BUUUURRRRRR....

Welcome to sunny, warm Florida... tell that to the 53 degree high temp and a wind chill to send even those living in Chicago indoors. So what did we decide to do? Stay indoors, watch a movie, visit a shopping mall.... let's spend the morning out in the cold geocaching! If you ask what is geocaching, you'll have to ask Yvonne since she gets so animated when she talks about it.

We headed out to 5 spots - but only found 3 (the other two we chickened out after either making a spectacle of tearing up some landscaping or causing some neighbors to come out and investigate our "suspicious teenagers.

We decided to hit Disney's Animal Kingdom for a few hours.

The kids really wanted to ride the new roller coaster they put in from the time we had been here before. Afterwards, they found a "spinning" roller coaster as well - I sat that one out. My excuse was because it only had room for four people...

We also got to experience some of Disney's finest wildlife... "Why is the monkey sitting hanging over the water?" my children ask... Only to be followed up with...(plop) "Ohhhhh" They'll have to journal that one for their school work...

We ended up in Downtown Disney to meet up with another part of the Downs' clan who arrived late last night. No, they are not in this picture.

At the end of the day, Yvonne headed back to the hotel with our oldest two while I got to spend the rest of the evening with Julianne at Hollywood Studios trying to finish off what equilibrium I had left... glad I bought some Tums earlier in the day.

Yep, she's still stuck with me... just no one tell her she still has 8 more days here at Disneyworld... with more of the Downs arriving each day!

Day Two...ish

Based on the comments and the fact that all of the previous posts have been done by Yvonne and the kids... I should explain.

These "wacky" posts will not be the typical day in the life posts - if you want those this will have to hold you over - WE ARE HAVING FUN, MISS YOU.

Now, if for some reason you would like a short visit into the "brain of Brian" - these chronological events will be reported through the eyes of one "not typical" :)

For the first time in my life - my children wanted to sleep in - all except for my youngest (I'm thinking now maybe we should have stopped at two!) DISCLAIMER if that statement bothered you-you'd better just close this blog and walk away...it ain't gonna get any prettier.

I voiced that since today is supposed to be cold - we should spend it at Epcot since many of the attractions are inside. Off we go...

We pass a place called DisneyQuest - must be the building they use to map this maze of roadways. Our hotel "just outside the gate of Disneyworld" proves to be about as close as Bakersfield is to.... Hume Lake.

We get to use some nifty passes we got from AAA to park in a special parking area. (translation: drive past where everyone else parks to the farthest area from the entrance)

Rather than talk about all we did - here are some photos: you make up your own stories (I would have).

This one's for Sarah - WHATEVER!

Traveling....

BTW - this is Brian (I can't remember my login info...)

So the only flight out of Fresno we could book leaves at 5:55am....why, well let's just say that Fresno isn't on many people's itinerary. So we get up at some ridiculous hour and head off to the airport, at least the traffic isn't bad - good thing since I just about ran that stop sign. We go through the boarding gate just to be met by a long line (I think this is an omen for this trip)waiting to enter a very small plane. Oops, we have to turn around and head back - seems some of the emergency lighting is not working. Emergency lighting on this plane? Come on - if we crash I hardly think we will have a hard time finding our way out of this coke can. Besides, it's a day flight - I think I'll just head to the "light at the end of the tunnel." So we get to sit in Fresno for an extra hour - oh joy.

Finally off to LA then Orlando (with more lines.) As we board our plane, here's one - something's moving in the carry-on baggage of the person in front of us - we get to fly with a "doggy princess"! And our movie for the flight??? Beverly Hills Chihuahua!

In Orlando, we wait in line to exit, wait in line to get our bags, wait in line to get our rental car, wait in line to get our rental car keys, wait in line to drive our rental car out of the airport....

We arrive at our hotel and check in - everyone's tired - It's about 8pm but it should be about 5 in CA, doesn't matter we're done.

I get the pleasure of heading out to get some things we need - Florida Walmart... 33 checkout lanes (that's a bit optimistic in today's economy don't you think) But wait...no actually I waited. 39 minutes in the checkout lane... I'm starting to think there's a pattern brewing here.

Getting Ready For Disney...

On Monday morning we, except for Melody :(, will be flying to Florida to enjoy a twelve day vacation with the whole Downs clan. There will be 17 of us in all! The kids are retrieving their independent study work from school, I am highlighting my hair as I write this....quite necessary...Brian is...o yes, taking care of all the details like where we are staying, purchasing a GPS so we can go geocaching while we are there, bought a camera. You also have the privilege of hearing the day by day accounts of our trip via Brian, the awesome writer, so prepare yourself for fun. You can go on our trip with us via the blog. It would be "great fun" (as Laurie Lamb would say), if you all could join us.

Quick Recap of Thanksgiving Through Christmas

So, I just published this post and the layout is doing weird things...hmm.

It has been way too long since my last post and there is so much to say, but since that would take pages and pages to write, I will stick with the basic happenings in November/December. We traveled to Washington State to visit the Downs family for Thanksgiving week. We had a blast! Craig, Brian's brother took our family pictures. The canoe you see above is some 15 years old. Brian carved it out of a tree in high school. He had the option of writing a report or doing a project. He opted for the project which took him at least twice as long as writing a report, but who knew we would all be needing fun family pictures this many years later. I love my catalyzer, dreamer husband.



Charlie is the newest addition to our home. Brian found him in the backyard lost and sick. We decided we needed to adopt him. He loves to be cuddled and Julianne gets a gold star for taking great car of him.



Brian worked Christmas Eve, so John, Julie, Royce (my brother, bro-in-law, and sis-in-law), and the Downs Fam headed to the Fire Station for dessert. Kylen got to put on Brian's turnouts and the kids enjoyed sitting in the engine.
Julie and I on Christmas.Every Christmas we act out the Christmas Story. Ashlyn is a heavenly host. Quite heavenly I think. Julianne is Mary. Charlie is Jesus. Kylen is the donkey. Oh...the fun of celebrating Jesus! We so enjoyed some family time and lunch with Grandpa on Christmas Day.The day after Christmas--The Paris gals took Mom to High Noon Tea in Clovis to celebrate her 60th birthday which was last February. What a special time!My mind is completely blank at the moment, so I think I will just post this and share this part of our lives with you. I am off to hang clothes and go visit Grandpa with Ashlyn and Julianne and have an early dinner with him. We look forward to hearing from you all...the ones we love. What is going on in your lives?