Start of Playoffs

The Cavs had their last regular season game.  We all went. I love that game for the give a ways. However it started at 8 pm so that is late for the kids.  They did a great job though.  We are excited for the playoffs now

I got tickets for the IX center indoor amusement park.  The kids enjoy the carnival rides so we thought we would take them.  It's been busy because of just getting back from vacation but felt it would be  a fun thing to do.  Austin and Sydney still can ride the little Ferris wheel together and it's so cute.  We know soon enough they will be too big or they won't too so we are enjoying those moments now.  While we were there, Lebron James was there with his family.  We never saw Lebron but did see his family.  It was cool.  Especially since Austin was coincidentally was wearing his jersey.

Austin is bigger and braver and he wanted to try some bigger ride.  I took him on one that we went high into the air and it dropped us down in 4 seconds.  It was scary but Austin loved it.  He went back on it with Brian.  Austin also rode a little roller coaster there.  After going, we remember why we love Disney.  The rides at Disney are not jerking like the carnival rides.  I rode the little roller coaster with Austin a few times.  He loves it!  We had a good time there.

Austin started playing soccer.  He has practice one night a week and then games on Saturday mornings.  He is the best player on his team.  Many of the other kids have never played before.  Austin played in the fall.  He loves to play defense.  There is no goalie but he loves to be goalie when the other team tries to score.  Austin says that he loves playing soccer and basketball.  I am glad that karate is over.

This year, we decided to skip Thomas the train ride and go on a princess train ride.  Sydney loved it!  During the ride out, Ariel and Elsa were in our train car.  They sang songs and read a book.  They came around for autographs and pictures.  Then on the way back, there was Cinderella, Prince, and Snow White.  They did the same thing.  There were also snacks like cookies and cupcakes.  Sydney had a great time!  Austin even liked it too.

The start of the Cavs play offs were exciting.  We even brought the kids with us to the games.  Sometimes Brian would just bring Austin.  At the start of the Cavs game, the fans sang the Star Spangled Banner.  Austin and Sydney know most of the words because they hear it so often.  We think that is pretty cool.  At each game, every fan gets T-shirts.  They are size XL and the kids even wore them.  It's cute!

Austin enjoys having campfires in our backyard.  He enjoys collecting sticks and then eating smores.  We are looking forward to more campfires at home and while camping.

Cruise

For years, we have always went on a spring cruise.  We usually go in March and last year we went in February.  This year we got the best deal the first week in April.  It’s later than we wanted but for the deal it was work it.  We left on Sunday morning.  On Saturday, we had to pack.  My mom came over to play with the kids while we got some packing done.  It was helpful.  It’s difficult to pack for four people and not be able to do laundry for an entire week. I finally packed us in two large suitcases. 

On Saturday night, it snowed at home.  We only got an inch but nevertheless it snowed.  The plan for us to get up at 2am and leave by 3am.  Austin had an accident at 1am.  After that, none of us fell back asleep even though we tried.  At 2am, Brian and I got ready.  Austin was up and then he woke Sydney up to let her know we were leaving for the cruise.  It was freezing outside! 

I drove first.  I was completely awake it and I enjoy driving when no one else is on the roads.  However, I did not like that some places had snow covered roads.  Again it wasn’t a lot but I did not like it.  The kids played their games and then they fell back asleep for about an hour.  Brian slept a bit in the third row.  Austin had to stop to potty around 5:30am.  We found a gas station.  Then we stopped around 7am at our train McDonalds.  I am not even sure where it is but we stop there all the time it seems like.  After breakfast, Brian drove for a bit.  I slept in the back row and kids watched their Kindles. 

Once I woke up two hours later, I finished the drove to the cruise terminal.  I originally wanted Brian to drive into New York but the kids were sleeping so it was best for me to keep driving.  Once we arrived at the cruise terminal, they woke up.  They were excited.  We parked next to the cruise.  Again it was really cold outside.  Austin and Sydney carried their backpacks (I made them pack) and sand buckets on to the cruise.  It was so cute to see them with winter coats and sand buckets. 

Once inside the cruise terminal, there was some confusion on which line we were supposed to stand in.  There was a sign that said gold and diamond member’s but they told me the long line.  Finally, we just went where the signed said and sure enough we were correct.  I really don’t like standing in lines with the kids any longer than I have too. 

Then we were able to go on board right away.  We went to our room and dropped off our stuff.  Then we headed to the buffet for lunch.  It was the normal first day lunch busyness.  The only thing Sydney talked about was how she wanted so much watermelon and cantaloupe.  That is exactly what she ate for lunch.  Plus, some ice cream.     But we were able to get a table with was nice.  After lunch, we walked around the ship and took some New York skyline pictures.  It was cold but were able to get a few pictures.  After the muster drill, we went to our room to get pictures of Austin and Sydney as we passed the statue of liberty.  That is always a cool picture. 

