Patience is a Virtue

Kevin recently ordered a few books from amazon.com.

First let me say: I LOVE Amazon. It's a wonderful invention. My favorite is when it suggests books you might like based off your previous purchases. Love Love Love it!

Well, Kevin is not feeling the love right now. He order 4 books about a week ago, maybe less than that. And now he is waiting for them to be delivered.

He is going crazy!!!

Patience is not in his vocabulary right now. He has called 5, maybe 6, times today to have me check the mailbox. I'm sure his poor partner on the ambulance is ready to slap him. He has actually decided that the post office is out to get him. Now, I am just as anxious for the books to get here too.

The mailman just came about 20 minutes ago and no books. All we can do is hope for the best tomorrow.

Please, for all of our sanity, pray that the books arrive soon.

Blog like you've never blogged before!

What: American Idols Tour
When: Friday, July 24, 2009
Where: BOK Center - Downtown Tulsa
Who: Cara, Lindsay, Julie

I know that is a short summary, but there is so much to share, I can't waste any time. I'm sure you will understand.

The concert was a lot of fun. We wore out our cameras, got autographs, laughed a lot, and I only got shaky and giddy a few times.

Here are a few pictures from the night.

*I have been trying for over two hours to load the videos but for some reason it is not working and if I continue trying I might throw the laptop across the room. So I apologize for the lack of video visuals. However I can offer my own personal re-enactments of any of the performances, if you would like.




So Excited!


Julie snagged us some much-improved seats. Way to Go!



First up was Micheal, Megen, Scott, Lil, Anoop & Matt. They each performed two songs. Then they performed some songs together and then it was time for intermission.






Next was the top four: Allison, Danny, Adam & Kris.

If you didn't know this, Danny was my favorite Idol from this season. His performance would be the part of the show that I got giddy. Unfortunately I cannot seem to control this reaction. First it was Miley Cyrus, and then it was Danny Gokey. I get more star-struck than I would have ever imagined. Basically, I am one of those girls that I used to make fun of.

Oh well, I might as well embrace it.

I've discovered that all it really takes to be an American Idol is to have a really cool jacket if you are a guy, rhinestone clothing if you are a girl, and the ability to point at the crowd, the sky, or perpendicularly to your body if necessary.

And it helps if you have a knack for motivating the crowd with phrases like "Let me hear you Tulsa!", "How ya'll doin' tonight?", or "I want to see you all on your feet, even you in the back".

Next, it was Adam Lambert's turn to sing. Adam was this season's runner up.... If the entire concert were compared to a roller coaster, Adam's portion would be like the moment on the coaster when you suddenly drop off an extremely steep slope and your stomach jumps up into your throat, your butt flys off the seat and you grip the seat belt with all your might.

You have that moment when you are certain that you are going to throw up and there is a small part of you that thinks that you just might not survive this ride.

It's that moment when you think to yourself "Is this it? Is this the end? Because if so, I do NOT what to die like this!"

It's that tiny and quick split second when you know that you are either going to vomit or cry.

Do you know the feeling?... That is what it felt like when Adam took the stage.

All you could do was pray that it would end soon.


Yikes!


This photo was NOT stagged. It was THAT bad.



Thankfully Kris Allen came out next. He was like a breath of fresh air, the light at the end of the tunnel, a pot of gold at the end of the rainbow.







Last song of the night: Don't Stop Believin'



After the show, we discovered that the 'Idols' would be signing autographs. We thought 'Why not? Let's check it out'. Our 'why not' turned into an hour and a half on our feet in a crowd similar to a can of sardines. But we snagged autographs for Lindsay from Matt, Michael, Kris & Danny.

They put baracades up to keep the crowd in order and we were only two people from the front. We had a close reach and a good line of sight. Well, I had a good line of sight. However Lindsay is somewhat height-challenged so she had some difficulty seeing what was happening. But I really honed in on my narrating skills.

For example:

"Lindsay, Adam Lambert is 10 feet to our left. He is wearing a black t-shirt and green shorts. His nails are painted purple. He has green glitter eye shadow and more eye-liner than any woman here."

