Disney 2018

    It has been a little over two years since our last Disney World trip.  We have all been longing to go back.  We decided that this fall would be the perfect time go since Ashlyn is starting middle school next year and it may harder for her to miss a week of school.  One of the most important things I did for the first time ever was to hire a Disney planner, Tracey.  I found the most amazing one ever and I can't stress enough how helpful she was.  I still got to do all my favorite parts of planning, but I didn't have to do the not so fun parts like waking up at 4:00 a.m. to book dining reservations or fast passes.  Tracey went so above and beyond and she was like having a personal assistant and I could email her and she would respond almost immediately.  I know a ton about Disney since we have been so much, but Tracey knows even more and was so knowledgeable.
   We had originally planned on going in September like we always do.  We weren't able to get any of the free dining for the Yacht Club in September.  That is the biggest reason we go in September is to take advantage of free dining.  Tracy found an amazing deal for us in December instead.  We have never been to Disney at Christmas time and we all decided that it sounded pretty appealing.  We were all especially excited to avoid the sweltering heat that we have experienced every September.
    Even with a Disney planner, I still spent a lot of time planning and figuring our trip.  ( I am not complaining at all as Disney trip planning is one of my favorite things ever!) Our trip seemed so far away, but finally, finally, it was December and the time had come for us to our trip!
    The kids (and adults) were all so excited.  Gracie did not remember the last time she was there and she was so excited to experience everything.  She is also now at a good height where she can ride the fun rides.  In the two year since we had been there, they had opened the Avatar Land and Toy Story Land.  We all couldn't wait to ride brand new rides.  I don't think the kids have ever been as excited for a trip before.  As I have done every time before, I will be writing some detailed posts about our trip.  Joey always has them published as book and we love looking back and getting to relive visiting one of our favorite places on earth.
    I am making it my goal over winter break to get all the posts written (I also have a master's thesis that really needs my attention).  I will do my best to meet my goal!

Emmy at 11 Months

  Here is our silly little girl at 11 months old .

Fall Festivals and School Field Trip

      Our community center held a fall festival this year.  It was on a Saturday, and I was unfortunately in school all day.  The weather was really nice, so Joey and the kids walked down to the community center for some fall fun. They said they had a great time.  They got their faces painted, picked out a pumpkin, and got to bounce on some bounce houses.  Our community center puts on some really nice events.  We are lucky to live in such an incredible community.

The fall masterpiece that Dawson created.  Joey put it in a frame so we can display it every fall.

  At Gracie's preschool, they go on several field trips through out the year.  Their first field trip was to a local pumpkin patch.  I was working that day, but Joey got to go along.  Gracie had a great time with all her school friends.  They had some inflatable blob that Joey said she just jumped and jumped on.  She immediately fell asleep in the car ride home.

Gracie and her classmates

Nap time on the car ride home!

    The next week, Gracie's preschool had a Dad's pumpkin carving night. They got to bring their pumpkins to carve with their dads and then have ice cream sundaes.  Grace just loved getting to have a special night with her dad.

Cub Scouts

     Dawson is in Cub Scouts again this year.  Joey is the den leader again which is actually a pretty demanding role.  He has to organize a lot and plan a lot of different activities for the scouts.  Dawson has done some fun stuff this year so far.
    One weekend, he had his rain gutter regatta.  They had to make boats and then they raced them down rain gutters by blowing on them.  Dawson had a great time racing his Iron Man themed boat that he made with Joey.

   In early October, Joey and Dawson went on a Cub Scout campout. They had been looking forward to it for weeks.  As the campout got closer, the weather forecast was not looking good.  The hight overnight was predicted to be 33 degrees and the high was 42 degrees.  Joey got lots of cold weather gear and they had a heater for their tent. They said it was pretty cold, but they had a good time.    

Their tent that Dawson got to help set up

Ella and Jameson are also in Scouts.  Ella is one of the first girl scouts which I think it pretty cool.  

Joey looking cold

Breakfast in the cold

  At another meeting, they created wooden motor scooters.  

    For another den meeting, Joey arranged a trip to a local firehouse.  The firefighters showed the kids around and they got to see what life is like for a firefighter.  Dawson said his favorite part was going inside the firetruck.