Now, usually I would just have ended the previous post with, "we drove home." But... our drive home was almost as much of an adventure as the rest of the trip was.
It all began with the Chaos Destroyer acting a bit funny as we pulled out of my grandparents' driveway. We made it out to the gas station on the corner and the van just stalled. So, we went inside the gas station to see if anyone there knew of the nearest Mazda dealership. We didn't really want to drive home with the van acting funny. Well, once inside we realized that John didn't have his cell phone or his wallet. So, we ended up going back to my grandparents' house. After tearing apart our suitcases and searching their house for them, Julie started complaining that she has to go to the bathroom. So, we let her out of the van. She went inside, went potty, and then out the back door, where she promptly picked up both the wallet and cell phone. The little monkey knew where they were the whole time.
Well, after finding out that the nearest Mazda dealership was about half an hour away in the wrong direction... not to mention, their service center wasn't open on Saturday anyway... we decided to just attempt the drive home anyway. If we had to, we would try to find another one along the way...
So, after several hard shifts into second gear, we made it out onto the highway. We were cruising along with no apparent problems when all the sudden this truck decided to cut us off. John hit the breaks and avoided the truck, but the van stalled. Thankfully, John thought quickly and put it into neutral and restarted it. Again, we cruised along without problem... and again, we had to slow down and the van stalled. Eventually, we figured out that every time the RPMs dropped below 2800 and the van needed to downshift, it would stall. This wasn't too much of a problem as long as we could just cruise along. But, John was the only one who could drive. There was no way I was going to mess with attempting to restart the van while moving.
So, we made it as far as South Carolina and got a room for the night. It was right next door to a Mazda dealership, but unfortunately the next day was Sunday... the service center was closed. We ate dinner at Chile's and found out that the mechanic for the dealership was her sister-in-law. This, unfortunately, was no help since she was on vacation.
We got up the next morning, semi-prepared to stay another night and attempt to get the van to the service center on Monday. After breakfast, John and I decided to take the kids to the park a short ways up the road. It was just far enough to have to drive. We got there without incident. The van seemed ok. So, we figured maybe we should just keep going. So, we packed up again and left the motel. After being on the road for a few hours, the van began stalling again. It was like this the rest of the way home.
On Monday, we got up and took the van to the dealership here. They tried to give us a hard time about having driven it from Florida like that, but we explained that 1) we all had to get back to work. 2) the kids had to get back to school. 3) we called Mazda and they were closed because of the fires in California. 4) the dealership in SC was closed because it was Sunday, and what could they do? It isn't like they could give us a rental to get back to PA. So, they relented and honored the warranty.
Turns out that the Chaos Destroyer needed a whole new transmission. It took them several days to figure this out, a week to get a new one in, and then a day and a half to fix it. There is no way we could have done that in Florida or South Carolina.
Thursday, November 22, 2007
Our Last Day in Disney
We got up early and packed up our cabin. We checked out early and headed off for breakfast at Ohana. We got to eat breakfast with Lilo, Stitch, Mickey and Pluto. The kids got to march around the restaurant in a parade. Stitch knocked my hat off... then he knocked Roe's hat off and it ended up being left behind.
After breakfast we headed out to MGM Studios. I had been wanting an excuse to ride the monorail and finally found one. The monorail ran right out of the resort to the Tickets and Transportation center. The kids and I got to ride in the nose of the train. It was so cool, we could see all the different parks as we passed them. From the T&T Center, we caught a bus to MGM.
Once there, we discovered that there was no way we could see every show that we wanted to see. I'd already seen the Beauty and the Beast show the last time we went, so I gave that up. Kailey got to dance with the Highschool Musical show. Josh and Kailey got to be Padawan Aprentices in the Star Wars show. We ate lunch at the ABC Commisary... it was the only bad meal I had. Josh, Kailey, John and I rode the Rockin' Rollercoaster. John and Julie (who wouldn't go on rollercosters remember...) went on Tower of Terror, while Roe, Josh, Kailey and I went to see the Indiana Jones Stunt Spectacular. After the show, Josh and Kailey got to meet the bad guy and Indiana Jones's stunt double.
Then we caught up with John and Julie and we all headed to the Lights, Motors, Action! show. It was really cool. It's all about how they do stunt driving for movies.
