Despite a few hiccups, somehow we made it to Ft. Lauderdale for Spring Break this year!  First of all, we had hastily booked our Spring Break destination to Hilton Head months ago not realizing that it’s cold there in March!  So we scrambled around and switched all our reservations to Ft. Lauderdale and It’s a good thing because it was 40 degrees in HH!  We’re not giving up, because we still really want to go there, but next time we might actually research the weather beforehand!  duh!  In addition, this was booked before Jake had 3 soccer games pop into the calendar.  CRAP!  Jake does not accept missing his games very well.  He’s a die hard. And Brian, being a crazy fearless traveler, decided to let Jake fly down to Florida BY HIMSELF 24 hours after us so he could still compete in two of his games.  He must’ve drugged me or put a crazy spell over my brain because I actually agreed to it!

Let’s cut to the chase – Jake (my ‘worrier’ child) flew down to FL by himself, I was so wound up and stressed I barely remember my first day in FL, I checked my watch every second, speed-texted Aunt Jenn for hours (she probably wanted to block my phone number), and I have never been so happy to see Jake in all my life.  Most of all, I will NEVER do that again.  Pure torture.  Thank you Aunt Jenn for getting this sweet boy on the plane, enduring crazy mom texts, and Jake, I’m very proud of you for being so brave.  He actually thought he was pretty hot stuff doing this!  And he saved us by bringing several items that we left at home by mistake.  I’m pretty sure we would’ve never made it through the week without Reece’s mermaid blanket!!  Whew!

I was totally out of sorts until Jakey arrived.  As soon as we got him safely in the car, I felt like a new person and we grabbed a late patio dinner at Panaretto Italian Bistro.  Yummy

My sister and her hubby, Scott, joined us for the first 4 days of our trip and it’s always a treat. They have the flexibility and are always up for a vacay!  We sort of neglected to tell them that Jake wasn’t joining until Day 2 – they thought we were joking at first but then when he never appeared in the airport they realized it was not a joke!

We stayed at the Marriott Harbor Beach Resort which is absolutely beautiful and has everything a family would desire…beautiful private beach and grounds, pool, and $17 cheeseburgers.  I had to throw that in there because the food and drinks were so expensive it cracked us up!  This is why our hotel room looked like an unorganized overstocked pantry.  We sent Brian to the store right away to get snacks and drinks and have become masters of smuggling our own provisions to the beach/pool.  This place is pricey and eats up a lot of Marriott points, so we smashed our family of 6 into 1 room and brought along 2 blow up sleeping bags for the littles.  The view was perfectly AMAZING and I wouldn’t change a thing.  Except it would’ve been nice to have Shauna & Scott’s room adjoining with us.  No such luck there…it’s Spring Break in Ft. Lauderdale…it’s packed!

The beach and the beautiful water goes on for as long as your eyes can see!

When we arrived at 11PM, Reece decided to put on a one-handed cartwheel show in the lobby! See…I’m telling you…I was not myself!  Why was I letting her do that!?  The better question is…why was uncle Scotty letting this go on and encouraging it!?

here’s a video clip…

We walked to breakfast a few mornings at which time Reece would always miraculously get a side cramp 15 steps out of the hotel lobby.  I’m kicking myself for getting rid of my stroller.  But let’s face it, she’s almost 7 and an athlete….why in the world is walking such a problem!?  Our breakfast spots were St. Barts, Cafe Del Mar, and h2O Cafe (the best breakfast sandwich in the world).

We spent every waking hour on the beach enjoying the waves, playing soccer, pitching and catching baseballs, throwing a frisbee, boogie boarding, playing in the sand, finding seashells and sunbathing.  Reece told us that sunbathing was really hard work!  She cracks us up all the time!  I could fill up a notebook of funny things these kids say.

Morgan brought her blow up couch she got for Christmas and it was all the buzz on the beach!

Reece’s skin is so fair, she always gets a burn regardless of the gallons of sunscreen we put on her!  The second morning we were walking to breakfast (through a triathalon…not kidding!) and I overheard a lady saying she thought Reece had two black eyes!  I think she may have shed her entire first layer of skin this week.  And as always, we had to make a trip out to buy a protective swimshirt!

