2009-08-08T20:20:00.000-07:00

Summer has flown by! (hence my lack of blogging lately!)

I have tried (and I feel succeeded) in spending more time with the kids away from the office this summer, however they did still spend their fair share of time with me at the studio. I tried to make it as fun as I could.......

enter the slip n slide..........if the studio wasn't right on the highway, I would have been right there with them!

I felt like they had finally outgrown their Little Tykes turtle sandbox. Miss Kaitlin's dad built them a new GIGANTIC sandbox with built in seats. This thing is huge! it held a truck bed full of sand.Play-Doh is also a family favorite, so we also added a picnic table and the kids enjoy making me play-doh ice cream sundaes for me!The kids also took 4 weeks of swimming lessons. Which made for super happy kids and super blonde hair.RJ really does swim like a fish now. He needs no help and is fairly confident that he could now survive some sort of shipwreck. Heidi also did much better this summer, although her claim to fame is still floating in the shallow end.And then of course what's better than having a great friend with a pool of her very own? We have spent lots of time at the Kinkade house swimming and having lots of fun! (Look how tan Jack is!)

-a

Snapshot......My Second Favorite

2009-08-08T20:10:00.000-07:00

Well....Snapshot is still my second favorite........

Although, she is growing on me a little bit, especially when she looks like this.Heidi still thinks she's too rowdy, but we are adjusting to only having 1 dog instead of 2.

I love making her lay like this and making her ears spread out.While it may seem that Christmas PJs aren't what one would normally wear in the summer, try telling my kids that. Heidi waits to see what RJ puts on and then always runs to get her matching pair. (Is it weird that my kids have tons of matching PJs?)

:)
-a

Day 3 Castaway Cay

2009-07-05T20:09:00.000-07:00

Again, time goes so quickly......I can't believe it's taken me so long to post the final pictures from the cruise......
We were all looking so forward to Day 3.......our day on Disney's private island, Castaway Cay.

This was the view that I awoke to at 7am on Day 3.....ahhh, paradise.Here we are pulling into Castaway Cay. The pirate ship that you see is the real Flying Dutchman ship that they used in the Pirates of the Caribbean movies. When they "retired" it, they parked it at Castaway Cay.

My announcing to RJ that I saw a pirate ship definetly got him right out of bed.Rodney enjoyed the view tooRick refused to get up that early on vacation, so the kids and I headed to breakfast alone. We headed to Beach Blanket Buffet and sat outside and watched then tender the boat to shore. The Buffet was amazing After breakfast we headed off the boat onto the island. Of course stopping for pictures along the way.I was finally able to get a good shot of the boatHere I've pointed out where our room was.We found Captain Jack himself over by the flying dutchmanWe headed off to the family beach The kids had so much fun digging and playing in the sand. (notice RJ has underwear on under his swimtrunks....he was so excited to head to the beach that he forgot to take them off.)Rodney relaxing under the umbrella We LOVED the hammocks which were all over the island.I was too lazy to move, so this is my hammock picture This was the view from one of the hammocks We did quite a bit of swimming in the ocean as well. Any one who knows me knows this goes against EVERY FIBER OF MY BEING. I HATE the ocean. I hate that there are creatures under the water....creatures that I can't see......creatures that can eat me, sting me, kill me. (shudder)

(the same basic principles go for ponds and lakes too.....I prefer chlorine)

I set aside my completely justified fears and got in with the kids. I figured if something was out there, they would prefer my fat juicy legs over the kids scrawny legs. I was sacrificing myself.This picture cracks me up. The family beach is so long.....it seems at the very entrance of it, everyone sat their stuff down, grabbed a lounge chair and swam. We walked to the end and had no crowds. Sometimes people don't use their heads.This was me, swimming in the ocean.....probably the only time I will. Seconds after this photo, I realized how freaking stupid I was, and got out. As I swam to shore (I was quite aways away from Rick, he just zoomed in), I just knew something was going to grab me and pull me under. (shudder)After I convinced everyone else that they were going to be killed if they swam any longer we headed to Cookies BBQ for lunch. mmmmmm Once we got back on the ship, we watched Disney Dreams in the Walt Disney Theatre. It was AMAZING.When the kids and I got back from the show, this is where we found Rick. Drinking scotch on the balcony. nice.At least he's wearing a Mickey Mouse shirt.Tonight was the night that formal mickey and minnie were going to be in the lobby, so we had to dress up.We stopped to see Chip and Dale for Heidi firstGoofy was there before Mickey and Minnie This was one of my favorites from the whole cruise....the whole family. (Even Rodney who's sitting on mickey's head). We really thought it would be hilarious if Rick took one with his glass of scotch in his hand. (of course he did have one) the photographer told him to hide it. At least we know it's in the picture.Tonight we ate at Triton's. (I forgot to take a picture of the sign)

I had escargo (snails) for an appetizer. not bad....not neccessarily good either though.Rick had some sort of tartJust proving I did eat them Dinner was fantastic as usualAfter dinner, we went to the Til We Meet Again party.....all of the characters come out to wave goodbye since it was our last night on the ship.

I love this one of Heidi waving at Minnie and her waving back.I just love Daisy and Donald Heidi made Rick run back to the room to get her stuffed chip and dale dolls when she saw chip and dale. They loved them.Sadly, we headed back to our room.....the next morning it was time to leave and fly home.

We had SO much fun.....seriously SO much fun. I believe cruising is my new vacation of choice.]
I think Rick would agree.

-a

Day 2 on the High Seas

2009-06-10T15:28:00.000-07:00

Another few pictures that i forgot to post in the previous post....

They took our pictures as we boarded the ship Day 2 we woke up in the Bahamas. Bathing suits were immediately on and we were out the door.None of us really had much desire to get off the boat at Nassau so we planned for fun on the ship all day.

We started our day off by saying hi to Goofy and Chip and Dale The Mickey Pool was nearly empty Stopping for a quick fruit snack Soon we headed over to the Goofy pool to watch the Little Mermaid My Favorite! DAISY After we saw Daisy, I noticed there was no line for the hair braiding service on the ship. Heidi wanted to get braids all over head. We compromised and got 2. :) They finished them in about 20 seconds.And Heidi LOVED them.The Oceaneers Club was having a cooking school that the kids wanted to attend. We headed up to deck 5 for some baking I snuck in before it was over to see them making cookies And they got to eat their creationsThen MORE swimming We were on the ship when the new Pixar movie UP premEARed so we were able to watch it in 3d on the ship. we got dressed and headed down to the walt disney theatre We stopped for a quick picture with Russell (from UP) before we headed in.Rick sporting his 3d glasses and his goofy shirt. :)Heidi refused to be photographed in hers waitresses walked around in case we needed anything. A Sunken Treasure. mmmmmmmAfter the movie, we played Bingo while Rick relaxed And by relax I mean this. (notice the beer mug on his chest)The Pirates IN the caribbean party was taking place this night so the entire ship was deckd out in pirates. We had to break out our pirate earswith Captain Jack Sparrow The kids were wanting to attend something in the Oceaners Club during our dining room time, so we ordered room service and then hit the arcade Before Rick and I headed to dinner we had some pictures taken in the lobby. I just love all of these.....(look really close to what Rick is wearing....he had had a bit to drink. I told him to wear something nice. He does. A polo shirt. TUCKED INTO SWIM TRUNKS. nice)After dropping the kids off at the Club for a pirate activity, Rick and I headed to dinner at Parrot Cay Just a few minutes into dinner, our pager went off. Heidi wanted to be picked up from the Club. Rick went to pick her up and asked her why, she said that they were wanting her to stand to do stuff and she really was tired of standing.....fair enough. So our waitress brought her dinner too.While we were waiting on the Pirates IN the Caribbean party to start, I just walked around admiring the lobby Then up to Deck 9 to watch the Party and the fireworks.After the party, it was almost midnight. A little elephant was there to wish us sweet dreams. I think we were all asleep before our heads hit the pillows.

We were all looking forward to our next day of the cruise where we would be visitng Disney's private island.