Austin was most excited about chess on the cruise.  He has learned chess from school.  Brian and I had no idea how to play it.  Brian looked some things up while driving to the cruise.  I still don’t’ know anything about it.  Austin begged to play chess.  He finally got his wish.  Austin is really good at the game.  He loves it! 

We went to the main dining room for dinner.  It took forever to get our food.  Luckily Austin and Sydney did a great job.  The cruise had a kid’s menu with activities on it.  I also packed a coloring book and crayons to keep them busy too.  They did so well at dinner.  Austin order pizza but did not like it.  He thought they were going to have Pizza Hut pizza and they don’t.  Sydney had a hot dog and ate that without the bun. 

Because it took so long for our appetizer and main course at dinner, we skipped dessert there.  We went up to the buffet and let the kids get what they wanted.  While up there, we watched the sun set.  It was a nice evening. 

We went back to our room and went to bed.  We were all exhausted.  During the night, Austin ended up on top of Brian (we are in different beds and not sure how that happened).  Sydney fell out the bed.  She cried and I let her sleep in our bed.  Austin woke up promptly at 7am.  Sydney got up at 7:45.

On day two, it was a sea day. Austin got up first and we got ready.  Then Sydney and Daddy woke up. We all went to the breakfast buffet.  Sydney continues to eat mostly watermelon and cantaloupe.  She had fruit loops too.  Austin had pancakes, waffles, and cereal. 

After breakfast, we went to see if the chess board was open.  And it was. Austin was so excited.  He loves playing it and beating us.  He does his celebration dance.  Sydney removes the chess pieces from the board and carries them to the side. 

Next we checked out the rock wall.  Austin was hesitant to try it at first but Brian convinced him to try it.  He knew he would like it.  Sydney is not tall enough.  You need to be 42 inches.  Austin tried and did good.  He didn’t make it to the top and he was a little sad about that but made it about half way.  He was using his arms more than his legs and he got tired quickly.  

Then the kids played some putt putt golfing.  They like using the golf club to hit the ball continuously.  They do make it in the hole as times though.  There was family dodgeball game. Austin likes dodgeball from karate.  He took him to it and let him played.  He was probably the youngest there but that did not bother him.  He would throw balls and get balls for other kids.  He stayed in the games a while because he wasn’t up front a lot of the time.  We were proud of him for doing it.  Austin really enjoyed it. 

It was cool outside still.  We were off the coast of the Carolinas.  I would guess temperature was around 70 degrees.  However, there were several kids swimming.  The kids swimming pool water was warm.  So we let the kids swim.  They were excited.  There were little water slides and they kept crawling in the water to stay warm.  The kids pool is only about a foot or so deep.  They swam for about 15 minutes until they got too cold and then we went back to our room to change. 

It was time for lunch.  It’s nice now the kids are able to carry their own plates.  We let them pick what they want to eat.  For lunch, they both had a sloppy joe.  We were impressed they ate it all too.  It had kidney beans and onions in it but again they ate it. 

We came back to the room and hung out.  I tried to take a nap.  Brian worked on the computer.  And the kids played building a fort.  They used all the pillows in the room to make the fort.  Brian helped them with it.  They did good until they started fighting. 

Once the kids started fighting too much, we decided it was time to go explore the ship.  Austin wanted to go to chess.  While we were there, he met a friend to play with.  It was great because the kid was around 8 years old and was good a chess.  It was fun for Austin to play with someone who had a clue how to play.  The kids almost beat Austin twice but allowed Austin to check his move so he didn’t lose.  The kid allowed Austin to win.  Austin was so happy.  We explained to Austin how to be a good winner and it was because the kid let him win. 

We stopped at the buffet and allowed the kids to get a small ice cream cone.  They were happy. Then we had to get ready for formal night.  It takes a while for all of us to shower and get dressed up.  After we were ready we walked around the ship for formal pictures.  We probably stopped at 8 different locations.  They kids were pretty cooperative too.  They would also tell Brian where to take their pictures.  They were more cooperative when they picked the location. 

After pictures, it was dinner time.  We considered making the kids change their clothes but we allowed them to stay dressed up per their request.  A family next to us offered to take our picture.  It turned out nice.   Sydney ate a hot dog for dinner and Austin had chicken nuggets.  The kids had a brownie for dessert.  It was a good day and bedtime. 

