Legoland!

On Black Friday, I bought our family annual passes to Legoland. The park has sentimental value to me. It is in Winter Haven, where my family moved when I was 10 and where my dad, sister and sister's family still live. When I was a kid it was Cypress Gardens, known for its beautiful gardens and ski show. It was only 2 miles from my house and I went there quite a bit as a child and young adult. It went through a lot of owners and transformations, but, the gardens and ski show remained hallmarks. It became Legoland while we were living in Maryland. I was happy it was getting another chance and excited to see what they would do with the park. We went in March 2016, but the kids had little memory. Luke turned 2 days before our visit, so he had no memory. Kara went on a fieldtrip with her camp in 2019, so she had been the most recently. 

I was excited to go back. However, as previously mentioned, we've been trying to lay low lately, so we decided to go on a Friday for lighter crowds. Thomas had filed a brief on Wednesday, so he is supposed to be in a bit of a reprieve (but, this one is not going in a routine way) and I expected Friday to be quiet. The kids are doing well in school, so we figured one day would not hurt them. We probably would have postponed the visit, but we only had 100 days to activate our passes and were getting close to the deadline. We picked up Marta (who lives about 5 minutes from Legoland) and got there shortly before opening. 

It is a perfect park for little kids, but the older kids enjoyed it as well (it as geared for 2-12 year olds). We saw the ski show, which was really fun and walked around the gardens. The gardens weren't as large as they once were, but were still a good size and very beautiful. They were actually Jack's favorite part of the day. I am glad Legoland kept the gardens and ski show. Of course, we also did the rides.  They have a couple of smaller roller coasters, one that Thomas was super impressed with (I didn't ride). It is called The Dragon. The first half is a dark ride and goes through rooms with giant Lego scenes, then it goes outside for the small coaster part. There was a shooting game one that everyone liked and a terrifying, to me and Luke, Heartlake themed ride (Mia's Horse Adventure) that the girls loved. There were no lines and Luke was tall enough for everything (although, he did have to be accompanied on a few).  Everyone had fun and would like to visit again. 

This picture isn't the greatest, but they had one of those "Iron Man" contraptions. He dove up and around. It was pretty cool.

No ski show would be complete without a pyramid.

This banyan tree was planted in 1939. It's amazing!

Anna and more banyan.

Powered by human strength.

Gryffindor!

Unfortunately, Mini Land was closed. They are getting it ready for their 10th anniversary, so we look forward to seeing it later in the year. We had burgers for lunch, got Icees and tried Legoland's infamous apple fries, which were good, but I probably won't get them again. We left around 4, after buying a really cool Harry Potter Lego set from the massive Lego store. The drive home took an hour and 40 minutes, which is 40 minutes longer than the drive there. Traffic definitely seems back to pre-Covid levels, although it probably isn't.

Today is Saturday. Luke had another baseball game. He got one hit and struck out once and made a couple of good plays in the field. Thomas took him, I stayed home to clean. It is hot today, the average this time of year is 74 and this weekend is nearing record highs at 88. I hope that is not a foreshadowing for summer!

Sports, School and Friend Drama

Baseball has been going okay for Luke. He is showing improvement. In fact, the coach said to him at his last practice that he thinks Luke is going to end up being the team's most improved hitter. I think it was a compliment? Practices are two hours twice a week. Now, we've added games into the mix. It is so much more time-consuming than the YMCA sports! The first game was Tuesday night. It was supposed to be Saturday, but was postponed for rain. The game started at 6:30 and lasted until 815. And, the coach asked us to get there at 5:30 to warm up. It was a long time at the park.

They put him last in the batting order and he played outfield for 4 innings and one inning at third base. While at third base, he actually made an out! The kid hit the ball near him, and he cleanly fielded it and tagged him out. He had two at-bats. He struck out the first time and got a base hit, with an RBI the second time. He was excited. After the game, the coach sat everyone down and told them that after each game, he was going to give the game ball to a deserving player. And, for the first game, it went to Luke, for surprising everyone with a powerful hit (another backhanded compliment?)! He was thrilled. Every time he tells someone about it, he says, "they gave me the ball for the game." 

