Vacation: getting on the boat

The children woke up at 6am.  We kept them in bed for a little bit longer, but it is hard when your brother is awake too.  I finally got up with them and had breakfast.  Then they did their exercises...running up and down the ramp.

We got to the boat late morning.  As with all Disney things, I'm always impressed by their logistics handling.  Lines were moving, people were available for questions, and there was minimal confusion.  As we got on the boat they announced our name, "Welcome to the Hilldore Family!!"  and a bunch of cast members greeted us with clapping and smiles.  I'll admit that it seems like a super boring job, but was still pretty cool.

We couldn't get to our rooms right away, so we made our way to the top deck.  We went around the back way, which included some windows viewing.

We had been planning on swimming first, but decided that ice cream first was a better option.  Priorities.

We eventually put on our suits.  Isaac was big enough for the big water slide, so he said that he would go down it once each day with Ben and me.  So Ben and I each went down it once.  Joshua was too small, but there was a lovely small pool that was on the edge of the boat and had some windows looking down.  It was just right for Joshua.

Right before dinner there was a leaving port party.

Joshua ended up being most excited to see Chip and Dale.

 (Isaac is in orange in the middle.)  He didn't really love the dance party and declined to go to any others during the trip. :)

At dinner I had sea bass - and it was delicious!  Joshua saw a painting during a bathroom break and apparently decided that it looked like Mickey was trapped.  He went around to each person at the table, made them look him in the eye and solemnly announced that Mickey was trapped.

After dinner we all went to the kids area for a bit.  There were some cool "hyperspace" simulators (i.e. Star Wars)

We went to the start of the welcome show, but the kids weren't very into it so we left half way through.  It was going to be a week of late nights, so a only slightly late night for the first one wasn't a bad idea.

Saturday: travel

Well, we're back home.  With so much snow that we couldn't get the car in the driveway - I needed to snow blow over most places twice to get it clear.

Travel went fine.  It was a long day, but there were no problems.

It was Isaac's birthday today.  It was a rather sad birthday, as birthdays go, but we usually celebrate in the summer anyway.  There were a few small special things for him and lots of people said 'happy birthday'.

More posts will be coming about the vacation.  I wasn't ready to be done, but it's also nice to be home.

Friday: travel

After a poor night's sleep due to an early flight and possibly icy roads, it was finally time to go.

The roads weren't icy.  We got to the airport easily, got through security easily, and had breakfast.  Everyone else came through shortly.

Joshua and grey Bear both got some wings.

We got first class and it was amazing.  First off, Isaac got some whiskey. (He only took a sip before giving it to me and the stewardess came back to get it.) (I received several apologies and questions if Isaac was all right.) The seats reclined and my nap was so comfortable.

The hotel was nice... How could it not be? I fell asleep at 8:15.  I was in bed because the kids were in bed and I couldn't keep my eyes open.  I decided to not try and fight it.

Thursday: Isaac and Christmas

Isaac had a Christmas party today at school.  Apparently it didn't feel much like a Christmas party to him since he was confused when we asked him if he enjoyed his Christmas party.  But I got to go and help out a bit and that was fun.  I tried to put faces to a few of the names that Isaac has mentioned.  (We finally figured out the name of "the friend I see at recess and once in the bathroom and once at lunch.  But now he plays with someone at recess whose name is "my silly friend.")

I didn't take any pictures during the party, but I did find his picture up in the hallway.  The first one was outside his classroom: Mrs. Kreple had taken a picture of each student.

The second picture was being the winner of the Gratitude award.  The caption reads, "Isaac shows gratitude in school every day!  He works to use awesome manners by always saying "thanks" when given help with an assignment.  I am so very proud to have Isaac in class this year!"

Isaac's last funny thing recently is that he switched his view on Santa - from not believing in him to thinking he's real.  He told me it was because everyone in his class thought Santa was real as I was trying to explain to him why we don't yell, "Santa's not real" at Joshua's school.  It was a confusing conversation, so I stopped talking.  Here we have our first documentable instance of peer pressure at work. :s  (Although I'm not sure how strong his conviction is.  We'll just see how it plays out.)

