The Rest of the Trip in Florida

Lucy and Bob headed over to see some of their family on the other coast, so we all packed up in Keri’s van and headed to the Melbourne area. I haven’t seen her house since their addition and re-modeling, so I was really looking forward to it. We got to the Donald Barn and I couldn’t believe how incredible it looked. We got a tour of the whole house and it was perfect and there were so many unique things that Keri had created. The pictures that I had seen of their place didn’t do it justice. Kelson loved the playroom Keri had set up. It was so fun and had so many different activities for the kids to do. Jason was asked to cook dinner, so we went to the fresh market and got some yummy steaks, and then Jason made pasta to go with it. All three of the kids were big fans of it. Corgan and Belle wouldn’t even try it and then when finally did, they told Uncle Jason how much they liked his pasta. Corgan and Belle are pretty picky eaters, so for them to like something is big. After dinner, we pretty much just relaxed, watched TV, showered (their shower is huge) and went to bed. Keri and Keith gave up their bedroom for Jason and me - so sweet of them. Kelson slept soundly in the media room. It’s going to be awesome when they are done with it.
The next day we just let the kids play, Keri rode her bike, and we decided to go visit the Brevard Zoo. I haven’t been to a Zoo since probably before we moved from Miami. It was in the middle of the week, so it wasn’t crowded, and they had a kiddie water area. We got to see LOTS of cool animals- there was a giraffe on the deck that we got to pet and see up close. That was a very cool experience. We went into the bird area to feed some birds- I didn’t care for that part- but the kids sure did seem to enjoy all the birds bombarding them for food. Lol. We saw so many cool animals- I think Kelson and the kids really enjoyed the zoo. Next we went to the water hole area- this was a great place to go cool off before heading home. It was another hot FL day, so it was refreshing.
Mom and dad offered to watch the kids, so Keri, Keith, Jason, and I could go out to eat at the Yellow Dog Café (Keri is always talking about how yummy this place is, so I wanted to try it out). Keith had a b-ball game, so he met up with us later, but OMG was she ever right, that food was awesome. We had so much food and every bit of it was delicious. Even the martinis! On the way home we stopped at Wal-Mart to buy a game. I bought the Family Feud game. We played it when we got back to their house, while eating our leftover desserts from the restaurant. It was time for bed- we had to leave the next day.
Overall, it was a wonderful trip and we hated to leave, especially because the kids were having such a great time together. I wished we lived closer. The trip home was great- no problems and it was nice to be back home. Eers was happy to see us too :) Kelson kept asking to go to Annabelle and Corgan’s house, but of course I had to explain that it was too far away. We had such a wonderful time and can’t wait to do it again. Keri did mention us all going on Disney cruise next summer- to celebrate Keith’s biz endeavor, so we are starting to plan for that and getting excited about spending more time together. Course we had thought about trying again next year for another little Albert, but I said I would never be pregnant on a cruise, so well just have to see- Since it’s a family cruise I may change my mind- Kelson has mentioned that she wants a little sister.

Sept 26, 2009- Animal Kingdom

Luckily, we had direct passes for this park so we didn’t have to go to Epcot first, so we arrived at the Animal Kingdom around 9:30am. We had lots of fun things to do here. We visited the tree of life, went and saw “A Bug’s Life” 3D show- which Kelson was not a fan of- she doesn’t like things popping out at her or wearing those glasses. We saw a few animals and birds around the parks. The adults went and rode Mt. Everest while the kids went to the Dinosaur area to ride on some of the kiddie rides. That is such a fun ride. It was Keith’s first time on this ride. The fact that it goes backwards makes it unique and fun. After the ride, we meet up with the grandparents and kids- they were having a blast on the petri ride (similar ride to dumbo, but with dinosaurs). They rode that ride a few times. We ate some lunch to cool off and fill up our bellies, then headed to the Lion King show. This is such an awesome show- lots of great singing, acrobats, dancing, interaction with the audience, and cool stage acts. It was nice and cool in there, so during the show, Kelson took a cat nap. It was adorable- she just laid down on her daddy’s knee and fell asleep- even with all the loud music. She was worn out- The park closed at 5pm, so it went by quick, another fun, but exhausting day. There was still some stuff we wanted to do, but we ran out of time. That happens with a big group. After we went back to the room, got cleaned up, we wanted to go shop (with cousin patty’s 30% off discount), so Keri, Mom, Lucy, Jason and I met up at Downtown Disney to do some shopping. Kelson slept the whole time we shopped. Around 10pm, we finally grabbed some dinner at McDonald’s. Kelson woke up around this time. Aunt Keri had bought her some cute Disney Princesses bath toys to play with, so she was happy. We got back to the room- just in time for Kelson to keep Bobba awake for a while, so we could sleep in the next day without him getting up at the crack of dawn. I did discover that night that Bobba does a very good Donald Duck impression. It was sad that we were already all done with all of the parks, but we had lots of fun and got a lot of good pictures and memories. Hollywood/Animal Kingdom Pics

Sept 25, 2009-Animal Kingdom Hotel/Hollywood Studios Park

We had to pack up our stuff and get checked into the “Animal Kingdom” hotel, so needless to say we had a busy morning. When we got into our room, we had a giraffe roaming through the pasture- it was a very cool site. The rooms were ok and pretty far from the lobby/elevator area, but overall it was a nice stay. We had to go all the way back to Epcot to get our passes, and then jump back on the bus to go to Hollywood Studios. It was another hot day. Since we had so much to do that morning, we really didn’t have but a few hours to hang out at the park. As soon as we got there, we were all pretty hungry, so we went and grabbed some grub at the cafeteria.
We watched another parade before heading to the Ariel show. Next was the Beauty and the Best show- it was basically a musically telling the story. I enjoyed it, but Kelson wasn’t really interested? So after that, Lucy and Mom took the kids to go see the “Mickey Mouse Clubhouse” show- they loved it. Keri, Keith, Belle, Jason, and I went to check out the Tower of Terror. I couldn’t believe that Belle was brave enough to do it, but she was all about it. Keri videotaped her during the ride. She liked it, but she was also pretty scared by the end of it. She did very well for a 3 year old. Jason and I were going to ride the Aerosmith ride but the line was way too long and it’s just an ok ride, so we went back to meet up with everyone. The other thing I wanted to check out was the “American Idol Experience” – which we didn’t get to really see- it’s a long process thing, so we didn’t get to see the whole thing, just a couple of acts at the end and I have to say I was impressed at how good they were. If we had a whole day without kids I would have jumped on it, but since that wasn’t the case, maybe some other time. We wanted to check out the Toy Story ride before leaving but the wait was over 45 min and the park was about to close. Kelson (sleeping), Jason, Lucy, and I went to the Narnia attraction before leaving. It was cool- just some parts and props from the movie. It had been a long day, so we headed back to the Animal Kingdom hotel to get rested up for ONE more day at the parks.

