Our Little Vacation in December - Day 1

It seems that I've neglected to post on our recent vacation to Didneywhirl. For those of you who don't speak Philly - that translates to Disney World. Last year when Jim and Jess came out for Christmas, and told us that they had joined the Disney Vacation Club. They told us to clear a week in 2008 to join them down in Disney, and they would use their points to take care of lodging for the week for both families. Since they were taking care of that, all we had to do was budget for park tickets, plane tickets down, food and souvenirs, and a rental car for one or two days possibly. What a generous offer from my dear friends - more like family, I say. In any case, over the year we scrimped and saved our pennies, and used the budget minded talents of my wife to be able to afford to go. So, I'll try to break down the vacation like I did our reunion earlier this year, so I don't leave anything out (if possible.)

Day 1 -

We left on Sunday evening from here. We couldn't find anyone to take us to the airport, unless we left our car with them for the week. I don't really feel comfortable doing that, as I have this fear that they're going to save the gas in their car by tooling around town in ours running errands. We ended up finding a long-term off-site parking lot that wasn't too expensive to eliminate begging for a ride. We flew Southwest (my first time) down, and I can see why they are a successful company. We took the Disney Magic Express shuttle from the airport to our hotel for the first night, as we weren't joining Jim and Jess at the resort until the next evening. It was late, and we just wanted to get the kids down and sleeping. Our bags didn't make it to the room until well after midnight, but Rachel had prepared for that by packing the PJ's in a carry-on. I walked down to the McDonald's to get us some dinner, and in doing so found out two very important things about Orlando that would serve me well. First, EVERYTHING is more expensive - Second, that I would have to get used to half-cooked hamburgers served by some flunky in a costume for the next week. That ended our night, and we were looking forward to starting early the next morning.

Here's a picture of our hotel for the first night - All-Star Sports.

Time has flown by

Yesterday was the end of an important period of time for me, and also the main reason I have completely neglected posting much of anything on here for the last two months. December 17th ended the first semester of community college for me at MontCo, as I took the last of my four finals Wednesday morning. I call this an important period of time for me because my last attempt at college courses seventeen years ago ended in dismal failure. (See previous post for more information on this topic.)


Macroeconomics proved to be the most difficult on me, as the semester wore on I fell more and more behind and it showed in my final exam and project. I thought the timing of my taking a macroeconomics class couldn't have been better, as the theories, ideas, and policies of the U.S. we learned were able to be seen in action due to the current recession and failing of our economy over the past few months. It's one thing to learn theory, it's another to learn the theory and see it put into action. Rachel and I took this class together, even with that, the teacher challenged us with every exam. In any case, I'm glad that class is done with. Accounting was more interesting than I thought it was going to be, but that is her forte rather than mine. Rachel and I took this class together as well, and are planning on taking part two together next semester. I decided to take college algebra to shake the cobwebs loose, and it was a prerequisite to move onto other higher math for my degree program. I needed to have 3 credit hours of a P.E. credit, but most of the courses offered were only two hours or weren't offered online. I found a class that would fulfill three credit hours, was offered online, and was a topic that I could get into: Human Sexuality. Everyone who knows me well said that class was perfect for me, or laughed with embarassment at the topic. I was one of two guys in the class, and ended up gaining a few fans of my posts to the message board discussions. Two finals I was able to take online, and two had to be taken on campus - they are all done, and I have tentative grades for three of my classes. Just waiting on the teachers to finalize and post official grades before I celebrate anything. In any case, I've proven to myself that I am smart enough for community college at least, and my confidence is growing a little bit. Thank you to everyone who have voiced your support, and thank you to my wife for encouraging me to take a step into the unknown. I'll be posting some over to the next few weeks to get anyone caught up, but more so for me to be able to journalize my life over the past two months.

Another week

I was talking to Rachel last week, and she had to remind me that I was taking this coming week off. I think I'm going to need this vacation to get caught up, or get ahead again on some of my assignments for different classes. I didn't do so well this past weekend setting aside enough time to get everything done, so it felt like I was behind the eight ball all weekend. Oh, well, it went with my crappy week like stink on a diaper. Time to take a small breather and put the nose to the grindstone again, and stop slacking off because I'm "doing so well".

Ouch

Today sucked.

Just a bad, bad day. That's all I have to say about that.

Peace.

Just a reminder....

Election day is only two weeks away. I am still an undecided voter, however I just want to remind everyone it is your civic duty to get out and vote. If you don't vote, you don't get to complain. Make you voice heard and vote!!

Its about time.....

So I know that it has been a while since I posted to the blog, however in my defense, by the time I sit down to type I am either just finishing schoolwork, housework, or just plain exhausted to type anything fun. So I usually don't. But today I thought I would just do a quick post to do a little catch up.

The girls are doing great. Allie loves kindergarten and can't wait to go back everyday. She really doesn't like Sat and Sun because she does not get to go to school. Oh well. I will encourage it as long as I can. It seems that it will eventually wear off, or so I am told. Ryleigh is well Ryleigh. She is loving having some time in the morning with just mom. She is beginning to really pick up on her letters and numbers and is just as willing and eager to learn as her sister. She wishes she could go to kindergarten too. In fact up until about a week ago, she was convinced on her next birthday she was going to be 5. Even though she fully aware that the number after 2 was 3. When asked she would say she was going to be 5, and when asked why, she would say "because when you turn 5, you get to go to kindergarten." Aww, if only it were that simple. Lindsay is at the age where she is getting into everything. She loves the fact that she can walk and loves to walk everywhere. No more crawling for her. She really is a great baby. She is beginning to try out her voice. Yesterday she tried adding her voice to the ward choirs. As they began to sing, so did she. It was very cute.

Aaron and I are still both in school. It is going well. We almost halfway through the semester and both think we are doing fairly well. I try to study as much as I can during the day, but not always easy with 3 kids. Other than that, I am very excited about fall being here. I love the cooler weather and the smell of fires etc. It is fun. It also means that the Holidays are not very far away. I am excited.

Man, I am sick

Okay ... I know it's late, but I had to post that I am embarrassed that I just sat through watching "Blades of Steel" with Will Ferrell ....

Man, am I sad.