Wordless Wednesday (Almost)

How did I get so amazingly luck to have 2 such happy, lovable, amazing and not to mention adorably handsome little men in my life?!?!

MckMama's HP TouchSmart Giveaway!!

Most of you all know MckMama and are familiar with her blog!  Well she also has a super fun giveaway blog!  Her most recent giveaway for an HP TouchSmart Computer can be found by clicking right here!

Check this sweet computer out!!!

So don't be scared, head on over to MckMama's HP TouchSmart Giveaway today for your chance to win one of these sweet things!

Robert Sanchez; our hero, our friend, Chad's "brother"

Goodnight, sweet prince

"When he shall die, take him and cut him out into little stars and he shall make the face of heaven so fine that all the world will be in love with night and pay no worship to the garish sun." William Shakespeare

Rob, thank you. Thank you for your friendship, thank you for the laughs, the smiles, the hugs, your brotherly love for my husband, thank you for being you.

When I saw you at Ranger Rendezvous, if I knew that were to be the last time, I would of made that hug that you gave me last a little longer, I would have made you play with Tucker a little longer, I would have made you hold Chase a little longer, I would have not taken that day for granted.

You are a hero to all of your friends, family and Ranger family. You are missed so much that it hurts, you are loved more than our hearts can handle. We will all carry on your spirit and take it forth in everything that we do.

Thank you Rob, thank you!

Back to our regularly scheduled programming.....

I felt it was best for my to take a little bloggy break. The last few weeks were rough, the loss of a friend, the impending anniversary of the loss of a good friend, a little bit of a rough season in our marriage, financial stress and simply being a young, military family all took a toll on us recently.

But, after talking to some friends, seeking advice from a great Chaplain, talking with our amazing Pastor and a marriage retreat that came at a perfect time, we are back on track and clinging to the word of God as well as each other!

So without further ado, I will leave you with some pictures of the amazing little boys that fill my life with so much joy!

You should have seen the other kid....No really! At the marriage retreat T and another little boy literally ran smack into one another. T went to the marriage retreat and all he got was this black eye!

Is my baby boy really this big!! Oh my!!!

I remember.....

9/11/01, was a beautiful fall day in the mountains of North Carolina. I put on my jacket and headed to my Social Deviance class on the beautiful campus of Appalachian State University, as I walked to class that day little did I know the world around me was changing. As class started a student in the hall said "Holy, Shit! My Dad just called and said planes had hit the World Trade Center's!!" our teacher told us to sit down and not worry about it he had a lesson to teach. What, you want me to sit here and learn about prostitutes while something huge is going on? Well that we all did we sat there, as soon as the class was over I ran back to my apartment, which was right off of campus, turned on the news and the first tower was just falling as I turned on the TV. I was saddened beyond belief, I was scared, I was hurting for all of those whom at just lost their lives and those whom had just lost their loved ones. I remember being glued to the television for about 12 straight hours, I remember the sickening horror and anger I had when I found out it was terrorists that took the Trade Centers down and hit the Pentagon. I remember it like it was yesterday, the thing I remember the most was talking to my Dad, he told me "Honey, don't be scared, we live in the greatest Nation in the World, we will rally and we will make sure that this never happens again".

As I sit here 8 years later I constantly hear all around me that it is time to get our men and women out of Afghanistan, why are were even there in the first place. If anyone has a problem remembering why our troops are in Afghanistan, this is why, to take out this terrible enemy force that caused such horrible destruction and a horrible blow to our country and to the lives of 2,996 families on September 11, 2001. There are times when my husband was deployed to Afghanistan that I often forgot why he was there, I was angry he was there and not home with me and our son. I was angry because he was over helping people that I thought did not want him there, but then I realized he was over there helping to further protect our country so that nothing like this will ever happen again, to rid the world of such an enemy so that we will not have a fear of being attacked by terrorists again. The men and women fighting in Afghanistan today do not want the men and women lost in 9/11 to have been lost in vain, the fight for them every day.

On this day, it is important for me to remember all of the men and women that have died fighting for our freedom as well and to insure that 9/11 never happens again. Today, I not only remember those that died on 9/11, but also those from 1/75 Ranger Battalion that have given their lives to insure that the victim's of 9/11 did not die in vain;Sergeant Bradley Crose, Corporal Matthew Commons, Specialist Marc Anderson, Staff Sergeant Anthony Davis, Private First Class Eric Hario, and Staff Sergeant Jason Dahlke.

