Disney Day 2 - our Epcot Excursion

We love Epcot. There are tons of educational things to do with the kids here -- many of which are inside and air conditioned. One of our favorites is the World of Energy Show. It's a little loud in some parts for smaller kids (get ready to block kid's ears during the Big Bang theory part at the beginning) but it's a slow, 45-minutes of air conditioned goodness. Oh, and the kids learn all about energy. 

Another great educational ride that is dark and air conditioned is Spaceship Earth. It's a timeline of how communication began. That ride is about 20 minutes. If you need a little one to take a quick nap, this is for you. 

For lunch we ate at Katsura Grill in the World Showcase. This is a little place in The Japanese pavilion a Epcot. They serve fresh sushi, tasty udon noodle soup and chicken teriyaki. Most dishes are under $10 each. The place is small, but very clean and they also have outdoor seating. The staff inside is very friendly and helpful. If you like Japanese food, this is a good place to stop. 

For dessert, we stopped at the French pastry shoppe in the France Pavilion in Epcot. In short, they have the best pastry  I've ever had. Most are around $4.50. The place is a good size sit here's lots of seating. I recommend getting your dessert here!

After Epcot we went to Downtown Disney. We always go to Downtown Disney when we are visiting Florida. There's something for everyone down there. We especially love going to Disney Quest with the kids. It's five floors of arcade and virtual reality fun. Unfortunately if you want to go there, go quickly as Disney is going to tear it down for some stupid restaurant/bar. There's all kinds of shopping and restaurants to go to as well. I highly recommend going. Especially before DisneyQuest closes!

Day 1 - Magic Kingdom

As I suspected, we got up later than My husband wanted, so we had to skip breakfast to make it to the park on time. We went to the Magic Kingdom. The first ride we went on was the Seven Dwarves Mine Train Ride. Hubby and the kids were very disappointed, but it was thrill enough for me. The weather is hot and soupy. I brought little fans and a water sprayer to keep the kids cool while we waited in the long lines. 

After the mine train, we went nostalgic and went on the Winnie the Pooh ride. It's still a gem!  After that Hubby and the kids went on Splash Mountain while I caught the Bear Jamboree act. It's about 10 minutes and it is adorable. It's also very comfortable in the theatre. So much so that I started falling asleep!

From there we got lunch. The Crystal palace is a clean, superbly themed Disney World restaurant in the Magic Kingdom. The service is extremely friendly and attentive. This has some of the best, healthiest food in the Magic Kingdom. There are salads and non fried meats and fish. Lots of vegetables and fruits to make good choices. There's junky stuff here too if that's what you want. The bonus is the characters that come around to the tables to sign autographs and take pictures. This can be a buffet breakfast, lunch or dinner. It's pricy, but worth it for the entertainment and the healthier food. Reservations are STRONGLY RECOMMENDED.

After lunch hubby and my daughter went on Space Mountain while my son and o went on the people move. This is an awesome ride to relax and unwind on. Another good attraction to get out of the heat is the carousel of progress, which we all went on next. Then it was on to Big Thunder Mountain and back to the hotel. After getting some adult beverages for Hubby and myself, we went to the pool until the thunder and lightning squashed that. 

For dinner we stayed on the resort and went to the Garden restaurant. This is a spacious, beautiful buffet restaurant. The facility is immaculate and has seating for many, many people. The servers are incredibly friendly and are quick to get drinks and clear dishes. The food is an excellent quality with a large variety to meet all tastes and needs. I enjoy eating here when we are at this resort. I highly recommend it. 

We're exhausted, so we stayed in. So far, the vacation has picked up. 

The hellish journey to Disney

An email from my boss on the morning of our trip to Disney should have tipped me off to the kind of day this was going to be. 

The files that I sent to my printer did not come through, which meant if I didn't go in, there were going to be major complication  with my magazine. This is the first time this has ever happened, so I went in to fix the problem. I didn't mind -- I've stated before I love my job -- but I should have known that this would only be the beginning of a disastrous day. 

I cleaned the house and we all prepared for our journey to the happiest place on Earth. The kids were super excited. I was glad to be going, but to be honest I'm not a fan of hotels and knew I would miss my comfy bed. 