-a

Our 1st Day on the High Seas......

2009-06-09T22:28:00.000-07:00

I forgot to post this video on our post about the terminal. If you listen closely....this is them announcing our family as we entered the lobby. "welcome aboard the lindemann family...."

As soon as we got on board, our room wasn't ready yet, so we headed up to deck 9 for a buffet lunch at the Beach Blanket Buffet.

We opted to sit outside. (It was a little sunny for RJ)Get ready for LOTS of food pictures over the next few posts......

Just a story about the fantastic service aboard the ship. 30 seconds after we sat down, Heidi spilled her pink lemonde all over her tray and in her mac and cheese. 10 seconds after that, the lemonade was cleaned up and a worker had gone back through the buffet to get her more macaroni. FABULOUS service!

Heidi may have spilled her drink 30 seconds after we sat down, but 20 seconds before that, I snagged one of these beauties! A BAHAMA MAMA.mmmmmmmThe desert buffetAfter lunch RJ and Heidi got in the mickey pool (kids only pool)They loved the water slide We enjoyed a litte ping pong And Rick ate againdrying off before heading to our room (which was now ready)We had to get our life vests and head to the mandatory safety drill As soon as the drill was over, I happened past the lady with a tray of these.....Strawberry Pina ColadasmmmmmmThen it was time for the Sail Away Party on Decks 9 and 10. Heidi and I were front and center and even made the jumbotron a few times. Rick and RJ hung back out of the crowd and took it easy.My favorite....DonaldHeidi's Favorites....chip and dale

After the Sail Away Party, the "When you wish upon a star" horn blew and we were off we had to have had 40 pounds of fruit while onboardAfter our fruit snack we went swimming in the goofy pool. (the family pool)Lady and the Tramp was playing on the "ariel" view television, so we got to enjoy that while swimmingAfter swimming, Rick took it easy/drank scotch on the verandah while the kids and I played BINGO.He met us for dinner. Our first night's dinner was at Animator's Palate.This dinner was special because the walls start black and white and before dinner is over, all of the walls are in color.A b/w before picture.I have no idea what these are about........More food pictures...........everything tasted fabulous The walls were gorgeous when they lit up!RJ and Heidi made a quick stop in the Oceaneer's Club before bedtime. Rick and I just went for a walk up on Deck 10Then it was bedtime.....After the kids fell asleep, Rick and I watched "Paul Blart: Mall Cop" on the TV and ordered room service. (because we hadn't just got done eating supper you know......)

Basically, when Rick found out that room service was free, he was taking advantage!

Our first day was fabulous. Day 2 we were docking in Nassau. I couldn't wait for sunrise!

-a

Our Stateroom

2009-06-09T21:35:00.001-07:00

On the Disney cruise ships there are 12 different categories of staterooms.

Category 12 being the least expensive and being located on the lowest deck with no window.

Category 1 being the most expensive and only having 2 of the category 1 suites on the entire ship.

Category 9's have a view, but it's a porthole only.

I wanted to have a verendah so I went with a Category 6. We'd have a verendah and it was the middle of the road as far as cost went. I was content with that.

I got a phone call the day before we left. Disney had upgraded us to a Category 4 at no cost! How exciting. Now we were on the Deck 8 in room 8504. We felt no movement and our room was SO much bigger than I expected.When we walked in, I was so excited.....The living area (the couch turns into a bed, and a bed pulls out of the wall.)

Standing in the living room, taking a picture of our sleeping quartersThey had a Bon Voyage banner hanging for usand some super cute decorationsThere was a card from Captain MickeyAnd a tasty cake.....How did captain Mickey know that Heidi LOVES cake? :)The wonderful magnet was on our bathroom doorAnd a Bon Voyage memory box that I latched right on toWe had a split bathroom which was actually 2 bathrooms. One had a tub/shower and a toilet and the other had a sink and toilet. That came in more handy than I would have thought.Our awesome bathroom products. I had to ask for more before we left.We had a closet right across from the bathrooms. It even had a safe to store our passports in.We headed out to enjoy our verandah right away......

(how cute are these matching swimsuits?)

-a

Airplanes, Waffles, and Beaches

2009-06-08T20:51:00.000-07:00

We had anxiously been awaiting our Disney Cruise for almost 6 months.

None of us had ever cruised and while I was so excited, I was hesitant too, that it wouldn't be our kind of vacation. Boy was I wrong!

We woke up bright and early on May 27th to head to the airport.

The kids were so excited when I showed them their new passports.We arrived to the Indy airporthad a snack and killed time coloring pictures.Here we are on the shuttle at the Orlando AirportOur cruise didn't leave until the 28th, so we had a whole afternoon to spend doing nothing. (that is rare for our family when everything is planned out to the hour most days).

We decided to head to Cocoa Beach. We have been to the Pacific Ocean, Gulf of Mexico, but not the Atlantic Ocean, so we wanted to be able to cross that off.The kids were super excited to run and play on the beach. In hindsight, I should have had them put their suits on. They were soaked.RJ made sure to check himself for scratches before getting too deep in the water. He didn't want to get attacked by a shark!RJ was kind enough to take a picture of me and Rick.After our fun on the beach, we headed for supper. At the Waffle House of course! I love that those are everywhere in the South!We headed back to the hotel and got a good night's sleep! Everyone woke up bright and early. I had the kids special outfits made for the occasion.And of course Rodney was excited to wear his new Mickey shirt too.Driving over the bridge, we caught a glimpse of the Disney Wonder.A few pictures from inside the terminal Waiting at the terminal and enjoying some cartoons.I had this awesome bag made for the occasion too! It was the bag that I carried everything in while onboard.I insisited that we had to be AT the terminal at 9:30........yeah, we were the 1st ones there. I thought it was awesome, Rick thought I was crazy. The picture is pretty funny though.I did get my #2 boarding pass. That's the best pass you can get! We were one of the first families on board!We did happen to see two pretty special people while we were waiting.Captain Mickey and his first lady Minnie

coming up: Our stateroom and our first day!

-a

A Sad, Sad Day.......

2009-06-03T16:17:00.000-07:00

June 2, 2009 will join only one or two dates in the history of our family that I consider devastating in one way or another.....

Almost 10 years ago, right after Rick and I got married, I went to Terre Haute Humane Society to get a dog. I ended up bringing home a mutt with a little bit of basset hound in her. We named her Lightning and she was so thankful to have been saved.

It took her a LONG time to not be scared of men, but she eventually had no lasting effects of her pre-Lindemann life. She adored me from the moment I brought her home.

Lightning was the most loyal, loving dog I could have ever asked for.

She took her last breath yesterday. 10 years after she was saved from being euthanized.

Rest in Peace little Lightning bug. I will miss you more than I ever thought I would. To add a little bit of humor to the situation, since that's what I do.......

Heidi has been begging for a new "pup" since her friend Lily got one......

We told the kids, I was crying, RJ was crying, even Rick cried. Heidi was crying, then wipes her eyes...and says "Well, at least we can get that pup now."

nice.....I think Heidi got her compassion from me.

:(
-a

Let the Games Begin

2009-06-03T16:10:00.000-07:00

RJ has officially had (and won) his first ball game.

Most everyone probably remembers how much I despised the t-ball rules from last year. Well RJ's league is much better know with the rules and you can actually get called out. Much much better.

Heidi is in t-ball so she still has the ridiculous rules.

She plays Saturday, so uniform pictures will follow.

-a

2009-05-26T21:29:00.000-07:00

Our office will be closed Wednesday May 27, 2009 - Friday May 29, 2009. We will reopen again Monday June 1st.

We will be sailing the high seas with Mickey and the gang and enjoying Disney's private island.

-a

Memorial Day Fun

2009-05-25T13:17:00.000-07:00

I think both kids had a fun weekend, even though we were either on the run, or they were at work with me, or at work with Rick.Sunday I took them with me on a shoot I did for friends. They had so much fun playing at all of the different locations that we stopped at along the way.....RJ hit paydirt and found both worms and toads!We installed a fence over the weekend at the studio. I am thrilled. Now I don't have to worry about the kids getting too close to the highway!It also made a perfect play to play with the sprinkler toys

-a

Rodney's ready for vacation!

