The unpacking came to a halt when I ran out of places to put stuff. There's not much point in taking things out of boxes if you can't put it away, right? Work in progress, still hunting down furniture and storage solutions. Which also means lots of projects in the making as we redo furniture and decorate, but that's a ways off. Functional first, pretty later.
Thanksgiving the kids were sick. We celebrated when their appetites came back then surprised them with passes to Disney World! Early Christmas gift. We've been saving to go to Disneyland in California for over a year. Disney World was a 'yeah, that would be nice but I don't think it's going to happen.' And then, voila, living in Florida makes it so much easier; they have awesome discounts for residents. So much fun!
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| Look at all the flowers! And the cute kids :) |
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| This 'photo-op' turned into a 'nap-op'. It was the end of the day, we had to shuffle them off the cushions for the next people who wandered through. |
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| The blur on the left. |
The car broke down. . . twice. The first time 5 hours at Costco. Could be worse right? The second time we got stranded at a truck stop in the middle of nowhere on our way to Legoland for Bug's birthday. Oops. The weather was great, we met some really nice people, I almost got the kids to eat 'fresh local alligator', and we witnessed a Canadian scratch fest-- don't ask. Missed Legoland but made Disney the next day (see trip above), so no worries. And it finally convinced my diy hubby to let someone else diy the car rather than spend our vacation in the parking lot of an auto parts store! 24 hours later we also acquired a nice dent.
We've been hit once. Let me rephrase that. I'm surprised we've only been hit once. I know that sounds cynical but it wouldn't if you were riding in my passenger seat. We might trade the car in for a tank. If it shoots lasers that would be a huge bonus! Not that I would shoot anyone *coughmuchcough*
Anyways, the dent. Ironically the guy who hit us was not one of the many common sense allergic or highly vision impaired folks driving around here, but an out of towner in a rental car. After pushing our back bumper in he simply backed up a couple of inches and parked right behind us. I'm assuming he believed we wouldn't notice because he wasn't happy when we called him out to the parking lot. First he tried to blame it on our car (which was parked and empty), then he tried bullying, and finally he turned and shushed his poor distraught wife when she tried to tell the officer what happened. I don't think it will be the highlight of his trip. But, if we choose to leave the dent, it pays for the engine repairs :}
Lise started skating classes. Ever see the movie Bambi? She reminded me so much of that the first few times out on the ice; all long, spindly limbs going every different direction. In six short weeks her skating has improved a lot! She's actually doing small jumps and spins now. Determination does wonderful things. She looks forward to next year when she can participate in the professional ice show the rink puts on at Christmas and starting some 'notests'- the non competitive version of ice competitions. The classes are really fun to go watch.
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| Crossovers |
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| She would practice every day if I would take her. |
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| His version of ice skating is zooming around as fast as he possibly can with the glider. Or, standing in one spot digging like a mad man with his skates to see if he can find out how they get the logos under the ice. |
Just down the street from the rink is Bug's favorite store. They have a play area with literally thousands of legos out, we can easily spend a couple of hours there. He's taking a 'class'; basically the teacher sits with the kids, shows them a piece and shows them exactly where to put it on the model she is building and they copy it with theirs. Not as free-creative as I thought but they have built all kinds of things from helicopters to amusement park rides that fling lego people. Of course he loves them. I think next time rather than class we'll invest the moolah into some gears and motors for home! Maybe a stop motion station.
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| The people flinging lego contraption. |
We're starting to find our way around, find things we really enjoy, and making a few friends along the way. My kids chat the ears of anyone who stands still. . . including those held captive in check-out lines. They either run in relief when they finally get through or give us their contact information.
Well, if you weren't sleepy before you started I'm guessing there are at least a few nodding heads out there now. Now that we're 'caught up' I'll try to post shorter updates more often and save everyone's eyeballs.
We miss you all! Pass around a hug.
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