Happy New Year

Goodbye, Mali

Today we had to say goodbye to Mali. She was a good dog that was with us for almost ten years!  We will miss her.

Playing in the backyard in 2008.

Elden Kyle attempts to pose with Mali and Savy

while Pico tries to make an escape.

The 101 Dalmatians Musical

Winter Summerland

The mil10s love putt putt. Today we started at Animal Kingdom for a character breakfast and several rides, then we were on the move to play mini golf at Winter Summerland. It was themed to Christmas. How appropriate! Here are the standings:

1. JMM
2. Grams
3. Edie
4. EK
5. Modie

After the game we waited at the bus stop on a bench for the bus to Epcot. All of a sudden we noticed EK was on the ground! We don't know what happened--neither does he. Somehow he managed to hit his head on one of the benches. Now on to Epcot to catch the monorail to the Magic Kingdom!

Help Me Hold On

Grams holds on for dear life while riding the monorail!

Happy Birthday

EK is decked out in his birthday gear. He has his "it's my birthday" Mickey ears, a "I'm celebrating my birthday" button, and a "these are my kind of birthday candles" pirate t-shirt. Off to breakfast and then the Magic Kingdom!

Birthday Balloons

It was a full day at Disney's Hollywood Studios. EK was the very first person of the day in line for The Tower of Terror. He, Grams, and mr. and mrs. mil10 had front row seats! When we rode The Rock 'n' Roller Coaster, EK told Edie that he "almost fell out."

It was a rainy day. Despite all of the slippery conditions, EK was the only one that fell down. He was goofing around saying that he wouldn't fall--then he fell.

We finished the night with The Osborne Spectacle of Dancing Lights and two trips on Star Tours (the ride that EK was the most excited about the whole day).

When we returned to our hotel, EK was surprised with two, yes two, sets of birthday balloons. One was from us and one from Shannon, our travel agent.

It was a good day!

Lights, Camera, Action

Mr. DeMille, they are ready for their close up! Waiting for Disney's Hollywood Studios to open.

A Fun Day Ahead

After a good night of rest, we are ready for a great day.  We are off to Disney's Hollywood Studios.  The weatherman says we have an 80% chance of rain today.  Yes, we will get wet!  That's ok.  It is bound to happen when in Florida.  

Despite the showers, it shouldn't slow us down too much.

A Pirate's Life for Me

Welcome to the Caribbean Beach Resort. We have already been swimming and now we have been to our room. We are sleeping in pirate style! Ship beds (with treasure printed bedspreads), wood planked carpeting, cargo crate chest of drawers, and a bathroom with pirate ship wall art and shower curtain. The ice box and nightstand look like barrels. Wall art features Captain Jack Sparrow in the attraction Pirate's of the Caribbean.

Safe Arrival

The travelers have landed in Orlando! We all look Zazzle-licious in our shirts ordered for the big event. Now on to Walt Disney World.

Sweet Tooth

These are the cookies for the Twilight and New Moon movie night.

Joy to the Small World

The mil10s are very excited about their upcoming trip!  Enjoy this little video from Disney Parks.



If you can look past the fact that children from around the world are flying around the world in a ship, casting pixie dust and sparkling lights on all of the buildings below, you will see that they have ended up in a park made up of the castle from Florida's Magic Kingdom at Walt Disney World and "it's a small world" and Main Street, USA from California's Disneyland all rolled into the same park.  Artistic license, right?

One of the fun things about going to WDW now is that the parks, like our home, will already be decorated for Christmas!  We can't wait.

Happy Birthday, Mrs. Mil10

Happy birthday from the guys.  We love you!

Go Mavs!

Too bad these are not our real seats.  Oh well, it will still be fun.

It is Starting to Look a Lot Like...

Last night it started to look a lot like Christmas at the mil10 house.  Yes, I know it is early.  After all, November just started.  Yes, Virginia, there is a schedule to follow.  Putting up the decorations (inside the house only - we don't want our neighbors to think we are complete loons) now works better with our busy holiday season.  Don't worry.  We will not skip our time of being thankful, and will not slight that holiday at all.

Enjoy the views of our living room in progress.

It's the Small Things

Sometimes it is the small things that we let slip by unnoticed.  However, we need to take a few moments to appreciate all of the great things that are given to us.

These were taken on my way to work with my cell phone.  The best thing about the time change for me is the sunrise each day!