2009-05-22T16:26:00.000-07:00

Just an update on my post about Rodney's mouse ears hat.....

I was so excited, I came home and made him a shirt too! Now he's all set!

-a

Trisha Mason is Super Talented

2009-05-22T07:48:00.000-07:00

Trisha Mason is a friend of mine. If you follow our business website, you may recognize the name Karic....he is her "super cutie" son.

She has recently started her own crafting business.....

http://trishastrends.blogspot.com/

She is so super talented. I had her make my kids memory boxes. (she had made some for my friend Sarah and I just had to had to have some too!

The thing I love about Trisha is you can just call her and she will do her best to make it happen.

After thinking about things, I called Trisha earlier this week.

Rodney needs a memory box. After all he has his clothes, his Elton John shirt, his Chicago Bears jersey, his sombrero from Mexico..... I will post a picture of the finished project when I get it. (she has something super special planned for it)

I also had another request for her. After explaining the story of Rodney and who he was/how he came to become such an important part of our family, Trisha set off to make my request a reality.

She finished and dropped off my item moments ago......

Rodney's very own Mickey Mouse Ears!

Thanks Trisha! You are the best!

:)
-a

RJ's favorite time of year.....

2009-05-22T07:40:00.000-07:00

This is RJ's favorite time of year! When you can just go outside and catch a baby toad. :)

Heidi wanted to keep it so bad, but we managed to convince her to let it go.

Heidi's Pre-K Program

2009-05-21T20:38:00.000-07:00

Heidi had her Pre-K program today at St Thomas......

She had worked so hard on all of her songs and she looks "oh so cute!"Heidi isn't into hand movements like her brother, but she sure did know all the words!Rocking Out with her guitarGiving us a wink at the end of the showGetting her diploma...(even though she'll go to pre-k again next year since her birthday misses the cutoff)Posing for a picture with their diplomasHeidi and her best friend Lily Biermanand with her teacher Mrs BergbowerEnjoy a small video clip. The end is the best........

:)
-a

Billy Joel / Elton John

2009-05-18T22:51:00.000-07:00

I LOVE Billy Joel......seriously can't get enough of him. Elton John too. Man oh man, can they play the piano!

Rick surprised me with tickets (that I asked for and sent him the link to) So last Thursday we headed to St Louis to watch the legends in concert together

It was AMAZING!

We arrived and got to walk past all of the gay protestors that were baracaded off to the side.....honestly, who didn't know that when they bought tickets? come on....

Cameras weren't allowed so I don't have pictures. I have a couple videos of the jumbo tron, but only tiny dancer would load. I'll work on piano man.....

When the show started, the pianos raised from under the stage. The show lasted 4 hours with them playing together, then Elton John, then Billy Joel, then ending together.

So many highlights

Only the Good Die Young
Always a Woman to Me
Anthony's Song
Allentown
River of Dreams
We didn't start the fire
Tiny Dancer
Goodbye Yellow Brick Road
I guess that's why they call it the blues
Candle in the Wind
Daniel
Piano Man
+ SO MANY MORE

It was hands down the best concert I've ever been too......thank you Rick for sitting through it, altough I know deep down you loved it too!

Outside the venue

We stopped at the Waffle House (woo hoo) on the way home...Rodney took our pictureWe bought Rodney a shirt while we were there....He's slept in it every night since.

-a

RJ's Kindergarten Program

2009-05-18T21:19:00.000-07:00

RJ's Kindergarten class put on their end of the year patriotic program on Friday.

He was so excited. He got up early and I even cooked him eggs (he usually eats breakfast at school).

Rick and I both took off work and headed to his school in the afternoon.

He has outgrown the "wave when you see your parents stage", but he definetly saw us and sent a smile our way.

The program started with a parade around the playground and then the festivities headed to the gym....I don't remember the names of all the songs, but RJ started out pretty calm. He was singing like everyone else....Then he started to sing louder.....and more energetically....And then the hand movements. :)

I love these pictures. RJ told me in the car that he added them for "effect".

This was "and I'll gladly stand UP next to you" during "Proud to be an American"And another..... :)And the point to the flag....This was "This land is your land" .....Pointing directly at us in the audience.And making sure he has his torch as high as he possibly can.
I'm pretty sure that RJ will be in chorus when he gets the chance.

You did a great job RJ! We were super proud of you!

:)

-a

Uppercase Living

2009-05-18T21:11:00.000-07:00

I have been to so many Uppercase Living parties lately.....

I think it all looks so pretty in the catalog and so pretty in all the samples, and YET...I have piles of unapplied Uppercase Living. It seems too daunting.

I finally decided to just bite the bullet.

It was so easy and I LOVE it!

The kids were both horrified that I "wrote" on the wall, but once they got past the shock, I think they really like it too.

-a

Sam Parr Playdate

2009-05-18T20:43:00.000-07:00

With the weather turning nicer I am SO looking forward to our weekly park playdates.

A few weeks ago, we met at Sam Parr to let the kids run and burn off steam.

A great time was had by all.....

The cast of characters included

RJ

Heidi

Payton

Jack

Emily

Cooper

and 3 stranger kids who came up and demanded a juicebox and gum. We caved on the juiceboxes, but the gum is where we drew the line and made them leave.

looking forward to many more playdates this summer

:)

-a

Day 3.5 in Hell

2009-05-17T23:57:00.000-07:00

Our 3rd and final day in California went so well that I hated to end that post on a bad note....so we have part 2.....enjoy.

We made it to the car and both kids were asleep in a matter of seconds.

I was exhausted, so I let Rick and Rosita take it from there. We were headed to the airport. why you might ask.....because I'm an idiot.

When I talked Rick into going to Disneyland for the final day, it was an extra day that he wasn't planning on. Our flights left at 7 am. Saturday morning. So if we were to stay at Disneyland and watch the fireworks, which we were of course going to do, then that had us sleeping at the hotel for about 5 hours. Rick would have no part of paying $120 or more for a hotel that we could find for 5 hours. And I would have no part of staying in a hotel that rented by the hour. :)

So, that left us with sleeping at the airport terminal. At the time of booking the trip, I said okay. I would later come to regret that...but for now, we were headed to the airport.

At some point during the 45 minute drive, we passed a burning car on the interstate. I don't mean a little fire, this was a car ENGULFED in flames. I can only hope that there wasn't someone in that car. There were 5 lanes of traffic. The car was on the right shoulder, we were in the far left lane and we felt the heat from the car as we drove by.

I grabbed the cell phone to call 911. I would have hated for no one to have called because they assumed everyone else did. I dial 911.......I get a recording.

"I'm sorry, all agents are currently busy, please hold because your emergency is important to us....(and then repeat this same thing in Espanol)

Are you freaking kidding me? I sure am glad that I wasn't being raped and got away from my attacker for just enough time to dial 911. crap they are busy...oh well....at least my emergency was important to them.

Just because I waited out the hold music to see how long it would take.....EIGHT MINUTES. Yep, eight minutes to have an LA 911 operator finally ask what my emergency was. I told her, she thanked me.

So, I saw no cops, no posted speed limits, and waited 8 minutes on hold for 911. All in 3 days. Spectacular.....

We arrived to LAX around 1 am. We headed to the Thrifty parking lot. After pulling in, this large black woman, who I really really think was actually a man, but Rick swears her nametag said "Carol", (I say "Carl"), greeted us.

By greeted us I mean sat there and stared at us.

Now we have a suitcase, a duffle bag, a briefcase, a purse, and 2 backpacks, and 2 50 pound sleeping kids. The area where we needed to park for Carl/Carol was about 50 yards from the doors to get to the shuttle to take us to LAX. We cautiously balanced everything (although my pants almost fell down because I couldn't pull them up or I would drop something, like my daughter).

