For Uncle Brad

Uncle Brad,

I love to look at pictures of you, and I lovingly refer to you as "Rad." ANYtime I see you in a picture I say your name...even if it's just the back of your head!

I love you so much!
Abby

Photo and video editing at www.OneTrueMedia.com

Photo Challenge

I meant to sit down and do this awhile back, but here I am finally getting to it.

I was reading Candice's blog, and was tagged to do this Photo Folder Challenge. Go to your fourth folder, fourth picture and post it. Then tell about it.

So here it is:

Granted you can practically see up my nose, and I seriously doubt I was actually sleeping...but this was still in our apartment when we had our other little dachshund, Macy. We lovingly referred to her as "Crazy Macy." Sandy was such the sweet mother hen to Macy, but Macy got sick so much, and what we felt she really needed was a yard to run around and play in. We ended up giving her to a friend of the family, and she's been great for them since. Oh how I cried when we had to give her up. I didn't really want to, but I knew it would be best for her. Sad story, huh? I know, but I do have some great memories of that sweet little dog :)

True Story

Today Abby and I took a little trip to the good 'ol Chick-fil-a. I had a free coupon for a kids meal (don't we love Free?) We ate our meal, well more so I ate my meal, and Abby picked at hers. They came around with free samples of a Peppermint shake, to which I really am not a fan of peppermint, but yum! That thing was good. I gather all our trash on the tray, I stand up and start to move forward (are we seeing where this is going yet?!?) and somehow, I completely lose my balance and bust it--on my behind!--in the middle of Chick-fil-a. Y'know, when you see someone about to spill something or drop something, how someone looks like they're reaching out and just "barely" miss it. Well, I had about 3 people doing that for me! When I looked up, someone had caught my tray, which I had pretty much spilled the trash all over Abby, and the tray half way landed on the top of her head. I remember looking at her, and she looks like she's ducking and her eyes are blinking really fast because stuff is falling in her face. I'm hearing all around me, "Ma'm, ma'm are you ok? Do we need to call anything for you?" A Chick-fil-a worker comes over and asks if I slipped on something on the floor, and if they need to clean something up off the floor. I'm like, "Um, no, I think I did this all on my own :)" Nice.

I'm still dying laughing. I mean..holy cow...I busted it in the middle of Chick-fil-a! I'm still not exactly sure how it happened, and I totally wish I could watch a replay. I want to know if my arms flailed as I was trying to catch my balance, what my face looked like, and how quickly it really happened. I'm sure each of you has an image in your mind of how ridiculous this all looked! Just call me smoothe :)

My sweet little Abby

I love that girl! She is completely full of personality. Oh, if you could see the little expressions we get on a daily basis. Crazy funny! She is Miss Independent at times, too...ooo and stubborn! You should see the expressions that come along with stubberness :) I'm totally behind a week in posting, so here is some Abby randomness.

I just love this little picture...it's something about how her foot is. It makes me smile. Tube of wrapping paper, anyone?
This was a little phone I played with when I was little. First thing in the morning, she loves to find it and pull it around the house. Oh my! Abby's first bath with someone else, and it's a BOY :)

We love the pose on top of the box...have ya'll noticed?!?! If only the background actually looked better :) This little outfit has Minnie Mouse on it, and we fully intended her to wear it at Disney World, but the weather was warmer than we imagined, and she would've sweat to death! I'm definitely not complaining about the Disney weather, though, best thing I could've ever hoped for!

Our own little Minnie Mouse...doesn't this shirt make you think that? Well, this picture would've been one of my favorites, I'm most certain, but, sadly, her eyes are closed. Oh how that frustrates me!
Oh, Sandy, you make me laugh!
Here, I'll help you!

Disney - Day 3, 4, & 5

Which is actually Day 4, 5, & 6 :) I'm so ridiculous, I know. This day was spent at Animal Kingdom. I love Animal Kingdom, and so did the kids.We first rode a little train around the park--this little expression...I want to kiss her face off :)

The beloved Warthogs...Ever since our last Disney trip, Josh has decided that the warthog (Pumba, really) is his favorite character. So, of course, we had to take a picture of where they are held. Next up..the safari! Look how close we actually are to some of these animals.

