We spent the day at Magic Kingdom yesterday. It was the first time I'd been back there since I was about 10 years old. Fast forward 25 years and there I stood in front of Mickey's castle with my own two children. Amazing. Where did the years go?
The heat eventually kicked our butts and won. We literally crawled our way back to the monorail around 4pm and proceeded to stick to the seats as we sat there with sweat dripping off every inch of our bodies. It was the grossest moment of my life as I envisioned whose sweat I was sitting in when following whomever sat there before us. YUCK! We did manage to purchase water bottles that had fans and misters attached to them. At $17 a piece there on the Disney grounds, I almost choked up a lung as I paid for them. However, with me being pregnant and Kenidi's seizures acting up due to the heat, I didn't hesitate. We had to have them. Those little suckers literally saved our lives yesterday. :)
After reaching the car and feeling like an idiot for ever attempting Disney in the heat of June/Summer, we made it back to the hotel looking like something the cat had drug in. Kenidi crashed on the bed and took a long nap while we vegged out and recovered from the sweat pit state we were in. As 8pm approached, we cleaned back up and headed back to the Magic Kingdom for the Electric Parade and the nightly fireworks show which always begins at 10pm. The image shown above was taken during the Electric Parade. I got out my tripod, slowed my shutter speed way down, and captured some really cool light shots of the event. When I wasn't slowing down the shutter speed, the normal floats looked something like this:
When the parade starts, they shut the entire park down -meaning all of the lights within the park so that it is pitch black. Brennen taped most of the parade on his phone and we've watched it over and over again. Kenidi was mesmerized by it all. And Brennen, well he loved it as well. And the fireworks show...well it just ROCKED!!!
Unfortunately, I didn't get my tripod back out to take photos with Big Papa during the firework show. However, I did manage to get the shot above with my cell phone. They had a girl all lit up in lights zip line from the tip top point of that castle all the way over the top of us in the crowd and across the park. It was the raddest thing ever. She was so high up and just went zipping over the top of us right along side of all those fireworks in the sky. I can only imagine what it looks like at her view. Amazing stuff!
I learned several things during our experience at Magic Kingdom. One was, we were STUPID with a capital "S" for going there during the day in the middle of summer. Next time we go, it will be in the fall months here in Florida. Secondly, Magic Kingdom is way cooler at night than it is during the day. I'd much rather skip the daytime hours and just visit at night. Then, I learned that Disney really caters to the disabled and they really have it down pat - and do it well. Kenidi received many options that most people didn't due to her disability. We were able to enjoy the park and its festivities much more thanks to Disney and how they have everything set up for the handicapped. Kenidi would have never lasted like she did or been able to enjoy it as much as she did without those extra touches for children and adults like her. And lastly, I learned that I'd fight any crowd at 11:30pm at night in any Disney gift shop for a bag of pink cotton candy. I must confess that I might have taken out a few peoples heels on the back of their feet with Kenidi's special needs stroller in the process but hey...I got my cotton candy and that was my goal. Mission accomplished. LOL!
I'll blog with more photos of our experience at Disney as the week progresses. In the meantime, thanks to all of you who emailed, facebooked, texted, called, sent me cards/gifts etc. for my 35th birthday yesterday. You will never know just how special you made my day thanks to all of your kindness, love, and support. Your birthday wishes made my already magical day at magic kingdom that much more awesome. Thank you, thank you, thank you!
PS...To the "anonymous" commenter who left the comment on my blog the other night...Yes, I will pray for you about the issues/struggles you mentioned and then some. I'm so very sorry to read that you are facing such trials and tests of faith. On the other hand, you might try to refrain from being judgmental or hateful toward others who aren't struggling in your same shoes. You just never really know what shoes they "are" walking/struggling in. No one leads a perfect life. No one. Ever! In the end, even when the negative gets the best of you, you should stop and ask yourself "What is my gift or gifts in today?" "What gifts has God blessed me with amongst all of the pain and heartache?" I personally found myself having to ask the same questions last week when my plans weren't going as I had hoped. The gifts are always there - sometimes it is just harder to see them during specific moments of trial and tribulation. Sometimes we have to improvise and make our own "gifts." Either way, find them. Find those gifts! Know them, love them, and thank God for each and every one of them because there are many if we are just willing to open our eyes and embrace them. Again though, definitely sending up those prayers. Good luck to you and your faithful husband.