On day three we docked in Port Canaveral.  However, we did not arrive until 1pm.  So we had the entire morning on board the ship.  Austin woke up promptly at 7am.  He was a little loud and woke Sydney up by accident.  Sydney always sleeps an extra 30 to 60 minutes later than Austin.  She can sleep in unlike Austin.  I knew Sydney was going to be tired but there was nothing we could do.  We went up to the buffet for breakfast. 

After breakfast, we walked around the ship.  Austin felt like we needed to be doing “something”.  I explained sometimes we just walk around.  We stopped at let them play putt putt golfing.  They enjoyed that.  The first fish “ate” their golf balls.  They kept getting stick in the fishes’ mouth.  We moved on and the kids did the entire course. 

Next Austin and Sydney did the ropes course.  They are not 48 inches tall so they couldn’t do the big one but did the small one and loved it.  Sydney was nervous at first on what she was doing but once she got one she did not want to get off. They played there for about 15 minutes going back and forth. 

Brian needed internet for the Cavs at 11am.  He tried to get online but was unsuccessful.  He wasn’t too happy but there was nothing we could do.  While he was doing that I took the kids swimming in the kids pool.  It was the same as yesterday however warmer outside.    They liked it. 

We ate lunch on board the ship before getting off the ship at Port Canaveral.  Getting off the ship took about 20 minutes.  There was a long line.  Austin and Sydney had their sand buckets and told everyone they saw they were going to the beach.  They were very excited about going to the beach.  I am so glad we let them both get a sand bucket. 

Once we got off the ship, we walked across the street to a parking lot with shuttle car rental vans.  The shuttle was there within 5 minutes.  It was a 2 minute drive down the road the place.  We waited in line to get our car.  Austin and Sydney ran around.  Brian installed two car seats and off we went. 

Before leaving home, I found some ideas what we could do.  I decided to try the first place which was Cherry Downs park.  However, when we arrived there was no parking. There wasn’t street parking either.  We drove down the street until we found parking near the beach.  Beach access was right there and we went.  Sydney had fallen asleep in the car.  She hasn’t been getting enough sleep.  We woke her up and off to the beach we went. 

We just set our stuff down and then went closer to the water to start playing in the sand.  Austin and Sydney loved it!  They really enjoy the sand and ocean.  Brian and Austin built a small swimming pool.  Sydney had her own agenda that didn’t really make sense but she enjoyed doing it.  She loved going into the water and getting buckets of water.  The buckets would be heavy but she would still carry them. 

Then we went and played in the ocean.  Austin and Sydney loved the waves and we played in them for a long while.  We got dried off and then the kids decided on playing in the sand again.  They just played and played.  We had some people take our family picture of us.  We like getting a family picture of us everywhere we go. 

When it was time to go, we were careful not to get sand in the car.  However, Austin wanted to see their sand work one more time.  So when he got back to the car, he had sand on his shoes and the sand got in the car.  Brian cleaned it up with towels and tape.  Brian dropped kids and I at the cruise terminal.  I had the beach bag and Austin and Sydney had their sand buckets.  We walked all though the terminal to get on board.  One point Sydney wanted picked up. I told them I couldn’t pick anyone up and Austin offered to carry all the sand toys so she could be picked up. It was sweet.  I only carried her for a minute until she decided to walk again.  By the time we got on board, Brian got there 10 minutes after us.  It was a short walk back and he could walk faster. 

We all took showers and got ready for dinner.  Dinner takes about an hour and half.  We were impressed how well Austin and Sydney do at dinner.  They have their coloring books and they just sit and color.  Austin lets us know he doesn’t like waiting and would prefer to eat at the buffet but he behaves very well at the dining room. 

The ship had a family party that night.  There was face painting, balloons, a raffle drawing, and lots of desserts.  Sydney got her face painted.  Austin did not want too.  Austin enjoyed the raffle drawing.  Austin had ice cream with lots of toppings and Sydney had a cupcake that she put more toppings on. 

We came back to the room and we watched the ship turn around in the dock from our balcony.  We could see NASA.  Last week, Austin got a book from the library about the ISS (International Space Station).  He got to see where the rockets take off.  He was excited about that.  The kids were exhausted and fell asleep very quickly. 

On day four, we were supposed to go to the private island.  It’s my favorite port of call on this itinerary.  However, the winds were strong and we knew it wasn’t likely we were going to be able to go.  We went to breakfast and then walked around the ship to try and see land.  However, all decks were closed because of the strong winds.  People were meeting in the theater for tenders.  It made us think we should go get ready for the beach just in case.  Because we would want to be first group off if we were going to the beach.  While getting ready for the beach, the captain made announcement that the winds are too strong for the tenders. Brian and I were sad.  Austin and Sydney didn’t really know what they were missing.  However, they still wanted to go to the beach. 

