Drive-By Update

Coming up for air just long enough to update everyone on the happenings around here.I will do a big picture post soon so stay tuned.

Baby Hudson's kidneys are fine or so the nurse tells me. It's a long story but I haven't actually talked to my OB doc about the results. I will see her next week and will update after that.

Logan's school play GREASE was great and he really made us proud! All the practice and hard work really showed. And he turned 12 on Saturday. He leaves tomorrow for his big trip to D.C and New York City with his school.

The school year is coming to a close and that means field trips,fun days and last minute projects. Fun Fun Fun!

Full April Calender

April is an extremely busy month around here. We are knee deep into Softball season for Macy. Molly is preparing for her dance recital in May. And Logan is having play practice everyday after school with the big performances JUST 2 weeks away!! Also tack on the 2 birthdays we have in April too. Brian celebrated his this weekend and Logan's is coming up at the end of the month.

Brian is headed to California for a conference this coming week and Logan is gearing up for his school trip to Washington D.C. and New York City at the end of April.

And then there are upcoming doctor visits.

Molly will be seeing a local new Rheumatologist this Wednesday. It will be awesome to not have to drive to Atlanta for her to see a doctor. I have to follow up kidney ultrasound for baby Hudson on April 23rd.

The kids are getting summer fever and the school year is starting to winding down , they only have alittle over a month left! Woohoo!

Busy is good, no time to be bored. Like life is ever boring with 5 kids. Ha!

Destination Disney World

Click on Picture above to see the Trip slideshow. It's a bit long hence why this post took so long to write but enjoy!

We did return safely from our Spring break trip to Orlando and it has taken me a few days to recover. The trip was great, it was exhausting but well worth it.

The kids did awesome flying for the first time. Everyone loved it and that was a big relief for me. Collin wasn't scared at all and smiled and giggled during take off both times. 

Amazingly we were able to keep track of all the kids through the whole trip. It wasn't a problem at all as we had set up a buddy system where everyone had a pal to keep up with. Going through the crowds in the parks Brian held Molly's hand and lead the way Macy and Logan walked together behind him and I pushed the stroller with Collin inside and Parker holding on to the stroller, it worked perfectly.

A few days into the trip I was physically worn out. Brian volunteered to take the whole gang to Hollywood Studios and let me have the morning to rest. I took the morning to nap and laid out by the pool before meeting up with them that afternoon. It gave my hips a chance to rest from all the walking. Another day he took just Logan and Macy park hopping so they could ride some of the bigger rides without the little ones and the slow walking pregnant Momma dragging them down. I stayed back with Collin, Parker and Molly and let them swim and nap before we met up with the rest and stayed out late to ride stuff when the park was a lot less crowded. 

Collin loved the characters in costumes. He did great with the stroller, he knew when I parked the stroller outside a ride it was time to get out. Collin people watched while we waited on Brian and the kids to ride certain rides. He never cried for toys at all. I bought him a light up Stitch toy the first night and he played with it the whole trip using up an entire set of batteries. He rode rides like Pirates of the Caribbean even though they were a little scary he would just hold my arm tightly as I told him it was okay. We saw all the 3-D movie shows and he did well during those too. He was fascinated with the parades and he waved the entire time. The look of wonder in his eyes was priceless. 

Molly and Parker enjoyed the 3-D movies and most of the rides. They didn't like the roller coasters but liked the fast rides that didn't have big drops. The night of the fireworks Molly badly wanted to see when Tinkerbell flies down from the castle, Brian searched out a spot so she wouldn't miss Tinkerbell unfortunately it meant that we'd have to watch the fireworks through the trees. It turned out okay because by that point I was just happy to be able to sit and watch the fireworks even if it meant a not so great view. Parker really like a comedy show that featured the Monsters Inc. characters. He also liked meeting the characters and getting autographs. Parker did have some sort of allergy which made his eyes swell but luckily with some eye drops and medicine that cleared up.

Macy and Logan never seemed to run out of energy. They loved it all and were patient through some of the stuff gear more for the younger ones like the Playhouse Disney show. Logan discovered he does like roller coasters after all. Macy has always loved them. They both played along with the characters during our character meals. It was a great help having the help tote the backpack and camera too. 

By the time the trip was nearing the end we were ready to return home. It was amazing how nice and friendly the entire Disney staff was but the crowds and the rude visitors I had enough of. The trip was good and it was an experience we will not forget. My kids will never be at the stages and ages that they are right now and it was the perfect time to have such a vacation. I got to see the magic of disney through the eyes of my children and that was worth it all. I guess us taking 5 kids to Disney just the two of us was a brave move in most peoples eyes but I knew it was something we could handle. It was the most tiring vacation ever but it was something that will never be forgotten. 

There were only 2 hiccups in our trip. The first was we had bought a pocket size Canon camera just for this trip, thinking we would get tired of carrying around the big camera. When we got to the airport in Birmingham  I went to take a picture and the battery was dead. This camera has a special battery with charger and it was left at home. Brian thought he'd be able to buy an extra one but seems Kodak has Disney all wrapped up and we never could find a charger and just used our bigger better camera anyways. 

And I am still awaiting my suitcase that was left in Orlando. When we got to the Orlando airport it was mass chaos and somehow my suitcase got left on the Disney bus. We were able to track it down but now are waiting for it to be shipped to us. Luckily I have a lot of clothes but I still miss my new stuff thats in that suitcase. 

 

We were able still visit all 4 parks several times seeing and doing almost everything we wanted and we went to Downtown Disney and enjoyed Lego Land too. I think considering the crowds we did really well managing to get to do as much as we did.

With that said I declared the next big vacation will be an all-inclusive family resort somewhere in the Caribbean in a few years. I think I will need about 5 years to recover before I will consider doing Disney again.