I remember, do you?

Remembering 9/11: Project 2,996

Daniel Suhr



Daniel Suhr was a 37 year old NYC Firefighter from Engine Co. 216. He was rushing into the North Tower of the World Trade Center when he was struck by one of the people that had either fallen or jumped from the upper floors of the tower. With his death he also saved the lives of 7 of his fellow firefighters; they were all on their way into the North tower when they saw Daniel get struck, they stopped to but him in the ambulance and at the same time the tower fell.

Daniel grew up in Brooklyn, was a star high school football and baseball player, went to Albany State and also a college in California to play football. He was one of six children and was married to his childhood sweetheart Nancy. He and Nance also have a daughter, whom was 2 on Septemeber 11, 2001.

I will never forget and hope that you will never forget either.


Remembering the Victim's of 9/11: Project 2,996 is a project that was started in 2006 to remember the victim's of 9/11.

We are broken....

We are broken, we hurt, we mourn, we cry, we laugh, we remember. If we are all of those things I can not even begin to imagine the pain that SSG Dahlke's and PFC Hario's families are feeling. If we are broken, mourning, crying, laughing and remembering than they are broken, mourning, crying, laughing and remembering ten fold.

I have known that WAR is real, but in the past 12 months I have been rocked to the core not 1 time, not 2 times, not 3 times, but now 4 times that WAR is real. C and I lost a close friend last September (Cpt. Rich Cliff), C lost a fellow comrade in January (SSG Anthony Davis) and now C mourns the loss of another comrade and friend (SSG Jason Dahlke) and although we did not personally know PFC Hario, we feel his loss as well.

There is no way that I could ever do these men justice in writing, these men are amazing, selfless heroes. I can with certainty say that SSG Dahlke died doing what he loved and that may make it a little bit easier, however we are still broken, we still hurt, we still mourn, we still cry, we still laugh and we will always remember. There is not a day that goes by nor is there a day that will ever go by will I will not think of these men with the utmost pride, respect and thankfullness. I am proud to have known them and am a better person for having them in my life.

SSG Jason Dahlke doing what he did best, he loved his country, family and friends more than he loved himself.

SSG Jason Dahlke's funeral, he laid down his life to protect us all and for that I am forever grateful.

PFC Eric Hario, it is said that he always wanted to be a Ranger, the best of the best and he died doing just that.

PFC Eric Hario's funeral, to you Eric I am thankful.

Prayers for Ben and Katie

Ben and Katie are friends of ours here in Columbus, Ben works with C. On Thursday evening they were hit by a truck at a high rate of speed. Ben is currently, 39 hours after the accident, still in a medically induced coma, due to bleeding in his brain. Katie is currently recovering from surgery last night the repair 2 tears in her intestines and will have surger to repair her broken arm on Monday.

Please, take a moment to say a prayer for these two wonderful people, their family and friends. I know that it takes a lot for me to tell that my husband is upset, but I can see the pain in his eyes and hear the sadness in his voice. It is hard for these warriors to understand how one can make it home from combat so many times safely to be injured while at home.

They also have a Blog where there will be updates on their condition. C is going to head up to the hospital today to see Ben, so hopefully I will have an update for you then.

The Heart of a Hero....

I always new what my husband did for a living was dangerous, so dangerous that in fact I will never truly know exactly what it is that he did. He has since moved to a non-deploy able section of his Regiment, but for 4 years when he packed his green bags and headed out the door I never knew if he was coming home. Thankfully the Lord provided the opportunity for him to come home safely and mostly unharmed, the Lord provided this for us not once, but 4 times.

The past year has been a tough one in our "family", first C and I lost our dear friend Captain Richard "Richie" Cliff,I can not say enough how deep that hurt us. I grew up in the same hometown as Richie, was taught Biology by his mother in High School and C did ROTC with Richie at ASU. He was a friend to me and a great friend and mentor to C. He is in my thoughts every day and I pray that God helps his family as the first anniversary of his death is creeping in on us. Secondly, C lost another friend this year shortly after we lost Richie,Staff Sergeant Anthony Davis, C served with him in his last deployment before taking his non-deploy able position, it hit C hard.

