April 2018

After the boys got out of bed and were putting up their dishes and making breakfast I got us 4 days of fast passes for the next couple of weeks. Our time here is growing short!

My finger looks better; I found the medicine for it last night and put it on then and this morning. I also soaked my rings in alcohol about 10 minutes last night. I guess I’ll wear my rings on my right hand today and see if anything happens.

Ted finally found us a place in Charleston for a month! He’s been stressing about that for a week or so, so I’m glad he finally found something that works. I’m letting Mom know because they might come and meet us for a bit. We offered to fly her down here for a quick weekend when Ted goes to work soon but it didn’t work out for her.

Ted’s been busy all day. He’s recently put some phones and his old smart watch on eBay, and they’re selling! Today he gave me his watch to box up, and then he weighed it and printed up a label. Then he went to Wal-Mart for groceries, and made Monmons meatloaf for lunch. I always want Lee and Perrins meatloaf, and Ted always wants Monmon’s. I really liked her meatloaf, though, and we’re saving the rest of it for meatloaf sandwiches. Now that I can make that mustard we’re really on a kick. After lunch we had more of the Reece’s candy and it wasn’t waxy…either my taste was off that day or it just tastes better the second day. I don’t like it as much as boiled cookies because these are peanut butter heavy, hardly any chocolate; but overall they’re good.

After school and lunch we headed straight to Animal Kingdom and straight to Avatar to get our DAS. After we got there we realized we were about an hour earlier than we wanted to be, so we walked through the Tree of Life animal area. We saw some tortoises and porcupines, and then we headed over to Everest. While on that ride Jack held his hands up most of the way, and then during the dark portion of the ride Jack’s glasses came off! I don’t know how that happened, but when I thought that’s what was going on I felt Jack’s face/head and sure enough they weren’t there! We came out of the dark and his glasses were on the floor as far away from me as possible! I leaned over and could just reach them, but then I couldn’t sit up because of all the forces from the ride. Ah well, I’m glad it ended well. After the ride we took a photo with a really crazy photographer.

Jack and Ted headed off to the playground, and Max and I went shopping. There are such pretty things here, and I know Ted would say I should get any of them I wanted, but we don’t need to clutter our lives any more, and I already have lots of Disney mementos. When Max and I were finished we headed to the playground to meet up with the other boys. When it was time to leave I took Jack’s shirt off and wet it and put it back on him…he gets so hot and red-faced, sometimes I worry about him. Next up was Kali River Rapids, and this time I got really wet! I didn’t mind it, though, it was pretty hot today. The weather app says the high today was 88.

On our way to Kilimanjaro Safari we saw a walk-through safari with lots of birds. It’s annoying, though, when you can’t figure out what kind of bird you’re seeing when you even have the bird guide card in your hands! Oh well. A guide there pointed out a pheasant that was pretty awesome. It was sitting on the side of the walkway, so the guide asked us to stop walking in front of it, and in a minute it walked out of the bushes and crossed the road in front of us. Its plumage was beautiful, and its feathers were so long!

Kilimanjaro safari was next, and we got to see lots of animals there, too.

On our way out of that safari the guide mentioned Gorilla Falls, another walk-through safari, so we went to that one too. Ted wanted to see the gorillas, and we also saw a partially submerged hippo through the underwater viewing window, several kinds of monkeys, naked mole rats, huge bats, skinks, Komodo dragons, and lots of other animals.

When we had our fill we headed to Avatar. This is still such a great ride, and it smells so wonderful! Just recently I got a new lotion and it smells a lot like Avatar, a lot like what people say the ocean smells like. During Avatar Ted got a call from the Savannah campground he tried to get us into. It’s a better commute for him, so he called them back when we got out and was gonna take it; but they told him that they only allow 2 people per campsite!!! Way to not advertise that on their website. He said it was because of their septic system. Ah, well, I guess it’s for the best.

