vacation Friday: Hollywood Studios

Today we went to Hollywood Studios for the day and it was an excellent day.  We started off with Mickey and Minnie's Railroad and that was probably Joshua's favorite. 

We then headed over to the StarWars land.  We got on Millenium Falcon twice because the line was nice and short.  Joshua enjoyed being a gunner while the rest of us tried different jobs the second time.  Turns out that we're not very good pilots.  I was able to follow the story a lot better the second time, and I'm not sure if it was because it was the second time or if it was because I could see the screen better.

After we got off Joshua bee-lined to the gift shop: he knew what he wanted, and that was a Empire-themed shirt.  We tried the blue and green milk; I liked the blue milk better by far.  It was more refreshing while the green milk was more sugary.

We then went on the big ride of the day: Rise of the Resistance.  It was cool but there was so much to see.  

We got a few fun pictures in the area too.  Using the force...

Looking cool...(Ben and I nailed it.  Not sure what Isaac is doing.)

And being happy.

From there we went to the Toy Story area for a while.  We waited in our longest line for Toy Story, although it was only about an hour.  Joshua was almost done by the time we got to the front of the line, but I had thrown their phones in the backpack and that helped a lot.  I also had a new puzzle toy that was a pretty big hit with the kids, but only one person could use it at a time.

Cheryl and Joshua did the Alien ride.  It had been one of Joshua's top picks and since he really didn't want to do Tower of Terror they were able to quickly do that one instead.

Then it was suddenly lunch time!  We went to Woody's Lunch Box and the logistics could have been better.  We mobile ordered our food, but it felt like a crowded and confusing rush to actually get the food.  I guess it worked out because seating was also in short supply, so having to wait for the food gave Ben and the kids time to get a table.  The food was really good though.  All the adults had totchos and I would totally recommend them.

After lunch we had some time until the next planned activity and we had been going all morning so we did some of the sit down shows.  I do love the muppets and the Indiana Show was not at all what I was expecting, but it was still really cool.  We also went back to Star Wars Tours.

Then it was time for our next big ride: Slinky Dog.  It was Joshua's first real roller coaster and possibly Isaac's too.  Isaac throughly enjoyed it, Joshua was pretty happy with it too.  It was just the right amount of scary for him.  I also enjoyed it.  During the second *up* I thought there was going to be a big down, but then it was a nice gentle crest.

Ben did an amazing job with the lightning lane stuff that they have and so we rode Toy Story again, this time using the short line.  I improved my score, so I was quite happy about that.

Dinner at Prime Time was next.  I had the meatloaf and some of Joshua's jello salad.  

Then the Tower of Terror with Isaac.  We walked right on due to the fast pass; it was amazing.  Isaac was giggling the whole ride which was hilarious.  I find that ride slightly scary, but to giggle?  It made me giggle too.

Ben had booked another Mickey's Railroad just in case we had time so we went over there.  The line, even the fast line, was a little long so it took a bit longer than we were hoping but Joshua really wanted to do it again.  We had been planning on Fantasmic but by the time we were out it was just a bit too late and we decided to just go home.  It was probably an excellent decision; the lines for the skytram were shorter, people were starting to hurt, and we had had a late evening and early morning today.  

Overall: an excellent day.

We came home to find the lovies relaxing and watching TV.

Friday: no school

The kids didn't have school today.  It was a pretty normal day, although they did have a rock climbing lesson.  Ben and I wanted to make sure they weren't developing any bad habits (they're not) and just give them a few pointers on how to do things better now that they've practiced for a while.

This evening Joshua was giving me a back massage and he got up to kitty paws.  He saw Tornado right next to us, so he carefully picked him up and put him on my back.  I was expecting Tornado to leave promptly but instead he sat there for a minute.  Then he laid down, long enough for Joshua to find a phone and take some pictures.

 

Thursday: ice

Well, canceling classes preemptively was a good call because Hope was closed until noon.  (It was also nice because they can send out a text to tell everyone classes are canceled, while I can only send out an email.  I'm not sure everyone checks their email regularly.)

I went outside this morning to check the garage before we opened it (it was perfectly fine) and noticed that you could hear the trees creaking as they moved in the wind.  It was odd.

Besides that, it was a rather normal day.  We didn't do anything special, but the kids played together well and I heard a lot of laughter.  I did some work but not too much; it was nice to have an ice day.

Wednesday: ice

We all stayed home today.  Ben had enough work to do from home and everything else was canceled.  It started raining/sleeting around 11am and by 4pm we had some icicles on our windows.

