This Love Changed Everything: 2011

Since moving into our house, 4+ years ago, there has been a very noticeable draft in the wintertime throughout the house. We investigated and determined that the front door was where the cold air was coming in. We live in Nebraska where the summer and hot and the winter...well the winters are just down right cold and snowy.

We get sleet , freezing rain, and snow. Not only on the outside of the house but as well as the inside. This is not a good thing.

So, last week I got a phone call from Stephen asking me if I would mind this...

Um....really? I think someone would notice that the front of the house is missing?!?!?!

Last Friday began the repair work. Old floor out, new floor in. Simple, yes? Nope...in taking flooring out we discovered that not only was the floor rotted but so was the entire door structure. All of the wood encasing the bottom of the door was in dire need of being replaced. Friday night I began to worry when this was our front door...

On to Saturday. The air was fresh and crisp, on the inside as well as the outside. Stephen spent the majority of the day with saws and hammers and nails making new windows encasement. Yay! I went out to run some errands and came back to this...

By Sunday he had everything put back together and so this weekend I did this...

It looks fabulous!

Where do I start..........

Late last July my father-in-law called and asked if we wanted to go to Florida. They had bought a timeshare a while back and it was coming time to use it. So, we went ahead and said sure we'd love to go. So a year ago we booked the hotel and in march of this year I bought 5 days worth of Disney tickets for 6 people.

On July 20th we started out on our journey. We took 3 days to get there and 3 to get back home.

Day one....We left the in-laws house around 9:30 or so in the morning. Our first stop was in Lake Saint Louis, Missouri. The hotel was less than superb but hey there was a bed and a pool. The view was pretty though. Behind the hotel was Lake Saint Louis, an actual lake. Wish we would have had time to walk around a bit.

Lake Saint Louis

Cannonball!!!

Day two...I missed the exit to I-64 (this was a reoccurring theme the whole trip) and we ended up 2 hours off path and a very interesting drive through SE Missouri. Crossed over the Missouri, Tennessee, Mississippi, and Ohio Rivers all on day 2. Cool. Stopped in Macon, GA for the night. Can we say traffic! Oh, and the wipers shot crap in Nashville right in the middle of a thunderstorm. Had to steal the one off the back of the van. Looked very odd but it got the job done. Stopped in Macon, GA for the night. Stopped in this one town for gas and thought it was odd that all of the buildings were boarded up. Then I realized why...it was one of the towns hit hard by the tornado outbreak of 2011. Very sad to see all of the destruction :(

Tornado Damage

This was the only building that had been rebuilt so far...very sad :(

Day three...we finally made it to FL. And...it was my birthday! We didn't really celebrate. Too tired from the drive to do anything so we just went to the hotel, unpacked and swam.

This cute little squirrel was just looking for food.

Day four...first full day in FL
We went to Magic Kingdom on the first day. It was great! We spent the entire day in the park and only got through about half of it. Oh and I lost Stephen and Christopher for about 4 hours that day. They went on Splash Mountain and did not want to get their phones wet so I took them. bad idea :(

Day Five...Animal Kingdom
This was Elliott's park. He is my animal lover. We had to stop and look at EVERYTHING! And Lord help us if we didn't. We saw lots and lots of animals...went on safari...went inside the tree of life. We watched this show called "It's tough to be a bug". It was 3D and it kind of creeped us out! The seats poked you during the Hornet part of the movie. Totally not expected :( Elliott didn't like it at all. Steve and Christopher went on the Everest ride. They loved it! They also went on the Dinosaur ride. Elliott and I didn't really ride on much.

Day Six...Epcot
Amazing park!!! So much interactive stuff for the kids! We tried to get up early and avoid the heat but that did not happen. I think the earliest we got the parks was 11 or so. And boy was it hot! Everyone went on Mission Space...everyone but that is. I can't handle most of the rides. Between getting sick and having major panic attacks...it's just best that I stay far far away. I did try to go on "Soarin" twice. Both times I was in the chair. The first time I bolted before I could hook myself in. The second time. I had a major panic attack and darn near ripped the strap to get out before the ride took off. Was not my finest moment. The 4 year old kid next to me must have thought I was crazy :( Anywho...according to everyone else, it was awesome! We took a boat ride around the lake and saw all of the countries there. Pretty cool. Stayed for the fireworks....sweet!!

