Thinking of Summer

Now that we have had several days of freezing lows, I was lingering over summertime photos.

This is the Sign You Hope to See at Magic Kingdom

This is the standby wait time, there was no fast pass distribution simply because there weren't enough people in the standby line to pass.

Epcot on Kim Possible Missions

Talk about a gorgeous end of the day! That water was molten gold. Yes, that is the top of the "Tour Eiffel" and Dolphin and Swan Resort silhouetted by the sunset.



This visit we attempted the Kim Possible Missions Disney has set up in Epcot. You pick up a "Kimmunicator" at one of several locations in the park, then follow the instructions to a Country's Pavillion to complete a mission. There are several inventive responses during the adventures that even surprised me. We were able to keep up a brisk pace, but when we took time to stop at the movie in France, it caused our "Kimmunicator" to time out. We walked back to pick up a new one. I would suggest this for older children (at 6, he was challenged with most clues, at 10, she was challenged with a few) for a few countries. We tackled France, Japan, Germany and Norway and were bushed!

We are Thankful For ...

Good Loyal Friends - whatever their race, color, creed or breed.
Leaves ... eventually, even in Florida, some leaves will fall for a leaf pile. This bounty is provided by our neighbors sycamore.

Fall Has Arrived to the First Coast

I wore a long sleeved shirt the other morning and didn't sweat through it immediately. Yes, outside, people. This is a sure sign that Fall has arrived.

My neighbor's south dogwood is the first to start dropping it's leaves. I see our little red berries peaking out, but the leaves are still on. The crepe myrtles are nodding their heads, heavy with seed pods maturing. Mowing the grass is now put off to every other week - one of my favorites as I mow it.

Walking to the specialty market is again a pleasant experience. Yay!

Transportation Preschool Lesson Plan for WDW MK

Boy - Oh - Boy Does Mickey know Transportation!

Turn a trip to the Magic Kingdom into a easy lesson about transportation. You'll have been on different vehicles just riding rides! I had printed "mini" 1/4 sheet coloring pictures of a train, boat, plane, rocket and horse that I stapled and tucked into my purse. At dinner, it was an extra item to color and it reminded me to review our experience on each type of vehicle during our day at Disney.

The Ferry - Take the Ferry from the ticket center to the Magic Kingdom. The Captain will round the large boat from behind islands in the South Seas Lagoon you are presented with the iconic scene of manicured joy. This is your first transportation and it is a memorable one even for the younger set. What a great example of water transportation.


Trains - Once inside the park, Make a sharp turn and head up the stairs to board one of the Walt Disney Railroad on antique steam engines that circle the park. make sure to take an extra look at the spectacular Thunder Mountain Railroad.

Animals- Dumbo may offer a unique elephant ride in Fantasyland, but elephants as well as camels, donkeys, burros and horses are used as transportation in some areas of the world. Also take a ride on Cinderella's Golden Carousel.

Watercraft - Jungle Cruise, Pirates of the Caribbean, Peter Pan's Flight, Tom Sawyer Island Rafts, Liberty Square Riverboat, It's a Small World, Splash Mountain all feature watercraft as part of the experience.

Airplanes - Goofy's Barnstormer was a major hit with my family and one particular airplane nut. Height restriction is 35 inches.

Cars - Tomorrowland Indy Speedway can't be missed, you will hear the engines from Toontown to Space Mountain. Once is enough here.



What's next?
Tomorrowland Transit Authority, Astro Orbiter, Buzz Lightyear's Space Ranger Spin are available to consider our next frontier and the transportation we will need in it.

Monorail - At some point in your stay, take the Monorail. They make a splash with the kids, can be your fastest option at times and use electric motors to run. That's just super cool.

Buses - Your ride back to your hotel if you are onsite will give you PLENTY of experience on a bus. My kids just thought it was a blast to ride on a "real" bus. If you are not staying onsite and just have to have a Disney bus experience, head over to the meadow parking at Fort Wilderness and take the complimentary bus to the Pioneer Hall. Here you can see the horses in their stables, and take a pony ride at the Tri-Circle-D Ranch.

Homeschooling at Walt Disney World

Could it be possible? With at least an educational slant within the Walt Disney World Resort, could a trip become super memorable and engaging introduction to subjects and lessons? Of course, I don't have to work on the fun part or work up any enthusiasm, it's already been worked on my a helpful, perky cast, with disproportionately little effort from me. (Yay.)

