Disney 2019!

Disney 2019

We made our trip to Florida!  We drove for 2 days and arrived at Disney. We were greeted by some of Peter's family. We went to Magic Kingdom on Monday and Tuesday, Animal Kingdom on Wednesday, and Universal Studios on Thursday.  We spent Friday and Saturday in Bradenton (Sarasota area) with family. Then driving back home for 2 days.  The entire trip went really well and I am so thankful we were able to go! 

 Ella was ready for all the roller coasters. Ty was ready for the ones he was tall enough to ride. He was cool and calm on the rides. Cort was nervous for many of the rides and roller coasters were out of the question.  Tripp was all in for everything.  He was on every roller coaster he was tall enough for, with a huge smile on his face.  

As far as the characters were concerned, Ella Ty and Cort enjoyed meeting them. Tripp only wanted to meet Goofy.  He met Goofy at dinner and then didn't say hi to another character for the rest of the week!

We have so many pictures, but here are a few!

Travel Day - Tripp listening to music

Arrived!

Our first night at Disney in our Mickey pj's

Magic Kingdom Day 1!

We did go swimming at the hotel Monday evening. 

Magic Kingdom Day 2

Our character dinner!

Tripp met Goofy and then didn't say hi to another character the rest of the week.

Ty liked to leave messages in our Lion King room

Ella in the favorite chair. Our Lion King room was fantastic. There was a bedroom with a queen bed and its own bathroom. The sofa bed slept 2 and the table was a murphy bed that came down and slept 2.  Along with a kitchenette and a second bathroom.  All of it was excellent for the 6 of us!

Animal Kingdom day 3

More characters but no Tripp :)

Peter and Ella did the Expedition Everest roller coaster and got a picture, complete with effects!

Tree of Life

Our hotel table that is also a murphy bed

 The favorite chair

More notes from Ty and his stuffed animal friends.

Universal Studios Day 4 was Valentines Day!

Someone with a drone wrote this in the sky while we were there.

Cort and Tripp

Everyone but Cort rode the Slinky Dog Dash ride and loved it! Tripp looked so little in the seat!

Ice Cream for lunch... it happens!

The Incredibles movie area!

 

And then we left Disney and headed to Bradenton, Florida

Our hotel entrance/exit!

Day 5 in Bradenton - we did some swimming at the hotel, the went to the ocean to find shells and have a picnic at sunset!

Day 6  We went to look for Manatees but saw some really big fish and stingrays. We also did more swimming, then had dinner and watched the original Star Wars for the first time!

Thank you Gma and Gpa for this time in Florida with you! We certainly enjoyed it all!!

New Years Eve

New Years Eve! We took a day trip to Chicago and went to the museum of Science and Industry.  The trains and farm equipment and submarine were a big hit, but the mirror maze was today's favorite!

Peter, Ty and Tripp in the wind tunnel

Tripp wasn't a fan, so he found his way out before it was done. Quite the problem solver.

In the mirror maze! 

Dinner downtown!  Tripp was a little tire and grumpy but perked up when his french fries arrived!

 

Dec 2018

December was fun and very busy! Ty and Cort sang in church with the Sunday School before Christmas.  There were also parties with family over Christmas.

Tripp had his first dentist appointment and it went wonderfully!!

Decorating Christmas cookies! 

Ella had her first band performance. They did Christmas songs at lunchtime for the school and parents to enjoy!

The school does an annual fundraising event called the Jingle Jog.  Ella, Ty and Cort all participated this year.  They run in the school gym for 12 minutes.

Cort was so excited! Smiling every time he ran by!

Ty is running and waving in the red shirt and antler headband.  Tripp is running a few laps with him in the blue shirt and jeans.  Tripp was very focused and determined!

 

We had a new cap put on our chimney. Thanks to our mason for some awesome ariel shots! (We had a rather large lift to accomplish this chimney repair)

 Peter sold his truck too.  This toyota was impressive!  Over 320,000 miles and many trips to camp. It was slightly sentimental to me, but not so much for Peter.

The last day of school before Christmas break was the class parties.  I was fortunate to have Tripp spend the day with Grandma while I made it to Ella's, Ty's and Cort's parties.

I don't get creative very often, but we did have some Christmas tree waffles on Saturday morning. The waffles are green (even though it's hard to tell in the picture).  There is a banana star and bacon trunk.  Pinterest win today.

Christmas Day was filled with joy! 

Grandpa and Grandma DW came over with some exciting news about a trip we are all going on! 

More fall 2018

In addition to fall soccer and house projects, we also had other adventures.  We did fall camping which turned out to be rather cool and rainy, but we had a great time.  The boys did some fishing in the rain while Ella and I played cards in the car. We warmed up in the camper with hot chocolate!

There were many school activities too.  Tripp had his first special helper day and we went on a walking field trip.  Cort had his "Up in Lights" week where he told his class about himself.  Ty had his "Wonderfully Made" week where he also told his class about himself.  There was also Grandparents day for all 4 kids.  We have a lot of loving Grandparents that came over the 2 days! Halloween was fun and we came home with LOTS of candy! The boys took swimming lessons and Tripp had his first class.  At the end of the 6 week session the teacher wrote that Tripp is very confident in the water and Tripp thinks he can swim already!  That is our little Trippy! Very confident, but a long way to go before he can swim on his own!  It was mom's turn to run on Thanksgiving Day. Training was a little last minute but I was happy with how it went.

 

Cort jumping in

Tripp jumping in

Ella is a soccer player, Ty is Batman, Cort is Buzz Lightyear, and Tripp is a penguin

 

Tripp on special helper day

 Tripp's Grandparents Day with Nana

Mom's turn to run Thanksgiving morning. The family braved the cold to come and cheer me on.

During Corts Up in Lights week Grandma DW came and read a Christmas story to the class!

Fall 2018

Fall was filled with activities including taking a tree down.  Peter and the boys filled the hole with dirt and reseeded it!  Tripp used his backhoe loader to help! All 3 boys were shoveling the dirt from the back of dad's truck. They were selling tomatoes from the garden as well!

Soccer

We have been staying busy this fall!  Ella and Ty played rec soccer again this fall and Cort played his first season of soccer as well.  Saturday mornings were soccer-palooza!

Cort

Ella

Ty