.:Monday, March 17, 2008:.
Well, that didn't last long!
The material I chose for the new dining room chairs is absolutely beautiful. However, it isn't meant for children! Tehehehe. We sat down at the new table for dinner last night. We had tacos. Now look at the chairs that Kolby and Kaia sat in! Guess I will be recovering those again soon! That first round was just practice! *laughs*  Oh and the work load is on! Tera and I went to Lowe's yesterday and picked up some of the stuff needed to start working on the house. We bought new kitchen and bathroom faucets and the new shower curtain rod. We also got several paint samples to decide what colors to use everywhere. Tomorrow, I will go get the wood and paint for the shop. Jeff has to do that next weekend. YAY for Jeff!   |
Woohoo! I'm on a Roll!
| I can't believe that I am getting this done already. I'm super proud of myself! Tehehehe! The trip down Friday went really well. We only had to listen to Spiderman 3 twice on the trip and only got stuck in about 3 hours worth of traffic! Tehehehe. Needless to say, once we got to the hotel, we all sacked out rather quickly! Saturday morning was an early call as we had to be at Sea World by 7:45 am to start our Seafari Tour.  The tour started off with breakfast.       During the 5 hour tour, we got to get up close and personal with all kinds of cool animals! One of the coolest parts was being taken behind the park, into the zoological area and getting to meet a dolphin that appeared in Jaws 3 and feeding the stingrays! That was just awesome! We were all bouncing off the walls with excitement!            One of the best parts about taking the Seafari Tour was that we got VIP passes as a part of the package. This gave us reserved, centerstage seating at all of the shows AND allowed us to cut in front of everyone on all of the rides by going through the exit. People would look at us all funny wondering what was wrong with us and then look really mad that we cut completely in front of them! Tehehehe. And the Sea World staff was quite impressive. They would jump to and really made you feel like a VIP!  The Shamu Show, Believe, was as phenomenal as ever. It always brings tears to my eyes. Of course Jeff thought it was just plain cheesy! Kolby was so excited to get splashed by Shamu. And he was seriously disappointed that we didn't get splashed at all during the first two rounds of splashing by Shamu's giant tail. Anyone care to guess his reaction when Shamu finally splashed us not once, but THREE times in a row? Oh yea, instant water works like someone had just kicked him in the head or something! Tehehehehe.     Kolby was in complete awe of the show. Afterwards, our tour guide Mike, tried to talk Kolby into being introduced to the "pretty Shamu trainer." Kolby wasn't having anything to do with that though. He wanted to talk to the "guy trainer". *laughs* Jeff and I were in complete shock that our little 'mack daddy' was turning down the pretty lady to talk to the guy! He told the male trainer all about wanting to be a trainer just like him when he grows up! The trainer told him that he had to be certified in scuba diving, so he needed to ask for scuba lessons for his 12th birthday since you have to be at least 12 years old. Thanks Scuba Steve!   Between all of the picking at and teasing of Kolby, Zoe really was a real trooper at being the "good big sister!  Next was the penguin tour. Unfortunately, there were only 3 slots left on this tour when we bought our tickets, so I opted out of this one and let Jeff go in with the kids. While waiting for the tour, there was of course a photo op. Kolby announces, "Whoah! Those penguins are huge." Zoe responds, "Those aren't real penguins Kolby, they are just people dressed up in costumes." To which Kolby immediately replies, "No they are not LIAR!!!!" Muwahahaha  And pictures from behind the scenes:     Kolby experienced a whole lot of 'firsts' on this trip. First real vacation, first amusement park, first Shamu and first roller coaster ride! Amazingly, he was tall enough for all but 3 of Sea Worlds rollercoasters. The first ride he took was Journey to Atlantis. It's a water roller coaster. I was nervous about how he would do, but he was absolutely certain that he was riding this ride! First you go up forwards. Then at the top, you spin around a couple of times before dropping down backwards, swiftly coming back up backwards. Spin around a couple of more times and then take a very steep drop forwards (this is also the water part). Kolby did great going up the first hill and the first set of spins. The drop backwards, I was a little concerned that we might have to go without underwear the rest of the day. In his words, "it just freaked me out a little mom, but I'm okay!" The big drop down though, I was convinced that we had ruined Kolby on roller coasters forever! I honestly believed that he would NEVER get on another one. I think he was too for at least a split second, but by the time we pulled around to get out of the car, he was asking to do it again! YAY Kolby! His face is priceless though!  