All-School Band Festival

The elementary, junior high and high school bands presented
a very good program tonight. Their progress has been amazing!

Sunday's Games

After Sunday School and church this morning we had to split up again for soccer games in different cities. Tony and Madison went to our home field for a 4-0 win against Warsaw. Quinn, Pakka and I drove to Fort Wayne (1-1/2 hours) for a 4-2 win against Fort Wayne Blau Weiss. Today's weather was in direct contrast to yesterday with it being very windy, overcast and cold. Thank goodness our nice weather was yesterday!

7 games: 2 wins, 3 losses, 2 ties in a matter of about 18 hours.

I'm going back to work tomorrow to rest up for the next weekend!

Cocord FUTURE Baseball Debut

Quinn played in a U10 baseball tournament on Saturday in Warsaw. It's a 45 minute drive and he had to be there by 7am. Quite the early start on a Saturday! They played 3 games, completely spread out over the day, with the last game starting at 6pm. They lost all 3 games but gained a whole lot of experience. He had fun playing with his friends and it was a beautiful day in the 70's so if you have to spend 13 hours outside... it was great that it was so nice! I was able to be at the 8am and 6pm games. Tony spent the day there with Quinn. I went to Madison's 2 soccer games with her. They play the boys in different positions and he played short-stop and 2nd base in the games I saw. In the second game he pitched and played 1st base.

Thanks for reading!

Flames Soccer Season Opener

Madison's Flames soccer season also started on Saturday afternoon in South Bend at the Invaders. We tied 2-2. The girls played really well and dominated the whole game. I love to watch Madiso play! After this U12 game, we headed right to Elkhart (30 minutes away) for the U13 game, she doesn't practice with them but they need a few extra legs so she fills in as needed. This team also played well and tied 1-1. Madison and I are realizing that in this crazy weekend of sports openers, we don't even know who they played... ha! Some red team, without their names on their shirts! After this game, it was back to Warsaw to catch Quinn's last baseball game.

The day started at home in Goshen and we went to-Warsaw-Elkhart-South Bend-Elkhart-and Warsaw. What a day! When we finally got home at 10:30, we showered and melted into bed!

Spring Break: Air Force Museum

It's Spring Break here in Northern Indiana. We took our big family vacation to Florida over Christmas so we didn't have any big plans for this week. Madison went with Peyton and her family to Gulf Shores, AL. This is the farthest and longest time away for us... 10 days! I'm not worried about her, but I sure miss her! We all do! Tony and I took Quinn and Nate to Dayton, OH to the Air Force Museum and then on to Cincinnati for a 3 day weekend. We tried to do something that we knew Madison wouldn't mind missing... like spending 7 hours at an Air Museum!! We left on Friday night and spent the entire day at the Air Force Museum on Saturday. It's free to get in! You can't say that about many things any more! They LOVED IT! Quinn was in his 7th heaven of course. It was a HUGE, really really nice museum with 1000's of airplanes! AMAZING! They even got to sit in the cock-pits of 2 jets. Too bad we didn't live closer! Quinn could probably live there surrounded by all those planes. I'm absolutely amazed about how much he knows about those planes. We would round a corner and he would get so excited because he found a .......(and then name the plane)!! And this went on and on and on! You would think that I would be catching on to this by now but I know about 10 different ones and am calling that good. He could walk up to a plane and tell me details about it, why it was flown and something unique about it. That's truly a love for airplanes!

Presidential Airplanes

Definitely the highlight for me was the Presidential Airplanes...all Air Force One(s). These planes are kept in a separate hanger and they only take 4 bus loads over to that hanger each day. We signed up shortly after arriving and after we finished, there was only 1 seat left for the whole day! It was awesome to actually walk in the planes where Roosevelt took his only flight, and to look at the special elevator they installed so that he could use his wheelchair and not be carried on/off the plane. We walked on President Kennedy's plane and saw where they cut part of the bulk head away and then fixed it, so that his casket could rest in the passenger section of the plane, and not be transported with the baggage in the rear. We saw the seats where Lyndon B. Johnson was sworn into the presidency, while Jackie Kennedy stood by, flying the body of her husband home. We walked through 5 presidental airplanes including the airplanes for Presidents Bush, Clinton and Bush. Nate even said, "I can't believe that I'm walking in the same steps where presidents also walked". It truly was an awesome experience! Nate's aerospace 4H poster project is on Air Force One so this was perfect for him! Quinn loved it as well. This museum was completely free... an added bonus!