In other Luke news, he read The Lion, the Witch and the Wardrobe. Jack told him he should read it, and he did. Florida has a system where kids read books, take tests on the books and receive points.  This book is a level 5.7 and worth 6 AR points. A level 5.7 means it is the expected reading level of a fifth grader in their 7 month of school. I wasn't sure how much he comprehended, but he got a perfect score on the test, so he definitely read it. Jack was saying how Luke must be super smart, but I don't know if he is any smarter than the other kids, they just didn't have older siblings encouraging them to try hard things. Oh, while I am bragging, he was also the first in his class to complete the 1000 Frye words. So, we know he knows the 1000 most commonly written English words. 

Anna is also doing really well in school. There are two weeks left in the quarter and she currently has 6 As and 1 B, with no missing assignments. That is a huge improvement! I am really proud of her. And, I feel a little responsible for her B, I "helped" her with an assignment and told her everything was correct and she got 2 wrong. Whoops! She has an 88, so there is still hope for straight As. I am really glad we had the option to send them back to school. Jack and Kara are doing fine with online learning, but Luke and Anna need the structure. I feel bad for friends in other states who didn't have the choice. I am not a fan of our Governor, but I do appreciate that Florida has largely avoided the major shutdowns that other states experienced, particularly since our infection and death rates are about average, even with being more open than other states. 

Because I am slow and have developed a (bad?) habit of writing a bit here and there--Luke had his second baseball game yesterday. It did not go as well as the first. He struck out at both at-bats, but managed to be a relatively good sport. The ball never came to him in the outfield. But, his team won 11-1! In fact, Luke was the only kid on the team not to get a hit. The score likely could have been even higher, but they limit teams to 4 runs an inning. Luke has been really lucky to randomly get placed on good teams. First soccer, then football, and now baseball. 

He also had a football game yesterday. He, and his team, played well. Luke caught a couple of passes and scored a touchdown. He did get the first penalty I've seen this season, it was for "tackling". He was blocking a kid in an appropriate way to keep him away from a teammate who had the ball, and then got a bit overzealous and sort of pulled him to the ground (fortunately, not a violent true tackle, but a take down none the less). I feel the need to add that Luke is a very nice, sweet kid who is not the least bit violent :)

Between football and baseball, we were outside for about 3 hours. It was a beautiful day, but both Thomas and I got burnt! I really need to remember sunscreen! Fortunately, that was our last day with overlapping games. Well, there is one next week, but they are at the same time, so Luke will have to choose. After that, there is one more week with both and then football ends. 

Finally, a note on Kara and Jack--they are doing well, although there has been a bit of friend drama. Kara has a friend in the neighborhood (Abby) who she regularly plays with. Her parents are divorced, so she is here one week and then spends a week at her moms. When she is here, she plays with Kara almost daily. Sometimes, Anna, Luke and/or Jack join in, they ride bikes, climb trees, etc. Well, Jack discovered that he has a lot in common with her. Specifically, they both like Lord of the Rings and Star Wars. Sometimes, Abby wants to hang out with Jack and talk to him about Lord of the Rings or Star Wars. This does not go over well with Kara. So, we are navigating those waters. I imagine this is just the start, with 3 kids only 16 months apart, friends are bound to overlap. I hope they can better learn to handle the situation. 

Finally, in the last bit of random news, I am not sure if I mentioned this, but the older kids have also been tasting a little more freedom. They have ridden their bikes to Menchis, a yogurt place, used their own money to buy a treat, sat outside to enjoy the treat and ridden their bikes home. I think they feel very grown-up about the whole thing. 

Valentine's Day and Kara turns 12!