Sometimes life really SUCKS! Just keepin' it real. I know you guys yearn for realness on here so I'm giving it to ya today. Front and center. And many times, life is full of dissapointments and complete let downs. The key to those moments is how we choose to deal with them.
In a nut shell, the bad news is...our Turks and Caicos flight/trip had to be canceled & postponed at the very last minute yesterday. The good news is...Brennen's ear infection is getting better as the antibiotic seems to be helping now. Therefore we decided on a whim yesterday to hop in the car and drove North 2.5 hours for this destination pictured below instead.
(Photo taken with Brennen's new iphone4 camera)
It's definitely no Caribbean island like Turks but it sure is fun and I NEVER EVER thought I'd say that out loud about Disney. I was never a disney lover - ever. The kids are having a ball and so am I. It's definitely hotter than blazes but the hotel pool and the park books (Blizzard Beach and Typhoon lagoon as well as the Aquatica at Sea World fix all that hotness real quick.
We are hoping to reschedule our Turks trip within the next few months but for now I'm off to enjoy what could have been a really sucky birthday weekend had I let the whole ordeal steal my joy. Thank goodness for the perks of living in Naples and only being 2 hours away from the most magic place on earth. Until we return...
I just had a conversation with myself. It went something like this...
"Self...I would just like to know what normal, healthy, soul would choose to live in a climate such as this one - shown above and below? By choice?"
What on earth possesses me to put up with this torturous Indiana environment? I have a husband that would move south - to Florida in an instant - the second I said the word. However, I choose to continue basking in the gray, dark, dreary, cold, skies of an Indiana winter/early Spring. What possesses me to keep enduring this? Who possesses me to keep enduring this is more like it. Yes, you all know who...! It's my lovely parents that keep my soul grounded here in Indiana. It is they who beacon my heart and to whom which I could never bare the thought of trading this...
For this...
or even this...
Yes, it is my parents whom I give up this...
and this...
and him...
and her...
for.
I willingly give all of it and all of "them" up for my parents. Why? Because I'd be like a light house without a light, a beach without waves, like sand without sea shells, or like a palm tree without leaves. Simply put...I'd be 'a life without life' if my parents weren't within driving range of me. Not just any driving range either but no more than a 45 minute driving range at that. Even a span of 45 minutes is technically too far. Too distant for my health. Too gapped for my comfort level. Therefore, I know that unless they pack up and ever come with us, I'll always be giving up this...
and them...
and beach access #5 with the lost glasses...
for this...
Thankfully though...in less than 36 hours...we'll once again be back in our home away from home. The place that makes Indiana "doable." The place where doing this...
makes "Hoosier Life" livable.
The place where I hope to find and shoot many more new and interesting beach shots for all of you - my treasured AGD blog readers - in the coming week. The place that makes the word "vacation" cause heart palpitations. Especially for me.
Thanks for always putting up with my count downs as we approach our family beach get-a-ways. I know it must get old, boring, and monotonous for most of my readers. However, it is a part of me that cannot be tamed. My love for the beach always overflows within me to the point where it's uncontainable. I truly appreciate how each of you allow me to share my love for the sea here - on the blog - no matter how many times you must see me write/post/photograph it. In a nutshell, thanks for allowing me to "rub it in" so to speak and yet have you still love me. :) Bottom line, just want to give ya'll a big, HUGE, thanks for letting me share my obsession with each of you so very often.