Games at Dave & Buster's

On Saturday night we went to Dave & Buster's for supper and then all 3 of the boys got their fill with video games. Nate played the claw game until he won this watch. Boy was he excited! Quinn saved enough tickets to buy some Pokemon' cards at the end of the evening. It was a very full but very fun day!

Coco Keys Water Park

On Sunday Tony took the boys to a water park. This is the only picture that I have even remotely close to the water park. I went shopping instead and I'm the family photographer and thus, no pictures! : ) Quinn was really ready to go... wearing his goggles on the way there! They were there from about 11-5pm, and came out starving! On to Montgomery Inn!

Montgomery Inn

It wouldn't be a trip to Cincinnati without a trip to Montgomery Inn for ribs so we went on Sunday evening. Terry & Karla introduced us to this restaurant when we went to visit them when they lived in Cinci. Nate especially loved it. He enjoyed having the bib tied around his neck and loved his pork chop. Quinn, on the other hand, ordered a grilled cheese sandwich! Quite a few years ago (10?) the city had pigs all around town that were painted and decorated so cute. The boys are standing in front of a pig with BBQ all over it's mouth... perfect for a rib place! We enjoyed driving around downtown afterwards. Cincinnati really is a pretty city, at night too!

Creation Museum

On Monday we went to the Creation Museum which is just over the OH - KY border. It is a really unique museum, all focused on creationism, instead of evolution. Ken Hamm is one of the researchers/scientists. I've heard Doug & Jen talk about him before. I don't even know how to sum it all up in a matter of a few sentences. Here are some of the highlights for me.

• Basically was a 3 hour walk through Genesis with life-like people to portray scenes, with lots of scientific research to support creationism.
• The center bottom picture is of one of the few Torah scrolls that was not destroyed even though Saddam Huessein ordered all artifacts such as this to be destroyed when he was losing his power. It is written in Hebrew on sheep skin and several hundred years old.
• There are layers of rock/sand/dirt in the Grand Canyon that are ONLY found in other parts of the country. For example, there is a layer of rocks/dirt that is only found in the SE part of the US. It got there during the great flood and layers of rocks/dirt shifted around.
• There are many reasons to believe that there were up to 50 different kinds of dinosaurs on Noah's ark. I love the picture that Quinn took with the dinosaurs walking up into the ark. (Below the snake, top left). Most likely the dinosaurs were very young, to conserve space. There was a lot of info about Noah's ark. Very interesting!
• The earth is probably around 6000 years old instead of millions, like evolution teaches.
• The Creation Museum has beautiful grounds (think Garden of Eden) and a nice little petting zoo with zorses and zonkeys to pet. (Don't you love those combined names?). Of course you have to have cooing doves too.
• Perhaps one of the most unique things... we ran into 2 families from our area... 5 hours away at a museum! One was a nurse from the hospital. The other was the family who sent their son with Preston to Gulf Shores!

Anyway, those are the highlights. It is a great museum....lots of reading and very educational. We got home about 8:30 Monday night. It was a fun weekend. We declared out loud that you don't have to go South for warmer weather in order to have a lot of fun over Spring Break...even if it was only a 3 day weekend for our trip!

Happy Birthday Today Mom!

Happy Birthday! We love you!

March Band Concert

The Beginning Band (mostly 6th graders) held another concert last week. I was amazed at how much the band has improved this year! At their first concert they could play 5 notes. At this last concert, they had students playing solos during some of the pieces. Madison's percussion ensemble played their contest piece for everyone and did a very good job. The kids were supposed to wear their medals if they went to the contest. You can see Madison's blue ribbon/medal on her shirt. Do you like their green St. Patrick's Day theme?

Just saying hello...

Hi Everyone,

Just stopping to say hello to everyone. I've not been very faithful to blog lately. I will try and do better. It's been a beautiful sunny weekend here with temps in the 50's. I know that doesn't sound warm to some of you but it feels so warm compared to the snow and ice we've just gone through. My family has all enjoyed getting out and walking/biking in much more pleasant weather.

