9 awesome days in pictures

Dec 23: walking, bowling, bad pizza.

Christmas Eve: DC, sleeping, awkward family photos.

Christmas: presents, missionaries, tea parties, cafe rio.

Dec 26: Aunt Lesly, Naval Academy, downtown Annapolis, good food.

Dec 27: movies, running, basetkball.

Dec 28:church, temple, music.

Dec 29: air and space, chill time.

Dec 30: zoo.

Dec 31: navy yard, bad chinese, airport.

"but I wost Gwamma and Gwampa and Gabe!"

snippets

This is my favorite video from the whole trip. Peter commentating during the Beauty and the Beast show, which was amazing.

I love sleeping babies

There were lots of naps taken on-the-go. I tried to take a picture every time the kids snoozed because it just makes me giddy to see them sleep. Enjoy. :)

happiest place on earth

I don't know if I'd go as far as to say Disney World is the happiest place on earth because I definitely saw my share of tantrums, but we ceratinly had a happy time! I thought it would be easier to catalog our trip here than in individual e-mails. Here's our adventure, Nov 6-Nov 12, 2014. Prepare for picture overload!

 Day one: spent entirely packing, driving and flying. Orlando here we come! Probably the least happiest day of the week. Saying that Peter did not enjoy the flight is an understatement. But we made it and the hair I pulled out will grow back, I'm sure.

 Caroline, Natalie, Emily and Oakley getting ready for some Disney action.

Nov 7, my birthday- The smile on my face in this picture does not express even remotely how excited I was inside to be standing next to Mary Poppins. It's real, Dreams come true. 

 Peter, Emily and Oakley. We had only two vans and 5 carseats to transport 11 adults and 10 kids to the park and back, which required some logistical seating and shuttling. Somehow it all worked out.

 Steve and Dave. Being punished for... uh..... taking in too much sun I guess.

 Watching the princess parade. We all had matching shirts, btw, which turned out to be genius in a very crowded park. The lime green was VERY easy to spot when we lost track of each other. There were many moments when I felt immense gratitude for these neon shirts.

Caroline, Jack, Natalie and Oakley trying to pull the sword out of the stone. I guess we don't have a King Arthur in our group.

 The birthday cake made by Nancy with help from the granddaughters, if you couldn't tell. It was Ben's birthday also so there are 67 candles, our combined age.

 Magic Kingdom, complete with hoards of people.

 It's a Small World- probably one of Oakley's favorite rides. I think her most favorite was the teacups. Makes me sick just thinking about it.

 Bethany bought a used bouncy house for the kids, which they loved, obviously. It lasted about 3 days before it ripped and went out of commission. This is all the grandkids except the three babies.

 Peter's "blue steel" look. The battle scar came from a tumble out of the bouncy house.

We all stayed in one big house. Plenty of bedrooms and almost enough bathrooms. But we didn't eat out once, which was nice. There was also a pool in the backyard.

 The baby boys and youngest of the grandkids: Peter, Ryan, and James. I think Peter has the best physique. :)

 Poor Pat took a spill on Day 1 and wasn't able to participate in the pool parties, so he served as lifeguard. He ended up getting about 70 staples in his right hand and arm. It was a pretty knarly wound. He is notorious for injuring himself at family gatherings, but this was probably the worst yet.

 Exploring the Swiss Family Robinson residence

Caroline, Oakley, Natalie, and Jack very engrossed in Snow White.

 Peter and his lady friends: Lucy, Hailey and Emily

A toy soldier from Toy Story. There is real guy in that costume. 

Peter was happy to wreck havoc outside while everyone else watched the Frozen show.

 And...the empty Orlando airport. Our 9:15 pm flight got delayed to 10:30 pm. Who does that? It was a very, very late night. And about a 40 degree temperature change between Florida and Virginia. The trip was a blast but it's good to be home. Videos and a sleep montage to come!

Bookshelf of Memories

So, today I had an emotional moment. Yeah, I have a lot of time to think about things while I am mindlessly cleaning windows, walls, carpets, sinks, etc. I've learned a lot about myself these past weeks while I have had so much time to think, but that's a subject for another blog post. Anyway, today as I was cleaning a classroom, I had to move a bookshelf. The bookshelf reminded me of our little family bookshelf now tucked away in Gabe's closet. Just as I was pulling books off  to more easily move the shelf, the Coldplay song "O" played over my headphones with the line, "One minute they arrive, Next you know they're gone. They fly on." Books such as Tiki Tiki Tembo, Corduroy, Madeline, Curious George tumbled in front of me and my mind was flooded with memories long since past of reading to little ones. One advantage of working by yourself is if you want to cry, you don't have to worry about who is around to see you. So I took advantage of that perk and had a good little cry. Nothing prepares you for the departure of your children. Just like the song, "One minute they arrive, Next you know they're gone". I am happy that they are building their own lives and families. That's what life is all about. So, fly on.