Christmas

Christmas Eve we had our friends over and the kids exchanged gifts.  They got Austin and Sydney laser tag game which they liked.  Then we finally made Christmas cookies.  We had been so busy we barely fit it Christmas cookies but we did just in time for Santa.  Then we went to church.  After church, we went to McDonald’s for dinner. We are continuing the tradition. 

That evening, Brian’s mom and Mike and my mom all came over to spend the night.  Brian’s mom was in town this year.  Also this year, things were all set which was so nice.  It was much less stressful.  The kids left out carrots for reindeer and cookies and milk for Santa.  They went to bed fairly quickly and Austin got up at 4am. 

He worked on his book report until he was able to wake up Sydney at 6am.  At 6am the kids went downstairs and opened their gifts.  Austin received a big drone, hot wheels car wash, pet penguin, game, and CD player.  Sydney got a new kindle (she broke her old one a few months ago), unicorn hair styler, and penguin.  She also got unicorn string art and Frozen lego set.  They had a great Christmas.  My mother and I made breakfast that turned out great.  I didn’t burn the cinnamon rolls this year.  After breakfast my mom went home.  The kids played with their toys.  Then we went down to her house for dinner.  It was a great day. 

After Christmas we had to get all the decorations down since we were leaving for a cruise on Saturday.  Brian took down the Christmas lights the day after Christmas because it was 60 degrees and we were leaving.  We didn’t want to leave them up while we were gone and have to deal with taking them down once we got back.  Brian goes to Las Vegas after we get back so it’s going to get busy once again. 

Christmas Activities

We went to a local farm and picked out our Christmas tree.  The kids always get to pick out the tree. It's their responsibility to cut in down and drag it back.  It's a lot of work for them. It also develops team work.  They found the perfect tree.  

We started our family Christmas activities with Lake Farm park.  We always enjoy doing the breakfast.  The kids love eating breakfast and it is less crowded than at night.  After breakfast, we saw Santa then the kids made their wooden toys.  All the wooden toys go under our Christmas tree each year. It’s neat to see them every year.  This year Austin made a frog and Sydney made an angel.  They really take their time with them painting them perfectly.  The kids rode a pony after their toy making. 

Also in the beginning of December Austin had his first basketball game.  It was so fun to watch.  They even won.  Brian does a great job coaching them.  Sydney has also started basketball.  She doesn’t get to play games yet but she’s really liking it too. 

The school had its annual gingerbread house contest. The kids enjoy making their gingerbread houses.  Sydney also had a piano recital the same day so we left the gingerbread house making early to take her to that.  Austin stayed at the school with some friends.  He hears her play piano every week so figured it was okay for him to miss it. 

Another fun night is when Santa comes to our house in a firetruck.  It’s always so fun.  The kids were outside screaming when they could see the flashing lights.  He even came early this year.  Santa even bought them a present.  Austin got building domino blocks and Sydney got a stuffed animal.  They were so happy. 

Austin and Sydney also performed in the school Christmas concert together.  It was great for them to be in it together.  It only goes until 3^rd grade so unfortunately this was the last year of that.  They each sang two songs with their class and then they did one with 2^nd and 3^rd grade.  They made sweatshirts this year to wear at the concert.  The whole class matched.  I helped with each of their sweatshirts.  It was cute. 

Brian and I each went out in December.  We usually don’t go out much together.  We enjoy spending time with the kids so we usually do things as a family.  A group of parents went out on a limo bus to downtown brewery.  It was a lot of fun!

The Cavs put on winter fest at the Q (Rocket Mortgage Field house)  each year for season ticket holders.  Luckily this year we could go.  We got there early so we could ice skate.  We know that ice skating gets busy.  We ice skated for a while.  The kids are getting good at it.  They are not as good as skiing but getting there.  Then we even met Zivic.  Then we had some dinner and made some cookies.  Austin and Sydney made an ornament for the tree as well.  It was a good night. 

I helped with Sydney’s Christmas party at school.  They played a game and did some crafts.  Then they decorated cookies.  Austin didn’t have a Christmas party.  They had a Grinch day which he liked as well. 

We went out to see a Kent State basketball game with some friends from basketball.  Austin and the boys enjoyed watching the game.  Sydney and the girls played most of the game. 

We ended all of our Christmas activities with Mr. Kringle’s Inventionasium.  We were bummed because the talking tree near it was not working.  However the Inventionasium did not disappoint.  The characters are great.  They have fun doing all the stations.  Sydney gets more excited about it but Austin still enjoys it too.  They even got to make a toy and bring it home this year. The problem with the toy was it didn’t stay together well.  They loved making snow.  And seeing Mr. Kringle is magical!  They got a stuffed dragon to bring home as well. 

