Birthday Blues

July is a busy place around here.  We've made it through America's bday, and Nana's bday - though it probably wasn't the best day she had, since we were on the road for 11 hours and 2 people were sick.  Next up- the boys (bdays, not sickness).

The entire 23 person crew!

Kaden has been trying to claim his birthday since the day after Nana's.  We keep putting him off, and then this week I realized his actual day is next week- and I had nothing.  Nothing.  Well, besides a full ideas board on Pinterest, but we know how often that translates to reality (I think the precise ratio is 78 pin ideas = 1 real life activity).  Then tonight, I realized we have 6 days, or maybe 5 depending on when we celebrate, but I work 3 of those days, and family's coming into town, and... well.  It was time to plan over dinner.

Kaden working up the courage to jump!

And what does the boy have his heart on?  A pinata.  Like last year.  Last year, dear friends, I planned ahead by about 2 months, and Uncle Steve spent *weeks* creating two themed pinatas.  (And after a quick search, I realized that I never posted about EITHER of his birthday parties last year.  Sigh. Luckily, Google keeps my photos accessible!

First, take a look at "The Black Bamboo."  Steve looked up plans for a model of the ship Black Pearl from the newer Pirates of the Caribbean movie.  Then, using his CAD skillz, tweaked the scale and print out actual blueprints... then with his fiance, constructed this beauty out of cardboard and bamboo and sisal.

And mailed it to us in FL, where we had a fun filled Pirate Party, that included a treasure hunt where kids found their goodie bags, a 'walk the plank' game that involved water guns, an amazingly cute Publix cake, and the pinata of course!  It was so fun, for the kids and the parents and the teens who came to help!

Then we traveled to PA, for a superhero party. It involved homemade costumes, and pin-the-mask-on-the-superhero, and a SECOND pinata that Uncle Steve made and mailed to PA.

So at dinner tonite, when I told Kaden that this year's party would be more low key, he asked if he could please just have a pinata.  "I think I can do that, buddy, but it won't be as good as Uncle Steve's."  He was okay with that... "but you can make it a Robin superhero pinata, right"  Um, no.

Part  of the issue is that he has requested a "lego batman and robin" party- but the lego b&r stuff is super expensive.  ALSO not very popular, like Superman (on clearance at Target!).  Off to Pinterest I went. There are a lot of cool examples, but I have two problems... 1) no time and 2) I don't want to encourage kids to bash in a cute head like this:



or to beat up on a superhero, like this:

 .  And then there was a nifty TNT version, but I don't want to glorify bombs, either!  I know, I'm making this too complicated.  Yes, I know Target sells Pinatas for $12 or so.  But that *almost* feels like cheating to me.  But if you see me in the store the night before the party, you'll know.

In the meantime, JimDad turns 40 at the end of this month, and I got no ideas for that either.  Birthday blues, indeed.

Vacation, part 2 and Post Vacation Blues

That almost Disney, almost free trip worked so well a few weeks ago that we thought we'd try it again! It didn't work nearly the same, though.  Not worse, just... different.

 

First of all, our hotel was near SeaWorld, not Downtown Disney.  Tough times, I know.  However, the grounds were BEAUTIFUL.  I'm not usually blown away by landscaping and atmosphere and such, but wow.  We stumbled across an outdoor chess set- conveniently located near a playground, so everyone was happy!

I found Virgil's Cream Soda in the same hotel deli that sold Starbucks bottled frap for $4.  Nah, we didn't get either.  I did, however, immediately think of the cute pup my brother once had, and so snapped this pic to send to him.  But I entered the wrong number, so someone else must've been puzzling over the odd txt msg!

 Kaden took to the pool like a toddler to water.  In fact, this time around there was less adventuring and more swimming, running and - wait for it- cable TV.  Perhaps we still needed down time?

I know I did, because this time it was my turn to work- and the conference blew my mind away. The first part was ministry and technology, the second part was educational tech.  Holy gigabytes, Batman!  There was rock music and giveaways (computers! yes, plural!) and inspiring speeches and more iPads than I've ever seen in one place! 

 It was nice to come "home" afterwards and walk the beautiful grounds at night with the family.  We'd pass fire pits, and little fake streams and ponds, and Kaden would run his energy out while I tried to summarize things with Jim.

And now, this week, we are back to work and the laundry and all those other things that make everyday life run.  I really want to figure out how to make sense of and use all the info and inspiration from the conference (which deserves its own post), but I've inherited extra hours at work to deal with "tech stuff."  Which I proposed, thinking more along the lines of electronic communication and social media.  But our website was hacked and went down, and now I'm in the midst of learning how to design a temp one.  Yes, learning how.   I haven't felt this dumb since I tried to help a relative with Medicare.

But, then again, working a bit late means a fantastic commute home.  There's not a lot of traffic on the bridge, and I get to see some gorgeous sunsets.  These pics are from the last two days.  So perhaps I shan't compain too much...

(almost) DISNEY (almost) FREE

Jim had a conference at a Downtown Disney hotel last week, so Kaden and I tagged along for the adventure. Due to Kade's age and affinity for FLIPPING OUT with excitement, Jim and I decided not to do an actual park, but just to soak up the atmosphere.  Which was suprisingly easy and fun to do!





