What Do You Want To Be When You Grow Up?

I ask Connor this once in awhile. Last night we were eating dinner together at Moe's while waiting for his portraits to be printed. The answer?

"Umm. I'm pretty sure I want to work in Orlando at the Hilton running the water slide, Mom."

Okey Dokey. Way to aim high, kiddo!

HOTlanta Girls Weekend

Had a great weekend in Atlanta with my mommies. Wow, was it fun. There is literally nothing that was discussed that is appropriate to post on the internet. It was that much fun. We ate, drank, talked, and had makeovers at MAC. I looked like RuPaul when we were done, but I asked for it!

Thanks to all my girls for loving me and spending time with me. It means more to me than you know. And especially thanks to Shawn and Lisa for letting me have my own bed!!!

Frightfully Fun

About three weeks ago it dawned on us that Connor had two days off of school in early November and that we should go somewhere. We jumped on the web and checked out our options and ended up going with our old standby--Disney World. Yes-we know. We go there all the time. Can't we be more creative an open minded? NOPE. We love it there. We're not cynical enough to be unable to surrender to the joy that is Disney. It truly is the Happiest Place On Earth.

We stayed a the brand new Hilton Bonnet Creek and it was just lovely. Fantastic pool with a long lazy river and water slide. And only $75 a night! Great poolside restaurant with olive oil, garlic, and rosemary french fries. And a lovely breakfast buffet where kids eat free (rare at resort hotels).

So, it happened to be Halloween weekend. Luckily, we were able to find tickets to Mickey's Not So Scary Halloween Party for October 31st so we planned our weekend around a fun celebration at the Magic Kingdom. We wore our costumes to the park (as did about 70% of the people there) and had a blast. We felt like stars because so many people asked to take our photograph. The castle looks fantastic for Halloween, all the Disney villains make a special appearance and do a big show right before the fantastic and spooky Halloween fireworks show. The park is open until midnight only for people with the special tickets so the lines are very short and there is trick-or-treating throughout the park. An absolutely fantastically fun time.

In the end, despite our grand plans to hit several parks over the four days, we ended up only doing the MK and Epcot. At Epcot it was the International Food and Wine Festival which was fantastic. It would be great to go there without kiddos and drink and eat your way around the World Showcase. People were having an absolute blast.

Other than that and some miniature golf, we spent the rest of our time just chillin' at the pool. It was a great, fun, and relaxing weekend.

Her Diamonds

C: Mom, can I have some more cheese?
D: Yup. Bring me your plate.
C: No, you bring me the cheese out here.
D: No, you bring me your plate and I'll give you some more cheese.
C: Oh, come on!
D: What? I'm not your servant. If you want more cheese, I'll get it for you, but you need to bring me your plate.
C: Mom, if you bring me the cheese I'll buy you some diamonds.
D: Oh, you will? With what money?
C: Daddy's

They're Falling Like Dominoes

The second one wasn't loose at all a week ago. But once its partner fell, its as if it couldn't bear to stand alone. It tumbled out Friday night at a high school football game---helped along by a Milk Dud. This shot is seconds later--after the blood stopped!

The First Big One

After days of hanging by a thread, it finally twisted around. He made me pull it out before we went into TGI Fridays for lunch "People will think I look like a weird boy." It took a decent yank to free it from its tether, but there you have it. There's a little lisp in our house right now and it is the cutest thing EVER.

Cherrystone

We had another fantastic tent camping excursion with the Bairds over Columbus Day weekend. This trip we visited Cherrystone at the southern tip of the Eastern Shore of Virginia--a place that I had never visited. We drove down through Richmond and Norfolk and took the Chesapeake Bay Bridge and Tunnel. It was our first "non-summer" trip and it was nice to not be sweaty and hot the whole weekend.

One of the reasons that we chose Cherrystone is that they have Halloween celebration weekends and this was one of them. Their festivities include campsite decoration contests, costume contests, trick or treating, a haunted house, and hayrides. Unfortunately, nothing on their website noted that ALL of that takes place on Saturday---and we didn't arrive until about 5pm. So, we missed the bulk of the organized fun that we chose the place for. But, honestly, it didn't really matter because Carole is Martha Stewart in disguise and she came armed with roughly 30 or 40 activities for the kids to do. :)

Here's a pic of our little home away from home. Snug as bugs in rugs were we. The only issue that we have to remember is that nylon sleeping bags slide around an awful lot on the queen size double decker Aerobed. It was like sleeping on a hot buttered pan.

We carved some Jack O'Laterns and got the boys dressed up even though we missed the Trick Or Treating.

The campground has many small rental cabins and folks go crazy decorating them. This was the most incredible one with a small walk-through haunted house. This was on Saturday and the people who did it had come down the previous Sunday and spent the whole week setting it up.

We rented this wacky cycle for an hour and the first 15 minutes was like watching a drunken 95 year old try to drive their Chevy Cavalier around the Beltway. Frightening. I had to go in the tent and take a nap. I was sure that there was a brain injury in the offing. But the boys, and Ralph, survived.

One of the really nice things about this campground is its location on the bay. It has four really nice piers, clamming, boating, fishing, etc. We took many walks to the beach and did alot of exploring.

Does this place look like heaven for boys, or what? Water, sand, broken concrete. They found a crabbing net (which is now in our garage), a tire, giant boards, dead creatures, and general filth. They loved it.

And one final shot of the beautiful sunset on Sunday night. A really fun place. Maybe we'll go back next year and try to get there on time!