Sept 24, 2009- The Magic Kingdom

We headed back to Epcot to get tickets to head over to the Magic Kingdom- this was not the fun part of each day, but it sure did save us lots of money. Cousin Patty joined us at the park. Thank goodness we had the monorail for transportation because driving would have been a pain in the butt. They were having the “Mickey’s Not So Scary” Halloween Party that night, so everything was decorated for Halloween.It was very cool. Last year, Jason and I stayed for the Christmas party and it was very neat, so we were anxious to see how the Halloween party was going to be. We saw a couple of characters on the way in... got a picture with “PokeEno” (Pinnochio)- as Kelson calls him and a few others. The Disney cast was about to perform the song “Mainstreet USA” song- this is one of Kelson’s favorites on her Mickey Mouse Sing-along DVD. She was pretty into the dancing/singing. Next we got pictures in front of the castle with the family and then headed over towards the rides.
Kelson saw the Dumbo ride and couldn’t wait to get on. The line was rather long and it was hot, but we managed to stay in good spirits. Lucy, Kelson, and I rode on the Dumbo ride- it was really cute. Next we went to the “Philharmagic” show- it’s a 3D show that we love. Kelson wasn’t sure what to do with the glasses at first, but when we finally got her to understand she enjoyed the show. The part where the champagne bottles busted out puffs of air, she didn’t like, but everything else she seemed to enjoy. Especially Ariel and all the jewels and singing “Part of Your World”- her favorite Disney song.
Next we got a fast pass for Peter Pan and headed to “It’s a Small World”. Kelson sings this song quite a bit too (thanks to the sing-along DVD), so she was really into this ride as well. Corgan and Belle probably aren’t as familiar with the Disney songs/attractions as Kelson was, but they all still had a great time. Bob, Jason, and Kelson rode on the Peter Pan ride with Kelson- Jason said she liked it at first, but then was scared at the dark parts and when the ride was done- she said she didn’t want to go back on it again. Lol. Who would have thought? Next stop was the Haunted Mansion- another song on the DVD that Kelson seems to enjoy. It is a little scary, so I wasn’t sure if she would like it, but we thought we’d give it a try. Overall, she did very good- didn’t cry at all and we made the ghosts out to be funny and silly instead of scary. I was proud of my little girl braving out the ride- not that she had a choice. Next, we headed over to watch the Country Bear Jamboree (this was always an Albert favorite). But before we went in for the show, they were having a parade. The characters and the parade were by far Kelson’s favorite things about the theme parks. Kelson even blew Ariel a kiss and she made a sweet little gesture back at Kelson and blew one back- we were all like AWWWWW... I got some of it on videotape. After the parade was over, we went inside the COOL air condition for the show. Kelson enjoyed the deers/buffalo up on the wall and kept calling him “Buck”- like the one at The Cave. She was up dancing around throughout the whole show- it was very cute. I could tell that Keri and Keith weren’t that into the COUNTRY bears, but they still had a fun time. We went to the Laugh Floor (Monsters, Inc.) show. Jason got to be apart of the show. He played the part very well. It was very cute.
Next, we decided that we would go back to the room and take a little nap and get ready for the “Mickey’s Not So Scary Halloween Party” that night. We were all pretty worn out from the sun and all the walking around so this helped bring us some relief. Keri had bought Belle n Kelson matching Minnie Costumes to wear for the party. C-man was in his Spiderman pj’s. They looked adorable. So we all put on our Halloween attire and headed back to the park for some more fun. Cousin Patty, her brother, nephew, and mom also joined in. We grabbed a spot to watch the Halloween Parade. It was awesome. All the characters dressed up and the music was perfect. She got to see a lot of her favorite characters. They gave out some candy at the end of the show, so Kelson was catching on to the “Trick or Treat” phrase. Next, we went to search for a spot to watch the fireworks show- which was awesome- and then headed towards the character dance parties. We found the Stitch 626 Club and that was right up Kelson’s alley- she danced and didn’t want to let go of Stitch- lol. There was also Chip N Dale, Goofy, and Pluto. Annabelle started dancing with Kelson towards the end- it was cute. Since it was a Halloween Party, they had places where the kids could go trick or treating and get candy. They danced around some more and then we headed towards “Mickey and Minnie’s houses”. The highlight of the night had to be the kids discovering their love of Goofy’s Barnstormer. The girls went on it 3 times, but Corgan had enough after two rides. I’m sure the girls would have just kept on going if we would have let them. If you’ve never been on the Barnstormer, it’s actually pretty crazy for a small kids’ roller coaster. We were comparing it to a miniature version of Thunder Mountain, but our little thrill-seekers loved it! The girls grabbed a picture with Minnie Mouse before we left. We finished the night with a wet ride of Splash Mountain. One of the big benefits of paying for the extra “Halloween” hours was the fact that we could pretty much walk right on to every ride. It was great! We were about to leave, when we realized that we hadn’t rode on “The Pirates of the Caribbean”, so no lines, we jumped right on. Kelson didn’t seem to mind this ride either and gets pretty excited over pirates- thanks to her daddy’s love of them. It was overall a wonderful day. The only thing that sucked was Lucy’s little scooter kept working, so Jason had to push her in it about 2 miles to the entrance and then up towards the monorail and to the hotel. He definitely worked off that burger he ate. It was a late night and we didn’t get back to the room till almost 1. We decided that we would let the kids sleep in a little and get to the park a little later the next day.
Magic Kingdom Pics

Sept 24, 2009- Epcot

We woke up around 8 ish to get ready to head to Epcot. We were more excited about Kelson’s reaction to everything, more than anything. We had to go meet Cousin Patty each morning at the parks, to get our “hookup” then head to whatever park we wanted. That day we were staying at Epcot, so it was nice and easy to get in. Kelson is a huge Finding Nemo fan, so we knew that she would enjoy that attraction. First off, we went to visit the Mickey and friends characters. Last year- this was Kelson’s fav thing we did. Since we had just seen them the night before at the dinner, she was excited, but not as much as the year before. By the time we were done, she didn’t want to leave. We headed to the Nemo ride (as I knew she would be happy and forget about the characters). She saw the sculptures and was hooked. She had a lot of fun playing/riding on them and getting pics. The “mine, mine” birds were talking away... she seemed to enjoy the ride and there really wasn’t that long of a wait. The park seemed rather empty, but it was sooo freaking hot. I thought the weather being in September that we would be ok, but it was still so humid and no wind. We were taking lots of breaks. Lucy had her scooter so that helped us get to the front of the lines a little better. Having such a big group was challenging- we wanted everyone to try and do the same things, but someone would have to go to the bathroom, another go grab a drink, change a diaper, etc... but we managed to make it work. Anyways, we got some really cute pics of the kids at the Nemo attraction and even one of Kelson in Bruce’s mouth.
Next some of the adults went on the Soarin’ ride. It was a lot of fun- very cool ride. Bob’s first time and he seemed to really enjoy it. By that time, it was time for the Princess Luncheon. I loved that I captured this picture of Kelson. She looks like she is having a one-on-one with Belle. This was soooo much fun and Kelson really was excited about seeing all the princesses. Corgan slept through pretty much the whole thing and toward the end, Annabelle seemed to warm up to them too. We had a great big meal, nice air condition, and got visited by each one of the princesses at our table. The kids got their autographs too. We saw Belle, Snow White, Ariel, Sleeping Beauty (who left a cute little kiss mark on Kelson’s forehead), and Cinderella. Kelson had the “Gus Gus” figure and Cinderella acknowledge that- it was cute for her to notice. The princesses were very attentative and played the role very well. We even got a free picture with several 4x6's. This seemed to be a better experience than the Chef Mickey. The rest of the day we played it by ear and let everyone ride whatever they wanted. With that big of a group (me, Jason, Kelson, Bob, Lucy, Mom, Dad, Keri, Keith, Belle, and Corgan) it was hard to get a lot accomplished. We went on the fast track ride a few times and Belle really seemed to like that one. Bob and Jason rode the “Mission to Mars”- I skipped that one- but they seemed to like it. We had some ice cream to cool off and went to see “Figment”... it’s so different than I remember as a kid. There are lots of cool things for the kids to do after the ride and I think we all enjoyed that one. That pretty much was the end of that day- we were all pretty worn out from such a hot and busy day. We went back to the hotel, watched the fireworks from our room, had some dinner, and went to bed. We had another big day ahead of us!! Poor Kelson had a runny nose, slight fever, and several nasty diapers that night- she wasn’t feeling that great :( Pictures from Epcot

