Disney 2015

Sunday January 4th we headed to Disney World for our annual 7 day, 6 night family vacation and we had an awesome time! It gets better every year. Maybe because the kids are older and they can do more, or because they remember things from the year before and are eager to do them again or because we continue to try new things. Either way, we all love going there, we look forward to it every year and we are happy to have made it a yearly tradition for our family. To be honest I'm not sure how to explain why we love Disney World so much. The hotel (The Grand Floridian) is by far the nicest hotel I've ever stayed at and from the moment you arrive until the moment you depart, the experience there is breathtaking. The flowers throughout the resort are beautiful, the scent that is pumped throughout the buildings is delicious, the food and restaurants are amazing and truly a work of art for your taste buds. The staff is so knowledgeable, kind and welcoming, they really do take exceptional care of you while you are there. The rooms have all been remodeled and are beautiful! After a long day in the parks to arrive back "home" to this hotel and a beautiful and comfortable room, my whole body "sighs...ah". The convenience of where our hotel is located can't be beat, we can see Magic Kingdom from our hotel room and we are only 5 minutes away! Maybe that's why we love it so much? We have a blast at all 4 parks and Downtown Disney, we all get to do and see things that we each want and for the most part we can all enjoy it together (with Brooke being older and taller, we are able to ride most rides together and not be separated!). One of my favorite parts of Disney is, its 7 days of our family together all day, every day, no cell phones, no work, no school, no responsibilities, no face book, no nothing. Its just us enjoying time together, seeing and doing new things, there is nothing better! We are so thankful that we have been able to do this for our kids and ourselves and we hope that we can continue to do this family trip for many, many years to come! (Currently we already have ideas for next years Disney vacation!)

We arrived on Sunday at noon and it was beautiful out! Warm and sunny! Since we stay at Disney the entire time of our stay, we don't rent a car, but instead bored the Magical Express, which is a Disney fleet of coach buses that will pick you up and drop you off at the airport. Disney also picks up our luggage so we don't need to bother with that hassle! Its about a 30 min ride (give or take) to our hotel. Once we got checked in, we got settled into our room, right away we changed into swimsuits and went to rent 2, 2 person boats to cruise the lagoon around our hotel and Magic Kingdom. This is one of Kevin's favorite things to do! After that we went and enjoyed the pools. The kids had a blast at the kiddie area, but eventually both kids wanted to try the big water slide. They LOVED it! Brooklyn even went down all by herself, she's so brave! Kevin and I enjoyed some drinks by the pool and just enjoyed the day. It was wonderful. It was a long day as we left home at 5am, our flight was at 9am, (thankfully we were able to get first class seats, we were able to have breakfast on the plane and we were all able to rest and watch a movie or nap!) and after a fun day in and on the water, we ordered room service and hit the hay early!

Monday: We were up bright and early for a big day at Magic Kingdom! The kids had their first Mickey waffles for breakfast (which they ate everyday!) which is so exciting for them, its really the start of a Disney day! We got to the park before it opened, something we have never done before and got to watch the morning welcome show.  Blake had an appointment at 9am for the Pirates League, its a salon type place that transforms your kid into a pirate! Kids can pick out anything and everything from their costumes and face make up to their pirate name. Blake picked the Jack Sparrow pirate costume, it was really cool! He even let them paint a beard on him.  Blake loved it and was so excited to be a pirate! Brooklyn also had an appointment at 9am at the Bibbidi Bobbidi Boutique at Cinderella's castle (Kevin went with Blake and I went with Brooklyn.). Anyone who knows me, knows that I have been waiting for this appointment since I found out we were having a girl! They take appts. for children 3 and older...its been a long wait! I booked this appointment last July to ensure that it would be at the castle and not another location. I'm so glad I did because it was an amazing experience and Brooke was in complete awe of everything that was happening. The fairy godmothers (the ladies who work there) got a kick out of me...when they asked what package I wanted to buy, I didn't even look, I told them I wanted Brooke to have everything, the dress, the hair, nails, purse, crown etc.! Brooke wanted to be Princess Anna, of course! We had to wait a bit for the "mice" to make her dress, when we went back to her dressing room, her dress was there with her crown, wand, purse, gloves and jewelry. She was so excited, she jumped up and down! Once we got her changed we went out the salon area to have hair and make up done. Brooke got really shy and quiet, which is very unlike her. She was happy to pick out the hairstyle she wanted as well as her nail polish. While she's having all of this done her back is to the mirror, once she was all done up, her fairy godmother turned her around to show her and her face was absolutely priceless! Her jaw dropped and then she had the biggest smile! While Kevin brought Brooklyn on Prince Charming's Carousel, Blake and I headed to Space Mountain, my personal favorite ride! We spent the rest of the day enjoying MK, we even managed to get reservations at the Be Our Guest Restaurant in Belle's Castle. It was beautiful and the food was amazing.! We had an early dinner and then we booked it to Big Thunder Mtn, which we all enjoyed it! After that the kids were exhausted so we went back to the hotel to relax and catch the boat show.

