another visit!

Last week my aunt, mom, and cousins came to visit! Super fun, the kids were absolutely adorable. Like incredibly adorable! Here's mom, Parker, and Audrey all ready to go!

On Monday they got here around 2ish, so we decided to start off the vacation the right way and go to Magic Kingdom. Somehow I got both Monday and Tuesday off. Which was perfect. First thing we did when walking in MK was go to Space Mountain for fastpasses. Parker wanted to ride it for the first time ever.

Aren't we too adorable?

Since we still had to wait an hour for the fastpass time, we did Buzz Lightyear! So much fun, and Parker loved it. He's a huge Toy Story fan. And Audrey thought it was really cool. Miller.... chilled with mom while we rode the rides. He is only a few months old.

When it came time for Space Mountain, Parker got really excited. Until we actually got to our rocket. Then he got a little nervous. But he rode the ride!!! And was a big boy! We were all very proud.

Audrey really wanted to meet the princesses, so it was off to Toon Town! Audrey and I waited in line for about 30 minutes to meet them and take pictures. She was the cutest thing ever. Don't believe me? I'll prove it.

She met Belle, Cinderella, and Aurora. Parker and Aunt Jeco went to meet Mickey while we were in line. After meeting the characters we decided to get some food at Peco's, then watch the parade and fireworks. Parker and I decided to take an adventure on Splash Mountain, since it's his favorite ride. Wishes and the Electrical Parade were awesome, and it was so nice to actually watch them as a guest.

Tuesday we went to Animal Kingdom first. They loved the safari and the dinosaur area. And the Nemo show was pretty awesome. Miller wasn't such a big fan of the musical.... but Audrey and Parker liked it a lot.

After Animal Kingdom it was back to Magic Kingdom. The cutest moment ever has to be when riding the monorail into the park and a kid sees the castle for the first time. They start jumping up and down and screaming and getting all excited..... so adorable. and wonderful. and magical.

We got back to Magic Kingdom, and this time it was off to Fantasyland for the last 2 hours of the park being open.

We were ready to go. Including cooler for Miller and his formula. In the small amount of time we had in Magic Kingdom (it was a not so scary party night, so it closed at 7), we rode tea cups, Snow White, Winnie the Pooh, Pirates, Aladdin, and had time for ice cream. Success. Parker really liked the tea cups.

After ice cream, the kids were exhausted and it was time to go home. It was a great visit and a great way to spend my days off.

Awkward Pictures

Last week was September break for the schools in Henry County. September break is a random week that the schools have off during the school year, 6 weeks after school starts. When I was in high school, everyone I knew seemed like they were going to Disney. I always had volleyball, but that’s beside the point.

This meant that it was a week for my family to come visit. Well, my mom and brother. My dad couldn’t get off work. Monday I had to work from around 1-9 PM. This was the day that mom and Michael decided to drive down to Tampa, and I drove over after work to meet them. Fun times at the Idica’s. (We used to live in Tampa, Valrico actually, and we stayed with our old neighbor) Tuesday was the day to go to the parks.

Tuesday morning we got up around 8 and got ready to head to Disney. Mom, Michael, Susie, and I all got in the car and started the hour drive to the park. We started our day at Hollywood Studios. I’ve been there a few times since coming down here, but my mom hasn’t been in about 14 years, and my brother had never been. The first ride we went to was Tower of Terror, which is always a blast. Michael liked it, Mom was scared to death. Oh, and there were no lines. At all. Awesome.
After Tower we had to ride Rock’n’Rollercoaster. Again, no line. This one was a bigger hit than Tower. We ended up riding it twice because there was no line at all. I’m serious people, NO LINE. It’s gotten to the point where I know where the cameras are on the rides, so I’ve started posing.



Mom and Michael got in on the fun too. This is the famous Laura/earthquake face that I’m making. Mrs. Susie is just being adorable and smiling.

After riding the rollercoaster a few times I took them to the Great Movie Ride, which is nice. I like it, and it has air conditioning.

Group picture! We look like such tourists.

We roamed around Studios for a little while, and around 1 decided to go to Epcot.
This whole park hopper thing is awesome. Just go to one park for a while, then go to another. The Epcot parking lot was super empty, we didn’t even take a tram to the entrance. We were on the 6th row or something.

The first thing we did when we got there was Spaceship Earth. I like it, but they were hungry and mom wanted to eat something different, so it was time to head to the different countries. Michael wanted a burger or hot dog, so he got a hot dog. I don’t even remember where it was. We ate in Morocco and it was wonderful. Delicious!

While traveling around the world, we had to ride the Norway ride, because hey, why not. And there are fun toys in the gift shop. Michael and I had a battle. It was epic. And hilarious.

We started off fighting the troll...

Then we just ended up fighting each other.

“You’ve got to pay the troll toll…” It’s always sunny anyone?

I think this is the new Christmas card picture

We also met 2 characters. Cinderella’s step-sisters! They were hilarious. And awesome.

“Look awkward Michael….”

This is also when mine and Michael’s new favorite game started. They have signs called Kodak Picture Spots, which means that area is pretty and you should take a picture there. Me and Michael took that to mean take a picture with the sign and the kids in the picture on the sign. Enjoy.




This game will be continued with the roomies.

We rode Mission Space, Soarin’, Test Track, Nemo, and the Imagination rides. Then we found a really fun fountain. It’s the little things….

We took a lot more pictures and played here for a solid 15 minutes.

After the fountain everyone was ready to head out, so we ended up leaving around 6:30 and heading back to Tampa.

