Kicking off the Season at SDC

We took a quick overnight trip to Silver Dollar City after Thanksgiving.  It was beautifully decorated for Christmas and a great way to kick off the season.  Ben's favorite part was of course the train ride.  The kids also got to visit Santa and for the first time, Ben went willingly and without tears.



It was a great little getaway and something we'll be doing again next year.

Thanksgiving 2016

A Thanksgiving recap in pictures...a beautiful day spent with family.

Avery made her first pumpkin pie with the help of Mimi.

November, Came and (Nearly) Went

I can't believe we're already nearly through November already!! Story of my life...

Avery was excited that the stores already had decorations out a couple of weeks ago...

Avery had a little speaking part in the Veteran's Day program at school.

We were all the way across the gym so unfortunately the video is not great but her line was "they deserve our admiration. "  Avery doesn't usually volunteer (or get chosen) for the speaking parts so it was kind of a big deal!

Ben's class talked about Veteran's Day in their classroom:

For my birthday I got a bike.  So excited for family bike rides now!

Avery also had her last soccer game on my birthday.

To wrap up the day Rob took me to a wonderful dinner.

Avery had her first crash on her bike.  Look at that road rash on her stomach.  

I completed a 5 mile leg of the Route 66 Marathon on Sunday and Rob volunteered his time at one of the relay stations.  

This week we're in the full swing of Thanksgiving with paper pilgrim and Indian hats, lunch feasts, and a short week!

Halloween 2016

Sadly, the (very short) window I had of coordinating the kids' costumes has closed.  We had an Alice and a Lightening McQueen.  As I was unable to convince Rob to be the Mad Hatter, or Ben and Rob to be Tweedle Dum and Tweedle Dee, we weren't able to do a family costume.  We finally decided on Rob being Lightening's pit crew and myself being the Queen of Hearts for a fun costume party right before Halloween.

The kids each picked out pumpkin and the design they wanted carved into it.  As always, Rob did a great job carving the pumpkins.  I'll stick the the seed roasting.

We continued the tradition of the kids trick-or-treating at my office, then headed home to get ready to go out with the neighborhood crew.  The kids had a great time and amassed a ridiculous amount of candy.

After about a week, the Switch Witch visited our house, taking the candy and leaving $5 Target gift cards in it's place.  Let's just say the Switch Witch is NOT a favorite person around our house.   Avery has all sorts of plans for thwarting said witch next year including:
hiding her candy in her room
setting the alarm
locking the doors

Mexico!

We returned from our wonderful fall break trip!

We were up early for our 7 a.m. flight.  The kids did great traveling.

To say that we had a good time would be an understatement.  Everything was great from the hotel to the food to the weather to the company.  Right off the bat, Ben loved the beach and the water more than he ever has.  He was ready to jump right in.  The beach was perfect for the kids.  The water was shallow and there were virtually no waves.  Avery loved snorkeling and looking for fish.

We were definitely spoiled by the food and drinks.  So. much. food.  Avery's drink of choice was a Pocahontas (mango and strawberry), which she discovered last year.  Ben's was a banana monkey (chocolate banana).  Avery ate a ton of shrimp tacos while Ben stuck to hot dogs and fries, although he did eats lots of guacamole which he doesn't really eat at home.  Avery discovered she likes octopus (going back for thirds).  She even ordered octopus pizza one night but didn't like that as much as the marinated octopus.  She also tried and liked squid and mussels.

We pretty much stuck to the beach and the pool.  Preferred activities were bird chasing, being buried in the sand, and playing in the showers.  Avery was 100% content to play in and around the water all day but Ben needed a change of scenery and a rest pretty frequently.

We only left the resort a couple of times.   We had a great dinner out one night and Gigi and Avery did the fish spa again.  Other than that we mostly stayed around the resort for dinner and spent the rest of the evening relaxing.

Rob, Avery, and I went parasailing, which was definitely an adventure!  Rob and myself were definitely a little lot nervous up in the air but Avery loved and squealed with delight every second.  She said it was amazing!  And it was definitely cool but also a little nerve-wracking.  I love her sense of adventure and I hope it always stays with her.




















































Rob and Avery took a kayak out around the beach and Ben didn't want any part of that.  He likes his feet planted firmly on the ground, thankyouverymuch.














At last we had to say goodbye to the beach:(


Perhaps the most epic pic of Ben was taken on the flight  home.  Every time we got on or off a plane Ben would rubberneck the cockpit and one time the pilot asked if he'd like to come in and sit.  Yeah...he was a little excited.


I really can't say enough good things about this trip.  Seeing the kids enjoying themselves, having fun, exploring a new place, trying new things...it was perfect.  And I think the adults enjoyed themselves just as much.  I asked Avery what her favorite part of the trip was and she said "I think it's just spending time with my family."  Suffice it to say, time spent with family in paradise was amazing!