You can barely drag any of us from the beach or pool but in the evenings we had some great dinners!  We loved Coconuts which was right on the inter-coastal waterway.  Some of the other places we ate were Rocco’s Tacos, Shooters Waterfront, Nacho Bizness (food truck), Nick’s (on Hollywood Beach), TacoCraft, Kelly’s Landing and our last night of vacay tradition…pizza on the beach (or pool).

And most nights we played lots of games in our room.  So much fun!

 

One day we took the Water Taxi on a sightseeing tour around the city via the inter-coastal waterway.  Even though the kiddos complained that we weren’t going to the beach, it turned out to be one of our favorite days!  We learned a lot and saw so many enormous waterfront mansions and beautiful yachts. It’s mesmerizing!

We also took a chilly trip to the Everglades and did an airboat tour where we saw some alligators!  This is memorable for Reece because she has mentioned it several times post-vacay and written about it at school!

It’s hard to say goodbye to this super fun vacation and I’m going to give myself a big pat on the back because I am really good at unplugging!  I rarely check my phone, and I completely let go of my normal responsibilities (other than tidying up the hotel room…I can’t stand a messy hotel room!).  I thoroughly enjoy my time, in fact most days I don’t even know what day it is!  On Sunday, I didn’t even realize it was Sunday and thank goodness Brian remembered!  Morgan is going through the confirmation process and is required to go to church every Sunday even while out of town.  She and Brian ventured out to go to church while Shauna and I drank mimosas at a beachfront cafe!  When they returned they had quite a story to tell!  Apparently they showed up to a nearby Catholic church and had missed the service (Brian had mistakenly looked up the times at a church in Miami)!  But as luck would have it or no luck depending on how you look at it… a confirmation class was starting at that time.  So Morgan bravely attended a confirmation class at a random Catholic church in Fort Lauderdale!  She had to work with a “little person” (Shauna and I will laugh about this for a lifetime) and help with the prayers.  She had NO idea what she was doing but she faked it like a champ!  We joked that Father Brian could’ve just signed her sheet since he got ordained online!  Brian thought he was going to leave her there and go work somewhere nearby and Morgan forbid it!  I don’t blame her!  I think Brian’s child safety meter is off…first he makes our 11 year old fly by himself and then he tries to drop our teenage daughter at a random church in an unfamiliar city!  In any case, all of us were super proud of Morgan’s commitment to confirmation.  You go girl!

Each day at 2:30, the Marriott hands out chocolate chip cookies and lemonade.  Our bellies are so full of these yummy cookies, we will never be the same…ie the post-vacay diet starts immediately!  And what the heck do they put in those things to make them so good anyway!?

We escaped the city limits with only 4 souvenirs.  Whew!  Morgan got this adorable ankle bracelet, Reece a surfboard bracelet, and the boys got stuffed animals.  Drew named his Ft. Lauderdale (creative right!?  And his sweatshirt says Miami!  ha!)  Jake named his Philly after his others Phil and Phyllis from previous trips).  We could easily start our own stuffed animal store!

We discovered that Reece is  quite good at using the “Yelp” app and if we ever get back to Ft. Lauderdale, our first stop better be to the Tea Cup Puppy superstore (yep, that actually exists according to the magazine in our hotel room).  We never made it there and Morgan is never going to forgive us!  Jake learned a few tips and tricks about Spring Break courtesy of Scott and I (some of it I’m hoping he doesn’t remember down the road!  What were we thinking telling him that stuff!?).  Jake, I’m happy to stay at a nice hotel with you over spring break.  No back-alley motels for you my friend!

We love you Fort Lauderdale…hope we get to come back to visit again!

I’m happy to slip into the role of a ‘beach bum’ at any time…I think I’ve got 4 others that would be right on board with me!  But for now we are putting our big suitcases in storage until July and trying to get back into a normal routine!

Another rite of passage at Manchester Park Elementary…the 3rd grade Planet Report!  Since I’ve supervised 3 projects now, I may be an expert on the planets of the solar system even though I really don’t like Science.  Did you know that Venus is named after the Roman goddess of love and beauty, is Earth’s twin, and one of the brightest planets in the sky?  Sorry kids, I’m not a Science expert but I’m trying!

Drew did all of his research by himself on Venus, created a power point presentation and painted a canvas all in the midst of Spring Break.  Ok, I may have broken down and typed a little of it for him.  Have you ever watched a 3rd grader type!?  Whew…it tries your patience. Art is definitely not his favorite subject so channeling his inner Michelangelo was a bit of struggle!  But, in the end, he did a really great job…

Each student also presents their report to the class.  Yikes…this is a daunting task to most people let alone a 3rd grader, right!?  Way to go Drew Boo, that A+ is well deserved!

