Saturday: at home

Today was fine.  Joshua was ok for most of the morning but his fever spiked in the afternoon.  This is rather normal for our family, so I wasn't all that surprised.

Isaac and Ben had a good time at their activity - it was a Raspberry Pi thing that Isaac participated in and Ben volunteered with.  Ben ended up helping the students set up their own Raspberry Pi.

I finally gave Isaac a haircut today.  He's wanted one for almost a month, but it didn't happen and then it got cold and we got busy.  It was very nice out today, so the schedule and the weather worked out!

Friday: fireplace

I got so much done today.  

It included sewing part of Joshua's shoe, which was a really funny image...but, it was easy!

As part of O:CtH, I fixed the fireplace grate.  It's been falling apart for years, so it was nice to finally fix it.

Isaac had his 8th grade field trip today.  As a field trip, it was fine.  As an 8th grade field trip, it was a bit disappointing.  They went to visit CMU in the morning and went to a water park in the afternoon.  Isaac said the college visit was really boring but the water park was fun.  He got to ride the flow rider quite a bit.

Nathan and family came late tonight just for a place to stay, but it was super nice to see them for a few hours.

Oh, Joshua just got sick.  He was supposed to go with Ben and Isaac for a day trip tomorrow and I was surprisingly excited to spend the day by myself.  I know I do this many days, but on Saturdays I don't have to do as much work, so I was going to do some fun things interspersed with some work.  I expect there will still be some of that, but I have to be a parent now too.

Thursday: sourdough

 Hmm.  It was mostly a normal day.  There were a few issues, but nothing all that big.

I accidently made a little too much sourdough this morning, so I made another thing tonight.  I had pizza, naan, bread, and apple raisin bread all going at the same time, which might be a record.  Of course, the naan is now all gone...and it was delicious.

Wednesday: pictures

Today I got more done than expected.  I've needed to deal with my email for a while now, and I even took 20 minutes to deal with that.  (It's not finished, but it's going in the right direction.)

I found Isaac's second school picture.  He left for his math class right after getting his first school picture taken, and I think somehow he got on the list to get it taken again.  So I have two sets of pictures for this year, although this one isn't amazing.

About every three months Joshua takes a piano test and levels up.  Every 1-2 years he gets a trophy and it was surprisingly motivating for him.  Anyway, he recently had another minor level up.

Tuesday: on-task

I felt rather on-task at work today.  I was a little worried that I wasn't going to have enough time to prep in the morning, but then one student who was going to show up overslept.  There was also an easy lecture today with nested IF, IFS, and VLOOKUP.  (And why do we still learn VLOOKUP?  Because Ben still hasn't transitioned to XLOOKUP even though I suggest it several times a year.  I figure there are others like him.)

I also got a lot done while Isaac was at rock climbing.  I did some work on the computer before climbing, and got through quite a bit.  

vacation Wednesday: coming home

We were going home today, but had late afternoon flights.  We hung around in the hotel room for a bit and played some games in the morning.  Well, four of us played games and Joshua built things with the pillows.

We went for a walk on the boardwalk, and found out that the pedal carriages were open!  We thought they were going to be closed, so that was exciting.  We pedaled around the lake, and ...it was harder than expected.  Isaac and Joshua's pedals were linked and they were having a hard time going at the same speed.  For the most part, it didn't matter too much.  Joshua pedaled the whole time and Isaac helped when we were going uphill.  Uphill was hard!!  We missed a turn once, easily turned around, and found where we were supposed to have turned.  However, it was up a hill and I decided that we didn't have enough speed so we went back down (the wrong way) so we could get a better pedaling start.  In the end, I'm not sure it mattered - we still ran out of steam about half way up and each pedal was work until we got to the top.  I had fun though!  It was a fun way to get around the lake.

Then we left for the airport.  It was relatively easy getting home.  Our flight into Chicago was a little late, but we had enough wiggle room that we didn't have to worry, we just had to move quickly to the next gate.  We got home and there wasn't a lot of snow on the car.  We still had to pick up Ben's car from the dealership, but it all went smoothly.  We were a little grumpy at home, but it had just been a long day of travel

Monday: flower

Today I got to pick up one of the flower arrangements from the funeral.

However, we have a cat that likes plants so I had to put a bag over it.  It's not as nice as being without the bag, but it's nicer then having cats eat it.

vacation Tuesday: Hollywood Studios

Hollywood Studios was our last day, and it was the best.  I remember a lot of details but I took a little too long to write this post so a few things might be out of order.

We started with day with Rockin' Rollercoaster.  Joshua was a bit nervous because it went upside-down, but he loved it!  It was also better than I remembered - I remember coming off it ten years ago and having a headache.  Yay for a great start!

