A Post About Nothing

Did you catch the sitcom reference? It's one of our all time favorites. So much so, we had to find the restaurant made famous by it while we were in NYC last year!

The boys start soccer practice next week.We went to the kick-off meeting last night, and Daniel was excited to wear his brand new "cleaks."

They're playing in a small church league and the age range is kind of wide, so they'll actually be on the same team... with Zack as their coach! While it will probably be tough for Daniel having to play with the big kids, it has its advantages, too. It means only one night of practice each week, which is huge. It means he'll have a coach that understands him, which is big. He'll already know two of the players on his team: William and their friend Samuel. And he'll have more opportunities to learn from William in this format. 

There's nothing else in particular of interest to post about right now, so here's a mix of random pictures from the last few weeks...

William came and 'worked' with me for about an hour yesterday.

Zack picked up some bongos at a pawn shop last week. The boys love them. This was a Saturday morning jam session. I'm not sure if they were singing Chris Tomlin or Maroon 5 :)

We got our Disney photo book in the mail last week, and it turned out great! It was kind of expensive, but worth it to have a way to remember an incredible trip.

I love this pic of my three favorite guys at the Magic Kingdom... eating my favorite dessert, a Dole Whip!

Here's a pic of us with my brother, SIL, and kids. I'm so glad we got to share some memories while we were there!

Disney

We're back, and the trip was great! We've actually been back for over a week, but I had oral surgery (impacted wisdom tooth) the morning after we got back, so I've been a little under the weather from that. Thankfully, I'm feeling much better now.

We spent one day at each of the four Disney parks in Orlando. We rode almost every ride that was open, and saw quite a few shows as well. We got the boys on some super scary rides. Sometimes they ended up really enjoying them. A couple of times we had to wipe a few tears (I know, we're terrible parents). We ate lots of good food, laughed a lot, walked a lot, and made some wonderful memories. We really did have a fantastic time! Here are about 2 dozen of the hundreds of pictures we took during our four park days...



Their first mouse ears!



The Claw!

Sci-Fi Dine-in Theater



Pop-Century Resort



William's favorite character



Daniel did NOT like Mission: Space
(honestly, it made Zack me feel a little sick, too! We rode the orange
instead of green, and it was intense!)




Norway




Germany



China

Our Vikings



Just outside of France




Japan



Epcot

Safari at Animal Kingdom
(these guys walked right up to our jeep!)

Elephant!



More Safari fun (this was the first thing we rode. Positive: no
line; Negative: some of the animals weren't awake yet)



Animal Kingdom



Final day was at Magic Kingdom - the
day everyone had been waiting for!



I remember a picture of Zack & me here back in '96.
Wish I could find it!



Added bonus: got to spend a couple of hours
with my brother, SIL & the cousins at MK!



Watching "Dream Along with Mickey" in
front of Cinderella's castle



Defnitely a trip to remember!

Where Dreams Come True

I don't think I ever wrote about William and Daniel's big Christmas surprise. We were trying to minimize the amount of 'stuff' they got for Christmas. Because they have too much and don't play with half of it. Because space is limited these days. And because we're working towards a more simplified lifestyle. There are other reasons as well, but those were the main ones.

Daniel & William wearing their Harry Potter scarves
Aren't they great? My cousin & aunt have an Etsy shop
and this is just one of many cool items they sell.


We've also been wanting to take them to Disney World. We wanted them to be old enough to remember the trip, but young enough to still really appreciate and enjoy it. So we decided that would be their big Christmas gift. Way bigger than we'd normally give because let's face it: the Mouse is all about the green. But it doubles as a vacation so it worked out well!

We leave for Disney soon. I cannot wait! We'll spend one day at each of the four parks. And we'll have some much-needed time away, just the four of us. No work. No school. No extra responsibilities. Just making memories.

In preparation, the boys have been watching some Disney movies. Since they have only been in America a short time, they aren't thatfamiliar with all the Disney characters. They know the guys from Cars and Toy Story, and they love Lilo & Stitch (side note: I think Daniel and Stitch have a lot in common). So we borrowed lots of Disney classics from some sweet friends, and we've been giving them a crash course on characters and plots.

Watch for more in the next couple of weeks, as I share about our Disney adventures!

Spring Break: Saturday & the long road home

Tim & Lisa live really close to the Arlington County Fire Department. So before we left Saturday, we walked over to visit. When we got there things were really quiet. I'd heard the sirens a couple of times during the night, so we figured the crew was probably getting some much-needed sleep. So instead of bothering them, we just looked around and took some pictures.

A piece of one of World Trade Center towers

A piece of one of World Trade Center towers

A piece of the Pentagon - ACFD was the first fire department on the scene at the Pentagon on September 11

After that, we hit the road, around 10:45. It was a fairly pleasant trip home. Stopped at Friendly's for lunch (because we don't have those at home). I told Zack I'd drive for a while so he could rest. And wouldn't you know it? It hadn't really rained much at all in all of our driving. But put me behind the wheel, and we get into a huge storm, complete with black-as-night skies, earth-shaking thunder, lighting and hail! Thankfully, no damage was done. We stopped later for dinner, and then were home by around 9:15 that night.

It was a great trip, full of fascinating sites, lots of history, tons of good food, and lots of fun! While I think Daniel would be much better suited for a lazy beach vacation, I also think everyone had a great time!

Spring Break: Friday, finishing up in DC

We had a great night's sleep at Tim & Lisa's. The weather forecast called for rain pretty much all day, and we heard it when we woke up.

We walked to the train station in not much more than a drizzle. We took the Metro back to the Smithsonian station. First stop, the Air & Space Museum.

Besides seeing some really cool stuff, the boys were thrilled to buy astronaut ice cream!

Soviet Missile

While the weather was somewhat cooperative, we decided to walk to the capitol and the White House.
The walk to the capitol was very pleasant...

 But just as we got to the White House, the rain began falling... harder & harder.

So we grabbed some lunch and headed to the American History museum.

Apparently, everyone else in DC had the same idea. I've never seen one of those museums so packed. Probably partly because of the rain, partly because it was a lot of school groups hitting the museums one last time before traveling home, partly becaues people knew if the government shut-down happened later that night, the Smithsonians would be closed the next day.

So our visit to the American History museum was brief, but we got to see some cool things. Most of these are pop culture pics.

After the museum, we got to do something that was the highlight of our entire trip. Lisa took us on a private tour of the Pentagon! We were there for probably 2 hours and it was fascinating. Unfortunately, no pictures allowed, but trust me - it was awesome!

We went back to Tim & Lisa's and waited for Lisa to get home from work. Then we all hopped on the Metro and headed to Ben's Chili Bowl for dinner - a restaurant made famous by Bill Cosby, it's also been visited by tons of other celebrities. Even President Obama stopped in to eat just a couple of weeks before his inauguration. A greasy spoon joint for sure, but it was yummy junk food!

Tim & Daniel on the Metro

If you ever go, be sure to order a Chili Half Smoke