Fort Rapids and Disney!

Sorry no poetry today!

Took the girls on a weekend adventure. We left Friday around noon (the girls had a snow day) for Columbus. Brad and I had booked a room at the indoor water park called Fort Rapids. We had spent a good wile of Thursday evening reading the reviews on this water ranch and we were a little apprehensive about what we might find. The reviews were overall good, but there were a few that made us nervous. Tales of bedbugs, poor service, rude guests, run down atmosphere, and bad food....but we were keeping a positive outlook.

We got there, checked in, and Brad went to scope out the room. Came back and told us that everything was fine, and it was. The lobby looked like a western style lodge: lots of wood, a huge fireplace, western style pictures on the walls. The staff was extremely friendly and we got up to our room with no problems. Changed clothes and hit the water park.

It was perfect for the kids! There was a kiddie pool with games and slides that the girls spent most of their time wading around in. In the middle was this big tower thing that had stairs all around, lots of spraying water, slides of all shapes and sizes, rope bridges....it was really cool. There was also a lazy river and then the big kid slides.

We stayed til around 5pm and then went upstairs to get changed. The girls didn't know it but we had also gotten tickets for Disney on Ice "Princess Classics". I had packed their princess dresses so they could be their favorite princesses for the show. Lyanna is always Sleeping Beauty and Kenzie is Belle.

They were so excited and the show was great! We have been to two other Disney on Ice shows and this was the best one by far. The skaters were very good and the props, scenes and music and lighting was awesome.

An absolutely wonderful way to spend a freezing Friday night in Ohio. Went back to Fort Rapids, had a late night dinner in the dining room and went to bed. (Very uneventful) The only complaint we really had was the kids the next morning running around in the hallways who woke us up. But that wasn't the hotels fault, that was some poor parenting on someone's part.

Spent the next day back at the water park. It was 16 degrees out side and we were having a ball in the water! Poor Kenzie got stuck in one of the tubes and had to be rescued by one of the lifeguards but other than that the girls had a lot of fun. Lyanna did NOT want to leave.

I'm glad we went, we were not disappointed at all. It made for a great wintry get away close to home.

Snow & Movies

What is going on in Hollywood these days? It seems to me that the studios today are going for quantity and not quality. They suck in the masses with their flashy previews full of promises of great action, high drama, suspense...and then fail to deliver the goods.
I swear I am so sick of sitting down to watch a movie and then half way through being so disappointed that it doesn't even bother me to turn it off and go do something else.
Now not all of today's movies are that bad. There are some that still make the movie experience worthwhile. Some people may not agree with my opinions, but I think I have pretty good taste in what is or isn't a good movie.
When I sit down to watch a movie I want to escape. I want to be taken away and fall into the story. I want to get so involved in the story that I forget that I'm sitting in a movie theater or in my basement at home. Not many movies today do that for me.

What has gotten me on this rant tonight? Just finished watching "The Sorcerer's Apprentice" with Kenzie and Brad. Cool concept, terrible movie. The main character "Dave" was painful to watch. He was such a whiner you could hardly understand him...and Nick Cage...what a waste of a good actor. I like the funny Nick Cage, not the action Nick Cage. I could watch Raising Arizona a million times, but this movie...not his finest at all. There was some cool special effects but honestly that was about it. BLeh....capitalizing on a Disney classic cartoon and taking what could have been a really cool story and just letting it fall flat. BUT..I'm sure the studio got their money.

Now, on the other hand I watched another movie with the girls the other day that I really liked. "Percy Jackson and the Olympians. The Lightening Theif" Since I was watching it with the girls, there were several times I was interrupted or had to get up and pause the movie. Even with those interruptions I was engrossed in the story. The actors were decent, even a cameo by Uma Thurman. It was cute and entertaining. I want to watch it again without the girls.

I don't know...maybe I'm being to harsh.

On another note: It snowed pretty heavily today. I bet we got around 5 inches. Went outside around 10pm to take a walk down my street. It was absolutely gorgeous out. God is such a wonderful artist. I don't care how annoying snow can be, it is still so very beautiful.

An Old Story and Catching Up for the Week.

Well, I was doing really well. Posted 3 days in a row and then it hit me...the January we got too much snow on the ground and I been in the house with my kids for four days in a row blues. Just got a case of the winter blahs. They come and go with me. I just need a good long day in the sunshine.

Everyone is better now. No more sickness. We had a good time during our sick days even though we were cooped up for almost a whole week. I love sledding down our hill. I wish I could get some of our friends to come over and sled with us. The only issue is making sure you don't go too far and into the woods over the drop off.

In the spirit of keeping up, since I missed Flashback Friday, I am going to attach a previous post here because I think some of you would enjoy this story I wrote. It is pretty funny and if you haven't read it READ IT, and if you have READ IT AGAIN! Ha!!