I was supposed to cook tandoori chicken for our supper tonight. Well, really I was supposed to cook it for yesterday’s lunch, but I got it in the marinade too late, so it was going to be today’s supper, but then we left Animal Kingdom so late, and it’s always so nice to have someone serve you a sit-down meal when you’re really tired, so that’s what we did. Ted’s been wanting to go to Smokey Bones so that’s where we went, and it was awesome! I don’t think it’s just because I was hungry, and really, I was more tired than hungry. The ribs were amazing! They couldn’t have been as good as TJ Ribs, but they fell off the bones, and the sauce was awesome. I want to go there again! Jack and I split a ribs/brisket platter with fries and baked potato. The brisket was good, but I ate the ribs first and they were the best. Ted got a huge burger that was great, too; and Max got buffalo wings, no surprise there. When we walked out of there it was 9:05pm!! I turned tomorrow’s alarm off and we’ll sleep as late as we can. We gassed up the truck and headed home. The boys showered and got right into bed. I took my wedding rings off and my finger looks good. I thought we’d watch Lost, but here I am blogging this post and then we’ll hit the hay. What a good day!

Only 26 days of school left!!!!!

I decided to wear my wedding ring today, and I’m hoping the eczema will stay away!

Well, day 1 of taming the beast is going well. I think just telling Jack up front and being thorough with carrying out consequences is working. I know this is just the beginning, though, and it will be a long road, but we’ll all be better off in the end.

Ted’s gone to the dentist to have his stitches out, and he just walked in the door. He has no restrictions now, thankfully. He sent me a picture of his implants, and then posted on fb about getting them. Heh. I decided to wear my wedding ring today, and I’m hoping the eczema will stay away!

I made the boys (mostly Max) watch this video about meditation today. It’s a foreign dude, maybe a Buddhist, talking about how you can meditate anywhere, anytime, for any length of time. That meditation is as simple as focusing on your breathing. We all have ‘monkey minds’ that want to chatter and chatter about anything and everything, so how do we quiet our minds? Focus on our breathing. Breathe in and out. Thoughts will come and that’s ok, let them come and focus on your breathing. I’m hoping if all 4 of us start doing this when we’re losing control we can regain control of our actions, and with that may come more ‘control’ of our minds. I guess you can’t ever control your emotions, but you can control what you do with them, what you dwell on and how you respond to them.

During break time Jack was waving bits of paper around the bus as he does, and then he found a feather and exclaimed in a monotone, woot! Heh. One day his inflection will match his mood. As he fanned his feather around it came back and touched him and he lost it! He still has a very love-hate relationship with feathers that cracks the rest of us up, at the same time that it makes us feel sorry for him. How can I help him get over this fear when he willingly picks up the feathers and lets me rub them on his skin, but if they touch him when he doesn’t expect it (I guess?) he freaks out.

While I was fixing supper we heard on the radio that a launch was scheduled for tonight. Ted looked it up and it would occur while we were driving to church! Of course traffic was backed up with a big accident, but even with all the rubber-necking that was going on we were right on time for church and the launch. I pulled into a parking space and we watched the rocket take off on the live feed, and then we saw it in the sky! The best picture I got still isn’t great, things are always better with the naked eye, but I wanted to document that we got to see it. And then we changed Jack’s pants in the truck. One day he’ll care about this and we won’t have to worry about carrying extra pants around in the truck. Right?

When we got home from church and I took my wedding ring off I could already feel little bumps on my finger. Ugh.

We started school and then left at 11:15 for lunch and a movie; woot! Max only had 1 unit left for when we get back home! We saw Ready Player 1 and it was pretty good. There were a few cuss words, but other than that it was good for the boys. I split the loaded brisket fries with Jack, Ted had fried chicken mac and cheese, and Max had hot wings. Ted ordered some loaded tater tots and split those with the boys after his meal because they were all still a little hungry. I hope we get to do this again…they had some awesome looking burgers.

After the movie we went to Legoland for a bit. While heading there I saw a shop with such beautiful things; I kinda want all of them! I love surrounding myself with beautiful and sentimental things, but mostly when those things are also useful. I considered a bracelet or a ring stamped with ‘Choose Love’ or ‘Plant Kindness’, but the bracelet was $75!! That’s a litte out of my price range for a whim. I’m gonna look on Amazon or Etsy to see if I can find it a little cheaper.

On the way home I returned several swimsuit coverups I bought yesterday to try on at home. When we got home Ted dropped Jack and me off at the office to pick up a package (Ted’s new phone screen cover) and then we walked home. The boys then finished their school work and went out to play. Jack has been really trying lately…I think we’ve let his attitude get out of hand. I’d been thinking that him throwing a small fit after discipline or when he was frustrated wasn’t a big deal, he doesn’t have the words to express how he feels and he needs to get that emotion out. Well, that has created a monster and now we need to reign it in. I’m praying for wisdom on how to handle this so that we are all happy; it’s easy to see that even Jack isn’t happy when he acts like this. I’ve been having him breathe deeply when he gets upset, so we’ll see how this goes.

