Theater, Family, Sports, Universal

Anna and Kara participated in their first Junior Thespians Competition last weekend. They had a duet acting scene (together), Kara did a monologue and Anna had a singing duet (Dear Theodosia) with a friend. They REALLY enjoyed the experience. They went on Friday (Nov 5th) with their group and watched other schools perform "one Acts". They left around lunchtime and got back to the school at 8. Then, we had to drop them off at 7:45 on Saturday morning and they didn't get back until 10pm! But, as mentioned, they loved it. Their duet acting scene was two sisters fighting. And, in what should come as a surprise to no one, they got a near perfect score. They get to attend a state competition and perform that scene in January. Both of them got an Excellent on their other performances (Superior was the highest, then Excellent, then Good). They got to know other kids in their theater club better and they both said it was a really great experience. 

Selfie with their badges

Meanwhile, Thomas and I enjoyed a couple of days with just the boys. On Friday, we went to Jeremiahs and got their candy cane gelati. It is amazing! Saturday, we went to the Lake Eola craft festival (which I love), then Jack had his basketball game and finally, we went out to dinner and back to Jeremiahs for dessert. I'm pretty sure we ended up taking the girls for gelatis on Sunday as well. It is that good (although only Thomas and I get the candy cane, Kara and Jack like the gingerbread and Luke and Anna stick with their non-seasonal favorites). 

Perfection in a cup (if you like peppermint)!

This weekend, Kim's family visited on Saturday. We met at Luke's baseball game. Which, unfortunately, was not great for his team. The score was 12-1 when they finally called it. Luke played pretty well, he batted twice and had one really good hit and scored their only run. His other at-bat, he hit a fly ball to the third baseman who caught it. He made a couple of good plays in the field (and, a couple of not-so-good plays), but it just wasn't a good day for his team. Fortunately, he was a decent sport, which is also definitely progress. 

After the game, we came back to the house and had pulled pork for lunch and played a card game, "We Didn't Playtest This at All". It was fun and silly. We also had a cake to celebrate JD's birthday and to wish him good luck. He is going on a mission to Japan and leaves in a few weeks. We will miss him! He is a great big cousin to my kids. Luke, especially loves him and cried when they left. JD got set apart Sunday and is spending two weeks as a missionary at home, then flies to the MTC on December 1st. We will try and see him again before he leaves for two full years. 

He sure loves his cousin!

And, wanted to be in their picture. We will have to recreate this in 2 years.

After they left we went to Jack's basketball game. His team also got beat. By a lot. It was not a good day for the Wilson's sports teams! On the positive side, Jack is getting better and fortunately he enjoys it.  As I mentioned, he has never played basketball before, not even just hoops with other kids, so it is a lot to learn. But, he was a good sport and is trying hard and making improvements.

Sunday, Anna and I spent the morning going through all of her clothes. We pulled everything out of her drawers, from her closet, and under her bed and went through each item one by one. We ended up with two big bags to donate and threw away a few things and finally (hopefully) have things in order. We went to Kohls and the girls got new sneakers. Then, we went to Universal. We all rode the Velocicoaster, which only had a 30 minute wait! It was Jack's first visit since that ride opened and he said it was the best roller coaster he has ever ridden. The girls went on the three biggest coasters (Rip Ride Rocket, Velocicoaster, and Hulk). It was Kara's first time on RRR and she liked it (but, ranked it third of the three). We had a good visit, and hope to go back to take in more of the Christmas decorations. Unfortunately, the wait for Hagrid's never dropped below an hour, so we decided to skip that ride.

We did the raptor encounter and the baby was out.

Halloween!

The kids were off from school Friday (October 29th). It was a weird, random day off which is always nice. Even in the off-season, things in Orlando are busy when all the local counties are off from school, but when it is just one or two, you can do the touristy things without the crowds. We decided to visit Legoland. We had gotten rained out on our last visit, so we wanted to go back. The older kids, especially Kara, were less than thrilled. But, I think everyone ended up having a good time. We rode the rides, saw the part of Miniland that is open, walked the gardens, and watched the ski show. We got there when they opened at 10 and stayed until about 4, each of the kids got to pick an afternoon snack (Jack got a pretzel, Luke and Anna had ice cream, and Kara tried the apple fries), which they all appreciated. 

