Orlando Trip 2016

This February we were convinced that we needed to take a trip to Disney World with our family.   Jon and I really loved Orlando when we went by ourselves a couple of years ago and we thought it would be fun to take our kids sometime.  Ideally, we thought, our kids would be a little older but we decided that since Katie was free until her 3rd birthday on March 5th and since we were currently living within driving distance, we needed to go for it!

Our original plan was to drive down one day, spend two days at Disney World, and then drive back the next day.  When we got down there and checked out the weather it was supposed to be very rainy the next day.  It didn't sound too fun to walk around Disney World with three little kids in the pouring rain so we decided to just hang around the condo the next day and extend our trip an extra day.  The rainy day at the condo ended up being super fun!  While it was pouring rain- it was still pretty warm and there was no thunder or lightening so Katie, Colton, and I went swimming at the pool in the rain while Jon watched the baby in our condo.  That night the rain had settled down and we drove to Disney Springs.  There we went to the TREX restaurant.  It was fairly pricey but Colton loved it and I'll admit- it was pretty cool!   There were several animatronic dinosaurs and a giant fish tank and the walls and lights lighted up and shook and roared.  It was fun!

The next day we went to Disney World!  Disney World was fun, for the most part.  It was fun seeing the characters and the castle ad riding the roller coasters but it did get hard waiting in the lines.  Specifically with two young kids and a baby in tow!  We were able to switch of waiting in lines for most of them and that made it manageable.  However, waiting in line for almost two hours with all three kids in a narrow line inside a cave to see princess Ariel about did us in!  After that we decided we were not waiting in any more princess lines.  We were able to see Belle by going to the enchanted fairy tales with Belle first thing in the morning.  Katie was sad we didn't get to see more but the lines were just not worth it!  She did love the Under the Sea ride though and we had to ride that a couple times :)

Even Jon got to help out and meet Belle.  He acted so annoyed by it to me.  Sure Jon, you look real annoyed ;)

Ariel trying to get Katie to smile.  She LOVES Ariel but she was too shy to even talk or smile at all!

Colton's interaction with Ariel was pretty funny.  He liked her and but didn't quite know what to say!  Poor boy, dating is gonna be rough! ;)

Katie was pretty gung-ho for the roller coasters, which was fun to see!  Colton was more timid and scared but still went on some of them and seemed to enjoy them for the most part.  We ended up taking a mid-day break and heading back to the condo for naps.  The main shuttle/train was shut down so we had to take the ferry across the lake to get out but that was kinda fun.  When we came back we rode some more rides and stayed up until the fireworks show thinking the kids would love it.  They didn't.  Haha.  They both just covered their ears the whole time and said, "TOO LOUD!  TOO LOUD!"  Oh well.

Real photogenic kids I've got :)

Happiest place on earth... :)

The parade was "too loud".

As mentioned earlier, we had originally planned to spend two days at Disney World but after the first day (despite it being MOSTLY fun), we decided we were Disney World-ed out.  So, the next day, we headed instead to Sea World.  We had So. Much. Fun!  We all had fun seeing the different animals and the kids LOVED the dolphin and whale shows!  Jon and I had loved the dolphin show especially when we had previously been there and we were pretty sure the kids would too!  So glad we were right!  It was so fun to see the looks on their face when the dolphins did their tricks!  (*Sidenote- Talk about devestating...we had a lot of this on video and Katie accidentally wiped Jon's phone so we lost it all :(  )

The lines at Seaworld were also a lot shorter so Jon and I were able to switch off watching the kids on the side and go on a couple of Big Kid coasters!   Sea world also had this whole section dedicated to kids with a giant jungle gym and a bunch of kid roller coasters.  That was a lot of fun for the kids as well!

Waiting for the dolphin show :)

Jon is the 4th row back with his arms up!  He rode this 2 times in a row within like 15 min!  Yay for short lines!

Whale show.

Flamingos are pretty cool!

Our little cartographer.  He loves getting maps at places like this and charting where we are going to go next :)

The next day we drove home and decided we definitely needed to come back again sometime!

Christmas Stay-cation

This year was the first year we spent the entire Christmas vacation by ourselves!  It was a bit odd, especially since the weather was also totally different from what we are used to for this time of year.  The week of Christmas it was hot, sunny, and muggy outside- temps in the mid to upper 70s.  It felt so weird to be celebrating Christmas while wearing shorts and running the air conditioning!  Jon and I are both big on family, and love spending time with our siblings and parents, so it was tough to be on our own this year.  We made the most of it, though, and had a good time together starting traditions and spoiling Colton and Katie pretty good!  We enjoyed having the time together but we are both very excited to visit family next year!

