Grandpa Chip Visit - Day 2

The next day we went to another park where manatees naturally congregate in shallow, warm waters. There

must have been 50 or 60.  They are interesting looking creatures!

  

There was also a playground that was a hit with the kids.  Jace really loves to climb and slide!

We stopped at a Dairy Queen for lunch on our way to Sanibel Island.  The kids can eat their Starkiss popsicle.  We got a video of Jace trying to grasp the concept of licking the popsicle.  It was hilarious!  His little tongue was going back and forth, but he wasn't actually licking anything.  I wish I knew an easy way to upload videos.  I guess someday I'll have to breakdown and create a YouTube account.  Anywhoo...

The kids enjoyed shelling on Sanibel.  At least Rylee enjoyed finding shells, Jace was more interested in running around and throwing them.  :)

The best part was a small group of dolphins had collected in the shallows.  They must have been eating because they swam back and forth in the same area for over a half hour.  It was entertaining to watch, but hard to capture with a camera.  

We had a very relaxing night.  We ordered in Chinese, put the kids to bed early after their long day of fresh air, and watched one of the playoff games on TV.  In the morning, we had a quick breakfast and then got back on the road.  

Overall, it was a great trip.  We still had to haul some gear for the kids, but every year it's getting easier. Looking forward to the time when we can just pack a couple of bags and go (no booster seats or pack n plays required!).

Grandpa Chip Visit - Day 1

The four of us drove over to the other coast to see Grandpa Chip and Connie over the long MLK weekend. The kids did great on the drive over. The iPad kept them entertained with movies. We arrived in time for lunch and then took a walk around the complex where he's staying. His unit is right on the canal and has a great view. You can even walk to a pier where you can see the inlet and ocean too. Lovely!

Connie had done some research on fun places to go.  Our first stop was an awesome train park.  The playground was train-themed, plus they had some bounce houses set up.  Rylee slid down the tallest/steepest bounce-y slide I've ever seen.  She's braver than I am!

The best part was the mini-train ride.  It had nice cushy seats and went all through the park (about a 20 minute ride).  Everyone had their own seat, except Jace, who rode with me.  He loved it!  Although if it had been any longer, I'm sure he would have fallen asleep.  Here's Rylee at the depot before the ride started.

One of our better family photos, minus the Conductor.  :)

They also have a restored train just for viewing and a train museum (although we didn't check that out).  I wish this park was on our coast, it would be the perfect setting for Jace's Thomas party. 

Jace needed a nap at this point so we went back to the condo.  Rylee wanted to swim, but as you can see by Jon's clothing - the weather was a bit chilly.  She went a little deeper than this and then gave up.

We had a relaxing first evening.  The boys grilled dinner, the kids played etc.  More on Day 2 later...

Strepuary

I have so many things to blog about and so little time.

 - I still haven't posted pics from the long weekend we spent with Grandpa Chip on the other coast.
 - I have to brag about Rylee's recent gymnastics feats.
 - Jace is just so freakin' adorable - there are tons of little stories to share about him.

But for now, let me just say we've had one crazy week.  Rylee spiked a fever on Sunday night.  Her big tell was when she offered to go to bed at 7:30 even though Gaga and Papa were here for Super Bowl fun.  I kept her home from school on Monday and Tuesday. Tuesday morning she was fever free and full of energy so I thought we were in the clear.  By Tuesday night her fever was back up and Jace was suffering from it also.  His big tell was when he refused to play outside and then later snuggled with Jon on the couch for 45 minutes.  If either of our children cuddle with us for more than 5 continuous minutes, you can guarantee they're diseased!

Of course it was too late in the day to get them into the doctor so my Mom had to take Rylee to the doctor this morning  - strep throat!  I took Jace after I came home from work - strep throat for him too!  Just to make it more fun, Jace and I were caught in a torrential downpour on all four trips in and out of the car.  I don't think Jace minded, I kept him pretty dry, but my shoes and pants were soaked to the knees by the time we got home.  Lovely!

Just to add some more drama to my week, my phone mysteriously stopped working on Monday night which meant I had to trek all the way down to the apple store on Tuesday.  (Thanks go out to my Mom who babysat and my Dad who came along to keep me company.)  The good news is my phone was easily fixed.  The bad news is they broke the new case Jon and the kids bought me for Christmas.  On the plus side, they replaced it on the spot with a designer Kate Spade case (at least twice as expensive as the one they broke).

So strep... it's our first go round with that.  Jon and I both suffered from numerous strep cases as kids and had our tonsils out so I'm not enthused the kids got it, but what are you gonna do?  Have a couple margaritas (me) and a couple rum and cokes (Jon) - that's what!  Rylee might be secretly excited she got sick.  She already made some money from the Super Bowl (thanks again Gaga for giving her your winnings) and now she's racking up $1 for each time she takes her medicine without fuss.  Miss Moneybags is already thinking about what to buy!