Until the 24 hour countdown begins tomorrow, thank you. Thank you. Thank you! xoxo, Angie
PS...And just in case you were wondering...my parents are wayyyyyyyy worth the trade off. :)
Mother Nature is really playing a very sick joke on all of us Hoosiers this winter. We had record degree temps for February this past week. Some days in the 60 degree mark. And yes, as mentioned earlier, warm enough for me to break out the flip flops on a couple of occasions. Same with some other 'flop obsessed souls' too. I looked to the left of me when paying in line at a store the other day and sure enough...another gal was standing there sporting her 'flops' too. We laughed together and rejoiced in it.
Today however, I woke up to yet another dusting of snow on our grass that had just been cleared and melted free of the white junk following our great weather week. You wouldn't have wanted to be around me or within a 14 mile radius of me when I woke up and witnessed more snow this morning. I didn't make very pretty sounds.
So, what does one do when they feel the need to vomit at the sight of more snow? One goes to her calendar, pops it open, and begins counting down the days to Spring Break. Our Spring Break for the kids new school is a week later than normal this year. There are some pros and some cons to that. The con is that all of my friends I know from CG will be on vacation a different week from us. Therefore, eliminating any possible sightings of each other while in the same vacation local. One positive pro to it all though...just as they are returning home from Spring Break, we will just be leaving for Spring Break. Hee hee! :)
So...how many days did I find that we have left until our departure for Spring Break? 46 to be exact. 46 days. The exciting part about Spring Break this year is that my brother and sister in law (and their kids) will be joining us. My Mother in law (Debbie) will also be flying in for a couple of days too. We can't wait. I'm also really excited because I hope to get some great shots of my sister in law (Aubree) on the beach while preggo. I'm praying that I can sucker her into letting me practice with her beautimous belly while there. I'd also like to do some updated family shots of them all while on the beach one evening. Speaking of maternity shots, I can't remember if I had announced here on the ol' blog yet that Aubree and Brad (Brent's brother) are expecting. How awesome is that? Aubree is due July 28th. This will be Brad's first so we are eager to see how he handles the day of child birth. Ha ha! We know you will ROCK it Brad. We have total faith in you. :)
So...fun days ahead. Lots of fun days! Now...can someone get me a palm tree?
Although waking up to this sunrise this morning was way cool - albeit a bit scary as well beings that the sky almost looked as if it were opening up and on fire, I still had to eventually see this (image below) as I looked out off our master bedroom deck into part of our backyard. Once the beautiful and oh so strange sunrise cleared, the weather still is what it is. Cold, dark, and snowy. Yeap, this is Indiana at this moment folks.
So...as I sat dreaming again...I closed my eyes for a few minutes and pretended - and oh so "wished" I could propel myself backwards two weeks and still be here...
On Bonita Beach and in Naples, Florida. Sanibel Island as well. Oh to reverse time by just a few days...
I miss my "Beach B/F/F's." ...the birds...
I am missing my toes being sugared in the sand today...always.
I am missing the feel of the white bubbly ocean rushing up on my toes and the smell of the salt water - the Ocean - God's awesome creation.
I'm missing their (my beach B/F/F/'s) squawkin' and squealin'. Their fighting with one another over the next shell full of food or the next unknowing and innocent little fish that swims their way. I'm missing their sky high dives, their death defying stunts, and their fly by's.
Yeap, those flyby's for little ol' me, remember? Just me. We have an agreement. I told you guys about our story and how we are sticking to it. Remember...B/F/F's in exchange for their photo shoots? Yes...that agreement.
Just a little snippet or example of why I love photoshop so much. I spent some time playing with it this weekend after not having logged onto it since before leaving for Christmas vacation. I 'moseyed' around in there and found a new way to enhance an image and give it that "70's surfer feel" as I like to refer to it. Ha ha! It is a great look for all of the beach pictures that I intend to make into canvas wraps for the photo wall in our house.
But then...when you really want to get down and funky - maybe a bit "grungey" as I call it...you can also add this...