We moved into the Star Wars section to ride those two rides.  Isaac and I were the pilots for one of the rides and we didn't do all that well.

Everyone was looking forward to Tower of Terror.

And the toy story ride.  Ben got the most points, as normal.

We got off the shooting ride and noticed that the Slinky Dog Dash wait was on the low side.  It was a ride we didn't have a fast pass for because the kids indicated that they would rather ride the other option, but when we got to the park they said they were excited for this ride too.  So we decided to stand in line.  It was a bit of a wait, but at the same time the line kept moving.  I love Joshua's expression in this picture too.  It's like he knew where to look for the camera, but I think it was just lucky.

We split up for lunch because people were having a "hard" time agreeing on what to eat and we can split up.  It's sometimes hard to remember that, but sometimes it is the right choice.  The kids and I went to get pizza.  It was not the fastest meal service ever, but it gave us time to find a table.  Isaac was the one that managed to snag it in the end - it was a little busy.

We were going to do Tower of Terror again, but it was broken down.  We did some of the shows and smaller rides.  Eventually we got back to it.  The line wasn't long, but it wasn't as short as normal either because one of the elevators was broken down.  We ended up sitting in the same seats as previously.

We also decided to ride Rockin' Roller Coaster again and that was probably my biggest mistake of the day.  I came off of it with a headache.  Some medicine cleared it up promptly, but I really didn't have any fun on the ride the second time.

We went to the dinner for dinner.  I had something delicious, but it came with a boatload of green beans.  I ate a whole bunch of them, but my waiter brought them back out with some whipped cream because I was supposed to eat my vegetables.

Whipped cream does NOT enhance the flavor of green beans.  I tried several.

At this point we decided to stay around for the night time show, so we had a bit of time.  We went back to the Star Wars area as Rise of the Resistance was only a 25 minute wait.  Then we did it again in the single rider line right away!  It was a bit odd because there were more people in the single rider lane than in the normal lane when we got there, so we were still all able to ride together.  It was interesting seeing how the single riders get back to the ride - there are some sneaky places where you need to wait before they'll let you through.

Then to the light show, which was surprisingly far back in the park.  It was good, and it was nice to sit down, but seeing it once is probably enough.  Getting out of the amphitheater was a bit easier than I expected, even with Ben's scooter.  We didn't have to wait long for the bus back to the hotel either!

Sunday: Grandma's Funeral

Today we celebrated the life of Betty Hilldore.  It was a beautiful day, a sad day, and a long day.

We got to the funeral home for the family viewing/set-up time.  Grandma looked so nice.  She was in a pink sweater and her hair and make-up looked really good.  Someone found a note in her yearbook about her and a friend hitch-hiking to Zeeland for a "baseball game", trespassing on private property, and "more that [the friend] couldn't write here."  Everyone got a kick out of it.  Jamie also put together a very nice slide show and everyone commented on the pictures multiple times.

We stayed for the visitation.  Isaac and Joshua mostly disappeared for this, and I don't blame them.  A lot of people they didn't know where there and they had probably talked to most of the people they wanted to talk to already.  I think they had a few extra cookies.

We went in for the funeral.  The family had several members stand up and reflect on memories and it was beautiful.  There were some songs - Jamie made it through her song and cracked just the perfect amount at the end.  I wish the Chaplain had spoken more about heaven and Grandma's faith.  Several other family members mentioned it, but our eternal hope comes from God.  Ben shared a few memories, including how she and Grandpa always made him say Caboose and laughed over his pronunciation, how she was cut-throat in Uno (to the chagrin of the kids sometimes), and how if you didn't have what you needed in Yahtzee you just kept rolling.  (She did that to several family members in Yahtzee.)  But most of all that she was always so happy to see you.

We then went in the funeral procession to the cemetery.  I don't think I've actually been in a funeral procession before, but there is a high chance that I have been.  (Maybe even for Mom's funeral?  Details are so blurry.)  I didn't realize they were so slow!  It makes a lot of sense - you don't want to lose the last people and it seems like a proper mournful procession - but it is not what I was expecting.

The cemetery was wet and misty.  A few last words were said, the flowers placed on the casket (a white rose for me and Ben, snap dragons for Joshua.  Isaac ended up standing somewhere else), and it was lowered down.

Then we went to the boat barn for a final toast and party.  "To Grandma!"  I had Pinot grigio, and in hind-sight I think it was a mistake.  I know it was only a half-cup, but I was already tired and something wiped me out.  I was done.  I went the top area and closed my eyes on an uncomfortable chair for a few minutes, but then the pizza came.  We weren't planning on staying very long anyway, so I got up to eat.  That was fine.  Then as we were leaving I was standing around, getting stuff ready and I was done.  Completely.  I just left to go to the car, possibly cutting off Ben's goodbyes, although that wasn't the intention.  I think the combination of a lot of standing, a lot of emotions, being a bit tired, and the wine just sent me over the edge.  

