Life with the Raslers

I noticed I have not posted to my blog since July... Where does the time go?

We had a fun and productive last 1/2 of the summer which is probably why I didn't take the time to post. I've also been spending quite a few hours online job searching, which hasn't gotten me too far yet but at least I'm one step closer then I was a month ago.

As of Monday the little Raslers are all officially Back to School! I'll add some pictures later but they are all very serious about their classes this year which is totally cute. Audrey attends preschool 3 days a week in a 4 yr old class, M, W, F. Drew (or Andrew as he likes to be called at school) attends Mrs. Pilmore's 5 yr old class 4 days a week M, T, W, Th. We Love Mrs. Pilmore, Alex actually was in her class a few years ago and she does some awesome activities with the children so stay tuned for Drew's adventures.

Alex, who got new glasses in August, is still at St. Thomas, he's our big 2nd Grader now. He's already excelling with his reading skills which surprises me because I couldn't get him to sit still long enough to practice this summer AND he's loving the math drills which is fun. He takes pride in doing his math "facts" correctly while being timed... I think he may be a bit too competitive but at least he's interested.

As always they are keeping us very busy with their extra-curricular activities, Alex's love for Baseball has translated to Fall Ball which means two games a week, Miss Audrey has once again started Ballet and Drew has made it his mission to be a guitar hero master... Soon we will be onto gymnastics and basketball!

My sister deemed the trip the Cunningham/Finley/Rasler Sweetcation but at times I have to admit I deemed it "The Worst Vacation EVER". At one point I actually lost my cool to the point that I threw my dinner salad at Brandon! We did have a great time but it was not our best experience traveling, many times we coined the phrase "Where's your F'in magic" to keep the grown-ups in check!

The kids loved parts of it and hated parts of it as I think everyone did. Ten Days is a long time to be away from home but we survived and I think almost everyone is ready to go back again.

Day One Thursday June 18th, 6pm We start off on our 18hr Drive, packed down Griswald style The Raslers and Grandma Vicky were on our way! It was a quick drive we ate before we left and the children behaved Marvelously on the way down. I actually often had to look around just to be sure I was in the right car.

Day Two Friday: The kids started to wake and stretch just south of Atlanta so we stopped and ate breakfast at a Cracker Barrel which was our longest stop of the trip then it was back on the road. With a quick BK lunch to go, and a couple fill ups, we made it to Disney and our GPS got us all turned around leading us the back of the park and the "cast entrance". After a little Cursing we made our way to the All Star Movie Resorts around 3pm. Not too Shabby I think we made it in about 19hrs. We checked in freshened up and tried our hands at our "Disney Dining Plan". It got off to a rocky start as the guys didn't really understand the plan but eventually we were all fed and ready to head to the Magic Kingdom! We ditched out on the first parade and headed to the Haunted Mansion, Pirates of the Caribbean and Aladdin's Magic Carpets. Afterwards we watched the fireworks, and Snagged a primo spot of the Parade.

Day Three Saturday: We started off a little late sleeping in a bit we arrived at the Magic Kingdom just in time to see their morning Celebrate parade, Which our littlest travel companion Reese LOVED! That little gal was hooked on the parades! Then it was off to lunch with the Gang From the 100 Acre Woods at The Crystal Palace! That had to be one of best meals of the week. The food was awesome, the characters were fun and everyone loved it! We headed back the hotel for some cool down in the pool before heading back to the parks that evening.

Day Four Sunday: We kicked off the Day at Epcot not getting in too much before we all over heated. The kids visited the characters, we got some Fast Passes for Soarin (which we never used) AND we rode the test track. By about 11 everyone was ready for lunch but there was no place in open yet so we hopped on a boat bound for Hollywood Studios. We grabbed some burgers in the Air Conditioned Commissary and it was off to Jedi Training at 1pm. Drew and Alex Grabbed a Front Row Seat.. And Drew got picked to participate! Our little Jedi had the time of his life! The force was definitely with him as he fought Darth Vader! Then it was back the hotel for swimming and sleeping before heading out once again for an evening at the parks. I think this night we hit Epcot again for their fireworks Illuminations.

Day Five Monday: To the girls in our group this was declared PRINCESS day! We split up and took the little girls to see the opening of the Magic Kingdom and all of the princesses! Then we hopped on the Monorail for a princess lunch at Epcot! Too cute, the food was not fantastic and I'm not sure I'd do this more then once but it was pretty fun. We got to meet every princess in the land except for Jasmine, she must have been off riding magic carpets somewhere. That evening We decided it would be out best bet to head to Epcot tonight to avoid the crowds. Although we still never got to ride Soarin we did see Turtle Talk with Crush and Honey I Shrunk the Audience both were fun for all ages. We also found a great "underground" cafeteria in the land that had awesome food!

Day Six Tuesday: Character Breakfast at the Animal Kingdom was first on our list. We went a little early and got in line for the Safari but had to ditch out to make our reservations! Luckily they gave us some fast passes to come back any other time. The Breakfast was fun but again not sure I'd choose that again, we will probably will pick a different restaurant next time we go. By the time our lunch reservations were done we only had time to watch the lion king show which was good before it was time to head back and Re-coop! tried to have dinner at Pizza Planet which was not as cool as I thought, then split up to see Indiana Jones and Beauty and the Beast before we collectively decided there was nothing to do at Hollywood Studios and headed back to The Magic Kingdom. The kids had a blast ride jumping and we had the best fireworks view EVER from the Race track. Audrey also got to meet all of the Fairies as the line was finally less then 60minutes! I believe we only waited about 15...Score!

Day Seven Wednesday: we headed to the Magic Kingdom in hopes that the boys could see the Opening Celebration too but we were too late. Instead we spent some time in Fantasyland, enjoyed story time with Belle, Rode BIG Thunder Mountain, and had some Mexican food for lunch before we all got to hot and you guessed it headed back to the hotel. In the evening we headed back to Animal kingdom, to ride the safari which was pretty cool and then Jenny and I RAN across the park to try out Mt. Everest before it closed!!! AWESOME! I believe afterward we once again headed back to the magic kingdom for more rides! Drew could not get enough of Buzz light year and Audrey loved Fantasyland who could blame them, after 9pm was the best time to ride, cool temps and NO wait!

Day Eight Thursday: Alex wanted to try "One More Time" to get picked for Star Wars, So we started off at Hollywood Studios. The Lights Camera Action Stunt show was first on our list. Thursday Our last night there we ended up once again not using our fast paces this time for Toy Story Mania at Hollywood Studios because some really heavy Thunderstorms blew through. But they passed over in time for FANTASMIC which was a really cool way to end our fantastic vacation.

Day Nine Friday: Heading back home again to INDIANA! Before our departure we made a quick pit stop at Downtown Disney for a couple last minute souvenirs and lunch! Then it was on the road to Indiana! A quick trip put us home about 9am Saturday..Not too shabby!

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