The Flight/Animal Kingdom-Day 1
We woke up at 3:30 AM because our plan left at 6:25. When we got to the airport it was packed but we made it through OK and were off to Disney
. Mady felt great unlike last time when she had a stomach ache. The flight was a little bumpy and I got a little car sick. But once we landed I was good. It took us a little walking to find the Magical Express. We went to section A and it was in section B, but once we found it I was excited. Everything was top-notch, you show your arm band and they get you on the right bus. Off we went! I even got nostalgic and teary eyed just on the bus ride. I thought about being there with Tressa and there was no one else I wanted to be with on these trips. Thinking of the life we have made with these two kids.
When we got to Animal Kingdom they greeted us with “welcome home”. It was very safari like and great African music. Tressa had done a great job of getting us booked close to the main lobby. This place is huge and you could be a mile away. We are in a prime spot. Well we get there and our room was ready. We didn’t have to check in. You use your arm band and you are in, “its Disney magic”.
We got on a bus and headed to Animal Kingdom. We had fast passes to Dinosaur so we went there first. I was wanting a pic of every spot and everything we did. It started raining so we stopped at 
“Dinosaurestaurant”, then it slacked up so we went to partake in our first ride. I was very excited and glad to be back. We bought “memory maker”. That let’s you have every pic taken in every ride and every spot. I know when the pic was taken so I tried to do something goofy when T-Rex came out. Kids and Tres were having a good time so it was the start of an awesome trip. Once we were done we went to Bugs Life because Mt. Everest ride was closed due to lightning. We have seen Bug Life a lot but it is always funny and makes me think of when the kids were little and watching those movies piled up in our bed. It’s the same each year but still great.
I am trying to take everything in and remember it all. After that Mady and Tres went to Khali River ride. Me and Brad didn’t feel like getting even more soaked so we went to check on Mt. Everest. 
It was cool to have him run back to check on Tres and Mady when we knew Yeti was open. The dang kid is taller than me already. They showed up and we got on. It is Mady’s favorite and when it was raining Mady said ” we are not leaving Disney until we ride the Yeti ride”. So it all worked out great. We rode and Mady videoed while riding. They both rode again as single riders so everything was good. We went from there to the Safari ride. It was a good one cause we saw a bunch of Giraffes and it was really cool. The only bad thing was there wasn’t any baby elephant stolen for us to save. It was getting late so we tried to go to Dinosaur one more time. It was closed, then we tried to see Donald Duck and he was gone so we decided to go to the hotel. It was a long day and we had been up since 3:30 AM. We got back to the hotel and took a nap before we went to Boma for dinner.
We met the flennikin’s and had a great dinner. The food was African. The main thing I liked was the spicy tomato stew and PAP. Pap is a kinda grits but like mashed potato consistency.
It was awesome! They also had assorted meats with African flavor. After dinner we came back to our room. At Animal Kingdom lodge you can get a room with a savannah view. That is where you can see, possibly, African animals. Well there were giraffes, wildebeast and some antelope right outside our window. I know it’s Disney but WOW!, they were 20 yards away. That just added to the Disney magic. Off to bed and hitting Hollywood studios tomorrow.
Hollywood Studios/Hoop-dee-doo-Day 2
We got up early and headed out to Hollywood Studios. Our first fast pass was Star Tours, when we got to the main gate we noticed everything was about the movie Frozen. The billboards, the stage, even the parade and American idol ride. We all agreed that Vera would be going nuts. We took some pictures and videos to show her. At the Star Tours I waited while my Milliorn team rode. It gets me motion sick.
Oh BTW, we are getting tons of pictures. Tres got us a “memory maker”. Every pic the Disney people take goes straight to our account. When we get home we just download the pics. She does such an awesome job thinking of everything to help us all out. After Star Tours we went to watch a little of Frozen parade and to ride the Great Movie Ride. I love the movies so it is one of my favorite rides. We then headed to Tower of Terror. We hadn’t really eaten breakfast so me and Brad shared a chocolate covered hug doughnut that hit the spot.
