Routine

With the school year back in session, life is continuing in its routine pattern. I could almost copy and paste last week's entry: we went to Hollywood Studios again on Wednesday night. Luke had baseball, Kara had lacrosse. Anna and I volunteered again. Although, this time it was at the concession stand for the football game. There was no XC meet this week, and Jack enjoyed staying for the entire football game.

Anna went ice skating with a friend on Saturday. It made her a little sad. It has been about a year since she quit skating and while she misses it, it didn't feel the same to be back. Luke had another baseball tournament, it did not go well; his team is in a bit of a slump. 

It doesn't get any more high pressure than this. Luke was up with the bases loaded and two outs. He worked it to a full count. He ended up walking, which meant the game was 10-9. However, the next batter grounded out and they lost the game. 

On Saturday night, Kara and I went to Howl-O-Scream, SeaWorld's Halloween event. It is a much smaller scale event than HHN (Universal). HHN has 10 haunted houses, SeaWorld has 5. SeaWorld does have more scare zones and shows, but nothing is quite as elaborate. Although, there was one house that I thought was really good (Atlantis) and another that had an interesting concept that was unlike anything we had done (Delirium). But, overall, I would say it was just okay. I don't really enjoy the 'scariness' of these events, rather I enjoy the sets and production aspect, which HHN excels at. We did enjoy riding the rides in the dark and went on three of their coasters twice with very little wait. So, it was definitely worth going to, although I don't think it is something we need to do every year. Maybe an every-other-year-if-we-get-a-good-deal kind of outing. 

I took the morning off on Tuesday (the 24th) to take my dad to a doctor's appointment. He is doing better and is much less foggy than he was a few months ago. It is hard to believe that we are coming up to a year since the surgery that started his mental decline.

Now, we are mid-way through a slightly less routine week. School was canceled today (Thursday) for a hurricane. It is passing well north of us, but is definitely a dangerous storm. We aren't seeing any bad weather and school will be back in session tomorrow. Kara and I took advantage and went to HHN last night. It was much more crowded than we expected, but we had a good time. I still had to get up for work this morning, but it was nice for Kara to stay out late and then sleep in.

One house Kara and I visited had a 20-minute posted wait. The line isn't visible from the main park, you have to walk backstage to get to it. When we saw the line, we knew the 20 minutes was wildly inaccurate. But, it was a house we wanted to do so we decided to wait. This particular line is indoors and has about 20 switchback lines. Someone had blown up a balloon and it was bouncing through the crowd. Any time it fell to the ground, everyone booed. We ended up waiting for 46 minutes and the time flew by. That balloon united the crowd. Many people put their phones away and joined in the group effort of keeping the balloon in the air. Unfortunately, it popped as we neared the end of the line, but for about 30 minutes, we were one team with a joint purpose. 

Blue Balloon for President!

I guess that is about it. As a few updates--Anna has not heard back from Panera and the Flying Tigers lost their next two games and the championship.

More HHN, Disney, XC & a Job Interview

We had a nice week. Some highlights:

After work on Wednesday, Thomas, the girls and I went to Hollywood Studios. It was not very crowded and we had dinner and rode several rides. So many people come from all over the world to vacation in Orlando and I never take those quick trips for granted.

Thursday was Anna's night at Halloween Horror Nights. She doesn't like it the same way Kara and I do, but she does enjoy going once every year. Kara and I try and scope things out to determine what we think she will enjoy. We did 5 of the haunted houses (Ghostbusters, Museum, Sinema, Goblins, and Monsters). We had some themed snacks and dinner and rode rides. It was a very fun night. For some reason, the pictures are in reverse chronological order, but here they are:

City Walk photo opp.

Kara took this cute picture. I held Anna's hand through the scare zones.