Christmas 2015

If anyone has any tips for getting all three kids to be happy and look at the camera at the same time I'd love to hear them!

WIDE EYES!  

Highlights of the Christmas Break:

1.  Nobody got sick this year!!  We have had a bad run of getting pretty ill over the Christmas break the last few years: ear infections, stomach bugs, bad colds, and just last year we all got Influenza that wound Katie up in the ER.  It was horrible!  I'm so grateful we finally got to celebrate a holiday with everyone healthy! (We did have a couple minor colds in the week leading up to Christmas but it paled in comparison to other years and by Christmas it was all gone!)
2.  Almost two weeks with Jon home!  One of the great perks of Jon working for John Deere is that he gets the holidays off plus the entire week in between.  It's super nice and was lots of fun to get to have daddy around for a couple weeks!
3.  Lots of presents!  Since we didn't spend any money travelling this year we re-allocated some of it to making a great Christmas for the kids.  They loved it and it was fun to see them so excited!
4.  Raleigh Museum of Natural Science!  We drove up to Raleigh over the break and enjoyed walking around the city a bit and visiting the museum.  Fun family day trip!
5.  New Years Eve Sleepover!  We decided to let the kids stay up with us this New Years Eve and "sleepover" with their sleeping bags in the living room.  We made snow cones with my awesome new ice crusher Jon got me for Christmas, ordered a bunch of wings and breadsticks, made churro chex mix, watched The Lego Movie.  The kids made it until about 10:30 before heading to bed.  It was a fun family night together bringing in the new year!
6.  Potty Training Katie!  Ok, so potty training is not so fun, BUT- since Jon was home and Katie was showing lots of sign she was ready, we decided to take the plunge and just get it done.  It took about a day and a half to click but- as far as potty training goes- it was relatively easy!  She took to it really fast and has done a great job at telling us when she needs to go potty and staying dry.  She has even been potty training herself to stay dry during naps and nights when we've been putting pull-ups on her!  So glad to have this hurdle down!  Now if I could just get her to learn to get up on the potty herself and wash her own hands without needing help...
7.  Running- finally!  With Jon home, I was able to have a little more time and energy to push myself a little more to getting back in shape.  I've been working on it the last month or so but over the break I was finally able to hit the 3 mile mark!  I was able to run 3+ miles a couple different times over the break and today I actually ran 4!  I definitely still have a long way to go and many many pounds until I'm back to where I was pre-baby, but it feels great to finally be able to move and push my body again!
All in all, it was a different- but nice- Christmas "Stay"cation. :)

Zach's Blessing Day

Zachary Paul Day was blessed by his dad on December 6, 2015 in the Fuquay Varina, NC ward.  It was the first time we haven't had any family around for a blessing so it was simple and sweet.  We didn't have to worry about a big dinner or anything after church so it was relatively stress free; a different feeling, but kinda nice.  Zach was an angel for the blessing and didn't cry or spit up or anything!  We love our little Zach and feel so blessed to have him in our home!

Halloween

I love Fall!  I love the weather, the changing leaves, parties, and dressing my kids up for Trick or Treating!  We knew that we were gonna have a baby in the middle of the season this year so we did our best to make the most of it before and after!

Before Zach came, the kids and I went to a Trick or Treat story time at the library, had friends over for a sugar cookie decorating party, painted leaves, and the whole family went out to a local pumpkin patch for festivities and to pick out pumpkins to paint!  

We were super lucky to have both Jon's mom and my mom here after Zach was born to help out and the added bonus was that my mom stayed home and watched Zach and handed out candy while Jon and I got to walk around the neighborhood trick-or-treating with the kids!  It was a fun family experience.  The kids loved it and I have never been trick-or-treating in such a fun and friendly neighborhood.  Almost every house was decorated, some to the extreme with screens playing dancing skeletons or Halloween movies in the windows.  We didn't have to knock on any doors because everyone sat out in their driveways to hand out candy!  One house was even handing out freshly grilled hot dogs to all the adults!  It was pretty awesome :)  I bought Halloween costumes on clearance last year so the kids had a couple options to pick from but Colton, no surprise wanted to be a dinosaur/dragon this year again and Katie opted for the cowgirl (out of princess, superhero, and cowgirl).   

 It was a fun year and I'm so glad I still got to participate in a lot of the festivities!