I had wanted to stay for the Fantasmic show. It's the fireworks display at MGM, but by the time we had finished everything else, we were all really tired and just wanted to get going. So, we went back to the Polynesian resort to get the van. Roe wanted to pick up some souveniers, so she went in the shop while the kids and I sat in the lounge and waited for John to bring the van up. It turns out that the resort was celebrating some odd big anniversary... I can't remember which one. All the sudden, there was a whole lot of stuff going on. There were hula dancers and music and everything. It was really cool.
So, that was our stay in Disney. We headed back to my grandparents' house after that. We spent the next few days just hanging out and relaxing with them.
After breakfast we headed out to MGM Studios. I had been wanting an excuse to ride the monorail and finally found one. The monorail ran right out of the resort to the Tickets and Transportation center. The kids and I got to ride in the nose of the train. It was so cool, we could see all the different parks as we passed them. From the T&T Center, we caught a bus to MGM.
Once there, we discovered that there was no way we could see every show that we wanted to see. I'd already seen the Beauty and the Beast show the last time we went, so I gave that up. Kailey got to dance with the Highschool Musical show. Josh and Kailey got to be Padawan Aprentices in the Star Wars show. We ate lunch at the ABC Commisary... it was the only bad meal I had. Josh, Kailey, John and I rode the Rockin' Rollercoaster. John and Julie (who wouldn't go on rollercosters remember...) went on Tower of Terror, while Roe, Josh, Kailey and I went to see the Indiana Jones Stunt Spectacular. After the show, Josh and Kailey got to meet the bad guy and Indiana Jones's stunt double.
Then we caught up with John and Julie and we all headed to the Lights, Motors, Action! show. It was really cool. It's all about how they do stunt driving for movies.
I had wanted to stay for the Fantasmic show. It's the fireworks display at MGM, but by the time we had finished everything else, we were all really tired and just wanted to get going. So, we went back to the Polynesian resort to get the van. Roe wanted to pick up some souveniers, so she went in the shop while the kids and I sat in the lounge and waited for John to bring the van up. It turns out that the resort was celebrating some odd big anniversary... I can't remember which one. All the sudden, there was a whole lot of stuff going on. There were hula dancers and music and everything. It was really cool.
So, that was our stay in Disney. We headed back to my grandparents' house after that. We spent the next few days just hanging out and relaxing with them.
Day Three in Disney
So, it was Tuesday. Epcot day. I've been to Epcot more than any of the other parks. So, I knew my way around and what was best to do...
We went on Soarin'. Which was like riding a glider over all sorts of different landscapes in California. We went on the "Universe of Energy." It's a show with Ellen and takes the riders back in time to see how energy has been developed over the years... and includes dinosaurs, my least favorite thing in the world, but it's ok, I knew what to expect. We went on the Test Track.
We ate lunch at "The Coral Reef." I'd always wanted to do that, but it was always too expensive, but since we had the meal plan, it was included... and it was AWESOME. We ate in this little place with this huge aquarium. The food was amazing. John and Roe both got steak...LOL. I got a piece of grilled Mahi-mahi... oh, my goodness, this was the best stuff I've ever eaten. All that wonderful grilled flavor without having to chew meat... (for those of you who don't know me so well, I don't really eat much meat.) Joshua got lobster soup for an appetizer. I don't think it sat so well with him... I won't embarrass him by posting the whole story here, but we'll suffice it to say that the people at the first aid station were quite helpful.
Then we went around the "World Showcase." We went on the boat ride in Mexico and the kids made masks at the "Kidcot" station. Kailey, Julie and I saw the acrobats in China. We went to Norway to ride the "Maelstrom." Roe had rented a scooter for the day, since her knees were bothering her. They let us take the scooter just about everywhere. Well, we got in line for the Maelstrom... along with a whole host of other people, including another woman on a scooter. We waited and waited... and the ride got shut down because of technical difficulties. So, this whole host of people had to leave. Easier said than done. See, the lines were narrow, and the other lady's scooter did not have enough room to turn around. We were up far enough to turn Roe around at the bend in the lane. The other lady had to back her scooter all the way out. It was quite interesting.
