Day 3 - Animal Kingdom

Not "Animal Planet" which came out of my mouth more often than it did not when talking about this particular park.

Our visit this day was a nice, slow one. We only rushed to 1 FP (and it was definitely worth it) and then spent the rest of the time casually moving from one attraction to the other. This park doesn't have all the big thrills of the other ones but since we knew that going in, we weren't at all upset about the lack of edge-of-your-seat excitement.

In fact, because of our low-key expectations, we probably enjoyed it even more. We took our first rides over in an area that reminded us of the State Fair. There was a Dumbo-type ride called TriceraTop Spin that was perfect for the Hud-man. Since Hudson was able to ride it numerous times in a row, he became somewhat attached to it and cried when it was time to leave. Very cute.

The only thrill-type attractions here are Dinosaur, and Kali River Rapids. Dinosaur was pretty intense but not psychologically damaging. Kali RR was a bit disappointing for me and Donnie but was fun for the kids. (Thunder River at Six Flags Over Georgia is much more exciting.)

The one ride we rushed to get a Fast Pass for was the Kilimanjaro Safaris. The line for it built up QUICKLY and we were able to just walk past everyone. I think our tour guide could have been a little better but I hold a very high standard for cast members. Not everyone is going to live up to it.

One of our favorites can be found inside the central "Tree of Life." The funny and kinda scary It's Tough To Be A Bug 3D movie is found there. The bigger kids enjoyed it but parts of it were a teeny bit intense for Hudson. When the "bug spray" flew in our faces he said, "I don't like that."

It was a PERFECT day for being a slow day. We had spent two days in a row opening and closing the parks and we were ready for a little less activity. This resulted in a longer lunch break and skipping the non-essentials. I even talked everyone into skipping out of The Lion King Show so we could get our picture with Mickey before the big rush. The Character meeting space for this park is just outside the LK show and I knew it would be a mob afterwards. THANKFULLY Hudson said he needed to go potty and gave me a perfect non-lie excuse to ask a cast member to usher us out of the theater. Whee :)

During that long lunch break, Shayne and I did a little hunting for some Hidden Mickeys. Stephanie had given her a hint-book for finding these little gems throughout the parks. Even WITH the hints, we had a VERY difficult time. It was fun looking for and finding them but it would have been more fun if we had more time and weren't having to keep a schedule to avoid crowds. I'm showing one HM we found at the Pizzafari restaurant. Do you see it? Each room had murals covering the walls and this was in the "Nocturnal Room." Those are fireflies.

Lastly, we decided to skip the afternoon parade (even though it is one of TGM's favorites) because I remembered it as being one that I found way too...I don't know....low-budget or something...for my Disney taste. Instead we took a rest on a park bench and waited for the Tarzan Rocks! show. It was really good but we were too pooped to take any video or still pictures. Hudson was asleep in my arms during the whole thing. I think he realized he missed it after we were home (as in Alabama home, not just the condo) because he said, "Tarzan Rocks?" and pointed to the emblem on his Tarzan shirt. Today he brought me the Tarzan video and wanted to watch it. I really do think he realizes he missed something.

The show was impressive with lots of Cirque-de-Soleil-type acts mixed with a rock band and roller blade stunts. Very uniqe.

When leaving the Tarzan Rocks! show we saw the construction of an AMAZINGLY life-like snow-capped mountain with an amazing coaster flying through and down it. It will be called Expedition Everest and looks to beat out all the other Disney mountains (Space Mtn., Big Thunder Mtn., Splash Mtn.) in thrill factors. We definitely look forward to future visits at Animal Kingdom for this attraction alone.

This was our first early-ending day and THAT made for a wonderful night back at the condo. We got home, bathed, ate supper, and hit the sack super-early. It was great! We needed the rest because another long day awaited us the following morning.

And little did we know that our next day would be our favorite. Stay tuned for Day 4 - EPCOT.

Pictures from our leisurely bench-sitting, pre-Tarzan time.