This weekend has flown past. Friday night we went to the OxBowzaar. It's the annual PTO fund raiser at school, with carnival type activities. This year Madison was old enough to help run one of the games. She was looking forward to it. Quinn still enjoys playing all the games and winning all of the trinkets that I hate to see come home to our house! I sold game tickets for an hour and baked a cake for the cake walk. Oh, I've got to tell you the story about my cake. I told Quinn the night before that I didn't have time to make a fun or fancy cake, it would just be a plain old cake with frosting and sprinkles. I told him I was sorry that I just couldn't make it more special this year. His response just floored me. This is a summary of what he said. He said, if you had a $1 bill that was crisp and new and were giving it away, everyone would want it, because it's free and you know it's worth something. If you took the $1 bill and crumpled it up and asked who wants it, people would still want it, because they would know that it is worth something and it doesn't matter how it looks. And, if the $1 crumpled up bill was thrown on the floor and stomped on, people would still want it because it still has the same exact value. He went on to say, "It doesn't matter what your cake looks like. It is still valuable and worth something and tastes good. Just because one cake might be more decorated than yours, it doesn't mean it tastes better. So it's OK Mom that you don't have time to decorate the cake more. People will still want it. One cake is not more valuable than another." .............I was just blown away. Our son is so sensitive and insightful. Apparently the guidance counsellor at school had told his class the story about the $1 bill and he was already finding ways to apply it to life. His reassurances put tears in my eyes as I get excited to see what great and awesome things God has planned for this boy in his bright future! He amazes me!

Yesterday was spent tying up the last softball try-outs for the Major Softball team. I'm coordinating the teams again this year and it looks like we will have 3 teams again. This means we will play games with other teams outside our league. Madison and Quinn both had soccer practice, Quinn at 8am and Madison at 1pm. I also got in on the very end of Field Day to prepare the outdoor fields for use. Outdoor practices start next week.

That's pretty much the highlights from our weekend. I hope you had a good weekend too!

Lent

As I'm sure you know we are in the Lenten season right now... or the season of Lent. Do you know that we are closing out exactly the 7th day of Lent? I know this because it seems much longer since I've had any sweets! : ) I was thinking about my Lenten commitment this morning and wondered if the word Lent was even in the Bible. It's not. Hmmmmm. So why do we give something up for Lent? It's not even Biblical (or is it?). When I was a kid the only way I knew about Lent was because my Catholic Jr High friends were giving up gum during this time. Lent is not a big tradition in Mennonite churches today. This is probably the 4th or 5th year I've "observed" Lent on my own and I have to say that something very "little" like giving up something you love/enjoy has become a very spiritually growing experience, enough so that I don't mind repeating the process each year. It's certainly not something I have to do, or even feel half-way obliged to do. Every time I see or desire a sweet, I remember the sweet thing that Jesus did for me, dying on the cross, just for me. During these 40 days of Lent (really there are 46 if you count the Sundays, but they always just say 40...anyway), it is a reminder that Jesus was in the desert for 40 days, being tempted by Satan, and before He started His public ministry. I'm curious, have any of my blogging friends given up anything for Lent, and if so, why do you observe Lent?

2nd Place, U12 Indoor Soccer League

The Flames girls team came in 2nd tonight out of 11 teams in their division. Madison's team won the semi-final game 5-0 tonight but lost against Middlebury in the championship with a score of 1-0. We dominated the whole game, one mistake cost us a goal though. Shucks! Always the bridesmaid, never the bride. : ) Her team has lost too many championship games over their years of soccer. They did get a huge team trophy though... the girls quickly decided the Lucchese family should try and display it at their restaurant and Gabby's parents graciously said they would find a place for it. Lucky them. The girls got silver medals. They played really well and have nothing to hang their heads about. (How do you like this intense parent picture? haha) Another Indoor season comes to a close....