Tuesday: We headed to Hollywood Studios for a fun day in the sun! This park is pretty relaxing, its not as busy as MK and just a slower pace. We got there early and were able to do a few things that were must do's that we didn't have Fast Passes for...we saw Frozen, the sing along, the kids got to play in the Honey I Shrunk the Kids play area and the Tower of Terror. Yes, we were "those parents" who brought our 3 year old onto Tower of Terror! She liked it until Blake got mad/scared about the ghosts! Its all in fun right? For lunch we had reservations at the Sci-Fi Dine in Theater restaurant. It was very cool, when you walk in it feels like you are outside at a drive in theater, the booths were made to look like convertibles, and they play clips of old, very corny sci-fi movies. The food was delicious and we all liked the whole experience. After lunch we went on the Buzz Lightyear ride, the Great Movie Ride and the Star Wars ride. We did end up splitting up so the kids could see the shows that they each wanted to see. Blake and Kevin went to the stunt show and Indiana Jones show, while Brooke and I went to the Little Mermaid, Disney Jr and Beauty and the Beast shows. We were hoping to stay and watch Fantasmic, the night show, but the kids were just too tired. We headed back to the hotel were Grandma Linda and Great Aunt Lucy were waiting for the kids (We had adjoining rooms, plenty of space!). The kids got to enjoy room service, the boat show and some free time, while Kevin and I headed to Downtown Disney to eat at Fulton's. It was such a nice date night, our favorite restaurant, drinks and time alone = perfect!

Wednesday: We started off our day at Chef Mickey's inside The Contemporary Resort. We go here every year and the kids love it! Its a nice buffet of breakfast food and you get to meet Mickey, Minnie, Goofy, Pluto and Donald Duck. I don't think the kids eat that much as they are so excited to see who is coming to our table next. We love doing the character meals, you get to meet the characters without the hassle of having to stand in line or waste a Fast Pass meeting them in the parks. After that we hoped on a bus and headed to Animal Kingdom. We enjoyed the Lion King show, the Kilimanjaro Safari, the Dinosaur ride....which Kevin and I loved but Brooke hated and Blake was not too fond of,even though he loved it last year! Apparently they don't like 30 foot T-Rex's roaring in their faces! To each their own! ;-) While in line we did happen to run into our best friends! Ryan, Keytun, Brylee and Jema Viltz were also at Disney World! Small world that we would actually run into them, it was great to see some of our favorite faces! After that the kids played in the dinosaur play area and rode on the kid friendly dinosaur ride. We had lunch and enjoyed looking at the animals they have there. We headed back to the hotel mid afternoon, the kids stayed with grandma as Kevin and I had a date night at Epcot. We enjoyed drinking our way through the countries and we had a great dinner at Marrakesh, a Moroccan restaurant. I have always wanted to eat there, as the pavilion within Epcot is beautiful, I was curious for the whole experience. We had traditional meals that were recommended by our waitress, they were excellent as was the belly dancer that performed during dinner. After dinner we grabbed another drink and found a spot to watch Illuminations (the night show at Epcot). It was a great way to end another great day!

Thursday: We snagged reservations for breakfast with Cinderella and her friends at Citrico's (a restaurant at our hotel), much to Blake's dismay! LOL Usually the princess's host breakfast at Cinderella's Royal Table which is at the castle, but its getting renovated so they moved the breakfast to our hotel, which was super handy for us. Once again the kids, especially Brooklyn didn't eat much, but they both enjoyed meeting the princesses. Brooklyn was so happy and excited, her smile said it all! Even Blake liked meeting them....shhh don't tell anyone tho! We had to hurry through breakfast and book it to Epcot as we had a Fast Pass for Soarin' and we did not want to miss it, as wait times can be up to 90 minutes. We made it, right on the head, thank goodness! After that ride, we went on the Finding Nemo ride and to the aquarium. We then headed to the Mexico pavilion to go on the Donald Duck boat ride. Kevin and Blake then took off for the Mission Space ride, as Brooke is too short, so we rode the boat ride again! We met up again for lunch and then proceeded to wait for over an hour for the Test Track ride...Blake's favorite ride! We all loved it! While in line we made reservations for Cirque du Soliel and the T-Rex restaurant in Downtown Disney. I wasn't too sure about the T-Rex restaurant, but once we got in there it was really neat, the kids really liked it! The food was great, but wow was it loud in there...I could have done without that. After dinner we headed to the Cirque du Soleil show, Kevin and I saw it years ago, pre-kid era, so we were looking forward to seeing it again. The kids were amazed, they have talked about it quite a bit since then and have even reenacted it. After the show we headed to the World of Disney store and did all of our shopping (Disney shirts, photo album and some toys).

Friday: We were back to Magic Kingdom to finish up our week. It was cold and overcast and rain was on its way, but that also means less people! We had Fast Passes for the Seven Dwarfs Mine ride and to see Anna and Elsa. The ride was cute but not very long and it was raining when we went on it, kind of a bummer. Anna and Elsa of course were a huge it...it was so nice having a Fast Pass to see them instead of waiting for 90 minutes to see them, like Brooke and I did last year! We also managed to see the stage show in front of the castle as well as the afternoon parade. We went on the Pirates of the Caribbean, Aladdin's Magic Carpet and the Jungle Cruise. Once we had hit all of the things that we wanted to do, we asked the kids what they would like to do, one more ride (it was getting dark, they were tired and it was cold!) or head for the hotel. The kids wanted to go on Big Thunder Mountain one more time...off we went and it was a blast at night! Sadly we headed back to our hotel...leaving any park but especially MK on your last night of vacation, really is depressing! Once back in our room we gave the kids quick baths and started packing and preparing to depart. We did get to watch the boat show one last time, that was a nice way to end the night and our vacation.

Saturday: We went home.

We had a wonderful time, the kids are already asking about when we are going back. We hope next year and if I can talk my hubby into it, maybe we will add a couple of more days!