Big Richie and Little Richie, about 3 weeks before Big Richie was KIA

Recently a young Ranger by the name of CPL Benjamin Kopp was killed in action if Afghanistan, he served with the Battalion that is here where my husband is now. I knew that CPL Kopp was killed as the former Battalion Chaplain attends our church and did the service for CPL Kopp. What I did not know and have just recently become privy too is the amazing story of a selfless hero that just keeps on giving. This article brought me to my knees, I am amazed at how our men and women keep on giving even after paying the ultimate sacrifice. What a selfless act of love, CPL Kopp died for his country and then gifted the opportunity for someone to be able to have a new life!!! I amazed and awe struck, the heart of a hero truly does beat on!

Publix Shopping 101

I have had a few requests for help on how to save big at Publix, therefore I decided it was time to post my Publix shopping 101 post. First off let me tell you that last week at Publix I spent $10.73 cents and that was a savings of 82% off of the regular prices, many of my items were free or pretty close to free!

Publix shopping rules:

1. Always shop the circular for your local market that is found online. There is an ad that comes out in the Sunday paper that includes the penny item coupon, but this ad just has a small selection of what is really for sale at Publix that week.
2. I never purchase items that are not on sale at Publix unless I have a coupon that makes them completely free. Unless an item is on sale at Publix their prices are seemingly higher than the commissary or Wal-mart where I would usually get those items.
3. In order to fully maximize Publix shopping and get your full savings you must clip/print coupons. Publix has a pretty awesome coupon policy, they double coupons up to 50 cents, you can use a Publix coupon(which can be found in their magazine type papers that are foudn at the front of the store or you can sign up for some of them on their website) along with a manufacturer's coupon, when you buy items that are B1G1 you can use 2 coupons, you can use printable coupons up to $4 and they also take competitor's coupons for other stores you have in your area, in Columbus that would usually be the Target printables.
4. Use the B1G1 sales to stockpile. The more you stockpile the less you will have to shop for things that are typically on the B1G1 sales such as spaghetti sauce, pasta, cereal, juice,etc.
   
5. When you purchase B1G1 items you do not have to purchase 2 of the item if you do not want to, if you purchase just 1 item then you will get that item for half off.
6. Each Wednesday the new circular comes out there is a great website called Fiddledeedee where she matches all of that weeks B1G1 and sale items with printable coupons and tells you in what coupon fliers in the paper you can find the non printable coupons for the items. Remember when looking at this site, most of the time when you print a coupon you can press the back button and print a coupon again, making it possible for you to have 2 coupons for the B1G1 sales.
7. Always make sure you try to have a coupon for the item you want to buy, however with that said the majority of the times on a B1G1 sale the items are cheaper than any other store. Publix has the best B1G1 sale around.

With that said allow me to show you last weeks $10.73 shopping trip:

• 2 Kraft salad dressings: Reg $3.00/each on sale B1G1 for $1.50/each. I used 2 $1.50 off Kraft salad dressing coupons found on the Cooking with Kraft website making these items free!
• 4 Muir Glen tomato sauce: Reg .89. I used 4 $1.00 of any Muir Glen item coupons found Bettycrocker.com making these items free plus .11 overage for each can.
• 3 Mueller's Pasta: Reg $1.39/each on sale B1G1 for .70 each. I used a $1.00 off of the purchase of 3 found on pastavalue.com making these items cost .36 each for a total of $1.10.
• 1 Go-gurt: Reg $2.99/each on sale B1G1 for $1.50. I purchased 1 and used a .40 coupon which was doubled to .80 found here making the Go-gurt .70.
• 4 Chef-boyardee cans: Reg $1.50 on sale for .85. I used 4 $1.00 off any Chef-boyardee item coupons found on the Simple and Delicious website making these items free plus a .15 overage for each item.
• 2 Hormel ready to eat entrees: Reg $5.5o/each on sale for $4.00/each. I used 2 $2.00 of Hormel item coupons found here making these items $2.00 each for a total of $4.00.
• 2 Betty Crocker supreme brownie mix: Reg $2.69 each on sale B1G1 for $1.35 each. I used a .75 off of 2 coupon making these .97 each for a total of $1.94.
• 2 Kraft Shells-n-Cheese: Reg $2.59 on sale B1G1 for $1.30 each. I used a $1.50/2 coupon found here making these items .55 each for a total of $1.10.
• Kraft BBQ Sauce: Reg $1.39. I used a coupon that was found on the Shells and Cheese box for a free bottle of BBQ sauce when you purchase 2 Shells and Cheese. Making this item free!
• Beechnut Mixed Cereal: Reg $1.89. I used a B1G1 coupon from a previous box of cereal to make these items .95 each for a total of $1.80

