Disney World Part 1: Legoland, Universal Studios, and Animal Kingdom

This year we decided to finally do a big Disney World vacation during spring break. It was no easy decision since it is so stinking expensive but we knew the kids would love it. We like to call it the "Phil Brown Disney Trip" since we kind of earmarked some of the money we got when John's dad died for something like this. Of course we had to make a detour for Legoland and we decided to make that our first stop. I feel bad because in an effort to save some money we got a rental car from a location that was supposed to be convenient to get to from the resort, but it was not and poor John got stuck in crazy shuttle lines and it took him forever to return it. Oops lesson learned. 

Legoland was amazing and I am glad we went now before EZ gets much older because it was the perfect park for all of our kids but I could see it not being as fun once you are a teenager. Of course all of the Lego sculptures were a big hit. I thought King would love to be in this picture with the characters from the Lego movie, but unfortunately he fell multiple times before we even got into the park, so he got off to a rocky start. The poor kid is just our little klutz. He warmed up though once he got to buy his Mixel lego toy.

I have mixed feelings about Lego Friends and how overly girly they are, but Netta loves them so we had to get a pic with one of the girls. The only actual human characters in the whole park.

No special story about this pic except that I love that it looks like Netta is taking a dump.

One of the big highlights of the day was the Driver's Ed program where you got a driver's license after you finished the ride. EZ was very attached to that little piece of paper.

My favorite part of the park was the "play here while your parents wait in line" pens. Those people are geniuses. It's a lot easier to deal with the crowds when your kids are entertained with Legos.

Towards the end of the day, Conrad and I got to have some bonding time in the little kid area while the older ones rode some of the bigger rides with John. It's silly but I was so impressed with the nursing room they had there that I had to take a picture. This place really knows how to take care of families.

Our second day was spent at Hollywood Studios. Here we learned the benefits of having a "baby" with us who couldn't ride a lot of the rides and of selecting our fast passes weeks ago. Because we chose early we were able to get fast passes to all the big rides, so John would go on with the 3 older kids and I would wait with Conrad. We never had to wait long and then he would come back with an "I have a baby pass" for me which would allow me to get in the fast pass line with 3 other people, so all 3 kids could ride again if they wanted. They got really spoiled on this trip because people were waiting up to 2 hours sometimes for those rides. Unfortunately, today was also the day we learned that just because King is tall enough to ride the ride, doesn't mean he should. I think he almost had a heart attack on the Tower of Terror. That one actually even had EZ shaking in the line when we went back to ride it again. Netta however was unfazed. She will ride anything.

John has been talking up the turkey legs for quite some time and EZ was SO exited to get to try one. His first initiation into manhood.

EZ was also a big fan of Hollywood Studios because of the Star Wars ride and the chance to make his own light saber. Of course he had to make a double one which is 6 feet long. I am amazed that he hasn't broken anything at our house yet. 

Our third day was spent at Animal Kingdom. I have a love hate relationship with his park. It has probably my two favorite rides, but also was frickin impossible to navigate and it took forever to get around. The Yeti roller coaster was my favorite coaster of all the parks and for some reason the Lion King show brought me to tears and I don't even really like that movie. They had a petting zoo, which was ok, but it got a lot hotter that day and it started to get to us.

After the petting zoo you could go instead and do a scavenger hunt around the animal center. King wanted nothing to do with that. Luckily, we brought plenty of electronics on the trip for these very moments. 

 We learned another trick about the fast passes that day. If there was a big ride that King didn't want to go on, we would use his fast pass and mine to go on something else and then John would take the older 2 on the big ride and I would again use the baby pass so I could go on and take the kids again. Then King and I would use our extra fast passes for a different big, but not too big ride and we would come out and have a baby pass for John, EZ and Netta. Basically, it let us have 4 fast pass rides instead of the allotted 3 a day. I was so proud of myself for figuring this out, but then we used our 4th fast pass on this dinosaur ride that absolutely terrified King and EZ. Maybe even more than Tower of Terror. Oops. 

Oh and our final lesson learned was never eat at the Rain Forest Cafe. The food is insanely expensive and not that great. We were just so hungry at the end of the day that we couldn't handle the thought of riding the shuttle home and then fighting the crowds for dinner at our resort. We really loved the trip but pretty much every meal was a headache except for Epcot, but that is for another post.