I assumed there was some reason that Carl/Carol had us park so damn far away. As we are walking away, He/She hops in the car and drives it to a parking spot. Are you kidding me? The stupid asshole/bitch could have driven us to the doors, but instead watched us carry everything like idiots before pulling into a parking spot.

Thrifty Rental Car, with your she-male attendents, and spanish speaking parking attendents that can't tell a 7 from a 6....you are really starting to get on my nerves.

We boarded the shuttle. We were the only ones on the shuttle, and YET, the dude driving....(we'll call him Ramone) couldn't get up and help us load our luggage. No really Ramone, let me.....let me load all of my luggage while balancing sleeping kids too. Really Ramone, continue to sit and listen to your rap music littered with curse words that would be such a fantastic family song choice if my kids had been awake.

Kudos to you Ramone. I hope you get that promotion soon. The one where you get to sit and watch people lug all of their belongings across the nasty garage just before driving away in their car. Continue to stand there Ramone, waiting for your tip.....You can stand right next to Carl/Carol.

We get into LAX around 1:30 am. Rick prints RJ, Heidi, and my boarding passes. His wouldn't print, so we went ahead and headed to the security check point.....He had to go through his check-in again with the attendant.

The kids were so exhausted that I decided to go through security without Rick. We load all of our stuff onto the conveyor and wait......the guy scanning the luggage stops on my bag. And looks, and looks, and calls his co-worker over and shows them something in my bag. I was starting to get pissed. I didn't have more than 3 ounces of shampoo in my stupid allotted baggie. WHAT WAS THE PROBLEM?

Worker 1 and Worker 2. Let's call them Pete and Joe. Pete and Joe call over their Supervisor. We'll call him Jason. They stop the conveyor and pull my suitcase. Pete, Joe and Jason are all surrounding me and asking me things, like "Is this your suitcase? " "Has your luggage been left unattended?" and "Where are you traveling to?"

They start pulling stuff out of my bag, and they pull out a TOY GUN.

WHAT THE HELL WAS I THINKING? The pink gun. The Pirates of Caribbean gun. The gun that both kids begged for because the one we bought at DisneyWorld broke. You know, the one we checked in our luggage last time. Not the one we tried to get into the actual plane itself.

So, Pete, Joe and Jason inspect the gun and make sure that there isn't some real gun hidden inside it. Then they inform me, that unless they checked my baggage, they had to keep the gun. I bent down to tell the kids, that Jason was going to keep it. They start to bawl. I mean BAWL. Keep in mind that they have slept about 2 hours between the car and the shuttle.

So Jason takes the gun. Then they red flag my next bag. Shit, I left a bottle of water in it. FINE.

Finally all of my bags make it, and I am sent through the metal detector. OF COURSE it goes off, I had money in my pocket. They send me through again. OF COURSE I wouldn't have thought to check my other pocket too......and it goes off again.

Joe, Pete, and Jason hate me. It's pretty obvious, I hate them too. All of this is happening while the kids are BAWLING about their gun and while the security line is backed up because of this short fat white woman who is obviously a terrorist.

We finally make it through the lines and wait for Rick who is stuck in the line that my stupidity backed up. I did fell a little better when they pulled a switchblade out of a girl's purse, who then said "Oh, I forgot about that", and then they also isolated some middle eastern dude with his bag. God only knows, what was in that one, if what they thought was a gun didn't land me in an isolation area.

So, Rick finally gets to the end of the line and I explain to him why the kids are still bawling.......their gun, their pirate gun, the pink one, the one that they just HAD to have. Rick agrees to check the bag so Heidi can keep her gun. I flag down Joe......he says it's already in the forfeit area., and he'd have to check with Jason the supervisor to see if that would be possible.

Dude, just go get it. (I think he had a daughter at home and was planning on taking it to her). Jason comes and okays it, so Rick has to go back down check the bag and then go back through security.

RJ starts crying because he thinks he's going to pee his pants. I've told him to hold it for about 15 minutes straight while Joe, Pete, and Jason thought I was a national security threat.

We go to the bathroom and head to gate 48B. We sit down. Both kids immediately pass out on the floor. I start to cry. I had been up for about 19 hours. I was exhausted from the sun, and the 3rd degree from security was the straw that broke the camel's back. I was bawling when Rick finally made it to the gate.

When he arrived, and I had calmed down, I had a chance to look around at LAX. It's pretty much a shit hole. Everything was dirty and the chairs were all ripped. It looked horrible. Way to go American Airlines.....way to really keep things up. Recession or not, buy some new chairs! And while you are at it, don't buy the ones with arm rest so you can't lay down, you jerks.

Rick and I both needed to charge our phones, so Rick goes looking for an outlet. LAX also rigged up all of their outlets where their patrons couldn't use them. Nice, thanks LAX.....greatly appreciated!

Rick finally comes back from his outlet scouting trip.....he found an outlet, in a little cubby hole, on the linolium floor next to the bathrooms. Now normally, I would have told him to head over there and I would stay at our gate, but, I was afraid that after not having slept, I would fall asleep and someone would either take one of the kids, or that girl would come pull another hidden switchblade on me.

We gather all of our stuff up, and head to the cubbie, where we managed to have a power outlet, and also contort ourselves up to guard all of our luggage and children. All of the spanish speaking janitorial staff looked at us.

We overheard a couple of them laughing "la familia" "los ninos"....blah, blah, blah. laughter. screw you LAX workers, if you wouldn't have screwed with the outlets, we wouldn't be in the tiny cubby by the bathroom.

One of the ladies.....We'll call her Maria brought us a blanket. That was very sweet. Not sure why she couldn't have brought 4. Unless it was to laugh at us even more, watching us all try to cover up with one tiny blanket.

We finally haved charged phone and head back to the gate. We doze off and on, and finally it's 6 a.m. and the airport starts to fill up. Our plane leaves at 7. About 6:45 we notice that unless we are headed to Bejing, something was odd. EVERYONE around us was of an oriental ethnicity. I felt like an episode of seasame street. "one of these things is not like the other.....one of these things just doesn't belong".

Rick checks the flight board.....yeah, they moved our gate. That makes sense. We get our stuff and our sleeping kids, just in time to be pretty much the last one aboard.

From here on out, it gets better.....we had an uneventful flight....Rick didn't have to sit next to anyone, so he was able to stretch out.....I was dozing in and out when RJ ordered 2 "gourmet cookies" for $3 each. He heard them announce that they were available just before they came around with drinks. RJ and Heidi were both eating their cookies when the lady woke me up to get $6 from me. Thanks AmericanAirlines for letting minors order food.

We happily landed, and headed home.

And were we ever happy to be there!
Days 1 through 3 were WONDERFUL. Day 3.5....not so much.

:)
-a

Day 3 in the Golden State

2009-05-17T22:00:00.000-07:00

Day three was our last day in the Golden State....

Rick finished with his work, but we scheduled our flights to allow us to spend one day together in California before heading home...The kids and I had planned to show Rick our favorite parts of Disneyland.

I insisted on driving (with Rosita's help), to show Rick my ninja-like driving skills.....he said I looked scared to death the whole time. I didn't feel scared to death though. Not the whole time.

We arrived and headed right in.

(We didn't actually buy a balloon....I just love seeing those gigantic bunches of balloons flying)

Rick and Heidi on Dumbo (she insisted on sitting in the green dumbo to match her dress)RJ and I (in the orange dumbo)Apparently there are no crowds if you go to Dinseyland in early May through the week. It was wonderful!Heidi being Heidi. Silly as usualKing Arthur's CarosoulAlice in Wonderland, Mad Tea Party, Dumbo, Pinocchio's Daring Journey, King Arthur's Carrousel, and THEN......Mr. Toad's Wild Ride.

RJ and Heidi were super excited, which made Rick excited. We all loved it.

RJ and Heidi obsessing over this Mr Toad statue again.

Then we rode the Matterhorn Bobsleds, which is a rollercoaster. RJ was scared, but tolerated it. Heidi loved it. go figure.

These pictures absolutely crack me up. We had walked past this so many times at Disney World and had never had the kids try to take the sword out, but this time we did. They tried SO hard.