After Mr. Kringle we went to a Cavs game.  We even got upgraded seats for this game.  They were probably the best seats we had.  They were 13 row behind the visitor bench.  It was even a good game and the Cavs won.  We truly had a magical holiday season!

November Fun

At the beginning of November, we had teacher conferences.  We are always worried about Austin since he’s had trouble hearing but so far things are going well. He’s also getting all the special help he needs to hopefully catch back up.  Sydney’s conference was quick and easy.  It appears things come easier for her.

Winter sports also started.  Sydney decided she wanted to play indoor soccer at a local soccer club with some friends. She had to try out and made the team.    Austin started basketball with Brian coaching.  This year they will play games against different schools so that’s fun.  Austin continues to play tennis once a week.  Sydney continues to go to piano lessons once a week.  To say we are busy is an understatement. 

Brian also had to go to China for a week for his big build at work.  The kids are always sad when he leaves.  We kept busy with all the activities though. And before we knew it, he was back home. 

Once he got back from China, he spent the weekend putting up Christmas lights.  It’s always a time consuming project.  He kept him awake and the weather wasn’t bad.  They were put up that weekend. 

I hosted Thanksgiving again this year.  My mom came over.  I made the traditional Thanksgiving menu with turkey, stuffing, potatoes, rolls, and cranberry sauce.  Thanksgiving is Austin’s favorite meal of the year.  He loves it!  Sydney got a GI virus the Wednesday before and we were worried we would have to postpone Thanksgiving.  Luckily it was a quick virus and she was fine by Thursday.  However Sydney doesn’t like the food like Austin.  I think she only had dinner rolls and corn. 

Thanksgiving evening we went to see Frozen II at the movies.  It was very good movie.  We all liked it.  We think it’s better than the first one. 

We found out that Brian is lactose intolerant.  We also had Sydney tested too. She is also lactose intolerant.  We are trying to avoid milk products however that’s been a challenge for her.  Most of the foods she like has lactose in it.  She has started on almond milk with no issues.  I hope once things calm down I’ll be able to figure out stuff she can eat.  She doesn’t like the chewable lactaid pills and she can’t swallow the pills.  So she knows if she eats something with milk, she’ll have a bellyache. 

Some girls from girls scouts and the moms went to see the Nutcracker.  Some second graders were in it.  It was very cute. 

October Fun

October has lots of fun fall activates.  This year,  the kids loved the drive in.  With it closing soon, we made sure we took them to see the Addams family.  We saw it too weekends in a row because one was trunk or treat.  It was so much fun for the kids.  Drive in twice for Addams family.

Austin finished up flag football.  He's had a great 3 years of flag football but this year is the last year.  Next year, kids play tackle football.  Austin is not interested.  The last year was nice because his team won the championship. 

Sydney finished up outdoor fall soccer.  She has fallen in love with soccer.  It's definitely her sport.  Some of her friends are doing an indoor league.  We signed her up for that.  It's going to be a busy winter. 

We took the kids to boo at the zoo.  They still love going so we made sure we took them.  This year, Austin was a tube man and Sydney was princess Jasmine.  We also went trick or treating at my mom's house.  The weather was so terrible this year.  I didn't even go out in it.  Brian took the kids in the cold rain for 2 hours.  He's such a great dad! 

With football being done, Austin has picked back up on tennis.  He goes on Sundays.  He enjoys it.  There was some talk about Sydney trying tennis too but she decided to stick with soccer. 

I took the kids to treat or treating at the Q (Rocket Mortgage Field house but i like the Q better).  Brian was at a coaches basketball meeting so he couldn't come.  We met Jordan Clarkson.  They did a few crafts and got some treats. 

Brian has taken Austin to some Cavs games.  We only have 2 seats to half the season this year.  It works out with the kids busy school and activity schedules. 

On Halloween, the kids had truck or treat at school which I did with another mom.  It's fun to see them.  Then I did Sydney's classroom party.  Then Brian took them trick or treating around our neighborhood with the neighbors. 

Disney

The start of the school year is always crazy.  Trying to get into a routine.  We have always taken the kids out of school in early fall for a trip.  It seems to work for us and the kids are not learning too much new stuff yet. 

This year we decided to go back to Disney in the fall.  Our friends wanted to come with us since they have never been before.  Also Brian’s sister decided that she was also going to come.  It’s going to be interesting with so many of us in the group.  We also decided we would stay an entire week this time.  The last time we were there we only stayed 4 days.  We love Disney and the flights were cheap so we thought we should stay a week. 

We got a great deal on airfare.  The bad news was our flight was at 7am.  Then meant we had to get up at 4am.  That’s a little early for even Austin who loves to get up early.  Things were going well until once at the airport, we realized I forgot to put on the Disney luggage tags.  That means we now need to pick up our luggage at the Orlando airport.  It’s annoying but hopefully that’s the only thing I forgot. 

While on the plane the kids worked on some homework.  Then I let them have some electronic time. 

