Magical World of Disney!

Joseph is working on the remote control car he and Joe created at Ridemakerz in Downtown Disney.

So excited!

A HUGE toy store with everything Disney!

Meet and greet with Goofy.

Build-a-Spud
You can create a Mr. or Mrs. Potato Head for only $19.99! Plenty of accessories that are not available anywhere else! Flip-flops, surfboard, Donald Duck Sailor hat, angry eyes, happy eyes... whatever!

This was the Science Fiction Dinner Theater! The best steak and potatoes in the state of Florida, I'm sure! Yummy!

Can you imagine how hot it must be in the Florida weather wearing green paint? What a trooper this trooper is!

In Downtown Disney there is a place called DisneyQuest. It is INSANE! Multiple levels of arcade games for FREE! You can play air hockey from 9am-11pm if you want!

Joseph finally meets his idol! Handy Manny and Joseph unite for a long happy hug!

Joseph got to create a lego car and race it down a hill.

Life-size Lego Woody!

Dad, Joseph, and Mater.

Waiting in line for the Toy Story Mania Ride! 70 minutes and worth every second!

Joseph will be a safe driver! (Thank goodness they're changing that driving age to 18).

To infinity and beyond! We attended the Disney's Not So Scary Halloween Party. It was sweet because we had the park to ourselves! Joseph was able to ride his favorites (Thunder Mountain and Splash Mountain) over and over with no wait at all! We went Trick-or-Treating and scored some pretty awesome candy! All of the actors (Disney employees) called him "Buzz" and one guy even asked him for his autograph! SOOOOOO cute! Joseph was confused but it was still so cute!

Here our little ham is trying the newest Wii game "Sing-It" where you can sing Karaoke style to many favorite Disney tunes.

Movie Night

We had a movie night at our house and invited the Hume `ohana to join us. It was so much fun! We had a fire pit, popcorn, a great movie, friends, and lots of on snacks. It reminded me of a drive-in theater. We used my data projector (from my days as a middle school teacher) and Forrest's screen. Joey even pulled the speakers from our entertainment center outside so we could have the full sound experience. It will certainly become a summer tradition!

Fiona

Have I told you how much I love my hair?

Hearts and Butterflies

An impressive spectacle, these two blush at the mention of each other. They're so complementary it makes me want to yack all over the place. Yack hearts and butterflies, that is!

Riding bare-back with the equestrian-extraordinaire.

While in Oregon, I had the opportunity to meet James' girlfriend, Laura. I must admit that I was skeptical having had the 4-1-1 on her prior to actually knowing her. I guess what threw me off the most was her age: 23! Nearly 10 years her senior, James has always worried me in terms of his potential mate. Years ago, I told him, "James, I really hope I like whoever you marry." This is because she and I will undoubtedly become lifetime acquaintances at worst and sisters at best. This was when I was worried about who would come around and take advantage of my mellow, intelligent, and kind brother-in-law. I no longer fret over James' future happiness. I know that these two will live for each other, continue to uplift each other, and inspire others together.

It's worth mentioning, however, that Laura was CAUTIONED about my inquisitiveness by not one but TWO people: James and Lory. Thanks a lot, guys! Now I know how you REALLY feel about me. That's fine. When I want to know something, I ask. I'm not ashamed. I'm actually quite self-assured. If they don't want to tell me, they don't answer. Some people find my candor disarming (no ulterior motives here- it's all out in front of you). Others are incredulous. That's okay; we don't have to be friends.

I'm already shopping for a wedding dress. Lory suspects the joyful event will take place next June. I don't think they can possibly wait that long. I'll be surprised if it doesn't happen in the next 6 months. :)

Mish-Mash

Caveat: This post is a pitiful mess of events that have occurred over the past two weeks. No organization here just non-sequential dribble.

I'm in love with Fiona at the Seaport Salon in Silverdale. In LOVE! I want to marry her and have her wake up with me in the morning so she can do my hair before I leave the house. I LOVE her! I was afraid of looking like I was running for office with a super-short 'do but she made it work!

I wore these shoes at a wedding with Wayne last summer in Hawai`i. I loved them then and I still LOVE LOVE LOVE them! They're so comfortable and I don't feel like I'm going to fall over- a major plus!

All I have to say is, "boy, do I need some SUN!" I looked for my dress EVERYWHERE! I tried this one on when I went to the Tacoma Mall but couldn't bring myself to pay $200. In utter desperation, I called from Oregon to see if I could buy it over the phone after looking EVERYWHERE for a better (cheaper) dress. I got so many compliments on it and I suppose I'm glad that I ended up wearing it.

Look at my handsome husband! He's such a major cutie-pie! He hasn't had to wear his dress blues since he lived in Connecticut. They're not even blue! What's up with that?

Joseph has started school at Brownsville Elementary. He's in all day Kindergarten and I didn't realize prior to moving to Washington that there was anything other than all day Kindergarten. Why wouldn't you want your child to go to school all day? Unfortunately, here we have to PAY for all day Kindergarten and it's actually quite costly. We had to submit a deposit of $1,000 and every month we have to pay $225. I don't understand why I have to pay in the first place. THEN I have to pay the YMCA $305 a month to take care of him after school. He really likes it though. His favorite part is riding the bus from Cottonwood Elementary to Brownsville in the morning. With all of the other activities, you'd think that he'd have a different favorite. Oh well.


Oh. My. Gosh! I don't know what is happening to the days and months! I've been completely consumed with the millions of things going on around me. I missed Joe's dad's birthday (happy belated birthday, Joe!) in July then his mom's birthday (happy birthday, Lory) in August! After a summer of being the worst and most ungrateful daughter-in-law on planet earth I'm not sure how I can live with myself! Between transitioning to kindergarten, working, studying and vacation planning I haven't quite been myself. I've lost 3 pounds, though! I guess stress can be a good thing sometimes!

As you can see from our pictures above, Joe and I went to the Ombudsman Appreciation Dinner. It was my third appreciation dinner but the first one in Washington. It was SO formal! In Hawaii I could get away with wearing my flip-flops. Here it's like a MAJOR event. I dropped Joseph off at the Litehouse and it was a bit weird. For an entire year I've been telling the staff about my son and since he's finally "school-aged" he got to play at the Litehouse School Age Care Center. Don't ask me why it's spelled incorrectly; shouldn't it be spelled correctly since it's for students? In any case he had a blast and fell asleep the second we started the car and headed home. He loved it and can't wait until winter camp when he can spend more time there.

It's been a crazy summer and we're really going to end it with a BANG! We are planning a vacation to DISNEYWORLD! Actually, we're done planning and will be enjoying the fruits of our labor next Friday! So exciting! I'm hoping we can get our Christmas card picture in front of Epcot or the Magical Kingdom. We'll see!

I did lots of shopping in tax-free Oregon. Got some cool kicks from the Sketchers store for Joey, StrideRite for Joseph, and more cute clothes at the Ann Taylor Outlet! We went to Woodburn Outlet and spent a good 3 hours there before heading home on Labor Day. The entire Ann Taylor store was a whopping 40% off! I scored some sweet earrings and three tops. I could have stayed there ALL day. Good thing Joey pried me away from Banana Republic before I made a complete and disgusting mess of our budget.

Joseph in Kindergarten

Joseph started Kindergarten today. I couldn't sleep well at all last night. I stayed up until 2:30 am getting things together. I filled out his school forms, wrote out PTSA checks, packed and re-packed his lunchbox, obsessed about his clothes, and reviewed the plans of the day. I know he's going to be fine. I can't believe that he's already in Kindergarten!