Kara was back at HHN on Friday night to celebrate her friend Abby's birthday. Meanwhile, Anna had her first job interview! It was at Panera and she thinks it went well. She hasn't heard back yet as to whether or not she got the job. We celebrated the interview with dinner at the restaurant of her choosing--Red Robin. While we were doing that, Jack was at a football game with the band. We again picked him up early to try and let him get some extra sleep before his Saturday morning track meet. Thomas and Jack left the house around 5:45 Saturday morning for that. It was super foggy, which caused most race times to increase. However, Jack managed to shave off another 17 seconds. He ran the 3.12 miles in 19:26, finishing 59th out of 181 varsity runners (64th/358 if we include JV).  His team is currently in 4th place and only the top 4 move on to the post-season and the coach is slightly worried they could drop lower. Cross-country scoring is interesting, there are 7 varsity runners on the team. They all run the race, but only the top 5 scores count. Jack is currently the 5th place runner for his school. His score has counted every week and the coach wants his time to drop into the low 18s to help the team be more competitive. Considering he started at over 21, that seems pretty ambitious to me, but we shall see. I don't think Jack can work any harder than he already is; he really wishes he had started running as a freshman.

Also on Saturday, Anna and I volunteered at the Special Olympics State Bowling Championship. We signed up to help with awards and it was a very cushy job. We brought medals out as scores were tallied and put them around the athlete's necks. 

Saturday night, Kara babysat. The rest of us enjoyed a quiet night in. I am way behind on my Goodreads goal, so I started reading some of the Sunshine State books to try and catch up. Those are the books Luke reads for the book club and (hopefully) Battle of the Books team. I finished two on Saturday. One of them, Penny Draws a New Best Friend, I thought was excellent and would highly recommend to elementary aged kids who may sometimes feel a little different or struggle with friendships. 

Sunday, we went to a Flying Tigers game. It was the first game in the Championship series. It was a very exciting game. The Cardinals took the lead in the 6th inning, but the Tigers rallied in the 8th to go up by one run and held off the Cardinals in the 9th. We intended to leave earlier, but couldn't walk out on such a nailbiter. We ended up getting home around 9pm. Luke spent some time on the outfield berm where he snagged a foul ball and got a ball thrown to him by one of the players. I think everyone had fun.

HHN, Mattress Shopping, XC

Tuesday I went to a meeting at Jack's school. The band is going to DC for a few days in March. They are taking buses and only staying 3 days (plus two travel days, for a total of 5 days/4 nights). They will be doing some fun stuff, but overall it isn't the itinerary I would have chosen. Shockingly, no one asked for my input. Jack wants to go and I am sure he will have a great time. I considered being a chaperone, but there is no way I can do a 13-hour bus ride without getting sick, so I am out. I don't think Thomas has any interest in chaperoning, but we shall see.

There was also a meeting for 5th grade parents. It wasn't super useful. They talked about 5th grade testing. Luke is an excellent test taker, so that isn't something we worry about. They talked a lot about cell phone etiquette and issues they are seeing. Luke doesn't have a call phone. They talked about drama that seems to arise among 5th grade girls. Luke is a boy. You get the idea. 

The high school had club rush. I think Anna and Kara found one or two they are going to try and join.

Kara and I went to HHN for a few hours on Wednesday. We did a few houses and were home by 7. We went back for a longer night on Friday with our neighbors, Bevin and Beya. Beya, who is 10, was really excited about going and since Kara and I are experts, we happily planned out the night. I felt some pressure to make sure we were able to do everything Beya was excited about, fortunately, it all worked out. We did 7 houses, had dinner and themed snacks, and rode Gringotts. It was a rainy night, so crowds weren't terrible. And, if you think they take it easy on kids, you'd be wrong. They definitely seemed to target Beya! She walked in front with Kara and Bevin and I loved seeing all the scare actors jump out at them. Beya was a trooper and told Kara she wants to go again with her next year :)

Friday night was another football game and Jack was there with the band. We again had permission to pick him up early. Unfortunately, the game was delayed for weather, so early wasn't really all that early. Thomas was able to get him home by 1015, not much earlier than Kara and me. But, Thomas still took him to his cross-country meet on Saturday morning, they left the house around 515. The lack of sleep didn't hurt Jack, he set a new personal record and finished in 19:44! I can't believe he shaved another 37 seconds off his time. We are super proud of how hard he is working and the improvements he is making. His team finished the meet in first place. 

Saturday, I took on the task of ordering Anna a mattress. Hers is old and the boxspring is broken and a replacement it is way overdue. Friday afternoon, Thomas took her to a mattress store where we were shocked at the prices. She picked out one that came to $1700 for a twin and it wasn't even one of the "expensive" ones. I knew she had talked about getting a Purple mattress since Thomas and I got ours. I also knew that they were a lot less than $1700, even if we had to buy a new base. So, Saturday I gave her the option of a Purple mattress or going to some different stores. She chose the Purple and now we are anxiously awaiting its arrival.

