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a super huge thanks to the best parents in the world for supplying my sisters and i with 31 years of fun family vacations.  we have toured the majority of the us and always have a blast thanks to them!

the taylor side + granny covey recently all met up in orlando for a fun filled week of swimming, sunning, and amusement parking!  we all had a blast.  the furthest travelers were keek and lo, coming all the way from chi town.  others came in from va, and me from nc.  we met up on sunday and spent the week at a rental house in kissimmee. 

upon arrival we had to get our keys to the rental house and pick up our rental cars.  the first photo in the group is of what we like to call – the hooptie.  why the fog you ask, its all smoke and mirrors – baby.  this car provided us with hours of hysterical entertainment.  you can just imagine.

our first day was a fun filled day of lounging in the pool and vigorously applying sunscreen, so we did not get sunburned – well, just not yet.  monday rolled around and we headed out to universal orlando.  several of us received free universal park tickets during mom’s urgent pleas to submit an online form during the super bowl half time show.  it was amazing that over half of us actually got the free tickets.  once we got through the gates we welcomed james to a wonderful world of florida heat and amusement park life.  he’d let you know he’d been to amusement parks before, but none like this, and none in fl, and none with this group!  we all rode on shrek (a 3-d ride) et, and the terminator.  it was funny to hear mom laughing and granny making sure that james could see what she saw as the movie rolled through.  everyone enjoyed those “rides”.  we split off for a while and some of us rode the simpsons and men in black.  james really enjoyed those rides!  we later met back up with the rest of the group and all finished the day with soggy pants at jaws!  the heat was a bit much so we made our way back home to enjoy the rest of the evening in the swimming pool.

tuesday was another restful day of fun in the sun in the swimming pool at the house.  the house was amazing with 5 bedrooms, a game room, a movie theatre, and a great pool with a hot tub.  we all spread out and taught james how to dive, and had fun splashing around.  beth found out she got a new job, so we all had to share in a celebratory mimosa!  congrats bethy!

wednesday was our big day at disney.  (i try to be so prepared with my camera, battery, charger, etc.  however, on the biggest day of the trip i accidentally left the battery in the charger – plugged into the wall at the rental house!  so, all disney photos will have to come to you via tommy t’s surrogate camera.)  we all had an amazing time at disney thanks to d’s brother parker!  parker hooked james up with a jedi training camp and a back stage meetand greet with the star wars cast!  he and paw-paw were amazed at his jedi training skills and his autographed light sabor!  awesome times!  after riding the star wars ride, we headed across the camp to let james play on the “honey i shrunk the kids” playground.  he had a great time running around the movie set!  after this we headed to the rockin’ roller coaster.  the wait was long, and in the hot fl sun, but we all had a fun time in this 0-60 mph coaster!  james and paw-paw rode in the front car!  brave soldiers!  lori and i brought up the rear, riding right behind them.  after this we headed over to the magic kingdom.  james picked out an awesome mickey hat that brought us good luck for the rest of the afternoon!  he even saved off a thunderstorm.  james and beth rode the race car track, and we all had a spin on the tea cups.  then james, lori, granny, and i rode on dumbo before heading to “its a small world”.  after this we split up again and granny and mom went on the river boat cruise, while paw-paw, lori, beth, james, and i went on the haunted house tour.  lori had never made it through this spooky ride before, so she was anxious to get this one checked off!  soon it was time for the disney magic of lights parade, so we all settled in and watched the show.  granny and james sat in awe as they watched the hour long parade.  after this, lori, james and i headed back out for some more rides, while the others headed for the gates.  lori, james, and i went to the “big thunder mountain railroad”.  the line was short and we, again plopped james in the front car for this ride!  after the ride we got to watch the fireworks from atop the mountain!  they were amazing!  our last ride of the day was “splash mountain”.  we all three had a blast on this ride, despite the long line!  it was totally worth it, and as james said “i think our boat went off the tracks on this one!”  too cute!  as we were leaving we made sure james had a walk through of cinderella’s castle before heading to the monorail.  surprisingly he did not fall asleep until after we got home!  i thought for sure he’d be sleeping as soon as he hit the back seat of the car!

thursday was another sunny fun day at the pool.  we all have gorgeous tans to prove it.

friday was our last brave day at the amusement parks.  lori, keek, james, and i headed back to islands of adventure and finished up the missed rides from monday at universal.  james really enjoyed the “hulk” roller coaster, and keeping up with uncle keek all day long.  two peas in a pod!  james was afraid for his life on the “twister” show at universal, but he hung in there and survived the storm!  after this, we put him on the “mummy” coaster.  he told uncle keek that he kept his eyes closed the entire time!  we all had a blast, and met up with the rest of the family for dinner at granny’s favorite – red lobster.  after dinner the boys headed over to play mini-golf and the ladies went back to the house to settle into the hot tub!