Discipline Needs

And the needs are mine.

I need to be more disciplined at:
Bible Study (with Donnie. We're in our 4th week and it's always me that makes us drag.)
Stepping away from the computer.
Cleaning the house.
The little things.

I think my kids are suffering from my lack of discpline which is leading to:
Too busy lives. Poor David and Hudson have bouts of pure physical exhaustion. They need more rest because their tired bodies create major discipline problems.
Too messy house. The girls' room is the worst. It disgusts me. And we are not home enough to enforce proper cleaning routines. I also have allowed more playtime (outside and at friends' houses) when we should/could have been cleaning. Yes, they NEED playtime but even just cutting it short a few minutes each day would help out around the house SO much. These things will change in January.
Too little quality time. Even my girls are showing some unusual discipline problems. I think everyone in the family is struggling to regain footing after a busy holiday time. We did not have ANY down-time. While Disney World was WONDERFUL, it got us all out of whack and we're still recovering.

New plans are being formulated and implemented. Prayers are being lifted. Things will change.

Of all the Hee-Haw Things...

My rant must have gotten back to Yahoo! headquarters because my Christmas Card Website is BACK! :)

Something was wonky for sure. I'm guessing there was just a glitch of some sort and I happened to check in during the glitch.

A big, fat, "WHEW" from me :)

I HATE GEOCITIES!

So why, oh why have I built a website with them for at least 5 or so years??? BECAUSE THEY ARE FREE AND EASY! I have always put family webpages there and have built numerous little websites for other people. Our Sunday School has a website there.

But now....as I go to look in at my "Walker Annual Christmas Card" website, it is GONE! ARGH! I have this stupid notice about it being gone because I possibly violated a "Terms Of Service." I don't know which TOS it was, though! Is there a TOS saying I can't have too many cute kids or something!? I know I had a link to our photographer's website to give him credit for posting a copyrighted picture but I have personal and written permission from him to do so. And there is NOTHING on my family site that hasn't been there for 5 years or more.

I wonder if I had too many hits over the holidays. For a non-commercial site that is. Hmmm.

Stupid Yahoo!

I LOVE BLOGGER :)

Again, HATE Yahoo!

Day 2 - Magic Kingdom

Doesn't EVERYONE love Space Mountain!? Believe it or not, everyone (44 inches or taller) in OUR family does! With our experienced handling of Fast Pass and Parent Swap, we rode this ride more than we really wanted to! It was great. But the true FAVORITE of EVERYONE (including the less-than 44 inches crowd) was Buzz Lightyears's Space Ranger Spin. And I must say that TGM's hints for playing this game allowed me to kick booty all over the place. I got the highest score every time! (Not bragging, of course! -- LOL) I wouldn't have had a clue if it wasn't for TGM, though...and everyone else would have rubbed me out if I didn't have a little insider information.

Thankfully we knew we would be hitting this park again at the end of the week so we didn't cram everything into 1 day. We did make this another late night so we could watch the Spectromagic Parade and Wishes Fireworks display. It was ~~**M**A**G**I**C**A**L**~~

This picture is from the longest line-wait we had...a whopping 30 minutes (yeah, baby.....) Pirates of the Caribbean doesn't have Fast Pass so we had to do it the old-fashioned way. Still, because of our timing, we were able to hit it pretty well. It DID give us the opportunity to tell the kids about the 'good ol' days of standing in line forEVER when all of us were younger.

Popsicle Break





This is Hudson happily waiting for the Spectromagic parade.

Coming...(waiting with baited breath...I know)
Day 3 - Animal Kingdom

NOT Disney Pictures

Even though it DID snow (artificially) at the Magic Kingdom as we walked down Main Street, these are NOT pictures from that night.

These are pictures emailed to me by Donnie's Uncle Cliff and show Donnie's cousin Alan making an incredibly cool (har har) snow sculpture in Minnesota recently. I just wanted to show them off here!

