Sunday, November 20, 2011

Polar Express

Well, the rain did not get in our way tonight! We enjoyed our drive to Connersville and our train ride from Connersville to the North Pole! We headed onto the train about 5 o'clock. We got ourselves seated, sitting 4 on one side of the train and 2 on the other side. Well, Jon lucked out and the kids mostly stayed with Mom and I. But he had his fill of our little ones as the night wore on. We sat back and enjoyed the ride as the train began slowly lumbering down the tracks. The staff, which included a chef, an elf, and the conductor, began to hand out cookies and hot chocolate. Jackson, Sarah, and Justin tried the hot chocolate, which wasn't terribly hot. Sarah enjoyed hers and what was left of Justins. After hot chocolate and cookies, we settled back and listened as they began to read the story of The Polar Express.
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Polar Express

We are so excited! We are on our way to Connersville to ride the Polar Express! Santa called today to talk to Sarah and Jackson and after they got off the phone with him, the tickets magically appeared in our copy of the Polar Express! The book also appeared out of no where this morning on the living room coffee table. They are all dressed in their jammies and ready for a fun train ride! Only downfall is that it is raining!
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Saturday, November 19, 2011

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What a view!

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This is how Justin feels about the Colts this season! Even he has lived through the best of times! Now it certainly is the worst of times by football standards.

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Learning how to dive!

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Head bobs! Sarah doesn't always get her whole head wet!

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She loves swimming lessons!

Tuesday, November 8, 2011

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Ring Around the Ocean!

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More swimming!

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Good job Sarah!

Sarah's first swimming lesson!

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Jackson's swimming lessons!

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What a cand haul!

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Add beer! A necessity for any trick or treater over the age of 30!

Rosie the Riviter and Colts Fan!

Witchy Sarah!

Thanks Aunt Sue!

Happy Halloween!

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Jack-o-Lanterns!

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Fun with the pumpkins!

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Digging for gold in the pumpkin!

Sarah scoops out the pumpkin guts!

Carving Pumpkins

Oh thank you Aunt Sue for coming over to carve pumpkin with us!

Scary Yard!

We were surprised to see a skeleton trying to come out of the ground. This was on the way home from the Halloween Festival!

Saturday, November 5, 2011

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Sarah's painting!

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Justin

Painting Windows

October 29th--Friday night we painted windows in Irvington. Its one of the things I remember about the Halloween Festival when I was growing up. I think we've managed to paint windows at least 4 years with the kids! They had fun. Jackson drew a pumpkin, Justin just loved painting, so it didn't matter what his looked like, and Sarah drew an airplane. Obviously, she's still thinking about Florida!

Thursday, November 3, 2011

Scary Sarah!

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Fall Fun!

I couldn't stay home! It was 70 degrees on October 25. We had just gone back to school after our wonderful fall break, but the pumpkin patch was calling my name! We had such a good time. We played in the corn maze, took lots of pictures in the combine and just enjoyed being outside in the gorgeous weather. We headed over to the wagon and hopped onto it and it took us out to the pumpkin patch. Our excitement was building! We got out of the wagon and started looking for our perfect pumpkins! Jackson picked out a green small pumpkin. Sarah's was skinny and small and Justin had a perfectly shaped little pumpkin! Mommy found a large pumpkin we would later carve! Then we headed back to the wagon for the return trip! We paid for the pumpkins and headed home! What a fun evening at the pumpkin patch!
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Wednesday, November 2, 2011

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Getting ready to pay for the pumpkins!
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Tuesday, November 1, 2011

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Justin inside the combine

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Waterman's Farm Market Pumpkin FestivalI

Here are the kids heading up to try out the combine slide! October 25th.
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DisneyQuest

After lunch, we went to DisneyQuest. We weren't sure at ALL if the kids would even like this interactive theme park. But we figured, it was on our tickets, because we had added the Water Park and more, so we figured, we might as well check it out.

It was worth it. I would never pay for it separately, but because it was part of the ticket we had already purchased, it was OK. It is a huge 5 story facility full of video games. And the place was packed. There was a great area for the kids where they could enjoy roller coaster simulators, firetrucks they were able to ride in, racecars, bowling, and really anything else you can think of! Gaming central! It was like a giant Chuckie Cheese!
We only lasted about 1 1/2 hours because we were unable to bring in the stroller and Justin was just all over the place! But in that time we managed to play lots of games and even played an interactive game in which we rowed our boat to stay on the river. Jon actually got to the end in his boat. Sarah and I were pathetic! We were worn out after this and the kids were done as well, but it was a nice way to end our trip. We hopped in the car and headed to the airport. Justin took a catnap in the car on the way there. So, I wondered, would he be up all night?

We unloaded the car and took care of all of the fun bag checking. Before we headed to security, we decided to get a bite to eat at McDonald's. Then it was off to security. We went through without much of a hitch except for the many bags I had packed seemed to be much more of a pain this time around. Oh well, it will be much better next time.

As we waited for our plane (delayed...UGH) I continued to think about the wonderful time we had with our children. Yes, there were moments of unrest with some questionable behaviors. This frustrated both Jon and I, but overall, their faces during the parades, shows, fireworks, character breakfast, other character meetings, and many of the rides we went on made it all worth the difficulties. It was so wonderful to have the time to spend together. Home together is so different because there is always something else to do. Work to do. School to worry about. Distractions. We had vacation distractions here but they were good. We were able to spend so much time together as a family!

I was grateful when we boarded the plane and even more grateful when they said we could check extra bags without being charged. We should have held on to that extra bag we had checked! Darn! Oh well. Still lucky we had the option! We sent one of the bags off to free checked bag land and also sent our strollers to free checked land. It was good to be free of those items, we had enough with us due to my pathetic packing! We boarded and Jackson was asleep before take off and Sarah shortly afterward. Lucky Jon! I sat with Justin on the way home and he figured out how to unbuckle his safety belt. NOT FUN! He was awake the entire flight. My arms hurt when the flight was over and I was thrilled to get off the plane. We had flown through some lightning, in the distance, but of course that worried me a little. We landed and unloaded and headed to baggage claim where we grabbed our luggage and car seats and went out to wait for Papa on the curb. We were welcomed home by 40 degree weather. YUCK! But we were also welcomed home by an excited Mawmaw and Papa Jerry! As we drove home and listened to the tired excitement in the kids voices, I knew we had just had a very special time together and I couldn't wait to start planning our next family adventure!
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