The kids don't have school again tomorrow, which means in the last two weeks they'll have gone to school all of 2.5 days between planned days off, vacation, and ice days.  I decided to cancel my classes for tomorrow.  I have an extra day in the spring semester that I usually use before spring break, but I'm also nervous about the roads and sidewalks at 7:30am...I expect they're still going to be bad.  We also weren't quite sure what to do with the kids as we're not ready to have them brother-sit for seven hours.  I need to go into Hope for a meeting, but it isn't until 11:30 and I expect roads will be better by then.  (It'll also be for only about two hours, so it is a reasonable amount of time for brother-sitting.)

Ben said the back deck looks really cool right now; there are even more icicles.

Tuesday: ice day

I knew a winter storm was coming, but it got here a bit faster than I was expecting.  It looks like it is supposed to arrive tomorrow noon-ish.  While there isn't too much snow expected, there is a good chance for ice.  So school is canceled!  I have a few things that I "need" to do tomorrow, but for the most part it's a good day for it.  Thursday, on the other hand, is not an ideal day so I'm hoping they have school then.

Besides that, it was a pretty normal, albeit boring, day.

Monday: leaving the house

I woke up today not really that excited about today.  I wasn't, and am still not, completely sure why.

But regardless of my feelings on day, it started and I had a bunch of things to do.  None of my errands lined up well and I ended up coming and going from the house a lot.

*I brought the kids to school and got groceries.

*I went out for lunch

*I had a dentist appointment.

*I picked up Joshua from school

*I picked up Isaac from school

*We had dinner with Larry

It's been a while since I've been back and forth from the house this many times.  Top it off with my neck being really weird in the afternoon and the day ended up just fine.  There were a bunch of good things, many normal things, and some annoying things.

Sunday: neck

Today was a pretty normal day: church, naps, games, Legos.  However, I have a weird ache in the back right of my upper neck.  I'm not sure I've ever realized this muscle existed, let alone have any idea how I managed to hurt it.  It isn't a big ache but without medicine it's enough to be periodically annoying.

Saturday: more pick-a-brick

We continued working on our pick-a-brick creations today.

Joshua: Made a portal-potty.  You have to pay a million dollars but then you go through a portal.  There is a toilet on the other side of the portal.  Then you're in another world with a cool apartment and void snakes.

Amanda: didn't do much more on my boat except add some flags.  I also made a sea serpent.  I couldn't get a mean face, so Joshua helped me with the story...it is the captain's pet because she saved the sea serpent from a cage when it was young.  When saving the sea serpent I also got instructions for a lost treasure.  Then I just put a few pieces together because I was done but everyone else was still finishing up.  Then I gave it to Joshua as asked him what it was and he immediately said a boat.  ...And it totally was.  It was probably the best boat that was made, all on accident.

Isaac: finished his theater.  He spent a lot of time on the seats.  He also fleshed out the story for the sea serpent.  He kept getting "mad" at Ben when he made changes to his boat or added his sea serpent.

Ben: finished his skeleton pirate ship and then added a sea serpent head.  It is a mean sea serpent though.

Friday: snow day

The boys enjoyed their snow day!  Ben still had a vacation day, so we pulled out some pick-a-brick Legos.  Ben and I both made boats, Isaac made a theatre with tiny boats modeled after Ben and mine, and Joshua made a transporter with an elaborate backstory.  This is my boat.  It is going to an island with a treasure chest.

We went rock climbing in the afternoon.  Isaac completed his first Rock Wall of the Week, so then he got to write his name on the paper of people that have completed it.

I had Black Belt Boot camp this evening.  It was 1.5 hours of review of the beginning skills.  I remembered a lot, but there were also a lot of things that I had forgotten.  It was a little hard because I wasn't feeling great, but I survived.  

Thursday: back home

Today was a normal day again.  We got home a bit later than I was hoping, but not absurdly late last night.  I got several things ready for an early morning and then we went to bed.  I still wasn't feeling great today, but I'm not feeling terrible either.  Luckily, it was an easy teaching day.  There was a lot of other stuff to do though, so the day went quickly.

The weather was weird.  It was a snow/sleet mix.  The roads weren't bad, but they weren't getting plowed very quickly either.  I think because of the freezing that will happen overnight the kids have a snow day tomorrow!  It was only supposed to be a half day, so it isn't a huge change.  (Although there was one thing that I was hoping Isaac would bring home to work on over the weekend to make up some work.  I guess he'll have to work on it next week.)

Thursday: flight

 We left for Disney today!  As normal, I was a bit stressed out ahead of time, even though everything was under control.  Our flight was about forty minutes delayed, but we got there without problems.  Our baggage took forever to come though.  There were three Frontier flights that all came in at about the same time and it was rough.

But the kids held it together well and we got to the hotel without real problems.  After the plane takes off the stress comes off.  So it was a good day, despite my unfounded worries.