Day 1 - MGM

Ready or not, here comes the rundown of our Disney World vacation!

Day 1 - MGM studios
Arrived before gates open. Very important for a successful DW experience. Carefully coordinated stroller-renting and fast-passing with family members. Rode Aerosmith's Rock 'n' Rollercoaster and Twilight Zone Tower of Terror numerous times within the first hour of the park's opening. MUCHO fun. David surprised us all with his absolute LOVE of Tower of Terror. We had to arrange times to squeeze in a few extra rides for him throughout the day. Paw Paw stressed us all out a little bit as he rushed through a parade route to get David some extra FP's just before our dinner reservation time. We were SURE he wouldn't make it back in time but he surprised us and reached a very high ranking on David's Favorite Moments of All Time list.


We tried not to stop for characters very often but JoJo and Goliath were THE characters Hudson most expected and wanted to see. Thankfully we were VERY ahead of schedule (thanks to TGM) so we had the leisure of stopping for a few pics from time to time.


Notice that David is not in many of the character pictures.
It took him a little while to warm-up to the idea of posing with them. He obviously wanted a photographic record of his attendance however because we caught him taking a self-portrait near the Chipmunks :)


Lights! Motors! Action! was an I N C R E D I B L E show but extremely crowded. Donnie and I, along with Donna, Nathan, and the girls nearly missed our chance to see it. Thankfully we are all troopers when it comes to fighting Disney crowds and we made it to our saved seats with the rest of the family. This show was one of Hudson's absolute favorite things of the trip. It was really awesome. A definite must-see.



In the gigantic (I mean, REALLY HUGE) stadium before the L!M!A! show.

Our dinner at Hollywood and Vine was superb and the special reserved seating at Fantasmic made all of our rushing around for reservations TOTALLY worth it (all reservations were full MONTHS in advance but Donna and I kept trying back, hoping for a cancellation to open some spots somewhere. Our persistence paid off!)


Waiting for our dinner reservation.

There were numerous boo-boos on this trip. This is me cuddling David after the first one. He was playing on a bench and his foot slipped through the wooden slats. After some Emprizone, FIRM, and a lot of lovin', he was good to go. It was a doozy of a bruise but didn't slow him down a bit!

We're (Sweet) Home (Alabama)

We're still playing catch-up but I have finally uploaded our Disney World pictures to the computer. I hope to have started posting them here by the weekend.

The trip was WONDERFUL! Can't wait to share it all with you!

Happy New Year! I'm confident this year will be full of blessings! Let's hope we can recognize them all and give THANKS and PRAISES where THANKS AND PRAISES are due!

Thank you, LORD.

More soon...

p.s. I desperately want to talk about Bowl Games but I will refrain. Let it suffice to say that we thoroughly enjoyed football Monday! I even enjoyed listening to a non-Bama post-game call-in show! And that's all I will say.

Tour Guide Mike

We are on the final countdown to our ultra-itineraried (??) trip to
D I S N E Y W O R L D ! ! !

Y'all...you might think I'm crazy about MANY things....and that's fine...but you HAVE to TRUST ME on this one. If you are planning a trip to DW and want to experience it the SMARTEST way possible, you absolutely, positively MUST subscribe to Tour Guide Mike several months before your trip. Now this website is NOT for the faint of heart. It is mucho information overload. It takes several weeks/months to get through the surface info. However, this great site has prepared me/us for a trip with MINIMAL waiting in line the entire week we are there. If we spend more than 20 (ok, 30) minutes in line at ANY attraction, I will feel like a failure.

You may or may not know that the week between Christmas and New Year's Day is THE BUSIEST WEEK of the year for Mickey and pals. There is no time of year (even Spring Break or any Summer months) that can compare to the crowds we'll be in. HOWEVER, this will be my 3rd trip down during this time of year and it's never been miserable. Of course, I've always been a nerd and have tried preparing the best I could but through the amazing Internet, this TGM guy has surfaced since our last trip 7 years ago and boy oh boy...his site is a Disney Nerd's Wish-Upon-A-Star!