Since we had our swimsuits on, we decided to go swimming.  The outside temperatures felt cool due to the winds however the pool was heated.  That was a nice surprise.  We swam in the big pool with the kids.  The water was salt water.  They had fun swimming back and forth.  We played there for about an hour.

There was a family Lego building activity.  Austin loves Legos.  We went and checked it We had 25 minutes to build anything we wanted as a family.  We had a team name of Go Legos but then Austin changed it at the last minute when the lady asked.  Austin and Sydney built a big ship to be able to take up to the private island.  They were creative and it turned out nicely. 

Then we had some lunch and ice cream.  We have let the kids have dessert after lunch and dinner.  That never happens at home.  But since we are on vacation, we allow it. Then we all took a nap.  Because we missed the private island, we were able to have an overnight in Nassau.  We were not supposed to get docked until 7pm because of time constraints of the pilot but we were docked by 6pm. 

We had a quick dinner, at the Irish restaurant on board.  We had nachos for appetizers.  Brian and I had fajitas for dinner. Sydney had fish and chips. Austin had turkey.  Austin loved the turkey.  Then we got off the ship.  We walked around and got several pictures.  It was cool to be at Nassau at night.  We have never done that before.  We got a family picture by the cannon at the center of town.  Austin and Sydney loved climbing on it.  While Austin was running around he fell and scrapped his elbow.  He cried but not as much as I would expect for how bad of scrap it was.  We got back on board the ship and had dessert at the buffet.  Then it was time for bed. 

On day five, we were in Nassau Bahamas.  We went to breakfast then we went and played a game of chess per Austin’s request.  Then we went back to the room and packed up for the day.  We were planning on going to the beach.  When we got off the ship, it was raining.  Luckily in cleared out quickly. 

We walked to the beach.  It’s about a mile walk.  The kids did great walking.  The beach was crowded but we found a spot.  We didn’t get a chair or anything because we wanted to play in the sand with the kids.  Austin started by making a race track.  Sydney moved the sand around.  Then they ended up with a pool that Brian kept putting in water.  It was a pretty big pool for the beach.  There was lots of water in it at times.  The kids loved it!

We swam in the ocean about three times.  The kids loved playing in the waves.  Austin didn’t swim like he does in a pool.  He was a little hesitant.  Sydney swam like a fish like she always does.  We were at the beach for about three hours.  We had a lot of fun.  We walked back to the ship and Sydney fell asleep on Daddy’s shoulders.  It was funny. 

We had a quick lunch then we back to the straw market.  The kids could pick out one thing.  Brian got them flutes and walking turtles because it was a good deal.  Austin picked a photo album and Sydney picked a purse.  We got our annual picture at the straw market.  We then let the kids play in the splash pad near the straw market.  They loved it!

We walked back to the ship right around 5:30pm.  The ship was leaving at 6pm.  We got ready for dinner.  We went to Taste restaurant for dinner.  Dinner takes forever (like an hour and half).  It is fine but hard with the little kids.  The head waiter played a game with Sydney about eating her brownie.  She really thought he was going to eat it.  It was so funny!  After dinner, we played chess and went to bed. 

On day six, it was a sea day.  The kids actually slept until 7:30am.  I couldn’t believe it.  We went to breakfast.  The kids went to kids club and got learn about dinosaurs.  This was the first time the kids went to the kids club.  While they were there, Brian and I did the big rope course.  I was excited to do it.  Brian did an amazing job.  He didn’t even hold on to anything.  I did good but I was always holding on to the rope.  Before picking up the kids, we had cocoa on our balcony. 

After we picked up the kids, we took Austin and Sydney swimming. The pool was cold that day.  Austin did the waterslides.  Sydney was scared and did not try.  We are not sure she was tall enough either.  She did swim in the pool though.  Austin loved the water slides.  The lines were a little long though so he didn’t do too many times. 

We had lunch and the kids had ice cream.  They really enjoyed the ice cream with toppings while on the cruise.  We then took a nap.  Brian did not nap but the rest of us did.  I love naps.  Sydney was really tired. 

Austin woke up and Brian took him to chess. He played with that same little boy.  Austin lost and wasn’t happy about it. Brian made him thank the boy and understand that other people can teach him about the game of chess. He has a lot to learn about it. 

We got dressed up for formal pictures again.  We went around the ship and got our picture taken again.  We needed a new picture for our wall.  After pictures, we went and played chess.  There was another guy there that ended up teaching Austin more about the game of chess.  Austin loves chess!