Wednesday: story time, spa time

We went to story time at the library today.  (I won't say how long it took Joshua to get into his car seat, but we did just make it in time.)  This is what happened after story time was done.

Later in the day I had a spa time.  The boys worked on my hair, Joshua gave me hand massages with a screw driver, and Joshua checked other things out...he gave me the cool glasses and is checking to see what I can hear in a plastic bag in the picture below.  A bit crazy, but it feels nice to have them work on my hair and there haven't been any snarls.  yet.

Tuesday: work

Today the boys went to school...and I went back home. :D

I finished up grading. Yay.

I did some packing for our trip.  I realized last night that internet will be sparse and I instantly panicked: what if I don't have enough books on the kindle????  I'm not sure why this was my worry, as the Kindle can fit a lot of books...

However, I'm excited that was my worry instead of something else.

Monday: today

Things are getting better over here.  Everyone is mostly healthy.  Everyone got out of the house today, which was sorely needed.  There still seems to be some discontent (from everyone) but we're working through it.

Joshua helped me make lasagna today...one of Ben's favorites from grouping up.  It's the first time I've made lasagna, so it was a bit of a learning experience.  After cooking it Joshua said, "Yummy!  I love this!" and proceeded not to eat much.  He realized that he does the same thing with pizza this weekend..."I love pizza but don't eat it."  We also have been getting a lot of "yummy in my toes" lately.

Sunday: better, again

Joshua seemed better again today.  Not perfect, as the cough was producing a lot of stuff, but it just seemed like a cough.  I do think everyone was a bit grumpy from not getting out enough in the last week though.  Hopefully tomorrow we'll be mostly back to normal.

I'm not sure anything else significant happened.  We made it through. 

Saturday: here we go again

Today Joshua was sick.  I don't think it's the same thing that Isaac had; I think it's croup.  His breathing is very labored.  His cough isn't as barky as it has been in the past though.

But he managed to run a fever a bit today, so we're back to the one-parent-one-kid-do-the-fun-stuff-this-weekend plan.

Friday: better

Isaac was better today.  Ben and I both noticed it in the short time that we were with him this morning; he was running around and being silly again.  Phew; I'm glad that's done.

My last exam was given this morning.  I actually feel on top of grading for once this semester.  I still have about 7 exams to grade and some grades to put in - probably about 2 hours worth.  I even got a small start on dealing with next semester's classes.

We went to see the Last Jedi this afternoon.  It was excellent.

Thursday: slightly better?

Isaac seemed somewhat better today.  He still had a fever though, so no school tomorrow either.  He did get some blood drawn for testing and he was not thrilled about that at all.  His appetite seems to be back, especially when I said the word 'donut'.

I had a few errands to do today that didn't involve the kids getting out of the car too much, so we did get out of the house.  Ben was having some testing done, so we also went to visit him and the boys poked their noses into everything.

And here is Joshua, fully enjoying he screen time.

Wednesday: still sick

Isaac is still sick today.  It actually got worse; he was often on Ibuprofen and Tylenol and still had a low fever often.  When it wasn't getting close to the next dose he was doing pretty well though.

He is surprisingly optimistic about the whole thing.  I'll ask how he's doing and he usually says, "somewhat good" or "a little good" or "mostly good".  So I'll then check his temperature and he'll have a fever and I'm not sure why he doesn't say, "a bit bad," because that's what I would be saying.

We finally opened the paper that came with the easel we got when Isaac was born.

He has been taking a nap every day, but doesn't seem overly sleepy.

Joshua and I made factories.  A ketchup factory, a leaf factory (the leaves drop down and have to walk to the bowl, where they become salad), a cheese factory, and ice factory (not pictured).  He had previously made a milk machine (on the left).

Tuesday: a snow day

Ahh, it was a weird day.

Isaac had a snow day today.  It wasn't a great day for it since I was working, but we had made some back up plans with Cheryl the night before in case Isaac was sick.  So he still had a place to go that he enjoyed.  (The roads were rather bad though.  It took me 45 minutes to drop everyone off and get to work when it should have been closer to 20/25 minutes.)

