Random, I know.

DAY 273 - September 30, 2009



Another random picture...after all...isn't that what this "picture a day" thing is all about? This is a big plate we've got on our plant shelf above the front door. I never knew quite how large that plant shelf was until I started trying to find something to put there. We've been in the house over 3 years and I still don't feel that the space is "right". One day something will pop out and yell "I belong on that plant shelf in the 2-story entryway!!!" Until then it will have to do as it is.

Disney sights...

DAY 272 - September 29, 2009

So, we've been home only 1 day from our Disney vacation and have started to unpack. I hate unpacking...it ranks right up there with packing except that there's not any excitement as there is while packing for a trip. The dirty clothes have been taken out and the several loads of laundry are getting done. A suitcase containing all the junk is all that is left. It will get put away but it may take a couple days.

DAY 271 - September 28, 2009

We're celebrating Doug's birthday today. It was a simple celebration with some cake back at the hotel food court. His birthday isn't until the day we leave Disney but who feels like celebrating when you're trying to make sure your luggage isn't too heavy or messing with security at the airport. At least this way we got to acknowledge as a group Doug's special day. On a side note, his Aunt Connie has a birthday on the same day so we celebrated with her as well!

DAY 269 - September 27, 2009

The first picture is of the gang getting ready for some virtual pirate fighting. This was at Disney Quest, a 4-story arcade that is usually the setting for Boy's Day Out. We made a return trip with John and Chris on one of our last evenings at Disney. Aren't the glasses just stunning?!?

DAY 268 - September 26, 2009

Today was Epcot...First "Spaceship Earth"...the well-known icon of Epcot. Then there's Kaleb trying out sushi in Japan. He really likes trying new foods. I don't know my sushi but he seemed to like it...look how proud he is to show it off. The last picture is of a "Hidden Mickey". These things are all over the park and you have to really look for them. This year we picked up a book of Hidden Mickey's that have over 800 of them listed. This one we found while visiting the Manatee in Epcot's Living Seas area.

DAY 267 - September 25, 2009

We had a character breakfast today at the Crystal Palace in Magic Kingdom. As you can see the Willie-the-Pooh gang were there.

DAY 266 - September 24, 2009

What a busy day! Today was boys and girls day. In the morning the older guys went to breakfast and fishing for a couple hours...here's Doug with his catch for the day. Luckily, EACH of the guys caught something decent! They had a good time...

In the morning the boys and I went to Magic Kingdom for the "rope drop" which is the opening of the park. Here's a picture of the castle from a different side angle rather than the usual "from the front" picture. I really like the view here with the castle standing in the water.

DAY 265 - September 23, 2009

Animal Kingdom today...here's the "Tree of Life". You probably can't see the detail much in this picture but there are hundreds of animals carved into the tree. We went in for a character breakfast at Tusker House. This breakfast included Mickey Mouse, Goofy, Donald and Daisy Duck. Here are my 3 favorite "characters". The last picture is a the view across the lake from the area near Expedition Everest...what a beautiful shot!

DAY 264 - September 22, 2009

Today was a date day for Doug and I. We had a nice relaxing day...mixing in a little shopping and a nice dinner. The first picture is the Lego Sea Creature that is in the lake in Downtown Disney. I LOVE this "little" guy and take a picture of him every time we're there even though I've taken several before. The second picture is the view from Yacht and Beach Club resort where we had dinner. It was a beautiful evening and the lighting was really nice the way it lit up the Boardwalk Hotel across the lake.

Hollywood Studios and Magic Kingdom...

DAY 264 - September 21, 2009

Here are the sites from today at Disney. Kaden got Donald Duck (in Frontierland in the Magic Kingdom) to sign our picture mat that we'll put a family picture in when we get home.

Jack Sparrow and his pirate buddy were doing a little something outside the Pirates of the Caribbean ride. The cast member playing Jack Sparrow did a fantastic job! He had the mannerisms, facial expressions, and voice down pat from the character played by Johnny Depp in the movies. While the boys didn't get chosen to participate in the main activity, they (along with several other kids) were chosen to come out with the group to receive a little certificate and to take a Pirate Oath.

This Donald Duck coming out from an instrument is one of my favorite things to get a picture of. I'm not sure why but I really like him. This is located in the gift shop (hanging from the ceiling) as you walk out from Mickey's PhilharMagic attraction.