Basketball Games

This afternoon Quinn played 2 games at the Sports Center. We won 1 and lost 1. We were happy with that because they tend to lose more games than win. He is number 5 in these pictures. He hustled a lot and I even managed to catch a really nice shot of his on video. I need someone to show me how to post a video on Blogger. : )

Sorry to be on a blogging drought lately. There hasn't been much going on other than Sports Center basketball and soccer for both of the kids. I know that is 4 teams going right now but it just hasn't seemed as busy. They each practice only one night a week. Indoor soccer is over for Quinn now. They have played at 7am or 8am each Saturday morning. His team lost in overtime in the tournament yesterday. Madison's soccer tournament is coming up next weekend. Her team has won all except 1 loss and 1 tie. Hopefully they will do well in their tournament. We've enjoyed a much more relaxing pace in January and February. I really enjoy winter. I know I'm in the minority but I enjoy the beautiful snow and am thankful for a cozy home in the evenings.

Have a good week everyone!

6th Grade Girls Basketball

Madison has been playinging on a 6th grade basketball team at the Sports Center this winter. They usually play 2 games on a Saturday and the season lasts just 4 Saturdays I think. The girls are from both Elkhart and Concord schools and are made up basically of her friends, or friends of friends who are now her friends too! (Was that enough of the word "friends" in one sentence?). In the bottom right picture, she is guarding Taylor. Madison and Peyton have grown up with Taylor at church. She is a very good basektball player. We lost this game by 1 point, when Taylor made a free throw with 6 seconds left. Madison is a very good "scrappy" player. I bet she had 15 steals or tip aways during these 2 games. She is fun to watch! Even though we don't win a lot of games, it's fun to watch the girls improve each week.

ISSMA Band Contest

Last Saturday Madison and her good friend Alexa (and the rest of the Beginnning Band) took their "March Time" song to the ISSMA (Indiana State School Music Association) contest which was hosted at Elkhart Memorial High School. It was a several hour long process for a 3 minute long song. They were happy to get gold medals. In the process, we heard some pretty amazing muscians! It was for all school age kids. The highschool students are amazing!

Random things about me

25 Random Things about Leah

1. If I didn't watch sports on TV, I wouldn't need one. If I'm at home alone, the TV is usually off. The quietness sounds nice at this stage of the game. Of course Hawkeye sports are my favorite.

2. I married my highschool sweetheart and am still in love. : ) I wish he was home more though... he works 60-70 hours a week. I appreciate that he is a hard-worker and a non-complainer.

3. I hated living in Goshen, IN for about the first 10 years or so of our marriage. I finally started praying to be content in all circumstances, and asked my family to stop asking us to move home, and it's better. I would still rather live in Iowa near my family, any day of the week. (My brother-in-law, Jeff, still regulary asks me when we are moving back!!). Did you know that it's still possible to feel homesick at age 40???

4. I have 5 nieces and 1 nephew but none live near us. I have 2 nieces waiting on me in heaven. I can't wait to hold them.

5. I hate making supper.

6. I don't mind doing laundry and I love my washing machine...a Whirlpool Carbrio. : )

7. I have the spiritual gifts of Mercy and Leadership. I use Mercy while working at the hospital as a nurse practitioner with chronic and cancer pain patients.

8. I'm the VP of Major Softball at Concord Little League.

9. I'm the chairperson of our congregation, Silverwood Mennonite Church.

10. I'm not at home very much, but our neighbors would tell you we drive in the driveway often, and usually leave right away again. It's the season of life... their day is coming. : ) (BTW, I have really nice neighbors).

11. Attending Bible Study Fellowship (BSF) was one of the BEST things that I ever did for myself years ago. Someday I want to join again.

12. My kids, Madison and Quinn, bring me the most joy in life. Watching them do things they love makes me happy. Hearing them laugh warms my heart. I try to soak them in and burn all of the moments into my memory. They are growing too fast.

13. I grew up in the country, on a sheep farm in Iowa.

14. I wish I could play the piano well enough to play at church.

15. I used to play volleyball in highschool and was ranked in the state for ace serves. Wow... that was forever ago. My kids don't even believe me...LOL

16. I like almost all foods, except fish, green peppers and Dr. Pepper.

17. My colleagues tell me I'm the calmest person in any crisis and they want me around when they are crashing. : )

18. I pray often and a lot, off and on all day long, and love the constant companion of Jesus in my life. I pray about everything... the present, the future, spouses for my kids, jobs, the stranger in line at the grocery store in front of me... people who would never suspect that I pray for them probably. I thank God every single day for the health and safety of our family. Who knows I may have prayed for you today! Do you need me to pray for you? I would count it a privilege to talk to the God of the universe for you and with you.

