Just a Touch of Disney

No, I didn't step foot in the Magic Kingdom and no, I didn't talk to or hang out with any princesses'. But, I did experience a little touch of Disney magic, last week.


I was in Orlando for two days of business meetings and we were a heartbeat away from Disney properties. I have never been to any of the Disney parks - it was killing me to be so close, but yet so far away. I promised my family I wouldn't go and I promised Reid that I wouldn't visit any princesses' without her. But, I couldn't help myself...I was 1 1/2 miles from Downtown Disney and I couldn't not go. I had some free time Wednesday afternoon and a rental car all to myself. 


The shopping was fantastic and, luckily, I had the limitation of only being able to buy things that would fit in my carry-on luggage. But, holy Mickey Mouse, they HAD A SCRAPBOOK STORE. The Dallas metro area can't support a decent scrapbook store, but Disney can. It was mostly page kits and albums, but I was totally impressed. 

We are planning a Disney vacation for next year, around Thanksgiving. We have watched a DVD on Disney and several shows on the Disney parks, but the kids weren't really putting things together. But, now with pictures, Reid's very own Minnie Mouse princess doll, and my telling Jackson about the make-your-own-light saber store, they are ready to go NOW. 

I got home Friday afternoon, several hours after Damon left town for a men's retreat. We had a back-up plan in case my flights got mixed up and I didn't make it home, but we didn't have to use them. I got in on-time, had some naptime at home, and then picked the kids up. Jackson went to a friend's house for the night and Reid and I had girls' night out - dinner at Goldies, followed by some blue ice cream at Maggie Moo's. Reid was all about eating her ice cream outside, until she figured out that there were bugs. She was done quickly after.

Saturday afternoon I did a first - lead a scrapbooking birthday party for an 11-year-old. The birthday girl, Cameron, wanted to do the CD albums. The girls had a blast and came out with some pretty neat albums. 

Saturday night, we were finally all at home, much to the delight of two dogs. They don't know what to do when all of their humans aren't home.

The $64 Swim Meet

Yes, we are still the swim team parents that scream at their kid to kick their feet during a race and to go faster. Aren't those obvious goals of a race? Yes, but we still do it. And, yes we also do something that swim coaches loathe and they really recommend against - bribing! Yes, we do it and we aren't ashamed.

Jackson is NOT a naturally competitive person. In fact, it really runs contrary to his nature. He looks out for others way before himself and is concerned more about others performance than his own. Swimming has been so good for him. It is good exercise and it is keeping his health issues well under control. But, we, his swim parents, want him to achieve, to advance, to find some success in the pool. (And, we want to make ourselves feel better about spending our weekends and our $$$$ hanging out by swimming pools in towns other than our own.) But, how to motivate him.

First, we tried telling him we would buy him a Wii or DS game when he reached a B time, the lowest qualifying time. He was far enough away from a B time, the offer didn't really hold much water in terms of immediate payoff for smaller goals. So, we switched to $1 per second he took of his established best times. So far, that has cost us $10 or $20 a meet.

This weekend, we owe the little bugger $64! He had an awesome meet and we are now off to find second jobs.

We spent the weekend in Fayetteville, AR, swimming at the AquaHawg Long Course Meet at the University of Arkansas. Nice pool (unless you are a photographer - then it is a crappily lit pool). He swam eight events, total, four each day and took time off every single event he had a time established in. There were three races he had not done on the Long Course season, so he didn't have established times and our checkbook was given a reprieve.

His races and times:
100 Freestyle, Previous time of 2:10.78; new time of 2:01 ($9)
50 Backstroke, Previous time of 1:16; new time of 1:03 ($13) only 7 more seconds and he will have that B time
200 IM: new time of 5:30
100 Breaststroke: new time of 3:30
100 Backstroke: previous time of 2:38.11; new time of 2:18 ($20)
50 Freestyle: previous time of 56.20; new time of 52.00 ($4) only 8 seconds away from his B time
50 Breast: new time of 1:34
200 Freestyle: previous time of 4:46; new time of 4:28 ($18)

He is still swimming at the bottom of the pack, but he made some major strides this weekend and his coach feels like Jackson is just on the verge of putting speed and technique together. Once he makes that connection and picks up his pace on his different strokes, he will dropping time even faster. You could tell he was working really hard in the pool and pushing himself.