If you're interested in joining, let me know. I think (THINK) I can refer a new person and they can get a discount. I won't get anything from it but a satisifaction of knowing that I helped you...but that's OK.

And no, I can't share my great little secrets with you. Mike actually has an e-contract with all his subscribers that we won't share this information with anyone but will refer them to the site. Once you see how much info is on the site, you will gain a respect for why he says this. It must have taken him years to compile all of this. I think the subscription is less than 20 bucks if I refer you and it is totally worth it.

OH, if you don't want to do the ultra-planning that I have done (along with the help of my sis-in-law, Donna), you could always pay the $100 per hour plus 20% gratuity for Mike (or employee) to do everything for you with a personal VIP tour...

I can't wait to post my pictures and stories!

Tee hee :)

p.s. Bad guys -- We have a house/pet sitter so don't even THINK about paying a visit!

Scared Of Santa

This isn't the reason we don't 'do' Santa at our house but it actually could be a pretty good argument if we wanted to use it! Thanks SO MUCH to Jen for posting this on her blog. They are all funny but I am pasting the direct links to my favorites here:

Picture #2 (seen here)

#5 - I'd be scared, too!

#6 - This kid looks photo-shopped to me.

#7 - How did this Santa get hired?

#8 - Creepy. Is that a kid on the far right or a "My Buddy" doll?

#9 - Unbelievable.

#19 - I think I went to school with the girl on the right.

#25 - I laughed and laughed and then I got grossed out.

Playing With The New Camera

We are SO happy about this new toy!


Ain't we cute?


It's amazing how different he looks with his hair slicked back!


We were going for the "Home Alone" look here. It was difficult to get him to mimic my pose. I guess he'll need to see the movie to understand.


I love this one!


Another great one that shows something our old camera would NEVER have done (take a clear, crisp, close-up.)

Go Tell It On The Mountain

This is the song H.A. just played for me on the piano and since it's a song about telling Good News (that Jesus Christ is born and fulfills Old Testament Prophecy and gives us HOPE that we can trust He will return again and save those who call on His name!) I thought I'd use it for the title of MY GOOD NEWS tellin' blog.

No, my good news is nowhere NEAR as good as announcing the birth of our Savior but it IS good news to me.

News 1 - As I have posted numerous times, our Fuji "FinePix" digital camera is just...well....just a really not-good camera. We ordered a new one and TA DA...it was delivered to us LAST NIGHT! We are LOVING these crisp, clear shots! I can't wait to install the dock so I can share with you. VERY good news!

News 2 - Our Christmas cards are always a hassle. This year we TRIED getting them ready earlier but our first 'session' just didn't turn out well. Finally we had a nicer session and uploaded our chosen shot at www.walmart.com. I knew I was running late so I paid the extra couple of bucks to have them shipped "Priority." Well, it STILL took over a week but FINALLY they arrived today. I'm going to try getting them in the mail this evening. If not, they will definitely go out tomorrow. VERY good news.

News 3 - People still like us :) Am I the only person who gets SO excited about Christmas Cards that I actually watch out the window for the postlady? Or when I come home from my outings and pull up to the mailbox before pulling in the driveway, actually sit there parked while I open the mail? Doesn't anyone else do that!? Well I got some REALLY cute cards/pictures today. So fun!

News 4 - Mannatech, glorious Mannatech! A large shipment of our favorite health products arrived yesterday and today and I expect more within the next few days. We were able to order a large amount to get us through the holidays and vacation and having all of those products here make us SO happy! Also, my PLUS deficiency was beginning to catch up with me and the family. EVERYONE is glad we now have PLUS in the house again. This is definitely GOOD NEWS!

Merry CHRISTmas everyone!

Can Anyone Relate?