"Matt Giraud is 20 feet to the right. He is hugging a lady, wait, now he's signing a poster."

"Danny Gokey.....is....(breathe)....right....(try not to hyperventilate).....over there!!!"

Note to self: Another quality that is required to be an American Idol is an unreadable autograph





I wasn't interested (or so I thought) in getting any autogaphs for myself. I was just enjoying helping Lindsay. By 'helping' I mean shoving her forward, yelling "Reach Lindsay, Reach", and then jumping up and down with her when she was successful.

Julie wasn't with us in the crowd. We thought she had gone to find a seat and wait for us. What I didn't know was that she found a good spot and she was also able to get some autographs. Since Lindsay had the autograph book she had to find something from her purse. So she had Danny Gokey sign her glasses case (appropriate for Gokey, don't you think). After she got it, she came over to our side of the crowd to tell me that she had gotten Danny's autograph for me.

Again, here I go acting regretably! For a person that doesn't care about autographs, I sure freaked out a little bit. There were a few moments of me yelling 'What! You're kidding?', a few screams, a couple jumps, and an unfortunate instant of me touching the glasses case to my cheek and claiming that I could 'smell him'.


Like I said before, I really have become the type of person that I used to shake my head at and say 'Psh, I would NEVER act like that'.


Never say 'never'.







~

Ugh!

Just had a colonoscopy this morning. Talk about 'unenjoyable'!

Good news is: all went well, and I don't have to have another for 5 years. Hallelujah!



I am sure that everyone wanted to hear about this, I'm just sure of it. =)

"Have a Wild day" aka Animal Kingdom

Kevin's favorite park was Animal Kingdom. I have to agree with him; it was very cool. We visited this park on our fourth day and returned again on the day we flew out. The only problem with this park is the heat. I don't know why but the temperature seems to be 10 degrees hotter than other parks. Like in most of Florida, my hair became instantly frizzy as soon as we walked through the gates. Oh well, beauty had to be sacrificed in order to have fun.





Each Disney park has it's own icon (Magic Kingdom = Cinderella's Castle, Hollywood Studios = Mickey's Fantasia Hat, Epcot = Spaceship Earth) and Animal Kingdom has the 'Tree of Life' as it's icon. The tree of life is an artificial tree that is covered in carvings of various animals. Inside and under the tree is a theater. It is amazing to see!


My favorite thing about Animal Kingdom was Expedition Everest. It is a roller coaster inside of a replica of Mt. Everest. The ride was very suspenseful due to the threat of the Yeti. Ooh!...We rode three times and would have ridden more if time allowed.


Kevin's favorite thing at Animal Kingdom was the Kilimanjaro Safari. He went camera crazy; this blog doesn't have the capacity to hold the amount of photos that he took!

Oh Dumbledore!

I interrupt this sequence of Disney related posts to bring you an unrelated subject. I apologize if this leads to any confusion.

I just saw Harry Potter and the Half Blood Prince.


Joey & I have been anxious to see this movie all summer. This is the 6th Harry Potter movie and the first movie of the series that I have seen before I had read the book.

Um shall I say, I was VERY surprised with the ending! Not what I expected and a total bummer.

I HAVE GOT to read the last two books!!! Seeing the movie lit a fire under me; hopefully that was the motivation I needed to finish the series.


Will let you know when I actually accomplish this.

"You are the star of your own showbiz adventure" aka Hollywood Studios

Our next day was spent at Disney's Hollywood Studios. This is my favorite park and the one I was most looking forward to. We also went back to this park on Monday.

We both loved the Aerosmith Rock n' Roller Coaster, an indoor coaster. Kevin DID NOT love the Hollywood Hotel Tour of Terror. He says that he will never ride it again and I can't blame him; it can be quite scary if I do say so myself.






