Happiest Place on Earth

Deona and I have always wanted to surprise the boys with a Disney World vacation.  

Well guess what? Deona and I were just as surprised when my parents announced they would be taking us all on a Disney family vacation! Keeping this a secret from the boys was no easy task however the plan worked and made it even more special!

While waiting for our dinner at Chuy's Friday night, the boys took to scratching off their fake lottery tickets,  I made for them earlier in the week. 

No problem getting up at 5 a.m.; Everett & Emory were so excited to be flying for the first time (actually Ev has flown before but he was a tiny 7months old):

Same Pooh Bear you'll see in the photos this vacation.  :)

The boys were invited in the cockpit. 

Boarding the Magical Express Bus to our Disney Resort!

For 6 days, the four of us along with my parents, sister & family were able to enjoy a family vacation at the Happiest Place on Earth!  Disney World!!

After we checked in we headed straight to Magic Kingdom

One day Brittney Bradshaw (Deona's youngest cousin) will meet her Prince Chad.  :)  <3

Chad is my adorable nephew; he loves Disney as much as we do!

Ev is tall enough to drive himself.  :(

The Jasos Gone Wild!

My adorable great-nephew Maxton with his wild and crazy parents. :)

Everett & Emory conquered all major thrill rides this week, including... 

Seven Dwarfs Mine Train

Big Thunder Mountain Railroad

Space Mountain

Rockin Roller Coaster

LOL LOL LOL

Expedition Everest

And finally, the Tower of Terror

Additionally, I think we rode all but 2 rides, although I didn't capture them all. :)

Can you guess the ride?  Winner gets song stuck in head for the rest of the day! You're welcome!! :)

EARLY Saturday morning we headed to Animal Kingdom so that we could be one of the first in line to ride Avatar's Flight of Passage.  Less than 1 hour in a line is great, in fact the norm is 120-180 minutes.  The longest wait time (while there) was 250 minutes in line!  We were fortunate to only stand in line 45 minutes! This new ride is spectacular and Disney's BEST, in my opinion; this ride literally moved me to tears.   Go here to experience the ride, but you'll have to make a trip to Animal Kingdom to experience it with full simulation.    

Everett with his new banshee.

What are the chances you'll meet your Cub Scout buddy on Tom Sawyers Island? It really is a small world, after all! ;-)

Happy Halloween!

This year Em dressed as Dash from the Incredibles, Ev - Spiderman, Deona - Pooh Bear and I, Piglet. 

 Meeting Chewbacca was AWESOME and a highlight!

 I'm in love with a wookiee.

hahahahahahahahahahaa!  Emory didn't know what to do; he was quick to abort. 

Everett saved his money for a couple of days to buy a 7' double lightsaber. 

AND to close out our amazing day at Hollywood Studios...

Our final evening included a dinner show at the Polynesian resort

Then by monorail we endedu up at Epcot for our final park visit. :(  

We stayed for the awesome firework and Laser show and then it was time to head back to our room and pack.

Packed and ready for the Magical Express bus to pick us up and take us to the airport. 

Not so happy face. On our way to the airport.

What a wonderful week with family and Mickey.  I hope to fill in more of the blanks at a later time, however I needed to plug in pics while it's fresh on my mind.  

Thanks Mom, Dad, Tammy, Donato, Chad, Chris, Kim and Max for sharing your time with us; we had an amazing time and will cherish these memories forever.  

Everett & Emory at Magic Kingdom in 2012 and 2017.  

I sure hope we don't have to wait 5 more years before the next!

"World Friendships" A Post for our Aussie Friends - Part One

Dear Hartlens!

Thank you so much for  your lovely email;  we were SO EXCITED to hear from you; it's wonderful to hear the boys are in Scouts.    We loved learning about Cub Scouts in Australia, so many similarities, especially the World Crest badge.

 We are happy to help the boys earn their "World Friendship" merit badge.This blog post will be in parts because I know this will be the best and most timely way for us to share all that we'd like to share with you.

So here goes Part I.  :)

 Below are pics of the boys in their uniforms today.

The boys were allowed to wear their Scout uniforms to school because February 8th is the day Boy Scouts of America was incorporated (in 1910). 

Everett is a Bear Scout (3rd graders) which is defined by the light blue neckerchief.  Emory is a Tiger Scout (1st graders); his neckerchief is orange.

Each Scout's uniform displays their Pack number on the left sleeve.  Our pack number is 120.