We went to dinner.  The kids sat next to each other to watch the sun set.  I was nervous about it because I knew what was going to happen with them next to each other but all and all they did well.  They worked on the word find together.  It was cute.  After dinner, we went up to putt putt and let the kids play.  Then we went and played shuffle board but it was windy and cold.  We did not play long. 

Austin loves working the elevator every time we went on it. He had the entire elevator laughing because he welcomed everyone on and off.  It was so cute.  He loved pushing buttons for people too.  After the kids went to sleep, Brian and I had cocoa on our balcony.  It’s starting to get colder.  We were sad to see the nice weather end. 

On day seven, it was our last sea day.  First thing in the morning we tried playing basketball however it was closed due to strong winds.  We went to breakfast first.  After breakfast, we tried again and it was open.  It was perfect because no one else was there.  We played for a little bit.  It was chilly.  Then we played soccer. 

The kids went to kids club for the last day.  They got to practice for their performance in the afternoon.  They were really excited about it.  When we picked them up, Sydney and Austin made sure we had them back in time so they could be in the show.  While they were at kids club in the morning, Brian and I looked at pictures.  We got two family pictures. 

Once we picked the kids up in the morning, we had lunch.  Then they played in our stateroom.  We had the kids back to kid’s club at 2pm.  They needed to be there by then so they could get their faces painted.  Sydney was very excited about the show.  We went to the theater early so we would have a good seat but another show was going on.  That show was popular and there were no seats.  Finally show ended and then we got seats in middle close to the front. Austin and Sydney were tigers in the show.  They were very cute and did a great job.  After the show, we picked them up.  We took them to the buffet for hot chocolate and a cookie. 

We got ready for dinner and packed up our belongings.  It’s always sad to go home.  It was our last dinner in the dining room.  Dinner seemed to take longer than usual.  They brought the kids dinner out first.  We don’t understand that practice.  Because they are done eating by the time we get our food and it’s just a mess.  We like dinner to come out all together.  None of us had the patience to wait for dessert so we went up to the buffet.  Then it was time to go to bed since we were getting up early in the morning. 

On Sunday morning, we got up at 5:30am to get off the ship.  We were at breakfast at 6am.  We were able to see New York city as we ate breakfast.  We left our stateroom at 7am.  We were in at 7:15am and we waited 45 minutes before they were ready to let people off the ship.  We sat down on the floor in line.  They didn’t want people in line but people we already lined up.  We knew if we didn’t get in line we would be significantly delayed getting off the ship.  While waiting, we looked at pictures from the cruise on Brian’s computer.  Then the kids colored pictures. 

We got off the ship at 8:15am. We were in the van by 8:30am and we were home by 4pm.  We only stopped at rest stops for potty breaks.  We had snacks in the car.  It was so good to be home.  I love vacations but I love being home too. 

Once we got home, we unpacked and we had tons of laundry.  It’s hard to go 8 days without doing laundry.  I do laundry almost every day at home.  I went grocery shopping and we had food again.  We made a pizza for dinner that night.  It was good to eat at home again.   Then we all got ready for bed.  We are all exhausted!

Easter

On Easter weekend we went to Aurora Farms on Saturday.  They had an Easter Egg hunt.  They had stores that had eggs and kids got to pick an egg from each store. It's fun for the kids to go to each store and get an egg.  They love running to store to store to get an egg.  We also get our picture taken with the Easter Bunny.  The kids love the Easter Bunny.  They are not scared of him and we think it's related to seeing all the characters at Disney.  Thinking of Disney, I can't wait to book our trip in the fall to Disney again.  It's so much going there now with the kids.

On Easter morning, Austin woke up early.  He was excited it was Easter but was distracted easily so Brian could sleep a little bit more.  The kids watched their Kindles.  Then they woke Brian up.  The Easter Bunny hide their baskets and eggs outside.  The weather was amazing the the morning was little cool.  We tried to keep them inside as long as possible to warm up some.  But they were too excited to wait any longer.

The found all the eggs in the yard first.  That is always fun for them.  Then the started looking for their baskets.  Sydney's was on the roof.  The kids got on the roof with Brian.  While up there they found Austin's basket on the campers roof.  Brian got in down for him.  They got stamps, chalk, and bubbles.

We decided to go to church at 10 am.  The kids were very good at church.  They are normally in Sunday school so they don't sit with us  during  church.  They would be very good if they were alone but together sometimes they like to pick on each other.  After church, since it was so nice outside we went to park to get pictures of the kids.  They were cooperative there too.  Brian took some good pictures of them.  Then we let them play.

