Back to Reality...

Yep. That's what it feels like when we return from Dragon*Con. Like we've had a little fantasy vacay. We had a fantastic time this year! Tracy, Lisa and I had a blast working together and honestly everything went so smoothly that it didn't really feel like a lot of work! :)

I had a couple of fangirl moments. One of which was getting a hello and a hug from Sherrilyn Kenyon (one of my favorite authors). I listened to Gil Gerard (Buck Rogers) sing happy birthday to a couple of friends who couldn't be there. I sat quietly at a table watching Joe Manganiello (Alcide from True Blood) sign autographs. I was supposed to be listening to a conversation, but I got distracted by his pretty. Hehe. Chatted a couple of times and had a quick photo op with a lovely young man, James McCune (Jimmy from this past season of The Walking Dead). Got a quick glimpse of Adam Baldwin, from Firefly. Lotsa YAYs, lol.

The boys had some big moments, too. They got to meet and get an autograph from Billy Boyd, who played Pippin in LoTR. They also got to meet and get an autograph with Niall Matter who played Zane in one of our favorite shows, Eureka (they got to meet "Sheriff Jack," "Zoe" and "Vincent" last year!). They got to get made up like Zombies from the people who do the Face-Off show.

But they had one unbelievable moment this year. They got to meet, get an autograph of, AND have a photo op with Stan Lee. How awesomely crazy is that??? They were excited, but I think it's going to take some time for them to realize just what an opportunity that was. We are huge fans of the Marvel Universe here, so it was pretty freaking cool for all of us! Thanks to Tracy for doing her magic. And a very special thanks to Hank...if he hadn't have had THE best question to ask Mr. Lee, this might not have happened. :)

Now, we have to get back into our September. Soccer practice for both boys on Tuesday and Thursday, a doctor appointment on Wednesday, Master's on Thursday, and possibly a friend coming down for the weekend. Which means cleaning the house. Gak.

The boys will do some T4L, and will honestly spend a lot of time on YouTube (we have discussed internet safety for kids so often that I'm comfortable leaving them to this) looking up clips from the Con this year. Other than that, I'm thinking we are going to have an unschooling like week. :D

Hope you all enjoyed your long weekend, here are a few pics from ours...

The boys and their Minecraft costumes. Yes, Bailey is wearing a fez on his. :D

Me, Sherrilyn Kenyon and Tracy. It's a crappy pic, but she was picking up her badge and we only had our phones with us at that moment.

4 of the 5 boys. All zombiefied. :)

I loved this pic with the flash, because it made Bailey have red eyes...and it just worked with the make-up, lol.

Braeden's was the craziest. While all the other boys looked like themselves, just made up...Braeden looked totally different to us!

Zombie Braeden, snacking on my face. :D

Zombie Bailey, eating my BRAINZ. :D

Billy Boyd! He was so sweet, and very engaging with his fans. Awesome. Why is it a side photo? He wasn't doing posed photos, so this was the quickest shot I could take with my phone before I got caught, lol.

James McCune, from The Walking Dead. Kinda cool that they looked like zombies with him. 

Niall Matter, from Eureka. This was not my year for remembering my camera, so it's another phone shot. :/ While I loved the boys' zombie look, I was a little bummed that this was our only opportunity to see him. Would have liked a nice photo where my kids didn't look all dead and creepy. ;)

The 5 boys and STAN LEE! It looks weird because this is a photo of a photo, lol. It was too expensive to buy a photo with each boy, so we did a group shot. And we haven't made copies for everyone yet. :)