It's a Small World, Big Thunder Mountain Railroad (twice), Splash Mountain, The Adventures of Winnie the Pooh, The Haunted Mansion, Indiana Jones Adventure, The Pirates of the Carribean.....

Then we decided to break for lunch. There are tons of places all over Disneyland where you can stop and grab a bite to eat, but I had heard about these particular corn dogs. The ones sold in the red wagon on Main Street.

Rick loves corn dogs so to the red wagon we headed......It was easy to spot, 1 because it was a huge red wagon and 2 because there was a line.

I waited to buy our 6 DOLLAR corn dogs. I thought Rick was gonna be irked that I spent that much on corndogs for everyone, but he took a bite and declared it the BEST CORN DOG he'd ever had in his entire life....and he's eaten a lot of them. He loved them enough to eat his own and finish everyone elses too. They were huge.

The Corn Dog Wagon

After lunch Heidi and I went to Pixie Hollow to meet the fairies while Rick and RJ headed to Buzz Lightyear and Star Tours.

Miss TinkerbellMiss Rosetta

After we met Tinkerbell and Rosetta (who we had never met before!), Heidi and I were just sitting on a bench next to the Matterhorn Bobsleds waiting for Rick and RJ.

Suddenly, Alice from Alice in Wonderland walked up to Heidi and took her hand. (she was dressed as Tinkerbell). They just started walking away with the Mad Hatter. I quickly grabbed our things and followed behind. It was so cute. They just kept walking and talking. Finally Alice got where she was going, and stopped for a picture.

Just after our picture, Peter Pan comes up and gently"pushes" Heidi in the stomach and makes a noise at her, then runs away. Heidi thought it was HILARIOUS. She swears it's because he thought she was the real Tinkerbell and he was made at her for being mean to Wendy in their movie. :)

We met back up with Rick and RJ and headed over to Adventureland. I have wanted a Dole Whip Float (pineapple ice cream in pineapple juice) during both of our trips to DisneyWorld, but have never stopped and gotten one. Rick suggested we grab one this tine. (THANK YOU!)

We all enjoyed our Dole Whip treats and watched the "enchanted tiki room" show, which we have also not done during both of our trips to DisneyWorld. Then we rode the Jungle Cruise,

We had dinner reservations at the Celebration Roundup BBQ in Frontierland, so we headed off to our dinner (with the characters of Toy Story 2)This one of Woody kissing Heidi's hands is one of my favorites from the whole trip. She is smiling so sweet at him)

After having our picture taken with Jesse, we enjoyed our dinner of ribs, chicken, coleslaw, corn, and cornbread while watching Woody and Bullseye. After they were done performing, a lady came out to wish everyone a Happy Beard Day! They came over and sang to Rick because he had half a beard. RJ and Heidi loved that.

(No need to adjust your monitors, we were really that burnt.)After dinner they brought this gigantic dessert thing with ice cream cones with cupcakes stuffed inside. It was quite a presentation.

After dinner we rode Big Thunder Mountain Rail Road and then took a ride on Mark Twain's riverboat. It was a nice relaxing boat ride, although I almost got into a fight with some Indian woman (dot not feather). I don't think that she understood that in our culture, just because she wanted to save the seat that I was in the process of sitting in. (my butt actually descending through the air towards the bench) that quickly shoving your purse under my ass does not mean it was your spot. The Americans sittings beside all of this offered to scoot over.

We had a couple hours to kill before the fireworks show, so we hopped over to Disney's California Adventure to ride our favorite rides.

We rode Toy Story Midway Mania (I beat Rick, RJ beat Heidi). Heidi wanted to ride Mickey's Fun Wheel which is this GIGANTIC ferris wheel. RJ was too scared, so Heidi and I went alone while Rick and RJ waited behind.

There must have been some bribery involved, because Rick somehow talked RJ into riding California Screamin' which goes upside down. Heidi and I finished our ride and headed over to the exit area of their line, just as they got off. RJ HATED IT. Not only did he hate it, but Rick said that he screamed, "We're gonna die, we're gonna die, we're gonna die" throughout the entire ride. He wasn't doing it to be funny. He was serious. Rick said it was an awesome rollercoaster. We chose not to buy the picture of him screaming in terror. Thinking back, I wish I would have. He would have liked it later in life. :)

For a bit of a tamer ride, we all headed to Soarin'. Heidi, RJ and I rode this on our first day at Disneyland and we had also ridden it in Florida. I had forgotten how much I LOVE this ride. It's in a big IMAX theatre and you feel as if you are actually parasailing over all of these different scenes (but thesy also have the scents to match so it's that much more realistic) a mountain, the desert, a river, ski slopes, etc. My favorite part of the ride was when we were flying over the orange groves, and Heidi announces, "I SMELL STARBURST" She is too cute. At the end of the ride has you parasailing over Disneyland just in time for the fireworks.

After Soarin', we headed back to Disneyland to watch the fireworks, which were wonderful. All Disney fireworks are wonderful!

We rode Buzz once more and ended at Honey I shrunk the audience. Heidi fell asleep and RJ was close, so we headed to the tram. We got back to the car around midnight. What a day!

-a

C.A.L.I.F.O.R.N.I.A

2009-05-13T15:55:00.000-07:00

Rodney enjoying Sleeping Beauty's Castle......The kids enjoying the giant letters outside Disney's California Adventure

Day 2

2009-05-13T09:13:00.000-07:00

Rick woke us up on his way out to head to meetings......

We were all up and ready to go within a half an hour. :)

I had asked the kids to be super good and not whine. I was hoping for the best.

45 min on the road in crazy traffic and we had arrived at the park. Our day started out fantastic as we were allowed to park in the Chip and Dale parking, which meant we had no walk at all to get us to the tram. score one for us! We hopped right on the next tram, and we were off.

We headed right into DisneyLand and caught a glimpse of the castle......

(I will compare all of the attractions from World vs. Land)

The castle was of course a let down. Sleeping Beauty's castle at Disneyland stands at 77 feet. Cinderella's castle in Disneyworld is close to 200. So, it just doesn't seem as majestic.

Now I knew going into it that the castle was going to seem so small, so I knew not to be disappointed. The castle was very pretty though.

As we walked down Main Street USA, it seemed very similar, I had promised the kids that we wouldn't stand in character lines if we had just seen them at Disneyworld. My eyes start scanning Main Street.....mickey, check......minnie, check......pluto, check.....chip, dale, goofy, check, check, check.....and then DONALD!

I grabbed both kids and headed over as fast as I could. Donald was in his blue sailor suit! I had yet to see Donald in his blue clothes.....I have seen Safari Donald, Chef Donald, Pirate Donald, Birthday Donald, Frontier Donald, but never original Donald. I love Donald, and it drove me crazy that I didn't have a picture of him in his original clothes.

Hooray! Mission Accomplished! What a fantastic way to start the day off!

We headed to Fantasyland and got on Pinocchio's Daring Journey. The kids really enjoyed this ride because we just bought the Pinnocchio movie and they recognized everything in the ride. I enjoyed this ride, because they don't have this ride at Disneyworld.

We decided to skip Snow White's Scary Adventures because none of us cared for it in Disneyworld.

Off to Mr Toad's Wild Ride. LOVED IT! Another ride that they d0n't have at Disneyworld. They used to, but it has since been replaced. RJ and Heidi were obsessed with this statue of Mr Toad in the line just before we loaded. Heidi insisted I get a picture.

Next we road the TeaCups. Disneyland's teacups are much much roomier than Disneyworld's. That was a nice surprise! Both kids think it is HILARIOUS to try to spin until someone pukes. Thankfully no one did!

Off to Dumbo, (the same at both parks) and then the Storybook Land Canal Boats. This was a canoe ride that took you past the minature houses of all the disney characters. That's 15 minutes of my life I'd love to have back. Definitely the low part of the day.