Packs are composed of many Dens (Dens are the groups of boys within each grade level).
Our Pack has 1 Tiger den, 2 Wolf dens, 2 Bear Dens, and 2 Webelo Dens.  Each Den has an average of 8 boys. Side note: 1st graders are Tiger Cubs, 2nd grades are Wolf Cubs, 3rd graders are Bear Cubs, and 4th and 5th graders are Webelos.  In the second half of the 5th grade school year the scouts move up to a Boy Scout troop.

The patch above the Pack number is our Council Shoulder Patch.

On the right shoulder displays the U.S. Flag Emblem:

Above the left chest pocket displays World Crest and I noticed your boys display this patch as well.

LOOK HOW MUCH THEY HAVE GROWN!!  Such handsome, young men.  :)

Below the pocket flap are the Cub Scout Rank Patches.  Scouts receive a Bobcat badge when they complete the Bobcat requirements:

Rank Merit Badges are earned when Scouts complete their level at the end of the school year.  As to why you will not see a Tiger Merit Badge on Emory's uniform or a Bear Merit Badge on Everett's.

Everett's right pocket displays the Outdoor Activity Award (worn on the pocket flap)  and Summertime Pack Award pin (worn over the Outdoor Activity Award).   The patch below the Outdoor Activity Award Patch is reserved for a Temporary Patch - any patch given for an activity can be worn centered on the right pocket.  Only the temporary patch may be worn at a time.

It sounds AND looks like the boys are having a great time in Scouts.  Loved the color water fight photo.  :)   Our boys love Scouts especially when there is camping, archery and/or b.b. guns involved.  

Blog Post "Part 2" will include some things the boys have been doing to complete their rank requirements and electives this year.  

Until then, let's smile at our precious boys 5 years ago......

Emory's 100th Day of School

Feb. 3rd was 100th day of school here in Galveston.  Each student in 1st grade was asked to decorate their card stock t-shirt with 100 items. We tossed around a few ideas and Em quickly chose '100 peacemakers'.

 back of t-shirt

Please take some time in your day to be a peacemaker; especially in today's world.  

Cub Scouts Pinewood Derby Races

This is Emory's first year in Cub Scouts and one of the benefits of being a CubScout is the Pinewood Derby Race! This year he decided to build a "Creeper" derby car from the game Minecraft.  He named his car "The Creeper of Doom!"

Not having the right tools created challenges for us and thank goodness we have friends who let us use their compound miter saw and electric sander.  **Thanks Regina and Joey!!** 

We shaved our derby cars so thin (for aerodynamics of course)   :-), we were far from the weight needed (5.0 ounces) to have a competitive chance.   Even with the challenges at hand, we pressed on, just for the experience and learning opportunities. We knew our chances for winning were slim to none.

One "must have" this year was tungsten weight. Approximately 5 ounces worth. 

Have you priced this stuff out?  

 $15.99 for this tiny pack of weights: 

(2 .5 oz, 2 .25 oz and 4-.15 oz)!!

Our official derby car weight at weigh in was 5.0 ounces!!  Perfect - it just might be our lucky day!

Emory's den was first to race (Tiger scouts).  Each participant gets to race four times; they race on different lanes of the track.  This eliminates any chance of disadvantages.  The track is wired for accurate time and is connected to a computer then displayed on the big screen. 

 Emory won all 4 races and secured 1st place for the Tiger group. 

 Everett's turn...

Everett's car (on left) was the same template as Emory's only he chose to decorate it with CubScout logos: Tiger, Wolf, Bear & Webelo.   Oddly enough he named his derby car "Wolf  Den" even though he is a Bear Scout.  He defended his reasoning (something about the Jungle Book) but I don't remember the details.   :-)

Here's proof a little prayer goes a long way. LOL!

 Like his little brother, he too won all four heats to secure 1st place for his den.  

What?! Really?!!  

You can probably imagine just how shocked both Deona and I were.

Next up....THE FINALS.

Top two winners from each den qualified for "The Final" race. 

Emory and Everett raced in the last heat together.  

Here they are side by side:

 Emory secured 2nd place overall, just losing out of the top spot by .0094 of a second!!

 Everett was very proud of Emory and happy he placed in the Top Ten.

Everett and Emory had a blast and are ready to do it again next year!

Orange Belt Graduation!

Emory earned his Orange Belt today!! 

So proud of our little Emory.  

:)

Dickens on the Strand

We had a wonderful time yesterday at the annual holiday street festival, Dickens on the Strand.  It's based on 19th-century Victorian London, features parades,  strolling carolers, musicians, bagpipers, jugglers, costumed vendors  in rolling carts with holiday foods/drinks, Victorian-inspired crafts, clothing, jewelry, holiday decorations and gift items.  

Take a look at Mrs. Claus; she  could be my sister from another mister. 

The following photographs were captured by photographer Andrew Broadfoot.

Christmas Goals