Kaleb with his really big fork...we ate at Whispering Canyon at the Whispering Pines Lodge resort tonight for dinner. This is one of those places where the waiters are a bit over the top...if you ask for ketchup they yell throughout the restaurant "KETCHUP!!" and those with ketchup bottles all bring you theirs. Often we end up with 20 bottles on the table and are stuck with them until the next family wants some ketchup. Then it's the boys' job to carry them over to the next victim's table. Well, they also have "extra silverware" they bring to you drop your fork and ask for another one. Nick and Kaleb really wanted to be presented with this giant fork so the "accidentally dropped" Kaleb's fork. When they asked for a new one our waiter simply brought out a new fork. Unfortunately, he wasn't playing along with that situation so the boys had to ask for the really big fork. Doesn't Kaleb look proud to have a fork almost as big as him?!?

DAY 263 - September 20, 2009

Today was Disney's Hollywood Studios day. We got there as they opened and headed straight for the new Toy Story Mania ride. It was in the building with the giant scrabble board and the army men on the roof. What a fun ride...like a giant 3-D shooting arcade. You pull a string on the "gun" to make it fire and everyone was firing so often trying to get a good score that our arms actually got sore.

Then we headed over to the Star Wars ride and the Jedi Training experience. We had the boys wear a Star Wars shirt bought specifically to help their chances of being chosen to participate. Kaden was the only one picked and here he is in the midst of a light saber fight with Darth Vader.

The boys posed with Kermit the Frog outside the Muppet's gift shop.

Doug and the boys all got tattoos while at the park today. Doug's choice was easy...Mr. Incredible is one of his favorite characters. As a matter of fact, his pin lanyard is composed entirely of pins with the Incredibles on them. Kaleb's choice was also easy...he picked an Indiana Jones Mickey Mouse tattoo. Kaden went with a bulldog...not only because we really like bulldogs and are on the search for one but also because his school mascot is a bulldog. This was really for for all of them to get tattoos together.

DAY 262 - September 19, 2009

Getting 11 people and all their luggage to the airport for a 10-day vacation at Disney can be quite a job. We rode in style though in this little beauty.

Capturing the moon...

DAY 261 - September 18, 2009


I caught this picture of the moon today. Nothing special really...but I was testing out the range on my 70-300mm camera lens. I think it turned out decently but may be out of focus since I had to focus manually.

Practice Makes Perfect.

DAY 260 - September 17, 2009


Kaleb had his bells out tonight doing a bit of practice. He's really pretty good for only doing it since the beginning of the school year. He played us a song and did a wonderful job. I hope he keeps it up because I feel that music is just something good to have under your belt. I always loved percussion but never had the guts to try something different. It just always felt right in school to play the instrument I chose from the beginning. Besides, a flute is MUCH EASIER to carry during Marching Band than anything in the percussion family...except maybe the triangle!

Mall visit ritual.

DAY 257 - September 16, 2009


It was "errands before Disney" night at our house tonight. It ended with a visit to the mall to load up the boys Disney gift cards. Any mall visit with all 4 of us usually included stopping at Blondie's Cookies for a treat. We all love their cookies...here they are in all their deliciousness!

Monumental day? Maybe not quite.

DAY 256 - September 15, 2009

What a monumental day at our house. Well, maybe not "monumental" but certainly a development! We've had our little crawdad for some time now and I've been painstakingly changing his water and making sure he's got food all along. That little critter can sure make his water cloudy pretty quickly! Anyway, I looked in tonight and saw that he was dead...the top (head) part of his shell was pulling away from his tail and he wasn't moving. I broke the news to the boys but was a bit relieved because of the upcoming Disney trip. I didn't really want to set him free but thought we'd have to.

I set out to clean out the tank and started pouring the water down the sink. I saw something flipping around out of the corner of my eye at one end of the tank and realized it was our crawdad! Apparently he'd only molted out of his shell and was alive and well! I didn't even know crawdads did that! So...I finished cleaning the tank and put him back into his newly cleaned home. I guess we do have a way with this critter at least. Nothing like the tadpoles we tried desperately to grow into frogs last summer! I think we went through at least 3 sets of them only to have each of them die after sprouting legs.

So, we'll keep Mr. Crawdad (original right?!?) and hope for him to survive our vacation. The Peavlers will take good care of him I'm sure while they're looking over the house and pool for us.

Building, gathering, and cleaning...

DAY 255 - September 14, 2009



Disney is getting very close now and the boys are trying to fill up their Disney gift cards with some spending money. Doug and I came up with a list of chores to do for some extra money. This was the day after we made that list and Kaden was really chomping at the bit to do his part. He doesn't usually vacuum but here he is doing a fantastic job!

DAY 254 - September 13, 2009

It's all about Disney these days. Both of the boy's teachers sent home lists of things they'll miss while gone and the books needed to get the assignments. Here are Kaleb's things. We went through everything tonight and put together his packet. Our goal is to have much of it done before we leave so it's not hanging over their heads while on vacation. We return pretty late on a Monday and they'll be right back at is (as will we) on Tuesday.

