Harry Potter Land

A couple of weeks ago, Jon had an NCTE conference(National Convention of Teachers of English or something like that). It was in Florida at the Disney World Resort. I thought maybe I should go with him. My parents took the kids from Wednesday to Sunday, which was pretty long, I have a hard time leaving them. We felt weird going to Disney World without the kids so instead we spent a day at Universal Studios to see Harry Potter Land. I don't think it's really called that but that's what I call it. It was really fun to walk around and do a roller coaster here and there. The main Harry Potter ride in the Hogwarts Castle was pretty amazing.

This is the scene when you first walk into the park, not the main park but the Harry Potter part of the park. It was 70 degrees that day so the snow definitely is fake.


There was a dragon roller coaster that was crazy, I could barely walk when I got off. I think I may be getting a little old for some rides.

We did all the rides twice and them explored the rest of the park then decided to go back to Harry Potter Land for lunch. I'm glad we did. We ate at the "Three Broomsticks". It was cool. We both had two butterbeers and felt a little sick afterwards. They are non-alcoholic by the way. It tasted like cream soda and then they added something like cream to the top that was really good and really sweet.


The lighting was pretty bad in this place so I'm not going to post the picture of me in this restaurant, but I'll post Jon. We brought back the kids some jellybeans that really had flavors like "ear wax, dirt, vomit" and some normal ones like apple and cherry. They ate all the gross ones first and left the normal ones. They said dirt really tasted like dirt. They tried to get me to try some but I was not interested at all.

The rest of the week Jon went to meetings and I scrapbooked, watched Alias season 1, and read a book. It was nice.

NEVER take off your wedding ring

Well, Jon and I have both gained weight since we were married, it's a sad thing. Jon noticed his wedding ring was feeling really tight and uncomfortable. I thought maybe we could get it stretched so he decided to take it off. He hasn't taken it off in a couple of years and he could not budge it. My ring still fits fine, I think I store my fat in other areas of my body.:) So he googled it and found out most jewelry stores use windex to slip it off, so he tried it. Nope. Another site said to tape your finger as tight as you can then slide it off the tape. Nope. So I called a jewelry store and asked if they had a tool to cut rings off and they sure did. I asked Jon if I could blog about it and he said sure. He usually doesn't read my blog because "he lives it," so I'll have to see if he reads this one about him.


Pretty tight.

The tool looks a little foreboding, it's like pliers with a little saw wheel.

He had to turn the crank for about 5 minutes, it didn't hurt at all...for me.

Then once it cut all the way through, he took some pliers and bent it apart.

AHHHHHHHH. Now in 4-6 weeks after his finger is normal again he can get sized and buy a new ring.

Climbing Wall Max

After Max's last Flag Football game one of the parents said she owned a rock climbing place and thought it would be fun to take all the boys there for a party. We didn't really know what to expect. Jon had church meetings so I said I would spend time with Max. I got to learn how to belay which basically means hold the rope that holds Max up and take in the slack. It was really fun. The first attempt Max only went up about 8 feet and wanted down but then he was dying to try it again and each time went a little bit higher.


This guy was teaching Max how to tie his rope, kind of important. He should pass off a scout thing for this knot, it was huge!

Different colors meant different difficulties.

Fun times!

Halloween 2010

I forgot that this blog uploads in the opposite direction I put the pictures in and I don't feel like doing it over so it will be a backwards Halloween blog. This is a picture of the kids this morning enjoying all of their loot. They did have to eat breakfast first. This candy should last ALL year. Max stayed out trick or treating the longest because "it only comes around once a year" and I guess he had to take advantage. He is the prime age for trick or treating.

Every Halloween it is my tradition to clean out my closet. Jon usually takes the kids around the neighborhood and I stay home, answer the door and get out my winter clothes. It wasn't quite that smooth this year because it was pouring rain so I took the kids house to house in the car. Then I got home and started on my closet and ran out of energy by 8:30 but I had to finish or there would be a huge mess on my bed. Sometimes I'll get everything out then look at it then change my mind on doing that particular project. :) But it's done now and I found a lot of clothes I've missed, yay.