March Fun

At the beginning of March, John and all his siblings got together in Arizona for a family reunion. His sister Becky has been fighting stomach cancer and they were all going to visit her in Washington, but she told everyone she really wanted to be together in Arizona, where they grew up. John's family has a tradition of collecting ASU cups after basketball games and of course they couldn't pass on another opportunity to do that. John is a cup stacking master. Thankfully he did not bring them all home with him.

They rented this really nice house with a pool in the backyard. John finally had a chance to show off the crocheted shorts he bought with his birthday money from my Grandpa. That's my man.

While John was away, the kids and I hit up family night at the YMCA. It's every Friday and we have been going pretty regularly lately. They have games and crafts for the kids to do and it's free! It's a great way for the kids to run off some energy that they seem to be building up from being stuck inside so much. This time when we went they had out these old blocks that I haven't seen in forever. I remember playing with them when I was little and it was trippy to see them again after so long. I am impressed they still had them!

A big focus of this month was getting ready for the school's Variety Show. Netta and EZ were both in acts this year and they both sang and danced to Perry Gripp songs. His stuff is awesome and so fun for kids. Netta performed a song called "Space Unicorn" in this spunky outfit. She did such a great job and everyone was impressed that a 1st grader would get up on stage all by herself and perform with such confidence.

EZ and his friend Ethan performed "Burrito Van." Sadly, I don't have any pics of them in the van. All I have is this pic of the work in progress. Don't worry though we have plenty of video. I was actually pretty darn proud of myself for making the van, but then I had to threaten people so they wouldn't break it since it was the only box I had that was the right size. I kept saying "it's a prop and not a toy." I am sure a lot of kids thought I was mean, but hey the van lasted and it is actually still going strong at our house. EZ and his friend nailed their acted and became minor celebrities. A couple times when we have been out and about kids have come up to EZ and been like "Hey your the burrito van guy." It's hilarious.

EZ also had his piano recital this month. I actually love that his teacher does it earlier in the year before all the end of school year craziness starts. I also loved that she kept all of their pieces short so that even though there were a lot of students the whole thing only lasted an hour. EZ memorized his piece and didn't really make any mistakes. He loves playing the piano and I love that he wants to practice and when he has a hard piece he wants to figure it out so he keeps trying and trying till he gets it.

Kingston has been taking swim lessons as part of his preschool and they had a special day for the parents to come and watch. I was hoping by the end of this year that he would be able to swim on his own a little. That doesn't seem to be happening, but he is way more comfortable in the water than he was before.

This month was packed with stuff for EZ and he got to participate in his first Pinewood Derby. He made an Enderman car, because I already had black and purple paint and it was a really easy thing that he could actually paint. We watched some youtube videos to help us learn some easy tricks to make the car faster. Sadly, he didn't win any races but John said all the cars we were really fast and everyone was separated by hundredths of a second. That is some crazy competition for cub scouts, but I am sure that has more to do with the dad's then the kids. ;) 

EZ has a buddy from Church, who happens to live like 2 doors down the road, named Ryan and his sister is on the high school robotics team. When they had their big competition at the high school, EZ spent all day there. He loved it and is super excited to be able to do something like that when he gets older. They actually have a lego robotics club once he hits middle school and then the regular club in high school. I am excited that even though we are in a small town, our schools still have such amazing programs. And since it is a small town, you can actually participate in the programs if you want to and not fight for spots.

February, Finally Something Better Than January

The snow days continued into February. The specter in this photo is John on his 3 round of shoveling that day. His back my never be the same. We really need to invest in a snow blower. 

There was one day in February that the kids actually got to play outside on a snow day. It has been so cold that we have hardly played outside at all. In fact we had some snow days purely because it was too cold to go outside. What fun.

The first grade put on a little musical thing about families. Netta was so excited to have a solo and she rocked it. Also, the night of the performance one kid with some solo lines was a no show and Netta got to fill in because she basically had the entire thing memorized. She's our little performer.

Being snowed in so much has kind of turned me on to crafting, since I am bored out of my mind. I was pretty proud of the kids Valentine's Day boxes this year. I think being trapped inside has also fried some of my brains cells since I spent forever making the little pony on Netta's box, when in hindsight I should have just slapped one of her plastic ones on there and called it a day.