When we arrived to Orlando we picked up our luggage and went to the Magical Express.  When we got to our hotel, only 2 out of the 3 rooms were ready.  Luckily ours was one of them. We had lunch.  We changed and went swimming for a bit. The kids love the pool. 

That evening we went to Epcot to ride Soarin.  It is one of the best rides.  Everyone loved it.  Then we went over to Figment the Imagination Ride.  Then Austin saw Penelope from Ralph Breaks the Internet.  He stood in line and saw her and then Ralph came out.  Austin was very happy.  We had dinner at Epcot then went back to the hotel. 

On Sunday morning, we headed to the Magic Kingdom.  We got a picture in front of the castle.  Austin went to space mountain and the speedway cars and I took Sydney to Peter Pan and Winnie the Pooh.  We all met up at the tea cups.  Then we rode the Barnstormer.  Then we headed over to Thunder Mountain Railroad.  Sydney had reservations to turn into a mermaid so she did that.  She loved it!  It’s magical to see her so happy and love wearing the mermaid dress.  I bought the dress on Amazon (much cheaper than a Disney dress).  Then we went to meet Micky Mouse and Minnie Mouse.  That was fun.  It was so hot we went back to the hotel to swim.  That evening went to Hollywood to check out Toy Story and Star Wars land.  It was new to us. 

On Monday morning, we got up at 4:45am to go to Hollywood.  We arrived by 6am to see it open.  We went to Toy Story Land first.  We were on Slinky Dog at 6:04am  We were proud of ourselves.  Then it was a disaster.  We tried to go to Star Wars land but it was closed between Toy Story and Star Wars land.  We walked all the way around.  That’s a lot of walking.  The line for Smugglers Run was over an hour long. We decided not to ride it then.  We went back to Toy Story Land.  We rode Toy Story Mania.  Then we went to ride Smugglers Run.  It was cool to see all the stuff around the line to ride the ride.  About 45 minutes were riding the ride.  It was a neat ride.  Austin and Sydney were gunners. 

Afterwards we hung out in Star Wars land and Chewbacca came by and said hi to Austin and Sydney.  That was cool.  Then we rode Star Tours.  We rode Slinky dog (very fun family friendly roller coaster).  We also rode the flying saucer ride.  By this time, we were exhausted so we headed back to the hotel for a nap.  After nap, we headed to Magic Kingdom to see the fireworks show. 

At Magic Kingdom we rode, Haunted Mansion then It’s a small world.  Then we had some dinner at the Mexican restaurant.  After dinner, we went on Astro Orbiter and then watched some of the firework show.  Austin wasn’t very interested and wanted to go back to the hotel.  So Brian and Austin left a little earlier and got back.  Sydney and I stayed and watched then got a bus back. 

On Tuesday, we went to Animal Kingdom to start the wilderness explore program for the kids.  Austin says it’s one of his favorite things to do at Disney.  We went to Dinoland first.  Austin and Brian rode the Dinosaur ride.  The kids played in the great Dinoland playground.  Then we walked around Animal Kingdom collecting badges.  We took the train over to Raffaki’s Planet Watch area.  The kids had fun at the petting zoo there.  Then we headed back to the hotel to swim.  When it’s 90 degrees, the only thing to do in the middle of the day is swim. 

On Tuesday evening, we took the skyliner over to Art of Animation and Pop Century.  The kids love seeing the cars at Art of Animation.  And I wanted to ride the skyliner to it worked out perfectly.  The skyliner is cool.  It makes me want to stay at one of it’s hotels.  But it would depend on cost.  Since we are not in the room much, it doesn’t make sense to spend too much more money on a hotel. 

On Wednesday, we went back to Epcot.  We rode Soarin first thing like always.  With 12 of us, it was amazing that we all made it there quickly.  Then we rode Living on the Land.  Austin really likes that ride.  Then we went over to Nemo ride since it was right there.  Unfortunately we didn’t have much time since we had a test track fast pass.  We all rode Test Track which was great.  Then we headed towards the countries.  We met Anna and Elsa.  Sydney just loves that.  Afterwards we rode, Frozen Ever After.  Everyone else decided it was time to head back to the hotel.  We wanted to walk around the world so we stayed. 

We stopped at a few countries to get stamps.  Sydney met Belle.  She had her Belle dress on so was excited to see her.  We also found Jasmine and Sydney got a picture with her while Austin colored at a passport station.  Then we headed towards the front to ride Spaceship Earth.  That was a slow ride that we had never rode before. 

We headed back to the hotel to swim.  Then we went to Hollywood that evening.  We got on Smugglers Run again.  It was less than a wait than at 6am.  We took the Skyliner to Epcot to see the new firework show.  The show was good.  Afterwards we took the bus back to the hotel. 