And of course was saw the High School Musical 3 parade.
It was like all my Disney desires came true: dancing, singing, vibrant costumes. We were front and center. Kevin claims that I pushed kids out of the way to get my seat but I strongly deny that accusation. I merely became one with the crowd and tried to blend in (me being a grown woman and 2 feet taller than the other audience members probably didn't help me "blend")


We saw the Indiana Jones stunt show and the 'Lights, Motors, Action' stunt show; both of which were very cool. We personally met Prince Caspian, which is definitely a story to hear in person (ask me next time you see me).

Oh! The American Idol Experience! Very cool attraction. It simulates what it would be like to be at a taping of American Idol. And being the AI fan that I am, I really enjoyed this. Kevin and I both had a good time and neither of us can understand why we weren't chosen to try out for the show. ???

And look, they even have the Coca-Cola glasses. So cute.

There was a lot of fun to be had at Disney's Hollywood Studios, and if I do say so myself, we were quite the pair of stars! I am even thinking of taking up a career in broadcast journalism, as you can see by my serious yet inquisitive pose below...

"Dreams Do Come True" aka The Magic Kingdom

The Magic Kingdom was our first full day at the parks. We arrived at 7:30am and got on the bus at 11:00 that night. That's about 15 hours! Whew, I'm getting tired again just thinking about it.



We rode:

Splash Mountain (I hate water rides but this one wasn't bad)
Big Thunder Railroad (once in the pouring rain and again once it quit)
Pirates of the Caribbean (ride that the movies are based off of)
Buzz Light year Space Ranger Spin
It's a Small World
...and some other classics





We saw the 'Celebrate Today' parade, the 'SpectroMagic' parade, 'Mickey & Friends' performance, the fireworks show, and the 'Hall of Presidents-Leaders of Liberty' show.

This was the first time that I got to see the Princesses. I was very excited to see them; it was like all my childhood dreams came true...=)

We ate the Liberty Tree Tavern for lunch. It was scrumptious!



We had a GREAT time. This park is the classic Disney experience and was a great way to start our week.

Disney Overload

We had a great time at Disney World this past week. We went to every park and some of them twice. Our feet were sore, our cameras were full, and our excitement levels were very high.

I am going to add a post about each park and hopefully add some good photos (we did take nearly 1000 photos, I am sure that I can find some good ones).

Disney World or Bust!

We are t-minus 11 hours until we leave for DisneyWorld.

Our flight leaves Tulsa tomorrow at 6am and we will land in Orlando at 12, with a stop at DFW. Kevin is very excited that we have a connecting flight in Dallas because there is a candy shop in the airport that he LOVES. Forget Mickey Mouse and the Magic Kingdom, he's looking forward to the airport candy store.

I had mentioned to some of you that I would update the blog from the hotel each night. However the WiFi at our resort is $9.95 per day. Although I love you all very much, I don't love you $9.95 x 6 days worth. So sorry, but I'll be sure and add LOTS of photos once we're back. And with Kevin's early birthday present (new video camera) we'll hopefully add some video too.

Our anticipated plan for the week is as follows:

Wednesday: Check in to Hotel & spend the rest of the day at Epcot
Thursday: Magic Kingdom
Friday: Hollywood Studios
Saturday: Animal Kingdom
Sunday: Epcot
Monday: Whatever our hearts desire
Tuesday: AM-whatever our hearts desire again, Fly out at 7:30pm
*We're also going to squeeze in Blizzard Beach, Typhoon Lagoon, & Downtown Disney

We're all packed and Sherpa is ready to spend the week with Jordan (hopefully Jordan is ready to spend the week with Sherpa). Now if only we can get to sleep early tonight; I have a feeling that we'll be like two kids on Christmas Eve.

Wish us safe travels! See you soon!

Alooo-HA!

This Fourth of July we celebrated in Hawaiian style. (or at least our version of it)

The luau idea sparked in one of our many 'Here's-what-we-should-do' conversations at the beginning of the summer. We decided we would roast a pig and the ball started rolling. The word spread and pretty soon we had invited also everyone in the Skiatook area, or at least it seemed that way. It gradually grew into quite an event. We somehow incorporated a pinata and Chinese lanterns; a multi-cultural luau I guess. My folks and my nieces and nephews worked really hard to get the yard looking good and to get the pig roasted.