First, there's Downtown Disney itself, with a variety of character statues, interesting/interactive shops, and free random entertainment.  Disclaimer: though a Florida native, I'm not a Disney geek and might not be using the real, actual names of places.  Because I don't really know them!

We stopped by Goofy's candy shop where Kade custom designed a cookie and then watched them make his order (gingerbread mickey dipped in chocolate, covered in mini MMs and then drizzled with more chocolate). We each had about 2 bites and then saved the rest of it for later... too sweet!

Then there was the LEGO shop.  We spent about 2 hours in there, making mini-figures (2 police guys and a crimnihmal) and looking at all the lego statues and just playing.

At the free play station, there were a lot of different ages there.  Kaden saw a table of teen boys, walked right up and said, "Can I play with you guys?"  They were *great* with him- turned out the group (3 guys and 2 gals by the end) was from a NY college, in town on a band trip!  It was really nice of them to include Kaden and play along.  Actually, it was the perfect fit- Kaden kept coming up with the ideas (what about a police helicopter?) and the guys would make it.   Talking all the while, about school and cousins and what Disney characters they liked best.

We also used the free "Disney Transportation" - buses, boats and the monorail of course.  When Kaden recognized 'Mickey's castle', I thought to myself 'gee, maybe we *should* take him inside the park.'  And then we got on a BUS and he sat under the CARS ad and bounced up and down in the seat, before turning to me and whispering "This is so exciting!!!"  Yeah, we'll skip the park for now.

We did explore a few resorts, like the Campground.  Kaden screwed up his courage and rode a Shetland pony, that I got to lead, around the "trail".  As you can see, he was much less impressed with the massive breeds we saw in the main barn, preferring to climb fences and play in the dirt while I goggled my eyes at their beautiful muscles and intelligent eyes :)

We also visited the Animal Kingdom Lodge, and got to see quite a few animals on the savannah.  In this photo, if you enlarge it, you can see a giraffe and zebra, maybe the ostrich or antelope.  Despite what Kaden says, we did not see a rhino- it was a very entertaining warthog.

Somewhere along the line, we also visited the Fort Wilderness Lodge- also great scenery inside and out.  They have a neat geyser that goes off every hour.  We stumbled across a campfire on the beach and were offered marshmallows.  Kaden asked for two, then scarfed them down without roasting them!

There's a 100 other stories of course... mostly Jim and I got a kick out of seeing how excited Kaden got over all the "little extras"- like the Disney Channel in the hotel room.  Or when we rode the monorail (he insisted on calling it a train) to the Magic Kingdom gates: he heard the welcome announcement and jumped up and down- I'm in the Kingdom! I'm in the Kingdom!  

***

Overall, I really liked this Disney on the cheap trip.  Not spending ticket money made it feel like we weren't going overboard with a cookie treat here or lego set there.  Plus, I didn't feel the need to "pack it all in", which made for some pretty relaxing explorations most of the time.  The best part, though, was not being separated from Jim while he was on a conference- meeting up for lunch or at night was pretty cool.  I realize it won't work for a lot of families, nor for us in another year or two, but for right now this was a great family adventure. 

Home Sweet Home

TWO supermans picked me up from the airport today! One was wearing his costume and trying to wake up... the other was Clark Kent style.

But Clarkie boy came in quite handy when I unpacked and found out that about HALF of the resources I bought at the conference were soaking wet! It was a really long day, and I'm tired. And now I have to email a stinking airline to discuss their policy of CHARGING to check a bag but then leaving it stand outside during a 2 hour RAIN delay, which doesn't seem like "checking" anything at all.



This past week I was off to Atlanta for a ministry conference. A few friends also went, and it was the first conference since Kaden's been born that we were at without family or volunteers around. And you know what? It was MORE productive and MORE rejuvenating than any other multi-task attempt. Amazing.

And since it was downtown Atlanta, we had fun walking around and visiting some touristy sites. Aquarium- Great fun! That Centennial Olypmic Park is waaaay cool! But the Coca-Cola world? Not so much. Save your money folks- just google "coke art" and then liquify some bright candy into a too-sweet beverage to sip and dump down the sink. Oh, then give about 50 kids a TON of caffeine and sugar and let them run around you and scream. That's pretty much the scoop.

Anyway, one of the benefits of the trip (besides some really neat connections /ideas / resources) was that I realized how much my family needs a real vacation: us relaxing together somewhere away from all the ordinary stuff. So I guess it's a good thing summer's coming up, eh? What's your vacation plans?

How to Snap out of a Fall Funk

Take a cruise. To the Caribbean.

With a bunch o' family & friends.

See? We're totally unfunkified!

First Snow?

Yesterday morning, there were snow flurries... but Kaden napped right through them. It didn't seem right to bring a sleeping baby into the snow.

Today, we took an 'auto tour' through part of the Smoky Mountains. Much fun! I love this area. We pulled over at a scenic overlook to take some photos and a short walk... and found the other side of the mountain had LOTS of scattered snow that 'stuck'. See?




My husband (a PENNSYLVANIA native, who wears Tshirts in 50 degree weather that clearly calls for knit hats, scarves and jackets) refused to let me feed Kaden a taste of snow. Or put it on his little cheek (the only flesh we could see!). So my question is: if the baby technically SEES snow, but doesn't touch it... and if we DROVE up to it instead of letting it fall down on us... is this a first snow? Help me out, friends, because I've got a baby book to start!!