One site has an entire section to help at http://a2zhomeschool.com/homeschoolmouse/

Welcome Home to Corporal Southern USMC and God Bless Our Troops!

Our community here had the honor of being able to show one of our boys our support - for his birthday, he came home to visit family and friends before returning to Virginia. What was meant to be a quiet drive turned rowdy with people lining the streets to his home. Police and a motocycle motorcade roared by adults and children standing waving flags, and those in service saluting.

Thank You Card

I made my very first attempt at a spectacular thank you card for some spectacular treatment. I took a large sheet of watercolor paper, cut it into a long strip then folded it accordian style for a artistic take on a postcard set. This first page is a watercolor of the sunrise with a small dimensional sticker.
The second page is a watercolor background with a few dimensional stickers.
Another watercolor background in blue ...
Not quite finished yet, but I thought a shell detail was called for and added a super cute little crab. I like the me & my big ideas and recollections scrap supplies from Micheals.

Bonnie Lads and Lass

These photos are from the Northeast Florida Scottish Highland Games back in early spring. It was really cold, wet and miserable ... not at all like the actual Scottish weather!

I think the headless displays are just the best for kids.
Mine love them and I have a hilarious peek at the event we went to.

Catching Fish and Swimming with Sea Turtles

We thought it was so cool that we were on the reef and this heron shared space without flying off.

Then we watched him catch this fish. He then left us.

This was how close the sea turtles were with us in the water. They stayed for a while, then darted off.

Good Morning Sunshine - Melbourne Beach

Okay, this was so worth getting up every single morning at 6:00am. Each was better than the last. We checked in this gorgeous light how many sea turtle tracks we could see on the beach where the mamas came up to make their nests.

Opportunities

In Jacksonville's International Airport, there is a gem, the Haskell Gallery. This gallery is prior to security so is available to all that pay for parking. We hadn't spent any time hanging out randomly until the other night, and found it to a be a wonderful little treasure. They had two artists, both worked with fiber, but had such wonderfully contrasting styles. The kids loved both, and spent a bit of time thinking about the different pieces. There were postcards at the entrance and they used the white space on the reverse to draw a fiber art design influenced by what they had seen. It was a nice stop when most of the shops are closed in the evening.

A1A from the Car - Worth It

If you have a chance to drive up A1A starting north of Daytona Beach, take it. It is a slower ride, but the view is worth that toll.

The Classic Flagler Beach Sign Stands as the highest building on the beach side on all Flagler Beach.

This is the view for miles.

Tidal Pools in Northeast Florida

Beaches near Marineland, FL and Washington Oaks State Park have cocina formations that are super cool at low tide!

Watch for Jellies!

Blooming Right Now - Central Florida

Azaleas are still kicking!


Classic Hibiscus

Beach Season is Open

This is not our first trip to the beach this year, but the number of other beach goers on our favorite beach show that the season has begun. Usually every direction is empty, but on this sunny Friday, it is populated. Okay, so all of the umbrellas are from our group, so you see it is still quite a paradise with plenty of open beach space. We were lucky enough to watch the space shuttle go up during our trip right on the beach. When I see pictures from up north, beautiful snow globe photos, gorgeous peonies and lilacs ... I remind myself that this week, when my Minnesota cousins had snow, we were here at the beach.

Welcome to Florida, Juice at the State Line!

I know just about everyone in the world thinks palm trees and beaches when they think of Florida, but that's just not right. If you want to consider a masterpiece of orchestrated landscape here, you must experience the orange groves. Not the south Florida ones, but the mid to northern Florida groves, ones that gracefully rise and fall over slight hills near Ocala. The sweetest flower is that of the citrus tree, there is just a hint of the fruit that is to come. In the rush of tourism, the classic Florida orange grove has been passed by, the interstates taking up less arable land, and the real estate on it's edges turned over to cultivate Starbucks and McDonalds.

Stop at the State Line Welcome Center, take a cup of complimentary citrus juice (and darn it, even the grapefruit juice is good). Look at some of the brochures for Walt Disney World, Busch Gardens, Miami Beach and possibly even the Keys. Spare a glance too, for the traditional Weeki Watchee, Silver Springs and my favorite, Cypress Gardens. At the Welcome Center they had displays for children to pose as a skier or southern belle for pictures.

