November 2018

November had us on the move again as we spent a weekend in Ohio visiting the Vandervaarts and then went to Connecticut to visit the Shafers for Thanksgiving.  Another busy month has us ready to be home for a few months for the holidays and early part of 2019. 

 

            The second weekend in November, we traveled to Ohio to visit the Vandervaarts and also celebrate Grace’s birthday.  We arrived on Friday evening and the kids started playing immediately.  On Saturday, we stayed around the house and enjoyed watching college football, playing on the Wii and catching up.  For dinner, we went to a hibachi restaurant which was Grace’s choice.  The kids loved the experience of watching the food be prepared and interacting with the chef.  We left early on Sunday morning to get back and do some yardwork.

 

              For Thanksgiving, Debbie’s family decided to head to Kyle & Julie’s house to celebrate.  This had our family flying to LaGuardia on Tuesday and we decided to stay in Manhattan that evening.  We walked to Time Square and enjoyed burgers and beer at HB Burger.  After a sleepless night (because our girls are awful to sleep next to), we got up and hopped on the subway to catch the Staten Island Ferry so the girls could see the Statue of Liberty.  After that, we got on the subway again and made a quick stop at the World Trade Center for a short visit and then went to Time Square to meet up with the Shafers & Cyphers.  We went to the Stardust Café where all of the wait staff also sing songs during your meal.  The kids loved it and even sang along!  We then made our way over to Rockefeller Center to see the Christmas decorations.  By that time, we were ready to make our way to see the Macy’s parade balloons.  We met up with Shan Wade (family friend of the Cyphers) and his family.  We saw the balloons and then went to dinner.  After 2 subway rides, a train and a car drive, we got back to the Shafer’s house in New Milford at 9:45 and everyone went to bed shortly thereafter.  We enjoyed a Thanksgiving Day by enjoying the Macy’s day parade, plenty of football and a wonderful meal that everyone helped out with except Randy and me!  On Friday, we went to see the Grinch movie with the kids and stayed inside as it was pretty cold.  Our flight was at 9:45 on Saturday morning out of JFK, so Kyle and Randy drove us to the airport and we were home by 1PM.  Since we arrived back on Saturday, we were able to see the Vandervaarts while they were in town along with the rest of our Indy family and watch the ND vs. USC game at Mom’s.

           

Sarah’s Things of the Month

Sarah had a playdate with Georgie this month.  She also started back at gymnastics this month and was excited to get back into those lessons.     

 

Allison’s Thing of the Month

            Allison lost her 2nd top tooth- but this time she lost it while brushing her teeth!  Allison went to Lilah’s birthday party this month and had fun with the other girls in her class.  She also started with gymnastics.  We are also trying out a new basketball league (Castleton Christian Church) that is very well run and is popular with our neighbors and parishioners.  We had Allison’s conference with her teacher and she is doing well, except for a few issues with speaking out and a little loud.  I have no idea where that comes from…

A few more items from this month:

• Jeremy, Foulke and I met out for some beers in early November.  It had been awhile since we had gotten together, so it was nice to catch up. 
• We sent to girls to a movie night in the gym sponsored by the PTO.
• I took Allison to a basketball game with some 5^th & 6^th graders that I had coached over the last 2 years. 
• We met up with some other parents from church at the Blind Owl.  We went to Harry & Izzy’s beforehand to watch some football and have some appetizers. 
• Debbie went out with some ladies to celebrate Michelle Foutz’s birthday.
• I went over to a neighborhood gathering where we played shuffleboard and watched football.
• We went as a family to watch Ella Watkins as “Belle” in Beauty and the Beast.  She was fantastic and our girls were very mesmerized by her performance.  Sarah even dressed up as Belle for the show! 
• We replaced our fridge in the basement which was the last appliance from when we bought the house in 2012.
• We went to Brandon and Diane’s for their annual Friends Thanksgiving.  We arrived late since we went to a wedding for a friend of mine from work.  The girls enjoyed spending the night with Grandma. 
• I met up with some friends from Hurco and we shared some laughs and beers. 
• Debbie had a girl’s night with her MOMs group from church.

  

   
  

  

  
  

  

  
  

  

  
  

  

  
  

  

  
  

  

  
  

  

  
  

  

  
  

  

  
  

  

  
  

  

  
  

  

  
  

  

  
  

  

  
  

  

  
  

  

  
  

  
  

  
  

  

  
  

  

  
  

  

  
  

  

  
  

  

  
  

  

  
  

  

  
  

  

  
  

  

  
  

  

  
  

  

  
  

  

  
  

  

  
  

  

  
  

  

  
  

Disney World October 2018

Disney 2018

                Many vacations usually get mentioned in our normal monthly updates…but I think when you go to Disney for 5 days and visit all of the parks, it deserves its own recap! 

