Jack-O-Launch

Last Saturday I needed to get out! I didn't even care that it was below freezing and snowing outside. I didn't care that the time it took me to prepare to leave my house would be longer than the time I could actually be away from my house. It didn't matter, nothing mattered I was getting out!

So I got online and did some research. What could be going on in Denver? I wondered. Then I came across the 10th annual Jack-O-Launch! An actual competition where people spend hours and days and maybe months to create contraptions just for the sake of shooting pumpkins out of them. I thought this sounded quite hilarious. Aaron thought this sounded seriously cool.

Here is how it went:









It was cold... but it was fun!

The catapults came in all shapes and sizes... air compressed cannons, traditional trebuchets, and some sort of motor driven tower that was surprisingly powerful. Distances ranged from 20 feet to over 2000 feet... seriously. One of the air compressed cannons was so powerful that if you blinked, you missed it. Teams received different awards for style, distance, and creativity... not that we stayed for the awards. Between being weak and it snowing, we couldn't stay long.

Besides the main event Jack-o-launch there were traditional fall festival events like a pumpkin patch, scarecrow making, brewing apple cider, etc. Even a live country band to liven up the atmosphere (although with the weather there were about 3 people dancing to it). It really would have been a great event if the weather had cooperated. There's always next year, - we'll see you at Aurora's next Jack-o-launch.

Back to reality...

I seriously have to make a case here for Disney World being one of the happiest places on earth. Especially if you stay on Disney World property. For however long your visit is, you are completely encompassed in a World of Disney. I think it is just fabulous. And everyone really is so happy! Everyone is smiling and saying hi. And of course all of the Disney workers are required to be nice to you, but seriously why bother working for Disney if you didn't want to be friendly to people.

Well the reason I bring this up is because you kind of forget for a few days while you are there that there is a world outside of Disney that isn't always kind and friendly. Literally within 30 minutes of getting off of Disney's Magical Express(the shuttle that takes you from your hotel to the airport) I had been yelled at for going too slow, being in the way and for going the wrong way. I think I actually said to Aaron, "Well I guess we are no longer in Disney."

And the night we returned from Disney didn't get any happier. As soon as we returned home, Aaron went inside the house while I waited in the car. Apparently, with my new super smelling pregnancy power, I have developed a strong dislike for the smell of our new home. Aaron went inside to freshen up the smell of the house so I wouldn't get sick immediately upon entering. Well about 30 seconds after Aaron was inside, I got a phone call from him. "Someone broke in! Our T.V. is gone!"(That was a fun phone call) Aaron then proceeded to call the cops. I don't know if it this was a good thing or a bad thing but within 30 seconds we had two cop cars show up at our house. I don't know if I should feel extra protected knowing that they were so close or extra worried that they needed to be so close. Anyway they showed up and checked out the rest of the house to make sure the burglar was gone. Once we got the all clear, we had to then search the house for anything else the burglar took. In the end he didn't get away with much, he took some jewelery and some credit cards that we had left on our night stand.

It turns out the T.V. wasn't taken it had just been moved. Along with our play station, xbox, and laptop. He had started to move our desktop computer but it didn't make it far. This guy went through everything. All of our drawers, closets, he even went through our temple bags, he dumped out all of my purses.

That night Aaron was in panic mode. I, who had just come off of a very turbulent and long flight, was exhausted and sick. And I was obviously not myself, because all I thought was, oh well that's too bad, can I go to bed now? And then I seriously thought it was cool when the CSI team showed up to fingerprint the house. (I think I watch way too many crime dramas.) Although now that this event has sunk in, I still think it is kind of cool that my T.V. was dusted for fingerprints. And who knew that fingerprint powder was orange. All this time I thought it was black. Maybe it is a special Halloween blend. (Again obviously I'm not thinking like a normal person yet.)

Even though we were rudely awakened from our magical happy vacation, we got pretty lucky. The cops still aren't sure why he didn't take more. They think either he got spooked or realized that it was too big of a job for one man. The cops were pretty sure who was behind our break in, a guy who just broke out of county jail, because unfortunately we weren't the only ones in the neighborhood who had this experience.

But we now have learned our lesson and have a burglar proof house. Aaron has spent many days making sure our house is extra protected!

To Eternity and Beyond

Hello all! I know it has been a while. I have a perfectly good excuse for why I have been slacking on the blog, but I will get to that later. First I have to tell you all about the 1st annual Wray family reunion!