Overall last week I received 2 bottles of salad dressing(we use them for marinades for chicken), 4 cans of tomato sauce(for homemade spaghetti sauce), 4 cans of Chef-boyardee, and a bottle of Barbecue sauce completely free!! Which makes my free items a value of $13.95 completely free!

I purchased 21 items for $10.73 making that .51 for each item on average. Not too shabby if you ask me!!

We left a part of us here.......

Five years ago when I graduated from Appalachian State, I could not wait to get down that mountain, I could not wait to have no more snowy winters, I could not wait to get back to the beach. And now five years later....I can not wait to get back to the mountains!!!!

This view....simply amazing and breathtaking. And by breathtaking, it literally was, this is the top of Elk Knob, when we first mounted the trail I thought 1.3 miles that is a breeze. Well not when the last 1/2 mile of the hike was at a complete incline full of loose rock and rated for serious hikers. But alas at the top the view we found was worth it all!

We are truly at peace here, we can not wait to go back, take the boys and perhaps settle down there one day!!!

Look, the Mountaineers are finally ready to play with the big boys!!! 3 National Championships gets you nice things, like this amazing new stadium!!!

Boating Boys!!!

After our fantastic Disney trip we went to Charleston for the weekend. My parents took us on their boat and the boys LOVED it!!!!

We anchored the boat on an island and got out and enjoyed the beach, ocean and STP Dippers for Groucho's Deli!!!

I am so glad my boys are not afraid of the water, I love love love the water and am glad that we are able to share out love of the water!!!

Disney Vacation Wrap-up!

Day Four: The Animal Kingdom

T and Mickey!!!

T danced away with Chip and Dale, he had a blast and is definetly NOT shy!!

T and his new bud Flick

Daddy C and T getting ready for It's Tough to be a Bug!!

Day Five: Epcot and Magic Kingdom Parade

T and Stitch at Epcot, about our only fun part of the experience there.

Baby C getting ready to enjoy the parade!!

This is my favorite part of the evening at the Magic Kingdom, I love the castle!!

Super Hero T and his super sized lollipop

Peace, he's out of here!!!

We had such an amazing time and I am so happy that we were able to spend this time as a family together. The boys were so well behaved, the lines were minimal and the experience was once in a lifetime!!!

Oh Wow....

We're still here I promise! 2 weeks of vacation, then a quick hospital stay for my father, wrapped up with a 2 day moving marathon makes for one tired Gleaton Gaggle.

A new post coming soon, or possibly, just maybe 2 news posts coming soon!!

Hello from Disney!!!!

WOW!!! Exhausted does not even begin to describe how I am currently feeling!!! This makes for T's 3rd trip to the Happiest Place on Earth, but this by far has been the most exciting, fun and exhausting trip!!! He is all over the place and running us ragged, he and his Daddy are down stairs in the Kid's area watching Kung Fu Panda or playing Guitar Hero, not sure which one the mad man wanted to do tonight. While Baby C and I are in the room relaxing, well he is asleep in his crib (snoring) and I am blogging!!!

Day One: Hollywood Studios
We had a blast at Hollywood Studios (formerly MGM Studios), I would highly recommend the new Toy Story Mania ride, super fun!!! But get there at park opening and high tail it for a Fast Pass, we got ours at 9:04, 4 minutes after the gates opened, I ran with a baby strapped on my chest and got fast passes for 10:35, by 11:00 all FP were gone for the day!!! T loved meeting all of his favorite characters...see his star struck.....
On to.......Day Two: The Magic Kingdom
This was by far the BEST Magic Kingdom experience I have EVER had, no lines more than 10 minutes long all day long. However this was due to a tragic accident that occured early in the morning on July 5th at around 2am there was a head on monorail collision, which left the 21 year old driver dead. The monorail has been closed since the accident so the ferry is the only way over to the magic kingdom from the ticket center, therefore a lot of people avoided the area. Our hearts are heavy for that family!!!