Christmas 2014

Christmas seemed to fly by this year, the whole month of December did really. We had a great Christmas with our families, lots of food, lots of laughs, and lots of smiles! I'm glad I took Friday off to recover from it all!

Christmas Eve Day was spent at our house, I made lasagna, a blue cheese ball and radish spread, which is our traditional meal/snacks. (I baked Sunday-Tuesday so we had lots of cookies and homemade fudge as well!) Once the house was picked up and the food was prepared, we all headed outside to enjoy the beautiful day! Kevin and Brooke towed Blake around on a tube with the 4 wheeler for about 2 hours, they all had a blast! Brooke and I spent some time with Ernie as well, Brooke brushed and hugged him! My mom, dad, sister and their dog Ziggy showed up and so began the endless questions of "can we open presents now?" We wait until after dinner to open gifts, the kids then "organized the gifts into piles for everyone, it kept them occupied for a good while. We enjoyed our meal, and we were rushed to clean up, Blake and Brooke couldn't wait any longer! Blake tore into all of his gifts, and was super excited about everything, even the clothes! He would yell "Look what I got!" after everything. His excitement was so cute to watch! Brooklyn steadily opened her gifts, she was pretty quiet, she would open a gift, study it and then move on to the next one. She did get excited over a few things: the walking panda bear, the Minnie Mouse set, a barrel horse, a barbie house and her leap pad. Blake's favorite gifts were the pirate ship, road race and Nintendo DS. The kids loved all the gifts and both were sweet and thanked everyone. After they were done opening gifts, my living room was a disaster! Once my mom and I got all the garbage picked up and Kevin got some of the toys opened, the adults opened their gifts. We all got a a lot of very nice gifts, some funny, some thoughtful, some useful and some fun! I do have to say, the funniest part was my mom and I exchanging gifts and we literally bought each other most of the same stuff! We are so much a like its crazy! (Which is fine with me because my mom is awesome!) We then drank wine/beer and watched the kids play. We did have some intense games of Battle ship....sorry I totally cheated mom! ha ha ha! Around 10 the kids left cookies and milk out for Santa, and off to bed they went!

Christmas morning started at 7:30 for us. Blake was wide awake, running down the hallway, yelling "Santa came! Santa was here!" He was so excited! Brooklyn was woke up by all the excitement! (She probably would have slept a lot longer!) Santa brought Blake a castle with superheros, a game, slippers and race cars! Santa brought Brooklyn a doll house, and accessories, slippers and an Olaf! Brooklyn was so excited when she opened her doll house she said "I dreamed about it!" Both kiddos loved their gifts! We enjoyed the morning with my family and then they were on the road, my parents headed back to Duluth to spend the day with my grandparents and my sister, Morgan headed to Scared Heart to spend the day with her boyfriend Levi. (Hopefully next year he can join us on Christmas Eve, unfortunately this year he was working.)

Christmas afternoon was spent at Kevin's parents house. My mother in law made a delicious meal and we all enjoyed the atmosphere that she creates. From the decorations, the music, the food, the gifts, everything is so festive! She puts so much effort into making Christmas special for all of us, we all appreciate it! The kids once again enjoyed organizing the gifts into piles while they waited for the meal and clean up to be done. Blake tore into his gifts right away, he was excited, but you could see the excitement of the last 24 hours started taking its toll on him, he was so tired. Brooklyn was much the same, opening gifts and studying what she got and then moving on to the next. Blake's favorite toys that he got were the Grave Digger remote control truck, the soccer game and another pirate ship! Brooke's favorite toys were the Anna and Elsa dolls and the princess jewelry! Dave, Linda and Lisa all went above and beyond with all the nice gifts for all of us, thank you all so much! The best part of the day was after all the chaos of gift opening was over and we just sat around and talked and watched the kids play with there toys.

December 26th was spent taking all of our Christmas decorations down! Both Kevin and I like to get it done right away, we put it all up early, maybe that's why. We then spent the rest of the weekend relaxing! Kevin was in the garage working on race cars and building the bodies for both my dads and his mods. My dad also came down Saturday and worked on his car. The kids love having him here! We ordered in pizza and hung out! Saturday I did some shopping for our upcoming vacation and bought some supplies for my new desk and some stuff to organize the kids toys better. Sunday was spent catching up on laundry and working on my new office area downstairs. It was a great weekend, sad its over tho!

Next up we will be headed back to Disney for our annual family vacation, we can't wait!! Blake will be turning 6 in a couple weeks (crazy to think that he's already 6...), Kevin will be headed to Florida to race towards the end of January. The kids, myself and my dad are hoping to book our flights this week so we can sneak down for a long weekend as well.

Happy New Year! Can't believe its 2015 already!!

Extra! Extra! Read all about it!

2015 is right around the corner, here's a recap of what happened in 2014 in the Adams Household:

(Sorry for there won't be any pix in this post!)