On Thursday morning we went to Animal Kingdom and rode the safari.  That is always cool to see.  Then we walked the Gorilla Trail to get more wilderness explore badges.  Austin says the Animal Kingdom is his favorite park because of the wilderness explorer program.  Sydney got her face pained thanks to Auntie Melissa. 

Brian and Austin rode Mount Everest with Melissa and the boys.  Then we went over to Flight of Passage.  It was shut down and we had a fast pass.  We really wanted to ride it so we waited.  Luckily it was like 30 minutes.  Austin and Sydney finished the wilderness explorer program and got their ceremony.  Sydney wanted a “big” celebration but Austin wanted a “small” celebration. 

We went back to hotel to swim.  After swimming we went back to Animal Kingdom to ride Flight of Passage again.  Then took a bus to Hollywood.  We ate dinner at Hollywood.  We rode Slinky Dog and Tower of Terror.  It was another busy day. 

On Friday, we went to the Magic Kingdom.  We rode Pirates of the Caribbean first.  Then we walked up the Swiss Family Robinson House.  Austin loves to watch the water being lifted to the top.  Then we went and rode the Winnie the Pooh Ride, then 7 Dwarfs Mine Train.  That ride is really too short.  Then we rode Thunder Mountain Railroad.  That’s the best roller coaster there in my opinion.  Austin and Brian rode Space Mountain.  I believe they think that’s the best ride.  We headed over to Tom Sawyer’s Island.  The kids had a great time playing there.  That’s always one of their favorite things to do.   Then they went back to ride Space Mountain again.  We had lunch and finished with the people mover. 

Like all the other days, we went back to the hotel to swim.  That evening we went to Hollywood.  Austin, Brian, and Sydney rode the rockin roller coaster.  Then we rode the saucers.  Brian and Austin rode the Tower of Terror.  Sydney and I went back to the hotel for an evening swim.   It was an exhausting week.  We had lots of fun though.  

On Saturday we flew home. Unfortunately they had changed our flight so we didn’t leave until 5pm.  We worked on some homework then let the kids swim.  Then took the magical express to the airport.   Disney is one of our favorite vacations. 

Flag Football and Soccer

September is a month of adjustments.  We try to get into the swing of things for school.  Austin had a lot of homework at the beginning of the year.  Plus the kids have their fall sports.  Austin is playing flag football for the last year.  He has practice two days a week plus games on Saturdays.  Sydney is playing soccer.  She has practice one day a week with games also on Saturdays.  That makes things a little crazy.

Austin's football team has been winning.  Austin is not into football that much.  He likes being with his friends though.  Sydney loves soccer.  It's her favorite sport.  Her team has won and lost a few games.

We went to Mapleside for a Cavs season ticket event.  They had food and the kids enjoyed playing on jumping bag and playground.  We also went to Cedar Point with the Cavs.  Since we have season tickets, we just had lunch on them.  However Austin and Brian decided to ride Steel Vengeance.  They were in line and missed lunch.  I bought a plate of food for them.

Our downstairs bathroom is finally finished.  The floor was install the other week.  I was so happy.  The old floor was gross.  Austin now loves that bathroom.

Soon we will be leaving for Disney.

Sydney's 7th Birthday

It's always sad when summer is over and it's time to go back to school.  Austin and Sydney were excited about school this year.  Austin was hoping for a better year since now he can hear.  Sydney loves school and loves learning.  Austin is now in 3rd grade and Sydney is in 2nd grade.

Sydney's birthday is always right around the time of school starting.  That is always a challenge determining when best to have her party.  We decided the weekend after school starts would work best.  She wanted a swim party at a place that had a water slide this year.  The pool was inside.  Even though it's still summer, it worked out in case it rained.  She had so much fun!  Lots of girls were able to attend.  Plus the the boy siblings.

Unicorns are her favorite thing right now.  She got unicorn cupcakes, cakes and cookies.  Plus I made unicorn water bottles with everyone's name on them.  I got my Cricut machine out.  I haven't used it in years.  It was fun for me to make them.

On Sydney's birthday, we went to Steak n Shake for dinner.  That's the kids favorite.  They claim they have the best macaroni and cheese.  Plus they even got a milkshake.  After dinner, we went to football practice.  Sydney likes playing with the girls there.  It was a good birthday.

On Labor Day weekend, she had a sleepover at her best friends house.  Sydney has been asking for this for a while.  We finally said yes.  She had a great time until the morning.  When she got sick.  I felt so bad for her.  Luckily she felt better the next day.

We also decided to buy water rafts to raft down the river.  We could have rented them but it was cheaper to go to Dick's and buy them.  So we bought four of them.  Then we drive 2 cars down to the river to leave one at the end.  The kids had a great time!  The water was a little chilly but not too bad.  And it takes longer than you would expect.  Especially when you have kids swimming up stream for a tennis ball.