Sept 22, 2009- Our Journey to Disney

Kelson has been on a few plane rides, although she doesn’t remember it, nor will she remember this one, but she was excited about riding in a plane. She sees them flying over our house all the time, so to see one up close was very cool for her. When we were in the plan she was like Mommy look- a plane- I said yes baby- we are in one of those right now. She was an ANGEL on the plane ride from Hsv-Atlanta, Atlanta- Orlando. She loved the taking off and landing parts. I was a little worried about that part, but she loved it. We couldn’t wait to get to Orlando and see all the Disney signs, etc. Keri Burry and Benjamin came and picked us up- she had the DVD player and car seat all ready to go for us- what a girl. We sent our luggage ahead of time with Bob and Lucy in our car so we didn’t have much to carry with us. That worked out nicely. We got to see Keri’s beautiful rental house and eat a delicious meal she prepared for us. It was fun to watch Kelson interact with other kids- I love that she is older now that she can be a little more independent and play with the other kids. She LOVES kids too. Since we haven’t enrolled her in daycare, I was skeptical on her interaction with other children, but she has done VERY WELL. She shares wonderfully and doesn’t mind another child to be around. We went in the pool and let me tell you- she is the BRAVEST 2 year old I know. She will jump right in and uses Gigi’s words big arms, kick kick, big arms..... we still put her floaties on her, but she is not afraid of the water. I heard I was the same way. Guess I know where she gets it. Anyways we had a fabulous visit with Keri and her boys. Only bad thing- Kelson caught Nicholas’ cold while we were there :(
The next morning we hauled all of our stuff to the Contemporary to check in. It was a very nice hotel and since our room wasn’t ready, we had some time to kill, so we decided to hit Downtown Disney. That was already on the list of things to do. Mickey was supposed to text me when our room was ready, but he didn’t call- what the heck. Typical male mouse - lol! Anyways, so we decided to go eat at the TREX restaurant.

Jason is a big dinosaur fan and Kelson is pretty enthralled with them as well, so we figured it would be a great place to cool off and grab some grub. It’s a sister restaurant of “The Rainforest Café”- which we are a big fan of, so I knew we would like it. It was decorated very cool and had animatronics all over. Kelson was scared of some of it, but overall really loved the atmosphere. Anyways, we got some pretty cool pics from there and had some really yummy food. It was just a start to our fun trip. After eating we went to a couple of the Disney stores- even hitting the Christmas store. Kelson rode the carousal with her Bobba. That’s one of her favorite things. After a while, we were all pretty worn out and Kelson had fallen asleep, so we headed back to the hotel. It was a very nice place and our view of Cinderella’s castle was unbelievable. After we returned, it was time to hit the pool. Another one of Kelson’s favorite things to do. They had a great kiddie pool area, so she played in there for a while. Now I have to tell you this, so you’ll understand the next part. But Kelson gets LOTS of compliments from strangers on how adorable and smart she is, so when a lady stopped me and asked if she was mine, as I grinned and said Yes, she said well she just had a bowel movement in the kiddie area- hahaha. OMG- I jumped up and ran over to her- she was sitting on one of the water jets and poop was about to blow everywhere. She did have a swimmy diaper on, but it doesn’t hold much. So I grabbed her up and that was our cue to leave. Ha-ha-poor thing. She wasn’t ready to leave nor did she understand why we were leaving. I was somewhat embarrassed, but I think we got out of there quick enough for anyone to notice. The bad thing was that pool area is recycled water... EEEEWWW! Needless to say, we weren’t going back to that pool. We got Kelson all cleaned up and got a chance to watch the fireworks show from the Magix Kingdom from our balcony. Kelson really enjoyed that and kept saying “Boom Boom”. Misc Pics from the First Day



After the fireworks, we headed downstairs to the “Chef Mickey” dinner. Even though I had made reservations 90+ days out, we still had to wait an additional 30 min to get in. It was nuts. But in the time being we had a cocktail at the bar and waited on mom and dad and the Donald family to arrive. It was nice catching up with them. By this time we were all starving and ready to get in. I had heard lots of wonderful things about Chef Mickey, but I have to say that I wasn’t very pleased. It was VERY chaotic (I guess being the last ones, they just threw out the food, and all the characters were coming back to back so the food got cold). The kids really enjoyed them, but again- it was just a little too chaotic and not worth the $45/pp. Oh well- some like it, some don’t. After dinner we all went our separate ways to get a good night sleep before hitting Epcot in the morning. We were all pretty exhausted. Kelson had a runny nose and a slight fever, but was in good spirits.
Chef Mickey Pics

Kelson Noel Albert- 2nd Bday

Oh my gosh- where has time gone? I cannot believe we just celebrated Kelson's 2nd Bday- ALREADY. Well I have to say that it has been such a fun and wonderful experience so far and I can't wait for it to continue. Kelson has been such a joy and has been our main entertainment since she arrived. I am not sure what we did before her :) So much has happened in 2 months since I've last posted. Kelson still sleeps in her own bed and doesn't really show any desire to get into a toddler bed- just yet. She got a Tinkerbell comforter with sheets set for her bday. We let her take a nap in the big girl bed and she woke up soon after since she wasn't familiar with the situation of not being in her crib. She has used the potty a few times, but hasn't showed much desire to do that either, so I'm working pretty hard on giving her treats when she does. She is starting to tell us when she has pooped or peed in her diaper, so I guess that's a step- she is understanding what she is doing. She still takes a pacifier (pap pap), but happily gives it up after getting up from her nap or bedtime. She has a bottle at night too- that was a lot of us enjoying that bonding time, but now its more of habit, so I'm going to start giving her some before bed- in a sippy cup to ween her off the whole "sucking" habit. It’s a lot of work going from baby habits to teaching her toddler ways. I know it all takes time and patience, so I'll just keep telling myself that. She is a VERY smart little girl so I know she will catch on to it whenever we start enforcing them. I was told to wheen her off the pacifier to cut a little bit off the nipple so she doesn't get the suck effect and it won't appeal to her, then each day cut a little bit more to where she doesn't want it anymore. My whole reasoning was why not let em have a pacifier- mostly is was to stop them from their teeth getting all weird, but who doesn't get their kids braces these days? But I know it could ruin her bite too and I don't want that to happen. I was fortunate and didn't need braces, but Jason on the other hand did, so its 50/50 with her. Plus I don't like seeing a toddler walking around with a pacifier in her/him mouth.
We had Kelson's 2 yr old checkup with Dr. Zbell- who we still just adore- and she had to get her shots- she did very well and seemed to get over it rather fast. Dr. Zbell said that Kelson is ready for her first dentist visit- I couldn't believe it- already!? She also said that she was in perfect health and is already on a 3 yr old learning level in her verbal, motor, and memory skills ;) We knew that Kelson was smart for her age, but its nice to hear proof :) How exciting. I think signing with her really helped with her speech- its unbelieveable the things she can say and remember. She is the cutest little girl ever and is such an entertainer. She weighs 28.8 lbs and 33.5" tall. According to the Lucy Albert old wives tale- when a child turns 2 you double their height and that's how tall they should end up being. All three of her kids were within a 1/4 of an inch from when they were measured. So according to the measurement- Kelson should be around 5'6 and a half or 5'7 :) Sounds like a perfect height to me. I'm 5'6 and Jason is 6 ft so that sounds good for a girl's height. Kelson is in the 45% for her height and 70% for her weight. Works for me :)
Last Friday- August 14th- Lucy had a mini-bday party for Kelson at her house.
She decorated her house with balloons and baked some delicious YGG cupcakes for the kids. Kelson seemed to really enjoy her bday celebration. Lucy, aka Memere, made macaroni n kabasa for everyone to enjoy- yum yum. We did a few presents from family and then Jason had to leave to go to Nashville for a video treatment meeting. Luckily he got to stick around for most of her bday celebration weekend, but it was exciting to know that Heartland is working hard on their new single/video. Yea Dadda!
On Saturday we had her BIG 2nd Bday party- joint party with her cousin Corgan- Keri and the family were visiting so we decided a joint party would be perfect and help save on some of the costs since she wanted to have a Yo Gabba Gabba party for Corgan this weekend. The party was a HUGE success- had both friends of mine and Keri's attend, so we were happy with that. The theme was "Yo Gabba Gabba"- it’s a new show on Noggin that a lot of the kids enjoy. At first it was a little off the wall, but we grew to like it. We had another "water party" like last year's party.