Now on to.......
Day Three(current day): Chef Mickey's and Typhoon Lagoon
We had a great day today, starting with the Chef Mickey's character breakfast, $80 later, a full belly, alot of character meeting and autographs we all left happy and headed to the water park for a day of fun!!!! Which leads me now to my current state, exhausted and blogging from the bed!!!

Tomorrow we head to The Animal Kingdom in the morning, then back to the Magic Kingdom for some evening riding and the parade at night. Wednesday is Epcot! Thursday we head to Busch Gardens in Tampa for the day and to spend the evening with Chad's college buddy Lew and Friday we shall relax by the pool with adult beverages before we head out Saturday morning!!!

I hope everyone had a blessed 4th and all of our friends have fun on leave!!!!!

Bon Voyage!!!!

Tomorrow morning we head to the happiest most magical place on Earth!!!
We will be enjoying some super spectacular and much needed family time at the Mouse's
house for the next week! I may not, or possible may be able to post while we are away, I guess
it depends on how busy T keeps us!!

I hope everyone has a happy and very safe Fourth of July!!!!

And the winner is.....

The winner of my first ever giveaway is.....drumroll please.........

Jalena's Mommy!!! Random.org picked comment numner 9 and she was the luck winner.

Send me an email at cortney0509(at)yahoo(dot) come and let me know what color, I am assuming pink for your sweet little girl!!

True Random Number Generator Min:1 Max: 19Result: 9

Thanks for everyone that participate and stayed tuned, once we get back from vacay there will be a couple more fun giveaways! Something straight from the Mountains of NC for sure!!!

MckLinky

There’s a great new “linky” service available and I wanted to let you know about it. It’s called "MckLinky". After realizing the need for a new, reliable link-list capability, Brent Riggs and MckMama got together to create a free, easy to use linky service for all their blog friends.

"MckLinky" is a free links list feature that allows you to do include lists of other blog links like MckMama does on Not Me Monday. Some people call them “carnivals” or “memes” but you can use "MckLinky" any time you want your blog readers to leave a list of links on your blog. It’s simple, reliable and free.

So try "MckLinky" today!!

**Contest now closed, winner very very soon!! Mickey Mouse Ears......A Giveaway

In 10 short days my family and I will be embarking on our week long trip to the most magical place on earth, Walt Disney World! In honor of our trip I am super excited to host my very first giveaway. I have been thinking for a couple of weeks now about a fun giveaway and this fits perfectly.

The winner of this giveaway will get a set of these straight from the mouse's house....

Do you have a child that loves Mickey or Minnie, maybe a niece or nephew, god child, heck maybe even you want a pair. The winner of this giveaway can pick either pink ears or black ears and I will even get the mouse to put the name of the person you are giving them to on the back.

Alright are you ready to enter the giveaway, there are many ways you can.

1. Post about this giveaway on your blog, link back to my post and then put a comment on this post so I know that you blogged about it.
2. Tweet about the giveaway make sure to either @cortney0509 me or put the blog link in your tweet, then come back here and let me know you tweeted so I can make sure it counts for an entry.
3. You can tweet every day once a day from now until the end of the giveaway every day that you tweet make sure you come back here to let me know you tweeted.
4. You don't have to have a blog to post, if you want just leave a comment in the comment section letting me know anything you want about yourself and that counts too, but make sure to leave your email!
5. You can even enter by just leaving me a comment about who you would want to win the mouse ears for.
   

The giveaway will run from right this second until Tuesday July 30th at 9p.m. est. I will pick the winner using random.org and their number generator based on the number of comments I get. The winner will be posted on my blog right after the contest ends. We will be back from Disney on July 13 and I will mail the winner their prize then!

Good luck and I am super excited about my first giveaway!!!

Not Me! Monday

Welcome to Not Me! Monday! This blog carnival was created by MckMama. You can head over to her blog to read what she and everyone else have not been doing this week.

• I was not supposed to make a dish from our culture for my son's multicultural picnic at school this week and I most certainly did not forget!
• I then did not stop by the grocery store after remembering that I forgot to search for a cultural dish. I most certainly did not purchase a German chocolate cake, because hey I am German after all! I would have never done that!!
  