At home I took a long nap.  It was a poor time for a nap since it was already 6:30pm, but that was my only option.  I stayed up a little bit longer than normal before actually going to bed, but I think I was asleep just a little later than normal too.

Saturday: disappointing

It was a rather disappointing day.  Not really a bad day, but I probably would have changed several things if I could have.

*Our evening plans were changed last minute.

*Taxes are not as straight-forward as we were hoping this year.

*The kids had a rough afternoon

Friday: car

The car was fixed by the end of the day.  It meant I still needed to bring Ben to and from work, but in the scheme of things that wasn't too bad.

I was going to do a "day in pictures", but then I only remembered to take three pictures.  So I guess we don't get to see that today.  

I tried a new type of sausage for our pizza today.  The overall consensus was that it was either the same or slightly better.

Thursday: today's gonna' be a good day

This morning as I was walking to class I decided it was going to be a good day.

It started off well: Ben was able to work from home so I could have the car and the car was safe in the garage.  It was really a great place and time for it to die on me.

Today I got to teach ANDs and ORs and nesting them.  It's one of my favorites.

I ate lunch with Natalie!

My second class is great because they ask a lot of good questions.  It's great.

There was a student issue that was solved in a positive way.

Joshua has extra stuff after school so I can just wait for Isaac at Hope College.  It's a lot less driving.

Ben will have his glasses fixed tomorrow!

All the driving could be done this evening rather easily.  It was a lot more driving than normal because there was only one car, but the scheduling worked out just fine.

The car started!!  Ben tried and it didn't start.  He popped the hood and as he did so I tried and it started right up.  He didn't even get the hood all the way open and it started.  Yay!  We were able to get it to the mechanic, and hopefully it will be fixed tomorrow.

I ran the dishwasher this evening.  I often don't get the dishwasher started in the evening, but it's so nice in the morning to have it ready.

Wednesday: could have gone better

*Grandma passed away early this morning.  She's happy with Jesus now, even though she will be missed here.

*It was nice and rainy today.  Our lake is higher than it's been for a while.

*I still have no idea how to log into the Health Insurance website on the computer.  I can do it on my phone, and every time I log in on the phone I create a passkey so that I can log in on the computer and it never works.

*A friend is studying for a homeopathic medicine degree and this month...I'm not sure what she was studying but I got a free massage as she was practicing some of her stuff.

*The headache that was just barely there the last few days came for real.  Some ibuprofen took care of it, but it wasn't nice for a bit.

*We had fettucine as the pasta type today.  The kids didn't really like it, which doesn't surprise me.

*My car didn't start this evening.  I think the starter is out; it isn't the battery.  It's done this twice before but it started after a few tries, so we're hoping it'll start once more to get to the auto shop.  In the meantime, we're down to one car for a while.  At least it decided to not start while in the garage and with Ben's car available.  It could have been a ton more annoying.

*We played Space Base this evening - it's been a while since we've played.  I had a bunch of cards on the "1" and no 1's were rolled.  For about the first 10 rounds.  It was absurd.

Tuesday: normal day

It was a pretty normal day.  I worked.  I was tired.  I rock climbed a bit.  There were some great thunderstorms.

Well, I tried rather hard to find something else interesting.  Thunderstorms really were the most interesting part.

Monday: life

This morning I helped out at Kids' Food Basket.  We got done packing the lunches early, so that was really nice.  I also dropped off some donations (mostly clothes), but it was nice to get several things out of the house.

Time change is hard.  We're not quite falling asleep at the right time and then I was awake for an hour in the middle of the night.  I'm not sure that's a time change thing; it's been happening more often.  I got back to sleep a little bit, but it was harder than normal 

vacation Monday: down day

Today was our rest day.  We still did a whole bunch of things, but it wasn't park level amount of stuff.

We had some breakfast sandwiches in the room and then walked through the boardwalk shops.  We found two displays with these thread bobbins dressed up as Disney characters and had a great time trying to figure out who they represented.  (For example, the bottom left is Anna, Elsa, and Olaf.)

We went to an ice cream shop for lunch.  We did have some real food - we split some entrees.  Isaac and I had more tater tots.  Then we shared some ice creams and it was all delicious and I ate too much.

We went to the pool in the early afternoon, but it was rather cool.  Not cold anymore, but not really hot either.  There was a slide, so we went down that many, many times.  We didn't stay all that long though because just being in the water was cold!