Buc-ee's on TV

We couldn't believe it.  While sitting in our home tonight we saw Buc-ee's on ABC's World News Tonight.  Broadcasting from Madisonville, the reporter promoted the cleanliness of the establishment.  I'll second that!

Happy Halloween

Halloween was a busy weekend.  Not only did we do the typical trick-or-treating, pass out candy, and attend a fall festival.  This weekend was also EK's early bithday celebration.  He has always wanted a Halloween birthday party, so this year in order to avoid other events that fill our calendars, we had his party several weeks early.

Enjoy these pictures from the weekend's festivities.

Cheese fingers at EK's b-day party.

Apple and almond mouths at EK's b-day party.

Crepe paper mummies.  Which one is EK?

Ready for Halloween night.

Away we go!

Happy Halloween!

Candy Paradise

We are in a room with five swimming pools all filled with candy. Wow!

Baking Cakes

EK's birthday party is early this year. We went with a pirate theme (again!), but with a Lego twist.  Lots of little cakes. Lots of icing.

Let's Talk Groceries

At first glance, I guess this is a common sight in most houses.  Bring in the groceries, place them on the counter, and then hurriedly put them away before things begin to thaw or melt. 

But if you look closely, you will see that all of those sacks are different.  Now, we didn't visit each of our hometown food markets.  And a baby's teething toy.  Why is that there?  Truth be known, these are the groceries that came OUT of our refrigerator!

Since Modie was moving and had food that was perfectly fine, but did not have anywhere to keep it, we gladly took those jars of pickles, soft drinks, and other items that are better served cold and took them to our house.  Who enjoys throwing away perfectly fine individually wrapped servings of Brussels sprouts or corn? Finding room for all of those items was another story.  We had to make room.  How?  Well, as you can see, our ice box had become cold storage for a few things that we could live without.  How does the ice box (that is the mil10 word for refrigerator) become a virtual junk drawer?  Especially when we already have a real one!  How does someone let something stay around even though it expired months, or maybe even years, ago?  It is not like we are dirty people.  Our ice box doesn't even look dirty.  Sure the shelves could be wiped down a bit more occasionally, but someone would not see inside our ice box and think, "Those are some nasty people."  I hope. 

As you can see, we found several things we could live without.  Take the glow necklaces for example.  These have been in our freezer (because if you keep them there the glowing abilities are retained and you can use them again sometime, or so we were told) for so long that we don't even know where they came from.  Does butter really go bad?  Ours was past the date printed on the tub.  So was the stick of butter.  Also, how far can you go past the "best by" date?  That doesn't really mean it is expired does it? 

Our child turns eight and we are just now throwing away the teething toy.  We will see what we find in the ice box after another eight years!

Finished with Dagmar

As mentioned previously, EK's Dagmar pumpkin needed to be shared when completed.  He finished gluing the final pieces on Wednesday night, but I am just now posting the photos.  Yes, I am a little behind.  We have had very busy days recently.

In addition to the many work activities that have taken place last week, EK finished up his rounds of medicine.  Yes, it does taste better when mixed with sherbet.  Who needs a spoonful of sugar?

 

I Should Have Known Better

Apparently a grown man should realize that when he works indoors and spends little time outside, he will get a sunburn from being outside over nine hours of the day.  I guess you don't think about that when it is just over forty degrees when you start the morning.  No hat, no sunscreen, just a bad sunburn in late October.  Fun.

Maybe I'll be a tomato for Halloween.

EK the Cowboy

Out of the Pumpkin Patch

After getting home it did not take long for the mil10s to start working on their pumpkins.  mr. mil10 made two pumpkins to carry to work and display school spirit. 

ek's pumpkin is based upon the main character in Vunce Upon a Time.  The book tells the tale of "vegetarian vampire Dagmar, who prefers cherry juice to blood and tends to his moonlit vegetable patch rather than prowl. Dagmar also adores candy, and when his crops grow slowly, he craves sugary snacks, prompting a skeleton in a pirate hat to recommend a certain human holiday involving scary costumes and free treats." 

Although he went on to do more than is shown in this photograph, ek's pumpkin is still a work in progress.  We will post a picture of the final product.

 

In the Pumpkin Patch

This afternoon we ventured to the pumpkin patch so EK can enter a painted pumpkin contest at school.  Here are three cell phone photos of EK looking for that perfect pumkin and playing around.