Valentine's & President's Weekend

I love long weekends and to have beautiful snow to go with it....perfection!  I had to wait a day or so to actually  make snowmen with the kids.  Olivia and Zach spent some time with the grandparents.  Dave's flight arrived from Seattle Saturday afternoon despite hundreds of flights that were cancelled going out of Atlanta.  Sunday, we still had plenty of snow to go around to build and play.  Our four snowmen are still with us on Tuesday.
Happy Valentine's Day as well.  With school parties on Monday (for Zach) and Friday (for Olivia) we had quite a bit of that "loving feeling" and candy to show for it.  While working on their Valentine cards, Zach asked Olivia if she wanted to make a card for Ryan (he's in Zach class, therefore younger than Olivia) and she responded "sure".  She likes them younger (for now) and she's nonchalant - exactly the way you need to be, dear Olivia.  Zach on the other hand was only concerned about the Transformer on each Valentine card - and which "dude" would  think this one was cool.  The parties were fun and festive and led into a nice, long weekend.  We, as a family, enjoyed a nice dinner at our favorite spot, FIGO.

For President's Day, Olivia and Zach were out of school. Dave thought he may have a snow day, but Monday morning arrived without any of the white the stuff.  So...he decided to to take a 1/2 day off - works for us!  Zach, Olivia and I spent the morning leisurely exploring Hobby Town and the aquarium store.  The kids never seem to bore of those two places!  The afternoon led to bike riding at the local park.  I finally, yes, finally was able to ride the bike I received for Christmas (well after Valentine's Day).  We ordered a bike rack for all four bikes and were waiting anxiously on the rack so we could all ride.  Except, Olivia doesn't like to ride.  I may have to leave her home next time :-)  Also, I'm not sure I will be installing that huge bike rack by myself during the week.  I hope I'm not one of those people who gets a bike and never rides it (push me...)  Our President's Day holiday was topped off with bowling.  We have only bowled at kids' birthday parties, but thought it would be a nice way to warm up after bike riding in frigid temperatures.  I wish we had a video of Zach's first bowls!  He would toss the ball and slide on his knees.  He got a strike this way... Go Zach.  He won the first round (between he and Olivia) and she won the last round.  From our very first attempt at bowling a year or so ago, which encompassed kids glued to my legs, whining, shy, to this time around, I will say we have made leaps and bounds when it comes to bowling.  Olivia was so proud of herself.  Zach is competitive and so, he had to eat some humble pie.  It was a nice way to spend the day off of school and work - with family!

Do you like Olivia's Snuggie?  Now, when is spring arriving?  

Mike turns 40....

Casino Night to celebrate my brother-in-law's 40th Birthday?  We are in!  My sister (s) pulled off a great party Saturday night.  Typically, I do not like to gamble.  I love card games with friends, board games, drinking games, you name it.  Dave and I started out on the craps table, which is a new game to me, and we were there for 3 short, so very short, hours.  Three more hours were needed because we were having so much fun.  It's always nice to learn on fake money :-)

Mike turned 40, we all have a blast, danced and I took lots and lots of pictures.  We are all going on a cruise for Kim and Karen's 40th birthday in April.  I say, if we get to have this much fun, why don't you turn 40 again next year?  I'm just saying....

Disney, 24 Hours of Daytona racing & more teeth!

As Dave and I are driving home from a whirl wind of a weekend, we are enjoying two happy campers in the back seat - asleep, of course.  Starting out Thursday afternoon (and a lost front tooth), we drove to Orlando.  The kids thought the hotel room was the coolest ever and they convinced themselves they have stayed in this hotel before.  We have not, but who are we to argue with two very excited, sweet kids?!  Friday morning we awoke to thoughts of Disney's Magic Kingdom and were wondering how soon we would be inside the park. 

Friday was a perfect day.  The weather was in the 70's, partly cloudy with very little crowds in the park.  We were at The Magic Kingdom from 9 am - 8 pm and the kids were wonderful.  Of course, we knew to feed them to keep energy levels up and it worked!  We rode almost all of the rides (minus Space Mountain).  Yes, all in one day!  We even had time to stop and play on Pooh's playground.  I rode the Thunder Mountain roller coaster by myself that evening and it was scary!  Oh my gosh.  We spent 10 minutes trying to convince Olivia and Zach to ride it to no avail - smart kids.  The ride was spectacular because we had a full moon on Friday and as I came out of the upper tunnel, the entire sky was filled with the full moon, Cinderella's Castle (lit up) and Thunder Mountain.  I wish I could have taken a photo, but as you can imagine, I was holding on for dear life!  Riding the monorail and watching fireworks over the lake capped off our day at The Magic Kingdom.  Ahh. 

Now, on to Daytona for 24 hours of racing.  This is our 3rd year going to the 24 Hours of Daytona.  Swimming outside during January is always a plus.  O & Z were going down the waterslide like mad men and swimming all over the place.  Lucky for us, we got a warm weather day in Daytona on Saturday, because the cold winds blew in on Sunday and we had to stay indoors for minigolf.  Even the water in the indoor pool was too chilly for us!  Saturday at the race was exciting due to the fact we were in the pits with the Brumos Racing Team.  Hurley Haywood gave us passes and this was his last race before retiring at the age of 61.  Yes, it's pretty amazing he is still racing at 61, but he has won 3 Le Mans races and countless others, so he has a lot to be proud of.  Our kids were not supposed to be in the racing tent, but they let it slide.  Zach LOVES racing with a passion and he was quiet and shy in the tent.  Well, his eyes were as big as saucers, soaking it all in.  You can guess what he'll be talking about for the next several weeks.  We bought him two cars (replicas that were in the race) and needless to say, they are very near and dear to him.  I foresee these cars being front and center at Show & Tell soon.  We had a breathtaking ride on the ferris wheel at the race again this year.  Dave and I cannot believe the kids do not balk at the ride, but they loved it last year and begged to go again this year.  It's a great way to see the track. 

Saturday night held another big event....was it the return trip to our favorite Bar-B-Que place in Daytona?  No, it was Olivia losing her second front tooth at the Bar-B-Que place!  They gave her a mug to commemorate the event.  Our waitress, who has been doing this 20 years.....said this was a first for her (having a little one lose a tooth at her table).  Keep the comments to yourself :-)  It's Hog Heaven!  Olivia lost 2 teeth last summer, 2 teeth within a day or so of each other and now she has another loose one.  Busy, busy tooth fairy, will you ever get any rest?!  The tooth fairy had to find us in different hotel/condos on this trip! 

We finished the trip with a cold and windy morning/afternoon at the race.  The die hard fans who lasted 24 hours were in need of a shower.  We, however, were in need of getting on the road to Atlanta.