15 April 2011

1.  I said that nothing before or after we went to Florida was worth posting during that two week period.  Most things weren't, but there was one thing that I definitely have to post.  Two days before we left for Florida we surprised my Grandma and Grandpa with an 80th birthday party.

The whole celebration got a bit delayed by my grandpa's unexpected trip to the doctor, but they were both so pleasantly surprised when they finally arrived that it made it all worth it.  They really are AWESOME grandparents.  All of us grandkids are so lucky to have them!

2.  Now onto THIS week...I spent last Sunday with two of my besties from high school. Milena was in town from Colorado to surprise her dad for his birthday and we got to steal her away for the afternoon.  I am so mad at myself for not bringing a camera.  We did have quite the afternoon with plenty of laughter.  We even set Tracie up with Facebook (finally, woman!) and made plans for a new secret project.  Cross your fingers things will go well.  =)

3.  In February Tate's class did a project based on the book Flat Stanley.  I was soooo excited because I did this project with my class when I was student teaching.  The book is about a boy who gets flattened by a bulletin board falling on him.  His parents decide to send him around the world in an envelope now that he is flat.  Each kid in Tate's class made a Flat Me and had to decide somewhere to send themselves.  Tate couldn't decide where to send his.  E and I suggested he send it to my friend Renè in Australia.  Tate agreed that it would be cool, but at that point we really had no idea just how cool it would be.

Tate became kind of disappointed as all his friends Flat Mes started to return and still no sign of Flat Tate.  Most kids sent theirs to a different state or even somewhere in Minnesota.  It took a week just to get to Australia!  The wait got even longer, as fate would have it, because it worked out that Renè got to take Flat Tate on her volunteer trip to Africa, too.  Bonus trip!

Fast forward to Monday.  Tate came in the door yelling "I already know what my high is for the day!  Flat Tate came back today.  Mom, I was with a LION!!!!"

Renè had already sent me the pictures via email, but we decided to let Tate be surprised when they arrived at school so we didn't show any to him.  She had sent about 5 pics to him at school but I showed him all of them that night.  I can't even tell you how excited he was.  Here are some of the highlights...

Flat Tate by the Sydney Harbor Bridge (that Tate just saw on Oprah not long ago!!)...

and the Sydney Opera House (which Tate said he knows from Finding Nemo??)...

Then they were off to Africa, where Flat Tate saw a LOT of animals.  He just couldn't believe it!!

He liked the one of the safari driver and his weapon, too.

He only wishes he was there in real life to see all those animals.  He was also over the top excited about the school children Renè worked with, too.  He said "I went to school even in Africa!!"  =)

I haven't seen Renè's letter yet or the pictures she sent.  When he brings it home I will take a pic and add it to this post, but I think it will be hanging up a school for a bit.

Thank you, Renè, for being just OCD enough (her words...love it!) to do such an awesome job with this project.  Love you, Soufflè!!

4.  That is kind of where things for Tate take a nasty turn.  His stellar week turned sour on Wednesday night.  I had gone to my friend Mel's to see baby Linc but got a phone call from E after I'd been there a half an hour saying he was 99% sure Tate had broken his collar bone while playing tag with some kids in the back yard.  I could hear Tate in hysterics, which is NOT like him at all.  This kid has a high pain tolerance.  As I rushed home, this picture came to mind...

Yes, unfortunately this is not the first time T has had a broken collar bone.  He broke the exact same bone close to the same spot when he was 18 months old.  After his 6th and quickest trip to the emergency room (I swear this kid is not wild...I do not know WHAT the deal is!)  we were home again.  There isn't much you can do for a broken collar bone except sling it and take Tylenol and Ibuprofen.  He was concerned Thursday morning about picking out an outfit that looked good with his sling.  He settled for this one...

He tried school all day Thursday but I got a call and left work early to get him.  The nurse and his teacher said he tried so hard to stick it out, but they could tell he was miserable.  He has had a really positive attitude about the whole thing, but he just keeps remembering all the things that he can't do for the next 6 weeks...piano, swimming lessons, recess, gym, riding bike and scooter.  His face kind of says it all, doesn't it?  He had a rough evening and start to this morning, so E is going to pick him up at noon today so he can try to get some rest when his brother and sister aren't here.  Say an extra prayer for him that he will heal quickly, will you?

5.  After E got home last night and we got the kids fed and settled, I got the word we had been waiting for all day...my friend Leah had her baby.  I asked Rach to ride along with me to keep me company and we headed to Wisconsin to see the baby for a bit.