It is cool and sad at the same time to be here with the kids older. Coo because they can help out and don’t need our help as much, but sad because they don’t get as excited and they don’t need our help as much. I look at all the little kids being carried or sooooo excited about every small thing. I just miss that aspect a little. We rode the Tower of Terror, the
Rockin Rollercoaster and they were as thrilling as ever. We had lunch and Brad had a huge turkey leg. We discussed our plans for the rest of the day and headed to try Toy Story and the Walt Disney One Man’s Dream. BTW we were all wearing matching shirts. Tres had wanted to do that for years. You see people walking around with the same shirts on and they have their names on them saying things like “Smith family vacation”.
So Tres made grey ones with mouse ears and our names. They had the Disney emblem on the back. I messed with her about it but really thought it was cool. It made the vacation even more Disney and wonderful.
Thanks Tres!!!! We weren’t able to get in Toy Story because of the line so we watched the show about Walt Disney himself and decided to head back to the hotel to get ready for Hoop-Dee-Doo that night. Hoop Dee-Doo is a show we try to go to every time. It’s a dinner show and they bring out friend chicken, ribs, and beans and mashed potatoes. Me and Tres had Sangria this time cause everyone said it was so good and it was. It was really cool cause we sat in the same table we had
years ago it’s like they knew and put us back there. We also took a matching picture of when we were here last time and showed how we have changed. The kids were so little the first two times and now they are adults so it’s kinda sad.
The show and dinner were great and the funny man was the best we had seen. After the show we took the boat back to the buses. It was a nice pleasant ride. That show has been a main stay on our trips. 
I hope some day Mady and Brad will bring their kids and family to Hoop Dee-Doo and make great memories like we have been able to do. Disney is AWESOME!!!! Tomorrow is Magic Kingdom the greatest place on earth.
Magic Kingdom – Day 3
To me Magic Kingdom is the greatest place on earth. It makes me feel like a kid and brings me close to family even more. We got up early and had Mickey waffles then caught the bus. 
As we 
walked in and you hear the music and dancers on the street it takes you back to your youth with the castle at the end of main street. We headed to tomorrowland and went to Buzz Lightyear and Mady beat us all. Tres got last and kept saying that her gun didn’t work. After that we went to Monsters Inc Laugh Floor. When that started they put my pic up on the board and said “this guy wants to get up and dance” so of course I did. LOL! The show was great and we headed to Space Mountain. I remembered how I used to reach and hold Brad on the Space Mountain ride cause I was worried he would fly out of the ride cause he was so small.
Now he can barely even fit in the ride cause he is so big and lanky. 
After that we headed to Frontier land and had lunch at the Tall Tales Inn. We then rode Thunder Mountain and then to Splash Mountain which is one of my favorites cause it also reminds me of being a kid. We didn’t get too wet but it is always awesome because of Brer Rabbit and the funny animals. I also love riding it at night cause it reminds me of being at Astroworld as a kid riding all the rides at night seeing the city in the distance. After Splash Mountain we went to Peter Pan, we had never ridden it. So we decided to wait in the long line that said 90 minute wait. Of course Brad hated the wait.
For some reason the line is sooooo long so I always wondered what all the hub-bub was about. Even though the wait was rough it was an awesome way to make memories having to deal with each other in line for 90 minutes. We fought, laughed, pouted, just went through all the emotions.
And the ride really wasn’t that good so now we have to hear mess from the kids forever. The ride was just slow-moving flying over the town Peter Pan was set in. It took sometime but we were in the air conditioning. We then went to the new roller coaster about the 7 dwarfs. It is much like Splash Mountain where they have a cave with the characters of snow white. After that we went and got more fast passes for Space Mountain and then went to ride the Jungle Tour. Very corny but we needed to ride it. Afterward we went top Casey at the Bat and had a snack and rested cause it was very hot. We relaxed a bit then shopped. I got a tie and looked for a grumpy shirt then decided to look for a Donald Duck shirt. Well I’m so fat I couldn’t find a shirt that fit so maybe that will help me start to lose weight. Anyway, Brad got shirts and so did Mady, Tres decided to hold off and go to downtown Disney later in the week. We then headed to “Be our Guest ” restaurant for dinner. We checked in and you wait on the bridge until you are called.
The castle is the Beast castle from ” Beauty and the Beast”. It was gorgeous, it has three rooms to eat in. A big bright hall, a smaller room and then the dark room. That is where we got to eat. And again I wanna thank Tres for setting all this up. She is the best wife and always takes care of the things that make my life easy.