beth and james’ flight out was saturday morning, so we all said our sad goodbyes and wished them a safe trip back home – promising we’d do something just as fun next year!  shortly thereafter, granny came inside saying that jesus was in the sky!  we all worried that she was being called by the light, but later found out that what was really happening was some sky writing.  nifty!  that afternoon mike and meg (keek’s cousins) came over to swim in the pool with us.  we all had a blast, and even rocco got in the pool!  that night we had to get dad over to pat o’brien’s piano bar at universal.  we made sure “great balls of fire” was on the list, and everyone sung their hearts out that night!

the word is that next year we’ll be doing a cruise.  get out the sunblock, and i promise to not forget my camera battery!

i’ve been a bad bad blogger lately.  it’s not that there is nothing to blog about, because believe me i have something to say. 

excuse = work & too much of it.  do more work with less people – a sign of the times, but sometimes its rough.  definitely grateful to have a job, and my job – i love – just leaves no room for blogging it up sometimes. i digress.

here is the skinny on what has been going on in WF lately.

i have been out of town a lot recently, but the last trip i took was to richmond/newport news for d’s baby shower!  we had a great time at the shower and really got to spend some quality time together, just catching up!  it was so great to see her!  saturday night we went to the smithfield inn for dinner, this is where paula deen stays when she comes to town.  i had some she crab soup in honor of husband.  sunday we drove out to her family’s farm and enjoyed listening to the rain on the roof top.  (below are some photos of the onesies i made for the shower.)

most recently we celebrated memorial day – like the rest of the US – and for our long weekend we went to Charlotte.  i had always wanted to take husband to the Cajun Queen in Charlotte, and of course we needed to go see this brand spankin new Ikea!  we made the trip down, splashing around in the sprinkling rain and found some great items.  the favorite item of all of the purchases is a “pet light bulb”.  you have to ask husband about this, as it does not even live here – it’s at husband’s new office space on wilmington st.  after Ikea, we went to Cajun Queen.  husband really enjoyed the C-A-J-U-N experience!

the next day we headed over to Kathy’s house for a little goofing off.  Kathy and I kicked major bootie in Wii bowling, and I have photos of the scores to proove it!  my favorite picture of that night is hiding below.  bet you can’t guess which one it is.

we also recently went to locopops, which is a sort of specialty popsicle store.  we did not know there was one in raleigh, so we drove out to durham.  we drove right past the place and had to turn around to get in there and get our popsicles.  i had a strawberry balsamic popsicle and it was unbelievable!

nothing says summer to me like watermelon.  if you know me, this probably seems pretty funny.  i spent countless summer’s at granny and gran-gran’s lake house totally avoiding the stuff.  everyone would gather round after they filled their bellies with hot dogs and hamburgers and clammer for their portion of a large watermelon.  my main complaint with the watermelon used to be that i did not care for the texture of it.  love anything watermelon flavor, and the smell of it is amazing.  its only lately that i have really fallen in love with it.  however, even though i never really loved it like i do now, it has always made me think of those sticky summers at the lake.

this past weekend we went o the zac brown band concert in down town raleigh at the lincoln theatre.  the concert was held in the street in front of the theatre.  they had some really good opening acts and the band was amazing!  they really have an awesome group of talented people in this band, and if you have never heard them, you need to go to their website – www.zacbrownband.com – (warning – this is COUNTRY!)

most of you already know by now that amelia just had emergency surgery yesterday.  i was diligently working on tuesday when i heard her scampering up and down the hall way – clickity clack – clickity clack – go her totally overgrown fingernails on the hardwood floor.  it seemed odd, because usually if she wants anything she comes to my chair and whines until i look down and acknowledge her.  i spun around in my chair and went to see what was going on.  i came out into the hall to find a huge (x-rated, so get ready) poopie mess!  i knew it was amelia, just like a mother knows which child has done something wrong, and went to go get something to clean it up.  after the clean up, i grabbed up both dogs and told them we needed to go out for potty.  we headed out and both went for regular pit stops.  i brought them back in and noticed that amelia wanted to do some scooting.  i told her that i would help her out and went to get some (x rated again, prepare yourself) tissue to wipe up after her.  however, she was bleeding everywhere!  i freaked out and thought for sure this was the end of her precious little life.  i quickly ran in to get the phone and call husband.  drat!  he was leaving a smaller carbon foot print and rode the bus down town that day, so there was no way he could get home any faster.  i called the vet and they told me to come right away.  i coerced illy into her crate and put amelia in a blankie and headed out to the car.  i drove like a bat out of he** and went about 90MPH to the vet.  we got there and they took her straight away.  the doctor cleaned her up a bit and showed me the problem.  a gland had become impacted and ruptured (x rated again, prepare yourself) through her skin and fur!  OH MAN!  my little baby had part of her insides on her outside!  they took her back and said they would sedate her, and give her antibiotic shot after they cleaned out the impacted gland.  they kept her for a few hours before closing and wanted her back the next day for surgery.  she had the surgery and did very well.  the dr. said that the impacting was caused by a bacterial infection, and that hopefully once her inner stitches heal, and her outer stitches are removed in 2 weeks, she will be as good as new.