The gardens are beautiful. I am so glad Legoland kept a piece of Cypress Gardens alive.

We spent a lot of time in the "Imagination Zone". Luke and Kara built and raced cars. Luke is making a face because we made him stand on the second place spot.

Jack built this cool structure, which withstood the earthquake test (the board it is on can shake)

Family photo

Then, we went to Marta and Frank's for dinner. It had been a while since we'd been to their house, so that was nice. We had Publix subs and visited for a few hours.

Luke and Zoe love each other.

Saturday was filled with sports. In the morning, Luke, Kara and I went to watch our neighbor's soccer games. Then, we went to Luke's baseball game. And, finally Jack's first ever basketball game. It was a beautiful day, so it was nice to spend so much time outside (only basketball was inside). The kids all did pretty good. Jack didn't score any baskets, but he is tall and was able to get some rebounds. He is a little bit timid and unsure, but I am sure with time and practice he will make significant progress. Most importantly, he had a good time and is enjoying the experience. However, it was more intense than Anna's games. It seemed like the (small, but vocal) crowd quickly learned names and shouted out feedback, "Jack get your hands up...Jack, you gotta get in there...come on Jack, you have to get those." It wasn't just Jack getting yelled at, it was all the kids on the team. But, he took it in stride.

Sunday was Halloween. Anna, Luke, Thomas and I started the day with a bike ride and jog. I can't really run anymore, which is frustrating, but I figure my walk/slow jog is better than nothing. We came home, had breakfast, showered and then carved pumpkins. It was another beautiful day and we turned on Halloween music and enjoyed being outside. 

Starting from the top left: Luke, Kara, Jack and Anna's pumpkins.

After the pumpkin carving, Luke went to a birthday party at the science center. He had fun playing in the Kidstown area with Beya. After the party, we came home, had dinner and Thomas took the kids trick-or-treating. Kara went off with a friend, but Jack and Anna opted to walk with Thomas. I figured it was my turn to stay home and hand out candy. When our kids were little, they REALLY loved ringing doorbells, so much so that they would fight over who got to push it. So, I stayed inside, but hardly anyone bothered to walk up the driveway. We had our porch light on and our decorations up, so I was surprised. Finally, I decided to sit on the porch and then there were lots of trick-or-treaters. It was fun to see some creative costumes. There were also lots of teenagers who didn't bother to wear costumes, but they were polite, so whatever. The weirdest thing to me is still the parents who have their own bags, but again--whatever. I wish I could trust people and leave the bowl out and walk with Thomas and the kids, but we knew from last year that that doesn't work in this neighborhood the way it did in Maryland. One of my friends put out a bowl with a "please take 2" sign and the very first trick-or-treater dumped the entire bowl into her bag. So frustrating!

Jack was a "military experiment gone wrong", Luke was Kollik (a character from his new favorite book: Seekers). Kara a cow and Anna kangaroo. It was an easy costume year!

Thomas and the kids did our entire section of the neighborhood, which took about 2 hours. They got so. much. candy! Then, the kids engaged in their favorite part of Halloween--the great candy exchange. It was a fun day.

Monday, we had Luke's follow-up appointment with the oral surgeon. And, it went as well as it possibly could. It turned out it wasn't even a cyst. The oral surgeon was confused, as he could see that it was affecting the jaw's bone growth, but according to pathology, it was just a whole bunch of infected, inflamed tissue. So, definitely not cancer and not likely to return, although they aren't sure what caused it.