It has thunder and lightening and a picture of the Beast as a man and then when it thunders the pic turns to the beast. It was a really cool experience. Me and Brad had the steak, Tres had the seafood puff and Mady had the chicken and she said it was the best chicken she ever had. Once we were done we realized it wasn’t just inside the castle it was actually pouring outside. So we put on our panchos and ran across to Space Mountain. Me and Tres stood under an awning and the kids rode Space Mountain. We then moved to Casey’s cause it was getting close to firework time. They made an announcement that the parade was canceled but we still waited on the fireworks. It was still raining so the kids stayed at Space Mountain and continued to ride while me and Tres sat and waited out the rain. I found it neat that the kids were now old enough to go on their own.
I remember when I had to carry them when they were 8-10 and now they take off on their own. Anyway as we sat and watched the rain slowly lessen we could see the people leaving so I knew I would get a good place to stand. Well the rain stopped and they made an announcement saying they would start.
I stood out oin the street and the fireworks started. I’m not going to go on and on about this cause if you are reading this you know my feelings on the fireworks at Magic Kingdom. But I do remember Mady showing up halfway through and giving me a hug saying ” I love you Dad”, that was cool. And Brad wandering around in front of us lost which is funny. Tres was by my side and we watched the entire show together soaking wet. Great memory. So after the fireworks we stayed for the Magic hours. The kids rode Space Mountain a couple more times, then we left. On the way to the buses the kids took off running and of course Brad got there in time for the bus but Mady didn’t. I found that funny that he had to wait for us. When we got back to the room we laid in bed and laughed a ton about the day.
It was really cool to hear the kids belly laugh as they made fun of us and talked about the day. My whole family, me and Tres in one bed and the kids in the other laughing.
Doesn’t get any better than that. It was Disney magic!!
EPCOT- Day 4
We slept in just a bit cause we knew Epcot doesn’t take as long. We took our time and got there, we headed to
test track so the kids could ride first and get it over with since it was a long line. I waited for them, as long they have fun I don’t have to ride everything. We then went to Soarin and it was cool. I then made them ride one of my favorites the vegetable garden. I always love seeing how they grow things. Of course the kids hate it, and that’s ok they will appreciate it later, I just have to let them grow into it. We went to Nemo after that. We have taken a picture in front of the Nemo ride 3 times through the years. I love seeing how the kids have grown but it also makes me a little sad. But the change is cool. We rode the ride then went to Mission Space. I rode the green level that isn’t as rough as the orange level that is crazy. Once that was done we went shopping and headed to the countries. I was still looking for a shirt so I settled on a Mickey shirt. We headed to walk the countries and headed to Mexico. We got there and Brad had forgotten there was a
ride in the restaurant. So it was funny to watch Mady and him argue about the ride. It is a corny ride but very nostalgic for me, I have memories of all of us riding the ride and eating there when the kids were young. Another ride is the Norwegian ride. We have ridden that forever. But when we got there it was closed cause there were making it into a Frozen ride. Mady was bummed but she did get her pretzel in Germany she was wanting (HaHa!!). We were pretty early and tired so we went into the show about America. It was funny cause the old man in charge was passionate about American history. He had a serious voice and mentioned where the bathrooms were in a serious voice. We sat in a little auditorium and watched a show of the history of America. It was good, but anything in Disney to me is cool. Then we went on down and visited the rest of the countries and walked around. We went to England and looked up our name and saw Canada and the rest. Then headed to France and the French restaurant we were going to eat at that night. It was 
a pretty restaurant with big open windows. We sat by one of the windows and could see the people outside 
walking by. It was comfortable and felt good to sit down as a family. The waiter was great and he was from the actual country of France. We had a great meal I even had duck confit. We then walked toward the front and found a good spot to watch fireworks. They were good but not as good as Magic Kingdom. It was a great day. We got to the hotel and kinda laid around. Tres and Mady decided to go to downtown Disney the next day in the morning real quick before we went home. In the morning they went to downtown Disney while me and Brad stayed in the hotel. We went and had breakfast and got everything that Tres had gotten packed the night before ready to
take to be check in to the airport. We went and checked the bags in at the front desk of the hotel. They got back and we just waited around the 
lobby until the bus came. The girls got back and we sat and talked until the 
sad view of the bus was there to take us home.