So fun. So so fun! Photography is a never ending learning process. There is a 1,000 more things to learn about and be creative with as each new day passes. It is that factor that never allows me to get bored with images or photography in general. Each day is different. Each image can look one million different ways or take on a thousand different looks. Photography...food for the brain. Seriously - it sooooooo is. I'm very ready for my next photography class tomorrow morning as well as more of my photoshop classes. The sponge in me is going crazy and misses the soaking up in the past three weeks. I think it's an addiction. Really, I do. :)
I'm off to run some much needed errands today as well as ship out a couple more orders that are done. We had a very busy weekend filled with basketball games, snow and ice, dinners with friends and family as well as with our builder and his wife, snow and ice, hunkered down veg out time at home, snow and ice. You get the picture at this point right? Snow and ice. Aside from the photos above giving me beach withdraw & sending me into convulsions right now...my sewing employee/great friend, Karen, gave me a 2009 beach desk calendar as part of my awesome gifts for Christmas this year. For every new day, there is a new beach shot. I LOVE IT! However, she WILL get her paybacks for the torture she has thrown at me as I sit here and have to look at that calendar day in and day out. :) Shame on you sista' - shame on you. Your right...next time you just need to go with us to Naples. Maybe then you'll understand the depth of your torturous fun. ;) Wink wink! Love ya 'gur-fren!'
We touched back down in Indy at 6:20pm last night.
I stepped off the plane in my flip flops. It was a mere 26 degrees.
I rebelled! Flip flops or bust. Let's also mention that Brennen came home in shorts.
He rebelled as well and I allowed it.
Go ahead...call CPS now. We don't care. We are just kind of crazy like that. Crazy kind of family. And gosh knows we love being crazy. (Hence, the song. A great one at that. Turn up your speaker volume and enjoy it while reading this) Craziness!
Back to point...who cared about who was staring and whispering. We were being rebels together. Mother and Son. Love that!
We woke up to snow this morning. Don't love that! Nope...not so much. In fact, I detest that part. I was almost disgusted when I saw it. In fact, not "almost"...I WAS disgusted! How do you go from 83 degrees with sun, sand, and palm trees to 26 degrees, with snow and sleet in a matter of 2 hours? What is wrong with this picture people?
Either way, I got this in my email inbox earlier and had to share. It's from Kenidi's teacher. You know, Alison? The one I speak about on this blog from time to time? Here is what part of her email read:
I’m including a picture from this morning’s SuperTarget field trip. Miss Kenidi has been super tired today and conked out on the way back. (on the bus) I snapped a quick picture to send you…it was too cute to pass up! Hope you’re having a good first day back home. :)
It appears as though our little Miss Kenidi experienced a bit too much R&R over the past 2.5 weeks while we were away. I'm sure she was dreaming of funyons, blues clues, dances with daddy on the beach, musical chairs on the lanai, etc. right at that very moment. Hysterical! Sleeping on the bus...Does it get any better than that? Well, maybe if you were sleeping on the beach. Thanks for taking the time to send this picture to me Alison. Brent and I cracked up. Too funny!
Either way, back to making orders, shipping them, doing a boat load of laundry, putting away suitcases, waiting for 2.5 weeks worth of "held" mail to show up from the mail lady(oh joy! - Not!), and simply missing the noise. The bickering amongst siblings. The mouth of a 9 year old. The scenes on the beach from a 5 year old with special needs. The ringing of my husbands cell phone(constantly). Yeap, just missing it all. Just when your brain tells you that you've had enough and your ready to kick your family to the curb after 2.5 weeks of being together 24/7, your heart kicks in and reminds you otherwise. Brent sent me an email this morning that read nothing but "I miss you already."
Made. me. cry.
Truth is...he has only been gone at the office for 7 hours but I miss him already too. I miss them. The kids. The monsters. The little hellions. I miss them and they've only been gone a few hours. Like I told Brent when I replied back to his email, "the silence without them here is now almost deafening." I find my heart extremely heavy today for the Travolta's as I sit in this silence. Just me, God, and the silence. Praying for their peace. Praying for their unexpected horrific silence. Just praying!
