It's a Magical Place...for about 4 Hours

I'm one of those aunts.

The one that buys matching Mickey Mouse T-shirts for her four adorable nephews to be worn on our family vacation to Disney World.

I didn't get one for nephew/niece #5, so we improvised. (Note the Mickey Mouse sticker on my sister's pregnant belly.)

We had a great morning at Magic Kingdom...moved right through the line at the Dumbo ride...

 

 

 

...as well as the Pooh Bear ride, the Tea Cups and the Laugh Floor - the Monsters, Inc. comedy show.

Monsters, Inc. is probably my favorite Disney movie! We had front row seats and my favorite was when the little monster came out and did the jokes from the kids in the audience! The interaction was adorable.

We didn't wait more than 20 minutes for any of the rides and only used the FastPass system twice (if you don't know about FastPass and are headed to Disney, learn more - it's a life-saver). Some of the favorite rides of the day were Buzz Lightyear, Space Mountain, Pirates of the Carribbean and Splash Mountain.

The nephews REALLY liked the gift shop after the Pirates ride...

 

In the end, we were all hot, sweaty, exhausted and a little cranky...

 

...but it has been great to do this as a family!

And it's really all about family at the end of the day.

The smiles...

 

...and the bonds we are strengthening.

  

Now, if I can just resist buying them all matching hats...

These Shoes Were Made for Walking...All Over Epcot

My Crocs didn't let me down on our first day at Walt Disney World.

We walked from one side of the park to the other in the morning and then went back for more in the evening - with a little swimming in between. Throughout all of it, my trusty Crocs stayed on my feet (except during Soarin') and my feet are none worse for the wear tonight.

Instead of writing all about the adventures my family (3 sisters, 3 bros-in-law & 4 nephews) and I had today, I thought I'd let the photos do the talking.

Enjoy!

 

 

 

And this one sums up being in a park with 4 crazy boys...

 

Day 2 in My Life with a Spray Tan

Just thought I'd give an update on the day after the spray tan.

I currently have a nice glow.

I continued to get a bit darker as the day went by.

I am not neon orange...thank goodness!

I know now I'm a Level 2 gal.

But I won't forget to slather on the sunscreen when we head to Disney later this week.

Now if packing for the trip was as easy as the spray tan.

A Coke + A Crockpot = Delicious!

I lost my Crockpot.

I'm not sure where it went.

Maybe it ran away to a house where it might actually get used regularly.

Maybe it's just hiding in a cabinet behind the 3 boxes of Ritz crackers and 8 cans of green beans!

Wherever it is, I wish it well.

I used this as an opportunity to upgrade! My excuse for not using my Crockpot more often was that I normally work 8 to 10 hours a day during the week. So with an hour commute each way, I can be away from home for 10-12 hours at a time. With a Crockpot with just low and high settings, I always worried that I would overcook food.

So, I went with a programmable Crockpot. My new best friend has four settings (4 & 6 hours on High and 8 & 10 hours on Low) and then automatically shifts to Warm for up to 6 hours!

So here's the finished product from my test run:

I had a beef round roast in the freezer from my dad, so I have NO idea how big it was. It was wrapped in white butcher's paper and I know where and how it was raised (mostly grass-fed but enjoyed a bucket of corn every day) so I don't really care that they don't include the pounds! I thawed it in the fridge overnight.

So I unboxed my new bestie and added one of those cool "slow cooker liners" because another reason I don't use the Crockpot more often is the clean up. Yuck!

   

Then, I cut up some red potatoes, threw in some baby carrots (had some large carrots but couldn't find the peeler at 5:30 a.m.) and added the roast.

Now it gets kind of weird. My sister and a coworker swears that a can of Coke and a package of onion soup mix is all you need to make a yummy roast. They are both good cooks so I went with it!

With the Coke poured and onion soup sprinkled, I  put the lid on, set the Crockpot on Low for 8 hours, and was out the door.

I came home 10+ hours later to a tender (flaked apart with a fork), flavorful, home-cooked meal with little mess to clean up!

I think my new best friend and I have a long future together!

Where There's Fire, There's S'mores!

Mom called this morning and said "Your dad wants to burn the brush pile so we are going to roast hot dogs." I replied, "What time?"

Because with my family, where there's fire - there's s'mores!

While we normally enjoy a bonfire once the sun goes down, with Daylight Savings Time that's not until after 9 p.m. this time of year and it was Sunday which means a school night for the little ones and a work night for the older ones, so we started earlier today.

BTW, I'm not complaining about the longer evenings because this means I can usually get a walk in after work even if I work late!

This was a special bonfire. It was our first at the log cabin my dad is building. My dad had always wanted a pond so a couple of years ago, he had one built. Then he wanted a log cabin, so he and a neighbor (who's a master builder) are building one. It always amazes me the breadth of skills my dad possesses! I guess that's a farmer for you!

He also roasts a mean hot dog...

and a great marshmellow!

There's an art to making a perfect s'more. The chocolate to marshmellow to graham cracker ratio has to be just right. Today we used the small snack size Hershey milk chocolate bars and had to ration them so we wouldn't run out. Soooo, our s'mores were a little light on the chocolate.

