Sunday, March 25, 2012

The truth about Disney

So I know I'm a little behind, but bare with me. This is yet another post about our trip to Florida, and the happiest place on earth... Disneyworld! So I'm a really big planner, and we had been planning our trip to Florida for about a year, and I was PUMPED. I mean I dreamed about Disney, this trip was every bit as much for me (and the Mr, it was his first time to Disneyworld, and FL for that matter!) as it was for the girls. But here's the thing, I was dissapointed, like really dissapointed. And I still kind of am thinking about it.

I have some really great childhood memories of visiting Disneyworld, I believe I was in 3rd grade, or somewhere around there. We went in November, and it wasn't very busy and we had a blast. There's not a bad thing I could say about that trip (that I remember anyways).


But back to 2012, Disney is not for parents. At all. And we thought since we were going during their off season (Feb.) it wouldn't be very busy, Wrong-o my friend. It was packed. It took forever to even get in the park, after parking, taking the tram, taking the the ferry, and then FINALLY arriving. There was a 40-50 minute wait for everything. There were people everywhere. and to top it all off, the thing I was most looking forward to, Dumbo was closed, AGAIN! The Dumbo ride was closed TWENTY YEARS AGO when I went as well. How does that even work?! I was so sad. And the waiting, a 2 and 3 year old are not patient. And honestly, there really isn't that much there. At least we got to go on Splash Mountain once, although it broke right after we went down the big hill, and got stuck inside on the boat and had to be helped off. The poor Mr. had to miss it altogether, he was supposed to go after I got back.

The BEST part, was the princesses. And fortunately it made the whole trip worth it. Gracen and Hadley got to meet Aurora (Sleeping Beauty), Belle, and Cinderella and it was awesome. It was pretty magical to see the excitement and awe on my little princesses faces as they met the princesses in real life. So although I was dissapointed with most of Disneyworld, that part was by far the best. And we only had to wait about 15 minutes in line to see them. My girls could've done without the carasoul and everything else, all they cared about was the princesses.




So despite my dissapointment, I would still call it a success to see the magic on my bambinos faces. And I'm glad we took them when we did, because by the time I went when I was around 9 or so, I wasn't into the whole princess thing. We might not be going back anytime soon, but I'm pretty sure I'll remember that day just as fondly as I did twenty years ago. Because no matter what, there will always be something magical at the Magic Kingdom.





Monday, March 19, 2012

Spring has sprung

Last Friday, the weather was so gorgeous, and MU ruined my bracket (should’ve known) so I decided to take the girls down to the park a couple blocks from our house, while Daddy stayed home to enjoy some quiet while he watched the tourney. The girls love to stop and dilly dally at every flower, rock, branch, stick, you name it, on the way down there so what should’ve taken us 5-10 minutes took us a good 25. But it was worth it, it’s not the destination it’s the journey right?! It’s a good thing they’re cute huh? :)





So we had been playing with some other kids for a good 30 to 40 minutes when one of my bambinos mentioned they had to go #2 (name is being withheld for privacy reasons – ha). Well at this park there’s no bathroom, or portapotty, nada. And remember when I said it took us a good 25 minutes to walk there? You may start chuckling now. Well luckily, our Church is in between our house and the park. But that’s still a good distance away. So I asked if she could hold it until we made it to Church and she said yes, so there I am running with two pokey little ladies, one of which is screaming “MOM I GOTTA POO!” the entire way to the Church. Let me tell you that was the longest block and a half of my life. But we made it, and of course I open the door for her telling her triumphantly “We made it! We’re here!” When the whole Church turns around and stares… whoopsies! It was Friday night and there were quite a few attendees at Stations of the Cross that night.



Of course when we finally get home Daddy just laughs and says “I told you to bring the diaper bag, just in case”. Keep in mind both of the girls have been potty trained for quite some time now, even at night. So thanks for the support babe :)



Tuesday, March 13, 2012

A little inspiration

I'm a pretty sentimental person, and tear up at just about anything sappy, especially hallmark commercials... they get me every time. I came across this website that posts a couple sentence stories that are very emotional. I teared up at just about every single one. So I thought I'd share a couple:

1. Today, when I went to pick up my daughter from preschool, she was sitting on the ground in the corner of the after-care area with three blind students. All of them had smiles on their faces. The after-care instructor told me my daughter has been spending time with these three students every afternoon this week, answering questions and explaining to them in vivid detail what different objects, people and animals look like.

2. Today at 1 a.m., my grandma, who is suffering from Alzheimer’s, got up, got into my dad’s car and drove off. We contacted the police. Before the police could find her, two college kids pulled into our driveway with my grandma. One was driving my dad’s car and the other was following in their car. They said they overheard her crying about being lost at an empty gas station 10 miles away. My grandma couldn’t remember our address, but gave the kids her first and last name. They looked her up online, found our address and drove her home.

3. Today, my dad turned 91. He barely has enough strength to speak. But every time my mom, who’s 84, walks into the room to check on him, he says, “Hello, beautiful.”

4. Today, when she woke up from a six-month coma, she kissed me and said, “Thank you for being here, telling me those beautiful stories and never giving up on me. And yes, I will marry you.”

5. Today, my grandpa keeps an old candid photo on his nightstand of my grandma and him laughing together at some party in the 1960’s. My grandma passed away from cancer in 1999 when I was seven. This evening when I was at his house, my grandpa caught me staring at the photo. He walked up, hugged me from behind and said, “Remember, just because something doesn’t last forever, it doesn’t mean it wasn’t worth your while.”
6. Today, a week after I donated three bags of clothes to a local homeless shelter, I saw a homeless woman sitting on a park bench wearing a tie-dyed shirt I made when I was a teenager. I walked by her and said, “I love your shirt!” She smiled and said, “Thank you! I really do, too!”