A Fun Weekend, Luke's Surgery, and Report Cards

On Saturday morning, we had Luke's baseball game. We bought him a new bat and it has thrown off his game a bit. He still managed to get on base for 2/3 at-bats, but they were little hits. Not much came to him in the field and his team lost. They have now lost 3 or 4 in a row. But, the other team did what I don't like--put all their best players in the hardest position. Luke's coach rotates players around, which I appreciate. They are 7 and 8 years old, in my opinion, they should be learning the game, getting better, and having fun, not just focusing on winning. So, I don't care if we lose (or, at least I try really hard not to, but in two of the games we have been ahead until the very last inning, that is harder to swallow).

Saturday afternoon, we went to Islands of Adventure. We wore clothes we didn't mind getting wet and sandals and did the water rides. We also rode Hagrid's, Spiderman, and other rides. We had tater tot meals (green eggs and ham was my favorite) in SeussLand and had a super fun night. They closed at 8 and we stayed until closing.

A fun Saturday night!

Sunday, we did Jack's birthday request and visited St Augustine. We left around 9 and stopped at Buc-cees on the way. That place is a destination in and of itself! I think I wrote about it before, but it is a massive gas station. We got gas and everyone picked out breakfast. The food was really good.

They even have their own mascot and lots of merchandise to prove it!

We got to St Augustine around 11 and toured the Fort, we let Jack pick out some souvenirs, then got ice cream in the old town area before starting the drive home. We stopped at Buc-cees again for a late lunch. 

Hanging out at the old Fort!

Ice cream!

Monday was Luke's oral surgery. We scheduled his appointment a few weeks ago and it was hard news to hear. Then, we went on our cruise and I basically put it out of my mind. Some family members were a little hurt that I hadn't told them about it beforehand. And, I understand that, but I honestly just didn't think about it. I don't know if I was compartmentalizing or what. But, it didn't really hit me until Saturday. Then, I spent the rest of the weekend feeling nervous and worrying. When I couldn't sleep on Saturday, I decided to ask for prayers on Facebook for Luke. It felt a little hypocritical, as I have not been very religious for a lot of years, but I did it anyway. And, of course, I prayed too. The operation itself was relatively minor--30 minutes outpatient. But, Luke is little and he's never had anesthesia and we don't know what the cyst is and I just hated the idea. But, of course, it had to be done. 

They only allowed one parent to attend, so Thomas took him to the appointment. It was very sad watching them leave. Luke wore his pajamas and brought a squishmallow for comfort. When he arrived they gave him a relaxing drink. Thomas said he was nervous at first, but once the drink kicked in, he was pretty funny and would randomly giggle. 

Once it was time for the procedure, Thomas had to wait in the car. They called him when it was over and he basically picked Luke up at the door and came home. Luke was incredibly out of it, he couldn't sit up straight in his car seat and asked about 100x if they did the surgery. He would also randomly cry. When they got home, he couldn't walk and his pupils were just darting around everywhere. It was freaky. He stayed loopy for a few hours, asking the same questions repeatedly. We tried to get him to sleep, but he couldn't fall asleep and was very chatty (mostly just the same questions--did he have the surgery, did Dad drive him home and did Dad take the day off from work).

He was in pain by the afternoon and we gave him medicine. He tried eating ice cream, but it made him nauseous. He finally ate one scrambled egg. That was it for the whole day. We played card games in the afternoon, including Love Letters, Dos, and Phase 10, which is new to us and really fun. Slowly, Luke turned back into himself, which was a relief.

Closed eyes never lasted long.

Today (Tuesday) he woke up feeling much better but his jaw is very swollen. He ate a little more (a smoothie, soft noodles, eggs, and ice cream) and spent the day doing electronics. Because of how swollen he is and his limited diet, we are keeping him home from school. Hopefully, he will go back on Thursday, but we will see. He has to be careful that he doesn't do anything to injure the jaw until the wound heals.

Swollen face.

We go back on November 1st for a follow-up and to get the biopsy results. They should be able to tell us what kind of cyst it was and how likely it is to come back. Obviously, the biggest fear is cancer, however, that is very, very unlikely. So, we aren't even considering that a possibility. Hopefully, it was a random cyst that will never come back. 

