Summer vacation- Viriginia Air and space Museum

This is the Virginia Air and Space Museum in Hampton VA.  Thanks to our Dicsovery Place Family Membership, we were able to get in here for free!! (a savings of over 40$!!)

This is the Apollo 12 Capsule. Not quie as Illustrious as his Younger Brother Apollo 13.  Still he is totally cool on his own.  He doesnt need Tom Hanks to Make a movie about him!!Various planes Hanging from the ceiling.Charles and Finn being Astronauts.

NowChales and Peter are Astronauts.Here is Charles trying to outdo the art on the planePeter and Finn with their cousin.A totally gross Bug Display. The fly was my fave. He said the word "poop" a lot.  Plus his eyes were really beady and beautiful.  He had a Paisano Guido accent like "Hey mamma Mia!" type thing. really funny, and believe it or not, informative.Peter proving how Cool Apollo 12 is.Peter and Finn in the Plane cockpit.The Tuskegee Airmen DisplaySome other display with old guys. WWII??

We then went across the street to ride the carousel.

that was our day at the Virginia Air and Space Museum.

oh and here is one for all you twilight Lovers out there.

I am TEAM EDWARD!

Well...I'm back

SO here I am, back to reality. I have no waiter to serve me shrimp cocktails. i have no room steward to keep my bed made and make me cute little towel animals.
I have no announcements every 20 minutes from Gary, my cruise director informing me of what will be happening on the ship later on.
I have no one saying "hi how are you" every time I walk out of my room.
I have no 24 hour pizza buffet. No adult pool. No waterslide, ice cream machine, juggler, comedian, theater or bingo machine.
I can not look out my window and see the pristine blue waters of the caribbean, or listen to a steel drum band play hot hot hot 37 times a day. There is no "Larry" at the Lindy Hop bar.
There are no Karaoke douchbags to irritate me, no teenagers dressing like complete sluts and no Mormon girls who apparently think that when you are on a cruise your morals are on vacation.
sigh.

I have my house. I have my dog(who apparently at the kennel was eating food that did not agree with his stomach as he has been passing gas ALL DAY AND NIGHT), and I have two kids who are right back to being their "sweet" and "charming" selves.
I came home with 43 pounds of laundry (not lying, thats how much my bag weighed at the airport) and an urge to not go back to school. I am so tired I just want to curl up and sleep.

But it is back to Life and back to reality and back to my real world of daily grind, chores etc.

I need a vacation from my vacation 2

well we are back!
A LONG yet very fun week.
We went to Universal Studios, Universal Islands of Adventure, Magic Kingdom, Epcot, Hollywood studios(formerly MGM) and Animal Kingdom.
We have lots of memories, a few funny stories and tons of pictures, which I will post all throughout this week.

Turns out my "No Fear" 5 year old who is my adventure junkie thrill seeker is not much into fast rides, coasters or things that go down hills. He did fine until Universal Islands of Adventure and we went on Jurassic Park. It just got worse from there. All week he fretted and fussed about how fast or slow a ride was, how big or little the hill was, would it go up fast or up slow. He cried before he even got onto rides. It was actually a little surprising. Finn is always the one who is jumping out of the tree house, finding new and inventive ways for an adrenaline rush. He has always been my "lets go lets go lets go" boy.

Peter, who has always been a little more timid and reserved and seems to be scared of everything REALLY surprised me. He doesnt have much use of his left hand and arm. He is always more shy and scared to do things, for the longest time he didnt even want to go down tall slides at the playground. But he promised me that at WDW he would try all the rides at least once. Turns out Mr shy and timid is a roller coaster enthusiast! He rode Space Mountain TWICE, and Expedition Everst FOUR TIMES!! He just loved it. I think I could have gotten him back onto tower of terror again if we had more time. He really loved the thrilling rides and the rollercoasters and the fast rides.

A few highlights From Each park:

(Epcot)They LOVED Mission Space. We didnt do the wimpy green one either. We did the full out orange team with the spinning and the G-force pulling your face back to your ears as you blasted off to Mars. The one where as you are blasting off you can feel your stomach sinking lower and lower and it just keeps sinking. I actually cry out every time I ride it. I dont think my stomach can sink any lower and it does. It is just such an amazingly realistic ride.

(Animal Kingdom)- Peter loved Everest.(four times it was awesome). Finn Loved the Kali River Rapids. I happened to be sitting in the wet seat BOTH TIMES. I was soaked. A Bugs Life was a big hit as well.

(Hollywood Studios) I Loved Tower of Terror. It is my favorite ride. The one we went on had a GREAT sequence of drops and ascents. It was fantastic. The boys LOVED Star Tours. As soon as the movie was over, Finn in a loud voice said "That was TOTALLY AWESOME!"

(Magic Kingdom) Peter Loved Space Mountain. Finn did not. Finn and Peter both loved one of my favorite rides "Peter Pans Flight". Splash Mountain was fine until the last drop at the end and Pirates of the Caribbean was a big hit for all. Mickeys Philharmonic was so much fun too.

Universal studios and Islands of adventure was really fun all around. If anyone is going to IOA anytime soon you MUST ride the spiderman ride. It was amazing. The boys loved the Cat in the Hat ride, E.T and the Woody Woodpecker kiddie coaster.

So thats kind of a brief synopsis. I will post pictures this week etc.

Laundry Laundry everywhere, but not a shirt to wear

I got back from Virginia Beach on Saturday night.

I am sitting surrounded by a mountain of dirty, sandy, damp ,salty laundry. (UGH the bane of my existence)

WHo knew that camping and going to the beach would bring me such a headache afterwards??

I have lots of pictures and lots to blog about...just not today. I REALLY need to get to that laundry before mold starts growing and the clothing picks up and walks away.

It IS good to be home, back in my own bed, eating my own food, in my house with air conditioning, TV and internet access. It is good to be back home with white and nerdy. I can only take so much family time before I start to go crazy. And it isnt just my husbands family. It is the same with my family as well. After about 2 days I am ready to just pack it in and go home. But I survived intact, sanity only slightly less then when I left.
I am, however, COVERED in bug bites that itch like crazy. I have 15 hours of programming to get through on DVR. I have grocery shopping to do. I have Peters baptism to plan. (August 2nd!!) I told the boys we would make a paper countdown chain to Disney World, too. (We got the official confirmation from Make a wish on our dates. )

Gadzooks Batman I have a ton to do today. So if I want to go to bed tonight I better hop to.

what I REALLY need are some Suzie Q's to get the sugar roaring. I havent had a Suzie Q in AGES.

happy monday

P.S. It is true what people say :I need a vacation from my vacation.