I had an exam in the morning.  I usually prep in the morning and teach in the afternoon, so my whole day was thrown off.

At noon I got a text saying that Isaac had a fever again.  That meant we needed to go to the doctor, and I completely forgot about an appointment at school that I had made.  (Not a huge deal, but inconsiderate of me.)  The doctor isn't really sure what Isaac has.  It isn't strep and it isn't meningitis.  But it's real because his lymph nodes are huge.  We're at a waiting stage.

We pick up Joshua and go home.  I park the car in the road and shovel a path for the boys to walk to the house.  Isaac goes to the path and starts walking up.  Joshua runs right around the car and directly into a snow bank.  After three steps he falls flat on his face.  I don't know why he didn't go to the path...I told them several times.

Isaac fell asleep at 7pm on the couch and stayed there for about five hours.  He woke up really sad because he still wanted books.  We were still awake, so he got some books.

...I still have quite a bit of grading to do.

Monday: a home day

Isaac had a low grade fever last night, so he was home today.  While the day went a little better than I expected, it was still a bit long.  Isaac wanted lots of screen time.  He seemed to quickly be swinging back and forth between a tummy ache and feeling fine, so it was hard to understand if it was really hurting and how much.  I think some of it was real, but I'm not sure it was always as bad as he made it seem.

Joshua was a bit on the whiny side today.  The worst was when he was in tears because he couldn't find his water bottle.  All he had to do was find me and ask.  It was that simple.  But no, instead he decided to cry about it for several minutes before finding me.

He did however find a comfortable spot to read on the back of my legs.  This is the boys' favorite page of the book because it has robots and donuts.

Sunday: pluto

*Everyone is playing in the basement*

Isaac: Mom, do you want a donut?
Amanda: Sure
Isaac: Ok, two donuts.
Amanda: Can I have some more?
Isaac: no, the ingredients are in space.
Amanda: oh, can you go to space to get them?
Isaac: no.
Isaac: Joshua, do you want to go to space to get them?
Joshua: Yeah!!
Isaac: They're by Pluto.
Joshua: ok.  Is it ok if I go upstairs?
Ben: sure.

Joshua runs upstairs.

Joshua comes back downstairs with a stuffed Pluto - Mickey Mouse's dog.

Joshua: Here are the ingredients!
Amanda: haha.
Ben: well, it makes sense.

Isaac: Here you go Mom.  One hundred donuts.

Saturday: getting better

I *think* we're slowly on the mend over here.

Joshua felt fine today.  He enjoyed two bites of pizza.  He didn't eat the rest because "the pizza doesn't feel good."

Isaac didn't have a fever today, but he did have a headache/tummy ache until evening, unless on medicine.  He was off medicine around dinner and ate a decent meal.  Hopefully it's about gone.

In other news, Grey Bear has been cast aside for Spike, a rhinoceros from McDonald's.  I feel surprisingly sad for Grey Bear and keep hoping that Joshua will change his mind.  Grey Bear has been such an integral part of our family for two years.  He's also much easier to find that Spike, who is rather small.

Friday: sick

Isaac woke up not feeling well today.  However, after about 15 minutes he seemed to perk up, so I gave him a granola bar and sent him to school.  I got a call around 11 saying that he wasn't feeling well again.  Oh well, I guess we decided incorrectly...but there was no fever in the morning and he said he felt better.

So we had a very lazy afternoon.

Both boys got a ton of screen time.  Isaac because he was sick; Joshua by default.  I did get quite a bit of grading done though!  Around dinner time I think Joshua was feeling a bit out of it too because he fell asleep for a nap on the couch.  It's not uncommon for him to fall asleep in the car when we pick up Isaac, but I was a bit surprised by the couch.  Once he woke up he was super snuggly and eventually said that his tummy hurt.  So he got a boring dinner...crackers, mainly.  Then he proceeded to throw a tantrum about how he wanted pizza and he was so hungry.  The thing is that most of the time he doesn't eat the pizza I give him.  I'm not sure why he thinks he likes pizza, because I don't really think he does.

By bedtime Joshua seemed pretty much back to normal, so I'm not sure what was going on with him, if anything.  Isaac was still going back and forth between doing well and not well, so we'll see what tomorrow brings.