This year Kelson got to enjoy it even more since she was able to run around with the other kids and Papa ;) I was going to rent an inflatable waterslide, but they were outrageously priced, so I researched online and purchased one instead. It was the Bonzai Blast- its freaking awesome and was a big hit at the party. Kelson also got a Trampoline for her bday- we were contemplating that or a swingset, but she seemed to get more use out of this and we seemed to of made the right decision. She loves to jump on it and its good exercise for me too :) The trampoline came with a safety pad that goes on the springs and an enclosed safety net, so really there is no way they can fall off the thing- saves a lot of worrying and heartache. Its so much fun and I'm really glad that she is getting use out of it. Keri and I worked very hard on all of the little details of the party (more so Keri than me) but we did a lot together and it was fun to do party planning with my sister for our babies. I ordered pizza- which was a great deal- and easy clean up.

DJ Lance (the black DJ) from the show even showed up at the party (it was Anthony- one of my friends who happily accepted to dress up for the party). What a guy :) and he played the role wonderfully with his high pitch voice, enthusiasm, and high kicks ;) I had a friend of mine Summer make the YGG themed cakes and OMG- they turned out so freaking awesome.
I can't believe how great it turned out. She is the same one that made Kyle and Renee's engagement cake. She is so crafty and I was very pleased with the results. We handed out goodie bags to the kids which consisted of: YGG stickers, lolipops, bubbles, blowers, smiley face fruit snacks, and muno marshmellow snacks that Keri and I made.
The weather was nice and warm, but not too hot and I laid out tarps for the other kiddie pools and a place for adults to get their feet wet. Overall it was a WONDERFUL party. We had so much fun that we ran out of time to open presents, so we did that after the party was over. I have my "thank you's" ready to be sent out to friends and family. Kelson got lots of wonderful presents from everyone- from dolls, to princess stuff, to a guitar from gigi and papa, clothes, and so much more. She is a very loved little girl!!!! Happy Bday Kelson- my little girl!


Thank you Papa for sharing your bday with your grandbabies- I know you had a great time sharing the time/weekend with them- that's the best present of all ;) Kelson n Corgan's 2nd YGG Party

Barbee June Wedding...

I'm a little behind on this post, but I wanted to write about how well Kelson did in her first wedding as a flower girl. Adrienne asked Kelson and I to be in the wedding back in March and of course we were honored- this would be Kelson's first wedding to be in, so I was a little nervous. She is a very outgoing child, so I wasn't worried about her being shy- just walking down a specific path throwing petals. I was a bridesmaid in the wedding, so it helped to ease some of the tension of having her walk down the isle to a bunch of people she didn't know. Adrienne and Tim had the wedding in our backyard- which turned out beautiful. Elliot was the ring bearer and did a VERY good job as well. I was very proud of the kids. Jason was attending a Heartland gig, so he wasn't able to see his girls in actions, but we took lots of video and pics. Kelson looked so cute in her pink and light green colors. Adrienne was a gorgeous bride- I was happy to say that I did her makeup and she loved it :) It was nice to do something like that for family and they really appreciate the effort and help we all did to make that a special day for them. Me and my side kick- Tabatha- took lots of pics with my camera, so we were their photographer as well. For not being professional- the pictures turned out very well. At the reception, I convinced Adrienne and Tim to do the money dance- its a canadian tradition, but I knew they needed some honeymoon money, so overall they did very well and were able to go to the beach- like they wanted to with that money. A few months before Adrienne and Tim had entered the biggest loser competition with all of us and won for both the men and the women- $750total- so they bought their wedding bands with the money- I thought that was super cool. They are perfect for eachother and I was happy to be apart of their day. Congrats Mr. and Mrs. Barbee!!!! Barbee Wedding Pictures

Space and Rocket Center- Hsv, AL

It had been YEARS since I've been to the Space and Rocket Center, so I wasn't sure what to expect. Keri Hipp and her little boys came to town and wanted to go, so we all decided to try it out. I have always been a huge fan of astronaut ice cream, so I couldn't wait to go purchase some. We got a few pics of the kids in front of the shuttle and with an American flag picture. Next we went into the gift shop and tried on some funny hats and got a few good laughs.
Then we headed to the museum portion- which we got in free of charge- not on purpose, but we happen to just "walk by" the ticket counter without realizing it. Oops. The museum portion was pretty interesting from an adults point of view- all the facts and stuff- but overall the kids just had a fun time running around everywhere. They didn't have much to do inside, so we headed outside. They had a few rides for kids so we headed that direction. They had a maze like crawl through area that Kelson seemed to enjoy but they also had a mini-version of Space Shot (where they seat you side by side and shoot you up in the air- but drops you down too- like the tower of terror ride at Universal Studios). This one only went up about 25ft, but for kids 8 and under, it was pretty scary. I was shocked when Kelson wanted to go on the ride. She is Miss Little Dare Devil, but I thought the ride attendant wouldn't let her go, but she said she would be safe if she decided to go. SO, I held my breathe and convinced Jason to let her go. We were both so nervous, but were standing underneath if something were to happen. The attendant said she would let her go up a few feet and do one of the drops and see how she reacted. We also asked her older cousin Nicholas if he would ride with her and hold her hand- he didn't seem to excited about it- but he finally caved in and agreed to go. So he sat next to her and they held hands. Nicholas looked more afraid of the ride than Kelson did. Haha. Anyways, so the ride begins and all the people were standing around to wait to see this child reaction and.... TA DA... She was all smiles and LOVED IT.