Off to It's a Small World. It was HUGE! It has such a presence in the back of the park. It was far and away a better ride than Disneyworld's. However, it just underwent a refurb, and I hope that when Disneyworld's refurbs next, they will incorporate the same changes. Along with all the dolls of the world, they also had doll versions of the disney characters. Even Tinkerbell flying overhead and one point. The kids loved looking for them all. We didn't even see them all during our first ride through.

We headed off to Frontierland next to Big Thunder Mountain Rail Road. There were no crowds at all, so the Fast Pass Machine's weren't even open. We road twice. While there weren't a ton of differences here, I have to give BTMRR to Disneyworld in win column. Seemed a little longer with a few more dips and turns in Florida.

We headed off to the Golden Horseshoe to eat lunch. It just looked like a fun place to eat. We had chicken strips, apples, and a GIGANTIC $5 piece of chocolate cake. We didn't finish the cake, but we had fun eating it. That is something that Rick would have frowned upon, so we took advantage that it was just the three of us. :)

After lunch we headed to Critter Country and rode The Many Adventures of Winnie the Pooh. This ride is the same at both parks except for the car that you ride in. HoneyPot in FL and BeeHive in CA. Heidi loved this one so much, we had to ride it twice in a row.

In between rides, we were lucky enough to see Brer Fox and Brer Bear. I was so thrilled since I have never seen them in Disneyworld. The kids humored me and headed up there. Brer Fox stole Heidi's Winnie the Pooh doll that she had just suckered me out of at the Winnie the Pooh gift shop, and wouldn't give it back. :)

We skipped a few rides and waited for Rick to be there (splash mountain, Indiana Jones, Jungle cruise, etc)......and Headed to New Orleans Square next.

We rode the Haunted Mansion which is a favorite of ours.....we didn't notice any differences. Next we were off to the Pirates of the Caribbean. Huge Difference! Disneyland's is far superior! It has 2 drops, and is what seems like 5 minutes longer. We all enjoyed it!

We hopped on the Disneyland Railroad and headed over to Tomorrowland where we rode Finding Nemo's Submarine Voyage. This was a super fun ride that Disneyworld doesn't have. Both kids really enjoyed it and they did a very good job of making it seem like the submarine was actually desencding into the bay and then rising up again. RJ completely believed it.

We rode Buzz Lightyear Astroblasters next. Another Family Favorite. I'll have to give it to Disneyworld on this one. While it is really neat that the guns detach from the car and you have a bit more movement, I thought it was harder to register a hit on the targets, so I'm still going to say FL's is superior.

Next we headed to "Honey, I Shrunk the Audience" which was good for a laugh, and then off to our last ride of the day, Star Tours, which was the same as in FL. One of RJ's favorites.

At this point is was about 4 p.m. I couldn't believe how much we got done and neither kids whined at all or threw fits. It was absolutely the PERFECT day!

I had told the kids that we'd park hop over to Disney's California Adventure, but instead we headed home. I didn't want to ruin such a great day with over-tired kids.

I used my Ninja-like driving skills to find a Wal-Mart because I am a loser and forgot to pack swimsuits for the kids. That only took a few minutes and we were back on the road headed for the Ritz.

When we arrived back at the hotel, Rick wasn't done with his meetings yet, so we went to the front desk to ask for a key. At first they wouldn't give me one since his name was the only one on the room. (Even though I showed them ID and everything). Both kids were bouncing off the walls of the super classy lobby.

Rather than get mean, like usual, I just said, "that's okay, we'll just wait right here....". Suddenly, it was okay, to give me a room key, and we were off. :) I had a feeling that might work.

We headed down to the pool which was magnificent. RJ and Heidi swam for almost 2 hours while I read the complimentary USA Today and made a few phone calls. I also enjoyed the complimentary spa water. and the oceanview. (totally out of my league.....I kept my room key close. I was expecting someone to demand to know what we were doing there at any moment)

Rick was running late, so we headed up took baths, and ordered room service for dinner. I'm a huge fan of room service for breakfast, but I don't think I had ever had room service dinner before.

The kids and I were in bed and asleep (on our pillows filled with magic) before 10 when Rick finally made it back to the room.

What a fantastic day. I couldn't wait to do it all over again with Rick the next day.

-a

Day 1 in pictures

2009-05-12T22:44:00.000-07:00

RJ after the big reveal Heidi after the big reveal

During the flight

During the Flight

Driving from the Thrifty car lot to the interstate, I realized that I maybe should have paid a bit more attention in Spansih class.

And then we were there!Heidi in her beautiful Ariel dress waiting to meet Ariel RJ waiting patiently, although not thrilled about the idea of dining with princessesRJ had won a couple fish in carnival games. This is his small fish being eaten by his larger fishMeeting Miss Ariel. (who signed her autograph book, to my beautiful twin Heidi)Our appetizer towerHeidi's shells and cheeseRJ's spaghetti with meatball lollipopsmy herb crusted chicken......I was too hungry to remember to take a picture before my first biteMeeting the princesses Our dessert platter. Totally unexpectedOur white chocolate shellA white chocolate Ariel in our chocolate mousse RJ and Heidi's Toy Story Midway Mania scores.....neither one would let me help, so I was pretty impressed with their scores.After we left the park, the kids had a lemonade and insisted on sitting by this giant flower. A ritual that we repeated every day.

-a

Day 1 DisneyLand or Bust

2009-05-12T19:27:00.000-07:00

We had kept the trip a secret from the kids. They knew we were going somewhere, just didn't have any idea where.

They got home from school on Tuesday an I had boxes for them to open. Inside the boxes were balloons that came flying out when they opened the lids. I also had DisneyLand coloring books, crayons, and autograph books. With a card that read...."You are going to DisneyLand"

Heidi's could have read "You are going to Wal-Mart" and she wouldn't have reacted any differently. She was thrilled to get a coloring book, crayons, and a balloon.

RJ picked up on it pretty much immediately, and after letting Heidi in on the surprise, they were both so excited!!!!

After getting a few hours of sleep, we headed to the airport in St Louis......

The security check-in went fine, and we were off to our gate.......Our flight was uneventful. We had a few people on the flight wearing masks to ward off the swine flu. They looked ridiculous. I had a terrible cough, and chuckled to myself every time I had a coughing fit, knowing they were cowering in their seats, holding tightly on to their masks.

We landed at LAX sometime around 11:00am. Pacific time.

The whole purpose of the California trip was for Rick to work. Hewlett Packard flew him out to look at some machinery. The kids and I were just taking a small vacation while he worked. So, he had a car picking him up to take him to meet with H.P.

The kids and I said goodbye and headed to the rental car counter. I was NERVOUS! Rick and I started dating when I was 13, so for the past 15 years, we have done everything together. Sure, we've travled alot, but I've always had him there.

We got on the Thrifty shuttle and got dropped off at the car lot. Got checked in, and told to pick any car from the #6 parking lot. (Here's where it goes downhill......)

We went to #6 and the kids picked a pretty cool orange car. It took us 10 minutes to buckle the car seats in, plug in the GPS, seat belts, air conditioning, etc.

We pull up to the gate, and a man who barely spoke English says, "oh no, #7 car, not #6." SCREW YOU BUDDY! I am not BLIND. I had to pull the car over, (and I totally left it right in the way) and he sent me to stand in a line. A line that I stood in for 20 minutes to be told it was the wrong line. SCREW ALL OF YOU AT THRIFTY RENTAL CAR. I was so frustrated! We went back to the cool orange car, got all of our things, headed back to the #6 lot, chose a different car and left. All while all of my spanish speaking thrifty rental car friends tried to figure out who in the world would have parked the orange car right in the middle of the lane like that. :)

40 minutes later, we were finally on the way. The kids and I had a deal that while mommy tried to drive in LA traffic that the only person that could talk was my sweet Latina GPS lady friend.

She did a seamless job of directing me right to the Mickey and Friends Parking structure. (It took about 45 minutes) We parked on the Donald Level and headed for the tram to take us to the park.

We headed to Disney's California Adventure first. (We had a date to eat with Ariel at her Grotto at 3:30) It was 2:00p.m.

