Hello. (knock, knock, knock)... Is anybody there? It's me, Patty. PATTY! Yes, it's me.
A friend of mine sent me a message a few months ago, asking if I was okay. She hadn't heard from me in a while and I hadn't blogged in months. Really? Had it been months since I'd blogged? So when another friend of mine mentioned a few weeks ago that I hadn't blogged in awhile, I decided it was time to get on here and check. Why yes, it had been months! Uhhhhh, sorry about that, folks! So, to all of my loyal readers (the few of you who might still actually be checking my blog), I offer my sincerest apologies. And I hope that there are still a few of you who've stuck around to see this new post.
So, dear friends, let's get caught up with each other, shall we? Here's my summer... Get ready! On your mark, get set, go!
May 30: Avery turned 8! We gave the kids birthday presents (Disney autograph books and pens) and told them that we were taking them to Disney World. And the reality of it all started to set in! 
June 1 (I think): At some point during the last week of school, both Samuel and Avery had awards assemblies at school, the yearbooks were delivered to the school but half of them were printed wrong, and we had a tornado blow through town... I'm not really sure exactly when everything happened though... because that week is still all a blur... 
That picture (above) would be from the night we crammed all 3 kids, tons of bottled water and snacks, a twin sized mattress, 1-50 pound dog (a dog that, as it turns out, does NOT like hail and tends to not only drool but also whines and pants the ENTIRE time when there's a major storm brewing, as you are all crammed into a bathroom the size of well, a small bathroom), 1-16 pound cat (that likes to moan, A LOT, at the dog that is panting, drooling, and whining in her face), some flashlights, candles, shoes, blankets, and 2 adults, all in a small bathroom when the tornado was rolling through town... Isaac slept the entire time.
June 3: Last day of school.
Incidentally, I have a little tradition where I not only take a picture of the kids on the first day of school, but I also take a picture of them on the last day of school too. First day of school... on the front porch. Last day of school... near the bar in the dining room. I LOVE seeing how much they grow in a year based on the height of the bar!June 4: Avery had a birthday party with 12 friends at Celebration Station.
June 5: Samuel had his birthday party, with his best friend and his father (no girls or mothers allowed!) at Chuck E. Cheese.
June 7: Samuel turned 10.June 8: My sister and her 2 children moved in with our family.
June 9: Tried to get my sister prepared to take care of the dog, cat and house while we were gone to Disney World.
June 10: Started frantically packing for Disney.
June 11: Realized there was absolutely no way that we were going to be able to attend a family member's wedding. Reluctantly made a few phone calls and stayed home from the wedding, and finished packing, frantically, until around midnight.
June 12: Woke up at 5:00 a.m. and left for Disney. Drove through Texas, Louisiana, Mississippi and Alabama. Drove for 13 hours. Stopped for the night in Pensacola, Florida. Stayed in the worst hotel ever! Seriously, it was bad!
June 13: Drove 7 hours from Pensacola to Disney World. Checked into our resort. Swam in the resort's pool until around 10:30 p.m. Kids thought it was SO COOL that they were swimming that late at night.
June 14: Woke up way too early to go eat breakfast with Mary Poppins, Winnie the Pooh, Alice in Wonderland, and The Mad Hatter. Paid $16.99 for Isaac to eat a handful of Fruit Loops and half a banana. He spent the entire time staring at Mary Poppins, never once saying a single word to her or any of the other characters. Practically Perfect!
Paid $32 (yes, folks, you read that right) for Samuel to eat a biscuit and a pancake shaped like Mickey Mouse, only to refuse (REFUSE, I tell you!) to be in ANY pictures with the aforementioned characters. But the $32 we paid for Avery's breakfast was well worth it, as she wanted to pose with all of the characters at least a dozen times. Poor Alice had to pry herself away from my adoring daughter's grasp. Sorry, Alice... Sorry.
By the way, Hector and I ate ALL of our $32 worth of breakfast, and we even took some fruit to go!
Yes. We. Did!
After breakfast, we trotted over to the Magic Kingdom. See how hot and sweaty we look? Well, that's from all that trotting we did.
Met Pluto.
Saw an awesome parade. Danced in the streets.
Got to see my precious daughter get pampered and treated like a princess at the Bibbidi Bobbidi Boutique inside Cinderella's Castle. Didn't realize it until after we arrived home from our vacation, but the professional photographer inside the boutique snapped this picture (below) of me at the very the moment that Avery was turned around, and she and I got to see her for the first time after she'd been pampered all day long. Now folks, I tend to pride myself on being frugal and loving a good deal, but this type of pampering did not come cheap and I will admit that before I made the reservation I didn't want to do it. And after I made the reservation I almost cancelled it (twice). But I tell you what, to see the look on my beautiful daughter's face, and to have this moment with her that was perfectly captured in this photo, well I would spend the money and do it all again in a heartbeat, without a doubt!
Yep, totally worth it!
June 15: Went to the Animal Kingdom. It was at this point that Isaac's suspicion that we'd all lost our minds was confirmed.
Saw the Tree of Life.