So, after walking around a bit, and taking care of our own technical difficulties with Joshy's upset stomach... John, Roe and I got dinner in Moracco. (The kids ate in Mexico earlier.) Kailey and I got to watch a real belly dancer. Then we watched the fireworks display and headed back to our cabin.
We went on Soarin'. Which was like riding a glider over all sorts of different landscapes in California. We went on the "Universe of Energy." It's a show with Ellen and takes the riders back in time to see how energy has been developed over the years... and includes dinosaurs, my least favorite thing in the world, but it's ok, I knew what to expect. We went on the Test Track.
We ate lunch at "The Coral Reef." I'd always wanted to do that, but it was always too expensive, but since we had the meal plan, it was included... and it was AWESOME. We ate in this little place with this huge aquarium. The food was amazing. John and Roe both got steak...LOL. I got a piece of grilled Mahi-mahi... oh, my goodness, this was the best stuff I've ever eaten. All that wonderful grilled flavor without having to chew meat... (for those of you who don't know me so well, I don't really eat much meat.) Joshua got lobster soup for an appetizer. I don't think it sat so well with him... I won't embarrass him by posting the whole story here, but we'll suffice it to say that the people at the first aid station were quite helpful.
Then we went around the "World Showcase." We went on the boat ride in Mexico and the kids made masks at the "Kidcot" station. Kailey, Julie and I saw the acrobats in China. We went to Norway to ride the "Maelstrom." Roe had rented a scooter for the day, since her knees were bothering her. They let us take the scooter just about everywhere. Well, we got in line for the Maelstrom... along with a whole host of other people, including another woman on a scooter. We waited and waited... and the ride got shut down because of technical difficulties. So, this whole host of people had to leave. Easier said than done. See, the lines were narrow, and the other lady's scooter did not have enough room to turn around. We were up far enough to turn Roe around at the bend in the lane. The other lady had to back her scooter all the way out. It was quite interesting.
So, after walking around a bit, and taking care of our own technical difficulties with Joshy's upset stomach... John, Roe and I got dinner in Moracco. (The kids ate in Mexico earlier.) Kailey and I got to watch a real belly dancer. Then we watched the fireworks display and headed back to our cabin.
Day Two in Disney
The next day, we got up early and went to Animal Kingdom. This would have been my mom's 53rd birthday, so we were celebrating. All of us had buttons that said, "Happy Birthday, Beth!" on them. Everywhere we went, people were saying, "Happy Birthday!" and then trying to figure out just whose birthday it was. It was kind of fun to remember my mom that way.
So, inside Animal Kingdom we saw, "It's Tough to be a Bug." That's a 3-D movie with all kinds of interesting other special effects, like stink bombs and acid... After that, John, Josh, Kailey and I went on Expedition Everest. After the Space Mountian fiasco, Julie and Roe decided that they wanted no part of anything "rollercoaster."
So, after that we ate lunch at The Flame Tree barbeque. You can't beat the food at Disney. Thankfully, we got most of our food included in our package, because otherwise it would have cost a small fortune. Then we went to see the Lion King show. It was fantastic. Julie and Joshua got to be in the parade around the theater.
The park closed at five, so we went back to our cabin for a snack and to play at the pool for a while. We had dinner reservations for 8:30pm at a restaurant called "Boma." A boma is a sort of fenced in space in the middle of nowhere in Africa. Something like a campsite. Anyway, the restaurant was a buffet with all sorts of different African foods. My mom would have loved it. They had all sorts of stuff that she had eaten in Africa. One thing they had was "Pap and Sheeba" which was kind of a polenta type stuff... (more or less like grits maybe?) Where Mom had been in Africa they called it "Sudsa." There was a girl there from Gabarone, Botswana who told me that it is only called that in one little place in Botswana.
Roe was quite happy because she finally found out what was in the Kool Slai, which is basically an African version of Coleslaw. The secret ingredient: Coconut milk. Who knew?
The hosts and hostesses there were all from different countries in Africa. The girl at the main desk was from South Africa... when we noticed this, Kailey imediately piped up with, "I know the South African National Anthem," and started singing it for her. She got all excited and called over a bunch of the other servers and hosts. Kailey put on quite the show, singing it several times for them. They were all very impressed at how well she knew it and could sing it. Her grandmother would have been very proud.