First, we had a primary activity at the church. We sat up our table of candy and people walked around trick or treating. They also served hot dogs and cider, dinner done. That was from 5 to 6, then the kids just wanted to start trick or treating from there. I let them go by themselves in a big group at first and then checked on them in the car. They were wet and cold so that's when I started taking them around.

Here's Maddie with her rain slicker on. She is ready for the outdoors!

Tanner is dressed as a scout. He actually had pow wow during the day and hadn't changed yet. He didn't actually have a costume this year but I wanted him in the picture. He went to a friend's house and watched a scary movie but fell asleep. He has a sinus infection and just wants to sleep. Not the best Halloween for him.

Pretty scary! Max's eyes went on and off so I had to time the picture. Happy Halloween!

Flag Football Max and Seth

Flag Football is only 4 weeks long with 2 games per week, so it's fast but intense. They probably schedule it like that because winter is coming. The 7:00pm games do get really cold. Seth was so excited that he was old enough to play this year. Jon said next year we should probably make them choose between flag football and soccer because they overlap and it is a lot of driving around. It's hard because they love both and it is over fast. Today is Tanner and Seth's last soccer game and next Tuesday is Max and Seth's last football game and then....nothing (winter).

It worked out great on this evening because Max and Seth had a game at the same time and same place so I could just go back and forth between fields. Unfortunately Jon had a meeting at school so didn't get to come, he's usually there. We also had treats for both teams. While I was watching Seth play, I did miss Max running down half the field, catching the football and making a touchdown. I told him to not do so well when I wasn't watching but he just laughed.

Seth also lobbed the ball up and it was caught and ran in to make a touch down. It's pretty amazing when the 2nd graders catch a ball.

The boys kept rubbing the coach's head for luck. Both coaches were great and taught Max and Seth a lot. It was a good season.

Yellowstone 2010

For Fall Break, Jon's mom rented a cabin right outside of West Yellowstone. We got there late Thursday night and stayed until Sunday. It was very relaxing, beautiful and fun to be with family!

First thing we went to Old Faithful. They have a new museum that was hands on and very interesting.

Max and Jon during our hike to the waterfall.



All of these animal pictures were taken from our car window. The bear was pretty scary to see but SO exciting also. There was a sheriff parked nearby to make sure people didn't get too close. You can tell it's a Grizzly by the hump on its back. That is muscle used for digging.

Jump

My brother Devon and his wife Mary have all these pictures that they're jumping in. It's cool because they will have neat backgrounds of the places they're visiting. I wondered how they could do that because with my digital camera it has such a delay I could never time it right. Then Mary said I just needed to hold down the button half way until it showed a green box and when I was ready push it all the way down and there's no delay. I tried it and it worked. So then we had lots of fun with this camera function.


Here's Maddie jumping off the deck.

Here's Seth jumping off the deck, I got several pictures of them doing several poses.

This pic. had nothing to do with the function, I just wanted to show how pretty the leaves were up at the cabin.

Max and Mary built a fire for our smores, they did a really good job. I think Max should get his Eagle now, that'd be nice.

YUM!

Maddie's soccer game

Here's Maddie before her game so she's not all sweaty yet. She loves playing soccer! Her friend talked her into trying out for a AA team this year and she's so glad she did. It's a little more serious and two games a week instead of one. She likes to go to her brothers games also with her soccer ball so she can practice the whole time.

Seth, on the other hand did not want to be here. Tanner and Max both weren't home so he had to come. He brought his "magic treehouse" book and almost finished it. He's reading all 43 books in order and he's on #14. Jon said he'd get him a prize when he's all done, wonder what that's going to be.

Here's an action shot. Go Maddie!

I think this field by the mountains is so pretty. The weather's been really great so far too. They have a spring season of soccer too that usually is horrible weather. We'll see. Go, Adrenaline!

Donkey Kong

At Tanner's request, his Grandma and Grandpa got him these giant stickers for Christmas to decorate his room . We thought we might paint Tanner's room first...that didn't happen. Today Tanner was in the mood to put them up. I think it looks really cool and we got it up before the next Christmas, shew.