Blake (5)
 It was a year of firsts for Blake, he started kindergarten, played spring and fall soccer, a sleepover,  his first 4-wheeler and lost a tooth! Blake has adjusted well to kindergarten, at first we struggled with going to bed early and having to wake up and getting going in the morning. Normally the kiddos have later bedtimes, especially in the summer when we are racing 3 nights a week! Nor have the kids ever had to get up in the morning to go anywhere. Now we have a good routine in place and most mornings Blake is good about getting ready...I say most because some mornings are just rough! Oy! His favorite things at school are lunch with his friends, gym, recess, library and the computer lab. A lot of times he says school is boring, when I ask him why he says because he hates the paper work, which I don't blame him, that is boring! Recently Blake was sent home with homework (in kindergarten!!??) I was a bit annoyed that a 5 year old should have homework, its bad enough that he is in school all day, when he gets home he should be able to just play, spend time with his family and relax! Granted the homework was easy and only took a few minutes...  Blake played soccer this year and LOVED it, he is a natural athlete and very competitive, it was so much fun watching him and how excited and proud he would be when he would score or assist in a goal. Recently we hosted a sleepover for Blake and Brooklyn's best friends Brylee and Jema, we all had fun! They kiddos camped out in the living room and watched Home Alone, they had pizza and cookies with lots of giggles! Surprisingly they were all asleep by 11, which means I was too! Blake has lost 1 tooth and has 2 more loose at the moment. This so far has not been a great experience, Blake hates it! He freaked out about the blood and having a hole in his mouth and hates the feeling of a loose tooth. Luckily the tooth fairy cheered him up. Blake also got his first 4-wheeler and he loves it! He took to it right away and is a bit of a dare devil, which scares me. Blake is still my sensitive, sweet, kind, rough and tough and a bit of an emotional roller coaster boy! Lack of sleep is a real enemy at times, Blake just needs sleep or he is CRABBY! ha! Blake LOVES to play!  He mostly plays with racecars, TMNT (teenage mutant ninja turtles), power rangers, animals (he's a huge animal lover), superheros (batman is a favorite), swords and weapons, he loves to "battle". He also loves watching movies, we recently got Netflix and he loves being able to pick out his favorite shows and movies. Currently his favorite movie is Grease! Grease is my favorite movie and we watched it together one night and ever since he's been hooked! I do have to say I'm so very proud of the boy he's growing up to be. He is polite and well behaved (most of the time!!) and has such a big heart! I love him soooo much!

Brooklyn (3)
Where do I even start when talking about our spunky full of life little girl? I often say that Brooke is in Brooklyn world, she's happy, sweet, silly, full of giggles and sass! She's girly yet loves to play everything that Blake plays. Everyday with Brooke is a surprise and its so much fun listening to her, she has a huge imagination and she makes us smile and laugh everyday! This year was exciting for Brooklyn, she got her first pony Ernie! Brooke and I went to look at him in September and bought him on the spot, we fell in love with him. He is a miniature pony, and the perfect size for Brooke. He is kind and gentle and lets Brooke hug and cuddle him, pull his hair, jump around him and of course learn to ride on him! Brooke absolutely adores and loves him so much, I think he feels the same way, when he's in the barn, he follows her all over, its priceless! Brooke says that he's the bestest pony ever! Brooklyn also started dance lessons this fall, she goes 1 day a week and loves it! Her dance teacher is my friend Keytun and Brooke's best friends Jema and Gracie are in the class with her, they have so much fun. Her first few classes she was a bit of a handful but has since started being a better listener and did a great job learning her dance for her Christmas Dance Recital. The recital was absolutely adorable! Brooke danced a little bit and then mid dance stopped, put her arm up across her forehead to block the lights, to look for us and started waving to us! Everyone laughed! Then she went back to dancing, only my Brooklyn! Brooklyn's days are spent at home with mommy, she loves when Gracie and Jema get here to play all day. She loves to color and do projects, her favorite toys are her dollhouses and the people that go with them, toy horses, barbies and baby dolls (her favorite doll is named Baby Kylie, but she calls it Baby Tylie because she can't say her k's or c's.) Brooklyn loves to help me with anything, she will help me fold clothes, set the table, cook and clean, she just loves being a special helper, I love it! She loves putting on lip gloss and having her fingernails and toenails painted...always pink!  Brooke also loves movies: Cinderella, Frozen (shocker!), Dora, Horseland, Grease, etc.  She is also a HUGE daddy's girl, she has him wrapped around her little finger! I'm so proud of the little girl Brooklyn has grown to be, she makes us step back and really enjoy the little things in life. I lover her soooo much too!

Quote from Brooklyn (summer 2014): Mommy, I wish the world was the color of a rainbow!

Kevin
 2014 was an amazing year for Kevin, personally, professionally and racing wise! After he decided to be done building and selling chassis, a huge weight was lifted from his shoulders, he is much less stressed and back to our easy going, chill and happy Kevin! Buzz Signs had another fantastic year, between lettering racecars and all of the commercial work, Kevin stayed happily busy, which is awesome! Racing was a crazy roller coaster this year, but thankfully ended on the highest of notes, he won the Wissota Modified National Championship! I'm so proud of all his hard work and determination, it really paid off! Kevin started off the year racing in Florida, he had some bad luck and some good luck! From the trip there to the trip home it was crazy, no one would believe everything that went wrong...our new trailer getting delievered in a snow storm and being in a massive pile up in Chicago, borrowing Cory Crapser's trailer and the awning getting blown off going down the highway, terrible track conditions at East Bay, getting rained out, winning at Lake City and finishing very well there to conclude the racing action there, and last but not least the motor on the hauler breaking on the way home! Sadly that would not be the worst of it, in April we lost our good friend and long time pit man, Lefty (Kyle Hansen). Nothing could prepare any of us for that phone call. He is missed and thought of everyday, the racing season was not the same without him, but it gave the boys something to race for, this year was very much for Lefty, he would have been so proud and excited! The normal race season had a lot of lows but the highs outweighed them! Kevin ended up winning the Silver 1000 again this year, and I along with the kids were there to see it! It was pretty exciting to go to my home track and see Kevin win there! (Generally if Kev's races at Proctor or Superior I for whatever reason never get to go!!! ugh!) Kevin also rounded out the year winning his 8th Wissota 100 title! In other news Kevin finished fixing up our new to us pontoon and we were able to enjoy being out on that a few times and we hope to do so more next summer. This fall he was busy re-fencing our pastures for Ernie, four-wheeling and enjoying being home. That is a luxury when he can be home and just hanging out with us in the evenings. Other than that not much else is new, he is now preparing for another trip to Florida come January.