Wednesday: normal

It was a pretty normal day.  I worked down my to-do list with pretty good success.  There's always more to do, but I was happy with my progress.  I took a nap, I enjoyed my book.  The kids went rock climbing.  Joshua got mad at me and I'm not really sure why.  He was back to normal within a half hour though, so whatever.  I went to GEMS.  There were a bunch of teachers gone (most expectedly) and it changed the whole dynamic.

Tuesday: done

The day started out ok, but just before my first class I found out my TA quit.  I'm not really surprised; it was too early for him.  However, the offer of coming until I could find someone else would have been appreciated.

The day was normal from there.  Dealt with emails.  Taught another class.  Brought Isaac to piano.  I didn't take a nap during piano lessons because my book was too good.  Made dinner.  Had my karate test.  I guess that wasn't normal.  But it mostly felt like a normal class because they taught us well.  I'm tired now and think I'm rambling.  I'm going to go to bed on the early side, but we'll see if I fall asleep on the early side.

Monday: O:CtH - kitchen

Today I didn't do as many of my normal chores so I could spend more time in the kitchen.  It's been slow going, and I wanted it to go a bit faster.

While I succeeded in spending quite a bit of time on the kitchen, I'm not sure I got a lot done.  I did a cabinet, cabinet side, and four drawers.  I got rid of some things, especially Tupperware lids that were missing bases.  I tried organizing it too, but only feel mildly successful.  I added some dividers and tried to sort things, but I don't have enough obvious categories.  So they ended up being "Things I rarely use", "Things I sometimes use", and "Things I often use".  

But at least it isn't just a random pile of stuff anymore.

Also, it surprised me how dirty the drawer front bottoms were.  Guess that's something I should clean sometimes.

Sunday: fetch

In the 'olden' days, when Isaac was a puppy, I played a lot of fetch.  Imagine my surprise when I played more fetch today.  This time I upgraded to a rock.  That's right, I played fetch with a rock.

And to be clear, the rock is Isaac.

Friday: Bowser

Last night we had a bunch of people over to play Magic: The Gathering.  It was a silly deck, so there were some shenanigans going on.  At one point I was a card and had to balance six cards on top of my head for about ten minutes.  When I drew myself I won the game.

Ben got to put an inanimate object in play.  He chose Bowser, which was so appropriate.

Then this afternoon Isaac made a rock wall for Bowser.

Thursday: Black belt

I'm about to take my quarterly test in karate, which would be for my pre-black belt.  Normally you stay here for at least six months, because the test doesn't happen as often.  Well, they've decided to change to only offering the test once a year.

For several reasons, several of my belt-mates and I were asked if we wanted to start the black belt testing right away and not really spend any time at pre-black belt.  There are extra practices, but I'm also excited to do it sooner than expected.

*There is a chance it'll fall through for this year, but that would be fine too.  I do this more for the exercise and the journey than the final result.

Wednesday: exercise

While I was exercising this morning Tornado watched me like this.  It looked super uncomfortable.

 I finished all of my chores today, but didn't any 'extra' time to work on O:CtH.  I look forward to it, since it is so satisfying to go from a full mess to an organized less-mess.

Tuesday: ups and downs

Today had its ups and downs with a few odd surprises thrown in.  However, none of it is blog-shareable so you'll have to be content with a mysterious blog post that doesn't satisfy.

I think that the end result of everything is just life as normal.

Monday: a good day

There were a lot of little things that worked today.  Ben had an appointment in the morning.  It usually goes long, and today it was long but not absurdly long.  I went on a walk with a friend.  It was colder out than I expected, but it was still nice to get out.

Isaac had full band practice after school.  Annoyingly, he had to stand out in the cold by parent pick-up before going back inside to go to practice.  I understand why, but at the same time, it seems like they could figure something different out.  There were a bunch of students doing this though, so they could all be cold together.

I cleaned a drawer for O:CtH.  This one was my miscellaneous paper and random other stuff drawer and I had recently put too much paper in it and it was hard to open.  This drawer does get cleaned out regularly, but I still got rid of a bit and put several more papers in a different pile for filing.  I'm not sure I'd call it organized, but it is much emptier.

Sunday: offering

 Tornado has made himself a nest.  I regularly hear him scrunching the paper just so at night time.

Isaac assisted with the offering for the first time today.  I know it isn't a huge deal, but there was someone that thought of him, thought he was mature enough, and then helped him out.

Saturday: car

Ben got a new car today!  While he ordered it back in November, we weren't expecting it until mid-February which made everything feel slightly rushed.  However, all the paperwork easily got finished on time and he was able to get it.

I know it's not a great picture, but I regularly go for quick and easy pictures instead of good pictures.

Friday: friends

We had some friends over tonight.  They include a lot of boys between 7th and 1st grade.  The kids just play though...it's always a bit crazy, but in a good way.

They also went outside for a little bit.  So now the whole yard has footprints around it, but it's perfect.