I wasn't worried about riding rides today as much as just enjoying ourselves and spending time together. We rode a couple rides and then headed for dinner.

Our Ariel dinner was amazing. Anglea at Ollie Girl had made all of Heidi's outfits for this trip and she did a FANTASTIC job on them all. I was super excited about this Ariel dress. She had never made one before and it was perfect. We got checked in for dinner and ushered down the steps to meet Miss Ariel. Everyone thought Heidi looked just beautiful. Dinner was fabulous. They brought a tower of salad and vegetables for our appetizer, and then Heidi had shells and cheese, RJ had spagehetti, and meatball lollipops, and I had herb crusted chicken. Then they brought this gigantic platter of desserts incluing a white chocolate konch shell. After dinner, we explored a little bit more.

After riding Toy Story Midway Mania, we decided to head home and get a good nights sleep.

Both kids fell asleep and it was just me and the GPS. I affectionately reffered to her as Rosita the entire trip.

LA traffic is unique. They don't even post speed limit signs. You are just supposed to drive as fast as hell and don't get into an accident. I am sure if I had time to look, I would have seen a sign that said that.

I was nervous about driving, but honestly, it really wasn't that bad. I didn't even curse out loud in front of the kids. I was very proud of myself. I did however annouce a few times to Rosita or whoever was listening, that some people shouldn't be allowed on the road.

We made it back to the hotel about 6 p.m. Now.... we are a Marriott family. Not the cheapest hotels, but by far not the most expensive either. We like their pillows.

Hewlett Packard had reserved Rick a room at the Ritz Carlton in Marina Del Ray. Nice and Classy. I pull up after looking for the self-park lot and was told it was Valet only. $31 per day charged directly to the room. Rick would have DIED if I would have let them valet park, so we headed over to the city lot ($3/day) and walked to the hotel from there.

Rick met us as he got let out of his meetings just before we arrived. He showed us around and I was in awe. The bathroom was all marble, and even the toilet flusher thing was a nicer flusher thing than I had ever seen in my life! We had bathrobes, and sewing kits, and some french shampoo. I'm sure most of the details were lost on me. (We did get to see the Houston Rockets basketball team too, as they were staying there as well)

We unpacked our things, and then I did it.....I laid on the bed.

DAMN YOU RITZ CARLTON! Damn you for now making me realize that the Mariott pillows that I LOVED SO MUCH are total Crap!

We all fell right to sleep and slept without waking up once. Which I'm sure was due to the pillows that were filled with a mixture of down feathers and magic.

:)
-a

We're going to DisneyLand!

2009-05-05T23:34:00.001-07:00

Our offices will be closed Wednesday May 6th-Friday May 8th. We will return with regular office hours on Monday May 11th.

We are going to DisneyLand. And Tinkerbell couldn't be any more excited!

-a

Michigan or Bust

2009-05-03T17:15:00.000-07:00

Back in March, the kids, and Rick and I headed up to Michigan to visit with the lab that prints all of Photo Graphic's work.

The graciously welcomed us and made us feel like family the whole day.

Not only were we lucky enough to get to see everyone, but there were also Disney themed goody bags waiting in the conference room for RJ and Heidi. We were also fortunate enough to be able to visit long enough to enjoy lunch with Becky and Kathleen and dinner with Becky and her husband.

I had an amazing time visiting with everyone and getting to tour the facilities, meeting everyone again, and visiting with Becky.

Becky is the person at the lab that deals with all of my ridiculous requests every day.

Becky and her husband even came back to the hotel and we visited in the lobby til 11 that night. I felt terrible keeping them that long, but I was enjoying myself so much. Becky and me

Sasha, me, Rodney, and Becky

The next morning we headed for home, but had plans to stop at the Butterfly Gardens on the way.

I just love these picture spots. The rest of the family, not so much.

Heidi wore her butterfly wings so the butterflies wouldn't be scared when they saw her. She thought this would make them think that they were her brothers and sisters.

All the butterflies getting ready to hatch.

I gave Heidi a camera and she took so many pictures of all of the butterflies.

They looked so cute.

A butterfly even landed on my finger. Heidi was so jealous

And RJ and Rick found a turtle while Heidi and I were in the gift shop. I didn't know it until I looked through the pictures.We had a great time! On the way home, we still had plenty of time to kill and no place to be, so we headed into Chicago and went to Legoland. While we had a good time, I'm glad we didn't make the drive just to go there. I'm not so sure it lived up to the hype.A little town built out of legos.RJ next to a lego spiderR2D2RJ with Indiana Jonesand Darth Vader

We had a fantastic time in Michigan and can't wait to make the trip back up to see everyone again.

-a

Plant a Tree

2009-05-03T16:53:00.000-07:00

I was pretty excited for Arbor Day.....I knew RJ would be bringing home a tree. That was my favorite part of Arbor Day when I was growing up. Although, I don't remember if any of our trees ever survived the lawn mower.

RJ showing off his River Birch the day he brought it home.I was shocked to see that they didn't wrap the roots in a wet paper towel. We were worried that the roots were dead, but we got down to business putting our tree into the ground.RJ read all the instructions, and scouted out all of the perfect spots to put his new tree.And the digging began.RJ found this gigantic worm in the ground. Heidi was inside taking a nap, so RJ decided to mess with her and take a picture that looked like he ate the worm. When she saw it, she cried. We had to tell her the truth.It was so big though that I am sure it would have made a tasty meal for a bird.Putting a piece of fabric around the tree so Rick won't mow over it.The finished project.

RJ was so proud. He waters it every day and it has even grown 8 leaves.

-a

Introducing Yoda and Little

2009-05-03T16:40:00.000-07:00

About 6 weeks ago, we added two more members to the Lindemann family. .....2 Guinea Pigs

Surprisingly, they are growing and didn't die! We were a little worried how long they would last, but they're doing fantastic and growing so big!Meet Yoda. She is RJ's. (I wanted him to name her Lenny because she looks just like Lenny from the Wonder Pets)Meet Little. He is Heidi's.I love these little guinea pigs. They are so sweet and cuddly. I probably play with them more than the kids do, but they feed them every day. They eat all kinds of veggies, and guinea pig food. The squeak and make the cutest noises when we walk into the room.

Too cute!And just a couple pictures of Heidi being Heidi.
:)
-a

Heidi is officially a big girl!

2009-05-03T13:45:00.000-07:00

Heidi had asked a few times to get her ears pierced. Rick always said no. I always said yes.

Finally one day, Rick must have had a weak moment and agreed, but said he was having no part in watching. NO PROBLEM.

We stopped at my sister's house and picked up my niece and my sister, and dropped off RJ and Rick to play with Eli. And we were off!Heidi waiting patiently while I signed all of the paperwork.They let her hold a stuffed bear. (that had it's ears pierced 5 times in each ear)Pre-piercing Waiting patientlyAnd it's time. I'm not one to lie to my kids. We don't do Santa or the Easter Bunny. I wasn't going to lie about this either. I told her it was going to hurt bad. That she would cry, but that it would only hurt for a minute. The ladies working looked at me like I was horrible. But I wasn't going to have her blame me when it hurt.She cried as soon as they pierced themBut still managed to smile for a picture As soon as they showed her the mirror and she could see them, she stopped crying instantly!Then she found some butterfly wings, and all was good in the world.Her beautiful new earringsI also got her an earring holder to hang on her wall. She has the minnie mouse and tinker bell earrings that we bought ready and waiting.

Since I was so incredibly behind in posting this, Heidi's 6 weeks have come and gone, and she has already changed to her Minnie Mouse earrings. She loves them!

-a

Departure Day

2009-05-03T13:21:00.001-07:00

One last picture from Hollywood Studios that I forgot to post. We had this done in the Star Wars gift shop. I had heard about it and couldn't wait!!!! I thought it turned out fantastic! Today was our departure day. Last year, our departure day consisited of hanging out at our resort, the ER, and then the airport. This year, we decided to head to Magic Kingdom for one more rope drop and all of the rides we could fit in before we had to leave.