She was laughing and then when the ride stopped she wanted to do it again. So, she won and got to ride it once more without Nicholas- he was done. Again, she had a great time. It was like pulling teeth to get her off of it and away to get some lunch- she really enjoyed it. I still can't believe we let her go on the ride by herself- esp after seeing the pics of how high she went. You can even tell a difference in her height and age if you compare her to the other riders in the picture. So needless to say, I think we are gonna be in for some real trouble. This girl is not afraid of much. This day reassured me that we are gonna have a freaking blast when we got to Disney World and the other parks next month. No fear from this girl. After the ride we went and had some lunch at the Cafeteria at the Rocket Center- it was really yummy. About that time kids were ready for naps, so we went and grabbed some astronaut ice cream- one of my favorites- and now Kelson's :) I bought neapolitan and mint choc chip flavors. They were just as good as I remember them.
Space and Rocket Ctr Pictures

Kelson Ketchup... 22 months old

Last week my little girl both Pee'd and Poo'd in her potty :) I can't believe it. I think she is starting to understand the whole "potty business" :) and she's only 22 months old :) That's my girl. Everytime I get on the toilet I do the sign for "potty" and tell her that I'm using the bathroom so she understands. The other day I bought her a froggy potty from Target and she loves it. She tells me that she wants to go sit on the froggy- ribbit ribbit. She is so freaking smart. She def hasn't mastered pottying yet, but I think she is starting to understand it. When I get her up from her nap or after getting out of the pool I ask her if she wants to go potty in the frog and she says Yes. I turn on the faucet (to stimulate peeing), but it hasn't seemed to work. When she finally did pee I think it scared her cause it splashed up and it was warm. lol. She has tried to put some of her toys in the potty while she's sitting there, so I had to explain that was a big no no.

Bottle and pacifier STOPPAGE is the next step- I'm not looking forward to that at all. I think her pacifier (aka Pap Pap) is going to be the hardest to whean her off of, but I know I have to do it.

Kelson is starting to sing along with songs- and can hold a tune ;)- imagine that. She loves her "Beach Party" Mickey Mouse Sing-A-Long DVD. One part has Ariel singing and she follows along- its adorable. She sings the Wonder Pets theme song too. I guess the singing runs in the family :)

If Kelson could be something I think she would want to be a mermaid. That child LOVES the water. We've taken her to the pool a few times and all she wants to do is swim by herself. She is so stubborn and independent. Mom said that I was a water bug like she is, so I guess that's where the love of water comes from. Plus she isn't scared. She jumped off the diving board at our friend's house last weekend. Nuts huh? She kept wanting to do it over and over. She had floaties on, but she loves just floating and being on her own. Everyone says that she is the cutest and most outgoing little girl. She still gets lots of attention and people are amazed at how advanced she is. She already knows several shapes and colors. She is already at a pre-school/kindergarten level - according to some of my school teacher friends ;) She loves to be challenged too. Every book we read or figure we play with she wants me to ask her who it is, etc... Her new phrase is "That right there"- she will point at something and say- What's that? That right there and point at it. Its so cute.

Also, she has picked up on my saying "Oh crap"... oops. One night her and I were watching Dumbo and I couldn't get the remote to work so I was saying "Oh crap" a few times-- it was pretty frustrating. Well a few nights later I asked her if she wanted to watch Dumbo and she said "Oh crap"- hahahaha. Oops. Also she says it now when she drops something - like she understands why people say it.

AND... a week or so ago I asked her one night if she wanted me to rub her butt while she fell asleep and she said Yes... so the last few times I laid her in bed- she said- rub butt- and I stopped to rub her back and she looked up at me- almost asleep-and says rub butt. haha. She is something else. I like it when Jason rubs my butt when I go to sleep too- like mother like daughter ;)

The Mathis family has been in town the last week and we've had such a wonderful time hanging out with them. Kelson and Izzy have had so much fun together. Kelson really loves Izzy and the boys. She likes having them around. I'm sure she will be sad when they leave tomorrow. She's had a little playmate for 5 days. Poor thing. She's been calling her Annabelle and then says No...Corgan... No... and then says Whose that right there? haha. I tell her Izzy and then she remembers her name again. Its so cute. I've been working hard on Kelson to be a "good and manageable" child- like the Mathis kids- so I've been asking for advice while they are here. Apparently Jason and I are doing very well with her. That's good to know :)

Kelson was a flower girl in Adrienne and Tim's wedding- she did so good and was adorable. She would stop and throw down a flower (like a softball) and then keep walking, stop, and do the same thing. It was adorable and she did great. I was so proud of my little girl.

Well its about time to start planning Kelson's 2nd Bday party :( OMG- where has time gone... I can't believe she's gonna be two soon. But we have lots of fun things coming up- Kelson's bday, the beach, Disney trip, Halloween, Thanksgiving, Kyle's wedding, and Christmas. Yee haw! I can't wait. More memories.

Kyle and Renee's Wedding Engagement Party

Aline and I hosted an Engagement Party for Kyle and Renee on June 6th. We weren't sure if we were gonna have it at her house or the Cave, but since her house was being remodeled that left the Cave. Knowing Kyle and his friends I figured they would enjoy the Cave anyways. Renee's mom and stepdad- Yvonne and John showed up first- sadly I wasn't ready by the time they arrived at 5 :) Imagine that. It was a "tool and gadget" theme party.

I had Summer, Stacey's sister, make the cake- she did such a great job. It looked like a tool box and the tools were cookies. It was so cute and yummy. Kyle's best man and Renee's maid of honor made the party too, so I was glad they were able to join in the fun. I'm not sure if they are having anymore parties/showers, so I was honored to be able to do this for them. There ended up being around 35+ people there for the party. We had meatballs, buffalo chicken dip, and choc dipped strawberries for appetizers. The main meal was pulled pork bbq sandwiches with a hot potato bar. My sis in law Theana was such a HUGE help me to. I couldn't of done all of it without her.
We played "The Newlywed game"- this was lots of fun. We had four couples playing and I think overall everyone did rather well. Aline and George ended up winning the game. We found out that Renee and her mom have the same "making love" food in their fridge- haha. I wish I could have recorded this, but I only had so much help. Jason was playing at a pool party so he wasn't able to be at the party the whole time, but he made it for some of it. I had another game for us to play, but by that time people just wanted to hang out and mingle. The game was called "Kiss the Bride's Ass"- it was a pic of Kyle on a donkey's body. Its similar to "Pin the tail on the donkey", but with this game everyone would be blindfolded, wear lipstick, do a couple of turns, and then try to kiss the donkey's rear-end. Haha! I was sad that we didn't get to play- since I know several of those people would have TOTALLY missed the target, but Kyle got to keep the picture as a souviener. I don't think I even took a picture of it :( Oh well. We had a toast with some champagne that mom had bought. I was trying to convince someone from the bridal party to give a toast, but they weren't prepared and plus I figured they wanted to save it for the wedding. So I just toasted them happiness. The night ended up with Kyle's friends having a 40 yard dash competition. Some ended up in only underwear- which I told one of them was slowing them down- haha! Leave it to me, right? Haha. About 20 of us ended up in the cave singing songs, watching the guys playing guitar, singing, etc.. I got up and sang a few songs and did some harmony. Even Kyle got up and sang some Dave Matthews band- "Crash". I was shocked at how well he did- last time I heard him sing he was around 12 and singing "Chattahoochee"- LOL. We all went to bed around 3am- even my parents. Everything was a monster hit and I had several people tell me this was the best engagement party they had ever been to :) All the hard work paid off. Congrats to Kyle and Renee. See you in November for your wedding!!!! Love you guys! More Engagement Pics

Catching up with Kelson...