19. I'm not good at landscaping, flower gardening and basically have no clue what to do outside in the yard. I wish someone would come and save me and my flower beds.

20. I've decided I dislike tent camping very, very much but go for my kids and pretend to like it. I'm at the RV stage of life. Wonder where I could find one of those... cheap?! LOL

21. I'm afraid of snakes. My colleagues would see me NOT remain calm in a snake-circumstance.

22. I worked super hard for my master's degree in nursing when my kids were little. They were in 1st grade and 3rd grade when I graduated from Ball State. They both can remember going to my graduation. It was one of the happiest days of my life. Seriously. Much better than the undergrad.

23. You can tell me your deepest secret and I won't even be tempted to repeat it. I'm a very good confidant!

24. I used to play the flute in elementary and jr high. I can read music very well and carry a tune too! : )

25. I wish I had a bigger house so that we could entertain more. Some day I would love to host a ladies Bible study in my home.

OK... there are 25 totally random things, really you probably don't want to know all these things about me! Now it's your turn!

Bald is Beautiful!

Quinn has a new "do" in support of Lauren. She is a sweet little first grader and the younger sister of Quinn's friend, Trevor. Lauren is a survivor of kidney cancer and is currently going through chemo and recently completed radiation. Quinn and Trevor are in the same class and have played on many, many sports teams together. Trevor shaved his head this last weekend in support of Lauren because the chemo is causing the natural side effects of hair loss. Quinn and Nate shaved their heads to support Lauren, and Trevor too. He found that even his short hair was a good head-warmer... and it's a little chilly now without his hair!

Snow Camp Review

Quinn said that Snow Camp was "OK"... which after clarification means

• the food was good
• it was fun staying in the dorm-like room with Nate
• the sledding was fun
• yes, his snow clothes were hung up and dried out OK
• the top bunk was a "little too bouncy"

I really think he had a good time, it's just a little hard for him to be gone from home like that (2 nights in a row). He got a really neat t-shirt and I know he brought home some good memories too.

Snow Camp

This picture was taken earlier this week but tells the story of what I hope Quinn will be doing a lot over the next two days. Tonight Shari and I took Nate and Quinn to Snow Camp in Shipshewana. It's for 3rd-6th graders and with Nate's church, The Church of the Brethren. It is so COLD outside! School was cancelled today because of the -20 degree weather, even colder with the wind chill. Tomorrow it should be in the 20's so I'm glad it's going to be "warm enough" to go sledding. He was somewhat nervous about going, not much to be gone overnight for two nights in a row. I hope he does OK... and that I do OK too! : ) I tend not to sleep very well when my birds aren't all in the nest. They are staying in a "dorm" like building and he and Nate were quite happy to have their room for two, complete with their names on their door. I will be praying for them all weekend... and am already looking forward to Sunday afternoon. : )

Never to cold to play outside...

...for Madison and Cocoa that is.

Sledding at Ox Bow Park

Quinn and Nate convinced me to take them to Ox Bow Park today after school. It was SO ca-ca-ca-cold! I don't even know what the wind chill was this afternoon but it felt like it was in the negatives. They were out for 45 minutes. Quinn thought his chin had frozen solid when he was done. They had a great time but each had their share of spills and Quinn certainly had at least two face-plants (see center and top right). Where was Madison you ask? She went to the store with Heather and missed it!

Christmas Fondue

We celebrated Christmas with Beppe & Pakka on Saturday night. We always enjoy our yearly fondue... so good! We talked to Michelle, Archie and Jade on the web cam and the kids opened their gifts from them while they watched. We have about 10 inches of snow so the kids went sledding in their backyard first. It was a little difficult because the snow is so deep and it needs to be packed down more. They had fun though. It was a nice evening on a cold snowy night.