Seth's soccer game

Seth's team is pretty good at passing which is saying a lot for this age. Seth is having a great time this season. In the past he would get tired easily and not really want to run anymore, but this year he can't wait to play. He asks me how many more days until his next game all too often. Here's a picture of him posing for me instead of paying attention to the game.

Seth is weaving back and forth anticipating where he will throw the ball in.

Pass it to me!!

We got to take care of our cute niece and nephew while their mom was in the hospital having a baby. It was fun to have them, Çhristhopher wouldn't take off this old Batman costume we had. He finally took off the cape so he could go down the slide easier at the playground area.

Max's soccer game

This year all 4 kids wanted to play soccer. I thought I'd highlight each child playing one of their soccer games each week, so bear with me. We have around 40 soccer games to go to this season although we don't get to see all of them because they overlap. Jon and I usually have to divide and conquer. Plus I have my parents that live next door so that also helps. This Saturday, I got to go to Maddie's game for about 10 minutes before I had to take Max to his game across town. Jon was already at Tanner's game. Seth's game was later in the afternoon so we could all go to his. Maddie didn't start so I didn't even get to see her play but Gram, Grandma and Grandpa came to watch and then bring her home. It's a bit crazy on Saturday, but I love watching their soccer games!

This is Max after he scored his second goal. Max took a year off of soccer so I'm surprised he's doing so well. Plus his team was dispersed because they couldn't find a coach so he's on a team with a neighboring town and doesn't know anyone. Max makes friends pretty quickly so he's really having a good time.



The second half, Max played goalie. It's not too much pressure with this age and he really wanted to be goalie. I felt bad for the other team because they had no subs and were very tired by the second half. Max didn't get very much action.

Go, Torpedoes!

New Family Picture

Thanks to Devon getting married we got to have a new family picture. It's always a pain to get clothes that kind of match and to try and keep those clothes clean long enough for the picture but getting the pictures must make it worth it, or we wouldn't keep getting family pictures. The kids have changed so much in the 3 years since we took our last family picture so I'm glad we did it.

The best toys ever

Maddie is my researcher. She studies things out on the internet, decides it looks fun and she wants it, saves, and gets it. She did this process with her motor scooter that is so fun and relatively safe because it doesn't go very fast. Max and Seth now have one also. Lately, she bought some zen magnets or neocubes. I think these are the best toys ever. They might not be great with young kids, but the ages my kids are now, they are perfect. Tanner soon had to have some so he went on e-bay and got some even cheaper than Maddie. I feel like they're an "educational" toy because there is a lot of thinking and creating involved.




By the way, this is the first time I've ever used a "hyperlink" and I think I like it. I'll have to see if it works.

Growl

Max got his "Bear" the other evening during Pack meeting. He is now officially in Webelos. He's pretty happy about it as you can tell.

First day x 2

I named my title that because Maddie got to go to school a day before her brothers because they let the 7th graders have the whole school to themselves for the first day. Then the next day Maddie stayed home while Tanner, Max, and Seth had their first day. I love that they help the 7th graders like that, the school is huge compared to their old elementary school.

Here's Maddie on the way out the door. She couldn't go to sleep until 2:30 the night (morning?) before because of anxiety. I was the same way at her age. Last night she was up until 11:00pm so it's getting better. She really likes 2 of her teachers and loves A Day more than B Day.

Here are the boys on their way out. Tanner is in 9th at the Jr. High so he wasn't worried at all. He's king of the school this year. Max and Seth met their teachers the night before and were excited to go, for the first week anyway.

Here we are at the bus stop. What I didn't know at this time and neither did the kids around them, was we had already missed the bus. The bus came at 7:12 instead of 7:40 because there are now fewer busses in order to save money. I just wished the school would've informed us of bus time changes. I brought the suburban around and pretended to be the bus for the day (just for our bus stop). Little bit of a rocky start but they got to school on time. This morning we woke up pretty early and made the bus. Some neighbors want to do a carpool but I kind of like my kids riding the bus while I'm in my robe and barefeet.