Catching up

I always forget how hectic the first few weeks of December can get. In addition to preparations for Christmas, there are end of semester work obligations, school projects to be completed, the Dallas marathon, John's full sports schedule, and other fun, yet time-consuming, activities that fill our family's calendar. 

And then an ice storm hits and life just gets put on hold for a few days.

Dallas experienced a major ice storm during the first full week in December. The storm ended up being much worse than forecasters anticipated and it fully shut down our city for almost five days. The kids were out of school the first Friday and the following Monday, the Dallas Marathon was cancelled, and conditions were bad enough that it was hard to leave the house, and when we did I couldn't drive any faster than between 5 and 15 miles per hour. Our local church even cancelled Sunday School on Sunday (the third day after the storm hit), and when they cancel church activities here in Dallas you know the storm must have been bad!

Amelia removed this icicle from our outdoor trash can.   

Ice accumulated on the leaves of a tree. The heavy weight of the ice-covered leaves surprised me. We were very, very lucky that we didn't lose power in this storm.

The kids found huge chunks of ice like this all over the backyard.

All of John's basketball games from the first weekend in December were rescheduled, so the next weekend was packed with two or three games each day. One of the moms of a boy on John's team took this video. John gets the rebound and then takes the ball down the left side of the court and makes a basket.

Last Monday was the annual ballet observation day at Amelia's ballet school. I love seeing Amelia dance, partly because it brings back many memories from my childhood dancing days.

Last Monday may have been my last chance though, as Amelia has decided to take a break from ballet for the rest of the academic year. Sniff. I hope she changes her mind and returns to class next fall.

Girls Weekend - Part II

For our second day at Universal we visited the other park, Universal Studios Florida. We had better weather on Sunday with sunny skies and no rain. However, the park was still not very crowded and the longest we waited in line for a ride was 20 minutes.

This Universal park had some crazy roller coasters, which of course we didn't go on. Most of the rides we enjoyed in this park were motion simulator rides based on movies involving 3D technology. We enjoyed the Despicable Me 3D simulator (twice), the Shrek 4D ride, and the Transformers 3D ride (twice). We also went on the ET adventure, the Simpsons 3D simulator ride, the Men In Black shoot out and the movie Disaster ride.

We saw two shows at this park, one involving animals and the other about special effects used in movies. The animal show included cats, dogs, birds, otters, pigs - all kinds of animals doing tricks. 

The minions were everywhere! The Despicable Me ride was one of our favorites, and who can't help but laugh with the jokes and funny pranks of the minions?

We took a break from the theme park around 5:00 and went back to Citywalk for a game of miniature golf. Amelia chose the Alien course and we both agreed that this was one of the nicest mini golf courses we have played on.

The photo below shows the last hole, hole 18. After putting the ball on the ground near the mouth opening, the ball traveled through the snake's body towards the end where a portion of the path revolved in a circle. It was tricky to hit the ball from a stationary path to a moving target, but this made it more fun.

After mini golf we returned to the park for a few more rides and the fireworks show. This is from the photo booth outside of the Despicable Me ride. More minions!

Amelia and I had a great weekend in Orlando! It was a nice change of pace for Amelia to be the only one in charge of the day's fun agenda, and I enjoyed my one-on-one time with her immensely. And despite Amelia's proclamations that "this trip is peaceful because John isn't here to annoy us", she also mentioned that "when we come back here someday with John I can't wait to show him how cool this ride is."  

Girls Weekend - Part I

Amelia and I enjoyed our first girls weekend away together this past weekend! Since Scott and John enjoyed a boys only trip to Miami earlier this year (for the Miami vs. Florida football game), Amelia was allowed to select an out-of-town adventure to enjoy in return.

What was Amelia's choice? A visit to the Wizarding World of Harry Potter at Universal Studios Orlando!

A big reason why Amelia selected the theme park for her visit is because she didn't think John would enjoy it much since he is not interested in Harry Potter (yet). So we set off Friday evening for Orlando for a full weekend of fun.

We were inside the theme park at 8:00 a.m. Saturday morning - off on the Hogwarts Express!

There is an amazing virtual roller coaster ride inside the castle that is unlike anything I have ever experienced before. Guests were strapped in by a shoulder harness into a four-person contraption which then took you over large video screens and through huge replica dragons and skeletons, simulating as if you were fighting dragons with Harry Potter and the others. The simulator tipped you back in your seat until you were arching backwards, and then would flip you forward and fly you across a gigantic screen so that you felt like you were flying on a broomstick playing quidditch with Harry. We liked this ride so much we went on it twice!

Later we browsed in the HP shops...

  

 ...enjoyed the house flags and memorabilia located all around (Amelia is a proud Hufflepuff, notice the appropriate colors on the flag on the left)...

 ... and tried butter beer (the butter beer was not too good, unfortunately. But isn't the photo of Amelia really cute?)

After enjoying the HP theme section of the park (where we later returned for a round two visit), we ventured over to the other sections of the Islands of Adventure theme park.

And we proceeded to get soaked on three water rides that caused big splashes like this one. This is the Jurassic Park waterfall ride. Guests sit in a large boat (about 40 passengers per boat) and wind through a peaceful section of replica dinosaurs and snapshots from the movie. Then you load up a huge ramp to the top of this enclosure, where the boat is plunged in the darkness down a steep decline to splash at the bottom. The doors don't open until the very end, so the big drop happens in the dark. This was super fun!