Finally the 4th was here!

Yard perfect, pig buried deep in a pit of fire, swimming pool clear, American flags placed on any available surface.... and the downpour hit! It rained buckets all morning! We sat on the porch and analyzed the storm's pattern, trying to convince ourselves that it would clear up. But the yard was quickly getting soggy and the sun was no where to be found.

When finally it just quit, the trees eventually dripped dry and the sun came out enough to get the yard walkable. By this point, we were so excited that we didn't have to squeeze 60 people in the house that we didn't care how humid or muggy it was.

After a lot of worrying, strategy, and opinions flying around, we got the pig out of the pit. Then the party could officially start. We spent the rest of the day stuffing ourselves with some delicious food, sweating it all out on the volleyball court, swimming, and pinata smashing.

Ashleigh, Taylor, Jordan, & Hannah had some special outfits that they shared with us.



If that doesn't scream 'Aloha', I don't know what would.

Summer Reading Program

At the beginning of June, Rylee enrolled in the summer reading program at the library. When we went, they told us that Avery could enroll also, as long as someone read to her, so we thought that was a good idea. (I think that their favorite thing about it was the outdoor drop-off slot at the library. When we visited, we would drop off the old books outside and then go inside to get more. What can I say, we are easy to please)

Well the girls have been reading away and this week they finished the program. Rylee read 20 books and also read some to her sister.

Here are the girls with their medals.



After we left the library, we went to Tastee Freeze to celebrate!



Way to go Girls!!




*I would just like to note that as a reading teacher, I honestly do things other than make kids read. This is just a coincidence. =)

We Wear's Short Shorts!

This post really needs no explanation. I think the shorts speak for themselves.





I do not even have the courage to wear anything that short.


And I'm a girl.

Wild Goose Chase

For those of you that might not know, my dad has a side business that specializes in 'Goose Removal'. This just means that companies or groups hire him to collect the geese that are living on their property and to relocate them in some sort of reserve-type location.

Here's the catch: this is by no means a 'one man job'. Therefore he has to recruit the entire family to get up at the crack of dawn and drive to the location and submit themselves to heat stroke, extensive sweating, and eventually being covered in goose poop, blood, and feathers. Why wouldn't we gladly volunteer?!?

The process goes like this:

1st - Set up the pen
2nd - Decide on a stategy (this step is usually performed silently in Dad's head and then comunicated to us in some sort of mumbly-say it under his breath-"You go there. You go here."-none of us have any idea what to do-sort of way)
3rd - We spread out (in what we hope is the correct pattern laid out in Dad's head) around the geese and slowly walk together. The geese cannot fly during this time of year and so they are herded right where they are suppose to go
4th - We then close the pen around them, extract 4 or 5 feathers, and place them into the tralier

Usually we will have a few geese that will try and go against the flow of things. They are the real challenge. Herding one paniced goose is much harder that herding 20-100 alert, but calm geese. They really do like to stay with their friends.

The reason that we pull the feathers is that by the time the feathers grow back and the geese are able to fly again, they have forgotten where they came from. This way, they don't fly right back as soon as we move them. It's a lot like pulling a hair from your head or pulling a hangnail: not fun but not too irritating.

This year, we only had about 22 geese and none of them escaped from the pack. It went excetionally well. It was the best job we've ever done.

But no matter how easy it was, no matter how well we did, it is still CRAZY that this is something our family does. Seriously, who does this kind of stuff?....We do.

And to us, it's normal. That can't be good.

Taking our positions

Here they come!

If they get on the water, like they did, Kevin uses his Kayak to herd them.

Closing the pen. This is usually the point where panic sets in and someone gets told they aren't moving fast enough. It is very stressful, as you can see with Mom's tense pose.

Directions being given.

Look at that Expert Feather Remover! Man, she's good!

Everyone gets recruited!

It's not everyday that you get to hold a goose.

Geese Wranglers

As much as I tease and as odd as this hobby is, it's all worth it if this is the look on Dad's face when the job gets done.