We worked outside at home. Brian worked on the camper and I worked on cleaning out the cars.  Then we got ready to go to my parents.  At my parent's house, the Easter Bunny came stopped by.  The kids were so excited.  Then we walked to the park and the kids played.  We had dinner and dessert.  After dinner, we went home and walked around our block.

The week of Easter, we didn't have any kids evening activities.  It was kind of nice.  We had a relaxing week just hanging out at home.  We had to get ready for our cruise.

Easter Activities

Austin had his kindergarten screening.  Originally I thought we would be with him but that was not the case.  I dropped him off and picked him up in an hour.  I was worried because he learned his phone number right before the screening (we practiced and made up a song a week before the screening).  He also does not know how to tie his shoes yet.  He does know his address, letters, numbers, shapes.  He is good with numbers and adding and subtracting.  He doesn't read yet.  He can write letters well and needs practice with numbers 2 and 5.  These are all my observations.  We won't know anything from the school for about a month.

Last year I wanted to go to breakfast with the Easter bunny at the zoo but it was sold out.  This year, I made sure we got tickets.  I got tickets about a month before the event so had no idea what the weather was going to be like.  We got lucky and it was a beautiful warm day with high around 60.  That was fabulous for March.  We've had a very mild winter with little snow this year.

When we got there we went to breakfast first.  It was a buffet breakfast.  Austin slipped orange juice on him.  He is messy when he eats.  He usually gets messy when eating.  Luckily it wasn't too bad.  Then we went and got pictures with the Easter Bunny.  Austin and Sydney are not scared of the Easter Bunny.  They ran right up to him.  After the Easter Bunny, we went to the craft stations.  The kids made a bag bunny and a chick.

Then it was time for Easter egg hunt.  The kids were divided by ages 5 and under in were in one group and 6 and older in another group.  It was nice they were in the same group.  The kids had their baskets and collected Easter Eggs.  There were a ton of eggs to get.  Afterwards they turned in their eggs and got a prize bag.  It was a great Easter egg hunt.  After it was over, we walked around the zoo.  It was a great day for the zoo.

Our friends had an Easter egg hunt at their house and invited us over.  They had a lot of fun collecting the eggs.  Each of them filled their baskets with eggs.  In the eggs were candy.  The kids love candy.

Every winter, we try and take the kids to Great Wolf Lodge.  It's something fun to do in the wintertime.  Due to our schedules we were not able to go until March.  We went with our friends too.  We got there around 2pm.  We let the kids play in the waterpark until dinner time.  For dinner, I ran to Wendy's and picked up food.  We finished watching the Cavs game in our room while we ate dinner.  After dinner, we went back swimming.  After swimming, we went to show in the lobby.  Then we went to bed.  We were all exhausted.

In the morning, we went to breakfast at out hotel.  Then we went swimming for an hour.  We had to get home for Brian to get to work.  The kids had a great time swimming.  It was a fun night of swimming.

The next weekend we had two more Easter egg hunts.  One was at a local church.  It was inside because of the weather.  They were in a room and had to collect eggs.  Austin even won a special prize which was glow in the dark sidewalk chalk.

Our rec center had a aquatic Easter egg hunt.  They were in the pool and collected eggs.  Austin and Sydney were in different age groups.  Sydney went first.  She collected a lot of eggs.  She loved it.  Austin was next and he found the one gold coin.  He was so proud of himself.  There were hundreds of eggs and he found it.  He got a coloring book and chocolate bar.  He even told older kids in the men's locker room.  He talked about it all day long.  After the egg hunt, Austin had a friend at school birthday party.

Sydney can be the sweetest most lovable girl but also the most difficult.  It's her way or no way.  If she doesn't want to do something she doesn't do it.  It is simple things like going potty, changing her clothes or putting on her shoes/coats.  She does better with Brian because he will play the racing games with him.  I don't have as much patience and just want her to do it.

The kids usually don't nap anymore which means bedtime is around 8.  They are usually asleep by 8:30pm.  Sydney doesn't need us to stay in her room until she falls asleep.  Austin still does.  On night, I left her room while see was still awake.  I went to check on her an hour later and she was not in her bed.  I looked for a minute and could not find her.  Then I checked the top bunk and sure enough she was up there.  She climbed up there and made her own bed with her princesses (Cinderella and Anna) and was sound asleep. She sleeps with her princesses every night.  We couldn't help but be impressed with her determination and desire to do what she wants to do.

