Guess why my arms are sore?

Come on people get your head out of the gutter. I bought Joe the wii today. For those of you are not familiar with this game system it is made by Nintendo and your actions move the people in the game. You hook up the controller to your hand and as you move so does the arms of the little Nintendo guys. Bryson is in love with the wii already. He is a fast learner and picked it up quick. His teacher at school says he is really good at hitting kids and he really showed off his skills on the boxing game. Carter had to get in on action and showed off his skills in baseball. He was throwing screwballs and splitters. Go Carter! For dinner I was cooking ground beef and I could hardly break up the meat. I know, I know pathetic, but hey I am being honest here. The boxing game really kick my butt. I think I pulled a muscle in my back also. I definitely think I need a full body massage now.
I had a great video but it was a lot darker than I would have liked. I will try and get one posted up tomorrow of Bryson boxing.

Our Christmas Journey Day 5 Part 2

December 25th Day 5 Part 2

When I last left off we were riding the monorail on our way to Chef Mickeys. We arrived at Chef Mickey's 30 minutes prior to our reservations. Bryson and I walked over to the gift shop and when we returned we were being seated.
We sat down and I picked up some food for the boys from the buffet. Shortly afterwards we spotted our first visit Mrs. Minnie Mouse came by to see us.

Can you spot Carter? You might have to click on the picture to make it larger.

Check out Joe, he looks pretty happy to be sitting by his pretty little lady.

Next up was none other than the most famous Mouse himself. That's right Mickey!! Have you noticed Carter's trend in some of his character pictures? He likes to look at them right as I am taking the picture. I already showed you the picture of him with Donald Duck and here he is with Mickey.

And then once more with Pluto!!


Here are Goofy and Donald.


As we were finishing up eating we saw Minnie round the corner again so I took a few more pictures and then we left.
Off to the Magic Kingdom. I am going to back up just a step and tell you about us getting on the monorail at Epcot. We drove our car to Epcot that morning and then when it was time to leave we took the monorail to Chef Mickey's. The monorail connects from Epcot to Magic Kingdom and a few hotels. When we were leaving Epcot the monorail station was blocked off. There were a few guards standing there so I asked why it was blocked and how we were to get to Chef Mickeys in the Contemporary Hotel and Magic Kingdom. The guard asked if we were hotel guests and I said yes. He asked to see our hotel keys then said we could go on. I was curious and asked why. He said that the Magic Kingdom was closed to others that it had filled to maximum capacity. I had heard that this could happen and that Disney World's busiest time was at Christmas and they were right. We left Epcot at 11:30am and Magic Kingdom was already filled to their capacity of 100,000 guests.

Our first ride we went on was Thunder Mountain Railroad height requirement 40 inches. We switched Carter's shoes and were on our way. Carter liked this ride better than Fast Track. After Thunder Mountain I went and grabbed us a great seat for the parade that was in an hour and Joe took the boys to ride Buzz Lightyear, this is the ride that we rode a few days earlier. When the boys got back I took a picture of Joe and Bryson doing Carter's smile.

I took a few pictures of Carter being silly waiting for the parade to start.



I will leave with another castle picture. This was taken right before the parade started.


Next up: Parade pictures, and we finally use our ponchos.

My own moment of truth...

Tonight I was watching that new show "A Moment of Truth" when all of the sudden Joe pops his head in from the kitchen and says "I have a question for you?" I quickly reply "Umm before I answer how much am I going to win?" Joe I'm sure rolls his eyes, though I can't see because it's dark but he says...

Joe: Why did Carter come up to me and say "Girls have a gina and you have a wiener?"
(we pronounce it vagina just without the va sound)

Me: (Giggling) Because he asked me if I had a wiener and I told him no that girls have ginas and boys have wieners.
Joe: He's only two.
Me: I taught Bryson that when he was two.
Joe: Are you sure? I thought all he knew was wiener at that age.
Me: No Hun...