Finally, to celebrate, the class had a Space Party today!  I basically demolished one of Reece’s headbands to create this alien headband last night (sorry Reece, I’ll get you another one!).  He  wore a yellow & white shirt (the color of Venus), took cheese balls and donut holes for a ‘spacey snack’ and light up balloons for decorations while watching a space movie.  Lucky kiddos!

Just for fun, lets flashback to Jake’s report on Uranus:

and Morgan’s very realistic paper mache model of Mars:

Pretty impressive, my cute little 3rd grade scientists!

P.S. Papa wants all of you guys to love Science and be really successful so you better pay attention in class!  No pressure 😉

Morgan is officially old.  And blind.  Well actually she really isn’t either of those things but she is definitely growing up and somewhat visually challenged.  She has been wearing glasses for one full year now and I promised her at that time she could give contacts a try.  Here we are at that day and look at how grown up she is learning how to put in contacts!

Even though she really likes the look of her glasses and her prescription hasn’t changed, she is hoping this change will help her in soccer actually see the other players on the field. Seems like a very valid reason to me!!  Perhaps it’s worth the $300-400 it takes to buy a years’ worth of daily contacts!?  I should really consider getting a part-time job.

The other reason she is excited about this change is she can now wear mascara.  ugh…see what I mean…she’s growing up!  Her lashes are too long and hit her glasses lenses with mascara on…oh wow what a difficult problem to have.  I think I speak for many when I say, I would never complain of having ultra long lashes.  Most of us girls would kill for them!  In glasses or contacts, Morgan, you are absolutely beautiful and I am super excited for you!  XOXO, Mom

 

Can you believe we broke down and got a dog!?  KIDDING…no way that is happening!  Papa had to say a very sad goodbye to his best hunting companion, Tip, and he has already found a 9 week old clone of her.  He is calling her Tip also because of the white tip on her tail and he’s too thrifty to buy a new collar with a new name.  I cannot make this stuff up!

I must say she’s pretty CUTE!  Since we had a day off school, I decided to treat my kids to an afternoon at Nanny and Papa’s to play with the new puppy and do a little fishing.  I really hope they got their “dog fix.”

She seems to really like Morgan and Reece!   Welcome to the family Tipper 2!

And a bonus for the day…Jake caught the biggest fish he’s ever caught!  Way to go Jakers!

Because we don’t have enough sports going on in this family, we might as well add Ping Pong to the schedule!  Shauna and Scott hosted our 1st annual Spring Ping Pong tourney (we are hoping to make this a Spring Break tradition…hint, hint!).  Morgan graciously made the bracket and the plaque for the trophy even though she couldn’t even attend!  A lucrative babysitting job took precedence.  Smart girl.

Scott could pass for a professional ping pong athlete so we are hoping he might be on injured reserve for next year’s tourney!  We planned this very last minute so we may be adding to our roster.  And I would like to challenge anyone to pull off playing ping pong in white wedge boots!

Reece–we love your style, girlfriend!

Way to go Scott and Jake (the winners of round 1 and 2).  Jake is proudly displaying the trophy on his dresser!  I was a close 2nd in round two.  My game is improving dramatically, right guys!?  Really everyone just likes to watch Shauna and I play each other.  Apparently we are quite entertaining!

The day finally arrived for Reece’s 1st gymnastics meet!  I feel like this has been on the horizon forever!  She is part of a pre-competitive gymnastics team and participation in this meet is optional.  It’s just a chance to see if you want to continue down a competitive path or save yourself thousands of dollars by going a recreational route.  I’m not kidding, as most sports seem to be, gymnastics can get pricey.  I was starting to avoid all emails that were addressed from “KGDC” because I knew it would be another charge for coaching, leotards, meet fees, etc.  Truthfully, we do whatever we can to support the kids’ endeavors, so it was a no-brainer for me to sign Reece up for this meet.  And the leotard alone made her quite happy!

