Can you say amazing???

Update on 8/5/08: I'm sorry if I have misled any of my blog "readers", but I must tell you that the mail last year & the mail this year that came in did not come to my home address but to my mom's address. I know that I mention below that I did say that the baseball went to my mom's house, but I have been told that I have misled people! Sorry for the confusion!

I am so amazed. Remember this post from last year? We were about to head to the Braves, and I received some interesting mail? Well it has happened again! I can't believe it. My mom received another baseball in the mail yesterday with a signed baseball by Claude Olsteen. And as you can tell from our ticker, we're heading to the Braves tomorrow. I figure that since it's been 4 years since my dad's passing that he must have mailed the ball at least 4 and a half years ago. I started shaking when my sister called & told me. I know without a shadow of doubt that it's all God & my dad letting me know that he's excited as we take the boys to see the Braves! I told myself all day again today that it's my dad's way of showing his excitement!

Day 8- Hollywood Studios & lots of Star Wars!!!

This entire day was devoted to everything Star Wars! Since it was Star Wars Weekend, Hollywood Studios had Star Wars everywhere, and I mean EVERYWHERE!!!! I must admit that I don't know much about Star Wars, but since my boys LOVE it, I tried to capture everything on film! I took a few hundred pictures this day, and here are my favorites!

The day started off with Storm Troopers hanging out on the roof tops!


This was Myles as he was looking at them! He was so excited!


The boys with a clone trooper!


Here is Myles with Queen Amidala. She spent so much time with him. She was asking him if he was a pod racer! Connor was in the bathroom during this time, but he did make it out in time!


After a few minutes of being inside, the boys really wanted to make a Star Wars potato head. We thought we had seen them at the Star Wars store, but when we made it to the store, we realized that we must have seen them somewhere else. So the boys HAD to have a light saber so we let them buy one. If we would have known what would happen later in the day, we would not have purchased one! You'll see why in a second!


Jango Fett & the boys!


Here the boys are with Babo Fett. We were kind of lucky to be able to find them so close together. We ended up being one of the last ones to see Jango Fett so we were able to get in the same line so we could see Babo Fett.


Connor sure is checking out the gun in the first picture! Aurra Sing was very interesting!


Here the boys are with a Jawa. We came across a group of Jawas later on and they wanted to give us 3 fast passes for the Star Wars ride for Myles! We decided not to trade!


Here the boys are with the blue power ranger. I know this picture is stuck in the middle of the Star Wars mania, but something really special happened on the way to see the power ranger that we had missed on Day 3!


Okay, here is the beginning of the boy's magical experience. While we were on our way to see the blue power ranger, a nice man named Michael stopped us to ask what we would be doing at 11:45? We said nothing, and then he asked if the boys would like to be Padawan's in the Star Wars Motorcade parade! We were so stoked to say the least! Here the boys are receiving their special bracelets that let officials know that they were in the parade!

Getting ready to go get in costume! Connor really was excited even though he didn't look like it here!

There are my 2 Padawans leading the pack! I was so, so excited for them! There was reserved seating for the parents that didn't walk in the parade. I chose to stay and take pictures while Kevin walked behind them. They came so quickly that I didn't get nearly as many pictures as I wanted!

My other Padawan!

There were only about 20 or so kids that were chosen so we felt really blessed that the boys were chosen!


Here the boys after they walked in the parade. Yes, they got to keep the light sabers, which means we only had 4 to keep up with instead of 2!! Yeah, Kevin and I weren't very thrilled about that!

The boys with a Sand Person!

The boys with Chewbacca. He was really sweet with the boys. I have some pictures of him talking with them that are priceless to us!

Here the boys are with Bith, although I accidentally cut off the 5th member!


My two Jedi Knights!

Check out how much attention the boys received here! Here they are with Mace Windu & 2 other characters. I'm still trying to find out the names! Okay the other characters are Shaak Ti & Kit Fisto! Good thing Myles was able to find the names from the Star Wars Lego Wii game!

Here the boys are with Jake Lloyd who played Young Anakin. We had to stand in this line as soon as the gates opened to get a fast pass that told us what time to come back to meet Jake Lloyd. The boys were so excited to meet him because he was just a little older than Myles when he played Young Anakin! He was really nice too!

My three Star Wars fans!


Here they are with Warwick Davis. After we received our fast pass to meet Jake Lloyed, we hopped in line to try and get a fast pass for Warwick. Well wouldn't you know that we received the first stand by tickets for him and weren't guaranteed to meet him. Thankfully the stand byers were chosen in numerical order & we had the first stand by ticket. Warwick was super nice too & was very funny! He also plays in the newest Narnia movie!

Luke Skywalker with the boys!

The last character that we caught up with was Darth Vader! He was so tall!

On our way out after a long day of seeing Star Wars!

Mommy finally tried to get in on the Star Wars action although she didn't really know what to do!


I'm throwing this picture in because it's the boys with an Army man! Since Myles loved playing army men with my dad, I was so excited to be able to get a picture of him with one!


Well I really thought that I would finish off our Disney trip this evening, but since the post was extremely long, I will try to finish the trip tomorrow. Up next is our last full day of theme parks, which include Epcot & Magic Kingdom!

Day 7- Blizzard Beach & Mickey's Backyard Barbque

We spent the morning at Blizzard Beach, but I don't have any pictures because we didn't want to rent another locker. And, since my camera isn't waterproof, I decided not to bring it! We did have lots of fun being lazy in the Cross County Creek! We also had lots of fun racing as a family on the Tobaggan Racers! I think I won! I think the most fun for us as a family was the Teamboat Springs! We used double rafts and each of us had one boy. It was lots fun! We spent about half the day there before we headed back to the camper for some rest & relaxation before out Backyard Barbque with Mickey & his friends!

When we first arrived at the character dinner, we were greeted by Goofy. And, boy was he goofy and crazy the entire night! Now I know why the dinner is only offered two times a week! The boys loved it, especially Connor!


We were also greeted by Chip & Dale, who we had not seen until this night!


Here the boys are eating. The food was delicious and well worth the cost! The only thing that we didn't like was that champagne & beer was being served. We both thought that it was a little inappropriate since it was a character dinner after all!


Yes, for dessert there was all you could eat ice cream, and Myles & Connor were thrilled. Kevin was too since we had been paying $2.50 per ice cream each day at the parks & we had been buying them for the boys to help cool them off!


And, yes, we let them eat all they wanted!


Here are the Stoots' boys getting jiggy with it! The night included lots of singing and dancing & rope shows! Just what my little cowboys love!


Connor chilling out with Goofy!

Myles dancing with the main lady singer/dancer, Sarsaparilla Sally!

The boys with Mickey & Minnie!

Up next will be a fun-filled day at Hollywood Studios where lots of Star War characters were seen and where 2 little Stoots' boys were made into little Padawans!

Characters from Epcot!

We only saw three characters at Epcot on our first visit. We weren't really looking for any and actually accidentally came across the Princesses!

Here the boys are with Mexican Donald!


The boys (or should I say Myles) with Princess Aurora! This is where we first learned that Connor really did not want his picture taken with any princesses!


Myles with Belle. Connor would not even go near her!


Up next for us is Blizzard Beach & our character dining experience at Mickey's Backyard Barbque!