I think he is losing his memory faster than I am. Anyways Carter does sound like that little boy from the movie "Kindergarten Cop" Boys a penis, girls have a vagina!

Our Christmas Journey Day 5 Part 1

December 25th Day 5 Part 1

Santa found us, and he was able to get in.
Bryson woke up and said "It's so MAGICAL" I agree! He guessed that Santa must have come through the window since his bed was right up against the door. We woke up and the kids checked out their gifts that Santa brought. Carter got a Lightning McQueen race track
and Bryson got a big Optimus Prime.
I am just thankful Santa didn't bring a whole bunch of stuff. He must have known that we would be at Disney World. Santa is so smart. They also emptied out their stocking then we got ready to hit the parks. First up Epcot.

We entered the park and went straight for the ride Test Track. I heard that this was the ride to go to first as the wait times can exceed an hour.
This is the description of Test Track that they give you- Enter the hair-raising world of auto testing on one of the longest, fastest rides in Disney history! Strap yourself in to race up bumpy terrain, roar through hair-pin turns, speed into freezing cold chambers, and rush on to 50-degree banked curves at 60 miles an hour. Sounds like fun huh? It was a blast. The height requirement was 40 inches so we slipped on Carters super shoes and off we went. Carter liked the ride up until it took off on the race track and we got up to 64 miles and hour. He didn't like that part so much. Here is a picture that I got off the Internet to try and show you the ride. As you exit the ride they have a bunch of cool looking cars. We had to stop and take pictures of course.

We walked over to the Nemo ride and picked up some fast passes for Soarin on the way.
The Nemo ride was fun but nothing exciting could have skipped it. We went and visited Bruce from Finding Nemo

and then saw where we would be eating dinner the next day which was at the Coral Reef.

We jumped on to the Monorail and headed to for brunch. When we got on the Monorail we were able to sit up front in our own special car with the driver. How cool is that? The kids loved it and even got an honorary Monorail License.
Here is Joe getting his License.
The Contemporary Resort is in the background where Chef Mickeys is at.

Coming up: Brunch with Mickey and Friends and what park do we go to next?

Guess what we did this weekend?

On Friday the news gave a Winter Storm Advisory for Saturday. We were all getting really excited for it to snow. It hadn't snowed since last February. Saturday around noon it started to rain around 3 we had a bit of a mixture then finally at 4 it turned to snow.

We went outside and played while it was falling down.




We then had dinner plans with some friends of ours. Afterwards the kids really wanted to play outside but it was 9 and way past their bedtime. It was still snowing so we told them that they could play in the morning.


This morning we woke up and all the snow in our yard had melted. Bryson and Carter were so sad. What is a mother to do with two sad boys that want to play in the snow? We walked across the street to our neighbors yard and they played away. Not exactly the snow had already began to melt so it was hard as ice. We stayed outside probably about 10 minutes and they were done.

American Idol Rewind

I know I know I will probably get some heckling from doing an American Idol post, but season 7 is well underway and the crazies have come out of the woodwork this season. Its nice for just a moment to escape the primaries and the pains of Iraq. We can live vicariously through the contestants from the comforts of our own couches. We will be there as they live their dreams or nightmares and laugh right along with Simon, Paula, and Randy. Just in case you missed the Auditions I will run through some of my favorites.

I really liked Uka, he just loves America. We need more people like him. Here he is.



Chris Watson was the guy I liked of the night. I think he did a good job.


Can you believe Princess Leia was there and she kept calling herself a dork. Pretty funny!


Then there was Brooke White. I liked Brook and I would still like her had she not gone after Princess Leia. Here she is.


All I can say for the second night is....I am your Brother

This really is a catchy song, and i find myself singing it to the boys. They think it's quite funny and laugh at me.

I think this seasons is going to be a great one as long as Uka keeps on loving America.