Next was the Rios Locos! Kolby loved this one too until he got seriously splashed! Tehehehe...   While Jeff and Zoe rode the Great White, I kept Kolby entertained by taking pictures! This one is my all time favorite ever of him I think!  12 hours later, we were all exhausted and quite ready to leave the park. We had promised to buy Kolby the "softest Shamu stuffed animal ever" though for being so great the entire day. Lucky for us, you must walk right through the largest gift shop on the property to get out of the park. And even luckier for us, they had a stuffed Shamu that was almost as tall as Kolby is! Note the sarcasm there? *laughs* I know you can't tell by these pictures in the car on our way back to the motel, but they really are tired!    I think we were settled into the room and sound asleep within about 45 minutes of getting there. No joke. All of us! Sunday morning, Zoe had a photoshoot scheduled with one of our most favorite photographers ever, Phil Cassell! He does amazing work and Zoe just adores him. So, rise and shine before 6am again. Why is it that when we take vacations, we always arrange for stuff so that we can't even remotely sleep in again? Anywho, we decided to stop at IHOP for breakfast. Needless to say, Shamu was hungry too!    Can you still see 'tired' written all over my face? Oh, and did you notice something nifty in the picture of the kids? Better look closer if not! Tehehehe. Most of the shoot was done at the studio but we did go to a nearby park for more shots. Here are a few shots of Zoe and Phil working at the park.     And here are a few shots of Kolby and Jeff playing around!       Then it was time for a little dumpster diving and not the fun kind where you come out with all kinds of cool treasures! *laughs*   Your turn now Dad!   Wanna see the mess that is a model's space? No joke, Zoe packed almost every peice of clothing she owns! Tehehehe....not to mention all of the shoes, jewelry, hair and make up accessories and so on and so forth! Which was a good thing as Zoe went through about 7 wardrobe changes!   Jeff keeping Kolby entertained after watching Spiderman 3 yet again, at the totally awesome studio that reminded of us Grandma's Boy!  And a final shot....of Phil and Zoe before heading out from the shoot.  After the shoot, we went to Buffalo Wild Wings for lunch and were planning to go to Ripley's Believe It or Not. However, we had trouble finding it and decided to take a break back at the motel before going since everyone (except Jeff of course...who was driving) was asleep in the car anyway. Tehehehe. Unfortunately, when we got back to the room, we saw on the weather channel that the entire state of Texas was going to be hit by a massive storm on Monday. So, not wanting to drive home in that kind of weather, we opted to just come on home right then instead. The drive home was much quicker than getting there. Took a mere 6 hours this time. AND it was highly amusing! Along with all the nitpicking going on, Kolby and Zoe ended up in several tickle fests and we got to listen to Spiderman 3 two more times! YAY us! Zoe was of course less than impressed by this! During one portion of the trip, Zoe was aggravating Kolby when he sat up and said, "Zoe, don't make me get my pillow and use it!" Muwahahahaha. Then on another portion of the trip, they were fighting over how to both stretch out in the backseat. Something that was an ongoing battle might I add. Zoe finally proposed a very compromising solution. Kolby was obviously the one that was less than impressed this time as when Zoe asked if it was a deal, he immediately said no. So, she asked what his plan was. To which he confidently responded, "my plan is that you just don't touch me." Jeff and I busted out laughing! Where does he come up with this stuff? Anywho, we got home around 9:30 last night safe and sound and apparently scared the poop out of Tera. And what a wonderful sight to walk in and see, but the new, beautiful kitchen table all set up in the kitchen. Jeff had taken care of that Friday before we left, but I didn't have time to take pictures then. So, you get to see it now!     Isn't it just divine?!?!?!?! And the best part of being home....besides sleeping in a comfortable bed again.....COFFEE!!!! Starbucks will do in a pinch, but mine really is better! Muwahahahaha!!!  Well, folks, I think that's it for now! This blog has taken so much time and work that I just might have to take the rest of the week off! *laughs* I'm certain though that Donna won't let me get away with that one! ;) Hugs and kisses to everyone! This is the CarderChaos signing off........ P.S.....when you are playing the ABC game, you CAN NOT use license plates Zoe Brown! |