We were super grateful for the prayers, texts, phone calls, and even gifts received! Luke (and I) felt very loved and supported.

And, to end with some more happy new: the kids got their first report cards. All three middle schoolers had straight As! We are super proud.

Cruise Conclusion

Sunday was our third and final day. It was also Jack and Anna's birthday. Anna really likes Starbucks and of course, there was one on the ship. So, that was how we started the day.  

Kara got one too. And, check out the view--CocoCay!

It was my favorite day--CocoCay. We were among the first off the ship, got our floating mats, and found some nice lounge chairs. We had brought our own snorkel gear and saw tons and tons of fish. We snorkeled, swam and played in the sand. We explored a little. Kara bought herself a shell bracelet and both girls got their hair braided. 

I agree with the "Perfect Day" hype.

Obligatory "ship in the background" photo.

I think we were the first group in the water for the day.

Thomas and Luke playing catch while Jack builds.

Both girls said the braiding hurt.

We had lunch at the island buffet. It was really good and everyone liked the food.  Then, Anna and I took Luke to the play structures. 

This was one of the play structures. The other was a fun pirate ship.

Jack and Thomas did more snorkeling. They found a buried marble banister and canons with huge fish. They said they were bigger than Luke! Kara was ready to go after lunch, but stuck it out with us, she said she doesn't like sand, therefore the beach is not her favorite activity. We got back on the ship around 3, took some balcony pictures and showered and changed. Then, the older kids and I met up with Marta and Frank to play some games before dinner while Luke and Thomas rested.

I love the water in the Caribbean

Anna and her fancy braids

Jack was not interested in posing. He was sitting right next to Kara enjoying a book while I took the pictures.

Sunday was also Jack and Anna's birthday. They brought out pieces of cake with a candle and we sang happy birthday. We saw the ice skating show, which had great skating but a weird storyline. Again, we called it a night around 9:30. 

Happy birthday, Jack and Anna!

Monday morning, we got off the ship around 8. Debarkation was a lot faster. We were home before 9 and able to drop off our middle schoolers for an on-time start. Luke's school starts earlier, so he was about 30 minutes tardy. 

It was a quick trip, but still nice. I was worried that the 3-night would feel too short and rushed, but it was pleasant and everyone had a good time. I am still in a little bit of shock that my first-borns are 14. But, I am enjoying seeing them grow into amazing young adults. I sure do love this family of mine! 

Birthday Cruise, Days 1 and 2!

On October 3rd, Anna and Jack turned 14. I know that 13 is officially a teenager, but 14 has always seemed so much older to me than 13. Maybe because it is the age you start high school? Regardless, to celebrate, we decided to do a weekend cruise. Cruises are pretty cheap right now and the port is only 45 minutes from our house. We booked on Mariner of the Seas and departed on Friday, October 1st. They have somewhat stringent Covid protocols. We had to all test negative before the cruise and then Luke had to test again at the port (because he is not vaccinated).  The kids had some tests at school, so we sent them in morning and worked a half day. 

We got to the port around 1:45 and the check-in line was looonnnngggg. Luke's Covid test took 45 minutes for results. And, from car to ship, it took us over 2 hours. We weren't prepared for the long waits and people were kind of grumpy. Our friends who got there at 11 were on in 15 minutes. So, next time we will get there earlier. Once onboard, we found our rooms and then met up with Marta and Frank and had a snack. 

We played miniature golf, which was a fun 9-hole course and watched as we pulled away from port. 

Main dining room

Pointing at the puffy clouds

Saturday, we were in Nassau, but didn't get off the ship. If you are unvaccinated, you could only leave the ship if you were on a paid excursion and we did not have anything reserved. So, Luke went to the kid's club in the morning. Kara, Jack and I did trivia. We were bad and only got 6/16 right. However, we weren't the worst! Everyone "won" a highlighter, so we took our participation prize and were content. Thomas grabbed Luke and we met up at the buffet for lunch and then did the top deck activities--the sky pad, water slides, and flow rider. 

