Sea World

Over Christmas break, we took a trip to Sea World since it had been about 8 years since we last went as a family.  Clayton and Kara's family joined us, which was so fun! We splurged and bought some fast passes as we anticipated it would be very busy on New Year's Day.

Probably the favorite ride of the majority

I liked how smooth this ride was.

Christmas decorations

The shows are always a nice chance to sit down.

Matt had connections and we were able to get 3 food passes, which helped a lot! Each food pass could get a meal every 90 minutes, so we just rotated whose turn it was to eat and all stayed well fed. 😀

Fast wooden rollercoaster

It was a full day of fun!

December and Christmas

Austin's Kindergarten field trip

Bryson was assigned to make a historical figure out of a 2 liter bottle. This is the type of project I turn over to Matt! They did a great job! (Let's face it: parents do most of the work.)

Bryson's 3rd grade Christmas party--playing bingo

A note Bryson wrote me that I want to remember. I misplaced my engagement ring in the house and finally gave up looking for it. I think it will turn up one day. In the mean time, I bought myself a cheap ring to wear.

We joined Ariane's family for some rock climbing over Christmas break.

Austin is so stinking cute in this picture.

Christmas Eve celebrated at Kara and Clayton's house.

Christmas morning

Austin's main present, which we learned he loved so much on our Galveston vacation. He is very creative and loves craft projects. He got his dad's artsy side.

Caleb's presents. (He spelled Kari's name at the bottom using his presents because he wanted to text Aunt Kari how he was going to get stronger and beat her next time they arm-wrestled.)

Bryson's presents (including a note from Santa that he gets to pick out a new bike!)

Carter got freeze-dried strawberries, a game, ping pong paddle, and books. Austin got a science kit and a marbling paint kit. The boys also collectively got two experience gifts: Urban Air trampoline park and a movie. I got a new set of pots and pans, winter coat, and silicone placemats.

6th Grade Band: Carter

Carter is trying his hand at percussion this year. Mostly this decision was an out to quit piano. We had the same fights over and over during piano no matter how patient I tried to be. He is one stubborn boy. He got his way and quit piano--it wasn't worth the fighting and how it hurt our relationship. Percussion has been a good replacement as his piano background helped, and he has improved a lot this year. He took lessons all during 5th grade, while I homeschooled him, from his cousin, Drew. Only 5th graders are allowed to tryout for percussion because it is such a popular instrument and only so many spots and the teachers want you to start as early as possible. I emailed the teacher from the start of 5th grade and explained the situation asking for Carter to be allowed an exception and audition in 6th grade instead. Fortunately he agreed and Carter secured his spot for 6th grade. It requires 20 minutes of practicing 5 days a week (which is more than I was making him do on piano) in order to get a weekly 100 for a daily grade assignment. He has been diligent and worked hard to try to catch-up to the other students due to homeschooling for 5th grade. He is really enjoying it!

Also, Carter's team won the championship for his fall baseball team! It was his first time winning. (Matt coached them to victory.)

Thanksgiving Vacation

We decided to do a local vacation with friends and ended up renting a beach house at Galveston. It was a week full of games, chatting, exercise, eating yummy food and beach time.

Ferry ride to downtown Galveston

Moody Gardens' Rainforest exhibit

We saw some really cool birds and monkeys!

We ate out the night we went to Moody Gardens

Festival of Lights at Moody Gardens

Matt took some kids out for a joy ride on the beach

Water was chilly but that didn't stop people from getting in the water

Girl time while watching the kids play

Bonfire one night and roasting marshmallows

Game Time!

The kids all played well together.

Carter entertained some littles at times

These were a huge hit!

Catching some crabs

Bryson's 9th Birthday

 

I met Bryson for lunch at school the day before his birthday since his birthday was on a preschool teaching day. Whenever I eat lunch with the boys at school, I bring a game to play, which they love.

I thought Carter would have the toughest adjustment back to school just because I was so paranoid about how well I covered all the material he was supposed to learn in homeschool last year. But actually Bryson's been the one I've had to spend the most time helping with homework and studying this year, but perhaps it would have been that way regardless? He's succeeding and doing well; it's just taking a little more effort.

Bryson is enjoying his fall season of baseball and has even been able to pitch in two games. I think I was more nervous than he was! He is such a sweet kid and has a very special relationship with Austin. He's doing a good job being the "big brother" on their way to and from school looking out for Austin. One reason he is glad to be back at school is because lots of girls have a crush on him. Apparently he spends recess running from girls who chase him. Out of all my boys, Bryson is the best at independent play and creativity. He can play with Mad Matter for over an hour. Usually his independent play/creativity results in a large mess that Matt or I end up having to help clean up, but we think it's worth it!

Disneyland Trip

The boys had a 3-day weekend  October 8-10th. We planned to go to Six Flags but happened to look at flight prices for California and saw they were super cheap! So we made a spontaneous decision and planned a quick trip to Disneyland! The boys had never been, and we knew it was something we wanted to do before Caleb graduated high school. Instead of saying "someday," we asked ourselves, "why not now?" We flew out Thursday night, which was a tough decision because Matt and Carter had to miss a baseball game. We went to California Adventure on Friday and Disneyland on Saturday. Then we flew home Sunday. Here are some pictures from our trip:

Bryson and me driving together on a race car ride

Family picture

Star Wars section

Winnie the Pooh

Jungle Cruise

Best ride: Cars

We did this water ride 3x in a row because the line was so short. They didn't even make us get off the ride.

Ride on the Pier

Austin and me hanging out while the other boys rode the Incredicoaster

My turn on Incredicoaster

We waited in a LONG line for this ride twice. It was tough to look at the Disney World app and see the wait time was significantly shorter. My boys loved it though.

(back row)

We had a fun time! But, my boys also aren't interested in going back. They would rank Disney World, Universal Studios, and Dollywood above Disneyland, in that order.