Aren’t we such a cute little family? Too bad Dad had to work, or it would have been all four of us. Oh well, maybe next time!

Blanket forts

Saturday was my first day off in like 9 days. Ok, maybe 8. I don’t really know. Again, I have no concept of time. Anyways, as it turns out, not only did I have off, but so did Laura, Sam, Amanda, and Tabbie. I know, awesome.

We started the day sleeping until around noon. My sleep schedule is so crazy now. I haven’t slept this late in ages. Anyways, we were hungry and had absolutely no desire to cook. So where do we go? Waffle House of course. Amanda and I introduced Laura to Waffle House a few days ago, and this was Sam’s first visit. It was delicious, as usual. Since so many of us had the day off, we had planned to go play on property at Boardwalk or some other resort, but we didn’t really make it there. Instead, after Waffle House we went to the nail place. Sam, Laura, and Amanda wanted to get their nails did, so me and Tabbie just went to hang out. And I was the one who drove, so I kind of needed to be there. That whole transportation thing. And Tabbie and I decided to get smoothies. Smoothies are always a good idea.

After the whole nail adventure, it was about 4 in the afternoon. We didn’t really want to go to a park or anything at this point, so we decided a movie would be fun. We got back to the apartment and moved a tv into the living room so we could all fit in one room to watch Mean Girls. Here’s the thing with Mean Girls… There are 3 copies of it in our apartment (dooopies as we like to refer to them) and we quote that movie all the time. Really. I’m not kidding. All. The. Time.

Anyways, as we were all grabbing pillows and blankets so we would all be comfy in the living room (only 3 people can fit on the couch), we got an idea. Why not take all the blankets and build a fort?! BRILLIANT! It was super exciting. A blanket fort. Yes please.

This is serious business. Just look at Amanda working, and Laura thinking. I finally get to use some of my engineering! Yes!

And pose J From left to right: Tabbie, Sam, Laura, Amanda. Pamela had to work, and I’m behind the camera.

This is the view from the inside of the fort, and this picture does not do it justice at all.

And the final product after the movie was over. We really didn’t want to clean it up, so there was a fort in the living room for about an hour after the movie was over. I’m a personal fan of the giant GT and Buzz blanket. You would think we are all Tech fans looking around the apartment, I brought a ton of GT stuff.

A month already

Exactly one month ago I was checking in and getting all moved in to 8108. Has it really been a month already? Crazy, time is starting to really fly by super fast.

Nothing too exciting is going on, I've been working everyday since last Thursday, so most of my time has been spent at The Crystal Palace. I had some more training and took a safety class, so now I'm trained to use the computer for checking people in for reservations and using the tablet. I feel all secret agent; it involves a radio.

Laura, Amanda, and I went to Typhoon Lagoon on Monday. That probably wasn't the best idea for me, since I had been awake since 4 AM for the learning how to open the restaurant shift that started at 6 AM. It was fun though, I hadn't been to a water park in like 10 years. After that we went to get some food (I have the worst time trying to have a normal eating schedule). I fell asleep on the couch about 5 minutes after I got out of the shower, so I was in my jommies and my hair was in a towel, and I was asleep at 7 PM. It was an interesting sight, I'm surprised there are no pictures. That turned out being a 2 hour nap, which means I woke up just in time for the real housewives of new jersey reunion, part 2. All I can say: crazy.

Tuesday I went with some Crystal Palace people to Ale House to hang out after work. Fun times, fun times.

Back to Disney news. They've already started decorating the park for fall/halloween, so there are pumpkins and orange and all that fun stuff all around main street. I need to walk through and see it as a guest, I can't really tell from the front porch of the palace.

Next Monday my mom and brother are coming down for a little visit. It's his September break, and they'll be here Monday-Thursday, with park adventures Tuesday and Wednesday. There are probably going to be a lot of McDonough kids down here that week. Whenever it's September break, they all end up at Disney. The following week my aunt and cousins are coming down, so I'm hoping I get those days off from work. I really want to have them eat at The Crystal Palace for breakfast. Mainly because I love breakfast food and we have really good breakfast food. And there are the characters, which is always adorable.

i have absolutely no concept of time

I'm completely serious. I have no idea what day of the week it is.

Wait, it's friday? And labor day monday? Cool?

Let's see, what has been going on recently... when is the last time I updated this thing?

On Wednesday I finally went to Animal Kingdom! Yay! It was awesome, as expected. We rode Everest, the Safari, Dinosaur, and some Dino roller coaster thing that really just beat you up. The safari was awesome, so many animals. Look!

it's a baby!!!

It was me and the Crystal Palace Crew all hanging out on our day off. We even learned how to dance.

After learning how to dance, we thought it would be a good idea to head to Hollywood Studios and play there. Turns out it was time for the parade as we were leaving, so there were a bunch of ropes and such blocking off area for the parade. Well, we were not about to get stuck behind a parade. Instead, we became the opening act. Yes, that means we were running and dancing in front of the parade.

And it wouldn't be a parade without character attendants. These two were making sure we were safe and attending to us characters.

After successfully leaving Animal Kingdom and getting to Hollywood Studios, it was time to stand in a 10 minute line for the roller coaster. Yes, 10 minutes. It was wonderful. Toy Story Mania is open again, so we had to do that one. So much fun and well worth the 30 minute wait.

That was the main adventure in the past week. Other than that it has been work and goofing off around the apartment. Went to the pool, which happens to be really nice and relaxing. Other than that, not much. Work, play in parks, try to remember to eat, and somehow fit some sleep into the schedule. Oh the life of a CP