Thursday: last day of classes

Today was the last day of classes. 

Now just an exam and grading.  Lots of grading.

I'm ready for this semester to be done.  It hasn't been a bad semester, but it has been a bit more stressful than past semesters.

Wednesday: flies and feather

Liz suggested vacuuming the fruit flies, and I found that it actually works quite well, once I got the technique down.  So now besides the traps I'm also vacuuming them and hopefully making a dent.  We'll see.
*************
A few days ago Joshua and I were driving and he suddenly says, "Mom...when I'm an adult...I'm not going to have feathers."

"oh?" I replied.

"I'll have fuzzies." 

40 and 71 months

Joshua turned 40 months.

Our lovely thing to say to each other is "I love you for ever and ever."

He loves books, and his current favorite is "Beep Beep go to sleep!" and it is really the cutest book ever.  We've even gotten him to read it to us a few times, and that is super cute too.  Maybe I'll try to get a video.

He still pretends to be a little puppy all the time.  I regularly say, "Woof is not an answer.  I need a yes or a no."

He is silly/crazy a lot of the time.  I ask him many times if what he's doing seems like a good plan.  (He usually says yes.) 

Isaac turned 71 months.

His lovely thing to say is "I love you infinety infinety infinety much!"  or "I love you so so so so much!"  He likes to 'win' in loving me more.

He remains super silly at home, but reserved at school.  We got report cards home and one of the nicest things was that Isaac always comes to school with a smile.

He has especially enjoyed playing games this past month.  Minecraft always seems to be on his mind.  (He really, really, really wants to make a portal.) He likes to play other games too and will often suggest that we do that after school.

I will still call him Puppy Dog sometimes, but the times that he's actually a puppy have become fewer.  Possibly because there's just not as much time.

Monday: today

As Isaac was leaving for school, he said, "I figured out a way to break the bottom of the world."  Ben and I were rather surprised, and Isaac continued on.  We quickly realized that he was talking about Minecraft.  Phew...

I put on some Christmas music this morning, and Joshua decided that meant he should have a Christmas party in the family room.  He brought all his toys out. *sigh*

This evening I went to the exercise class again.  Isaac and Joshua also wanted to exercise, so Ben made some fun exercise games for them.  They had burpees that included clapping, bring the Lego to another box, sort the Lego, make a basket with a basketball and then tag the other person in.  It sounded like they had a great time.

When I got home, the first thing I heard was Joshua calling, "mom? mom?"  After taking off my coat and went to see what was up.  "If Evelyn has a sleep over here, she'll need to eat breakfast here too."  I'm glad he's looking out for his cousin.

Sunday: the day

Joshua fell asleep during music time at church.  He slept through the whole service and I loved the cuddles.

In the afternoon I played a game with Isaac and Joshua read a book while partially under the bed.

I took a whole bunch of pictures for the DeYoung grandchild collage.  With Joshua's tongue sticking out it won't make the cut, but it's pretty cute.

Saturday: farm

While Cheryl was eating breakfast with her favorite five year old, Joshua and I went to the pony farm.

It happens every year, but I think the last time I went I was pregnant with Joshua.  We looked at the animals and feed the goats, sheep, and ducks.

We later saw goats on the 'playground' and Joshua thought it was pretty silly.  Then we went for a hayride.  During the hayride we saw a 'big' forest in which Joshua heard baboons.

We got our donut hole and Joshua noticed that Santa was there.  I had never gotten my picture with Santa growing up, so I have never done it with the boys either.  However, there were candy canes and Joshua wanted one of those. 

We finished up the morning by searching for pennies, looking at a few more animals, and sitting by a bonfire just long enough to smell like smoke for the rest of the day.

Friday: movie

Cheryl brought us out to a surprise movie this afternoon.

It was nice.  We were also the only people in the theatre, so when Joshua was excited that the bad guy was gone and the wolves (wolf-es) were nice it was ok that he said so several times, rather loudly.

The next surprise was that Isaac gets to have a sleepover with Cheryl.  He was super excited.  He was even more excited when he found out that he got to go all by himself without Joshua.