Going home – Day 5
This trip was awesome.We all had a great time, had great conversation and I experienced a new thing with the kids being older. Disney is the greatest place in the world. It brings me back to my childhood and makes me feel 
closer to the kids and Tres. Whenever I leave I want to go right back. I hope the kids will remember it with great memories that will stay with them long after I’m gone. I want to thank Tressa so so very much for getting everything together. You do an amazing job and makes me love you even more.
What a wonderful time, and to think……………………………..It all started with a mouse.
P.S. I heard they are doing away with one of my favorite shows. The “One Man’s Dream” attraction. Makes me sad for it to be gone.
Ya’ll be safe out there!!!!
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Brad started playing school basketball last year. He also played with a AAU team called the Clear Lake hoyas. he loves basketball and I love watching him play. he plays so hard and is such a team player. When he was in city basketball he was very tall and still is, so I made him a post. Well I shouldn’t have I should have let him handle the ball more. He has really done a great job improving his dribbling skills. While playing in 7th grade he played hard and was one of the guards. He had an ok shot but his left hand needed to be fixed and he has done a good job of trying to get that done.
againest pearland west he had 12 points by shooting a bunch of threes and driving the lane. We won that game big. He had a great year and improved and continued to love basketball. After the season was over he still wanted to play more. We found the Hoyas team and tried out for them. they already had a team set for the 7th graders so we played with a younger group. Brad was the main one on the team and played almost every minute. The only thing was he played post but still worked on improving his jumper and ball handling. With that team we traveled a bit. Mostly around north houston but we did get to go to san antonio on our last tournament. That is when brad played but had mono. Whish we didn’t know 
until we got home. We were on the way to san antonio and he said his stomach hurt. We got him something to eat and he said it felt a little better. At the hotel the night before he was nauseas but wanted to play. He went to bed struggled to play the next day and had to be taken out some cause his stomach was hurting. We gave him pepto abd other things to help his stomach but nothing helped. He did feel some better in the room and me and Tres even went down to the river walk and to Dick’s
last resort and he seemed to be ok there but didn’t eat much. We finished the weekend and headed home. He played great the last day and we thought he was getting over his bug. When we got home ww took him to the redi-
clinic. He tested positive for mono and they sent us to Dr. Don. Yep!!! he had mono. Soooooo two 
things , he is a tough SOB and we are bad parents LOL. Well that basketball season was over. He did get to meet a rocket great in Mario Elie. He played against his son one game that summer. He was also playing in a pasadena league with his teammates from jr high so he had to miss the last couple of games. 
pounds. It was very miserable and lasted about 2-3 weeks. He finally felt good enough to eat and we went to waffle house and you can see what he ate in this pic.
7th grade season was over summer was over and 8th grade started and we will post about football later. This is basketball to get caught up to 9th grade. So 8th garde basketball I could tell Brad was so much more confident and better and handling 
the ball and shooting. The only thing is he 
would get soooooo nervous sometimes in games and not shoot good. But he was a great overall player. He passed the ball and rebounded and played tremendous defensive. I recall 
againest BJH he was covering their point guard and he was a very good player. We beat them and Brad worked his butt off all game holding the guy down. the high school coaches were there and Ryan Bright the JV coach even went up to Brad and told him he enjoyed watching him play defense and he 
worked very 
hard. that made Brad’s night. They season went on and we were 4-0 in zone play. We had a game againest DPJH for the zone championship. Ofcourse Malcolm and Devin played on that team and it was going to be tough. Me and another dad put a team together and played some tournaments to basically get ready for that game.
In the DPJH game we played great and game out strong getting a 7 point lead. Brad played great and so did the entire team. We played as such a team and unselfsih it was fun to watch. At the end of the game they were making a run coming back. It was a 4 point lead and luke shaper stole the ball. Brad went back to defend, Luke was going full speed and Brad stepped in front 
and took the charge and we got the ball. Went down the court and Brad got fouled and made 2 free throws to put us up by 6 with 5.7 seconds. Malcolm went and made a 3 at the buzzer and we won. It was a great team win and Brad played great. He had 6 points and and played good in every aspect of the game. and he also took a charge. It was also bittersweet because we had to beat his two best friends Malcolm and Devin but we will all be back together next year. The last Jr high basketball will be played this weekend at the district tournament. Brad will then play for the Clippers which is an AAU team. I will post more about that later. I will end just by saying I love watching how hard Brad plays and how smart he is about the entire game and he is such a team player.