Elliott meets Bruce!

Love Epcot at night!

Day seven...Daytona Beach
We took this day off from the parks. The weather was cloudy and cooler so we thought it was perfect beach weather. Temps were in the upper 80s. We had planed to go to Daytona Beach but our Pastor and his wife said that Daytona Beach Shores was nice. We almost didn't find it. Drove past the entry point and had to turn around. We finally found it and made our way down. I don't think I even got the car in park before the boys were out of the van and raring to go! The water was cold at first. Steve and I had gone down to West Palm beach about 6 years ago and stayed for about w eek right on the ocean. That was my first trip. The waves knocked me all over the place and there was seaweed everywhere. I didn't really care for it. This time...much different. The waves were calmer and no seaweed to be found :) I still don't care for the taste of salt water but it sure did make my skin feel soft!! Oh, and it burned my eyes worse that chlorine pools! Next time I must bring goggles!!! The boys had a blast! The body surfed, tried to swim but to waves knocked them around. They built sand castles...until the tide came in and buried them. We set Steve's dad down my the water with his chair so he could get his feet wet. he can't swim so he doesn't tend to go near the water. All in all it was a great day! We even brought home a bag of sand..what wasn't in the van scattered about that is.

Day Eight...Hollywood Studios
Lights, Motors, Action! Very awesome!!! We saw how they film car chases and stunts. This one car was built backwards. It looks as though it drives backwards but it's actually driving forward! We saw a guy fall off a building, cars jump through the air, and a guy catch on fire! So cool!!!! Oh...and we saw Lightning McQueen!!!! We watched an Indiana Jones show. The boys loved it! Lots of stuff got blown up!!! The boys, all of them, got to go on "Star Tours". For those who don't know...it's all about Star Wars! All of my boys are Star Wars geeks :) Elliott even liked this one! The big kids, Steve and Christopher went on the "Rockin Roller Coaster" ride. Another hit! Elliott and I hung out and tried on the cool hats! We also stayed for the "Fantasmic" night laser show. Very cool!!!!

Steve's favorite part of the Backlot Tour

Indiana Jones Stunt Show

Lightning McQueen

Day Nine...Relax Day
We didn't do a whole lot this day. We lounged most of the day..Steve took the boys down to the pool fora bit. I packed up most everything so I would not have to do it the next morning last minute. We went to the seafood buffet place for dinner. It wasn't that great. We wanted to go to the nicer place but they didn't open until 5 and we wanted to go back to Magic Kingdom one more time so we could see the fireworks. We ate and headed back to the park. got there around 7 and headed to get fast passes, which btw are a must! You can get into the rides alot faster with them but you are only allowed to get one every two hours :( So we got the fast passes for Space Mountain, which I am told is all in the dark. After securing those passes, we went on the racecars, Elliott is so not ever getting a drivers license after that ride let me tell you! Good thing he couldn't go anywhere. The boys and I went on the "Space Ranger Spin" kind of like Tea Cup meets Laser quest. It was fun! Steve's mom went on ""The Orbitor" It was really high up! We met up with Steve and his dad right before the nighttime parade...which was very cool! Ohmygosh the stuff they did with the castle!!!! So very freakin' awesome!!! And the fireworks show was spectacular!!

Elliott from Pete's Dragon

The images on the castle were amazing!!

Very Sweet!!

Day Ten-Twelve...We packed up and heading back home on this day. Drove to Chattanooga, TN for the night. Had gorgeous view the next day of the mountains! Got rained on on day eleven. Good thing we stopped that morning for new wiper blades...got em just in the nick of time! Day twelve went back to Lake Saint Louis and even got the same room from this first night! We tried Lion's Choice Roast Beef Restaurant, as recommended by our Pastor and his family and we tried the tacos and Jack in the Box, well Steve did. My tummy was acting up so I opted to not try them. He said they were ok. Never did get to White Castle...sorry guys :(

The view from our Chattanooga, TN hotel