What an Incredible 2 Weeks!

What a whirlwind! The past couple of weeks have just flown by and now we are back from vacation and back to reality.



Bill got home for his midtour R&R on 10/27. He was exhausted but in great spirits. He was so excited to be home on US soil and to see the boys. Ian was at school when Bill actually got into the airport so Aaron and I went to pick him up. Aaron was a bit shy at first, but warmed up pretty quickly. We brought Bill home for a quick shower and then ran to Logan's for a quick bite to eat. We then went to pick Ian up from school. Ian had no idea that his daddy was already home. I walked into the classroom holding Aaron like normal and Bill stood in the doorway. Ian happened to be seated facing the door and looked up and saw Bill and said, "Daddy?" with a very puzzled sound to his voice. He then repeated "Daddy?" with a little more vigor and Bill smiled. Then Ian jumped out of his seat and exclaimed "DADDY!" and ran to get a hug. The rest of the boys in Ian's class started dancing a jig and chanting "Daddy, Daddy, Daddy..." It was chaos and so funny. I'm sure the teacher appreciated that one! LOL



The next couple of days we spent getting ready to go to Florida. Bill went out to lunch with a friend, we went out to dinner for my birthday to Boston's and celebrated with birthday cookies since we knew we'd be eating a lot of cake over the next week or so.



On Thursday, Ian went to school and we prepared for Ian's Super Heroes party. It was supposed to be outside at the park, but the weather just wasn't cooperating so we moved it to the house. It was a bit chaotic, but it worked out well. I counted 39 or 40 people and we had "super hero" sandwiches (6' submarine), chicken tenders, veggie tray, chips, sodas, water and Capri Suns. The kids had a ball wearing their super hero capes and masks and playing with the stomp rockets! We had a huge pinata, cake and presents. The party was a huge success and Ian had so much fun!



Friday we got up and finished our last minute preps for vacation and headed to the airport in Austin. We had a direct flight to Tampa on Southwest. It was slightly delayed, but we were only late by about 40 minutes. We picked up our rental minivan and met Mimi and Chief for dinner at Maggianos. YUM. (Thank you Mimi and Chief). The boys were tired, but we stopped at the local Walgreen's for diapers and few odds and ends and then drove to our timeshare in Orlando. We stayed in a 2 bedroom/2bath place and had lots of room to spread out. We put the boys to bed and we retired soon thereafter.



Saturday we got up and had a lazy morning relaxing before heading over to the Orlando airport to pick up Grandma and Papaw Hoagland. They came down from Indiana to spend a few days with us. They were pretty tired from having to get up so early so we just decided to go back to the room to let them get settled and to let the boys have some downtime. Bill and I went to pick up the remainder of the groceries we needed for the week and came home to prepare dinner. After dinner, Ian, Bill and I went to Mickey's Not So Scary Halloween Party at the Magic Kingdom. Aaron stayed with Grandma and Papaw and so we go to go on some fun rides with Ian since he is now 40 inches and able to go. We met up with some of my friends from college, The Kolmans and enjoyed trick-or-treating and going on rides with them. We got back in late and were really tired, but it was fun!



Sunday we got up and we all went to Disney's Animal Kingdom. We had a great time going on the safari, riding rides, and seeing the show The Lion King. We also saw a lot of the characters and got some pictures with them. Grandma and Ian were wearing their Happy Birthday buttons and got free chocolate cake at lunch! That evening Grandma and Papaw were on babysitting detail and Bill and I were able to go out for the evening. We went to Downtown Disney and rode the balloon ride, ate dinner and just had a nice time shopping. (Thanks to Grandma and Papaw for taking care of the boys.)



On Monday, Grandma and Papaw wanted to go to the Holyland Experience. We all headed over there and saw some of their shows. We went through the Scriptorium that houses old scrolls and Bibles and ate lunch there. It had changed quite a bit in the past 7 years since my mom and I had gone. That evening we had a small birthday party for Ian. He had a white cake with raspberry filling and got a hunting game that you plug into the TV. He loved it and he and Papaw had a great time playing it.



Tuesday morning we got up and went to Epcot. It was an overcast day so it wasn't super hot and we got lucky that it never did rain on us even though it threatened to all day long. We rode several rides. Ian loved Test Track and rode that a couple of times. We also rode SOARIN' which he still is talking about. We also saw several characters and got several more pictures with them.