Room Makeover

Madison and I started the process of her room make-over back in the summer. It was quite the lengthy process but mostly because we didn't have large chunks of day time hours to work on it. The first step was to take off all of the wallpaper. Madison did most of this herself, however she recruited Abby to help her during the summer days when I was working. (Thank you Abby!) After the paper came off, the walls needed to be prepared; patched, sanded smooth, washed down... This project was pretty quiet through the first semester of school, although we found the bedding and picked out and bought the paint. She also started going through her things and boxing up the little girls things, and gave things away. We moved out a big bookshelf and Quinn added that to his room.

This past week we spent several more days back in her room. We taped all the walls one day, primed the walls the next and painted the final coat the following. We discovered that purple was a hard color to paint over. Thank goodness for the priming coat! After the painting was done, the fun part of decorating started. We bought new curtains, 2 lamps and set her room up. Altogether we think we put in about 25 hours of work into her new room. She loves it. No longer little girl looking... out with the bunnies and bows.

What do you think?

Happy New Year 2009!

Happy New Year! Today we went to John & Colleen's house to watch the Iowa Hawkeyes play S. Carolina in the Outback Bowl with them and also Tim, Tonya, Preston and Peyton. It was a fun game, lots of things to cheer about and I thanked our sweet hostess when we left for arranging for the hawks to win today as well. 31-10! The kids downloaded Mario Karts on their DS's and played each other between some of the football action. Peyton came home with us to hang out with Madison for the rest of the evening. We meant to get back to her room project tonight but it didn't happen. We watched lots of football today, a great way to start off 2009 (right Cheryl?)!

New Year's Eve 2008

Tonight we went out for supper at Chili's and then went to see Bedtime Stories. This is a really cute movie! Very good! Madison brought Holyn and Quinn brought Nate. Holyn stayed overnight. We played some games and waiting for the ball to drop. The hugs in the pictures were the mid-night hugs. It was a fun but small party to welcome the new year.

In other news...It has been a very busy week so far. I took this week off from work. We are trying to accomplish some major projects. Madison and I spent over 8 hours painting in her bedroom. Out with the bunnies and bows, in with the teen look of polka dots. We still haven't gotten her room completely back together yet. I'll post some pictures when we get her moved back in. It is looking really good. I'll be glad to have her stuff out of our bedroom/hallway, and back into her's. I think I might need to go back to work so I can rest next week. Ha! ; ) No, actually I have truely enjoyed all of my time with my family and am trying to savor the last few days.

Home Again...

We got home last evening at 4:45 and were welcomed by 2 inches of ice on our driveway. Obviously they had lots of snow and ice here last week. We flew out of Orlando at 9:10am and landed in Indy at 11:30 or so. It was super foggy in Indy which made for a "creative" descent and landing. We had to make 2 attempts at the runway and it was so turbulent that one passenger lost their breakfast... too close of quarters for sure! Better than my poor mom and dad though... over 400 flights in/out of Chicago were cancelled yesterday due to an ice storm, including their connecting flight. Their journey included a bus drive to a neighboring airport (Cedar Rapids) and then finally arrived home about 16 hours after they left the condo in the morning. They had to drive to Moline, IL today to get their car and luggage. They could have nearly drove back from Florida in all that travel time. It took Amy & Jeff 20 hours on the way down.

Madison and I were in bed by 9pm last night. I slept 10 hours and she slept 13 1/2. We were obviously a little low in the sleep department. I'll have some more pictures for you but somehow my camera cord ended up in Jeff & Amy's van (after Jeff stole it from our condo) so I have to wait for them to mail it. We spent Christmas at the resort, putt-putt golfing and swimming. We grilled steak for supper. It didn't seem very Christmas-like in the 80* weather though. Amy said it didn't feel all "ooohshy-guuushy" without the cold, snow and abundant Christmas decorations. We took a big family picture by the Christmas tree in the lobby though and I'll post those pictures the future.

Hope you had a Merry Christmas!
Leah

PS... I've gradually added pictures from our trip, including the first day. Scroll all the way down if you haven't seen them yet.

Merry Christmas from Orlando, Florida!

Merry Christmas from Bonnet Creek in Orlando, Florida!


Christmas morning brought a few "stocking gifts" from Santa. Our gifts to our kids was our trip to Florida this year. It felt really weird not to have any gifts under our tree. A different Christmas for sure... but warm and FUN!


