Category Archives: Family

Our crazy families

Weekly Round up

We went to a charity walk a couple weeks ago with our friends Martha and Chuck and their kids. It was a lot of fun and the boys loved it. It was for the Make a Wish Foundation and we got to see a child get their wish which was really freaking cool and very humbling. It makes you realize how lucky you are when your kids are healthy. Anyways, the boys spent most of their time on the inflatables and fell in love with Wilma the Wildcat. It was hilarious.

The following Monday we went over and hung out with Grandpa and the family for a BBQ. It was really good to see our long lost brothers and sisters and made me a little sad that I don’t see Joe and Holly very often. I guess as I get older I miss them more (why???Hahaha!)  and when I see siblings get together like this it makes me a little nostalgic. HOPEFULLY that will change in the near future…………????? We will see. =)

Dancing with Wilma
Super cute
The boys with Andi and Adam
Taking a selfie with Chuck.

Trying to break his neck on the slide

William playing Simon Says with Mike and Henry
Our good friend and old neighbor Jack, Richard and Tommy
Karen, Ken and Patricia
Just the girls…and two turds
All of us! Happy Birthday Ken!

 

Another once in a lifetime trip – Disneyworld, FL!!!

Well, Grandpa, you crazy man, you’ve done it again, and I don’t think you can ever one up this one! =)

For those of you who have been following this blog, you’ll know that 3 years ago exactly, we took a trip to Disneyland that was orchestrated and completely funded by Grandpa. He told us when Henry was born that he was going to take him to Disneyland when he was 6 years old but ended up taking all of us for an unforgettable trip! It was AMAZING and we had an absolute ball. Well…after that, I guess he decided that he couldn’t do that for Henry and not Will, so about a year and a half ago he started toying with the idea for a trip to Disneyworld for Will’s 6th birthday. We told him he was insane, but he absolutely insisted and if you know Grandpa, once he puts his mind to something, it’s pretty impossible to derail him. So our plans were set to go to Disneyworld for the first week of the boys’ fall break and now that we’ve returned, I can say without hesitation that it was the funnest trip we’ve ever taken, hands down.

Needless to say, Grandpa had his share of heartburn – the beginning of September brought Hurricane Harvey and a 2 weeks before our trip,  Irma tore through Florida and ended up actually doing some damage to DW. Hurricane Maria also spawned a week before we left but she was too busy annihilating Puerto Rico so we thought we might be safe. After pouring over weather info for breakfast, lunch and dinner, Grandpa decided to take a gamble and said the weather should hold  for our week –  and boy did it ever! It was raining the night we got into Orlando but was clear, sunny and hot the entire time we were there. And believe it or not, it started raining the moment we walked out of our last park on our last day – talk about providential!

This trip was absolutely amazing and “Thank You” doesn’t even begin to express our gratitude to Grandpa for such an incredible adventure. A vacation to Disney World and Universal Studios was never something we saw ourselves taking simply because of the distance and cost. I think we also thought we’d end up murdering the kids – but they did really well and even though Will was too short to ride on some roller coasters, it didn’t even matter. It was a much needed vacation to a really cool place and it was all because of one man’s INSANE vision. Grandpa – we love that you are in our lives and that you are still plucky enough to take us on a kick ass vacation and ride crazy roller coasters with us even at 84! We adore, love and cherish you so much. You spoil the CRAP out of us and we are so grateful. Thank you thank you thank you for giving us something that we never would have taken for ourselves. You being there made it so much better. =) LOVE YOU!!!!!