Our dinner was at Disney springs.  Oh, what did I have...shoot, I don't remember.  But I think I ate it all, which I try not to do at restaurants.  Several people had chicken and donuts, which was a big hit.  Food is so delicious.

We took a stop in the Disney store and Ben found a long sleeve t-shirt/hoodie and I found a t-shirt.  Then we stopped at the real main attraction, the LEGO store.

They had an AMAZING pick-a-brick wall up.  There were many pieces that we didn't have (or needed more of) along with some trans-blue tiles, which we always need for water.  I think we got a whole box of water.  Isaac and Joshua also snapped several pieces together so they would fit better in the boxes, and in the end I think we had four boxes - a lot more than normal lately.

I finally let the kids play with the bubble wand that we were getting for Great Grandma.  It was a lot more fun than I was expecting and made me smile a lot.

vacation Sunday: Epcot

Epcot day!  

I don't completely remember why I took this picture.  Joshua was having a hard time waking up, and he is usually the person that wakes up the most easily.

We rope dropped the park from the back, and quickly went to Remy's ride.  Well, not quite rope drop but close.  It did mean that we were pretty far in the back of the line, although we expected it to move through quickly.  Then, since we were so far in the back, we noticed the single rider line moving really quickly.  We made a snap decision to switch.  (Joshua often is the person that doesn't want to ride alone, for good reason.  This wasn't a fast ride though, so he was ok with it.)  It went so fast, and we still ended up grouped together.  The line was so fast, in fact, that we did it again and this time there wasn't a line.  We were still mostly grouped together, and everyone had a good time.

We had breakfast at the Garden Grille, a tradition when we're at Epcot.  They had a new menu item this time - steak bits.  I thought they were pretty good, but Ben really liked them.  I probably enjoyed the cinnamon rolls the most.

After the Living off the Land boat tour, we had a short amount of extra time before our next activity, which was in the same building.  We went to see the awesome planet movie, which Cheryl said she had never done before!  It's nice to find something new for her too.

After Soarin', we went back outside.  Cheryl's leg wasn't feeling great, so Isaac and I fought over who would get to push her.  I really like this picture because Isaac is trying to smile, but his eyes are trying to look forwards...as they should.

Every trip Isaac and I take a picture under the Epcot ball.  I enjoy this series of pictures because Joshua photo-bombed us while asking what we were doing.

I just looked at the other two pictures.  Isaac has grown up just a little bit!!  The kids don't sit by themselves all that often on rides, so we put them together for this one.  They told me all about the choices they made for the future after the ride!

The new test track was next.  It felt like just another work day for Ben.

Lunch time!  It was festival of the arts right now, with a bunch of little kiosks and small portions of food.  For lunch we found a grilled cheese and tomato soup and it was delicious.  Cheryl wanted a picture of the special cans that held the tomato soup, but my first try...looked like it had an extra O in the middle.

Guardians was up next, and everyone was looking forward to it.  

That was the end of the big rides.  We did several other smaller things for the next few hours.

Joshua's expressions in these are cute.  I think the first one is afraid and the second is scared.

We explored the Moana interactive water features.  They were fun.  It wasn't a hot day, but I can imagine that they are an especially lovely break when it is hot.

Then we went into the World Festival to slowly eat dinner at the kiosks and make our way home.  Joshua wanted a picture in each different country, and I wasn't about to say no.

Mexico:

Norway.  We got some delicious donut like things here.

China: we were thinking about getting some food here, but the line was rather long so we decided to keep going.

? We were going around the circle but even looking at a map I'm not sure.  Maybe Chine from the other direction?

A call-out to African nations.

Germany.  We got several foods here, and went back for seconds.  I was in charge of standing in line, so Isaac had to take Joshua's picture this time.

Italy:

USA:

Japan

Morocco: we had some really good food here too.  I think the "real" food was too spicy for me, but the dessert was amazing.  We also learned that Isaac doesn't like jiggly foods much.  He'll eat them, and sometimes enjoy them, but the idea of them is not appealing.

France: The plan hadn't been to stop at France, but I needed a bit more non-sweet food.  I'm so glad we stopped!  The cheese in a bread bowl was delicious and they had an orange chocolate dessert that was heavenly.  The line was rather long so we didn't get seconds, but I easily could have.

After France it was the turn off to go back to our hotel.  Everyone was pretty tired, so we just called it a night.  Sort of.  Joshua was interested in seeing the fireworks, so after a nap the two of us came back out to watch them.  We found a nice place to sit while waiting and then a good place to stand at the fence.  It was a little bit off the beaten path, so not too busy.   It was fun to go back out with him.

...and then we crashed.