Wow- time flies. My baby girl is almost 22 months old already. Where has time gone? She has done nothing but amaze me, make me smile EVERYDAY, brought Jason and I closer than ever before, and so much more. Its amazing what a child can bring to your life. She is all I ever think about and is told so many times that she is such a personality- like I was :) Everytime we go anywhere she stands out- whether she is dancing, counting, or just being cute. People always compliment on what a happy baby girl she is and how beautiful she is :) Jason and I are very proud of her. She has her moments- like any infant does, but she really has learned so much on her own. I do continue to teach her several signs a month- just to keep it going. She picks up on things SOOOOOOO easily and doesn't forget them. One night her and I were watching Dumbo and I couldn't get the dang remote to work right so I kept saying Oh Crap- a couple of times. A few nights later I asked Kelson if she wanted to watch Dumbo and so she says "Oh Crap"- hahahahaha. I laughed so hard and couldn't believe that after a few days she still remembered that. She is so advanced on her words, sentences, ability to learn in general. People are still amazed at how outgoing she is and how she seems to be the ringleader with kids- no matter how much older they are.
I am still trying to figure out whether or not to sign her up at Tumblebeez again or try something new. We did enjoy Tumblebeez, but we may get a new teacher and I just feel like the Providence "Little Gym" place we can get more learning out of. Course she isn't even 2 yet, so to me- as long as she is having fun and not getting hurt- I don't care where we go for now. We are going to a trial class at the "little gym" soon, so I will be able to tell if that's something I want to pursue. I know that its more expensive and a little further away, but if she gets more out of the class and seems to enjoy it, then I don't mind. I want to keep Kelson around other kids- she seems to do so well with sharing and playing with other kids- even though she doesn't attend a mommy's day out or daycare. Cousin Elliot comes over some, but since he is a boy and older, sometimes they don't get along so well :) But most of them time they do and she cries when he has to leave. Its sweet to see her so attached to kids. She loves to show affection- kiss and hug- and even has a very tender heart- like her papa. She doesn't like to see/hear anyone cry. She wants to give kisses and says "All better". Now I see why people have more than one child- the first born needs a playmate :) Although I KNOW there will be many fights too :) Comes with it.
Some of Kelson's fav things are to go outside, play in the pool, watch Wonder Pets, Peter Pan, and Mickey Mouse character sing alongs. She is starting to sing a little ;) Imagine that. She can count to 10 very well- although her 4 she pronounces like "forks"- its sooo cute. She is working on her numbers above 10 but she tends to get them all confused when we do that. We are working on teaching the alphabet and her colors. She has several of them down already. I've been meaning to research on where she should be at her age, but I have a feeling that she is way advanced.
Eers and her are getting along so well- she loves to feed him his doggie cookies and he lets her play with his ears, put necklaces on him, and give him kisses. He has been WONDERFUL with her. Its really sweet.
This past weekend we went to Bridgestreet for lunch with Kyle and Renee and mom and dad. While we were there we went on the carousel ride- Kelson rode the deer, tiger, and rabbit. She loved it. Then her and I rode around bridgestreet on a choo choo train ride. It was pretty hot out there so we decided to get some ice cream- she likes rainbow sprinkles and marsh mellows on hers- she is SO my daughter. Then we went to the water area- its pretty much water shooting out of the ground in several areas. The only thing is- its pretty slippery in that area- its all concrete. Since she was pretty hot- we let her enjoy herself with the other kids there and play in the water. We were trying to watch her closely and telling her NEVER to run- since it was so slippery- we took her shoes off so she could grip the ground better- her shoes were making it hard for her. She was having a ball, until she fell backwards and bumped the back of her head HARD. She looked over at us and we were in SHOCK- our mouths dropped and we ran over to her- she immediately started getting whoosey and her eyes rolled back for a few seconds- it scared us both to death. I just grabbed her and tried to get her to look at me and hold her tight. Jason and I were both tearing up and scared to death. She was crying so hard that she couldn't breathe- it was HORRIBLE. Finally she calmed down and I started back towards the water to get her to smile again- she seemed ok and wanted to play again. I ran over to Gap Kids and bought her some jelly shoes- which seemed to have a big soles on the bottom. I felt so bad for her cause she really was having a great time, but you can't let that happen again- ya know. Within a few min Jason and I were pretty much soakin wet cause we wouldn't let her in the water area alone. We knew she was getting tired, so we stopped and told her it was time to go. Of course she didn't like this one bit. We went back to the car and changed her clothes and diaper. She was soooo sleepy by this time. I knew I had heard that if someone bumps their head not to let them sleep or sleep long, so I called mom to tell her what happened- since I knew she had two other grandbabies- she had more "updated advice" for bumping your head. She said that she could sleep- as long as her pupils were ok and to check on her after an hour or so to make sure she didn't slip into a coma. It was very frightening. I knew that Kelson was tired since it was 5pm and she normally naps around 1 or 2pm. So we let her sleep some and when we got home she pretty much woke up on her own. Jason and I layed in our bed with her and let her pretty much do/eat/watch whatever she wanted. We were going to spoil our baby girl :) She seemed to be fine and was running around and I asked her some questions to make sure everything was ok inside and it was- she didn't miss a beat. She was SOOO excited about riding on the animals on the carousel and told her memere and bobba about it- it was adorable to hear her telling the stories and how excited she got. Then she also said that she fell down and was crying. She remembers everything. I'm just glad that she is ok and still had a great time. I plan on writing an e-mail to Bridgestreet suggesting they get some rubber to put down in that area so this doesn't happen again and they don't have several lawsuits on their hands.
After seeing how excited she was about the carousel- We cannot WAIT to take her to Disney in September. We are staying at the Contemporary and Animal Kingdom hotels. We are gonna have so much fun! She knows all the princesses and characters, so watching her on the rides or seeing them in person she is gonna be so entertaining. We plan to eat at two character dinings while we are there. Chef Mickey and Royal Princess Breakfast. We will take lots of pics and I will try to blog each day about the stuff we did each day. What a fun age.