The meet is sponsored by KGDC (Reece’s Gym) and it is called the Pink Ribbon Invitational in support of breast cancer which has impacted the owners of the gym.  Morgan also participated in the PRI 2011 when she was this age!  Here she is…

After this meet, Morgan decided gymnastics was not for her but we were super proud of her regardless!  This was little Reecie supporting her sister…

Reece was VERY excited for her first competition and I think also a little overwhelmed.  It can be scary to perform individually in front of a crowd!  Actually, you couldn’t pay me a million dollars to do what these little people do out there!  My stomach aches just thinking about it!  We surprised her with good luck donuts, candy, flowers and notes.

The whole family hopped in the car super early and headed down to the UMKC campus to watch this little cutie do her thing!

She scored an 8.3 on her floor routine.  Of course we all think she is amazing and should have gotten a 10 on all events because we are her very proud family 😉

 

Next up:  Vault (tucked in the corner so it was hard to capture).  She scored an 8.5.

Bars was her strongest event and she rocked it with a score of 9.4 and a 3rd place finish.

Here is a YouTube video clip of her award…

The last event was beam and she scored an 8.2.  Sooooo proud of you, Reecie!!

Although this fierce competitor wanted to get 1st place and head straight to the Olympic village, we will never forget this “first” in her life.  Reece, you should be very proud of your accomplishment!

If you would like to watch Reece’s routines….here they are on YouTube!

Whoa…I’ve been on a vacation hiatus with 3 trips in the last 6 weeks and trying to get back into any sort of normal routine that doesn’t involve sunscreen, latching ski boots, or eating too much.  Don’t get me wrong, I’m not complaining, because I’ve had an absolute blast!!  However, I’m feeling like I’m in a fog and already we are plunging into the last quarter of the school year!  I know I say this often, but seriously, time is literally flying by.

Before we left on Spring Break, we had a celebratory dinner with Angie Samuelson, and her wonderful family.  You may have seen Angie before in previous posts, she was our daycare provider for many years and we love her dearly!  Her sweet daughter, Kirsten, is recently engaged and moving to NYC!  I remember Kirsten when she was just in middle/high school and now she’s off to the big city!  We wish her all the best and truthfully we are jealous that she is having this journey.  When I graduated from college I moved home and started working at Hallmark Cards, Inc. three weeks later and worked there my entire corporate career.  No crazy adventures for me!  Times have changed, people take more risks, study abroad, and do all kinds of fun things before settling down.  I wish this for my kids even though I’m the most risk averse person on the planet and if any of them leave me and live in another city, I will absolutely FREAK OUT.  😉

This is our crew…Angie & Tony, Kirsten & Tanner, and the Glaves family who are also Samuelson daycare alumni.  We were only missing their son, Tyler, who is at K-State being a responsible student.

And we absolutely cannot end this post without some serious cuteness!  This is Addison Glaves and Jake at the Little Treasures Christmas Program in 2010!

And here they are today (still seriously cute)!

 

 

Thank you Samuelson’s for having us over for dinner!  And an extra thank you for not trying to put any of my children down for a nap on this day because they all said that was their least favorite part of daycare days!  And the truth is, they STILL don’t go to bed well. What is wrong with this crew!?

This week Reece is “Star of the Week” in her 1st grade class!  Along with many special things that happen this week, the best part happened today when big sister, Morgan, surprised her at school to read stories to her class!  These two besties could not be any cuter in my eyes.  Thank you Morgan for being an awesome big sister (even though you fight sometimes)!

I think Mrs. Lawrence’s 1st grade class was thrilled to have you there today and you did a super great job!

And a special treat to join her for lunch…Subway sandwiches of course!

A LOT has been going on with Reece this month so far!  A few weeks ago the first grade celebrated Dr. Seuss’s birthday and hosted a “Seuss Cafe” where the kids could order Dr. Seuss books off the menu and 5th graders would read them the books.  Luckily Jake was chosen to be a reader!!  He was so happy to be part of this special day for the kids and Reece felt pretty cool that her big brother read her group a story!  Reecie, this big brother is going to be your protector for life!  Sometimes it’s hard to be the ‘little sister’ and you want to smack them at times, but I promise, these guys will always be looking out for you!

I had to throw these pictures in of some first grade work Reece brought home.  REECE FOR PRESIDENT!!  You have our vote for sure!

And one last tid-bit on Reece for now!  Earlier this week, I was busy helping Drew with a science project so I let Jake and Reece make dinner.  This was a risky move for sure, but in the end, we may have some chefs on our hands!  We dined on popcorn chicken (baked in the oven) and fruit cups.  Reece was in charge of table setting and she drew the cutest pictures on our plates!!  Sorry they’re dirty…I missed my photo op before the food got on the plate.  Way to go guys!

