The Europeans Ruined it for Me

I have never seen so many Europeans outside of Europe in my life. I think the entire country of Spain was at Universal today. What happened to Spain's crumbling economy? 

Either two things were going to happen today. Either I was going to punch a rude Spaniard in the face or suffer from frostbite. I don't know how I possibly suffered through the day without either occurring.

We did play some basketball, though, because this is not something we can do for free at our house. We are real adventuresome like that. The fun really began,  however, when the boys attempted a brief trash talking episode with three Spanish boys who were Heat fans. When the language barrier got us stuck with the Spanish saying "het" for "heat", the episode quickly ended. I tried to intervene by actually translating the trash talk into Spanish and one of the boys looked at me and said, "I don't speak English!" So I said in Spanish, "I am speaking Spanish; not English." and he said, "I don't speak English!"

My self-esteem was permanently damaged with this brief encounter.

I realize I could never live in Europe ever again. Too many Europeans. 

I am ready to go home.

Rain, Rain, Go Away

There seems to be a pattern with our holiday vacation plans and the weather. It is either snowing, tornadoes are ripping up cities on our tour, or it is raining. Today it poured on us!

The rain couldn't stop us, though. We made it to Harry Potter and experienced a ride like no other! Best of all, we only had to wait in line 90 minutes! I had high hopes that the rain would keep out the hundreds of thousands of other guests who planned to visit the park today. Unfortunately, the butter beer and magic wands were so enticing that even rain couldn't keep them away. I have never seen so many people in once place...EVER!

Wes says that after a day spent at an amusement park he feels like he just endured the Bataan death march. Since we were in bed by 9:00, I think it means we are just old.

Holiday and History

The tour of the greater southeast continues. Today we drove half way to Orlando and made a stop in Mobile at the USS Alabama. We arrived two days after a tornado ripped through the mid-town area and in the middle of a fluke cold spell. Once again we weren't prepared for the cold. 

We climbed to the top of the ship, toured the living quarters, and pretended to shoot up the enemy.

On our way out of the park, I noticed a decorated WW2 vet sitting in the gift shop with a glazed look on his face as he sat in the corner ready to answer any questions guests might have. Not one person stopped to thank him for his service or ask a question. His story was not heard. It's truly a shame that so few people want to hear the stories of our veterans.

Next stop is the happiest place on Earth!

Winter Wonderland in Texas

We arrived to Texas with temperatures sitting at a very pleasant 72 degrees. It was perfect. I never dreamed that two days later we would experience a Christmas like none other.

We were awakened before the sun was up to thunder and lightning. By late afternoon the rain turned to sleet and then snow. When the snow started falling, we all ran to gather the kids to take a quick picture. We knew there was no way it would stick because this is Texas, after all, and it would be short lived, because well, this is Texas after all.

Caroline, Mallory, Keagan, Evan

Two hours later, though, we had a beautiful white Christmas. Texas has a reputation for unpredictable weather, but snow on Christmas is about as far fetched as they come.

The winter wonderland was beautiful until we lost electricity, heat and water. Then the snow quickly lost its appeal. We were in bed before ten wrapped in five layers of blankets praying we didn't freeze.

Today we awoke to 4 inches of snow and a true winter wonderland.

Of course we never packed clothes meant for two days in the snow. The boys are wearing Daddy's thick socks, four shirts, hoodies, Oma's gloves, and baseball caps that belong to Opa.

I am content to stay inside in front of the fire. My open toed shoes wouldn't do much for me in this weather anyway.

Santa requires a daily dose of fiber and may have a drinking problem

Santa arrived and brought Keystone Light and Raisin Bran, the breakfast of champions. 

Not really, but the boys got a kick out of opening Uncle Jamie's gifts and finding these boxes under the wrapping paper. 

My champions did, however, have a Christmas morning filled with sporting goods.

With the Nerf glow in the dark football, we will now be able to play football in the dark. Our neighbors' brief respite from the after-dark cheers is now over.

 Basketball jerseys - The fight over which player is better, Durant or Nowitski, has been on going. It is still a toss up.

A collection of over 500 football cards makes for one happy boy.

Soccer guys...hours of play design and commentary have already transpired. LOVE listening to this little guy pretend to play soccer almost as much as I love to watch him play soccer.

The best gift of all, though, was our holiday spent together.

Merry Christmas Eve

On our drive to Texas Keagan had one request. "Daddy, when we stop for gas, can you make sure that we not stop in the ghetto? When we stop at those places with bars on the windows and see people with their pants hanging low and caps turned backwards, I get really scared." 

Luckily we were able to time all of our stops ghetto free and we made it to Texas in record time, only 13.75 hours!

We spent Christmas Eve making cookies for Santa, making food for the reindeer, and

hunting for mountain lions at my sister-in-law's house. No trip to Texas would be complete without a gun and a good hunt.

Perfectionism is a Beast

Tis the season to make gingerbread houses. We used uneaten Halloween candy, homemade icing and graham crackers. The finished products looked just as good as any house from a kit!

Evan's House

However, the road to a finish product didn't go as smoothly as we had planned.

Evan started out all smiles but when Keagan's house had four walls and a door, and Evan's house had four walls that had collapsed on each other for a second time, Evan left the room in tears. Perfectionism is a beast! Poor guy just couldn't handle the awesome design of the K&K. It was only minutes later that Wes was found in the kitchen clearly wishing I had kept all of my creative, holiday ideas to myself.

Keagan offered his master builder skills and soon the house was upright again with a door and all of the candy trimmings.
We now add gingerbread houses to the list of banned family activities. It sits right under putt-putt.