The morning we left. Went and picked up Grandpa at 5:30am and Will couldn’t contain himself.
Come on Grandpa!!
At the airport, he decided to take a nap
So…we had 2 layovers on the way to Orlando but weren’t allowed to de-plane. So I told William to help the flight attendants clean up while we were waiting for passengers to board and they were just  blown away by his helpfulness. 10 minutes before we landed in the next city, they made an announcement over the PA calling him out and saying what a sweet boy he was and the whole plane clapped!! It was awesome. They made him a goodie bag full of snacks and a crown made out of pretzel bags. Hahaha!
The day we arrived was exhausting. We got into Orlando around 7 I believe and then drove about an hour to our condo. We arrived and were completely blown away by our digs! Grandpa hit the jackpot with this place.
It was a 3 bedroom, 2 bath condo with a full kitchen on the second floor. The best part was that Grandpa got it for $90 a night!!! Wow!!
Grandpa’s bedroom
Our bedroom, complete with a huge bathroom, walk in closet and a balcony.
Boys bedroom. They were THRILLED that they had their own TV…
First day! Striking a pose before heading out to Magic Kingdom
Me and Grandpa on the ferry across to the entrance
Walking down the main drag toward the castle. Pretty cool
Henry throwing gang signs or something
The Halloween parties for Disney started in September so a lot of people were dressed up. We saw this gal in a HeiHei outfit and I couldn’t resist.
Heading up to the Haunted Mansion
Getting on the speedway cars

Here’s a little preview of what we have in store for us in about 7 to 10 years!  UGH!!!

Riding Dumbo
Henry and Grandpas turn
They look like they’re having fun…
Tommy taking a pic of me taking a pic of him….that didn’t turn out of course
Henry and Grandpa on the Goofy ride
First day down! 5 more to go! =)
Epcot center!
Our first ride was on a space simulator. They boys loved it
Posing with the moon
To infinity! And beyond!
We had to take the boys over the Norway area while we were there. We picked up a Norwegian treat called Lefse – a potato tortilla stuffed with butter and cinnamon sugar. Not too bad. Way better than Lutafisk!
Tommy was so pissed. They replaced the traditional Norwegain ride that included a Viking ship and trolls with the whole Frozen crew. We boycotted it to show our disgruntledness.

There weren’t a lot of pictures from Epcot. First off, it was HOT and we had to walk a lot because the park was huge and things were so far apart. Henry ended up leaving his hat on one of the rides but thankfully someone turned it in and we got it back. Epcot was our third day on. The second and 4th day we went to Universal Studios. One of my very good friends was also visiting Orlando with her family and so we rendezvoused with them on the days we went there. It was SO FUN!

Surfs up dude
Here are the boys posing with Gru’s crazy car. We got on the minions ride and it was pretty fun
BB (my girlfriend) took this pic of the boys while we went with HER boys on an adult roller coaster that almost killed me.
Out of all the different parks we visited at Universal, Harry Potter world was by far our favorite. It was truly magical and the butterbeer they served was to DIE. FOR. This is the dragon from one of the last movies…So freaking cool
We bought the boys wands and there were places throughout the park where they could practice magic. They loved it

The whole crew! We had so much fun and it was so wonderful to hang out with them
Walking down the main drag with our posse. BB and I served on the schools PTA together. You can see why we would be so close. Hahaha! But what’s also cool is that she has two boys who are 3 years apart as well and my boys adore them. =)
Playing Ding, Dong, Ditch at one of the doors in Harry Potter land. William was killing me here. He thought Voldemort was going to come out so he was ready to cast a spell. Hahahaha

Run!!
The boys with Jacob

On our way to the Hogwarts Express and platform 9-3/4!

The Hogwarts Express taking us to the castle!
Enjoying the ride

Casting spells and drinking butterbeer
On the Men in Black ride…
Getting some lunch
Getting on Jurrasic Park. I got SOAKED

This ride soaked us, here’s a look at the kids taking a shower while some other poor fools do the same ride:

BB and Darrick took the boys on the Cat in the Hat ride while we went with their boys on The Hulk. That ride was CRAZY but probably my favorite one there
Striking a pose with the Scooby and Velma
Oh Scooby
In front of the Mystery Machine
Getting a pic with one of their favorite characters
Squidword!
And of course Gary
Grandpa and the boys!
BB invited us all over for dinner. Even the pitcher looked at the camera
Turds!
Hanging out at their pool that night. They boys had to be wrenched away.
Our second to last day was spent at LEGOLAND. It couldn’t have been more perfect. We rode on every ride and were  done with the park in about 6 hours. Super fun
All these sculptures were made of legos. It was pretty impressive

William is such a ham

When I took this picture, William asked, “Is this Donald Trump?” Bahahaha!
One of their favorite characters and the star of the new Lego movie, Lloyd. We went and saw it and it was great!
Master Wu

So cool

Getting on one of the roller coasters…
I want this in my house
Getting on the carousel

Doing the firetruck simulation. I almost died of a heart attack
Henry and I  pumping the water and Will trying to put out the “fire”
Grandpa monitoring our progress
The boys went through driving school and somehow got their licenses. Shows how much LEGOLAND knows…

Mini-land – So frickin cool

By far the coolest one

We waited for the launch of the Space Shuttle! Pretty anti-climactic…but I guess I was expecting to fly to the moon?

