Tuesday, June 17, 2008

Florida Vacation!


This last week my family and I made a trip to Florida for a Disney vacation! Interestingly enough, disneyworld is nothing like disneyland. They have four different parks in disneyworld (Epcot, Hollywood Studios, Animal Kingdom, and Magic Kingdom). And they are not close together either, mind you. They are each about an hour to an hour and a half away from each other. The picture on your left is us at the entrance to the Magic Kingdom with mickey mouse's face. (Left to Right, Dad, Kyle, Jeff, Melanie, Mom, Me). The Magic Kingdom is Disneyland except way smaller and not as cool. They are very big on the Little Mermaid, Aurora and Sleeping Beauty Characters, and all the Disney bad guys, like ursela, malificent, jafar..all them. So it was interesting. You saw very little cinderella or any of the other princesses. On our first day at the Magic Kingdom we decided our first ride would be Space Mountain. So, we wait in line forty minutes for space mountain, get on the ride, and at the very top of the first hill...all the lights come on and our car comes to a stop, because low and behold! the ride had broken down because the other cars had gotten backed up cuz people don't get on and off fast enough. We sat for about twenty minutes at the top of that hill looking down at the track until finally it was up and running again. Then we rode space mountain without the space in the light. Quite an interesting experience, probably once in a lifetime if that! The animal kingdom was...the Zoo. Go to the zoo and you can say you've been to the animal kingdom! Except, the animals are not in cages. They just roam free and you just kind of look at them and fear for your life. They had some cool rides though in animal kingdom. There was one called Expedition Everest that's a fast rollercoaster. What happens on it is you go up all these hills, but you don't go down any until the track ends, then you stay there for like two seconds and it goes the whole track backwards! It was awesome! The picture you see below is of us on Cali River Rapids, which is a water ride where you get soakin' wet. You ride on that little raft thing and you go under water falls, down giant hills, and twirl in a whirlpool. My mom got soaking wet and was not at all happy because everybody knows that moms have to have their hair perfect and do not appreciate being wet all day. So the picture of us below is a before the ride picture...I think I would be murdered by some if I put the after the ride picture.... Okay, moving on. They also had a really cute show about Finding Nemo. It was a musical, but it was really good. Last words about animal kingdom... It was REALLY REALLY hot. And, People who are in 100% Humidity, with the sun shining down, who have walked all over this huge park and waited in endless lines....are not at all very nice. But, it was still fun! We have days one and two now covered of our vacation...and Day three was my absolute favorite! We went to Typhoon Lagoon! That is the coolest water park ever on the earth! You walk in, and they have this Tidal Wave Pool, and the waves are HUGE! If you swim out far enough by where they have it roped off, and if you lie flat in the water on your tummy when the waves start coming, you surf the waves! Its awesome! Also featured at Typhoon Lagoon is a water rollercoaster ride! You get in one of those two or three person tubes and go down these water slides. But, here is the cool part. You go up and down hills! They have these jets that push you up the hills and down the hills, and they have way fast turns and oh my word it was just so much fun! We also got to go snorkeling here. The water was freezing cold and very very very salty. It was neat though cuz i've never done that before and the fishes we saw were all in finding nemo! The sharks were a little scary and nerve wracking to be with but they stayed close to the bottom so there were no worries there. My family got most of our tans from spending the day at Typhoon Lagoon. It was one of our major high points of our vacation. After we went to Typhoon Lagoon we went to dinner at sizzler. The funny thing that makes me mention we went to sizzler is there was this guy who was sitting about two tables away from us was the dessert police. Everytime one of us got up to get more dessert he would give us a way dirty look! So, we dubed him dessert police. Because, he only had one dish of ice cream. But, come on, who doesn't go to sizzler and at least get two or three things of ice cream?! Live a little guy. One thing that was really annoying on our trip is that we did not have enough beds for each person to have their own. Which is a big problem for my family to handle. Because at home, each of us has our own room, with our own full size bed. And, unfortunately, Melanie was the one who had to share with everybody. We asked the hotel for another bed, but apparently it was against fire code...but we have done it every other place so we just said whatever and dealed. I had to share that dang bed with my sister for three nights. We rotated, but, I got that bad end of the deal cuz she started the rotation with me. She kicks, she won't hold still, she is onery, you name it, and Melanie is it. Maybe I say that just because I'm her sister but....that girl drove me to near insanity on that trip! So below is a candid shot my mother likes to take of me and melanie getting ready to go to bed. Little did we know we had some very long nights ahead of us. The next day we went to Epcot. I don't have any pictures from epcot because we got rained out. We went on Mission Space (a spaceship ride that makes you feel like a real astronaut on a spaceship) and came out into the little gift shop that's after every ride and it was pouring rain! When it rains in Florida, it RAINS in Florida! In two hours, they had fifteen inches of rain! So, here we are in this giftshop and more and more people are cramming in. We were shoulder to shoulder all looking out the window wondering if this rain was ever going to stop! It felt like it never did. One guy actually stood by the door (he was not a disney worker) and told people there was no more room in the inn! Somebody would come up and he would say sorry no more room. No more room here, no more room in the inn and shake his head and make the people leave! It was the funniest thing! We ended up riding one last ride, eating dinner, and watching a few fireworks (which were BETTER than disneylands) and called it an early night and returned to the hotel. We went back to Epcot the next morning though because it's all about different countries and you can walk around the world there in eighty minutes. So we went back to walk around the world. We also spent a day in Hollywood Studios theme park. That one was not one of our favorites because it had lots of shows and movies. Which makes sense and we were expecting it, but it was still a long day. Two main attractions that we went there for was the Tower of Terror and the Rockin' Rollercoaster. The Tower of Terror freaks my dad out like no other. He gets on it and all he does is swear and hold on tight and close his eyes and scream. It's hillarious. I quite enjoy the ride, i think it is a peice of cake compared to the Rockets at Lagoon. While we were on the Tower of Terror it was Jeff's first time riding. So, my dad was explaining to him what happens on it. And, right in the middle of his explaining, he keeps saying hold on it's gonna drop hold on it's gonna drop, and after he said that, the cart moves OUT of the elevator on to a track! In California at Disneyland's California Adventures, the Tower of Terror does NOT do that. So, the track starts moving out and I am just laughing cuz it's so suspensful and i love it! But my dad, we move out of that elevator and he screams, Why the hell is the cart moving out of the track! It was so funny. The lady in back of us who was there with her two younger girls were just laughing at him. Oh it was great. After it went on the track the ride went back to what my dad was used to so all was well :) Well, that about concludes the stories and adventures of my florida disney vacation. These are just two extra pictures I threw in of us on Splash Mountain and Small World. Hopefully now you are all caught up and hopefully i succeeded in giving Mandy something to read :) Florida was amazing and I want to live there! But, I have been told I am not allowed to do so for anther couple long long years...meaning never... so I am sure I will be visiting it often with my children! Have a lovely day!

