 

But they were still enjoyed, especially by some of my nephews.

While others just wanted the marshmellows.

Time at the cabin also means Gator time. No, we don't have alligators in central Indiana. I'm talking about a John Deere Gator - something else my dad had to get once he got his pond and started on his cabin. It's more fun getting from the farm to the cabin in the Gator than it is in the truck!

Tonight my nephews pretended they were the A-Team and the Gator was their van. (My brother-in-law enjoys introducing them to old TV series!)

I was told that I couldn't be B.A. (aka Mr. T). I guess the lack of gold chains and mohawk disqualified me - that and I was a GIRL. But they did let me be the girl in the show, you know the one that stayed in the van.

After a while, pretending to drive wasn't enough so Grandma took them on a ride.

I can't wait for many more evenings at the cabin this summer. It's a time for family. It's a time to be outside. It's a time for fun. His smile says it all...

A Hopping Great Time

I attended the Dillsboro Homecoming in Dearborn County, Indiana (about an hour's drive west of Cincinnati according to the town's website) to help make a presentation for work.

Indiana farmers hosted a sweepstakes offering Hoosier shoppers a year's worth of free groceries and one of the grand prize winners lives near Dillsboro! The organizers of the Homecoming were gracious enough to allow us to present the winner with her prize on the stage during the opening ceremonies. We went after the national anthem and before the frog jumping contest...you heard right - frog jumping contest!

I've been to many small town festivals in my life. All of them have great food, many of them have a carnival, but this was my first frog jumping contest!

One of the farmers there told me that he hadn't had to catch a frog since his children were young but some neighbor girls wanted to enter the contest so he caught a couple but had "forgotten how hard they were to catch."

Before the frog jumping contest got underway, there was a Best Dressed Frog Competition! Here are some of my favorites:

This one was wearing a rabbit outfit and was named Houdini!

This one had a wrestling theme...

This one played to the hometown crowd with a re-creation of the Homecoming...

They even had a "parade of frogs" so the crowd could get a closer look - and there was a crowd.

I think the Homecoming Frog took first place.

Then it was on to the Frog Jumping Contest. I'm not sure of the rules, but I believe they allowed the frog 3 hops and measured those. Rumor has it that the record frog jump is 19 feet.

Storm clouds were rolling in so we grabbed an ice cream cone (Twist, of course) and left before the winner was announced. However, I did manage to grab a couple of shots!

Just another example of why I love living in middle America!

Books & a Movie: A Near Perfect Evening

One of my BFFs (Going Jane) came to visit me this week, which is a rare but awesome occurrence. After cooking for her the night before (check out my last blog post), we went out to dinner with Brat (aka Frugalista Farm Life) at Rock Bottom and made a meal from their $5 appetizers - I highly recommend their pretzels and spicy cheesy spinach dip!

Then we hit the used bookstore! If you LOVE to read - like my friends and I do - then you MUST seek out the used bookstore(s) in your area.

I'm lucky to be close to not one, but two, Half Price Books locations (HPB) and I visit them frequently. It's much more fun to go with friends who share my love of reading and such was the case this week.

As you can see, I hit the jackpot! First, I found a copy of The Pioneer Woman Cooks. Going Jane was quite jealous because she just bought her copy at full-price! I love, love, love The Pioneer Woman's blog and had been wanting to get her book for a while now.

I'm headed on vacation in a couple of weeks so I needed some good "by the pool" reads. My co-worker, LH, loaned me a copy of The Help and I'm excited to read it after two fellow bloggers (3 kids and lots of pigs and Alarm Clock Wars) said they had read and enjoyed it.

I also picked up The Prince of Nantucket because I lived just off Cape Cod for a year working for cranberry growers (I'll talk more about that another time) and usually enjoy novels set in that area, as well as The Letters because I enjoy Luanne Rice novels.  

As you can see I also grabbed a copy of Bed of Roses by Nora Roberts. I'm a HUGE Nora Roberts fan and actually already have bought, read and loaned out the first three books in her Bride Quartet (and I desperately want to pre-order the final installment). This copy is for my BFF Bathtub Mama who is looking for her own set after reading my copies! I have found her the first two at HPB. If you like Nora Roberts' earlier romance novels - then you'll love this series. They are an entertaining, easy, enjoyable read.

I also picked up some of romance novels from authors I enjoy reading - including Sandra Brown, Sara Orwig and Maureen Child. These are what I like to read when I just want to turn off my brain and relax. No deep storylines here, but I enjoy them!

The best part of the trip to HPB...notification of their upcoming Memorial Day sale! Nothing better than 20 percent off books already at half-price or less!

As if the shopping trip wasn't enough, we also stopped by the Red Box (don't you love them?) and rented a couple of movies even though it was a work night! We settled on watching Crazy Heart starring Jeff Bridges.

Usually I'm leery about movies that critics like and that win awards - I'm not always impressed, but both Going Jane and I are country music fans (she more than I) so it was a good choice. It didn't hurt that Robert Duvall and Colin Farrell (oh, he's so bad that he's so good) were in it too.

The movie was good, the company even better, so it was a great end to a great evening.