BATS: Part 1

Just a Monday

Have had two bouts of sickness this weekend. Friday night Lyanna was up til 4am losing it out both ends. Lovely... Last night Kenzie came into our room around 2am crying and saying she had a bad dream. I let her get in bed with me and she was burning up. Took her temp and it was 103.4. Poor thing, no wonder she had a bad dream. Gave her some Motrin and a cool washcloth for her forehead and lay down with her.
Her temp went down but ended up getting up and rocking for a while and telling a new story about "Mittens" the six toed cat. I think I got to sleep around 4 am again, but in Kenzie's bed so it wasn't all that great.
There was no school today so Kenz didn't have to miss a day of school. My wonderful friend Crysta took Lyanna to Mc Germ World for lunch with her little boy and some of our other mom friends. I was so thankful because Lyanna needed to get out of the house and play some.
Other than that..went to the grocery store. Big exciting day.


Now, watching the National Championship Game. Have to root for the SEC. Go Auburn!! That will be one of the only times you will ever hear me say that.

How many glowsticks do you think Oregon goes through? I really dig their neon green. Is there anyone else that uses that as a color besides Oregon and Seattle?

Poetry Sunday

Playing Just Dance 2 with my girls and Brad...well Brad did one dance with us.

I am sweating...Body Movin' (Fat Boy Slim mix) kicks my booty!
We are having fun though. Girls don't have school tomorrow for a teacher work day so I told them we would stay up and play. They crack me up playing this.

Today is supposed to be poetry Sunday..so I suppose I should blog something poetic. Haven't really got anything new, but have some things running around in my head.

It has to do with going home and all the feelings associated with that experience. Not just going home to family but going to where you grew up and seeing people you grew up with and going places you went to and how it makes you feel now...now that you are older and have been away for a long time.

What is it about going home?
That something that creeps
into your conscious again.
That something that brings
back old feelings.
Nostalgia isn't right,
it's not that easy
it's not that nice.
Not always.


Well that is a start...

Had a good day today. Got up and went to church, then to our favorite Mexican restaurant for lunch. Came home and worked on getting rid of old stuff and making way for the new. I have decided that we desperately need a play room. There are justs too much toys for the girls now and I'm tired of my living room being a catastrophe! So..I see bunk beds and a shared room in the girls' future!!

What I Am Planning..and some other stuffage

I've been reading through this blog and refreshing my memory on what I had been doing before. There are a couple of things I'd like to start doing again.

1. Flashback Friday
2. Poetry Sunday
3. Food Thursday

At least that will give me three solid topics to write about on those days. Maybe. Ha! I seem to have a bad record of not keeping up with what I say I want to do....best laid plans and all.

Watching the playoff games with Brad. We put up all the Christmas decorations today. Got it all boxed up and ready to go to the barn. Taking it to the barn is gonna have to wait though. Brad can't get it down there til the snow melts. We got our second really good snow last night and today. Here is a video of the "white out".



Lyanna was sick last night. I was up with her til around 4 am. She was having issues at both ends. It was not pretty at all! So...we did not go out and play today. We had a nice crazy day inside!

I have alot of things I want to write about. I'm gonna try and list them so I don't forget. Maybe I'll get to all of them this year.

1. My trip home at Christmas
2. Our cruise to Jamaica/Gran Cayman
3. Following the Scorps this past summer
4. Being 40 for six months!

I think I'm done for tonight. Gonna watch the game some and put the girls to bed!

Happy New Year!

Happy New Year: 2011!
So far it has been kinda bleh. Gotta talk about my Arkansas Razorbacks.

Arkansas played Ohio State in the Sugar Bowl this year. It was Arkansas' first BCS bowl. Needless to say Brad and I were really excited about the game. Brad even went down to New Orleans for the game. Unfortunately, I had to stay up here in Ohio with the girls. We didn't have anyone for them to stay with and they had school anyway...so I was stuck.
I'm sort of glad that I didn't get to go now.

The game was a heartbreaker.

The Buckeyes definitely had our number in the 1st half. We couldn't catch a ball, we couldn't get a pass off...their defense was on us. I was questioning what team Coach Petrino had brought to the Big Easy. It sure didn't look like the team I had watched TrOmP all over LSU.
But the 2nd half was so much better. Our defense finally showed up. We had the game won. Over a minute left and we had the ball. .....then Mallet threw an interception. UGH!!! Game over!! It was sickening to watch.

I wouldn't feel so upset about it if we lost with a bad team. Arkansas has had some really crappy teams in the past years. But this team was doing so well! There was no reason we couldn't have beaten Ohio. It hurt to know that people all over the US were watching that game and seeing the poor performance of our team. That just wasn't us. I've never seen so many dropped passes! Excruciating!
I'm wondering if the guys all went out on Bourbon St. that day or something...

Most of our friends up here have been pretty decent about our loss so far. I am trying to just not talk about it too much. Ugh!!

No matter what, I love my home state. I love my Razorbacks. I know we can do it again next year and we can WIN!