Another Friday Night Brush With Fame

OK, "fame" and "brush with" might be a little strong to describe our PREVIOUS Friday night outing but we've actually had a closer "brush with" a more "famous" person within the last couple of weeks.

A couple of Tuesday nights ago, I ran into a gal at the mall that used to be my 'student teacher' at the dance studio. She was/is a WAY better dancer than me but since she was still in high school at the time, I was the official teacher and she was just the assistant. I let her do much of the class, though!

Anyway, I ran into her at the mall and well....she has a famous boyfriend...and he was WITH her that night! I met him and introduced him to SR, the only 1 of the 4 kids who were interested in meeing him, even though all the kids were there. She actually knew who he was!

So, we chatted for a few minutes and then moved on with our plans for the night.

Later we found out this famous person would be performing Friday night so, OF COURSE we made plans to attend! Now ALL 4 kids think he's cool!

Here he is...with our crappy camera (hope it doesn't make you TOO drowsy, Jen :) and one stolen from elsewhere on the web. This is Elvis Stojko. Multi-world-champ and 2-time Olympic Silver medalist. He's the first to successfully land a quadruple jump! I've always thought he was cool (heck, his name is ELVIS which gives him big points right away! LOL) but now I'm a bigger fan than ever!

We are still shopping for a new camera so please bear with me these few more times.


Our pathetic version of Elvis.


Picture (couple of years old) hijacked from the web.

Quick plug -- Elvis will be on CBS December 10th. Watch "ICE WARS - Battle of the Sexes" 8-10 PM CT.

Before the show:

The Pictures

Here are a few pictures to share with you the bad news I received from the camera shop today.

My camera stinks.

That's right. There is no user errors. I am doing everything right when taking pictures and the pictures are still terrible.

Wanna see what I mean?

Picture 1. Deceptive view of our tree that the girls, YES THE GIRLS...as in S.R. and H.A. -- NOT Momma, put together. I had promised them we'd do the Christmas decorations after Thanksgiving this year (instead of December 20th or 21st like the last few years) and they were tired of waiting. So...since they were on "all-things-fun" restriction because of fighting, they decided to take matters into their own hands. The tree is a little crooked but hey...it's assembled! Looks nice (other than the blurry view) from this angle, doesn't it?

Here's view 2. We DEFINITELY need a taller tree. We're dealing with a higher ceiling than usual this year. I guess we'll cheat our way through it and see if we have any leftover money after the Disney trip. Maybe we could buy a good, tall one on sale after the holidays...

The stockings. One of my VERY RARE retail-priced purchases. We have gone without stockings for 2 years because I got rid of our matching 5 when Hudson was born. My intentions were to buy 6 matching ones on sale after Christmas. Well, uh, it's almost impossible to find 6 matching ANYTHING at after-Christmas sales. So, I forgot about it until the next year. At that time, I wasn't willing to pay retail for a matching set so we just did without. THIS YEAR, I would not let my family go another season without matching stockings SO I found this ADORABLE and PERFECTLY MATCHING set and paid WAY too much money for them. I felt guilty about it for a little while...but now I'm loving them. The green ones perfectly match Granny's chairs and the red ones perfectly match our sofa and loveseat. ADORABLE, don't you think!? (Wish you could see them for their real beauty and not the sadness of these shots.)

Alabama's Got Class Even When Beat Up

Tide fan helps save Auburn fan's life (full story)

By Ray Melick
The Birmingham News


BIRMINGHAM -- It seemed silly at the time, but Blake Thompson's wife suggested they pray for tickets to the Iron Bowl. A few days later a friend called with an extra pair for the lifelong Alabama fan.

Thompson couldn't help but think, "God wants me at this game."

The family of Herman Culpepper is thankful God sometimes answers such trivial prayers.

Thompson, 29, who lives in unincorporated north Shelby County, was sitting with his wife, Brook, in Section 56, Row 19, seats 13 and 14 of the west upper deck at Jordan-Hare Stadium last Saturday night during Auburn's 28-18 victory over Alabama. That's where he heard someone call out, "Somebody get a doctor. This man is having a heart attack!" A former National Guard combat medic, Thompson responded immediately and found the 74-year-old Culpepper sitting in his seat, not breathing, starting to turn blue.