Friday was Kara's 12th birthday. As we are back to avoiding most activities, her options were limited. We told her she could invite 2 or 3 friends over for a Harry Potter themed party, but one of the 2 she wanted to invite isn't allowed inside friend's houses until COVID is over. So Kara abandoned the idea. We gave her some options for activities: the beach, a drive-through zoo, a hike, etc. But, she wasn't interested. Her best friend, Sophia, comes over to do school with her on Fridays and Kara decided to just hang out with Sophia. She chose Publix subs for dinner, with lil' smokies and berries (blueberries, strawberries and raspberries combined). For dessert, she wanted apple pie instead of cake. Her friend's mom is from Germany and offered to make an authentic apple strudel/cake. I quickly said yes and confirmed with Kara that this would meet her pie request. They did school all day and then we had her requested dinner. The apple cake was absolutely amazing! Kara opened her gifts (an instant camera, Switch game, Amiibo, shirt, and a mystery). The first part of the mystery arrived by mail and Kara has to solve clues and more parts will follow. I am sworn to secrecy, so I can't say too much more, but I think it will be a good adventure. She liked all her gifts.

Kara and Sophia with her German dessert

Testing her camera and wearing her new shirt (Simply Southern Save the Turtles)

Luke had his school Valentine's Day party on Kara's birthday. His class wasn't allowed a traditional party, which meant no exchanging Valentines. The teacher asked parents to donate cash for her to do everything. Being a lazy mom, I loved this! I happily Venmo'd over some money. She bought them pizza and some other treats and Luke really enjoyed the day. 

Saturday, Luke had another football game. They are only playing one team all season, so it is slightly repetitive. But, Luke's team won again. He was supposed to have his first baseball game right after, but the weather took a violent turn and it was cancelled. We let the kids try Kara's new game and it was a quiet day at home. Oh, we also did karaoke. Kara said she doesn't like the Beatles, so I did a nice medley of Beatles songs, because that is the kind of mom I am.

Sunday was Valentine's Day. We watched Fever Pitch, except Luke of course, he played on his school iPad. We had conversation hearts, heart shaped rice krispy treats and tacos for dinner (one of the few meals everyone likes). It was a pretty quiet day. And, we did a Mardi Gras/Valentine's Day hybrid and I hid a heart in each pan of rice krispys. I told them whoever got it would find love this year. They weren't super amused. Kara got the one in the regular batch. I think the chocolate one is still unfound, or no one wanted to admit it.

Monday was President's Day. Anna got her Herbst put in. I really hope it works! After that she and I went to Target and I let her pick out some barrettes and discounted chocolates (for her and her siblings). Thomas and Jack put up our new security cameras. Kara had her dance; February is parent observation month. Monday was my day to watch the acro portion. Those kids are hard-core! Their warm-up was 10 burpees (with pushups), 10 squats, 10 sit-ups, 10 pushups and multiple back-bend stretches (one leg, one hand, one leg and one hand, hops while in backbend, etc). Then, they did headstands and handstands, weird cartwheels, and a host of other things. Kara is definitely getting better. She is incredibly flexible, almost freakishly so. I have no idea where it comes from, but her class puts it to good use.  Next week, I get to watch the ballet part!

That's about it. As mentioned, we are limiting our activities, but Anna and Luke are still in school. Luke has sports, and Kara has dance. So, we are doing more than we probably should. I guess it is all the weighing of risks. I was actually more willing to take risks when there was no vaccine, but now that we are so close, I just want to avoid getting COVID. 

