January Highlights (and lowlight)

January is almost over, so I am going to do a highlights blog of the month so far:

The first weekend, we visited Kim, Dave and Amanda. Dave and JD built an amazing firepit. We had pizza and then made smores. As a bonus, we got to face-time with JD (at the time, he was at the MTC). It was a really fun night and we had a great time. It made me want a firepit!

The second weekend, we went to Gatorland. Thomas had never been and wanted to check it out. They had a special deal for Florida residents, so it was a good time to visit. We enjoyed the swamp walk and seeing the animals. We thought about annual passes (it's pretty inexpensive) but decide once a yearish will suffice. 

Feeding the goats was my favorite part.

The girls also participated in the State Junior Thespian Competition. Fortunately for us, it was in Orlando, so no travel was involved. They enjoyed the experience and received an "Excellent" for their performance (superior was highest, then excellent, then good).

The third weekend, we went to Madam Tussauds and the Sea Life Aquarium. Everyone really liked Madame Tussauds, they don't look quite as real in pictures, but in person most of them were incredibly life-like. Sea Life was nice, but it was surprisingly crowded so we didn't stay long.  

Kara and her birthday buddy.

Thomas is dwarfed by Shaq!

Jack also had a basketball game. His team played well but lost by 3. Jack is still enjoying playing and wishes he had started sooner. Baseball has started up again for Luke. He had to try out earlier in the month and was drafted on to the same team he played for last season. Thomas is going to help out again.

We spent a ton of money on pool renovations. We updated the system so we can put it on a timer and control everything with our phones. We also got a heater and enjoyed sitting in our hot tub several nights this month. And, we signed contracts to redo the pool and deck area. Those won't happen until March/April, but we made the commitments and paid the deposits.

One day, I went to Luke's classroom and spent my lunch break being part of a "teach-in". I wasn't going to sign up, because they wanted parents to talk about their jobs and my job is not very exciting. But, she only had one other parent sign up, so I decided to just do it. I put together a PowerPoint about being a lawyer and my career path. Then, we did a little activity about what crimes Goldilocks may have committed and what information they would want to know if they were her attorney. A lot of the kids participated, so I think it was fine. 

In not-so-good-news (lowlight), we woke up yesterday to a flood in our front room. Water had somehow leaked from the second-floor kids' bathroom through the walls and ceiling to the first floor. We took the day off from work, cleaned it all up and made a zillion phone calls, including to a plumber who suggested we start with a leak finder. We did that and he came out and said the leak was behind the shower. The plumber came out and cut into the shower and couldn't see any signs of the leak. Then, he cut into first floor ceiling. Still no luck. So, we spent $700 only to be left with two holes and no source of a leak. I have a headache and upset stomach thinking about it. The water mitigation people are supposed to come and put fans and other drying mechanisms in place, as is the insurance contractor to adjudicate other repairs. But, if we can't fix the underlying problem, then we know it will just reoccur. Hence, the stress headache. We spent an hour this morning running water and trying to recreate the problem with no luck. What would cause a massive leak to appear and then magically disappear??? Ugh!