Megan 
This past year was a great year for me as well, it was a happy year for the most part! Work has been great, I'm blessed to work with great kids and great families. We were able to go to Florida 2x once in January and again in February, anyone who knows me knows that Florida with my family is my happy place! Nothing else really comes to mind that really "stands out" that was big and exciting! LOL 

Fun things that we've done as a family in 2014:
Disney World
Speedweeks in Florida
Sea World
MOA
Wisconsin Dells
Science Museum
Como Zoo
Pontoon cruises
Children's Museum

Hopefully in the coming weeks I will be able to update and post pix! I haven't had a usable camera in over a year! I've been just using my iPhone, for Christmas Kevin got me the camera that I wanted along with a new laptop...that I'm using right now! I still need to learn more about my camera and all the options as well as the software...it seems like a daunting task. My new computer is awesome, we were in much need to update our old ones, I love how fast this one is!

Until next time....

A quick hello!

Hello! Wow it's been a while! I haven't forgotten about the blog! I just took a break. Life gets busy and hectic, sometimes there isn't enough hours in the day. I'm hoping to get back to blogging soon! Stay tuned...

April snow storms bring May flowers?

Is this winter ever gonna end? I love winter in December but not so much the end of April! The Adams household has spring fever something fierce!

Honestly I don't remember everything we've been doing for the last month, but its been busy! We all haven't been home for a whole weekend in over a month.

Here's an idea of what we've been up to:
-Easter in Duluth and Cameron- great family time!
-MOA to shop and go on rides with my sister Morgan- we had so much fun!
-Bon Jovi concert- they were awesome!
-Girls day at MOA to get makeup done, lunch and drinks and shopping- fun kid free day!
-Day in cities with Morgan, then drove to Duluth to see my family, then drove home that night = exhausted!
-Took the kids to the roller skating rink- busy and fun time!

Happy Easter!

Blake is going a bit stir crazy, he's ready to be outside all day and RUN! He loves being outside, but I think he's even bored with the snow.  He's kept busy playing TMNT, power rangers, cars, animals, play doe and he loves games and making things.  Blake also loves watching Scooby Doo, Spider man and Batman. Lately Blake has been taking his Nerf guns outside and tries to shoot the birds, this could seriously entertain him for hours. We have him in swim lessons 2 nights a week again, for something to do, he loves going there to play and see his friends, not sure how much he's actually "learning"! Blake is very much missing Kevin right now (Kevin is putting in super long hours) and is ready to have some "guy" time.   And he absolutely will NOT go shopping with me unless its for a new toy or a special treat!

Batman!

Brooklyn, Brooklyn, Brooklyn....where do I even begin!?! She has definitely hit her terrible twos! She will be 2 in just over two months, and is struggling with wanting to be independent and having to do as mommy says. It's becoming quite the battle! She can be cute, funny and as sweet as can be one minute, then all of a sudden she's yelling gibberish or yelling "NO" and throwing a fit for a toy, not wanting to get in her high chair, not wanting to get cleaned up or get her diaper changed. It just depends on the moment how she's going to act. Brooke still loves her baby dolls, doll house, Barbies,  playing outside, our horses and whatever Blake has! Her speech is getting much better, and she's saying a lot more words. Lately she's turned into quite the little snuggle bug, and we love every minute of it! Brooke's favorite cartoon is Bubble Guppies, I love the way she says bubble- it's too cute!

She's saying "NO!" in this picture...

Playing together!

Like I said earlier Kevin is putting in long, long hours, as we are in the heart of his busy season right now. Kevin is leaving early in the morning, comes home for dinner for an hour or so, then back to work until 11 or later.  He's lettering 2-3 cars a day plus his normal everyday work. It's great that he's so busy business wise, however family wise, we miss him!!! The kids are really missing their daddy time, they're used to him being home at 6 for the night, and having him play with them and tuck them into bed. I miss my hubby too! I'm ready for date nights and to curl up and watch a movie with him. Soon we hope :-) Kevin has been managing some time out in the garage to get the race cars ready, however the never ending winter has helped take off some of the pressure and he can take his time a bit!

Racing.... are we really ready to give up our weekends yet?  I know Blake is more than ready, Kevin is on the fence, he wants to race yet wouldn't mind having some time off from work before the season gets under way and Brooke probably doesn't even remember it! And I'm still dreaming of whole weekend of just lounging! ;-)

Me....well work wise I'm staying very busy, as I just filled my last full time daycare opening, so far so good! The kids have all been great, but wow they have been wearing me out, by 9pm I can barely keep my eyes open. Speaking of eyes, about a month ago I got my first pair of glasses. I started noticing things were a bit fuzzy far away ex. road signs and the TV menu. I also recently got my first pair of contacts. I'm not sure how I feel about all of this yet, I love being able to see clearly again, however I feel like this was an aging thing for me. I've always felt young or have been young at heart and this for me for some reason makes me feel old. Silly of me I know. I'm currently looking for new decor for my living and dining rooms. I have a lot of ideas, I just need to find or make the pieces, it's a work in progress! Pinterest has me wanting to change everything!  Kevin and I also decided we ll be getting new furniture next year (yay- its picked out!) Not this year as I AM getting a outdoor riding arena and quite a few updates to my barn!! FINALLY!! I'm just about done summer clothes shopping for the kids, summer is bound to get here sooner or later, right? That's about all that's been going on for me other then cooking, cleaning, doing laundry, grocery shopping and running errands.....oh how exciting this must sound! I cant wait for the warmer weather, I'm ready to go on some nice long walks and ride my horses.