• I did not let my 3 1/2 year old son play for hours outside, in a huge field, during Ft Benning's Independence Day celebration this weekend. I would never allow him to do that, I mean that is really gross.
• I also did not allow him to eat and M&M ice cream sandwich cookie and a blue sno-cone for dinner, but hey he did have water to drink! Not me!
  

Wordless Wednesday

Best buds already!

Baby J's Macbook Giveaway!

I found this family's blog Cole Family Mission Blog while visiting MckMama's blog this morning. This family is in the process of adopting a child from Korea and are in hopes of raising money through a raffle, the winner of the raffle will win an awesome Mac Book laptop computer! The best part, this is not some crazy expensive raffle, for each $5 you donate you will get an entry, plus if you blog about it you can be entered as well, if you don't have a blog you can forward email your friends, get your entries doubled and be in a drawing for a Target gift card. The best part everything you donate goes to aid in their adoption process.

I do not know this family, but felt led to post this for others to see as adoption has been an idea that Daddy C and I have been tossing back and forth. No, not right now, but when the boys are a bit older, it would be so wonderful to give a better life to a baby girl in need. So, if you feel led hop on over to their blog and see what they are all about!!

Not Me! Monday!

Welcome to Not Me! Monday! This blog carnival was created by MckMama. You can head over to her blog to read what she and everyone else have not been doing this week.

I most certainly did not take entirely too long at the grocery store yesterday while the hubby was home with the boys to simply enjoy my first time alone in weeks!

I did not buy my husband a Father's Day present that while I know he will enjoy, I most certainly will enjoy as well.

I also did not entertain the idea of buying my husband tickets to the 2010 World Cup in South Africa. I would never think about spending so much money to go to a soccer game for one day in a foreign country.

I do not let baby C sleep in a onesie so in the morning I do not just change his diaper and put a pair of shorts on him, it does not makes life so much easier.

I do not love clipping coupons and saving money at the grocery store. I do not love saving more than I pay. What 26 year old would get a thrill out of that?

Vacation Gleaton style, on a budget!!!

We are a little under 3 weeks away from our 2 week vacation and 24 days off of work for the hubby! This will be our first vacation with Baby C and as a family of 4!!!!

First stop.....why only The Happiest Place on Earth none other than Disney World. We will spend 7 days and 7 nights at this magical destination. Disney is offering an amazing military discount this year, without me working and without such a great deal there is no way we would be able to go on such an amazing vacation. The military member gets a free 5 day Park-hopper pass with the water park and more option for......FREE and can also purchase up to 5-5 day base tickets for $99 dollars. WOWZERS!!!! The water park and more option as well as the park hopper option can be added for $25 each, so our 5 day Park hopper with water park option will cost us $148. Of course since I am all about saving money and getting a good deal I will share with you the savings of such an amazing deal....if we were to buy these tickets at the gate we would be paying $322 for each adult ticket and $287 for the child ticket, plus the $60.58 in tax for a grand total of $991.58. Heck, that is my whole budget for the trip!!!!! I am so thankful that Disney has given this opportunity to Military families!

I was also able to snag an amazing deal on lodging for that week. Usually we would stay atShades of Green, which is on Disney property, but due to this amazing discount Disney is offering they are booked until September. So I was able to book 7 nights at The Radisson Worldgate Resort for $329 for the whole week courtesy ofArmed Forces Vacation Club. So you want to know how much the AFVCLUB saved us, you got it! If I had booked directly with the Radisson and used their military rate it would be $609.07.