By the way, this wayward child is hanging by his left hand, you can see his fingers at the top, which makes his head look a bit odd. He is only exceedingly dirty because he stole all the oreos from his siblings' stash as they exited the car, then crammed them ALL into his mouth.

Horse Riding Hairstyles for Girls

Being of a modest home, riding lessons is not an endless line of checks dashed off. It required a bit of thought, review of budget and a long talking to with the horse obsessed child.

Currently it had come to her attention that her hair usually looked messy. Why? I sent her to lessons with her hair up in a ponytail with a cute homemade bow wrapped around. It seems that the ponytail was yanked downward in order for her helmet to fit properly and much snarling ensued.

Ever the internet mom, I searched riding hairstyles and came up with nothing useful. So, I am going to post some experiments and post them here. It's better than a whole lot of nothing, right?

First, side braids:


Single Back Braid with Rubber Banded Bow:

This is what it looked like before I added the helmet.

Happy Easter

Easter Mass was wonderful, children were well behaved -ish and the Easter Bunny visited while we were there.

Sweet husband went for pancakes and Sunday paper. Yay, who knew this normalacy could be so fantastic!

Bottle Biology - at home science

You know one of the big parts of science is observation .... and this plan of using bottles makes it easy! Bottle Biology makes observation accessible.This was on Pioneer Woman first in a Mrs. G. post, I admit it. But I LOVE it! How fun to do at home? Take an empty couple bottle, dump some stuff in it and watch it! I mean, Observe.

Down the Trail

I love my state. We have amazing beaches, stretches of soft sand, rocky outscoppings, peek-a-boo bays and islands, crystal springs, low hanging branches draped with lacy moss ... fauna, flora and water you wouldn't believe. I mean really, how many orchid hunts can you have in Oklahoma? But, we do not have waterfalls. Not ones like in Georgia. My kids were wowed by this "small" set of falls in Gwinett County. And, I have to admit, so was I.

How Much Does My Husband Love Me?

I know my husband loves me. Not just a little bit but a lot. "A lot, a lot"(Parent Trap). Not only did he groan when I excitedly held up my cell phone to the box on the passenger seat, not only did he grumble hauling heavy bags from the car ... he built me a Taj Mahal in my backyard. My chicken coop. It is a thing of beauty. It matches with our fence, was engineered with great thought, consideration and love for me.

That was last year. How do I know he still loves me that much? I brought home new chickies ... they are so cute. Then just asked me how many we were keeping. He loves me, he really really loves me.

Blooming Right Now - Northeast Florida

March 18th

Azaleas are in bloom There are a few houses that I made sure to drive by just to see a long line of blossoms under the watchful stand of pines along the road.

I have seen other dogwoods in bloom in our neighborhood, but ours is slow waking up and stingy with tight greenish blooms.

Walk Score on Zillow

Just checking up to see what our house is listed as on Zillow and came across our "Walking Score". We received a 57, which is described as "somewhat walkable". I think our rating on this may go up, as we now have a high end grocery store within walking distance. Now with children, I am finding that they like to walk places. The only thing I don't think of is that I have to carry what I buy back. Two gallons of milk sounds like a good idea until I step out the door and remember I didn't bring a car.

Stop on I-85 Mayfield Dairy

On of my favorite travelling stops along I-85 simply must be Mayfield Dairy. What you cry? Not Chateau Elan for wine? No, no, no. (Or non, non, non.) Ice cream wins out every time!

This is a milk processing and packaging plant that has a nice tour that lasts about 20 minutes. First is the requisite film about the company, then you don the clever little yellow hair nets (and beard nets for men) go through to see the trucks coming in with raw milk, sampling and testing room, and some cool robotics filling and shuttling jugs and spinning on caps. This provide a spring board for homeschool discussions about where our food comes from, what scientists do, business models and so on. There is a little store too full of cute things, but the biggest draw is the sweetly priced ice cream parlor featuring Mayfield ice cream. There is a lovely outdoor landscaped terrace with seating, although indoor tables are available for inclement weather. There is also a very large Jersey Cow Statue that the kids can run around in a grassy field.