Sister Europe Trip- May 4, 2009- TIME TO HEAD HOME

Well it had been a fun-filled 9 days of memories and laughs, but it was time to head home. We got up early to go get one more crepe- imagine that- before leaving our European world. Well we walked all over and couldn’t find a place, so we settled for a pastry at a local store and met back up with our apt guy. We checked out with him, I gave him a European kiss- smooch, smooch, and thanked him for such a wonderful place to stay. We headed to the Metro to go to the airport. I was excited about seeing Kelson and Jason and more than ready to be in my own bed. I think Jason was ready for me to come home too by that time  We went through security and DA me forgot to pack my wine in my suitcase, instead of my carry on, so of course they took it. She tried to take my chocolate candy too- as a joke. I was kind of scared for a moment. Ha-ha. So we got on our flight- which wasn’t NO WHERE near as nice as the one coming into Amsterdam (since we didn’t have my godmother to give us additional treats/snacks- and the plane was a different one, so no touch screen movies- just the ones on the overhead. Boo! So I managed to sleep some on the flight home. Keri got a pic of me snoozing. The blindfold they hand out makes it much easier to sleep. The “Negative Nelly” couple was sitting behind us, so that sucked, but Keri and I pretty much ignored them. After 9 hours, we had finally arrived in Atlanta and had to go through customs. Since the “swine flu” epidemic was going on some people were wearing masks. We made it through just fine and now it was time to wait for our flights home. I did notice, upon returning to the states, about how overweight Americans are. I don’t think I saw ONE fat European- crazy huh. Maybe we should have more sidewalks for bicycling around town and metro stations. It wasn’t that they didn’t have good food; they just have to exercise to get around. I think it’s a concept we need to consider.
My flight had been delayed- so Keri and I left around the same time out of Atlanta. We had one last snack together, gave big hugs and kisses, and I thanked her again and we were on our way home. My flight was supposed to get in around 7:15pm, but didn’t arrive till a little after 10pm. Due to weather. I was so ready to be home and my cell phone was dead. I borrowed the guy sitting next to me’s phone to let them know we were delayed in the air. I knew Jason and Kelson were waiting on me at the airport, so he went to Wal-Mart to kill some time before my flight arrival. We finally landed and my checked bagged arrived, I ran outside to see Kelson and Jason. I gave Jason a big ole hug and kiss, and then opened the door and Kelson looked up and smiled- and I immediately teared up and gave her a big ole kiss. I couldn’t believe how big she was. She said “Hi Mommy”- then pointed to show me that she was watching Wonder Pets. I was so happy to be home. Even Eers was excited. What a great time and I learned so much. The hardest part of it was getting used to the time zone back home again- I was tired for 4 days! I couldn’t wait to show them all the souvenirs I had bought, but it would have to wait till the morning. I was sooooo tired and ready for bed.

Things I learned:
Euros > dollars
International fee charges SUCK
Skype is the way to go for communicating back home
Learn the Metro system firsthand
Order the water “still” or else you get tonic water
Know the basic words of that country’s language
Pack LIGHTLY :)
As long as you leave your kids in good hands, there are no worries
Always have a map of where you want to tour/sightsee
Bring good walking shoes
Americans are WAY overcautious and MUCH fatter than Europeans
Don’t put your wine in your carry on luggage
The Chi Hair Straightener doesn’t work in European outlets- it requires too much voltage
I could never live in a cube house
It is possible to be without your cell phone for 9 days
American chicks are much prettier than European ones
European food is AWESOME
A 9 hour flight isn’t nearly as bad as it seems
Always take a bike tour if you have the chance
Take lots of pictures so you can capture all the fun times and actually remember what you did (especially when you do a lot in a short amount of time)
Try new things- even if it’s not the norm for you
Give yourself plenty of time to do everything you want to do while visiting
Have a sister as great as mine who will experience something like this with you and pay for a majority of the trip :)

Thank you again to my wonderful sister. This was truly a memorable and wonderful experience that I never would have had the chance to do have you not invited me. I learned there is a whole other world out there and I would love to keep exploring the rest of the world. I’m truly blessed to be so close to my sister and share the love and friendship that we do. We had some great conversations and learned a lot about each other. I wouldn’t change a thing about our trip. Thanks again! I love you!

Sister Europe Trip- May 3, 2009- PARIS: LAST DAY

We got up rather early since we knew we had lots to do before leaving for the states tomorrow, so we got up and I called Jason (knowing it was 5:30am back home- but it was Sat and I thought I would see if the CAVE party was still jumping, and you would never believe it, but it was-lol)  So I talked to Jason for 15 minutes or so before heading to the Eiffel Tower Tour. He was so happy to hear my voice and glad that I called. It was weird that he was about to go to bed and I was about to head out for the day. I told him to give Kelson kisses from me and that I would see them Monday night. I couldn’t believe that it was almost time to leave already. So Keri and I got into our “walking/tourists” shoes and stepped to it. We wanted to go to the top (since she wasn’t able to last time her and Keith were there). BUT not before stopping to get a crepe- Keri grabbed us a chocolate banana one while I stood in line- it was even better than the apple one. There were several people asking for money (I guess they know that’s where tourists hang out) and I saw guards carrying guns- kind of scary. The Eiffel Tower is really huge when you get up close. There were LOTS of steps there too. We got some cute pics from the very top overlooking Paris. It was very cold and windy. We got our fill and were ready for the next adventure. I’d been craving some French Onion soup for a while, so we stopped by a shop to get some- along with some more food. We were burning calories faster than we could take them in. I wasn’t too worried about eating bad since we were walking so much. We got a pic of our bill because we ordered the cheese sampler (we loved their cheese) and it was labeled as “grande ass formages”- haha! We thought that was pretty funny. Another thing- in Europe they don’t normally tip, so that was a weird concept to pick up since we are so used to tipping. Surprisingly, the service was still very good. At the upper scale restaurants, they do expect tips though so sometimes it’s hard to tell. Well it was time to get going... but we had to use the bathroom before we left. This restaurant charged to lock the door on the bathroom stall- weird huh? So Keri and I just held the door ourselves to save some money.
We walked by the SPACE NEEDLE THINGY (cannot remember the name of it), then headed towards the biggest/more expensive shops- we didn’t do much shopping- by this time- we were pretty worn out from the WHOLE vacation. We did find a Disney store, so I bought Kelson a Paris Disney globe- I forgot they had a Disney in Paris. We headed down to see what other shops we could find and ended up switching shoes and sat in a book store for an hour or so trying to find some cute kid “French” books. Before we left we saw the Arc de Triomphe. It was huge too. Well the day was almost over, so we went to the local grocery store (no Wal-Mart ) and got some chocolate to bring home and found that wine that we drank at the fancy restaurant. We went back to the apt, organized our luggage, and made some soup that we had bought and ate our leftover sandwiches from lunch. It was funny that we didn’t go out to eat but we were so exhausted we just wanted to hang out and watch TV. We had a big day ahead of us.PARIS- LAST DAY

Sister Europe Trip- May 2, 2009- PARIS: WE BE TOURING

My sister and I were pumped about getting up early to grab a crepe (had an apple one-yum) and a cappuccino before hitting the “Paris flea market”. I had never even heard about it being known for something like that, but it was on Keri’s list of things to do and the tourist book recommended it. We found some really great souvenirs and did some bargaining too. The “European” look was scarves, jeans tucked into hooker boots, and designer jackets. Keri and I both found a pair of boots for less than 20 Euro that we both really liked and were actually comfortable. They had a really nice leather jacket that I wanted, but I just couldn’t see spending that kind of money on a jacket- Around 200 Euros. We did lots of clothes shopping for our kids and got a few “European” style outfits for ourselves. It was a lot of fun hanging/shopping with Keri. They have some a fun and unique style over there. Keri is VERY into antiques so we went through a few buildings full, but most of the stuff was WAY overpriced (as much as some of our cars), so we just browsed through. They had some really cool stuff. We were getting pretty hungry so we went and split a pizza- again- delicious- the Europeans sure know how to cook. We did a little more shopping- I even bought a carry on piece of luggage so I would have enough room to bring my stuff home in. I knew it was towards the end of the trip so there wasn’t too much more lugging around the luggage and I had to get it home somehow.
We went back to the room to put all our bags away. While we were resting & catching up on facebook, Keri found a way to get the TV to English speaking channels- I was so happy to hear some shows in English. After catching up on things, we headed to Notre Dame- although we had already seen it; we wanted to see it at night. It was gorgeous. We got some fellow Americans to get a picture of us in front of it. We walked up and down the streets and found a few back roads that had some yummy food, ice cream- gelato (I didn’t find it THAT great, but it was good)- and more shops. They had a few bar/restaurants that look like they were hopping. One place had bras hanging from the ceiling fans. That’s my kind of place, but we were too busy to stop  They had a karaoke bar- which reminds me-all Europeans LOVE American music- that’s all we heard and a cool piano bar. Keri got in line for another crepe- but this time a breakfast crepe and I had a gyro- that was DELISH and covered in mayo- too much mayo, but it was still good. French love their mayonnaise. We went and checked out Notre Dame again- but this time at night- it was gorgeous. Def worth it to go see it at night. Well we had more sightseeing to do, so we headed on the Metro toward Moulin Rouge- we didn’t attend the show, but we got a picture of us in front of building and walked down the streets. There were peep shows, sex shops, and topless bars EVERYWHERE on this street. As we were walking along, there was a sex museum and in the window was a chair that had a circulating tongue on it. Ha-ha! You can’t help but laugh at that one. Our next stop was the Sacre Coeur. This was the LONGEST walk EVER from where we were to get to it. There were lots of hills and steps. I kept getting frustrated- by this time I was exhausted and didn’t care to see it anymore, but Keri pushed me  After what seemed like a marathon, we got there, and got some beautiful pics. The view of Paris was very cool and you could see most of the places we had been from that church. We had a long way back to the apt, so we headed back. On our way back down, we saw a VERY drunk guy and his buddy attempting to walk him down a “rocky balboa flight of stairs”- it was hilarious. I never imagined he would make it without tumbling over. Keri and I made it back safely and hit the pillows right away. I wanted to talk to Kelson and Jason, but our Internet at home wasn’t working so no Skyping  Plus the 6 hour time difference really threw things off. We were staying so busy that it was hard to find time to communicate with our families back home.
PARIS- Day 2