This baby giraffe just walked right in front of our vehicle. I posted this one because I got a picture of what we ride in, incase you had no idea. Getting some daddy lovin' on the safari. Training for the MS 150 at Animal Kingdom (riiiigghhhtt!!!)
The Festival of the Lion King Show--Pumba, of course :) Animal Kingdom has a super cool rollar coaster called Expedition Everest. Half of it is inside, half of it is out, you do some backwards, some forwards. It's awesome...really. I was just looking online to find some pictures so you could see it, but it's kinda pointless because, like I said, some of it is inside. I did watch a video of it on YouTube because someone had a video camera on them while riding it. That ride was 2:34 of pure greatness :)

Josh, myself, and my brother are rollar coaster enthusiats. Last time we went to Disney, Josh and I took a day at Universal, and we found it hard not to do the same this trip. Universal Studios has lots of awesome rides. We can't thank my parents enough for allowing us to go, while they watched Abby for us.

Besides just rides, Universal has cool shows, too. Here is Brad and I sporting our super cool 3D glasses!

The ride on the left is The Hulk. Great ride! It was the first thing we rode when we got in the park. Notice the clouds. So...we decide to ride it once more before we go to the other side of the park to be done with rollar coasters for the day kinda thing. When we're getting in the seats (which this time we were in the very back), I noticed they were wet, but the ride does go over water, so I just said, "Wow, I guess the seats in the back do get wet." And the little attendant worker was like "Yeah, it's raining outside." What? We were only in line for like 5 minutes, and it was barely drizzling. Well, this ride shoots you through this tunnel, and the second we were out we got pelted the entire time. I couldn't open my eyes, and I never wished for a ride to be over so quickly in my life. I was a wet rat the rest of the day. Nice. Meeting Doc Brown (from Back to the Future). He opened up the door to the Delorean for us so we could have a better peek inside.

He was hilarious!
He was talking to my brother, and he asked him where he lived. Brad told him, and then he asked what he did there. Brad said he made diapers (lol, that sounds silly. Brad is actually a computer guy, and there is more to it than that, but that's what he said). We're parting ways, and Doc Brown gets back on his bike, pedaling away, and shouts, "I'm off to Diaperland!" It was crazy funny. Maybe it was a "you had to be there" moment. :)Amity Village sign.

That night for dinner, we ate at Margaritaville. A lady on stilts came by and was making balloons for the kids. Peyton got a hat, and she asked what Abby would like. I asked if she could make a dog, and so we got a pink weenie dog. How completely appropriate!!!

The next day, Josh, Abby, and I caught our flight home. She did SO good on the trip home. The chick was exhausted. She fell asleep while I was talking to the guy next to me. He said, "Well, it looks like she dozed off." I was in shock--we hadn't even taken off yet! She slept a little over an hour in my arms. I couldn't have asked for better. She then took a 2 hour nap when we got home. She was a little worn out :)

And that's it folks! That was our amazing, lovely, fantastic, Disney trip. I really loved it, and I will love to go back when Abby is singing all the songs right along with me. I hope she's pumped that she has a mommy that really loves Disney just as much as the kids themselves! :)

Disney - Day 2

Actually, it's Day 3 because Day 1 was arriving, Day 2 was Magic Kingdom, and now Day 3 is not even Disney...it was Sea World. But for the sake of making things flow from my titles, it's worded the way it is. Are you with me?

OK, so Tuesday we went to Sea World. Josh and I have been to Sea World in San Antonio, which I loved, so we thought it would be fun to take the kids to Sea World in Orlando. I love, love, love marine mammals. Really. They are so amazing, and I can't even begin to imagine how completely and totally awesome it would be to be a trainer. To ride on the nose of a huge whale...ok truthfully I'd probably chicken out even if I had the chance (on the whale that is--with a dolphin I'd do it, I'm almost certain!) because my mind wonders to "When Good Animals Go Bad." Anyway, I digress...

Sea World was good, but the day before we had been able to ride all these rides with the kids, and now at Sea World there were just lots of shows. Amazing and great shows but sitting down shows. Abby did fine, and she did watch, but some of the shows were loud. Not with scary sounds or anything, but just very loud, and she would get a bit freaked out. It was a fun day, though, but now that I look through my pictures, we have several of the stuff that happened during the shows, but not many of Abby in general. I'm showing you the pictures of the shows, though, because that's what I got :)

The entrance. Josh took that moving from the car window. Not bad, eh?
The dolphin nursery. You could walk right up to this. I could've reached out and touched them (except I don't think we were supposed to do that!)

Look at that big animal thing in the middle. It was for sure not cute!

We walked through this exhibit, and the name of the type of one of the little fishies swimming around was Chubb. I'm easily entertained, ok? :) Walking through the shark tank. Shamu show.