Being trapped inside has also awakened a desire to bake all the time. It's not great for my waistline but it's fun and yummy. I have been trying out some new recipes and I actually won a baking contest with a Tres Leches cake I made for a church party. I was lucky enough to win these awesome workout tapes, although I could have just borrowed them from my mom ;) Now if only I could awaken a love of actually cooking dinner and not just dessert.

My parents came to visit over President's Day weekend, which was awesome, but sadly we missed out on a bunch of out time together when they got stuck behind a huge accident on the Toll road and their 6 hour drive turned into a 12 hour drive. Luckily, all of us adults were still able to go out to dinner on Valentine's Day and my dad was able to help EZ work on his pinewood derby car.

EZ has really been loving cub scouts and we all had a fun time visiting the fire station as a family. I love that we have cub scouts through the church, but sometimes I wish the church just had it's own program for the boys like it does for the girls, because it requires a lot less man power and a lot less money. But since I don't think it's going to change anytime soon we are just going to enjoy scouts. 

I almost completely forgot to blog about 3 important things. Probably because there aren't any pictures to go with them. Anyway, the snow days were eating away at my sanity and John noticed so he surprised me with an early Valentine's Day trip and booked me a package at a spa and then sent me to South Bend by myself for the night to get dinner and shop. It was amazing and so is he. Then on my birthday my friend Amberly had our family over for dinner and then surprised me by having a bunch of other friends there and she told me she would watch our kids for us one weekend whenever John and I want to get away. I totally didn't expect any of that and it really made me feel loved. We hit our 1 year mark in Michigan this year and everyone kept asking me how I feel now and while I still am not in love with living in such a small town, having good friends is making a huge difference. 

Oh January

I've said it before and I will say it again: I hate January. The weather sucks and you are coming down off the high of all the holidays and family time. Being in Michigan has not exactly helped my love of the month. We didn't really have any snow through the holidays and then bam we got slammed in January. In fact the kids had only been back in school for 2 days when we had so much snow that we had 3 snow days in a row. I did try to make the best of it, but then we ended up with more snow days later in the month and for some reason we had 2 school holidays and 2 half days at the end of the month. We really shouldn't be scheduling any school holidays in January when we know we will probably be missing a lot of school for snow. I love our new house, but I really didn't want to be trapped in it with the kids any longer. And it was so stinking cold outside that the kids couldn't even really play in the snow those days. 

Anyway, there actually were some fun things that happened this month. First EZ and I went on a little date to see the last Hobbit movie. John is not a fan of the movies so EZ and I had watched the first 2 while John was out of town. It dragged on a little for my taste, just like the last Lord of the Rings movie, but EZ loved it and that is all that matters. I also love that I can let him watch these movies and I don't have to worry about and sex or swearing. Yes there is violence, but at least they are killing monsters and not real people.

The most exciting part of January for me was when they finally opened a Five Guys right by our house! I couldn't believe it in the fall when I saw signs saying they were building one. And then they kept pushing back the opening date, but finally in January it opened up. I feel like we are one step closer to civilization. We went the first Friday after they opened and it was busy but they handled the crowd really well. It was also one of the half days we had so earlier the kids and I had gone to the Children's Museum and they had painted their faces, which is why they look kind of scary in this picture.

Conrad discovered a love of Netta's dress up clothes this month. Netta was ok with him wearing the dress but she had a really hard time parting with her tiara. She keeps asking for a little sister, but I am not sure how she would actually feel about having to share all her sparkly stuff.

My kids have been begging to go to a Chuck E Cheese and of course the closest one is 45 minutes away in South Bend, so finally on one of our Mondays off we headed down there. It was a random school holiday that only our district had, which was awesome because we had the entire place to ourselves. The best part is that it was a really old Chuck E Cheese and they still had all the scary looking animatronics that could give you nightmares. As scary as they are I kind of love them because that is what I remember growing up. The Chuck E Cheese itself was in a kind of sketchy part of town, but there were lots of other stores and restaurants and as we were driving home through the sketchiest part EZ said he really wished we could live in South Bend so we could have all those places to shop and eat. Look what you are doing to us St. Joseph!

The last big event of the month was when King finally got to bring home his preschool mascot Braveheart the dinosaur to play with us for a week. Like a lot of preschools I have seen, you get to bring home the stuff animal for a week and you document what you do with it in a journal. King was the last kid in the rotation and every week he kept asking if it was his turn yet. And then there were all the snow days that threw off the schedule and actually pushed his week back further. So, it was quite the big deal when he finally got to come home with us. King carried him around everywhere and of course had to introduce him to Green Yoshi.