Joshua won a prize for answering the trivia question of the day. It was a bead made from what I'm guessing is peridot. He proudly displayed his pin that said, "I answered the trivia question."
In all, it was a great day. I can't think of a better way to have celebrated my mom's birthday.
So, inside Animal Kingdom we saw, "It's Tough to be a Bug." That's a 3-D movie with all kinds of interesting other special effects, like stink bombs and acid... After that, John, Josh, Kailey and I went on Expedition Everest. After the Space Mountian fiasco, Julie and Roe decided that they wanted no part of anything "rollercoaster."
So, after that we ate lunch at The Flame Tree barbeque. You can't beat the food at Disney. Thankfully, we got most of our food included in our package, because otherwise it would have cost a small fortune. Then we went to see the Lion King show. It was fantastic. Julie and Joshua got to be in the parade around the theater.
The park closed at five, so we went back to our cabin for a snack and to play at the pool for a while. We had dinner reservations for 8:30pm at a restaurant called "Boma." A boma is a sort of fenced in space in the middle of nowhere in Africa. Something like a campsite. Anyway, the restaurant was a buffet with all sorts of different African foods. My mom would have loved it. They had all sorts of stuff that she had eaten in Africa. One thing they had was "Pap and Sheeba" which was kind of a polenta type stuff... (more or less like grits maybe?) Where Mom had been in Africa they called it "Sudsa." There was a girl there from Gabarone, Botswana who told me that it is only called that in one little place in Botswana.
Roe was quite happy because she finally found out what was in the Kool Slai, which is basically an African version of Coleslaw. The secret ingredient: Coconut milk. Who knew?
The hosts and hostesses there were all from different countries in Africa. The girl at the main desk was from South Africa... when we noticed this, Kailey imediately piped up with, "I know the South African National Anthem," and started singing it for her. She got all excited and called over a bunch of the other servers and hosts. Kailey put on quite the show, singing it several times for them. They were all very impressed at how well she knew it and could sing it. Her grandmother would have been very proud.
Joshua won a prize for answering the trivia question of the day. It was a bead made from what I'm guessing is peridot. He proudly displayed his pin that said, "I answered the trivia question."
In all, it was a great day. I can't think of a better way to have celebrated my mom's birthday.
Adventures in Disney World
October 19, 2007 we packed our bags and headed south again. This time all the way to Florida. Our crew had an extra member this time. We brought John's mom with us in order to have a one to one ratio of kids to adults. I was thinking it might be easier to trek around Disney World that way, not to mention Roe had not been to Disney since John was a little kid and their trip had been miserable.Our drive down was fairly uneventful. We arrived at my grandparents' house in Ocala, on Saturday afternoon. We spent the night with them and got up early Sunday morning to head for Orlando. It's about an hour and a half from their house to Disney World. We printed directions from their map program on their computer... it lead us to Disney alright... right to the Cast Entrance. (Employee entrance that is.) So, after finding our way from there to Fort Wilderness, we registered for our cabin and headed off to the Magic Kingdom.
It was CROWDED. I was kinda disappointed. One of the reasons I'd picked October was figuring that because school had already started, there'd be fewer people... WRONG... just fewer school aged kids. The first thing we did was eat lunch. Then we headed off to Space Mountain. Roe had never been on it. Josh and Julie had never been on it. So we all got on it... Julie was FREAKED OUT. Roe was quite sorry that she got on it.Then we split up. I took Kailey. John took Joshua. Roe took Julie. John and Josh went on all the stuff in Tomorrowland. Kailey and I treked off to Adventureland to go on the Pirates of the Caribbean ride and Splash Mountain. Kailey got to become a member of Jack Sparrow's crew in one of the shows. I have no idea what Roe and Julie did. We all met back at the park entrance to head back to our cabin for dinner.
After a quick dinner, we all changed into our costumes. I was, of course, a pirate. Kailey was a belly-dancer/gypsy princess. Julie was a cat. Josh was a ninja. Roe was a gypsy. John was a party-pooper who wouldn't wear a costume. We went back to the Magic Kingdom to catch the Halloween parade and go trick-or-treating.
We ran into a group of singing pirates who entertained us with a bunch of goofy songs. We went on Splash Mountain and the Pirates ride again. We ended up with a HUGE bag of candy. It was a lot of fun.