I didn't do the skypad (I don't do well with virtual reality). But, everyone who participated said it was fun. They got to pick a virtual reality scenario. Thomas and Kara did a hop through time where you had to jump through portals to get to different times and also had to jump to avoid hazards (like two ships shooting canons at each other). Anna did candy crush, where you had to jump to get the candy and she said it looked just like the game. Jack and Luke did music. Luke said you had to shoot music cubes to earn points.

Birthday buddies!

Kara loved the Flowrider!

Waterslides were also a big hit

Waiting for the entertainment to begin!

That took up most of the afternoon. We had another delicious dinner and then saw a funny juggler (world record holder) and called it a night around 9:30.

Mid-September

There hasn't been much happening around here lately, at least not much that is unusual. We are back to our full fall schedules: baseball, theater club, math club, ice skating, and soon adding basketball (for Jack) into the mix. Four kids means a lot of activities!

We had Luke's consultation with the orthodontist. He said we can wait and see how it goes. He also was perplexed by the cyst in Luke's mouth and said it was good we were going to see the oral surgeon (that appointment is on the 29th). 

Baseball has started for Luke. He is on a team with his good friend, Mike, which is super fun. Thomas is an assistant coach. They have had two games so far. The first ended in a 0-0 tie. Luke played great defense, including catching a fly ball, but struck out at both at-bats. His team won their second game and Luke went 2/2 batting and had an awesome defensive play, he was at third base and cleanly fielded the ball and threw it to first. That is a hard play at his age, so we were excited to see him make it. After the first game, we went to Jeremiah's and after the second we joined Mike's family at Dairy Queen.

The girls are in a theater club. They auditioned and got selected to do a junior thespian competition in November. Kara is doing a monologue and a scene with Anna. Anna is doing the scene with Kara and also has a singing duet. Anna is continuing with ice skating, which is her absolutely favorite activity. Jack joined the math club and will be starting basketball with the YMCA soon.

Interims came out. It is hard to believe we are more than halfway through the first school quarter. Everyone had 6 As and 1 B. Well, except Luke, although I think we could say he had the 2nd grade equivalent--all As and Os, except for one S (in health???).  

We went to a baseball game last night. It was the second to last Flying Tigers game of the season. Luke got chosen to do a pizza run. He was successful and won a free pizza. The Tigers won the game and everyone had fun. Luke found two foul balls. Neither was hit during our game. Luke wanted to sit in the left field area where a lot of balls are hit. I picked a seat in the section and he came to sit next to me and there was a ball wedged in the seat! The other was also in a seat in a nearby section. 

running for pizza. It's always fun to be on the scoreboard.

Kara got a new hat. The girls really like taking pictures of themselves :)

We ate dinner at Wendy's and then Luke won the pizza, so he ate quite a bit. Not surprisingly, he got sick in the middle of the night, but slept right through it. He got us up around 7:30 and there was a huge mess in his room to clean up. We used to go through this a lot with the other kids. Jack especially was infamous for vomiting in the night and sleeping right through it. But, we realized that Luke hasn't been sick very much and almost never has stomach issues. He seems fine today, so hopefully he will have a good night's sleep and go to school tomorrow.

One more picture, this one is our pool. It is hard to tell from this picture, but it overflowed one night. We had this crazy storm with a ton of fast falling rain. The streets were flooded, it was insane!

Wedding & Family Camp

Elizabeth and Travis got married on Wednesday, September 25th. They had to do it in the middle of the week because Elizabeth finished vet school in St. Kitts and only had about a week to come home, get married and move across the country for her residency. I have known Elizabeth her whole life. Her mom was my boss at my first real job (after college graduation). We went to the same church and lived in the same neighborhood and have been close for over 20 years. I think of Elizabeth like a niece and the girls think of her as a cool aunt (yes, I know those don't match up, but we think how we think). So, we were excited for her to start this next chapter of her life. The girls were junior bridesmaids in her ring ceremony (they got married in the LDS temple) and had a great time being part of their special day. 

