Tropical Storm Beryl

Last weekend our area had tropical storm Beryl came through our area.  However, this wasn't going to stop our plans.  Every year the Sunday before Memorial Day we spend the day at Jason's mom's house swimming and eating.  This year the tropical storm was forecasted to come right off the coast and hit us on Sunday.

Well, through the bands of showers we were still able to enjoy the pool and sun until about 4:30.

Kamryn reading to the boys.

Being at the beach, we thought we wouldn't lose power, but a transformer blew right outside the house so we lost power for about 2 hours.  Thankfully in the city they don't lose water.  We were in the middle of playing Quelf but as you can see below that didn't stop us from playing by candlelight.

We thought we would be going home late that night, but around midnight when the wind subsided (we were in the center of the storm), we called my parents and they said there was no power so here is where we camped for the night.  8 adults and 5 kids - the bump you see on the mattress on the left is Trevor already passed out.  3 kids and 4 adults slept in this area.  It was definitely a memory that we will always have.

We left shortly after we woke up the next morning and headed home - even though we didn't have power.  Here is what we came home to with our garden.  Quite sad that our corn might be done before we even were able to enjoy any.

It continued to rain for another day, so we were pretty soaked but our grass really needed it.  What a way to start out the tropical storm season.

The start of a long and eventful weekend

When we arrived home last Friday from Hollywood Studios, Daniel, Jessica and Caleb were at our house to stay the night so Brody and was so excited to spend some time with Caleb.  Of course Brody had to show off his new light saber.  This thing is so huge and I'm not sure our house is safe with this thing.

Brody had a tball game on Saturday, so Caleb was able to come out and see him play.  If Caleb had his shoes, he probably could have played as well because we were short a few players.   One of the drawbacks of being the dugout mom is that I have to have someone watching Trevor.  My mom usually does a great job at this, but today Trevor wanted to stay with Aunt Jess right beside the dugout - IN THE DIRT.  I joked with Jessica and said this is the dirtiest he has ever been - her response was "he was good wasn't he?" True!!

After the game, Jessica and I took the boys over to enjoy the pool while Daniel, Jason and Tara went through the shed of all their dad's stuff to sort and throw away.  Jessica and I had a great time at the pool - we definitely got the better end of the deal.

Later that evening Jason did a little grilling something new - chicken drumsticks.  They turned out great.  Jason and Brody really enjoyed them - I'm not a drumstick kind of girl.  Trevor and I ate lots of cucumbers from our garden.

Dad brought over a watermelon and we played a little baseball.  Fun times on a great Saturday evening with some wonderful weather.

While Brody plays baseball, Trevor does his own thing.

What else would 2 boys do with a couple of light sabers?

Star Wars Weekend

To celebrate Brody graduating from Pre-K, mom and I took he and Trevor to Hollywood Studios last Friday for Star Wars weekend.  I had braced myself that it was going to be hot and crowded but this would be the only time he would be able to go since our tickets aren't valid for the summer.  I also convinced mom that it would be ok, but she can't trying to talk Jason into missing work, which wasn't going to happen.

We left at 6:15AM Friday morning and the boys actually slept a little on the way down to Orlando.  The boys were SO excited when we arrived.  Even though this trip was for Brody, Trevor was pretty excited as well.  I'm not sure there are too many almost 3 year olds who know ANYTHING about Star Wars, but Trevor can sing the "good guy" and "bad guy" song, speak like Darth Vadar and loves R2D2 and C3PO.  So I was hoping this would be a great day for them both.

2 excited little boys

Our first view when we arrived

My stormtroopers

All over the park there were characters from Star Wars which meant lots of lines for pictures.  I did give Brody the option if he wanted to stand in the lines or not, but I felt this is one of the reasons we came so I was glad he wanted to on some of them.  The funny part is that between my mom and I we really didn't know these people so we were doing a lot of asking around - I really wish Jason had been able to go.

Here's Anakin.

Using the "force"

Commander Rex from Star Wars Clone Wars

Of course no trip to Hollywood Studios is complete without a ride on Star Tours.  Brody LOVES this ride which is a simulated ride as if you are riding on a flight with C3PO as your captain.

After the ride, it strategically dumps you out into a store.  I was prepared for this and knew exactly what Brody was going to want - a new light saber.  He has wanted the double light saber the last 2 times we have gone there.  So here he is picking out the exact pieces he wants for his new light saber.

"Oh yeah, it feels perfect"

"This is really mine?"  Once we bought it they put tape on the ends because it opens up to about 5 feet long and of course there is NO fighting inside the park.

The main event of each day for Star Wars weekend is the parade.  Well, I am not a fan of standing in my spot for an hour or so just to see a parade.  So, we arrived at the parade site about 20 minutes prior and OH MY GOODNESS at the people.  I have never seen so many people.  We found a spot that we thought we would be pretty close as soon as they would close the walkway.  However, we ended up being about 4 people back and put that with a 5 year old who is extremely hot and tired, Brody had a meltdown and screamed out "I can't see".  I felt so sorry for him, so I did what any other mom would do - picked him right up to try and see as much as he could.  Since I had a 40 pounder on my hip, there was no way I could take any pictures, but I was able to video most of the parade with my other hand - which they have enjoyed watching.  Let me just say I have never sweated in some places that I did.

I really had no idea where Trevor and my mom were.  I looked over and mom had put Trevor on her shoulders so he could try and see something.  It was too cute.

Here's a small glimpse of the amount of people who were there.

What better way to cool off after a hot parade - ice cream.  Trevor usually hasn't liked the Mickey bar, so I didn't get him anything.  Of course today that is all he wanted was Brody's Mickey bar.

The one thing about Hollywood Studios is that there isn't much for Trevor to do so we had to make a stop at the Honey I Shrunk the Kids play area.  He is such a big boy and just runs all around that place and has a blast.

Brody still has a great time as well - as you can tell from his red face.

Some of the lines for some of the characters were quite long, so I would have Brody stand in front of guy and try and get a picture.  Here he is with Jango Fett in the background.

The wait for a picture with Darth Vader was 2 hours, now it was in the shade, but thankfully Brody was not about to wait for that picture so I just took a picture with Darth Vader in the background.

As we were waiting on our fast pass time for Toy Story - we pulled our fast pass first thing that morning thank goodness because they were all gone within an hour of the park opening and the wait at 2:30 was 100 minutes - the green army man showed up to play with the boys.

A Stormtrooper

My teammate on Toy Story

This was the longest wait we had that day - 45 minutes but I really wanted them to have their picture with Chewbacca & an Ewok.

As I stood in the line for Chewbacca, I heard people telling me that Princess Lea, C3PO, and R2D2 were out in another area.  So, while mom and Brody rode Star Tours one more time, Trevor and I headed over to wait in this line.  This was the last stop of the day and it was so worth it.

Waving to R2D2

Princess Lea was so nice and was talked so much to the boys.

Brody is showing off his Jedi skills to Princess Lea

Using the force against R2D2 and C3PO

A great picture to end the long, hot, but wonderful day.

We left the park around 5:00, drove thru McDonalds to grab dinner and made it home by 8:00.  Trevor fell asleep around 7:00 and was passed out and I was actually able to put him right in the bed when we got home (yes, I know no bath but little man was tired) and he slept until 7 the next morning.