Clearwater Getaway 2020

We were fortunate to be able to get away for a long weekend to visit Grampy Grampy in Florida this past weekend.  We had gorgeous weather and packed a lot in in a few days!  We had ice cream, went on a pirate cruise, spent time at the beach, took an aquarium nature cruise, visited Busch Gardens, and spent time with Grampy Grampy. The kids will tell you that the best part of the whole trip was going to Georgie Boy Restaurant EVERY morning for breakfast... Ben is still talking about their breakfast sandwiches;) Thanks for having us Grampy Grampy!

Skiing and Basketball Season #2 Have Begun!

Now that Christmas is over we are in full swing with winter sports.  There won't be a whole lot to post about other than the routine of multiple trips a day to Titcomb or the Academy Hill gym.  Noah is still nordic ski racing with FAST (Farmington Area Ski Team). James, Ben, & Audrey are nordic skiing with the Bill Koch program. Ben and Audrey are taking alpine lessons with UMF's SnowCats program. Finally, James and Noah are playing basketball through the Wilton rec. department. All of this is on top of (hopefully) some alpine/nordic skiing on our "down time". Most of these activities will last until the beginning of March, so I guess this will be our life for the next few months:)

James did also get the opportunity to rock climb with his friend Mason this past weekend.  James would probably tell you that his biggest strength is his climbing ability so he was a pretty happy kid.

Post Christmas Trip North 2019

Well now that we are a few days out from Christmas and back at home I can safely say that no one felt better during our trip and, in fact, most of us felt worse.  The kids were troopers and still had a fun time, but everyone was definitely laying low and took early bedtimes (including me!).  We decided to cut our trip short by a night, but everyone just wanted to be home and in their own beds.

Despite that we did get to ice fish, ice skate, play in the snow a little, play cards, go bowling, go to the movies,  and visit with lots of family.  We appreciate seeing everyone and spending time with them even though none of us were at our best... except for Noah that is... he is still symptom free from this illness;)

Christmas 2019

 

Christmas was interesting this year. Gabe was sick over the weekend and he was kind enough to share it with the rest of us.  Audrey was the second and I was the third to go down.  I spent most of Christmas day laying on the couch napping with a fever.  James and Ben started feeling poorly by the end of the day, so we will see where things go from here.

Besides that we did get a few pictures on Christmas Eve before church.  Audrey reminded us repeatedly that we hadn't gotten any pictures of them decorating the tree this year, so we did have to reenact some of that to appease her...;)  This year the kids drew names out of a hat for each of them to buy one gift for one person. Christmas Eve is when they exchanged their gifts.  They did a really nice job being thoughtful and picking out exciting gifts.  Noah got Audrey a customized "mechanic suit" she had been talking about and he even sewed the name patch on himself.  Ben picked out a very specific pirate Minecraft lego set for James. Audrey found a fun build/learn a motor kit for Noah.  James thoughtfully picked out a Star Wars lego set that Ben had been talking about spending his own money on. 

Everyone was pretty thrilled on Christmas morning with their gifts from Santa.  We all took most of the morning opening presents, but it was worth it to stop and read a book or two in between.  Nannie even surprised us with a quick visit to join in the excitement.  Given all of the illness, it was a fun and relaxing day... hopefully everyone feels better before our trip north tomorrow!