Sports, Dress Coded, Refrigerator

It was another quiet week. Luke had lots of sports practices. He had his second flag football game on Saturday and scored 3 touchdowns! One was pretty cool, he caught a great pass and then ran to the end zone. The other two were handoffs, but still impressive. His whole team is pretty good (for K/1) and they are fun to watch. On the walk home, Luke told me that he likes all sports and is just a "sports guy" but he thinks soccer and baseball are his favorites. I thought it was interesting that he likes baseball so much, because that one is currently a struggle for him. He is not great at catching or hitting. Of course, he is also among the youngest on his team, maybe even the youngest. The ages begin in April and his birthday is in March. So, based on the way the dates work, he is very likely playing with 9 year-olds. I never thought much about ages for sports until I read "Outliers" which had statistical evidence on how professional athletes (in certain sports anyway) almost always have birthdays at the later part of the age cut-offs. It's not because they are better, but because they appear better next to their younger teammates in the early years and get picked for extra opportunities (travel teams, all-stars, special camps, etc.). So, Luke should have been born in May. At least if he wants to be a professional baseball player. :)

In other random news, Anna got "dress-coded" on Friday. She called us and was upset. They wouldn't let her go to class unless we brought her a change of clothes. I was pretty annoyed as I knew what she was wearing and I thought it was a shame to keep her out of class pending my arrival.  When I got to the school, I politely requested to see whoever was in charge of the dress code and they called her to the office. I asked her to tell me what was wrong with Anna's outfit, so that we wouldn't make the same mistake again. And, she said...nothing. She said that Anna was dressed fine and she wasn't sure why they coded her.  Ugh! What a waste of a drive. Fortunately, the school is close, but I still had to tack on 30-minutes to the end of my work-day to make up for the diversion. And, on Fridays, I try and work straight through to get off early, but at least it was a quiet morning so I had the ability to go right there. 

The outfit that started it all.

It did make me ponder on the dress code. What if her shirt hadn't covered her butt? I feel like the dress code is too arbitrary. If they want them to dress professionally for school, fine, I would get that. Tell them they must wear polo shirts and knee length shorts and khaki pants and apply it to everyone (like the elementary school uniform). That way, no one's clothes are a distraction and the right tone is set. But, why can't a girl wear leggings and a shirt that covers her belly but doesn't stretch past her butt? Tight jeggings are okay, but leggings are not. And, why not? If body parts are covered, what does it matter? That brings me back to the "professional learning atmosphere" type argument, but the dress code allows for a lot of outfits that aren't the least bit "casual Friday appropriate." It seems like another way of unfairly sexualizing girls and holding them to a different standard. Although, I suppose boys can't wear leggings either. <sigh>

Finally, I asked why they couldn't give her a warning or let her wait for me in class, as it was her first offense. She responded that the students are well aware of the dress code and therefore warnings are not given. Then, she reiterated that Anna's "violation" wasn't really a violation. I didn't say it, but I really wanted to respond with--the students are obviously held to a higher standard than the teachers, because some teacher wrongly singled Anna out. So, the students have to know the policy and cannot receive a warning or be allowed to attend class while waiting for a change of clothes, even for a first offense, but the teachers can admittedly make a mistake. So, maybe people aren't as informed as they are supposed to be after all?

But, I wasn't trying to be rude, and I don't think I was. I think we had a good, respectful conversation. I understand that the school doesn't set the policy, so I was never going to be difficult. It just made me consider something I had not before.

We watched the Super Bowl. It was exciting to see Tampa Bay play. We tried to get the kids more invested, but they didn't really care. It was electronics time, so they brought their laptops in the living room (probably for super bowl snacks) and didn't pay much attention to the game. But, Thomas and I enjoyed it.

Our refrigerator broke. The same refrigerator that is just 18 months old and was super expensive (warranty was one year). Thomas did some research and was pretty sure he knew the problem, but he didn't have the right tools to fix it. We called a repair man and Thomas told him what he thought. The guy ignored Thomas' suggestion and spent a couple of hours taking things apart. Finally, he tried what Thomas had suggested and it fixed the problem. Obviously, Thomas isn't an expert and he easily could have been wrong, but I am not sure why the guy was so reluctant to listen to his input. However, he was nice, came out on a Saturday, fixed the issue and charged us a fair price. So, alls well that ends well. 

Boy, this post was like a Seinfeld episode--a blog about nothing.