February

Another month has come and gone. If I keep up my once-a-month-writing-trend, this year will produce the fewest blogs since I started blogging in 2011. April will mark my 15th anniversary of blogging! Maybe it is time to quit?

So, big news for February: Kara turned 17! I look at the 3 oldest kids and sometimes wonder how we got here. When the kids were little, I definitely agreed with the adage that the days were long and the years were short. Now, it just seems like everything is short! Anyway, she turned 17 and didn't want to have a party. The lacrosse season is in full swing, so timing was difficult. Instead, we did lots of mini celebrating. We had a few chosen meals. On the day after her birthday, she and Anna skipped school and Thomas and I took a vacation day and went to Hollywood Studios. It was stupidly crowded, even StarTours had a decent wait. But, we walked around, had lunch and then walked to the Boardwalk. We had never walked there before (always taken boat or Skyliner) but it was a beautiful day to be outside. We walked around the Boardwalk and had a reservation for dessert at Beaches and Cream. For gifts, she got a giftcard to Ross and a needoh from her siblings. Thomas and I got her the internet and drink package for our upcoming cruise. The girls and I also went to the Cheesecake Factory and the Mall at Millenia. Hopefully, she felt well celebrated.

At Beaches n Cream

Thomas and Jack went to a Spring Training game and had fun. The only thing Thomas consistently likes about Florida is Spring Training, so I hope he can get to a few games this year. Unfortunately, they had a mishap on the drive down when a piece of metal flew out from (maybe) the car in front of them and did $2300 worth of damage to the van. We are thankful it wasn't worse and that no one was hurt. 

Jack did not get in to the Honors College at FSU. He still got into UF, FSU, UCF, and USF. So, plenty of great options, but he is feeling a little let down by his prospects for the future. He believes that AI makes college fairly pointless and is having a hard time finding something he is excited about. He lamented again how he wishes he could join the miliary. But, as I've written--his food allergies are too severe and disqualifying. He's had two track meets so far. In one he ran the Steeple Chase, which was pretty entertaining. 

the water element is pretty fun in the Steeple Chase

In more  Kara news, she sprained her ankle and missed a couple of days of school. It was super swollen and bruised. 

Hmm, I don't have many pictures for the month, so I guess this will have to do for the highlight reel. Anna is staying consistent with her daily walks, she does 4 miles every day after school. Luke is enjoying baseball. The team switched locations and we had hoped it would be closer, but alas it is not. School is going well for everybody. 

We enjoyed watching the Olympics this month. We watched live whenever we could and replays of some events we were interested in. Thomas was fascinated by curling. I loved mountaineering and ski jumping. We watched the men's hockey team beat Russia live and watched the women's gold medal victory on replay (we were at work when it was live). And, in between, we caught bits and pieces of other events. I am sad it is over!

January

I’m not sure why I’ve lost my motivation to blog. But, I just haven’t felt like it lately. So, this will be a quick recap of the month of the January.

Jack got accepted into UF! They are ranked 7^th in the country for public universities (30^th overall), so even with his amazing stats, it didn’t feel like a given that he would be admitted. Now, he is waiting to hear if he got into FSU’s honor college. That decision will come next week. Then, he should have all the information he needs to make a choice. He only applied to Florida colleges, so we know he won’t be too far no matter which one he picks. In other news, he joined the track team, which forced him to give up tutoring. I don’t think he misses it.

 

Anna is looking forward to the end of senior year. The last day for seniors is less than a hundred days away. I still remember the project they did on the hundredth day of kindergarten. Thirteen years sure went by quickly! I don’t like it.

 

Most of us (Kara was at work) went to Animal Kingdom for one last ride on Dinosaur (well, two last rides since we rode twice). It has always been one of our favorite rides and I am sad to see it close. Unfortunately, the camera wasn’t working, so we didn’t get a last ride picture. It is too bad, because Thomas and Jack recreated the photo from our first Disney trip. It was one of Jack’s first ‘scary’ rides and going on with him as an 18-year-old and remembering him as a little 5-year-old was another reminder on the quickening passage of time.

Little scared Jack in 2013. 

And now, at Animal Kingdom on our last Dinosaur day.

Some other highlights: We went to Hollywood Studios one night. They still had the Christmas decorations up, which was fun. 

We were there on January 14th, so the lights surprised us.

We also went to the Orlando Wetlands. It hadn’t rained in a while, but we did a back trail that was super muddy. We walked about 5 miles, it was a beautiful day and we enjoyed it. From there we went to Steak-n-Shake. That was a fun day. 

walking on branches and trying to avoid mud

being silly at the bat house

Luke went to a birthday party at a trampoline place for his best elementary school friend. They are at different schools now and don’t get to see each other very often so it was nice to get them together. 

Luke, Anna, Thomas and I went to Aquatica’s Illuminate event. It was really pretty and they had cool bubble machines. When you touched one of the bubbles they turned into smoke. I felt like I was in Harry Potter! 

Anna got a third ear piercing. She is 18 so not parent permission was required. Lacrosse started up for Kara. The team practices every day after school. They have something like 16 games this season, so she is going to be very busy. 

Thomas and I celebrated our half birthdays. It started as a joke, Thomas kept talking about how his half-birthday was approaching and it was the same day as UF admissions were announced, so would be a true day of celebration. It took me far longer than I'd like to admit to realize that if his half-birthday was coming, that meant mine was as well. So, I told him that he could set the tone and however he celebrated for me would be how I celebrated for him. It was just us being silly, but the kids took it to heart. 

I came home from work to this fun surprise. Cookies, a present and balloons!

 

Other than that, it has been work, school and sports. The early part of the month was pretty quiet and it was great having everyone home for dinner every night. Now, we are back in the thick of opposing schedules.  It is nice having Jack and Kara driving—there is far less transport required of Thomas and me. Anna has her permit and hopes to get her license soon. She’s not in a hurry, but does want to have it before starting college.