Playing Catch Up
Well, you can tell that we've been quite busy since I haven't updated since August. It's now November....
This isn't so much a homeschool log anymore anyway. The kids are back in school. They are doing great. Josh is in third grade. Kailey is in second. Julie is in kindergarten.
After our camping trip with The Well, we had Vacation Bible School. This year's theme was "Sonforce Kids: On a Mission For God." The general idea was to Trust in God's Promises,Unite with God's People, Follow God's Plan, Train for Service, and Lead Others to God's Light.
John and I were in the opening skits. We were special agents that did all sorts of goofy things to illustrate the lesson of the day. On the last two days, the kids got involved in the skits because John couldn't make it on Thursday night. We were also in charge of the games outside. We had the kids running obstacle courses, doing "four-man push-ups", throwing rocks across the "Nile" and playing dodgeball. It was loads of fun.
This post will be updated with pictures as soon as I get them.
So, the Chaos Destroyer spent the week as a space ship traveling between Earth and the satellite station in orbit.
This isn't so much a homeschool log anymore anyway. The kids are back in school. They are doing great. Josh is in third grade. Kailey is in second. Julie is in kindergarten.
After our camping trip with The Well, we had Vacation Bible School. This year's theme was "Sonforce Kids: On a Mission For God." The general idea was to Trust in God's Promises,Unite with God's People, Follow God's Plan, Train for Service, and Lead Others to God's Light.
John and I were in the opening skits. We were special agents that did all sorts of goofy things to illustrate the lesson of the day. On the last two days, the kids got involved in the skits because John couldn't make it on Thursday night. We were also in charge of the games outside. We had the kids running obstacle courses, doing "four-man push-ups", throwing rocks across the "Nile" and playing dodgeball. It was loads of fun.
This post will be updated with pictures as soon as I get them.
So, the Chaos Destroyer spent the week as a space ship traveling between Earth and the satellite station in orbit.
Sunday, August 19, 2007
Camping With The Well
Friday, July 27 -29
Our next big adventure started on Friday, July 27, 2007. We went camping with a group from our church and John came with us. Around 5 pm our friend Matt came over to ride to the campground with us. We picked up John from work and started making our way there. It should have only taken us about an hour and a half... it took us about three hours. By the time we got to the campground, it was dark and it was raining.
We set up camp in the rain, using the headlights of the van to light up our site. Little did we know that the key was turned and the radio and video player were both on... our battery was dead as a doornail in a matter of about half an hour. So, knowing the nature of our fifteen-year-old tent, I stretched a tarp over the top of the tent and tied it to the poles.
We joined the group at the campfire for a while and then went to bed. The next day, thankfully, was nice and dry, but hot. After a failed attempt at a scavenger hunt, Josh and Kailey went with a big group of people to go play frisbee golf. John, Julie and I went with Matt, Brian, Dorie and Gabby to go canoeing.
I have never been in a canoe, so I had no idea how to make it go. Matt and Gabby both said that they did, so I let them paddle. Brian and John took off with Dorie who was totally freaked out by the whole concept, she can't swim.
I'll have to write more later...
Our next big adventure started on Friday, July 27, 2007. We went camping with a group from our church and John came with us. Around 5 pm our friend Matt came over to ride to the campground with us. We picked up John from work and started making our way there. It should have only taken us about an hour and a half... it took us about three hours. By the time we got to the campground, it was dark and it was raining.
We set up camp in the rain, using the headlights of the van to light up our site. Little did we know that the key was turned and the radio and video player were both on... our battery was dead as a doornail in a matter of about half an hour. So, knowing the nature of our fifteen-year-old tent, I stretched a tarp over the top of the tent and tied it to the poles.
We joined the group at the campfire for a while and then went to bed. The next day, thankfully, was nice and dry, but hot. After a failed attempt at a scavenger hunt, Josh and Kailey went with a big group of people to go play frisbee golf. John, Julie and I went with Matt, Brian, Dorie and Gabby to go canoeing.
I have never been in a canoe, so I had no idea how to make it go. Matt and Gabby both said that they did, so I let them paddle. Brian and John took off with Dorie who was totally freaked out by the whole concept, she can't swim.
I'll have to write more later...
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