Sunday, December 13, 2015

Tree Hunt

Today was the big day... the day where we join some of our favorite people and head out to our favorite tree farm, Birdhaven.



I had looked them up earlier in the season and confirmed they were open weekends after Thanksgiving, but guess what? We showed up and nobody was there.  In fact, there was a sign stating they were closed for the season. What?? A call to the place by Tori revealed that they had sold their tree quota for the year so yesterday was their last day. Bummer. 

Pouty faces... in case you couldn't tell. I think the boys need practice.



But, Uncle Tom came to the rescue and found a nearby tree farm.  Too bad we got a little lost on the way there, but once we arrived, it was great!  Rudolph saved the day!


 
 Ugh, look at Ty's hair!! I have officially lost all control.  He refuses even a trim at this point. 
 


At least this boy still cooperates.


This place was great.  The trees were a bit scraggly and overgrown, but I thought it was just right.  Christmas trees aren't supposed to be perfect. 


The boys had a blast.


This is my favorite picture of the day. 


After aimlessly wandering and getting every tree I suggested rejected as I have no concept of size, we finally found one that would work at long as we chopped it a few feet up from the ground.


Perfect.



It still feels wrong that it is so warm. I blame Dan... he bought a tractor with a bucket for all of our snow... hmmm.


I can't stand how big they are.


Thank you Aunt Debbie and Uncle Tom for not giving up. We made great memories today.


Monday, December 7, 2015

Florida Fun

We walked in the house around 12:15 am this morning fresh off the plane from Florida and four fun filled days!!

The boys have a couple of days off in December for parent-teacher conference and we take full advantage.  Plus, we've got some pretty special people in Orlando for a little while.  And, there are actually direct flights which is huge.  All of this equaled a quick trip to the sunny state.

We arrived at the Legoland Resort by 9:30am on Thursday which also happened to be Tyler's 11th birthday.  Another perk of traveling at this time of year is very low crowds which meant we could check-in to our room right away.  We had an explorer themed room and the boys loved it!!  They had their very own "room" and a scavenger hunt waiting.  Everything was awesome.


I love going to places like this with Ryan because he gets right into it.  Ty won't play along, but Ry is right there.  Check out "Brick Beard" who was there to greet us as we headed out to the park.


Another character was at the front of the park ready with fist bumps for our smallest Lego master builder. Once again, Ty was too cool to get in the picture.


Ty didn't have a choice about this picture.  How cool is this?  A Lego Christmas tree!!  They were lighting it the next day which gave it a cluttered look so I was pleased we got this picture first.

Can you imagine building these creations as your actual job?  There are 5 of these positions at Legoland and they do amazing work. The boys loved this one as this sleeping Lego dude was actually snoring.


We literally went on every ride in the park except the water ride. They even went on the horse ride.  Ry was too funny, he came around slapping the horse on the rear!  Ha ha!


Everywhere we looked, there were awesome Lego creations.  Check out this SUV. Incredible, even though it was a Ford.


The boys even got to drive Lego cars.  We discovered that Ry cannot follow directions.  He blew the stop signs, passed on solid lines, and went the wrong way on the traffic circle.  Lets hope his attention to detail improves over the next 9 years. Ty obeyed all the traffic rules.  Phew!  He's only got 5 years.


Miniland was crazy.  I cannot imagine the hours and hours of work that went into that section. They had completely recreated Vegas, NY, San Francisco and more.  The boys were enthralled with the Star Wars section. Too cool.


I even got Ty to pose for a pic.


See what I mean about the crowds?  This was around 3:30 pm in the afternoon.  Seriously... we had the place to ourselves.

Back at the hotel, I managed to get one boy in the pool despite the rain.


After a great evening of Lego building which included a class, a buffet dinner (the boys loved getting whatever they wanted), the disco elevator and whoopee cushion in the lobby... we were ready for day two.

I'm disappointed in this video because somehow the sound was off on my camera and I can't restore it.  And, Ry has reached the stage where he gets embarrassed so most of the time he stops doing what I want to video as soon as he sees me.  So, pretend that you hear Abba as soon as the elevator doors close and the disco lights start.  He can really move and groove!


As I was uploading these pictures, Ryan pointed out the Lego guy on the wall behind the dragon pulling down the wallpaper.  I never saw that while we were there.  Since he pointed that out, I've noticed a number of other things I missed.  This place was themed to the max.


Here we are back to Ty refusing to be in pictures again.  This rollercoaster was a favorite.  Dan rode it 3 times in a row, I went 4 and the boys were on their own for the 5th run.  Fun stuff.



I wasn't willing to buy the actual ride photo so here is the boys' recreation.



I loved being able to ride with the boys.  Pure joy.


Ty is still very cautious and very careful about what rides he's willing to try.  This ride didn't make the cut so he stood at the exit taking pictures.  


We had to ride the Lego horse carousel. We literally went on every ride.


If you look closely you can see our two boys up there getting ready to launch foam balls at the kids below. This was another favorite.



More crazy Lego builds.


Every. Single. Ride.


Doesn't Dan look thrilled?


Early on day 2 we had signed the boys up for Mindstorm classes.  They each got their own class for their age group.  Ryan's build was a motion controlled alligator.  I was impressed by his ability to follow the instructions on the computer.  He built it himself with minimal help from me.  


And, it actually worked when he was done!


When Ry was done with his build, we went next door to check out what Ty was doing.  He did the Autobot class which really wasn't a build.  He had to program the robot to perform certain tasks which involved a lot of measuring with angles.  But, they did it and Ty loved it.  I'm glad we didn't skip it.


 Here is the view of the back of the hotel from the Island in the Sky.


 The entrance. I didn't notice the dragon coming through the bottom when we were there.


 I loved this wolf.  


 Ty is driving... watch out! That face does not instill confidence.


 Here's a peek into a day in the life of our family... he comes out of nowhere.


And, Ty has adopted the join him approach.


Lego figures water skiing is not something I thought I would ever see, but there you go.


These were the pictures I was hoping to get.  I was very excited to see a full Lego sled with reindeer!



This picture almost didn't happen because the snowman was built with Duplo Legos and we're too big to play with Duplo.


Overall, it was a fantastic couple of days.



Our weekend getaway was far from over when we left our Lego adventure... we still had cousin time!!  And, got to check out the Kennedy Space Station.  I loved this ornament.


It is very weird to see all the Christmas decor while wearing shorts. 


This place and everything in it was massive.






We decided to take it down a notch on our last day.  The kids spent some time just hanging out in trees and hunting lizards.  Perfect.  


Then we headed out to hunt Manatees.  I didn't actually expect to see any.


I certainly didn't expect to see a tile version.


But, I was wrong.  We did see the real thing.  Lots of them.  I should have known that Aunt Sara would have had it all figured out.  After all, she was right about the bear hunt over the summer too!


These things are fascinating.  Ugly and graceful at the same time.  Sort of a mix of whale, seal, cow, and blob.  


Overall, it was a beautiful park and a perfect way to end our mini-vacation.






Everyone in blue was not planned.  I have realized that we have a lot of blue.  Lots. 


We all had a great time and wish it didn't have to end.  I think the boys are already planning next year.