Maddox Jon Wahlberg

4.14.2011

9 lbs 6 oz

Love that hair!  Congrats, Wahlberg Party of 4!!!

1 April 2011

We are home from Florida.  It was sooooo fun.  It is going to two weeks' posts to cover it all, but that's okay since I am still behind by one anyway!  Nothing we did before we left two Mondays ago was that exciting nor is anything we did since we got home this Monday!  We have been planning this trip since I was pregnant with Beckett.  Tate was the age then that Beckett is now and he seemed like he would be a great age to take to Disney World, so we decided then we would take the kids when they were 3, 5, and 7.  We'll start at the beginning...

1.  The kids were ready to leave for the airport bright and early Monday morning at 8:30...including shoes on, hair brushed, and backpacks on.  The only problem with that is that the driver wasn't coming to pick us up until 12:30!  They were troopers in the airport waiting for our delayed flight due to storms in Florida.

The flight went really well, too.  It was Beckett's first flight and Tate's first flight that he can remember.  They both loved the entire thing from beginning to end.

Avery, who did great on our flight two years ago, decided the last 20 minutes of the flight that she does NOT like turbulance.  Due to the thunderstorms our descent was pretty bumpy.  She cried the entire time, while the boys acted as though it was the best ride at Disney.  Beckett even shouted "That was off the hoozle!!" after the plane jerked and he bumped around in the seat.   Avery asked if we could drive home instead of fly, but actually did very well on the flight home.

2.   We tried to spend every other day chilling at the pool at our condo.  I say tried, because we did get rained out one day.  We loved our hotel condo (especially having a kitchen and laundry!) and the pool was awesome for the kids.  We ate our breakfasts and lunches at the condo, out on the balcony when we could!

3.  Of course Disney World was the most exciting part of the trip.  Because we knew it was the trip of a lifetime, we decided to get our annual family pictures taken at the park. I will eventually use the next post for all of those when I get them, so I'll have the complete funny story on those when I get them.

We spent both Wednesday and Friday at the Magic Kingdom.  We would go early in the morning, stay for 4 hours, come home for lunch and a nap or swim, then go back to the park at 5 and stayed until 11 or midnight.  It worked out perfectly!  Some things we rode together as a family and sometimes we split up with the kids to take them on the things they liked best.  Tate was tall enough to ride roller coasters and loved Space Mountain the best.  Avery HATES anything that goes up and down so her favorite rides were the Teacups and It's a Small World.  Beckett adored the Buzz Lightyear ride.  E and I honestly loved every ride we took the kids on and watching their faces through it all.  We watched fireworks and the electric parade late at night.  By the time we decided to ride the ferry back to the parking lot, the kids were pooped and we ended up carrying them (E carried 100 pounds worth of kids at once!) all the way back!

I didn't take many other pics in the park except for a couple with characters.  We took most of those pics on E's camera phone, and unfortunately most turned out blurry.  Bare with me here, people.

Both Tate and Beckett loved and gladly embraced every character we met.  They even posed with the princesses.

Avery, on the other hand, was completely shy and wouldn't go near any of them until the very end of when we were meeting the princesses.  Princess Jasmine was especially good and Aves ran over to her right before we left and hugged her for about a minute until E finally intervened and asked if he could take her picture.  Avery was beaming. Again, sorry for the blurry pics, but its too good of a memory for us not to include!

4.  We spent one day at Cocoa Beach.  It was the kids first real trip to the ocean and they loved it.  We built sand castles, jumped waves, made Avery and Beckett into mermaids, Tate chased seagulls, and we played football in the sand. 

As much as Avery is scared of airplane rides, roller coasters, and Disney characters, she is fearless in the water.  We were constantly reminding her to come back in as she kept wading out further and further to jump another wave.

We are also amazed at her ability no matter where we are to find friends.  Every time we were in the pool she would find a little girl to play with.  The day we were at the beach, she hung out with a little girl named Gillian for most of the afternoon.  They were so cute together and asked if they could get a picture together.  Gillian asked if Avery could come back this Saturday...I wish we could honor her request! 

5.  Half of our last day was spent at Gatorland.  The kids did love the gators and especially loved feeding the birds, though I am hoping for Sea World or Universal next time we are there!  =)

We rounded out the day back at the pool and packed to go home.  Usually by the end of vacation E and I are both ready to come home.  This time we were both wishing we had a few more days...the kids were so well behaved and we had so much fun!