Met Lilo and Stitch.
Met Mickey Mouse and Minnie Mouse! This is it, kids... The whole reason we drove 20 hours!!! Look at me! Please look at me... Smile! Please smile while looking at me... Please?!? Okay, that's good enough!
This picture (above) was my 4th attempt to get all 3 of my kids to actually look at the camera AND smile!
Ah, now that's precious! :-) By the way, before we went on this vacation, a friend of mine suggested that we do the majority of our "main" character greetings at the Animal Kingdom. Why? Well, the average wait time to meet Mickey and Minnie at the Magic Kingdom was 1 1/2- 2 hours. Average time to meet these same exact characters at the Animal Kingdom... 15 minutes! And for Tigger, Eeyore and the other characters, we simply walked right up to them with no wait time.And so, we met Tigger.
Met Eeyore.
Met Goofy.
Met Donald.
And then we met... Wait a minute! Who is this?!?! I mean, I knew who it was, but my kids didn't have a clue. Yet, there they were, posing for yet another picture. Do you get the impression that my kids were just running up and posing with anything soft and cuddly at this point? Yeah, me too...
Saw another awesome parade.
Saw The Lion King musical. Horrible picture... Spectacular show!
Waited almost 2 hours to go on an African safari ride. Felt like we really were in Africa, it was SO HOT! Actually had Hector get out of line, walk a mile to go get us all some ice cream, come back, then we all devoured our ice cream, and still had to wait in line for another hour. BUT, we soon realized those 2 hours of waiting were TOTALLY worth it when Isaac said that he was sooo happy that we finally took him to Africa, and that I was the best mommy ever. Priceless memory right there! Wish I could have captured those words on video (for later when he's a teenager and thinks I'm the worst MOTHER ever)!
June 16: Went to Hollywood Studios. Met Buzz Lightyear and Woody.
Met a Green Army Man.
Watched my oldest son get to see Darth Vader, up close. He refused to meet him. Can't say I blame him!
Rode the Star Tours ride about a dozen times. Samuel was in heaven!
June 17: Went back to the Magic Kingdom.
Met Daisy Duck. Yo, Acevedo Kids, your mama is over here!!! Over here! Look over here!!! Oh, forget it. :-)
We all started to feel the exhaustion setting in (some more than others)...
Saw the princess show.
Stood in line for an hour, in the rain, to meet Princess Tiana, only to get to the front of the line and get told that Princess Tiana was getting wet and needed to go inside. Well, that's a princess for you, right? Because we were ALL wet! Waited and waited, but the rain never stopped, and we never got to meet Princess Tiana, or any other princess that day, as it turned out...
Kept my kids out way too late in the hopes that the rain would eventually stop and we'd get to see the most awesome fireworks and laser light show ever! This time, our patience paid off!
June 18: Went to Epcot.
Became one of THOSE parents. You know, the parents who make their kids wear those adorable animal backpacks (horrible leashes) in crowded public places because they can't maintain control of them.
Listen, little boy, you can pout all you want, but I told you that if you ran off from me one more time that you'd have to wear this thing... so here we are! I don't want to hold the leash any more than you want to wear it. But this is our last day here and you're not going to ruin it all by doing something like getting lost. Oh, you're wearing it, alright. Do you hear me, Mister Man?Realized shortly after arriving at Epcot that Isaac was about 4 inches too short to ride 98% of the rides. So the leash, I mean adorable backpack, came off. And while the "tall" people rode all the "big" rides, Isaac and I rode the Finding Nemo ride about 6 dozen times, then we played in the fountains, and then we ate tons of very yummy (absurdly expensive) ice cream.
June 19: Packed it up, left the happiest place on Earth (sadly), and started the long drive home.
June 20: Continued with the second half of the longest car ride home ever!
June 21-23: Unpacked and tried to recuperate...
June 24-26: Went on a weekend retreat with my friends from my mothers of preschoolers group.
June 27-30: Tried to unpack from Disney and my weekend retreat, and repack for our trip to the beach. Uh, yes...
July 1: Got back in the car for another vacation. I'm being serious... Drove down to south Texas. Spent the week with family, at the beach.
That's my 3 kids with some of their cousins (above). Me with my mom and siblings (below).
July 8: Drove back home...
July 15: Celebrated my sister Nina's birthday.
Spent the next month just hanging out at places like the library, the water park, the zoo...
and the park...
August 6: Celebrated my 17th wedding anniversary. Wow!
Started the back-to-school shopping. Started preparing myself for back-to-school...
August 14: Maggie dog turned 3!
August 19: Gave Hector a surprise party for his 40th birthday.
August 22: Summer was over, and the kids started back to school.
As for the past 6 weeks or so, well that update will just have to wait for another time. I'm tired, but it felt so good to finally blog again and get caught up. I've missed you all! Thanks for hanging in there with me!