This is what our last day on the beach looked like yesterday. Blue skies, a hot 83 degrees, white sand, kids playing, etc. I took Brennen and we hung out and did some Mommy/son time alone. See little Miss Kenidi doesn't understand that the ocean is too cold to swim in this time of the year. On numerous occasions this trip, she has dove in the water, clothes, shoes, and all in an effort to swim with the fish. Ha ha! Brent has then had to go in after her in his clothes, shoes, and all. Thus, why Kenidi will be coming home without a brown bean tan this trip. She stayed home most afternoons with Daddy, having lunch with him, watching continual episodes of Blue Clues with him and playing musical chairs outside in the lanai around the pool with him. Brennen got in the ocean up to his knees a few times but for the most part, the water was just too cold. So yesterday, Brennen and Mommy spent 4 hours oceanside just playing in the sand, tanning it up, and closing our eyes as we embraced the last few hours of the waves crashing against the shore before we have to return home.
There was hardly anyone around. Just us and our Beach B/F/F's (the birds). Yeap, they made one last appearance in hopes of getting "Paparazzi'ed" before we go. And boy did they ever. Many of them did fly over stunts for us and everything this time. Too fun to watch. It's amazing to me how close they come to my hands and my lens. I think they are so used to people on the beach that they come right up to you like its nothing. We are sticking with the story that they just enjoy strutting their stuff in front of my cameras and that we are all B/F/F's because of the photo ops I give them in exchange. HA! I mean let's face it...they are celebrities here on this ol' blog. Right?
This shot above was a group of pelicans that continued to fly overhead and in formation all afternoon long. They were so beautiful! And below...I captured a seagull coming in for a landing all while almost taking out another one of his own pals.
The image below is of a single pelican flying right above my head, doing what they do best... Looking stunning!
Although this next shot below was caught on the fly and left me unprepared, I still love it. Look at those wings. You guys know how much I have a love affair with all things "wingy." Hee hee! :) He came in for a landing right at my feet and I snapped the shot right before his little legs hit the ground.
And this little dude below kept bringing around things in his mouth. He tried to eat everything in sight. I caught him with this something or another and thought I'd share it here too.
This seagull below isn't really as close as it looks to my head like some of the previous shots. Thank goodness for telephoto zoom lens. I love my glass. They are so good at capturing images like this one that are impossible in a normal situation.
And there he went...flying right past us. Up in the sky with the planes and all. How fun it must be to know that God blessed you with wings. What a view they must have every second of every day...
Then lastly, these are my favorite red long beaked birds. I don't know their technical name but I do love them. I call them "Red" when there.
Here are two of my favorite houses shoreside on Bonita Beach. You should see the front of these bad boys. They are stunning homes. The owner of the white house was out on her top balcony while we were there yesterday. She was yelling down and talking to an older couple that they obviously knew on the beach. I wondered if she knew how blessed she was to wake up to a view like that every morning. Gorgeous!
Here is Brennen doing what he does...hanging out with Mom in the sand.
I thought that I might order canvas wrapped prints done in color or possibly even black and white of these next few prints below. I have a large wall in our great room that is craving some large prints. I plan to make it a photo wall with all of my photography pictures captured of the kids, the beach, and so on during our vacation memories thru the years. Beings that our new home is decorated in a beachy/cottage feel, I thought these close ups of hands and feet in the sand will be great for the photo wall collection.
My toes won't be on the wall though. Of course not...no way jose'! I don't mind putting them here though - in small print. :)
For now, I'm off to finish packing. It's 9am and our flight leaves for home at 3:45pm today. I'm sad and heart sick to return back to Indy's winter weather. However, in the end, it is home. Normally I'm ready to come home by the end of each trip. This time however, I'm not. I really hate leaving this trip and bringing it to an end. I just wish I was a beach shell sometimes...able to stay on the beach 24/7, swim with the dolphins, sun bathe in the rays, etc. Beings that I'm not though, I guess the shells will have to remain there along with our Beach B/F/F's until we return again later this year. They are always lonely without us. I'm sure of it...
Thanks for sharing this vacation with us. I've enjoyed being able to share with you all. As always, please pray for safe travels tonight as we fly home. If all is on time, we will touch back down in Indy at 6:30pm on the dot tonight. I'll update tomorrow from the comforts of home.