Christmas Surprise

The plan for this Christmas was to do Christmas at home and then just the kids and I would head to my parents' house for New Years week. All of my siblings were going to be there then except for my sister Sarah, who wasn't going to be coming to Pittsburgh this year. Well about 3 weeks before Christmas she had a last minute chance of plans and decided to head home after all, but her and her family were going to have to leave on Christmas Day. That meant every one of my siblings would be together for Christmas except me. At first I said I couldn't change my plans because John had to work the days leading up to Christmas and I didn't want to ditch him and I didn't want to deal with transporting Christmas presents to and from Pittsburgh. Well after about a week of thinking about it, I realized that I would be devastated knowing that everyone was there and I was alone in Michigan with no extended family. I mean one of the whole perks of moving to Michigan was supposed to be being able to see my family more often and we haven't all been together for Christmas in 7 years!

So we decided that I would leave the Sunday before Christmas with the kids and then John would drive down on Wednesday, Christmas Eve, to meet us. Once we decided that, we thought we would surprise the kids and have half of the Christmas presents show up on the Saturday before we left. We just told them that Santa had heard we were traveling to Pittsburgh and wouldn't have room for all the gifts. Of course they didn't mind! Here is a pick of King opening his Green Yoshi. Somehow he got really hooked on Yoshi over Thanksgiving and has been begging for one ever since. Thank goodness for ebay for these random gift requests. Oh and I love the look on Netta's face in the background. 

Another new obsession of actually all the kids is Homestar Runner. I loved it during college and they have started making new little videos again and my kids are hooked. EZ got this cd of all of Strong Bad's songs. It's pretty awesome.

Before we left town, Netta brought home this lovely picture from school. We don't actually have an elf on the shelf, but if we decide to get one he better not mess around with her.

When I decided to change my Christmas plans I thought it would be so fun to just surprise everyone and show up. I really wanted to tell keep it a complete surprise and let no one know, but then I realized I should let my mom know so she could plan for us to be at the house, which was jam packed. I am glad I told her, because then she let us know that everyone would be at Meghan's house celebrating her birthday on Sunday night, which was the perfect way to surprise everyone at once. I didn't know this till after the fact, but I after I texted my mom and told her that we were about to pull up to the house, she started telling everyone that maybe Santa would bring a special surprise to the party. This really confused my dad, but then I snuck up to the window and held up Conrad's face to it and started knocking and really surprised/scared everyone. I wish I could have gotten pictures, but my hands were a bit full. People laughed, people cried and it was all around awesome. 

I am extra glad we decided to go to my parents early, because John ended up working basically non-stop while we were gone. We thought they were going to be really laid back days with not much to do, but he was working his tail off to finish the deal he started in Italy. The poor guy worked all day Christmas Eve and then literally drove through a snow storm to be with us, so you can excuse his slightly tired face Christmas morning.

In my post about Thanksgiving I mentioned Netta's somewhat scary stuffed dolphin from the thrift store. Ever since she got it she has been saying that he needs a friend, so when Sarah asked her what she wanted for Christmas she said a stuffed dolphin. I did not have high hopes that Sarah would be able to pull it off, but she did! Netta couldn't have been happier.

Poor John was only able to stay for 3 days before heading back to Michigan. Luckily, my parents watched the kids for us so we could go out for a little lunch date and of course we went to Primanti's. There were 14 extra people at my parents' house so it was nice to get away for a little bit

I trip to the Pittsburgh Zoo is always a must and we made the most of the relatively mild winter weather. I thought we would get a white Christmas, but alas there was no snow in Michigan or Pittsburgh. I don't actually want a lot of snow, but come on, a white Christmas was supposed to be a perk of moving here. Anyway, we had a blast with the cousins at the zoo. Conrad seemed to really bond with my brother Ben. He lives in Seattle and we haven't seen him in 2 years, so it was big a deal that he was there. 

Despite the lack of snow, EZ was determined to go sledding and he decided to pull a National Lampoon Christmas move and spray non-stick cooking spray on the bottom of the sleds to make them slide down the grass. They didn't move very fast, but that didn't stop the kids from having fun.

It was a bit of a challenge to change our Christmas plans last minute, but I am so glad I did. I may have cried when I had to get in the car and drive home. I love having all of my family together!