Last fall and early winter, we were going to church regularly, now as things have gotten a little busier we haven't gone as much and to be honest I'm a little disappointed in that, as I truly enjoy going and being there. We belong to such a wonderful church, the people are welcoming and genuine and Pastor Ned is one of the most kindest of people. Recently videos of Sunday service have been put on the church's website, which I enjoy watching, but its just not the same as being there. So this Sunday I WILL round up the family and be there. It's such a great way to start the week!

Blessings to you all, until next time!

March comes in like a lion and out like a lamb!

I sure hope so because I've had enough of cold and snow, bring on spring!

It's been a while since my last post and we've been busy, trying to make the most out of our weekends and family time.

February was a busy month for this household:

Kevin raced in Florida for two weekends and did very good. The nights I was there, we were at East Bay and are the only ones I remember how he did: Thursday- rainout, Friday- motor broke and Saturday- 2nd. He tried eveything and anything to get the lead, it was awesome to watch! (You know what else was awesome? The nightly strawberry shortcake I had for dinner each night at the track! Well I was on vacation....;-)  I flew down with Matt Leer on Thursday and we all were headed home Monday, so my time was limited and I made the most of it! Since the guys worked on the cars all day, I was on my own.....so peaceful! Friday I found a county beach not far from the track, it wasn't on the ocean (I could see it tho!) but it was a white sandy beach, so wonderful anyway. I spent the day reading and relaxing. Saturday once the guys were gone I drove to St. Pete and LOVED every moment of the blue water and white sandy beach, it was a most perfect day! Sunday we drove to Orlando and went to Universal Studios, (gasp we didn't go to Disney World! Even though I would have gladly went there!) Kevin and I haven't been there since our Honeymoon in 2007, it was exciting to go back! Kevin, Matt and I went to the Island of Adventure side to ride the roller coasters and Dave and Jim went to the movie ride side. We had a blast, what a great last day of vacation! Until we drove back to Gibsonton and went and saw the dumbest, most ridiculous movie, I've ever seen....Djuango (sp?). Needless to say I'll never get those 2 hours back again! Monday we packed up and headed home bright and early.... We were ready to be home and see Blake and Brooke!

Valentines Day I turned the big 2-7! My twenties are flying by, I never thought I'd be this "old" even though its not even old! I just assumed time would go by way slower or something, just wishful thinking I guess. Kevin and the kids made the day very special, with cards, flowers, cookies, cake and gifts!  What a wonderful day spent with the most important people to me, I'm so blessed!

LOL Blake and his goofy smile!

We took the kids to the Wisconsin Dells for a fun getaway one weekend at the end February, we stayed at the Wilderness. The hotel was beautiful and there was a ton of stuff to do! We all had a blast! Our kids are fearless and love the water, they kept us busy as they rarely were both in the same spot. The hotel had 3 water parks which was fun, just a little inconvienent with them being so far apart. I think our favorite was the park with the wave pool, it was warm and sunny and fun just to play. Blake and Kevin were able to play lazer tag, Blake is still talking about it! Blake and Brooke both painted a plate and put their handprints on it, such great keepsakes and a great activity after such busy days! We also played in huge climbing playground thing. Great memories were made.

Our church had a blood drive a couple weeks ago and Kevin and I both donated blood. I'm glad we did, as it was interesting to learn about why its so important and how blood is constantly needed. I would definitely donate again. And kudos to the ladies who provided all the food afterwards!!

This past weekend we had the Rice Lake Speedway banquet, it was a lot of fun! Kevin won the points and my dad got 2nd.  There was a great turnout of people, I just wish I could have gotten a chance to talk to more people, the night flew by! I loved that Scott, the announcer did random interviews throughout the awards ceremony, it's interesting to hear what the racers have to say and how serious some get! Congrats to all the top 10 finishers and the Rookies!

Kevin and I at the banquet.

Most of the top 5 in Mods

Doug Zimmerman, the retired track photograhper, Kevin and my dad!

Now on to the most important updates.....our kids!

Blake! My sweet boy, he's still full of energy, loves his cars, trains, ninja turtles, action figures, swords and nerf guns! He would be outside all day if I let him, yet he's a lounger and loves his cartoons, movies and a good snuggle with mom! We had pre-k sign up in February and Blake really enjoyed seeing the school and playing in the classrooms. Both teachers seemed great, which eased my mind some. Granted, I know I will be mess come September, I love spending my days with Blake and will miss him like crazy! A few weeks ago Blake started swim lessons and he's doing awesome! He's so much more brave then he was in the October lessons. It's fun watching him in another environment with other kids. Other than that he has hasn't been up to too much else, just very much ready for spring, he keeps asking to eat snack outside!


Blake!