Jackson really wants to be on the Silver Team (he is currently one of the older and more experienced swimmers on the Bronze Team). He gets a little frustrated at Bronze Team practices because of the younger kids, less focused, more time spent on teaching stroke rather than perfecting technique and building strength, endurance and speed. We talked to him this weekend about setting an appointment with the coach, sitting down together and finding out what it is going to take to get on Silver Team. Then, setting goals (with the coach) on how to reach his ultimate goal of being on Silver Team. He is also going to ask the coach about working out with the Silver Team at least one day a week. Their practices are longer and would definitely challenge him.

The rest of the weekend was spent enjoying a really nice room at the Fairfield Inn and Suites, swimming at the hotel pool (Reid's reward for behaving so well at the meet on Saturday), and trying to decide where to eat. Fayetteville is a college town, so the number of unique restaurant options was quite high (highly recommend the Flying Burrito!). The challenge in eating was Saturday night was prom for Springdale or Fayetteville high schools. We ate at Outback Steakhouse and Reid was very mesmerized by all of the "princesses" in the restaurant.

Good weekend. Expensive, but good!

Nothing Special Kind of Week

I keep waiting for something semi-exciting to post and this week it just never came along. It was just an average week.

Easter was a quiet weekend for us - we stayed home and just hung out all weekend. EB came and actually hid eggs outside this year. For the first time in 10 years, we weren't wearing coats to church on Easter. We went to church, I cooked a big lunch, and we stayed around the house.

Thursday night we went to the Splash Club Spring Banquet. Jackson was recognized as one of the top five achievers for the Bronze Team for the Spice Program. The Spice Program is the incentive program they do for the swimmers and the kids get points for attending practice, participating in meets, reducing their times, etc.

Last night was First Friday at church, so the kids had activities from 6-9:45 and we went out with another couple. We hit the new Bville restaurant, Buffalo Wild Wings, and came to our house for dessert. I made some awesome cupcakes Martha Stewart's cupcake cookbook. The WW points were completely out the window, but we had a fun evening.

We are on the downhill slide for school. The kids get out of school May 21, so they have six weeks left. Jackson's school schedule is full of middle school visits (they get to go on a school day, have lunch at Madison and hang out with sixth graders), field trips (he has three between now and May 21) and finally 5th Grade Graduation.

I am working on putting together several activities for our Sunday School ladies ministry group. We are having a scrapbooking day on May 1 (National Scrapbooking Day, in case you are keeping track). And, we are going to have an overnight retreat in August at www.urbancampout.com. It is the coolest place. All the fun of camping without the annoyance of bugs, variable temperature, critters, and with the conveniences of indoor plumbing, electricity, temperature control, and cooking devices.

The Past Box

Last week, I was pulling up to Ranch Heights Elementary to drop Jackson off and I said, "Reid, this will be your school in August." I hear from Jackson in the back, "And, I'll put this place in my past box." Ouch, little man, that hurt.

Jackson is ready for middle school. His parents are not. On Tuesday evening, we headed to Madison Middle School for orientation and Jackson walked down those halls like he owned the place. We listened to the band, orchestra and choir's perform, had the opportunity to talk to all of the elective teachers, checked out the lunch room, and walked through the six grade hallway. He also checked out the list of clubs.

Jackson picked his electives - band (trumpet or percussion), tech ed (computers), keyboarding, and PE. His requirements are math, earth science, English, and world history.

The general feeling among the parents seemed to be, "how did we get here," "do we really have to do this," and "wow, slow down, this is happening too fast."