Sea World did have one really fantastic rollar coaster. Josh, Brad, and I road it. It was called Kraken. Your feet dangle, and there are some pretty awesome twists and turns. I always get nervous before I ride something, but after I've done the first one for the day, then I'm ready to ride lots more. This is what it looks like. (I didn't take these pictures..just found them off the internet.)

Abby road with Josh, me, Brad, and Pop in the Sky Tower. It's an enclosed, seated round room type thing that takes you up really high, and you can see for miles and miles. It rotates while you go up, so you are able to see all sides of the park. It was pretty neat, and she enjoyed pointing at everything.That night, we went to Downtown Disney's Boardwalk. I love this picture because Abby reached out to put her hand on Cinderella's head. She will learn to love the princesses as much as I do! :) By the Lego Bulldog because we are the Louisiana Tech Bulldogs, of course.
Up next, Animal Kingdom!

Disney - Take Off & Day 1

We left for Disney World January 25th, and our flight was at 9:15am. So we made it to the airport around 7:40ish. Flying isn't my favorite thing, and the last time I did was when we went to Disney World 3 years ago. Even though I don't love flying, I didn't have much time to think about it because Abby kept us busy! My arms were about to fall off because we carried her through the airport and between taking off her shoes, jacket, my shoes, my jacket, and my bag off my back for security purposes...I was feeling slightly wiped by the time we even made it to the gate. Sad, I know :) The plane flight went great. Granted she was wiggly by the last 45 minutes, but an almost 2 year old sitting on your lap for almost 2 hours is a big accomplishment in itself anyway! On a side note: if you want to keep your child entertained for awhile, the airport is one fun place!

We stayed at the Pop Century Resort (which is where we stayed 3 years ago, too), but this time we were in the "80's Decade." We were by the computer pool, which is so fitting since we had so many computer people in our party :) This was the giant keyboard, so we took a picture by the A!

The first park we went to was Magic Kingdom. All in all, at all the parks Abby did great, but at the start of every morning she basically flipped out. I don't know if it was so overwhelming for her mind to grasp or what, but she did NOT want to be in the stroller this first morning. After time, and for all the rest of the days, she completely calmed down and took it all in. She never had huge smiles at any of things we were doing (not because she didn't love it), it was more huge wide-eyes trying to figure out what the heck we were doing. She stayed completely entertained by her cousin, Peyton, and they laughed so much! They were adorable together.

Bippty Boppity Boo!

See what I mean...wide eyes! This was on the little kids Peter Pan ride. I'm saying "Yea, yea!" so she isn't scared. This ride is in the dark with all the lit up stuff around you. She didn't cry; she just had huge eyes :)

I picked this picture to post of the arm out shot because you just barely see her eyes. Wide-eyed still!

Waiting on the Dumbo ride! Don't you love her Disney Princess shirt? It's a Small World ride. This picture for the Ege's...the hula dance :)
Character dining. We got to visit with the Winnie the Pooh Gang, and the food was SO good!

These pictures make me laugh! Here are the shots taken in order of Abby's experience meeting some of the characters.You see her little hand out next to Josh's? Things are good here. She's ready to give Winnie a high five.

Then she gets a little nervous, and is thinking...Pooh, you're totally invading my bubble!

I've looked at this picture several times, and I can't help but laugh every time! It's hilarious! Her face is like, "Oh God, please don't touch me!"
"Please take me back to my chair..."

"OK, he's gone...I'll blow him a kiss now!"

"You people are subjecting me to this again?"

"Seriously, again?!?!"

Many of our pictures look like this. The back of Abby's head because she's too interested in what we're taking our picture in front of to actually look at the camera. I don't blame her, though...it's cool stuff! There is a glare on his face, but it's Buzz Lightyear in case you were wondering.

In front of Minnie's house and her cute mailbox :)

Y'know those people in gift stores that see all this cool stuff and repeatedly keep trying different things on and taking pictures? Well, we are those people :)

Ch-ch-ch-chip 'n' dale, Rescue Rangers! (C'mon, ya'll totally remember that show, right?!?!)

On the train. What a sweet face!

The parade we stayed for--Spectro Magic! This parade was wonderful, and the kiddos were totally into it!

G'nite Magic Kingdom...we had a great first day!

(If you're thinking the rest of the posts about Disney are going to be as long, don't worry, they won't be. We must've been totally pumped this first day, and the days that follow have fewer and fewer pictures. So if you've made it to the end of this one, you'll definitely make it through the rest :)