Pre-Christmas Fun

The 3rd grade classes at Brown put on a production of the Nutcracker. It was a really cute version where all the songs have lyrics and each kid either had a speaking part or a dancing part. EZ was very excited to be a toy soldier. He had to have a black turtleneck and let me tell you that is not an easy thing to find. I didn't want to pay a lot for one, but even if I had been willing to pay a ton it didn't matter because no stores around here had any. Thankfully, his school has a facebook page where I posted asking where people found their's and the librarian posted that she had one we could borrow. I am so grateful for such helpful people! EZ is the 2nd from the right on the pic below. It was pretty much impossible to get a good pic or good video for that matter, but EZ and all the kids did a great job. It was crazy how many people showed up to watch the show. The gym was standing room only and we had to have kids on laps to all fit. Luckily, EZ's part was in the beginning because by about half way through Conrad was all funned out so we spent the rest of the time running in the halls.

So I am slowly starting to adjust to the grocery stores here. It has taken almost a year, but I no longer want to cry every time I go grocery shopping and I no longer wander around lost and continually unable to find what I need. Don't get me wrong, I would kill for an HEB, but I can work with Meijer. The kids love to get to ride this horse at Meijer and I love that it only costs a penny. For Christmas they had this special display up and you could take a picture of your kid and then post it online and enter to win some contest. Well that contest part never happened, but we did take some fun pics. EZ had an especially fun time.

Now I normally do everything possible to avoid taking all 4 kids to the store, but this time I had no choice because John got to spend the second week of Dec in Italy! There was a possibility that he was going to go there right before we went to Utah for Thanksgiving and I was going to have to fly to Utah by myself and have him meet us there. Thankfully that did not happen. Now being gone this close to Christmas wasn't exactly ideal, but it was way better timing then the November trip would have been. Of course he spent most of his time working and didn't get to really do much sight seeing, but he got to eat some amazing food! Italy is on my bucket list so hopefully I will get to go with him there sometime.

With John gone, we were left to do all the Christmas decorating on our own. Keeping all the kids inline was a little difficult and some decorations never made it out of the boxes, but we got enough up to make everyone happy. Of course, all I wanted was a picture of everyone in front of the tree and it was Conrad's turn to be the one who refused to cooperate. 

We watched a bunch of Christmas movies and one night the kids brought down their sleeping bags for a little movie party. Conrad really wanted to share a sleeping bag with Netta and I don't know why he does't have a shirt on, but it was really cute. Chances are he spilled something on his shirt, because lately if he spills a drop of anything on his clothes he has to take them off, so he is running around naked a lot.

 Netta and John get to spend a lot of quality time together after he picks her up from dance class. She always seems to get him to take her out for dinner or a treat. Sometimes I will wonder what is taking so long and when he finally gets home he says "Netta wanted hot chocolate" and apparently that is all she has to say to get what she wants from her dad. But let's be honest, he just wants some hot chocolate, too. Her Netta is on one of the post-dance treat runs showing off her now 2 missing teeth. She is loved all the attention and everyone's "All I want for Christmas is my 2 front teeth" comments. 

I am really impressed with Netta's dance teacher Ms. Lisa at The Citadel. Netta loves class so much and she is learning a ton. They did a little mini-performance of "Twas the Night Before Christmas." Netta was super stoked to get to be Rudolph, because she got to be the head of the line and was the only one with a glowing nose. She hounded me relentlessly to make sure I went to the Dollar Store and got her one. I ended up getting the last one and I am glad I didn't have to face her wrath if they had been sold out ;)

There is a little and I mean little house they set up in downtown St. Joe with a Santa inside that the kids can deliver letters to and take pictures with. This Santa was legit with his own real beard and all. He was also a miracle worker because somehow we were able to get a good picture of all 4 kids together on the first try. Each kid also got a coupon for a free chocolate bar from the South Bend Chocolate Factory. Score!

After Santa we made our way down to the carousel to get a picture with a live reindeer. It was crazy busy and John was stuck at work so we rode the carousel first to kill some time. 

The line to see the reindeer was out the door and I tried to convince the kids that we should just go to the children's museum instead, but EZ was dead set on meeting that reindeer so we made it work. Luckily, John finally was able to make it once we were about half-way through the line and he could take over chasing Conrad, who I had already lost like 3 times. We got a picture of our whole family with the reindeer, but of course I can't find it right now, so here is one of EZ and the second reindeer who was just for petting.