On to our wild child...Brooklyn Lilly! Oh my are we going to have our hands full. She is this sweet, adorable little girl with a BIG personaility and lots of attitude! She is all girl, from her side pony tail aka her "pretty" to her pink necklace to her favorite leopard print skirt and her favorite boots..her Uggs. She is full of giggles and big smiles, and lots of hugs and kisses for her family, especially her daddy (she's got daddy wrapped around her little finger!). She is silly and loves to be the center of attention and be crazy! She sings and dances, makes animal sounds (the funniest one is her lion sound, huge LOL).She is also talking quite a bit, her favorite word ever is : "NO!" Oh and do not make her mad, the girl has a set of lungs on her and you will hear about it! Brooke loves to "hide" she grabs your hand and whispers "hide" once we go hide she giggles and makes sure Blake can find us! Her favorite toys are her baby's (never is she without one), her princess dollhouse, rocking horse and any toy that is Blake's! Brooke LOVES to play swords with her brother. She's the toughest princess! The kids are finally getting to a stage where they can play together, its fun to watch!

Miss Brooke!

Making chocolate chip cookies!

Thats all for now! Enjoy your day!

Getting back to Normal

The holidays are passed as is our vacation, we are reluctantly getting back into our routine. We're trying to enjoy winter but there's not to much outside to enjoy! If its going to be cold and grey, it should at least snow and be pretty to look at!

Two weeks ago we were in Florida for 6 days and it was beautiful! Warm and sunny everyday... Our kind of vacation. The trip went great, it was the 4 of us as well as my mom, who was the "nanny", its so nice going on vacation with the kids knowing we get to have breaks and time for ourselves. Brooke did pretty good being cooped up in a small area on a plane, a minor 6 minute meltdown (my mother timed it!) after getting woke up by someone bumping into Kevin as she slept. Blake was awesome, he eats his snacks, watches his movies and plays with his toys, so content! 

Our vacation agenda went somewhat like what we did last year: arrive and settle in on Sunday,  Hollywood Studios on Monday, Magic Kingdom on Tuesday, Epcot on Wednesday and Animal Kingdom on Thursday and sadly home on Friday. 

Since we've been there quite a bit, I planned a few things they we've never done. We always stay at the Grand Floridian and we have never eaten at any of the restaurants there (besides the awesome room service and the "quick" service restaurant) so Monday morning we had breakfast at 1900 Park Fare, with Winnie the Pooh, Alice in Wonderful and Mary Poppins. Blake loved it, and meeting all the characters, Brooke on the other hand was terrified of them! She would cry and cling to me. Poor baby! For the rest of us it was nice to see something new! Hollywood Studios was much the same as last year, we did go to the Indiana Jones show and the kids seemed to enjoy it. We got to see Chip n Dale, Blake was so happy to see them! Kevin took Blake on the Star Wars ride, and attempted to go on the Toy Story ride but it broke down while they were standing in the 90 minute long line. While they were going on rides Brooke and I went to Disney Junior Live on Stage, Brooke danced and clapped and waved the whole time! Her favorite part was the bubbles tho! We went back to the hotel early and the kids napped. Kevin and I went back to the park for the thrill rides, we also walked to the Boardwalk which we've never been too, it was neat too see. After that we went to Downtown Disney for some delicious Fultons and shopping! We had a great day and night!

Tuesday Blake had an appointment at The Pirates League, where they turn your kid into a pirate! He had a scar put on his face, a tattoo, and the whole costume! Blake was really quiet and shy, he didn't get much sleep the night before so he was bit outta of it! He was happy about the sword he got and the sword fight he got to have with a pirate! Brooke wore her Cinderella dress, she's too young to go to the Bibbi Bobbi Boutique but she still had to be a princess! And the ladies at the pirates thing doted on her, they painted her nails and played with her! We were able to go on most of the rides before heading back to the hotel for naps. Before we left the kids found the water area and burned off some energy running through it, it was a perfect Florida day! Blake loved the kids roller coaster and well all the rides! Brooke loved the Dumbo ride and the carousal. Once back at the hotel I took Brooke back to our room while Kevin got lunch with  Blake, when he got to our room his key didn't work, apparently he knocked quietly at first since Brooke was sleeping, then as I didn't answer he started pounding on the door and yelling at me through the door, while Blake was yelling for mommy to answer the door cause he had to pee! The housekeeper happened to see this and told Kevin it wasn't his room, Kevs insisted it was, so the lady opened the door to the empty room.... Cause my hubby was in the wrong building! Ha ha ha! All the buildings to the hotel look the same in his defense. However I think this was hilarious, especially as I sat and enjoyed a wonderful quiet lunch! After everything settled down we went back to Magic Kingdom and finished up all the things we wanted to do, Blake even went on his first big kid roller coaster, he laughed, giggled and screamed the whole time...it was a hit! 

We went to Epcot on Wednesday and spent all day there! I loved it, however it got too long for the kids and we had a few meltdowns along the way. We got to go to the aquarium, the Finding Nemo ride,  on Test Track, on Soarin', 2 boat rides as well as a quick walk through the countries. We ate at the Garden Grill restaurant, it was a revolving restaurant with Mickey, Pluto and Chip n Dale. The food wasn't very good but the experience was fun! (Trying new things :-) We then headed back to the hotel for some much needed sleep!

Animal Kingdom is where we spent our last day, we went on the safari ride, saw some animals, went to the Lion King show as well as some Dinosaur rides. It was a nice easy day, we were able to see everything we wanted and head back to the hotel early. The kids napped/ rested while Kevin and I snuck out and rented a 2 person little boat and cruised the lagoon around our hotel, it was a blast! (Again something new!) We definitely want to do that again! After our "cruise" we went and had drinks at the pool bar, it was so relaxing! We did some more shopping, then grabbed the kids and back to Magic Kingdom we went! Blake loved the Buzz Lightyear ride, we went on it a couple more times. We also went on the People Mover, my mom and I discovered it on Tuesday so I wanted to bring Kevin on it. Again something new and it's a relaxing ride and you get a good look at the park! Sadly we had to head back to the hotel, we took the boat back to our hotel, the kids loved it!