DAY 253 - September 12, 2009

Kaden wanted so desperately to make a house of cards tonight. We got some cards from the dollar store and he set out with high expectations. Obviously he didn't realize just how difficult it would be. This is what he ended up doing instead...the table was full of these little playing card tee-pees.

Creepy...

DAY 252 - September 11, 2009

I was running this morning and, on my way back inside, spotted this guy had spun his web between a front bush and our front pillar on our porch. What's a girl (with a new camera) to do besides think "I bet the web would look cool with the flash lighting up every strand!" so I snapped a few pictures. He was definitely ugly and the web was huge - probably as tall as Kaden. I left him there and snapped a few in the daylight, showed the boys who then showed Doug who then decided he had to meet his maker and smacked him with a shoe. I was good with that...I hate spiders anyway!

On a completely different note...it is September 11, 2009...the 8th anniversary of the terrorist attacks. I'm on the lookout for a patriotic picture from that day. I don't want the famous pictures of the plane hitting the buildings or their collapse. I want a picture of emergency personnel (specifically a police officer) on that day. Maye something showing the devastation at the site and something that demonstrates the heroics of the day. If you happen across any such picture please pass it on...

All lined up...

DAY 251 - September 10, 2009



This is what packing for Disney looks like in our house. I always iron all t-shirts (and some shorts)...I don't usually iron but things just pack and travel better when they're ironed. Here, everyone has their pile of Disney T-shirts. Yep, we dress alike on some days...even the whole group gets identical shirts and wears them one day. It's fun to be corny like that while on vacation!

Simple...

DAY 250 - September 9, 2009




After running a few errands tonight we came home and Kaleb spotted this moth on the driveway. I had my camera - something I'm getting used to carrying with me more often - so I snapped a few pictures. I thought they turned out really good so made it the picture of the day.

Some full days...

DAY 249 - September 8, 2009


Kaleb's got his Indiana Jones Legos out again...every now and then he gets the Lego bug...or is it the Indiana Jones bug?...and gets his sets out. Tonight he was putting together his largest set and I thought it was cute with all his people displayed on the table. I've always loved the Lego people. I'm not sure why but I think it started when I was in Denmark and went to Lego Land...Lego's are a product of Denmark...did you know that? Anyway, I bought a little Lego Man on a key chain while there and still have it to this day. Sure, his arms and legs have been Super Glued on because they've long been worn out but that key chain can be found in the boys' Lego tub now. Not too bad for being a 19 year old keychain!

DAY 248 - September 7, 2009

What better than to spend Labor day swimming in the pool (even though it was a little cool outside) then to curl up in a cozy robe and take a nap? Well, it would have been a perfect day for me but someone else had other plans...as well as my robe! He took about an hour nap before I woke him up so that he would actually go to sleep at night.

Only 12 days...

DAY 247 - September 6, 2009


Can you tell we count down to Disney every time we go? My sister-in-law Dawn made this cute little counter and we love to dig it out because we know every day we're closer to our "almost annual" family pilgrimage to Disney World. This trip is coming up fast...the counter is almost down to single digits and the suitcases are getting packed.

Some new camera play time.

DAY 246 - September 5, 2009

I took the boys to a park in Greenwood this evening so they could ride their bikes a little while and I could play with my new camera. I'm still feeling very confused and just unsure of the settings available to me with this thing! There's ISO, aperture, shutter speeds, depth of field, manual focusing, and lens choice (thanks to John otherwise I'd only have the lens that came with the camera), to worry about. I know that most of the time I could use the "auto" setting and be just fine. But I'd like to venture away from that to see what my camera can really do. Here are a few pictures I took tonight. I was completely surprised by the flower one...and I LOVE that with a few clicks of the menu I can take black and whites! I love my new camera...thanks again to Doug for making it possible for me to get.

Fish - taken by Kaden

DAY 245 - September 4, 2009


Kaden was playing with my new camera tonight (and, before you ask, I had a very close eye on him and the strap was around his neck!) and took some pictures around the house. He was excited to take pictures and I was excited about the interest he was showing in my new hobby. He took this picture and was impressed by the zoom on the image through the back of the camera...he got in really close and the fish were just looking at him! Ahhh...seeing our fish again through the eyes of a child...how fun!

Getting creative.

DAY 244 - September 3, 2009

Kaden pulled out his rock painting kit recently and has been getting creative. Actually, he loves to paint these things but isn't as steady or precise with his painting as he'd like so I often help him out. He does the painting to cover the rock with the base color. Then I usually do some outlines for him so he can fill them in. Here are a few of his latest creations...