Sydney's gymnastics are over for the session.  We are waiting to fall to sign her back up.  With spring and summer coming, we are trying to decrease the number of activities.  I thought she would be more sad about not going but she is okay with it.  She does like staying home more than Austin.  We given the opportunity to go somewhere or stay home Sydney would prefer to stay home.

Austin is still in karate.  He says he likes basketball and soccer better but enjoys it.  However since he has started karate he likes to hit Sydney more.  He doesn't completely understand the difference between real life and karate.  We are working on that but Austin does get more time outs than usual and I think it's related to karate.  Both kids are still in swim class.  The instructor this session is not as good and we think the kids are actually going backwards.  Luckily we have a lot of other things going on so they are going to miss a lot of it.

We went to our last Monster's game of the season.  Austin really likes it.  Sydney just likes the snacks involved in going.  With the Cavs playoffs coming soon we are going to be busy with that.

Austin still continues to have issues staying dry at night.  Brian started waking him up before he goes to bed and that has helped.  He's only had one accident in the last week.  He now wears underwear at night.  Sydney has been wearing underwear for over a year now at night.  She just got it.  Austin is still working on it but we are happy with the progress he has made.

Kindergarden Exprience Night

We had kindergarten experience night.  It was at the school from 6-8 pm.  Austin was really excited. He dressed himself in a nice yellow polo shirt and blue pants. It just so happens to be the school colors.  We started the night off in the gym.  The kids ran around before it started.  It was cool because 3 other of his friends from preschool were there.  Austin has really come out of his shell.  He was completely fine running around with his friends and didn not mind what we were doing.  It was nice to talk with other parents.  Then the split us up into groups and we had a schedule for the night.

Our next stop was the cafeteria.  We learned about how the kids can buy lunch.  If Austin would buy lunch everyday, it's close to $50 a month.  I am going to have to figure out how to pack a hot lunch.  I heard about thermos.  Then we went to music class.  Austin got to play a game.  We checked out the library.  He will be able to check out 1 book a week there.  (Right now we check out about 30 books a week for our library).  We went to art class next, he got to make a necklace out of pasta.  He did a good job threading the pasta on the yarn.  We went to computer class.  Austin learned about excel and making graphs showing everyone's favorite color.  Then he got to do gym class.  All the classes were about 15 minutes long.  Then Austin went to a kindergarten classroom while they talked with us about kindergarten screening.  He enjoyed his classroom and his teacher.  We really hope he gets that teacher.  We were so happy they had kindergarten experience night.  We really enjoyed it.  I am excited for him.

Sydney been excited for her birthday since Austin's birthday.  Recently she asked if she would get married first or her birthday first.  For the first time, we said her birthday was before something. Sydney is curious who she will marry.  She thinks she is going to marry

We went to Cavs game that gave away Moondog and Sir CC puppets.  Austin wanted Moondog and Sydney got Sir CC.  They had fun with their puppets and having them sing during a time out.  The kids do a great job at the Cavs games.  We watched the entire game. We go at half time to get hair painted and tattoo.  Sydney loves getting her hair painted.  Sydney loves to eat snacks at the game.  Austin doesn't need the snacks as much.  He is more interested in the game.  We all enjoyed the game.

Since basketball is over, we signed Austin up for karate.  We wanted him to try it and see if he likes it.  It's interesting because depending on when we go, there may be adults in his class.  And all classes have different colored belts.  And the black belts team up with white belts to teach them things.  Austin follows right along and does well.  He says he likes it but likes basketball and soccer more.  He really likes when he can play dodge ball at the end of class.  The one thing I don't like about karate is they never explained why he can hit and kick people in karate but not in regular life.  He has recently starting to hit and kick Syndey.  Not completely sure it's related but believe it is at least a little bit.

Winter activities

Austin is done with his basketball practice now.  He did a good job listening to his coach and learning triple threat position.   He now dribbles with one hand most of the time now.  He would run laps around the outside of the gym track.  The coach would work on listening skills by they were not able to start until the start of the whistle.  Coach would say go but they weren't supposed to go until the whistle.   At his last basketball he got a trophy and got pizza afterwards.

Sydney and I were not able to go to the last basketball practice because Sydney had a school friend's birthday party.  Sydney was so excited.  Sydney doesn't get invited to as many parties as Austin and that makes her sad.  She finally got to go to one.  She had a great time!

Sydney continues to do her gymnastics.  She loves it.  She can now do a backwards somersault.  She is also can do a handstand next to the wall with the teacher holding her.  She flips over on bar too!

Austin, Sydney and Kaitlyn have been taking swim class together.  They are in level 2.  They all do a great job.  It's fun going because we can talk with our friends while there.  We are going to change to different night since we have more Cavs games to attend at the end of the season.

