Today was the last day of school for all of the kids here in Bryan co. They were all excited but Kellie was very excited to have her first Christmas party, especially since she missed the Halloween party since she was sick. Kriss and I went up to the school to take treat bags and help out. Another parent brought these tree hat kits, that’s what she is decorating in the picture. You glue ornaments to it and then roll it up and it looks like an elf hat. They all had fun and were surprisingly good the whole time, not once did they get rowdy. We were trying to hurry though because Erin’s class was having a party too and her school is right next door within walking distance so I ran and put Kellie’s stuff in the car while she and Kriss went to Erin’s class. We should have gone there first because they had pizza. It also looked a little rowdier there but she was smiling and having fun.
Every year Santa comes through our neighborhood on a fire truck with lights flashing and siren blaring. We always run out to meet him and take pictures and get some candy. When we first moved here he would come down our street and turn around in the cul-de-sac. Then 2 years ago he faked us out and stopped up the road at a fork and turned around so we went up to meet him this year. I’m not certain but I think Santa has been in the egg nog a little too much before this ride, click on the pic and check him out up close.
It did help get the kids to bed early though. We told them that Santa was still in the area so he was able to keep an eye on them. “He sees you when you’re sleeping, He knows when you’re awake …..”
Yep, this is the first year that we’ve had all four kids, or Marc at all, on Halloween for Trick or Treating. I drove up Friday afternoon to get him and try to get back in time before the other 3 ripped the door down at dark, we barely made it right after dark. Kellie was Princess Aurora, or Sleeping Beauty as you probably know her. I’m not sure what Erin was, I guess a dead, scary, witchy, something or another. Marc was a cowboy, at least that’s what he said he was, there was a hat. Alyssa was scariest of them all, she was an ugly, mean looking witch 
! We walked a good bit through the neighborhood though there were some skipped houses along the way, I think the older kids hit more but they always get ahead of Kellie since they don’t need adults holding their hand. We worked our way around to where the Pirate’s of the Caribbean show will be the next weekend, at one of our neighbor’s houses. He does a big production that gets bigger each year with costumes, sets, smoke, etc, and it’s free although they will take charitable donations to benefit SMA, Spinal Muscular Atrophy. This was in front of the Flying Dutchman set. Click on the image to see the full size version. The extra girl beside Erin is her friend down the street Ashley.
I then walked Erin over to a friend’s house that was having a party ’til late, their house was all made up cool with crystal balls with floating heads inside them and lighting effects, while the rest of us went to get something to eat and then we all came back home to divy up the treasure and enjoy a sugar rush.
Just finally getting around to writing this trip report. Yes the kids were surprised with this one again although it was a lot harder since we were pulling a trailer, sort of hard to hide it. But Marc Jr was here for his last week of summer vacation and we had the girls this weekend too so Kriss and I decided to plan a surprise trip for the kids. We booked a room on Expedia (link in the right column) and got an awesome rate on a 2 bedroom at FantasyWorld Club Villas that was a few miles from Disney. I am the first to admit that we are WAAAY spoiled by staying on Disney property all these years and yes our first impressions were not of excitement, but we probably wouldn’t have been able to do this trip if it weren’t for Expedia. The room was a little small for 6 of us but fortunately my parents decided to go with us and were able to get the same rate and Marc stayed with them right next door. It was a 2 story room that seems to have been partially refurbished recently (it looks like they have been doing it gradually based on reports on Expedia) with a kitchen, living room, and complete bathroom downstairs and two bedrooms, bathroom, and washer/dryer upstairs. Read more
What an awesome trip we had this year, I think our best family trip yet. The large family ones seem to be improving each year, probably due to us knowing more how to handle things and the kids getting older. This year we really slowed things down, partly due to finances and several kids only having a few or no days left on their tickets so we only planned one big commando park day. Read more
Erin has finished her first full year of gymnastics now and we recently got to go see her end of year exhibition. I took some video and hope to have some on here soon. If there is such thing as tripping over your own smile I think that would be her, she really likes having an activity of her own being the middle sister.
This turned out to be probably the best family trip we’ve had. The kids were good, the weather was good except for one day, everything just seemed to flow nicely without any issues that usually occur at least once when you stick a family of seven in a car and spend a week in central Florida in June. Read more
