Recent Comings and Goings

Dad and Ainsley playing with the iPad

Tired moments of quiet on the ride home from church,  daylight savings time took its toll

Tostones rellenos, I found some good plantains at Wally world of all places

Two lost teeth in one weekend, she says she looks like a bunny 

Some shots of what we have been doing.  We have also been enjoying some gloriously beautiful weather.  What have you all been up to?

Day off...

The kids have today off from school as a staff professionals day.  Teachers have to work part of the day while the kids are at home.  I typically enjoy lazy mornings on these days as we don't have to rush out to be anywhere at a certain time.  This morning, however, my children seem to have forgotten how this works.  Both children were up well before they are typically up for school!  I will say I was a bit annoyed.  I had a decent night sleep, for which I did thank God as I do every morning after I have slept the night soundly, but I was just not ready to be awake.  So, now here we are mid morning and my grumpiness has passed.  I type while Ainsley plays groceries and watches Super Why, and my boy is upstairs playing his recorder.   We did not escape the 4th grade music recorder.  He is thinking he may want to join band next year.  We shall see.  

The hubby comes home today.  He was ill while in Italy this time with a stomach bug as was his boss.  I had a touch of something at home.  Not as horrible or as lingering as a typical virus that has come through this house in the past, but enough to cause some problems for me.  Thankfully I was able to get everyone too and from school without any issue.  Neither one of my children has come down with illness either and I am completely thankful for that.  By the end of the week, I was able to get more into the swing of normal routine.  Thankful!

I have used some of my resting time watching my new favorite show.  I ended up buying the DVD because I did not have the time to watch the second season on-line before it was to expire.  PBS has a program called Downton Abbey.  For those that enjoy period English literature and programing will enjoy it.  I am completely sucked in!  I have to stop myself from watching too many episodes in one day to get my work done.  Highly recommend if you get the chance.  I watched the first season on Netflix.  The last episode of that season ended with a declaration of war, WW 1.  So, needless to say, I had to continue watching to find out what happened to all of the characters.  

Well, sorry for such a disjointed post, but such has been my week.  Off to love on the kiddos and see if I can convince them to help me take care of some cleaning this morning before we make any plans to head out.  I am thinking a trip to the library may be in order.  Ainsley's desire to read has skyrocketed in the past few weeks.  Maybe we are getting past this, "I don't want to read"  thing of hers.  Difficult for a voracious reader of a Momma to understand.  

Pretties for my pretty...

She finally talked Daddy into letting her have it done.  I will admit that maybe I threw him under the bus for that one, but it was the truth.  The reason she did not have her ears pierced was because Daddy did not want her to have it done.  She, as usual, looks just lovely.

Aside from getting Miss Ainsley's ears pierced, I had the chance to have lunch and visit with a friend in from Wi this weekend.  Our time was too short, but I enjoyed seeing her.  I hope you all had a good weekend.  B is off to Italy again this afternoon.  I can almost deal with the travel during the week, but when our weekend is cut short I start to get a bit annoyed.  Well, my children have a short week of school this week.  I am not sure what we will do on our day off other than have a lazy morning.  I am hopeful that I will at least be able to take them to the library.  Aidan misses his library day during the school week because he goes to his gifted program on the day that his homeroom class goes.  I usually check books our for him, but sometimes it is nice for him to be able to make the choice himself.  Well, have a most excellent week all!

Day 5 Universal Studios Islands of Adventure

We went to this park specifically because it had the Harry Potter area.  My son is a big fan of the books and movies.  It was really great and crowded.  The main attraction is the ride that tours the castle.  The line winds you through the castle and you pick up the ride there which visually takes you to the Quidditch Pitch, through the Forbidden Forest and other exterior areas.  Very visually exciting in spite of the fact that I had to close my eyes during part of the ride and also hang on for dear life.  My favorite part of the park was Seuss Landing.  You literally feel like you have walked into a Dr.  Seuss book.  Ainsley and  I  loved it.  My day kind of got a bit soggy in Toon Lagoon.  Toon Lagoon is an area that features many old classics like Beetle Bailey, Dagwood and Popeye cartoons.  Very cool!  We got on a ride which I have forgotten the name of but featured the Popeye characters.  For those of you from Texas, it resembles Thunder River from AstroWorld or Six Flags.  Needless to say we got drenched.  I was soggy for the rest of the day as I was  wearing denim capri pants and while the day was warm, it was not so warm that I dried quickly.  The bad part was that I had my phone in my pocket as well as a couple of excedrine.  I had excedrine paste in my pocket for the remainder of the day and after we cleaned and dried my phone it seemed to still be working fine.  Thankfully I was wearing sandals as well so my shoes dried quickly.  This was our last day in Orlando since we left early the next morning.  We had a blast and I think we will start saving our pennies for another trip in a few years.  This evening we said goodbye to our families and unless they come see us first, we will be seeing them again in June after the kids get out of school.  My new niece and nephew will be here by then.  My sister is due June 23 but the doctors will not be allowing her to go full term.  She is fine, but they are very watchful of her with this pregnancy.  Well, that is all about our vacation.  What fun we had, and what a difficult week I have had trying to get back into the swing of things.  Thankfully the kids teachers sent much of their work with them early so we were able to get much of it done before they went back.  We have been blessed with some warm weather one day this week as well.  A dear friend of mine is coming into town this weekend for her brother's engagement/ wedding party.  Her brother is getting married in the Caribbean so they are having a party for all the friends and family that aren't going with them.  So, I have the benefit of getting to see her for lunch tomorrow while she is in town.  So excited to see her!  The hubs gets back into town late tonight and leaves again Sunday afternoon for Italy.  I am so annoyed with the travel right now.  Well, enough on that.  Have a blessed weekend all.  I must get to work as I am so behind this week.  Will I ever feel caught up...probably not.  Sigh.

Day 4 Legoland

Lego White House

Posing with LegoMan

Lego Explorer

Ainsley driving a lego boat

Lego Vader

Lego R2D2

Legoland was our least attended family day.  Our little family, my BIL, nephew and Mom went.  My Dad and sister were both struggling with back pain.  My in-laws were really not interested in going and went to the spa instead.  We had such a blast!  Legoland is so cute and geared to families with children 12 and under.  We rode many rides here which were not nearly as scary as Mission Space.   We saw one of the Lego Men.  There were different Lego characters built throughout the park.  Lego building stations were everywhere that children could possibly be waiting in line, for rides and in the restaurants.  There were lots of places for children to play and climb.  My favorite area was MiniLand.  There you could see a miniature Daytona 500, NASA, Washington DC, New York City, Golden Gate Bridge and Las Vegas and more.  It was so cute!  The White House even had a Lego Obama family standing out front.  Legoland was an early day for us as well as the park closes early at 5 pm.  That evening we had a large family dinner with our whole group at a restaurant down from our hotel.  So fun.  I am always nervous about blending our families because our Fathers are so different.  Everyone seems to get along well though so I am not sure what I worried about.  So tomorrow I will post about our last day of adventure...Universal Studios Islands of Adventure.