I didn't really get any good pictures of Elizabeth and Travis. We did some with their photographer, so hopefully I can get a copy of those.

They had an area to take a picture and put it in a book along with advice. We looked at the book and saw A & K took this awkward photo and left this gem: "Things have to get worse before they can get better." Great marriage advice, right???

They had this picture hanging up, baby Elizabeth and a young Kori, 20 years ago!

This weekend was the much anticipated (especially by Luke) family camp. We had some neighbors who did the camp over Memorial Day and raved about their experience, so we decided to join them for the Labor Day edition. Camp started on Friday night with hotdogs, smores, and family dodgeball. We slept in a nice, two-bedroom cabin. Saturday morning, Luke, Anna, Jack and I did early morning canoeing. Luke and I had fun, but Jack and Anna did not cooperate well with one another and therefore did not have a positive experience. It was not fun to listen to them bicker, but fortunately, it was a big lake, so Luke and I just paddled away.

After canoeing and breakfast, Kara, Luke, Jack and Thomas did what was called a high ropes course, but was really just challenging obstacles. They climbed a rope net, did a high wire walk and climbed regular ropes. I knew I would not have the upper body strength to handle all of that and Anna was not interested, so I took pictures and she relaxed in the cabin.

Ready for adventure

Luke climbing, all of them successfully made it to the top.

They also successfully did the wire walk

Thomas and Luke climbing, Luke on a rope and Thomas heading to the wire walk.

After that, we all gave archery a shot. The kids were pretty good. It took me a while to get the hang of it and I was the worst. Thomas was really good, but the way he held the bow left him with a huge, painful bruise. 

We had lunch and then Jack and Thomas did riflery (bb guns) before joining the rest of us at the lake. The lake is spring fed and very pleasant, with a soft, sandy bottom and a nice temperature. They had a wibit obstacle course, which we all did with varying levels of success before moving to the giant blob. The blob was hysterical! I got some amazing videos of people flying into the air. The best was when there was a large weight-disparity. Luke especially caught some serious air! We spent the entire afternoon there with our friends (the Cantells) and had a great time. Here are some screen shots from videos.

Thomas and Jack

Anna and Luke

Thomas and Anna

After dinner, the kids (ours, the Cantells, and other kids from the camp) spent a while playing Gaga ball. Then, it was the evening campfire (more smores!). We were all incredibly tired! Sunday, we did more of the same: archery, riflery, gagaball and swimming. We also did a family team building exercise. That was okay. They had one game where we divided into teams and one person on each team was blindfolded and the other team members gave them directions to lead them to a "sword" to try and be the first person to hit the other blindfolded person. During that one, Luke walked into the corner of a piano. It was chaos and I was yelling at him to stop, but with so many other people yelling, it just happened. He cried and cried and has a cut/bruise on the bridge of his nose. But, he liked the other games and still said he loved the teambuilding. Anna did not love it, for some reason, she got frustrated (during a different game) and refused to play any more. She is the least competitive Wilson, so maybe that had something to do with her frustration? Our family definitely has different communication styles and approaches to problem-solving. I am not sure if the exercises helped, but it was (mostly) fun. We also did pretzel and pizza making during the afternoon.

That night, we did a family face off game. Only 2 other families participated and we did not win. But, we had fun. It was just Luke, Kara and me. We had to complete 12 different stations and I thought we did an amazing job. After that we did what was billed as a "night hike", but was really a very short walk where we stopped and talked about night vision. It was fun, just not what we were expecting.

Today (Monday), we had breakfast and then packed up and came home. Everyone had a good time. The kids all said they enjoyed it and would like to go back. We have about 10 loads of laundry to do (we had to bring our own bedding and towels). But, it was a pretty fun little getaway. It was almost like a cruise. We had a list of activities and got to choose each day what we wanted to do, but it was way cheaper.