It was over 15 years ago that Hector and I decided to open our hearts and our home to an adorable little 8 pound dog. She was 8 weeks old, part Pekingese, part Cocker Spaniel, part who knows what else, and part crazy! Our first dog! We named her Molly, and later nicknamed her Ta'Molly (tamale), which later progressed into Miss Ta'Molly Polly Pockets... a crazy name to fit her crazy personality! The guy at the animal shelter where we adopted her from told us that she'd been abandoned by her mother, and that she sure did give the big dogs a run for their money in the yard each day. He also told us that she was a hand full, but that with the right owners, she could potentially become a great family pet. And she was... she was crazy, and a hand full, and a great family pet. 
Today, our family said goodbye to Molly. She was unable to stand up this morning, and was struggling to breathe. By the time I got her to our vet clinic, she was almost gone. I had only a few minutes to talk to the vet and say my goodbyes to Molly, before she slipped away. I was hoping to type some of my favorite memories of Molly here, because there are so many. But I'm just not there yet. Can't seem to let go of the sorrow and focus on the happy memories we had with this dog for 15 1/2 years of our lives. But I know that I will get there eventually. Goodbye, Miss Molly. You are so deeply missed.
Hector and I returned home a couple of days ago from a trip we took to New York City. Hector's travelled there many times for business. This was my first time to the Big Apple. The city was everything I imagined it would be; crowded, noisy, busy, fun, exciting, and electric with energy. We went in celebration of my 39th birthday (which, by the way, passed by without too many "I'm getting old." emotional moments from me). New York City really is exactly like what you see in the movies. The streets are always full of taxis and ambulances and cop cars and people. Tons of people.
Someone is always honking, but very rarely does anyone move or respond to the honking. And there's bike messengers and delivery personnel walking and weaving their way in and out of all of the cars.
Things I expected... I expected Time Square to be bright and loud and visually enticing. And it was. I also expected the streets to be crowded and somewhat dirty. And they were. At night, the restaurants and local businesses throw tons of bags of trash onto the sidewalks. The already over-crowded sidewalks become even more crowded as people try to weave around tons of bags of garbage. That was one part of New York that I honestly could have done without. 
I expected the food to be awesome. And it was. I'm a foodie. Yes, I took pictures of the food. I loved every single minute of the food in NYC.
I expected the Statue of Liberty to be breathtaking. And she was. The moment I saw her, I was in love. Seriously, she is beautiful. And I was so thrilled that I was able to see her, in all of her glory, in my lifetime.
Things I didn't expect... I didn't expect Central Park to be as beautiful as it was. I knew it would be nice. But I was blown away with just how romantic the atmosphere was. All of the detail in the stone bridges and iron work all over the park like on the lamp posts and hand rails on the bridges, and all of the gloriously detailed carvings in the park benches... it really was beautiful.
I didn't expect Grand Central Station to be beautiful too. I expected it to be dirty and shady looking. But it wasn't. They have crystal chandeliers hanging in Grand Central Station, and marble floors, and stained glass windows, and a beautiful mural on the ceiling. That was quite a shock to me.
I didn't expect to stumble upon a part of Manhattan called the Sutton Area. Sutton is my maiden name, and I found it amusing that so many of the local businesses had "Sutton" in their name.
I also didn't expect for my purse to be knocked off my arm on the way to see Wicked on Broadway. True story... We were leaving the hotel to go to dinner before the show. As a cab pulled up to get us, a woman walked by and knocked my purse off my arm. My purse fell to the ground and it opened up. In that moment of chaos, I simply picked up my purse and we jumped into the cab. It wasn't until after we ate dinner and were almost to the theater that I realized that the tickets for the show were not in my purse. Panic set in. By the time we got to the theater, I was in tears. I walked up to the very first ticket window in a long line of windows. I explained to the man what had happened. While crying, I think I said something to the effect of, "Purse - knocked off arm - rude woman - lost tickets - what can we do?" The man asked me what our seat numbers were, and thank God that Hector actually knew the seats! The man reached over, and handed me our tickets! Someone had found them on the street, and went all the way to the theater to turn them in for us! Obviously, both Hector and I were ecstatic and were honestly in shock that someone went to all the trouble to help out complete strangers. 
Let me put this into perspective for you all. The man who found the tickets either walked 1.5 miles (one way) from the hotel to the theater, or paid probably around a $25 cab fare (one way) to go turn in our tickets for us. This man (who we later found out from the hotel's concierge was literally just a man walking by our hotel and saw the tickets and decided to do the right thing), not only went into the hotel and tried to find us, but when he realized that we were not in our room and that the show was that night and was starting soon, he decided to stop what he was in the process of doing. He decided to not leave the tickets at the hotel's front desk, and he decided to take the tickets to the Gershwin Theater himself. And let me break this down even more. He decided to not try to use the tickets for himself. And he decided to not try to sell the tickets on the street... 7th row Broadway show musical tickets... Thanks be to God that there are honest, kind people in this world, even in New York City!!! :-) I am now convinced that New Yorkers have an undeserved bad reputation as rude and short-tempered people. Every New Yorker we met was beyond nice and helpful to us. And that was quite possibly the most wonderfully unexpected part of our trip. 
We were SOOOO happy to be sitting in our seats! And the show was amazing!