(Excuse the quality of pics on this post. I packed the main camera and only had a point and shoot today)

Our morning started bright and early to finish packing. RJ had to sit on the suitcase to get it to zip. I guess I went overboard on souviners again.

Today, we decided to wear our ears. More proof that WDW is the most magical place on earth. I'm certain Rick wouldn't wear pirate Mickey ears in Jasper County.

On the monorail heading to MK

Waiting for Rope Drop

We took a vote as a family and decided to start in Frontierland at Big Thunder Mountain. We got a few rides in in a row.

Rick and the kids on the teacups

We love Buzz!We saw Stitch in Tomorrowland. Our kids think Stitch is gross. RJ was ticked off that he had to have his picture taken with him. But hey, a character picture is a character picture.DumboRJ and I inside Splash Mountain after we just got SOAKEDBrer Bear strung up with his bottom in the air was hands down Heidi's favorite part of Splash Mountain!On Tom Sawyer's Island playing checkers, while Heidi and Rick went back on Splash Mountain again.They followed us a little while later and brought ice cream When we finally made it to the airport, we had a little time to kill Rick and RJ on the plane ride homeMe and Heidi (and Minnie) on the plane ride home. I didn't realize how sunburnt we were. :)

Another fantastic trip! The kids and I say we are going back next February. Rick says we're not. Stay tuned to see who wins. :)

-a

Day 4 Hollywood Studios

2009-04-30T19:01:00.000-07:00

Day 4 took us to Hollywood Studios and the much anticipated Toy Story Midway Mania ride.Our Family picture in front of the gigantic hat. Ended up being my favorite family picture this year. Love that Indiana Jones fedora.We were one of the first families in line for the TSMM and walked right on after grabbing a Fast Pass first so we could ride it again!After riding it twice, the kids and I got a snack and waited for our next fastpass window to open, while Rick and Kaitlin rode the thrill rides that the kids were too small for.We saw the green army guysAnother pass through the Toy Story Mania ride, which was wonderful. Completely lived up to all the hype!After watching Ariel's voyage, we sat to watch the Dance Party Parade. I didn't love the parade this year, but it was nice to rest our feet. Heidi watching the paradeRJ just chillingRick working....(we saw this alot!)We got to see Rhino from BOLT. I LOVE RHINO. He tried to eat RJ's autograph book.And the IncrediblesWhile Rick and Kaitlin rode more rides that the kids couldn't....(tower of terror, rockin rollercoaster, etc.), the kids and I just went for a walkWe got to meet the Power Rangers And Mike and Sully from Monsters Inc.We were happy to see Lightning McQueen and Mater too.
I love anytime, I can find Mickey in a different outfit. Then another picture must be taken. :)

RJ was thrilled when we happened upon a Star Wars vehicle.

-a

Day 4 Animal Kingdom

2009-04-28T22:20:00.000-07:00

We headed to Animal Kingdom on our 4th day......Bright and early in the lobbyMickey Waffles are a great way to start the day!After rope drop, Rick and Kaitlin headed to ride rides that the kids were too small for, and RJ and Heidi and I hunted characters! :)We got soaked on Kali River Rapidsand enjoyed some bongosHeidi, taking after her momma, and obsessive over character autographsI seriously think I squealed outloud when I saw King Louie and Baloo......We sprung for the face painting this year.Heidi was a butterfly RJ was a pirateThey were both super happyat the petting zooan ice cream snackwith Pooh Heidi was so super excited to get Eyeore's autograph (can't you tell)She was pretty excited about getting Tigger's too We don't watch Brother Bear so the kids had no idea who these bears were.....:) but of course a photo was still neccessary Jiminey Cricket and Pocohauntus Heidi and I stopped to see Donald. No one else cared. :)Our Tree of Life pictureHeidi holding baby Simbawith RodneyAfter Animal Kingdom we found a pirate mini golf courseRJ got a hole in one on hole #9We headed to the Wilderness Lodge to eat at the Whispering Canyon Cafe....it didn't disappointWe had to rub Humphrey's nose on the way by in the lobby. For good luck.

-a

Day 3 Magic Kingdom

2009-04-28T14:13:00.000-07:00

Today was our 2nd day at Magic Kingdom and today Heidi and I were on the hunt for characters. Rick and RJ will be missing from lots of these pictures, because they would rather ride rides. I did bring RJ's autograph book and had it signed though because he really wanted to ride rides, but he really wanted Miss Tinkerbell's autograph too.

Here the kids are ready to start Day 3. Heidi was Miss Cinderella today (in the dress that the mice made)

We had to be up bright and early this morning because Heidi had an 8 am appointment at the Bibbidi Bobbidi Boutique. We got into the park before rope drop.It was great getting to take pictures without anyone else in themOur Family Picture in front of the castleJust the kidsWe had a bit of time to kill before Heidi's appointment When it was time for Heidi's appointment, Rick and RJ headed to ride as many rides as they could.I wasn't listening to the fairy godmother when she asked if she wanted painted nails or press on nails. PAINTED NAILS, but no. Heidi said press on. She was so excited. They lasted maybe 30 minutes. :)We headed for the carousel before heading over to ToonTown to Pixie Hollow.One quick picture at ToonTown. (I love those Disney photographers)We were the 2nd family in line to see the Fairies at Pixie Hollow. (No waiting in line for us!)

Heidi with Miss TinkerbellMiss IridessaMiss Silvermist Then we headed to the Princess TentWith Miss Cinderella Miss BelleMiss Sleeping BeautyThen it was time to head over to Ariel's Grotto to see Miss Ariel Finally it was time to meet back up with the boys. We watched Mickey's Philharmagic 3D show which has to be one of my all time favorite Disney experiences.Heidi enjoying the Jungle Cruise in AdventurelandRJ enjoying the Jungle CruiseWaiting to get on Aladin's Magic CarpetsRJ jumping rope in FrontierlandMiss Kaitlin and RJ on the flying carpetsMe and Heidi on the flying carpetsAfter many Big ThunderMountain Rail Road and many Splash Mountain rides, we stopped for a snack and saw this bird. Heidi swears it was Scuttle from the Little Mermaid. I don't think she's forgiven RJ yet for being to loud and making him fly away.In line for the Magic Carpets again.....Heidi being HeidiRJ being RJ...(notice Heidi in he background.....she found a scratch on her wrist. gasp!) We had to walk so far to the first aid station to get her a bandaid.Then she was all better!On the bright side though, we saw Rafiki on the way back from the first aid stationRJ, Heidi, Chip, Dale, and Rodney on the Walt Disney World Rail RoadMeeting Peter Pan and WendyRJ battling Captain HookRick jumped in to save RJ when it looked like Hook was going to winRick got scared, so I took over!Heidi saved us all!We tried to get Aladin's autograph 3 times, and kept missing him. Miss Kaitlin kept insisting that we try again. Aladin is her favorite. We finally succeeded and had the pleasure of meeting Geenie and Miss Jasmine too.We headed to the Grand Floridian to have dinner at 1900 Park Fare. We took the ferry ride there. It was a little chilly, but nice.I always have Heidi's special outfits custom made before our trip. The pink Cinderella dress was one I was super excited about. It was the one the mice made before with the stepsisters discarded beads and sash. Before the destroy it. She wore it to the 1900 Park Fare Dinner where she would see both step sisters, the stepmother, and Cinderella, and Prince Charming.

Both Stepsisters and Cinderella made comments about her dress being Cinderellas. I was so pleased that they noticed.To my surprise, we saw another little girl wearing the same dress. What were the odds? We had to get a picture together. A big shout out to Angela at Ollie Girl for the wonderful job she did!Heidi with Prince CharmingRJ with the PrinceEven RJ was happy to meet Cinderella (although he wouldn't have admitted it!)Heidi and Cinderella (I should have watched where her hand was before I took the picture)Lady TremaineHeidi was concerned because she thought that the stepsisters weren't smiling very good. :)RJ got chosen to Waltz with Drucilla during dinner.

Another great day!

-a