Sister Europe Trip- May 1, 2009- PARIS: CITY OF LOVE

We all woke up on time and got dressed to head to the train station. Another big day ahead of us and lots of walking ;) I had a heck of a time getting my entire luggage down those “cube house” stairs. Keri even captured a GORGEOUS picture of me lugging all my stuff down the stairs- haha. We made the train station and said our goodbyes to Keith- he was heading back to FL and Keri and I were making our way to Paris. My sweet brother in law took my carry on home with him to pass on to my father- who was coming back to AL the day before I was, so I could purchase more things while in Paris. So anyways, Keri and I were on our way to Paris. I was pretty exhausted on this train ride- it was 3.5 hrs long. I did get a little nap, but not much since we had to share the train cart with several people. Keri and I looked at some of the pics from our trip to pass the time and I read a little more of my book. Keri went and got us some croissants and OJ from the food cart- it was just ok. Anyways, we were on our way. When we arrived at the Paris station, we had to figure out the metro system. HOLY COW- that is sooooo confusing. Thank goodness Keri had good directions and had done this before. The names of the metro stations were so confusing and I had no clue how to read them. While we were purchasing tickets there were a few women asking for money (they seemed to be of Israeli nationality). There was even a guy playing music on his boom box on the Metro who danced then asked for money. Keri just told me to act like you don’t speak English and turn away. They had some beggars in Amsterdam too, but I couldn’t resist the ones with dogs, so I would give them 20 cents or so and then give their dogs the rest of my food. Lol. I’m a sucker. Keri told me that they give their dogs drugs so they look sad and sleepy- that’s so pitiful.
Anyways, so we followed the map- sent to us from our apt guy- who didn’t speak hardly any English ;) – but we managed to find our way to the apt. We even arrive 30 min or so early. Since we didn’t have a phone, we tried to e-mail our apt contact, but he didn’t respond. After waiting 20 min or so, I finally asked a gentleman if we could borrow his cell phone to call this guy to make sure he was on his way. Luckily, he was a VERY nice French man and didn’t mind at all- he even talked to the guy in French for us so communication was crystal clear. He told us that he was on his way and would be there within 5 min. We “Merci’ed him and continued to wait  Within a few min he had arrived. He was a very nice man and between Keri’s two years of French and our catching up from our Learning French in your car CD we managed to communicate quite well. I was pretty impressed with how well Keri did and remembered. They had wireless internet (so that was a big plus) and free long distance  Keri opted to rent an apt over a hotel room for the 3nights since they pretty much cost the same as a hotel and it was bigger. She did GREAT and we really enjoyed the location of our apt and the size. By this time I was really ready to watch some “ENGLISH SPEAKING” TV. Sadly, the majority of the TV in Paris was in French too. Which is ok- I mean it is their language. We managed to get on Skype and talk to our families before heading out. So anyways, we decided to go check out Paris. Everything seemed to be closed (we weren’t sure why until someone pointed out that May 1st is their Memorial Day Holiday). So we went and grabbed a real French bread sandwich and had a great conversation with some exchange students. They informed us of the great things to see while we were there and spoke perfect English, so that helped us out a lot. I was very excited to use some of the French that I had learned through Lucy and her family and through the CD Keri purchased for me. I knew the important words: Thank you, How much?, Bathroom, Excuse me, What time is it, and a few more. Being in Paris definitely made me want to learn more French.
After eating, it was time for sightseeing.
First we went to the Louvre- I couldn’t believe how freaking massive that thing is. Its soooo much bigger than you can imagine. The décor and carvings were unbelievable. The statues were gorgeous. We didn’t even go inside- I’m not much into art, so I didn’t really care to go inside. We were told that if you tried to go look at everything inside the museum you would be there for a whole day. No thanks. This is where I first got a glimpse of the Eiffel Tower- there it was and all its glory- I couldn’t believe I was actually seeing it in person. Next we walked towards Notre Dame- the line was VERY long, but moved rather fast. We were going to take the tower tour, but it was closed for the day- of course. Anyways, so we did go inside the church and it was breathtaking. There were having communion and confession going on. We got several pictures while we were inside. Again the details and carvings were just beautiful. The stain glass windows were breathtaking. They said the best time to go is at sunset and we were pretty close to that time. Since were not catholic we didn’t partake in the communion or confession, but they did have a candle lighting processional that you could partake in for 2 Euros. It was told to take your sins away. I went to light my candle off another one and burned myself and said “Fudge” (but not Fudge)- Keri actually got a pic of me saying this in the church. It hurt. AWFUL, huh? So I got back in line and got another candle to take away that sin I just committed- haha. Second time around everything went fine. Lol. I’m sure God was either telling me something or laughing at me. After that tour, we were pretty tired, so we decided to go back to the apt to get showers and head to dinner. Keri made reservations for us at a very fancy restaurant that overlooked the Eiffel Tower. It was some of the BEST food I’ve ever had and the one was delish. We had a cheese sampler platter, a bottle of wine- that tasted like honey and apple juice- (I heard Keri found some of this wine in FL). The brand was Manzanilla (a sweet white wine). Then we both had the steamed veggies with king prawns. Delish. The food, service, and atmosphere were so nice. The Eiffel Tower would blink all over every 15 min or so. The view from our table was unbelievable. I couldn’t believe we were actually sitting there having dinner in front of the Eiffel Tower. The dinner was a little pricey, but Keri and I wanted to splurge one night while we were there and since it was just the two of us, it was very peaceful and we had some good conversations. After all, it was Paris  We talked about planning an international trip each year- but bringing the husbands along. We are hoping the Springsource will have another international conference next year. To end the night, we toasted to my 30th birthday and I thanked my WONDERFUL sister for planning this memorable trip for the two of us.PARIS- FIRST DAY