After cross country, Thomas took a quick nap and then headed out with Luke for baseball. I was tired and cranky and opted to stay home. I also did a quick power nap and then was far less cranky and tired. But, I was glad I didn't go. The games were behind schedule and then they only played a few innings before they got rained out. They drove about 75 minutes, sat around for over 2 hours and then played for about an hour before driving home another 75 minutes. At least they won.

They were back at the field on Sunday. They had a compressed schedule, so it was single elimination. And, it was not the Vipers day. They did not play well. Luke had some errors in the field and did not bat well and his team was not much better. So, they played and lost and were home in time for Sunday night tacos.

Meanwhile, Anna and I went shopping for a new comforter. What good is a new bed if you don't have a new blanket? Easy enough, right? Ha! We went to 3 different stores, with no success. We came home for a bit, then went to Kohl's and she found one she liked. We bought it, got home, Anna put it on her bed and decided that it didn't match her room. Back to Kohl's we went where she chose a quilt that she is now happy with. 

Random picture from one of my walks with Anna this week. Our neighborhood is really pretty:

Out With August

Fall is in the air! Well, not in Orlando, but somewhere I am sure that fall is in the air. Kara and I ended the month with Halloween Horror Nights, which started on August 30th this year. It was our second year in a row of going on opening night and we had a great time. We have a pass that lets us go throughout the event, so we didn't have any set plans. However, we ended up staying until the event closed at 2am! We did all 11 houses, including one house twice (there are 10 different houses) and had a few snack breaks. We tried to ride Men in Black and were the next in line to board when it experienced technical difficulties and was shut down. 

First line of the season! Insidious, around 5:30pm.

First snack of the season, a Ghostbuster s'more. It was good. We also had pork carniceria (delicious) and a peanut butter crepe (meh).

In line for last house of the night. 1:57am. Also Insidious, we made it our first and last house.

Kara made this sweet Instagram post commemorating the night.

While Kara and I were doing that, Thomas took Luke and Anna to Tijuana Flats for dinner. Then, he picked up Jack early from a football game. The next morning, Jack and Thomas left at 510 for Jack's second cross-country meet. Jack shaved an entire minute off his time from the previous week and finished in 20:21. It was a smaller meet than the first week and his team finished first. Jack almost got a medal, he finished 11th and the first 10 got medals. He lost by like half a second. He didn't realize that another runner was gaining on him and he was just cruising to the finish line when the other runner came and passed him right at the finish line. 

Jack didn't seen him coming until it was too late. This was right after they crossed the finish line.

When they got home, I took the girls to Marta's for a jewelry making session. Anna made a charm necklace and Kara made a charm bracelet. Things got slightly heated at one point when we discussed politics. We are at different ends of the spectrum. I had also commented on someone's Facebook page and was mad at myself for doing so, particularly when I realized it was a public post. Arguing politics is a lose/lose proposition. I truly hate how divisive our country is. It put a slight damper on the day, but overall we had a good time and the girls were thrilled with their jewelry. 

Sunday, we went to Academy Sports. They had 50% off all clearance and Thomas got some nice sneakers. Then, we went to Walmart and Luke bought "The Show", a video game he's been wanting for a while. That night, Kara and I went back to HHN. It was more crowded than Friday and we only stayed until about 945. We did four houses and saw the show and tried a few more snacks. It was a good night. 

My favorite snack of the night, "cranium cake" it was a chocolate cake, with pecans, coconut and cherries, covered in chocolate.  We also tried a walking taco and a weird, but good, hot dog.

I thought this was a cute picture of Kara.

Another night in the books!

Today is Labor Day. Thomas and I took Anna to the mall. We had fun walking around and bought a few things. We also checked out an Amazon returns "bins" store. Thomas and I did not like it.  Jack had cross-country practice this morning. He ran 6 or 7 miles. Kara went to Panera with friends for lunch. We watched a movie. Luke played his new game. We had pizza for dinner and declared the weekend a success!