At this point we were somewhat wet and it had started drizzling, so we decided that we might as well enjoy the other water rides next. So we went on two more rides and ended up DRENCHED. I mean, it felt like I had taken a shower with my clothes on we were that wet!

This is the best log flume ride I have ever been on. The ride was cartoon themed, and the big drop at the end involved a small roller-coaster style ramp. See the log at the top on the left? It is about to begin the plunge down the big drop...

...and then it goes under the house and splashed through the water jets thrashing it from both sides at the bottom.

I don't have photos of the third ride, which was a 10-person raft ride through turbulent water rapids. This one really did us in, as we got plunged in river rapids and soaked from backwards, frontwards, and on top, as well as from waterfalls and other shooting jets that got us from all over.

Self-portrait - SOAKED!

The Dr. Seuss area was colorful and fun.

In the photo above Amelia is standing up, and if you rotate the photo it looks like Marmaduke is pulling her as if she were in the cartoon. I can't get the blogger site to rotate the photo, so please use your imagination. 

We enjoyed several other rides on Saturday that I don't have photos for, including a 3-D Spiderman ride simulator (which was so good we enjoyed it twice), a family-friendly, fun roller coaster in the Harry Potter section (so good we enjoyed it three times!), and an intimate magic show (seating limited to 20) that Amelia said was one of the best parts of the day.

Either due to the rain or the time of year we visited, the park was relatively empty. We never waited more than 20 minutes for a ride and most of the time we could walk on. So despite the gloomy weather and being soaked for more hours than was comfortable, we had an amazing first day at Universal.

Saturday night was extra special because grandma and grandpop drove down from Gainesville to have dinner with us. It was awesome to have the opportunity to see them again and visit in the company of family after a long and enjoyable day in the park!

Lately

John's class visited the Perot Museum of Science for their fall field trip last week. I was one of the lucky parents that was able to join as a chaperone (I mean lucky in a good way, since parents fight for chaperone slots for field trips!). Though it was chaotic to be in charge of four kids in the crowded museum, it sure was a fun day.

John was one of the few kids selected to participate in the science show. He was so happy!

Pouring nitrogen gas on a magnet.

The photo below didn't turn out well, but John and his classmate are dancing in front of a light board that activated colors based on the heat (I think) from their movements.

Amelia's fall volleyball season wrapped up last week. There were several changes to her YMCA division this year. The 5th and 6th graders were combined in one competitive league, thus Amelia's team ended up playing mostly 6th grade teams. Though they didn't win as many games as they are used to, the girls played tough and took the challenge well. 

Another change is that the girls are required to serve their first serve overhand. About a third of the girls on Amelia's team can consistently get the ball across the net with their serve. Amelia's overhand serve needs work still, but her underhanded serves (which are permitted after the first attempt) were about 95% accurate this year (and strong).

John's flag football season ended two weeks ago and the team celebrated with an end-of-season party last week.

Fall basketball ended several weeks ago and the winter season began this week. John is playing on two competitive teams and is also participating on a school team through the YMCA. Luckily basketball is his only sport right now. I forgot to post this photo of last fall's team. These boys look cute but they are tough.

And my favorite photo of all...

John is fast, tan, athletic, kind, busy, brave, tall, slim, funny, cool, smart, and trustworthy. His artwork is always in orange and green when John has the choice.

Halloween Festivities

Our family enjoyed two Halloween-related activities this year. The first event was a "Trunk or Treat" at our church the Sunday before Halloween. If you haven't heard of a "Trunk or Treat" event, it is similar to the door-to-door type of trick or treating but instead the kids walk from "trunk to trunk" to gather candy. Each car is decorated individually with a theme or Halloween-inspired decorations.

Amelia and John instigated our family's participation in Trunk or Treat. This was the first year that our church has held this event and it was a huge success! Amelia and John enjoyed planning our car's theme and the kids enjoyed the decorations (and candy!) offered by each car.

Amelia and John selected an "Under the Sea" theme for our car. We decorated with blue and white balloons and blue streamers, and attached some multi-colored fish that the kids had cut out of poster board to create an underwater-type atmosphere.

Amelia and I took turns blowing bubbles to extend the under the sea theme even further. For treats we gave out mini bottles of bubbles and candy.

Photos below are for the two cars parked next to ours. The family on the left had two toddler boys who obviously love construction vehicles (the sign states "Constructing Candy Mountain"). The car on the right was one of the most popular with their dinosaur theme. The large dinosaur on the group on the right was animated. Somehow when you fed him the leaf he would open his mouth and growl.

So what did Amelia and John dress as for Halloween this year? John dressed as Chris Andersen, a player on the Miami Heat basketball team. As you can see, Andersen is covered in tattoos and has a mohawk hairstyle.

John as Andersen! What a hilarious costume! Part of me thinks John's costume idea was a ploy to get Scott to buy him another Heat jersey, but I love the creativity and the perfect match of the costume to John's style and love of basketball.

Amelia was inspired by Percy Jackson, a fictional character in one of her favorite book series. She found this photo on the internet.

Amelia made her "Camp Half-Blood" t-shirt (apparently this is a camp in the books) and we purchased a bow and arrow from a local store (Apparently archery is important at the camps in the Percy Jackson books). Amelia really wanted for her costume to be based on a literary character and I am proud of her for designing the t-shirt so well.

Between Trunk or Treat and trick or treating around the neighborhood on Halloween evening, Amelia and John raked in TONS of candy.

What a great Halloween season for our family.