We hired a van service to pick us up. It's less hassle than driving into Boston and cheaper and safer than parking at the airport. When I say safer, I mean safer for the car. We have never had an issue with parking there, but friends have come back to damage. We shared the van with a woman who kept taking off her sneakers and talking about her political stances. Neither were particularly pleasant to me.   There was a lot of traffic on the way to Logan, typical for that time of day, but Brian worried that we would be cutting our flight close. When we got out of the van, we rushed to Jet Blue and  got our boarding passes, got through security and grabbed lunch at Johhny Rockets in the terminal.  

Like all the airport restaurants, this place is small and crowded. It is also a little pricy. But the food was pretty good and it came quickly. The burgers were really good and the onion rings were crunchy and had good flavor. If you get stuck at the Jet Blue Terminal at Logan International Airport and your hungry, this is a decent option. 

It was then that we discovered the first plane delay. It was an hour so we didn't think too much of it. We slowed our dinner and headed to gate. Brian called the transportation service to let them know we would be late. 

I walked over to departures and saw the second delay --we wouldn't be leaving until 10:30 pm!  Brian called the transportation service again and got the rudest person. They refused to pick us up because we were getting in too late. In addition, they did not offer us any names or contacts to us to find a service that we could contact. This company stranded us at the airport with two children in a strange city with no way of getting to our hotel. I STRONGLY recommend that you NEVER use this service. 

We arrived in Orlando at 2:30 am and at our hotel at 3:30 pm after  a $70 cab bill.  Brian plans on getting to the Magic Kingdom by 9 am. We'll see!

The Pool Party

I've been promising my daughter for weeks that she could have a pool party with her elementary school friends before they made the transition to middle school. After putting it off and putting it off I finally sent the invites out last Wednesday.  I'm supposed to be doing laundry, buying back to school supplies and packing for our trip to Disney this coming week. But I didn't do any of that. Instead, I got up, cleaned the house, set up the outside and prepared food for my dayghter's guests. I often enlist my daughter to help, but I have a system and I just wanted to get it done, so I did it myself. Yes I know -- a teaching moment lost. But she helps me with other events we have at the house and she was so excited about her friends coming over it was best done by just me. 

The guests arrived, the food went out, Kids Bop music was blaring from outdoor speakers and a good time was had by all. Well, all of the girls had fun. I was exhausted at the end of it. My efforts were not in vain; the girls had a lot of fun and in the end it's all about the kids. My son joined in at the end, so he also had a great time. 

It's such a funny thing to get up early to clean a house that's going to get destroyed with dishes in the sink from food preparation and post-party revelry. It happened nonetheless.  

After the guests left, I filled up the gas tank for the next day, started laundry, did some back to school shopping and started packing. All in all, a very busy and a very good day. 

My first post - an Introduction

Hi!

I'm a crazy, busy mom.  Yeah, I know -- what mom isn't? I wanted to chronicle the craziness that is my life just for fun.

A little about me:  I work full-time and I am a mom to a 10-year-old daughter and  an 8-year-old son.  I do internal communications for a government agency.  I've been doing it for 30 years and I absolutely love it.  I've also been writing action/adventure stories in a space setting since I was nine years old.  I've had six of my short stories published and I'm hoping to get a collection of short stories published by the end of this year.  I've won many awards for the writing that I've done for work, and one award for my personal work.  In addition to working full-time, I am also a Girl Scout leader, Scout mom, soccer mom, dance mom, skating mom and karate mom.  Up until this year, I was also a Religious Education teacher on top of the rest.  Hence the title of my blog.  :-)

I love my kids, I love my job and I love my crazy busy life.  However, sometimes it can get a little overwhelming and I get super stressed.

My writing on this blog will reflect my own personal opinions.  I understand that my way of thinking may not be that of someone reading my blog.  Let's just agree to disagree right up front.  :-)

Things you can expect to see on this blog:  Random thoughts of course! Also reviews of places I've been, rants about things that frustrate me, some of my writing, etc.

Thanks for reading