 

It’s been 21 days already since Drew broke his wrist playing soccer at recess.  Today we said goodbye to his cute little blue cast that was loaded with signatures. He had so many well wishes, treats, and gifts from family and friends during this time…Drew, we all love you so much!

We are heading to Ft. Lauderdale, FL for Spring Break in a couple of days so we grabbed an earlier appointment in hopes of getting his cast off before we leave. They removed his cast and took more x-rays today and it looks like he is healing quickly! YAY!  He is in a brace for a week or two more (I’m sure we have about 15 of these braces in our storage closet by now…I think I could start a wrist brace store!).  In 6 months we will go back for more x-rays to ensure there is no damage in the growth plate.

Look at this little cutie!  He was super nervous but once she got started, he could not stop smiling and giggling…it tickled!

It was lunch time when we finished and this brave little boy wanted McDonald’s.  Can you believe this tiny guy can eat a double cheeseburger and large fries!?  And he’ll probably have every calorie burned off by the end of recess today!  He runs everywhere, I don’t think he knows the definition of walking.  Future track star!?

Love you Drew Boo

I don’t think there is anything in the world more sweet than a daddy daughter dance! Reece has been asking about every 15 minutes for the last 2 weeks if it was time for the dance.  Ever since she spotted this bright coral fluffy skirt and gold sparkly shoes, there was no turning back!

A little bit of an ‘edgy’ look for daddy daughter dance, but I’m always up for a cool fashion trend!  Morgan also approved (or maybe she just said that because we had been on a Target marathon for almost 3 hours).  Reece, you look absolutely BEAUTIFUL!  I love your outfit choice and how handsome your date looks in his new suit!

Look at my baby girl leaving home to go on a date….imagine the foreshadowing here…tears are welling up in my eyes!  I will never make it through the teenage years!

She got to go to a fun dinner out with friends…

 

and many activities at the school including a scavenger hunt, limbo, ring toss, snacks, crafts, photo props, and dancing with 200+ other girls and dads from Manchester Park.  She seems to get a little shy at these events but I’m here to tell you that this girl has some serious dance moves!

Since Morgan had previous plans and we only had one soccer practice to deal with, I proposed taking my boys out on a date!  We decided that we would do a short shopping trip to get cleats and grab dinner out.  Well, our night went a little sideways, as most things do with us, and we ended up at 3 different stores and my boys are scared to ever go to a bar and grill ever again.  Let me explain…

I discovered that Jake’s complaints of his feet hurting were legit!!  His feet were crammed in last season’s soccer cleats.  Panic set in…oh my gosh Jake has his first spring outdoor game tomorrow night, and I’ve probably caused my child to get bunions on his feet! NOOOO…I will not let that happen!  My Grammy had bunions and it was horrifying.  I still remember her telling me to never wear my shoes too small.  So I made an executive decision that our date night was going to include a trip to Dick’s Sporting Goods right away!

Three stores and 2 hours later, we have $100 pair of cleats and a new ball, it’s 8:30PM on a school night and we are starving.  Hmmm…not exactly a fun date for mom or my wallet so far!  These boys are REALLY picky about their cleats.

I tried to persuade them into grabbing Freddy’s and bringing it home to eat, but to no avail.  They had their hearts set on soft pretzels and cheese dip from Saints.  I’m totally regretting not sticking to my first instinct!  As we walk into Saints Pub + Patio (with an emphasis on PUB) at 8:45ish on a school night, we grab a booth and barely look at the menu because these guys already know what they want.  This is their favorite place to go near our house.  Within 5 minutes it became painfully clear that we are in the PUB hours of the night.  A big group of guys near us have apparently started their happy hour long ago and are saying every profane word ever invented at the top of their lungs and sticking up their middle fingers.  If my boys didn’t know naughty words before, they most certainly do now!!  UGH I’m so embarrassed to be subjecting my boys to this craziness but they really wanted those pretzels!!  Jake looked at me like…is this really what working professionals do after work!?   The answer to that is…NO, Jake, NO!  Ok so we’ve learned our lesson boys, right!?  Never act like those morons and I’m sorry for putting you in that environment.  I promise to take you on a better date soon!  I love you boys more than anything!