Us Midwesterners aren't used to swimming, putt-putt golfing and playing cards outside on Christmas day! We heard the overhead speakers playing Christmas music all week, but some how the snowy songs just didn't "go" this year. We didn't miss the HUGE ice storm that Indiana received this week though. We picked a good week to be gone.


We grilled steaks for our supper this evening. Plenty of food this week! Amy brought 2 huge containers of Christmas goodies that she made in Iowa. This was our last evening together. We hated to see our week's vacation end. We are taking home lots of good memories for souvenirs though!

Universal Studios and Islands of Adventure

Today we went to Universal Studios for most of the day. This is not a Disney Park but was very, very nice. We really liked it a lot. In fact, this was probably our favorite of the week. Their attractions included "shows" such as the movie, Jaws, Twister, The Mummy, Shrek, Jimmy Neutron, and the Simpsons. Although the kids hadn't seen half of the movies, they still enjoyed their rides or 4D shows. The park was really quiet in the morning, but busy by afternoon.


The highlight of the day was watching Jeff (Amy's husband) participate in Fear Factor. He got to be one of six people to compete in their 30minute show. He knows how to ham things up and did a good job making the audience laugh. He told the cameras that his reason for knowing he was going to win Fear Factor was because "I've seen the other contestants and I look better in my Spandex than all of them." Their first task was to hang from a bar, 50feet off the ground with a huge fan blowing in their face. He wasn't one of the last ones to remain so he had to take the "walk of shame" after this stunt. We enjoyed his fame while it lasted. Some of the other stunts on the rest of the show got kind of gross... the eating part was disgusting.

Around 3:30 or so we walked over to Universal Island's of Adventure which is their amusement park section. It was awesome! We were amazed at Quinn's love of the Hulk roller coaster which pretty much went in loop after loop and lots of barrel rolls. We are pretty sure this was the wildest roller coaster ride he has been on... and he loved it! At this point we had been in amusement parks for over 45 hours this week and I was done with the rides. I spent the rest of the evening with Amy, Jeff, Mikayla and Haley in Seuss Land while Tony took the older kids on the other wild rides of the park. : ) The Seuss Land was adorable! We watched a live production of "How the Grinch Stole Christmas" which was so cute. I think we were in Seuss Land for 3-4 hours.

We finally found our Christmas Eve supper at the NBA restaurant around 8:30. It wasn't very "Christmas-y" but was sure good.

Downtown Disney

Happy Birthday Mikayla!

Mikayla turned 8 while in Disney World on December 22 (yesterday)! She spent the day at the Magic Kingdom. Can you imagine a better place to spend your birthday as a kid? Her birthday present was getting her ears pierced the next day. After we drove in a big loop to find "The Loop" and a Claires store, she had 11 people watch her get her ears pierced that morning. It was a lot of fun. She didn't even blink an eye during the piercing. Quinn wondered where the boys section was at Claires... not to be found. ; ) Doesn't she look cute with her new jewels?

Animal Kingdom

Animal Kingdom

Our family of 4 went to Animal Kingdom on Monday, the 22nd. The rest of the group went to Magic Kingdom which we decided to skip this year. We had a great day but it was a cool 60 degrees and by the time we left, 12 hours later, it was in the 40's. Brrrr! We enjoyed the Everest Expedition rollercoaster the most and rode it 4 times. We also enjoyed the safari and the Christmas parade. Their Christmas tree is decorated with animals. So cute! We missed the last bus back to the resort and it ended up taking us 2 1/2 hours to get back! A long story... but a memorable one for sure!

Epcot (stands for Every Person Comes Out Tired...?)

Highlights from the day:

"FAST passes" work to get through lines without standing in lines forever!

Tony ran into Dan from work!

I laughed so hard I cried... at my overly safety conscious husband (long story).

Epcot at night.... gorgeous!

My feet hurt SO bad after 12 hours in the park today!

Christmas lights at Hollywood Studios

You can't see this picture in the bottom right very well. Quinn walked around the corner on to this street and then turned around and gave us this open-mouth-awe-struck look on his face and just held it in disbelief. (You will need to double click the photos for sure). The pictures are pretty good but don't capture it all. The tall skinny picture in the middle is of Jenna and Quinn trying to catch the "snow" that was falling by the end of the show. Wow! Disney is incredible!