Blake and Tow Mater!

 

Both kids got a Duffy Bear, he's the Disney Bear!
 

Happiness!

Brooke loved the horsey and cried when the ride was all done!

Cold water on a hot day!

Blake and Brooke loved running around!

Cute!

 



Meeting Duffy for the first time!

 

Donald duck is number 1!

Fianlly not scared of Mickey!

One of our only pix of us from our vacation!

Friday we packed up and headed home, much to mine and Blake's dismay! Blake wanted to stay for 55 more days, me too! The flight home went good, Brooke slept most of the time and only fussed a bit, Blake of course was awesome! Home sweet home we are!

 Blake turned 4 last Wednesday! My baby boy is a big boy so he tells me! The Sunday we came home we had his birthday party, it was Spider-Man themed! He had a cupcake "cake" which was awesome, definitely doing that again! Anyway he got a lot of neat gifts: remote control car, soccer ball and basketball, Power Ranger toys, Jake and the Never land Pirates ship and accessories, a tractor and clothes and slippers...which he and Brooke loved! We went and got Brooke a pair too! Blake also had a daycare party with his friends. The day of his actual birthday I made him special chocolate chip Mickey Mouse pancakes with sprinkles...yikes! We took him to Apple bee's for his birthday dinner, he loved the treat he got but was shy when they sang to him, in fact whenever he was sung to he got shy! We came home and he opened 2 more gifts, a marshmallow gun and a Mr. Potato head! One last cupcake before bed and off to dream land for him! I think he had a great 4th birthday!

4 years old already!

An attempt at a family pic!

Blake is still into ninja turtles and power rangers as well as cars and weapons, he loves to fight with swords and chase you! He loves to lounge and watch movies and will beg or whine every night for a movie! Sorry kiddo Friday and Saturday night only! He has a huge imagination and loves to pretend, he's always coming up with things to play with his friends, I love watching and listening to him. He also loves books and story time. Blake almost has his phone number memorized and we're still working on writing his name (no patience!) and better listening ears! Last weekend Blake and Kevin had a boys day and went to Monster Jam, sounds like they had fun...Blake has been renacting what he saw with his monster trucks all week! Next up for Blake is pre-k registration, some day he's excited to go school other days he doesn't cause he wants to stay with mommy!

Brooklyn! What can I say? She's the sweetest little spitfire! Her personality is a blessing, she's silly and sweet, a ball of energy with a smile always. She's quiet and loud and a bit dramatic, all girl is our princess!  Brooke loves to play in Blake's room, with her 2 baby dolls and blankie by her side, she loves her purse and baby stroller to haul around all of her little treasures she finds. She loves shoes, especially her little "ugg" boots, she loves to go places, shopping, daddy's shop or grandmas, she just likes to be out and about! Brooke is constantly making messes and gets into everything she's not suppose to be in, like scaling the gate, going up stairs, closing the gate at the top of the stairs and going to play in her room while I did daycare dishes! She loves playing with her daycare friends and trying to keep up with her brother. Brooke is saying a few more words and still tries really hard to say certain things, she says: mama, dada, ba (Blake), hi, di (bye), juice, please, kitty, this, horsey, yay, this and no. She babbles a lot and can do most of the animal sounds we learn at circle time. Brooke was a mama's girl on vacation and is back to being a daddy's girl at home. She's still not much of a snuggler but gives lots of a hugs and kisses and will sit and read her princess or pooh book. 

Such a happy girl!

 

Kevin has been spending time in his new shop, there's still a few things he needs to get but all in all he has just about everything to make it a functioning shop! Just in time, he can now get his cars ready for the season before his busy season at work hits. Kevin has changed his plans...he is racing in Florida this year, as of right now I'm not sure how long he will be gone, but he will be racing for someone down there. Which is awesome as a lot less to do with not having to haul our stuff down! Kevin, his dad, Jim and Matt Leer and me are the lucky ones that get to leave wintry Wisconsin for the sunshine state.

I've been staying very busy, like always! I'm a still on a mission to "re-do/redecorate" our house. I find that now that I'm getting older my tastes are changing, a lot of things that we have I picked out when I was 19 and for a different house. Lots of ideas, just need to put them all together. I did end up redoing all the decor in my master bath, as I wanted it to be "spa" like and relaxing, so now its all cream and pale green....I love it! Next up I want to do our master bedroom, I found some beautiful bedding that I loved but I'm not sure that I want to spend that much money on it as it is expensive and my comforters seem to wear out quickly. I've also been buying a few things for the kitchen/living room area, those will be my last rooms to do. And I'm kind of lost as to what direction I want to go in. I've even considered hiring a designer to help :-/  Other than that I've been busy with work, all of the kids keep me busy, it just makes for long days and I'm beat by 8! I got a Kindle for Christmas and I've been reading a TON, that was probably one of the best gifts I've ever gotten. Last weekend Brooke and I went to Duluth for a little r&r and shopping. We had a great time and I think she really enjoyed being the "only" kid. I wish I would have stayed longer but dang it was nasty cold up there. Brrr! My mom and I are going to be planning a weekend getaway just the 2 of us, sometime in the next month, I can't wait as I am a girl that needs her mama.

Have a wonderful week!