Our Christmas Journey Day 4 Part 3

December 24th Day 4 Part 3

After swimming in the seas with Nemo we headed over to the Kali River Rapids. This is the ride that seats I think 10 people and floats through the rapids. Not a good ride for our kids that don't like to get wet. I had even bought ponchos ahead of time but Joe said we really didn't need them. Bryson got soaked. He was more wet then anyone on our raft. Carter didn't like being wet so much either but handled it better than Bryson. This is him right afterwards. Thank goodness I had brought a pair of jeans and he was much happier once he changed. I know it's hard to see his face because of the sun shining on it, but he had quite the grumpy look.
Carter feel asleep shortly after and Joe took Bryson on a train ride while I found a bench to let Carter sleep a bit.
He was pretty tired. Once they got back from the train ride we settled down and got ready for the parade. It was Mickey's Jingle Jungle Parade. The kids liked it and of course enjoyed their Popcorn while watching it.

After the parade we went to
to see Mickey, Minnie, Goofy and Donald. Carter really gets excited when seeing all the characters. I love the look he is giving Donald on this first picture. Like I have said before you can click on any picture to make it larger.






After our meet and greet with Mickey and his friends we left the park. It was getting closer to our dinner reservation at the Mia Grill. We took a few funny photos as we were leaving.

At the exit of the park I had to take a few more pictures. If you haven't noticed by now it is very hard for me to get Carter to smile. For some reason that kid likes to torture me. Here is an example.
Mom: Bryson just stand there and smile.
Bryson: Alright
Mom: Carter get next to Bryson and say cheese please.
Carter: (smiles really quick then stops, I take the picture)
Mom: Carter get over there now and smile!!!
Mom: Come on Carter just smile really quick.
Carter: (He smiles for a brief second, stops and then I click)
Mom: I wasn't ready do it again.
Bryson: (grapping Carter's arm and yelling at him) Carter just smile!!
Carter: (then he smiles his famous smile which is when he tilts his head back grits his teeth together, parts his lips just a bit and screams cheese.)
It is not the best looking smile but at least he is trying. Every once in awhile I will get a good photo from him when he is not trying to smile. I have to be secret about taking his photos sometimes. Bryson on the other hand is my photo boy. He loves the camera and will constantly say "Mom look at me, take my picture!" When it comes time to take pictures poor Bryson has to stand there with a smile plastered on his face for at least five minutes while I threaten Carter to give me something. Finally after all that I got this shot.

Our dinner was at the Maya Grill inside the Coronado Resort. This was our least favorite meal of the week. The service wasn't that great and the food just wasn't as good as the other places we had been before. When we go back we will be dining somewhere other than the Maya Grill. There really wasn't a lot to choose from. For our appetizers I had the potato soup and Joe had a salad. For our entree I had the Steak and Catch - filet mignon and fresh catch of the day, includes choice of potato and mixed vegetables. My steak was over cooked but the fish was tasty. Joe had the Rib-Eye Steak - includes choice of potato and mixed vegetables. He says that his meal was so so also. The boys shared Mozzarella cheese sticks that tasted like they had been micro waved and Beef Steak Tips with French fries. For dessert I actually tried something other than chocolate cake. I had the Fried Cheese Cake. I can't remember what Joe had for desert but we took them to go and ate them later in the room. Carter was having fun at dinner though.
On the way out we stopped at the gift shop and I got a cute photo of the boys trying on hats.
When we got back to the room it was time to open their Christmas Eve present. Our family tradition is that they get Christmas pjs and a Christmas book. Since last Christmas Bryson only sleeps in boxers now so he got a super cool pair of Transformer(Bumble Bee) Boxers and Carter got some cute Santa pjs. They loved them.

They took baths got their pjs on put their stockings up and went to sleep. They were anxious to see if Santa would find them. I told them that Santa would find them where ever they were. Bryson's bed was right by the door and he was concerned that Santa would not be able to get in.

Coming up: Does Santa find us? Was he able to get in? Where do we spend Christmas?