I had most of the day blocked out for cleaning the house and getting ready, but by 9am I decided that it was good enough.  I did do a bit more cleaning and stuff, but at the same time I was much more laid back.  It was a nice feeling; the house has been staying a little cleaner than normal somehow and it's made life easier several times.  Surprise surprise.

Thursday: snow

We finally got some snow.  I guess we had some yesterday too, but most of it was today and it was beautiful.

Beyond that, it was a pretty normal day for me.  Isaac climbed his first V2 route at rock climbing, so that was exciting.  (It starts with VB, Beginner.  Then VB+, V0, V1, and now he's done V2.  It gets hard quickly.)  I belayed Joshua several times on a route.  He did the run several times.  First just to try it, then with fewer breaks, then with no breaks, and then with as many breaks as he could.  It was a funny challenge.

Wednesday

 Isaac enjoyed eating dinner with both cats on his lap this evening.

Google also made a nice collage of Ben and the boys.  It's cute.

Tuesday: before and after

Before: 

And after:

As I mentioned before, I didn't get rid of a ton of stuff.  It is reorganized so that the bottom shelf holds more of the commonly used items.  I've also used up a few of the items that have been sitting around for a while and we just haven't eaten them.  I'm hoping to do a few more within the next few weeks to help clean it out even a bit more.

Monday

Today I went to help out at kids' food basket.  I always try to sign up for packing lunches and half the time I feel like I end up on food prep.  While the change isn't a big deal I do enjoy doing the lunches more.

I cleaned another cupboard, but the lazy susans I was using were dirty enough that they needed to go in the dishwasher.  So I'll post about the final result later: I was expecting this one to be a more drastic change than what it ended up being.

Weekend

 It's been a busy weekend and we've seen people, but at the same time nothing all that noteworthy has happened.

My amaryllis finally bloomed.  It was a bit late, but I'm still enjoying it.

We did some rock climbing.  Isaac is on the Rockwall of the Week, which tends to have large pieces and is currently above his level.  But you get to sign your name on a piece of paper if you make it to the finish point and they are different than the normal routes so he's been spending a lot of time on them.  I know Joshua looks bored here but I think I just got him at a bad time.  On Saturday Isaac's friend Isis joined us and that was nice.

Thursday: star student

Apparently the latest popular question for the Star Student in Joshua's class is "If you could do anything, what would you do?"  Now, Joshua has already been star student, but he's been thinking about it.  He told me that if he could do anything he'd like to meet God.

And my heart melted a bit.  One of my biggest prayers is that the kids have a relationship with God, so it's nice to know that they think about God outside the adult-led times.

Wednesday: tired

After going to bed early last night I was still tired all day.  It was a poor day to be tired, because it was also busy.

I've had a friend come over some days night before school pick-up and we've been working on a puzzle.  The top edge was surprisingly hard; we ended up taking it apart and working our way up.

Not wanting to do anything else, I worked on a small section of the kitchen.

I didn't change much, but cleaned up the wall and under the cabinets well.  I straightened up some stuff so that it just looks nice too.  I was hoping to avoid any paint, but there are a few spots that really would look better with some touch up.

I only had one girl in my GEMS class this evening, but it was relaxed and pretty nice.

Tuesday: good till the end

Today was a pretty good day.  Mostly normal.  My second class asked more questions during practice time and that made the time go faster.

I did soak my shoes and socks when picking up the kids from school.  There are just too many puddles to avoid.  Then it was piano day.  I took my shoes and socks off during piano, but everything was still wet and blah.

I was doing ok until 8pm.  Something snapped.  I made it through books, but I was done.  'Don't talk to me I need to be alone' done.  (We are reading a fan fiction of Harry Potter where he gets sorted into Slytherin instead of Gryffindor.  I haven't enjoyed reading to the kids this much in a long time.  Not that the kids' books aren't usually good, but this one is holding my attention much better.)

I'm going to bed slightly early because I'm also rather tired.  Things will look up in the morning.

Monday: a hike

 The kids were off today because of MLK day.

I bribed them into a long hike with extra screen time.  They are also both doing something on the switch right now, so it felt like the TV was on especially more than normal today, even if they only had a little more screen time than normal.

Anyway, I think they enjoyed the hike.  Joshua especially enjoyed climbing all over this tree.

Sunday: graham cracker houses

 Last night Joshua slept in his castle.  It's cute.  I also left the door open to see if the cats would behave.  Horizon joined me at some point in the evening and nicely slept curled up by my legs.  (He does an excellent job sleeping with me.  However, he does not do an excellent job with Ben.)  After Joshua woke up the cats were chasing each other all over the room and I kicked them out, but happily fell back to sleep for a bit.

We finished our graham cracker houses in the afternoon.