Fun after a hard week!

When visiting Disney, depending on the time of year it could be relaxing with short lines and very enjoyable. Or, it could be not so enjoyable with very long lines and feeling like you didn't get to see much at all. Last week was a hard week with all the activities and homework we had. I thought we all needed a break and we decided to take the weekend and go to Disney. We have never been to Disney in September before and we didn't know what to expect in terms of crowds. I have to say, it was perfect. We went to Hollywood Studios and there was hardly anyone in the park. In my 40 years of going to Disney, I have never seen it that empty. The economy and school starting must be a big part of the park's attendance.  Needless to say we had a great time seeing the park.  The weather was great and there were no wait lines.

The first ride we had to go on was the rock'n roll rollercoaster.  We like it so much that we rode on it twice.

The Toy Story Army Man 

The entrance to Honey I shrunk the kids play ground. This is a pretty wild place. Everything is so large. The blades of grass are thirty feet tall and the ants are as big as a small car. I don't understand why this Tonka Truck is so small.

There are two favorite shows we like. This one is the Car stunt show. The cars and motorcycles do some amazing stunts. Here a motorcycle slid through the fire and the guy caught on fire. The other show is Indiana Jones stunt show.  

This is a new part of the show.  Lightning Mc Queen and the secret weapon car from Lightning Mc Queen 2. 

  The next day we went to Blizzard Beach Water Park. Again the park was empty. No wait lines and the weather was great. We went to this water park about three years ago and I thought it was to dangerous for a young child. They have some child friendly rides but the majority of them are very high and fast water slops. We spent most of our time on the obstacle course, lazy river and a couple of tube rides. This really kept us occupied for most of the day.

We could spend all day in the Lazy River.  

The Cisco Kid loved the challenge of catching the floating Ice burgs across the water.

It's a good thing The Cisco Kid got a chance to do this because they have a size cut off and within the next year of so he will be to big to go on it. 

The guys are heading to the summit. 

Heading up to the top! There are two different kinds of rides up there.  The one in this picture is a fee falling slop at 55 mph.  As daring as I am, I won't even go on that. The other ride is a nice easy ride on a large family sized tube.   

Bird’s eye view of kid friendly obstacle course.  

Blizzard beach gives you that icy cold atmosphere in sunny Florida.

At around three o'clock, sunny Florida turned into stormy Florida, as it often does.  When the parks weather watchers see a storm front coming in, they get everyone out of the water and close the park until the storm blows over.  At that point we said we had enough and come home.  

  

 

Crazy Crazy Week!!!

Now that school has started and we are in full swing with all of the Cisco Kids activities, we are busier than ever. I look forward to the weekends just so I have some time not to think about an activity or homework. The homework situation is ridicules. The after school activities are just as ridicules but The Cisco Kid loves them all. My big concern with the heavy load of homework and all the activities is him being able to keep up with his grades. He definitely is in shell shock with the pace of the class and the homework load. Last year he was on easy street. Homework was done in ten minutes. The class atmosphere was light. No disciplinary action was in place. They were able to pretty much do what they wanted as long as there work was done. Now we have the Dragon Lady. We went to open house Thursday and the teacher introduced herself as the Dragon Lady. She started off her introduction......Yes! Everything you hear about me is true! I am the Dragon Lady! I do not put up with anything. I expect them to come to class prepared and ready to work. She said her background is teaching 4th and 5th grade gifted classes and I am going to be extra hard on them because I know what they need in fourth and fifth grade to succeed. At that moment I realized this is going to be the ride of our lives and we better hold on tight.

The Cisco Kid is definitely in shell shock. The past week he still thinks he is in second grade with Mr. M and he can get away with completing his work quickly and then doing whatever he wants. Not with The Dragon Lady. If a student finishes their work quickly they must sit and look over the paper again and then take a book are read quietly. When the whole class is done they will self correct their paper and re-do the work.

I want to give you a glimpse into the weekly homework. Let me remind you that he is eight years old and only in 3rd grade. Every Monday he comes home with a Language Arts packet. Yes, I did say packet, not paper. The packet consists of twelve pages of work. That has to be completed by Wednesday. He also comes home with a Spelling Contract. This has six pages of work, with two extra credit work sheets for a total of eight pages. New spelling words and new vocabulary words must be memorized. This is due on Friday. On top of all that he get a math sheet every day and that is due the next day. Now if you are thinking WOW!!! Wait, the teacher said at the open house they will be getting much more homework in the next couple of week. Now I'm worried!!!! All of the Cisco Kids Activities are in question. I hope time will be on our side. Monday he has Guitar lessons. Tuesday he has Karate. Wednesday he has Church. Thursday he has Cub Scouts and Friday he has Karate again. We spoke to the Cisco Kid about all the homework verses activities and we let him know that we will drop activities if he does not do well in school. He got very upset thinking he might have to give something up. We'll see!!!

Open House and a map that the Cisco Kid did.