Now where would be the perfect place to start our family reunion tradition? Disney World, of course! We tried to go somewhere else. We looked into Washington D.C., various beaches, and even Bear Lake, but Disney won in the end! I am so glad that it did!

It was the 7th time that our family has gone to this happy place and even though we are all grown up Disney still has not lost its magic. We had a blast. All 9 of us were able to attend including the most adorable 14 month old that this Wray family has ever had the privilege of being related to! I just want to kidnap her!



Unfortunately I didn't get any shots of us in our official reunion shirts but they looked something like this. Each of us got to pic our fav Disney character. My dad's shirt even sported the official reunion theme... to eternity and beyond!



So what did we do while at Disney? Well let me show you. (Now I took 600 pictures so trying to narrow them down has been tough so I apologize if I put you on picture overload.)


Magic Kingdom:



Splash Mountain:
'

It's a Small World:


Jungle Cruise:


Pirates of the Caribbean:


Buzz Light Year! My brother actually conquered this game. He reached 999,999 points! Way to go Jeff!


And we did our fair share of shopping:

"Mom can I have this?"

"And this?"

"Oh and I think I'll take one of these too."

And the lucky winner... Woody with a nap!


Gotta love the parades!



Hollywood Studios:

Back Lot Tour:


Indiana Jones Show:


American Idol Show: (This was seriously cool!)


Fantasmic:


Beauty and the Beast Musical: (My family loved me for dragging them to this one!)



EPCOT:

Monorail:


Spaceship Earth:


Baby Kate playing in the water fountain:


Segway Central:



Animal Kingdom:

Tree of Life:


African Safari:


Expedition Everest:


Disney Dining Plan:

Disney does not skimp on the food! Since we partook in their dining plan option, everyday we got a quick service meal and sit down meal and both consisted of entree, desert and drink. These were not small entrees. For lunch, Aaron would get a 1/2 roasted chicken, slab of ribs, mashed potatoes and green beans with carrot cake for desert plus like 2 gallons of soda. Then would be expected to do it all again for dinner. Plus the dining plan includes one snack a day. We were permanently stuffed all week!

We ate at some great places! Captain Jacks sea food restaurant in Downtown Disney, Le Ceilier a steak house in Canada, 50's prime time cafe at Hollywood Studios that took us back in the past and served good southern fried chicken and pot roast. Chef Mickeys breakfast buffet with all of our favorite Disney characters. I think our favorite meal was at a place called Ohanas at the Polynesian resort. Within 5 minutes they had served us our salad, appetizers, and entree which was just giant skewers of meat and then they just kept on bringing more food!

Chef Mickeys:


Gummy Bears for breakfast! Only in Disney World.


Ohanas- This is just before they attacked us with never ending amounts of food.


Love this photo! I can just imagine her saying:

"I'll go ahead and order for myself tonight. For an appetizer I'll take two crayola crayons to suck on and that napkin over there looks pretty tasty. For dinner I'll have the beef low mien but who are we kidding here it is all going to end up on the floor anyway. I'll take an orange juice to drink. Thank you."



Disney's Contemporary Resort:

I can't finish this post without mentioning our hotel. We have always had the privilege of staying at a Disney resort, but we always stayed at a place called Coronado Springs. I was excited to show Aaron the hotel that we always stayed at. This time we decided to switch it up and stay at a new hotel. I was a little bummed at first, but all that sadness went away the second we walked into the hotel. It was incredible! The room was so big it fit us all. It had two bedrooms, three bathrooms, plus a huge living room and kitchen!

And check out this view! The Magic Kingdom! We were so close it was only a five minute walk to the park or you could hope on the monorail to another one of Disney's parks because the monorail came right into the hotel.


Nighttime and Daytime view from the hotel:


You could even sit on the hotel balcony and watch the fireworks show! It was incredible!


Now I am sure if you have made it this far in the past that you are wondering what kind of souveniers that I picked up on this trip. Well I got plenty of t-shirts and magnets and even a mick mouse pancke maker. But when it came to my Belle souveniers, I sort of exhausted all of my options. I have endless picture frames, jewelery boxes, t-shirts, blankets, pillows, pens, pencils, notebooks and I could go on. There wasn't much to choose from becasue I already had it. So I had to get a little creative on this trip and I was inspired one evening as we made a trip to Goofy's candy store... there it was, a Belle Carmel apple! It was so simple. Carmel, whilte chocolate and yellow sprinkles! It was perfect!



It was another successful trip to Disney World. We were spoiled and we had so much fun! Yes even Aaron had a good time!