Wednesday, June 11, 2008

True love or just romance on the playset???


This is Caleb and his friend Jenna. Jenna lives down the street. Kyle and Caleb were playing guns and hunting out the bad guys when Jenna decided she was done and would rather swing, Caleb quickly followed to join her. I guess whatever Jenna says, GOES!

Knies Boys


These are Caleb and Kyle Knies. I play with them during the day so their mom, Debbie who is pregnant with a little girl, can get some rest. Kyle is 6 and attends kindergarten in the morning, so Caleb, who is 4, and I get 2 hours to play anything without his older brother changing the rules on him.
They also have a younger brother Caden, who is 1. I hope they stick to their trend of the "k" sound with the girl or she might feel out of place.
These two are a real handful, but they have their sweet moments....usually when the other brother isn't around

Tuesday, June 3, 2008


GRADUATION DAY!!!
Mare and I graduated at 10 this morning! We were so happy to have school finally over with, but reality hit us while we sat in the tunnels under the E Center, where we graduated. As we stood there with our arms linked, we realized we were no longer teens in high school, but young adults that now had to start working for the rest of our lives!

Another new color

In these past 2 months i have changed my hair at least 3 times, brown, black, red and now a color that is closer to my more natural. I don't think i will be changing it again anytime soon!

Monday, June 2, 2008

Gettting to know us


I am Kristen, on the left, I am 18, and Maren will be 18 next saturday. Maren and I have been friends for a year and half and we are graduating tomorrow!!!!
Graduation is kinda the reason why we are doing this. To keep people updated about what we are up to and all our crazy adventures.
High school was chaotic, ASL club president and Acappella choir president, swim team and every other opportunity that arose. Mare was a big supporter.
Now we are going to tell you of our adventures this summer.