Wednesday we got up and took Grandma and Papaw back to the airport so that they could go back to Indiana. We had a great time with them! Afterwards, we went to Hollywood Studios. They have really changed that park to be more kid friendly and we really had a great time. Ian and Bill went on Star Tours. We saw lots of Pixar characters, ate lunch at Pizza Planet, went on Toy Story Mania, saw a stunt show and went into the Animation studio where we hit the jackpot on seeing characters and playing with their technology. Ian even rode the Tower of Terror twice and was frightened and thrilled all at the same time. (He calls it the Tower of Terrorists.) We went back to the room exhausted from such a fun day!



Thursday we got up and went to the Magic Kingdom. Ian rode Big Thunder Mountain a couple of times, went on Splash Mountain and went to see the princesses. The teacups were closed for maintenance which was disappointing. We were glad that he got a chance to do those at the Halloween party. We had lunch at Pecos Bill's and then went to ride the flying Dumbos and Peter Pan. We went back to the room and Mimi and Chief came for the next couple of nights. We planned on going to Fantasmic to see the light show and Mimi and Chief offered to keep Aaron so we could take Ian. (A BIG thank you for watching him since we know he wouldn't have had much fun at the show.) We got out of the show late, but Ian wanted a snack so we headed to Downtown Disney. He noticed the TREX restaurant so we indulged him since it was his birthday. He loved all the dinosaurs and had volcanic cake!



Friday was Ian's 4th birthday. We woke up and went to the Magic Kingdom for breakfast with Winnie the Pooh and friends at the Crystal Palace. It was breakfast buffet and we feasted on Mickey waffles and all sorts of eggs, bacon, sausage, pastries, juice, etc. The characters come around to each table for photo ops and they staff knew it was Ian's birthday so they brought him a cupcake with a candle to blow out. We had a good time. We headed back to the room afterwards to pick up Mimi and Chief and went back to Hollywood Studios. We had fun seeing the Indiana Jones show, the stunt show, saw the Beauty and the Beast show, went on the Backlot tour, saw Mickey again and had a great time the whole day. We went out to dinner at BW3.



Saturday we woke up and had to check out of our room. We had to hurry since Daddy made us a huge breakfast and we had to be out of there by 10am. We made it in the nick of time. Mimi and Chief headed back to Tampa and we went over to Downtown Disney. Ian received a 68 dollar giftcard to spend from Disney for his birthday since he didn't need a ticket. (Disney's big promotion this year was free admission on your birthday so they gave him the price of a ticket on a giftcard.) Ian bought a snowglobe, a Star Wars gun, stickers, a red Mickey shirt and a Donald Duck for his brother. We stopped at McDonalds on the way out of town and headed over to Tampa to Mimi and Chief's house.



Saturday evening we had a birthday party for everyone. Mimi and Chief had iceream cake and steaks and all sorts of yumminess! We opened gifts and retired full and happy. Thank you for all the lovely presents!



Sunday, Bill and I went to the Buccaneers game and the boys stayed with Mimi and Chief. The Bucs hadn't won a game this season up to that point and so we went thinking it might not be as fun as we had hoped earlier in the season. Boy were we pleasantly surprised! It was the throwback game so everyone was wearing the "creamcicle" jerseys/shirts. It was a sea of orange dreamcicles! The Bucs rallied and beat the Packers and the crowd was so into it. It was so much fun. I'm so glad that Bill got to see his team win when he was home. Thanks so much to Mimi and Chief for babysitting. It meant a lot to Bill to get to see the game and it meant a lot to me to be able to go enjoy it with him!



Monday rolled around and we packed up our stuff and headed to the airport. We flew back to Austin and stopped at Chuy's for dinner. The boys fell asleep on the way home.



Tuesday Ian went back to school and Bill worked on completing the "honey do" list. We met up with his buddy Steve for dinner at Pluckers.



Wednesday was Bill's last full day here. We went and got family photos taken and took the boys to Chuck E Cheese. They had a grand time running around and it was nice to see such smiles. We came home and Bill had to start getting things packed up to leave.



Bill's flight left Thursday morning. We all took him to the airport. The boys and I sat with him in the little restaurant part until he has called to go through the security check point. We were super sad to see him go, but know that he has a job to do. We will miss him and are counting down the 22 weeks that he has left in his deployment.