So... how's your week going?  :)

Christmas Break & Beyond

I still haven't posted about the rest of our Christmas break and now I want to move onto other things so let me just say we had a lot of fun with friends and family. There was:

- a playdate with Norah and Caleb


 - fondue fun with my parents for New Year's Eve
 - a park playdate and impromptu dinner with the Froyd and Malecha clans
 - and another playdate with Norah, Caleb and Miller.

My kids are trying to get in as much Norah and Caleb time as possible since they will be moving out of state soon.  Boo hoo!

We've done some fun activities this month as well:

 - storytimes for Jace
 - an after school playdate at Chick Fil-a with Rylee's friends and their siblings (Jace disappeared into the play maze for over an hour - he loved it!)
- a winter wonderland birthday party complete with "snow"



 - and an afterschool movie outing for Rylee and her friends.



   

I'm trying to cram in as much fun as possible now that I've decided to take an interim assignment in third grade from March to the end of the school year.  It's only a couple of months, but I'll miss taking the kids to their fun outings.  Hopefully my Mom can keep up with their full social calendars!  :)

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Christmas Day

Christmas morning, I was awoken to the sound of Rylee squealing "Santa Claus has been here, Santa Claus has been here" ala one of my favorite movies: "Yours, Mine & Ours" with Lucille Ball.  So cute!

Rylee checked out her gifts while Jace slept in.

Finally, Jace woke up so we could play with his gifts too.

My parents joined us for brunch (my Mom's caramel rolls and my Grandma's egg bake recipe) and then the kids finished opening the presents they hadn't gotten to the night before.

Rylee is a bit of a wiz on the sewing machine so she made this tickle blankie for her brother (with only a little help from Gaga).  The amazing thing is he loves it!  Previously he only had love for two particular blankies (store bought with doggie heads and blanket bottoms) so I wasn't sure how he would take to this one.  No worries - he adores it.  He sleeps with all three, but this is the only blankie he wants outside of the crib too.  He hasn't started "chewing" his blankie like his sister.  Fingers crossed, he doesn't!  :) 

Some of Rylee's other homemade gifts this year were: mini pot pourri pillows that she sewed to keep my drawers smelling nice, and Duck Dynasty duct tape pen holders for Jon and my Dad.  Homemade gifts are the best!  Thanks Rylee!

Enjoying Jace's (or possibly Jon's) new hot wheels track.  :)

Grandpa Chip trying to teach Jace to golf with the cool clubs he bought for him.  They're plastic, but they look like real clubs and even come with a golf bag.  Too cute!  Grandpa Chip so wants someone in this family to be a golfer.  :)

Rylee is showing off one of the Glitzy Globes she made from the kit that Santa brought her.

 

It was a lovely holiday here indeed!

Christmas Eve

Christmas Eve...

It was too sunny for a good group photo, but we forgot to take one later in the day, so this will have to do.

 

Opening her Bloom doll from "The Winx Club" (Rylee's current TV obsession).

Rylee made this plastic canvas ornament for Gaga almost entirely by herself.  I helped with threading the needle and changing the yarn, and Jon helped her hot glue the sequins.  If you look at it closely, you will see that she used her own unique stitch style, but it was still adorable.  My talented, crafty girl!

Jace enthusiastically watching the movie "Planes" ("da plane, da plane")...

...and trying on the safety goggles from his new power tools set.

Not a great picture of Rylee, but you can see how hard a full day of present opening is by her messy hair. And she opened a lot of presents - not only hers, but her brothers, mine, Jon's, and the grandparents.  Her phrase  for this Christmas was "Oh, for Pete's sake," which she exclaimed every time someone wasn't opening their present fast enough and right before she barged in to help them.

Anywhoo, she was very excited to get this Flutterby flying fairy.  It was a really cool toy for about a day and then it would only fly straight down and crash.  We had to order a replacement from the company - some sort of battery charging issue.  Rylee handled it well (with only minimal tears) even though they predicted a 2 to 3 month wait time.  I actually received an email that said she should be flying our way in late January so hopefully this one will work.  :)

Sportsman's Club Enchiladas

We thoroughly enjoyed our Christmas break here. It was wonderful to take a pause from our scheduled activities and just relax. This also meant a little blog break for me, but we're back to school to now so I really should start posting about our holiday!

Grandpa Chip visited for a week. We didn't do any major outings while he was here (again relaxing), but we had fun playing in the backyard, watching movies etc., and of course, the activities of Christmas kept us busy (more on that in another post).

Jon and Chip managed to get two big projects in though. First, they ripped up and re-sodded part of our lawn. It looks great. Second, they made about 40 orders of the Sportsman's Club enchiladas! For those of you who might not know, Jon's Grandpa and Grandma ran a supperclub for most of their lives. The enchiladas were a popular menu item and over the years we have all gotten together to make the recipe and divide it up. Well this time, the spoils are all ours! Mwaa haa haa haa! (That was supposed to be an evil laugh.)

I helped by getting the kids out of the house for the 4-5 hour process.  I am such a sacrificer.  I did manage to snap this quick picture when we got home of them bagging up the enchiladas for the freezer.

Eating them for dinner that night - Yum!

P.S. At the rate we're eating them out of the freezer, Jon and I will have to make more soon.