I have quite a few other ways that I plan on saving money this trip as well. Everyone loves Disney souvenirs right? Well I have purchased Disney items from Wal-mart, Target, etc and plan on giving T something each night while we are there. He also has saved $71 that he can spend on whatever he wants while he is there. Our room also has a refrigerator and microwave, therefore we will eat breakfast in our room before we leave, take sandwiches to the parks(0n most days) as well as snacks. I am going to buy all of our food and drinks before we leave town so I can shop the sales and get the best prices, from experience if you wait to get to the Orlando area and grocery shop there you will pay a fortune! I have also purchased certificates from Restaurant.com, if you Google restaurant.com coupon codes you will be able to find at least a 50% off code, however the other day I found an 80% off code and was able to snag $25 certificates for $2, there are some restrictions on the certificates, but it tells you what they are so you can decided before you buy. One of the days we are there we also plan to hop on over to Busch Gardens using our free passes thanks to herosalute.com, for the past 3 or 4 years the Anheuser-Busch corporation, that owns Busch Gardens and Sea World has offered a free one day ticket to either park to military memebers and their dependents. This will be our 3rd straight year taking advantage of this opportunity. Tampa is only about an hour and a half away so we will come back to Orlando that night to avoid paying for another hotel.

After we leave Disney we will head to my parent's house in Charleston for a couple of days to regroup, get family pictures taken, wash clothes and of course visit them! Daddy C, T and I will then leave there (Baby C is staying) and we will head to the mountains of NC, first stop will be Boone, where we went to college, to visit a friend and do some hiking. Second stop Brevard, NC, where Daddy C's parents own a little place, we will stay there 2 days and enjoy hiking and family fellowship time all alone with T (he needs it!). Third stop Asheville, there were are camping for 2 days, for $29 a night, this is the only place on this leg of the trip where we will have to pay for lodging.

Of course I will post tons and tons of pictures when we get back and probably even while we are there, both or hotel in Orlando and our campground (yes, our campground) have Wi-Fi!!

This will be T's 3rd trip to Disney, so for good measure I will leave you with a picture from his first two trips!

T at Disney February 2007, 16 months old

T at Disney April 2008, 2 1/2 years old.

Amazing Picture

When I was looking through some old pictures last night, I found this picture from last year's water jump at Tybee Island. The hubby did not have to jump (whew), even though he really wanted too, but since his platoon is the one that had all of the cameras they had to take pictures and be the rescue swimmers (if you guys know C, you know that he is NO rescue swimmer). Anywho, I found this picture and thought it was amazing, I have no idea how I have never seen it before!

It makes me wonder what the people on the tanker thought, I bet they thought Tybee was being invaded, especially since the majority of the crew on the tanker was probably foreign, as I believe this is a tanker from a foreign country.

My husband has a totally, completely normal job, I mean who does not experience things like this on a regular basis while at work, come on!!!

Saturday Family Day!!!!

On Saturday morning we packed up the kids, our cooler, diaper bag, beach bag, float for baby C, beach chairs, etc, etc, etc and headed on a mini-adventure to Pine Mountain. It was such a fun day!!!

First up, the Pine Mountain Wild Animal Park. Now upon entering this park you can either A. Drive your own car (which I do not recommend seeing as when we entered there was a giraffe that stuck it's head in our window) B. Ride the bus that leaves every hour or so with all of the other hot and sweaty people or C. Rent a really cool zebra striped van that you think may stall out in the animal park as you are driving through and if it does you may get eaten by the camels or something of that nature. We opted for C, although not the safest I was not going to be stressed out about a ostrich pecking my car or a camel spitting on it and I was not going to have to be annoyed by all of the stinky people crammed on a bus with no AC.

Here I am with my all too adorable children. T has decided that he is a rock star rapper or something and will only wear his hat side ways!

Watch out for the drooling tiger!!! He is mighty mighty scary!

Oh No....he is gator bait!!!

This was right before the giraffe stuck its head in the window to get the food out of Daddy C's hand. I am not sure if this is the animal or not that snorted all over him!

T getting brave! He would only feed the animals with small mouths.

After the wild time we had at the animal park we headed to Callaway gardens to go to their "beach". I fully intended on paying the $20 to get into the park but upon arriving Daddy C handed her his Id so we could get the military discount and she asked if we were stationed at Benning, why yes we are. She handed us a map and a receipt for $0 and along we went. Apparantly those stationed at Benning and their familes get in free....Woo Hoo!!!!

We did a little of this.............

A little of that..........

Then some of this.............

Maybe a little too much of this.........

Which then led to alot of this.......

And after a lot of the above we had one happy little dude on our hands as witnessed by this......

Oh and T and Daddy C had an awesome time on this huge inflatable water slide. I would say they went up and down about 2o times!!!

Look at that face.....Priceless!

We had a great weekend and I am so glad we are able to make such special memories together!!!