Hollywood Studios (aka MGM Studios)

We spent the whole day at Hollywood Studios (MGM) today. We just got back at 9:15 tonight. Whew! My feet ache! It was a gorgeous day with temps in the high 70's I'm guessing.

Highlights included: Tower of Terror, Rock'n Rollercoaster, Indiana Jones, the new Toy Story ride. Most of the lines weren't too bad, except for Toy Story. While waiting for the Toy Story ride Jay used his 3D glasses as the "eyes" while holding them over his belly button. We were really bored in a 90 minute long wait for the newest ride! Look closely at the bottom right picture.

Disney is decorated for Christmas. There is a huge tree with lights, poinsettias fill almost all of the flower beds and Christmas music plays in the air. It is easy to forget that it is Christmas time in this warm weather though. Strange. There is a street in MGM that is decorated top to bottom with Chrismas lights which they set with timers/music. It was beautiful at night!

Hope all is well for those of you back in my real world.
Love, Leah

Day 1 in Orlando

We flew into Tampa on Thurseday, 12-18 and then drove to Orlando. While waiting for the rest of our family to arrive on Friday, we went to the grocery store and putt-putt golfing. We are in "awe" of the beautiful warm sunshine in the high 70's today. Grandma & Grandpa's flights were re-routed out of the mid-west because of snow and ice but they arrived around 4:30pm. Amy & Jeff drove to Florida so they had been on the road for a few days. Doug & Jen arrived about 5:30 into Orlando. We all arrived safe and sound.

Orlando or bust!

Tonight marked the start of our Christmas vacation to Florida! We are meeting up with my whole family for an Orlando week. Mom, Dad, Amy and her family are coming from Iowa and Doug and his family are coming from Tempe, AZ. We've been looking forward to it for a long time now although just told the kids about their Christmas present at Thanksgiving. They've been marking off the days on the calendar! We are staying at the Bonnet Creek resort which is a Wyndam resort on Disney property.

We are looking foward to lots of family time, some theme parks and a break from the cold weather! I'll try to keep you updated on our adventures and I'm able.

Merry Christmas!

The school Christmas program was tonight. It is soooo cold! The wind chill in the negatives. The kids did such a good job with all of their music. Heart warming for sure. I know she's my daughter, but doesn't Madison look beautiful?...and Quinn a cute looking Joseph?

Sadness

Michelle (Tony's sister) and Archie's beautiful baby girl was stillborn late this morning after a c-section delivery. The cord was wrapped around her little neck, otherwise she was a perfectly formed baby with lots of hair. She was due in January but Michelle noticed the baby wasn't moving yesterday. What was gearing up to be a great time of rejoicing and family celebration in a couple of weeks has suddenly been replaced with raw grief and loss. There are really no words to describe the feelings... God can feel the pain in their hearts as well as in our hearts. We would appreciate your prayers for Michelle, Archie and Jade as well as the rest of the family during this time of loss.

Love, Leah

Still here...

Sorry I haven't posted in a long time. It feels like I haven't been home in a long time. I've got pictures for you... the small group Christmas party, the children's Christmas program, hunting for our Christmas tree (which is still naked in the corner). I just don't have the energy tonight. Hopefully soon. I will leave you with one picture that might make you smile. I've finally captured Cocoa's obsession on camera. She will spent a good hour or more working on putting 2 of anything in her mouth at the same time. Her favorite is tennis balls. Pretty talented huh?

Back to school

Quinn went to school today and did ok. He said his legs felt weak and he was a little dizzy at times but overall it went ok. He was quite upset about the amount of homework he had tonight!! I guess he didn't realize how much work they actually do during the school day. He will need a few days to bounce back and he's sick and tired of me telling him to drink! Thanks for your thoughts and prayers. It was a long 4 days for him.

Hold that thought...

Quinn had to stay home from school today. He tried to eat a cracker for breakfast but couldn't keep it down. He has lost 7 pounds over this last weekend. He is trying a popsicle now. I would appreciate your prayers for him to get over this sickness.