 

                We decided to keep the trip a secret until about 2 weeks before the trip.  We decided to have the girls open a package that had some clues and then told them where they were going.  I think they were so surprised by the news that they really didn’t know how to react.  Over the next 2 weeks, they seemed to get more excited as the trip got closer.  We flew out on Tuesday evening at 6PM and got settled into our hotel at 9PM. 

 

                We stayed at the Polynesian resort.  This place was pretty awesome and lived up to the hype we had heard about the place.  Between the pools, easy transportation and plenty of food and drink options, the convenience was something that can help make a trip like this more memorable.  The only negative was that we didn’t get a balcony, so Deb and I were huddled in a corner of the room at night talking about the day and enjoying some drinks. 

 

                Our first day was at the Magic Kingdom and Sarah was determined to ride a roller coaster that caused her many tears when we went 2 years ago.  Sarah enjoyed the Barnstormer ride and was calling Debbie a “scaredy cat” after the ride was over.  We went around the park that day filling out our autograph books on the characters and princesses.  Allison and I went off and used some fast passes on Space Mountain and Thunder Mountain while Sarah and Debbie rode some more “mommy friendly” rides.  After going back to the hotel for dinner at Kona, we returned to the park and met up with some friends from school for the evening fireworks.

 

                Our second day we were off to Epcot.  The annual wine and food festival was going on which made it a little busier.  We enjoyed the many of the “kid” type attractions and our favorite was Soarin’ which is a simulation ride which takes you around the world.  We went to lunch at Akershus in Norway and got to meet several princesses.  We all went on the Frozen Ever After ride and the Allison and I also went on the Mission SPACE ride which Allison loved and I survived. 

 

                Our third day we arrived at Hollywood Studios before it opened so we could get in line for the Slinky Dog roller coaster as it usually has one of the longest waits.  In typical Keith and Allison fashion, she and I ran to Rockin’ Roller Coaster and Tower of Terror since the waits were shorter than normal.  We sent the rest of the day with Debbie and Sarah going to the Little Mermaid, Beauty and the Beast along with the Frozen Sing Along.  After the park, we went to dinner at Chef Mickey’s were we met Mickey, Minnie, Goofy, Pluto and Donald Duck.  The girls were really excited for it and that was when we knew we had picked the right age to take them on this trip.

 

                Our fourth day took us to the Animal Kingdom.  We enjoyed walking through several of the trails around the park and a few shows, like the Bird Adventure and Tough to be a Bug.  Allison and I had fast passes for Expedition Everest and the Avatar Flight of Passage.  We left and went for a late afternoon swim before going to the Luau at our resort for dinner. 

 

                Our fifth day had us back at the Magic Kingdom early for breakfast at Be Our Guest.  Not only was this an awesome experience to enjoy breakfast inside Belle’s castle, but you are also given early access to the park so all of us were able to ride the Seven Dwarf’s Mine ride twice before the park opened.  We took advantage of what seemed to be smaller crowds that day and never seemed to have a wait more than 25 minutes.  All of us did ride Splash Mountain which again had Sarah calling Debbie a “scaredy cat!”  We had dinner at Tony’s Italian before taking a boat ride back to our resort. 

 

                The alarm went off at 3:15 and the girls did well getting up and napped on the flight.  Very ironically, as we approached our bus to take us to the airport, we ran into one of Allison’s best friends from preschool and her family.  It was quite a fun surprise and a fun way to end our trip. 

               

Sarah’s Things of the Trip

We decided to make this trip without a stroller and for the most part, it was a great decision.  Now, I did find Sarah on my shoulders about 30-40% of the time, but we still think that was better.  I was pretty proud that Sarah went on the Seven Dwarf’s Mine ride, Slinky Dog and Splash Mountain.  I had to talk her into Slinky Dog by promising to eat chocolate, which I hate.  Thinking she would forget, 5 hours later she opened her ice cream bar and I had to take a bite!

 

Allison’s Thing of the Trip

                I wasn’t really concerned about Allison wanting to go on the coasters, but she did have some hesitation to the Tower of Terror.  So, I promised to eat a bit of chocolate and that was all the motivation she needed!  What made this trip work it was the 40 seconds before each coaster ride where Allison would be waiting for the gate to open. She would bounce and hop left to right and be so excited that she couldn’t contain herself!