We took the kids to a Monster's game.  Austin loves it!  He enjoys watching the puck and loves it when they score.  Sydney enjoys going for the snacks.  Austin likes to wear his Monster's shirt he got from the airshow last year too to the game.

Both kids can spell their last names and they can spell each other's name.  They also can spell cat.  They both like to spell "at" words like cat, bat, mat.  Austin knows how to spell zoo.  Austin can read words me, we, my and are.  We are working with Austin and sight words.  I made a matching game with words on them.  We also have sight word Zinga.

Austin and Sydney love art projects.  They had a large box and they decorated it and made it into a car garage.  They have a lot of matchbox cars and they put them all in there.  They also love to use tape.  They put tape all over the box.  They like to tape pictures to the walls too.  I don't mind much in the downstairs play room but don't like it as much in the main level of our house.

They also enjoy playing school together in the basement room.  They like to play by themselves there.  They will do that for 30 minutes at a time.  They have notebooks and will take attendance.  They do a good job taking turns being the teacher and kid.  The one time they played I was the kid.  Austin was the teacher. Sydney was the mommy.  She dropped me off at school and picked me up.

Also I finally took them to go get their hiking sticks.  In the fall, we walked 8 metroparks together.  I had the forms completed but had not dropped them off.  I took the kids to go pick up the sticks.  They were excited.  They can't wait to walk the trails again next year.

Kindergarten Registration (5 years and 3.5 years)

Now we have a 5 year old that means kindergarten is coming soon for him.  It's amazing that in February we had to register him for school.  We always knew that we were sending our children to a private school.  Brian always went to a private school and he had a great education.  I went to public and it was okay.  We feel that private will work best for our family.  We did most of our research last year. It was a good choice since we were not nearly as stressed to figure out what school to go to.  We went to the open house and it seemed to feel right.  Austin is now registered for Kindergarten.  He is very excited about.  He likes that he will we on Daddy's work schedule when he starts.

Austin has also started playing basketball.  He absolutely loves it.  He can make baskets and are learning triple treat position and dribbling.  He is good at it too.  He does a great job listening to his coach!  Some kids in the class have a hard time listening.  Sometimes I feel the kids don't listen well especially at home but they always do great at school and at activities.  We are thankful for that.

Because Austin started basketball, I felt it was only fair to start Sydney in an activity.  I am not a fan of dance so I thought gymnastics would be a good fit for her.  She loves it!  We toured two gymnastic studios and decided on one that worked best for us.  She is learning basic gymnastic moves.  She jumps up and down in excitement while waiting her turn.

Austin had his 5 year check up.  He got all of his vaccines to start Kindergarten.  I was so proud of him. He did not even cry after getting all 4 shots.  He doesn't get a shot now until his is 11.  He is very excited about that!  Austin weighs 42 pounds and he is the 60th percentile for weight.  Austin is 42 inches tall and in the 75th percentile for height.  I am still able to pick him up and carry him.  I usually do that in the mornings.  It makes me sad because I know soon I am not going to be able to do that.  He is getting too big.

We got to bring home our camper the other weekend.  We went down together and had a walk though with it.  We are clueless with it. Brian took videos so we will be able to remember once we are able to use it.  We are all very excited to start camping as soon as the weather breaks.  Austin and Sydney love it!  It's like their own little house.  They enjoy climbing all over the camper especially their bunk beds.

I continue to do a lot with the kids while I am home with them.  The other day we had art class then gym class then I took them swimming.  Sometimes the kids like to stay home and play too. I try to make that happen.  At home they like to play magnetic blocks, marble run, race cars, and board games.  One game that Austin really likes now is checkers.  He learned it at school.  He loves to play it!  They also like playing the squirrel game and engineering ants.

Graham turned one this month.  We were planning on going to his party.  However a major snow and ice storm came and we were able to go.  Austin was really sad!  Sydney was sad too but did not fully understand.  She kept saying we are leaving on Friday.  Friday came and went she kept saying we are leaving on Friday.  We wish they did not live so far away!  It's a really long drive.

That weekend since it snowed so much we took the kids sled riding for the first time.  They played outside with the kids across the street on our hill.  Then on Monday, we took them to a real sled riding hill.  We went to the store and got sleds.  We got the last two.  Austin went first and loved it.  Sydney went next.  I thought she wouldn't like it.  But she did!  Brian even taught them to carry their own sleds back up the hill.  They were proud of themselves.  At first, I kept going down the hill to help them up.  Soon they were doing it all on their own.  They seem so little but so big at the same time.  We all had so much fun!