"As a combat medic, I'd actually seen this," Thompson said. "I thought, 'He's dead.' Elderly, that color, he didn't even fall over -- and his wife told me he'd had three heart attacks. I thought, 'He's a dead man, but I'll do what I can.'"

As fans called for paramedics, Thompson and another fan, a nurse practitioner, ripped open Culpepper's Auburn windbreaker and Auburn shirt to begin CPR. While Thompson did chest compressions, nurse Carla Moore began doing mouth-to-mouth resuscitation.

"I couldn't find a pulse in his wrist or neck," Thompson said. "But his wife was standing there, so we went to work."

It took only a few minutes for paramedics from the East Alabama Medical Center, contracted to provide first aid for Auburn games, to arrive. They quickly attached an automated external defibrillator (AED) to Culpepper, and when the machine could not find a heartbeat, it fired electrical charges through Culpepper's body, literally shocking Culpepper back to life.

"My understanding is that our paramedics from the first-aid station on that level responded to a call for help and found a man wearing an Alabama shirt administering CPR to another man, who you've identified as Mr. Culpepper," said Dan Goslin, director of emergency medical services at the Opelika medical center.

"Our emergency medical personnel took over and transported him to East Alabama Medical Center. He woke up en route to the hospital, and my understanding is he's doing fine and was released (Tuesday).

"We're real proud of being able to help," Goslin said, "but I give all the credit to the Alabama fan who started CPR. That was very important. If Mr. Culpepper had been anywhere else, he wouldn't be with us today."

Leaves Are So Much Fun!

My Camera vs. Daddy's Camera

Please don't tell the bidders at eBay how frustrated we are with our digital camera. See the difference (and I KNOW it can't be the photographer's fault ALL the time!)

Thanksgiving Morning

My casserole is in the oven and we'll be leaving soon for lunch at my sister's. We plan on attempting our Christmas card pictures today, too.

No really cohesive bloggin' thoughts are pouring out right now but I felt the need to write. After all, I have so much to be thankful for!

Salvation, Mercy, Grace - With age, I'm recognizing this gift more and more and oh how thankful I am...

Donnie - He loves me and the kids so much and does way more for us than any of you guys could imagine. I love him so much!

Children - Like I tell the kiddos, "I love you so much, I just want to SQUEEZE you!" I can't describe the intensely deep emotional, spiritual, and physical connection I have with these little ones. I can't help but pat, hug, touch, or squeeze them whenever they're in touching range. They so easily forgive me when I've treated them poorly or unfairly. They desire nothing more than the love and protection and affection of me and their Daddy. They're preciously sweet children and I kick myself for ever wishing they were better at ANYTHING. They are leaps and bounds above what I deserve. They are wonderful and precious to me.

Home - I just love Home and am very grateful for it.

Parents & Sister - They are STILL there for me.

In-laws - I couldn't ask for any better. Those who know them definitely would agree.

Provisions - God has totally provided us with provisions for good health and income and all other necessities of life. I am so thankful because I know that all of these things are from God and not from any works.

Church - The Body Of Christ is more than just the members of the church we attend. As truly grateful as we are for our physical church and brothers and sisters there, it's the whole Body for which I am most grateful. What a supporting and loving gift from God. This is where I have found true and deep friendship....friendship based on love and wisdom. What a truly awe-inspiring thing to have.

From our family to yours, HAPPY THANKSGIVING. Count your blessings. Name them one by one. See what God has done. The blessings are too numerous to count perfectly but as you take the time to recognize them, reflect on the truth that all Glory is deserved ONLY by our LORD!

"Aw, Come On!"

"Why don't you just give him the king? Go on...just GIVE it to him!"

Big, fat, sigh.

Grrr.