Grandpa getting whiplash on one of the rides…
Last day on. Went to Animal Kingdom thinking we could somehow get on the Avatar rides, but they were shut down to everyone’s disappointment. I thought there were going to be riots!
So we went on the Animal Safari. It was really fun. Look at this beast.

Warthogs…
The king of the jungle acting pretty chill
White Rhino

The birds
Mommy and baby

Look at that tree!! It’s real!!

Hyena’s

I named this guy Captain Hook. He was missing his foot. Tick Tock Tick Tock
Hippos!
Some intense drum playing going on

Henry was more relaxed
Riding the tram back to the car after the Heavens started dumping all over us the very last day
Anticipating a total rainout, Grandpa bought the entire stock of rain ponchos from Amazon. Hahaha! We only used 5 and gave some away to people at the park. It was hilarious
Oh Henry!
Morning of our departure
Reading comics to us at the airport
William keeping Grandpa entertained

 

Hoppy Easter!

We kept to the Easter tradition this year and had Grandpa over to hang out with us and watch the boys hunt for eggs. Lots of fun as always!

Grandpa, can we go yet??
Easter gremlins…
Ready, set…

Trying to find an egg in the bike/wagon disaster
It was a free for all out there…
Trying to keep up with his brother…
Hmmm…a snow leopard came and laid an egg??
Searching in the pads…
Grandpa giving the boys tips…
“It’s using the trees…” Name that movie…
Henry helping Will get his egg and me spotting them both. Ha!
All done. William…what kind of smile is this?
The spoils of war…

 

 

Dads March visit…

Hey everyone!

Dad came down for a visit this year and we had a wonderful time hanging out with him. We ended up doing some new things that we hadn’t done before, like going to a Roadrunners hockey game (which was horrible unfortunately) and finally making it out to Collossal cave. It was wonderful to see him and Tommy is excited to head up there in July for a week and golf with him the entire time. Ooooh. Fun. Hahahaha! Love you Dad!

Father and son =)
Turds at a hockey game!
Why won’t turd 2 ever look at the camera and why does he always look like he wants to gnaw on something??
Walking to the cave
Up at the cave
Turd #1
Turd #2

 

Inside Colossal
The boys enjoying the tour…
Cool beehive structure..
More cavern..
Happy St Paddy’s Day!

 

Merry Christmas and Happy New Year!

Well…what can I say. 2016 was an awesome year for our family. Tommy got a huge promotion at work, we bought the acre of land next to us, we got to go on several awesome trips, we got some super cool chickens and we all stayed relatively healthy. (I’m thinking of climbing injuries here…) I’m sad to say goodbye to it, but I’m hoping that 2017 will be just as good if not better! 7 just happens to be my lucky number so let’s see if it holds! I hope you all had a wonderful Christmas and a very Happy New Year. I’m not one who’s big into New Years Resolutions, BUT I have decided that I am going to try and stick to one this year…and that is keeping this blog up to date! Who the hell knows if I can do it, but I will try! Here’s to a prosperous and wonderful 2017! ONWARD!

Getting ready to open presents!
Getting ready to open presents!
Skyping Auntie and Uncle Scott
Skyping Auntie and Uncle Scott
Cheese!
Cheese!

Christmas2016

Christmas2016

How is your pipe Frodo?
How is your pipe Frodo?
One of the coolest gifts I got was a $50 gift certificate to Summit Hut from my friend/boss. Soooo awesome!
One of the coolest gifts I got was a $50 gift certificate to Summit Hut from my friend/boss. Soooo awesome!
We bought the boys Ipod shuffles and headphones. They LOVE them.
We bought the boys Ipod shuffles and headphones. They LOVE them.
Enjoying their crazy lego toys...
Enjoying their crazy lego toys…

Christmas2016

The Lind's 2016
The Linds 2016