While the boys played outside Ted made their supper; what a great husband! Then we each made our sandwiches (I’m really loving goat-cheese and roasted red bell peppers with tons of salt and pepper), and watched the season finale of Walking Dead.

School day again. 6 weeks left! 30 days! Oh, I can’t wait for summer! I chatted with Amy and Jennifer Friday and Amy’s finishing at the same time as us, and Jennifer’s finishing a week early. Her girls are doubling up on some subjects to get done earlier; Max would never go for that.

Max finished school by about 11am!! And his grades are good, too! Awesome. He lost a button off his new shorts and I considered exchanging them at WM for other ones, he’s only worn them this morning, and not even out of the bus! But I read just the other day about teaching kids to do simple things around the house so I had him sew his button on himself, and then I let him play Legos and Minecraft.

All 4 of us headed to the office after school to get the new Gemiinipad and it’s case, and our new sheets. Ted started working on Gemiinipad as soon as I put the case on, and I stuck the new sheets in the washer. A few minutes in Ted got Jennifer and Rachel on Duo so Jack could talk to Rachel…man, I miss those people! It’s so nice to have a friend that no matter how long it is between chats we pick up where we left off. We visited for a few minutes and then Max and I headed out. We went to Dollar Tree to get him some new sunglasses, and then to WM for groceries. We had leftovers for supper, and then while the boys showered I made Reece’s candy. It’s good, but a little waxy. I think that may be the Great Value corn syrup. I don’t know if Karo would have been better. Ted worked on Net Nanny while I made candy. I hope he can get that thing running!

Ted’s been working on where we go next and mentioned GA near Mom as a possibility! I’m trying not to get my hopes up, but that would be cool! He just called them and they don’t take reservations for their long-term lot. What’s that all about? I’m bummed. Oh well, moving on.

Ted stayed up late playing video games tonight; I’m glad he’s figured out a way to have his me-time while with us in the bus. It always gives me some me-time as well, and I usually catch up on my blog or crochet or something girly.

Ted wanted to try to sell an old phone we had at a kiosk he found in Orlando after church, so we scoured Yelp for a new restaurant nearby. When we saw that J-Petal had rolled Thai ice cream we knew that was the one! We both got the J-petal special savory crepe for our lunches; they were filled with beef, chicken, crab, shrimp, lettuce, carrots, red pepper, red onion, spinach and sesame with Japanese mayo! They were huge and stuffed…I split mine with Jack. Max got the vegetarian which had all those veggies plus corn, avocado, cucumber, string beans and grape tomatoes. For once I didn’t take a bite of his food…it was so messy the more you ate I had enough to do with keeping myself clean. For dessert I had chocolate ice cream with banana and Nutella mixed in. It was so cool to see them chop those ingredients on the freezing steel circle, then spread the ice cream out to the edges and then roll it all up with a ‘paint scraper’. On top I chose a strawberry, some blueberries, almonds and a drizzle of condensed milk. Yum! We also had a lightbulb drink: just a drink served in a lightbulb cup. I chose a virgin mojito, but it was pretty tasteless. Overall this was a pretty fun place to go.

We went to the WM kiosk and while Ted saw about the phone I took the boys to the clothes section and looked for a new button-up church shirt for Jack and a new pair of shorts for Max. Jack is doing so well buttoning up his shirt that I want him to keep working on it (once every other week…he has 2 church shirts, and his other shirt is a white t-shirt with a green tie embroidered on the front). Max’s shorts are good, but they’re a little on the big side and he worries about his phone falling out of the pockets of them on the rides we go on. I think he’s over-worrying about it, but I’m fine with a new pair of shorts. We also found a plain black t-shirt that he’s been wanting for ages for about $5, so we splurged and got that too.

We stopped at Win Dixie for some cokes and Ted found some good cheese there. On the way home the rain started; it wasn’t much, but the drops were huge! Then the downpour came. Fortunately the rain stopped the whole time right after we got home so we had enough time to get all the food and my plant inside, and then it came down here. It rained off and on all afternoon and we were snug as bugs inside. I’m so thankful for a great roof.