7. Today, I sat down with my two daughters, ages four and six, to explain to them that we have to move out of our four-bedroom house and into a two-bedroom apartment until I can find another job. My daughters looked at each other for a moment and then my youngest daughter turned to me and asked, “Are we all moving into the apartment together?” I replied, “Yes.” She said, “Oh, so no big deal then!”

8. Today is the 14th day in a row that my nursing home patient’s grandson has come to visit her. Two weeks ago, I told him that the only time I see his grandmother smile all week is when he visits her on Sunday mornings.

9. Today, a man came in to apply for a job at my restaurant. He seemed charismatic, kind, knowledgeable and friendly. Later, when I went to call him to extend a job offer, I noticed he had written “ask for me” under his number. The number belongs to a homeless shelter, but I’m going to hire him anyway.

10. Today, I found out that my mom and dad have been working second jobs at night so they can continue to financially assist my twin sister and me who are both sophomores in college. My dad said, “You two will be the first in our family’s history to receive college diplomas, so working two jobs is nothing! If I had to, I’d work three jobs to make sure I see you two graduate.”

11. Today, I met the prettiest woman on a plane. Assuming I wouldn’t see her again after we made our connections, I told her how pretty I thought she was. She gave me the most sincere smile and said, “Nobody has said that to me in 10 years.” It turns out we’re both in our mid-30’s, never married, no kids and we live about five miles away from each other. We have a date set for next Saturday after we return home.

12. Today, my mom received the surgery she needed to remove a malignant tumor. My family has been struggling without medical insurance since my dad lost his job last year. My sister and I have been openly discussing my mom’s medical dilemma on Facebook. Last week, a friend of a friend, who’s a veteran cancer treatment surgeon who owns his own practice, saw our comments on Facebook and volunteered to help my mother for free.
 
13. Today, as I was sleeping, I woke up to my daughter calling my name. I was sleeping in a chair in her hospital room. I opened my eyes to her beautiful smile. My daughter has been in a coma for 98 days.

14. Today, the homeless man who used to sleep near my condo showed up at my door wearing the business suit I gave him nearly 10 years ago. He said, “I have a home, a job and a family now. 10 years ago, I wore this business suit to all of my job interviews. Thank you.”

15. Today, when I opened my store at 5 a.m., there was an envelope sitting on the floor by the door. In the envelope was $600 and a note that said, “Five years ago, I broke into your store at night and stole $300 worth of food. I’m sorry. I was desperate. Here’s the money with 100% interest.” Interestingly, I never reported the incident to the police because I assumed that whoever stole the food really needed it.

All stories from makemethink.com


Saturday, March 10, 2012

Finite

So this post is a couple weeks late, but better late than never right? I've officially finished my first class of grad school! (2 weeks ago actually). And it feels pretty darn good. It's not anything like I expected it to be. I was really nervous when it started becuase I'm not the best at school. I usually start out strong, and then taper off towards the end out of sheer boredom, lack of motivation, I don't know what.

Grad school seems to be a LOT easier than undergrad. And I can't entirely put my finger on why. I mean my undergrad wasn't the hardest in the world, it's not like I majored in biology or psychology or anything like that. But it was a lot of busy work, and facts that I can't really remember now. Grad school is really more of application then memorization. And maybe I'm just better at that, I can't really say.

My first class was Organizational management and behavior. I'm kind of glad it was my first class, because it was an easy transition back into the school mindset. I had papers due every week, a journal and some group work. Maybe it's the fact that I'm now paying for school myself (with the lovely help of work and loans) that I'm taking it a lot more seriously. Or maybe it's the fact that it's online and I can work at my own pace (within deadlines of course). Or perhaps it's even that the classes are only 8 weeks long. Whatever the case, I came away with a 98 in the class and was ecstatic (insert pat on the back here).

I'm in the end of the second week of my second class, Managerial Accounting. I was terrified to start this class. I really struggled with it in undergrad (although most of it was I had a really mean teacher and he liked to embarrass students in the class when they didn't know the answer... RUDE). But I digress. Like I said earlier grad school is a lot about application, so it hasn't been too bad yet. I'll let you know how I feel about it 6 weeks from now!

1 class down, 11 more to go!!




Wednesday, March 7, 2012

The Thibault's take flight

This past February we were fortunate enough to be able to take a family vacation to Florida! We had planning this trip for quite some time, and the girls were soooo ready to meet the Disney princesses in person (more on that later).

Traveling with a 2 and 3 year old had me petrified. I mean I don't even really like to travel by myself. I'm just about the worst packer ever, I have a tendency to overpack on things I don't need, while just about always forgetting some necessity. So I was a little worried about packing for the 3 of us. Luckily the Mr. knows how to pack for himself :)

We started off our journey at 5:30 in the morning. And the ladies of this fam are not morning people, such a nice way to start off the vacay! And of course we left when it was 8 degrees outside. 8. So we're dressed for the artic tundra heading for Tampa, Florida. Pretty picture isn't it?

The flight wasn't all that bad, all things considered. Luckily we had a direct flight, and it was only about 2 hours. It also helped that we were armed with electronic toys. Gracen was lucky enough to sit next to Aunt Nanie and her dvd player and ipod. It was a relief to finally make it there!


8 bags, 1 stroller, 2 kids, 1 husband, and many hours later... we were ready to start our vacay! Stay tuned for the beach, Disney, Harry Potter land and much more :)