Our final day at the parks was a second round of Magic Kingdom.  While walking down Main Street I spotted Mary Poppins so we ran over to her, only to be told that she was not taking any more photos.  Well that interfered with Aunt Jekka’s one request to get a selfie with Mary Poppins, so we took matters into our own hands and did just that.  Kind of.  See her running off in the top corner…we will have to keep trying to track her down.

Our first ride was the Jungle (I mean Jingle) Cruise.  The classic favorite with a holiday twist.  There was no wait so we returned our Fast Pass in hopes of trading for another later in the day.

Next we explored the Swiss Family Robinson treehouse.  Love that movie, love that treehouse.  I think Jay should build us one just like it…

Judging by the look on Memaw’s face, I think she enjoyed Aladdin’s Magic Carpet Ride more than anyone else.

The line for Pirates of the Caribbean was only 20 minutes, so we again gave up our Fast Passes and went through the Standby line.  Lily was a bit tired so Jay hauled her around the lines on his leg.

Jack Sparrow stole our Fast Pass.  Really.  We had one set up for the afternoon to get onto the Seven Dwarfs Mine Train ride, which typically has over an hour wait, but somehow while trying to reserve a new Fast Pass in exchange for the ones we gave up earlier, Jay accidentally deleted the 7 Dwarfs pass.  Oh gosh.  Panic set in.  WE LOST A FAST PASS!!!!  This is like losing a $100 bill.  Or maybe a $1000 bill, because Fast Passes are the gold coins of Disney World.  Once you lose them, you can’t get them back.  Ok, so I admit I got a little crabby.  I probably wouldn’t have even liked the ride.  BUT WE LOST THE FAST PASS!!!!  I blame it on the Day 5 exhaustion.

We grabbed an early lunch (again got right in) at Belle’s castle.  Beautiful dining rooms, French food.  Ok, Jay, it is hard to be mad at you after eating lunch in a royal ballroom.  You are forgiven.

We went on a new ride that was a clamshell tour of the Little Mermaid.  It was a cute one.  The sun was bright when we came out so the kids didn’t want to smile for the camera.

Next we took a train ride around the park and hopped off to take a boat over to Tom Sawyer’s island.  The kids had fun exploring – and I ordered the books on Amazon from the island.  🙂  modern technology…

On our way out of the park, one of the Disney photographers told Ty and Papa to do some modeling.

Our last adventure was to take the Monorail to the Grand Floridian hotel to see the Christmas decorations.  They had a giant gingerbread house, and the kids each got a Mickey gingerbread cookie.  

The Grand Floridian was our last hope at a Mary Poppins sighting, but it turns out she is only there in the mornings.  Shucks!  I guess the topiary will have to do…

Five days of parks was about all this mama could take, so we dropped Memaw and Papa off at the Magic Kingdom so they could relax and enjoy one last lighting of the castle alone.

We got back at the hotel by 4:00.  Lily was exhausted – “I only want to sleep for 2 hours and then swim.”  I relaxed with her in the peace and quiet while Jay and Ty went for a swim.  I got a text to bring Jay’s money clip to the pool when Lily wakes up.  Um…you can pay for everything with your Magic Band.  So I texted back and asked why they needed it.  Ty’s response was “I knew you would ask that – just bring the cash yo!”

And then the next text was this…  apparently you can’t use the Magic Band here…

And now… (drum roll) roll the credits for The Seven Dwarfs Disney Adventure!

Oh wait, there were only 6 of us, but I can assure you that throughout our week of vacation we all were all seven of the dwarfs.  

Once upon a time, in a warm land far far away from the blustery cold of Iowa, six members of the Shearer family went on an adventure to the World of Disney.

The lead actor was played by Kirk.  He was always Happy.  And only Happy.  Sometimes he was a little Goofy, but that isn’t a dwarf, so we will stick with Happy.

The lead actress role was played by Sherry.  She was mostly Happy, sometimes Sleepy, but a little dash of Pixie Dust brought her right back to Happy.  She also played the part of Doc, always ready with a Mickey Mouse bandaid when a child actor or actress skinned a knee, or a Tylenol when a supporting actress got a headache.

The supporting male role was played by Jay.  He was also mostly Happy, and he was only a little Grumpy when the child actors weren’t sticking to the script (which was very rare).  He did have one scene where he was Dopey and accidentally deleted the Fast Pass for the Seven Dwarfs Mine Train ride, which typically had a 60-90 minute wait, but thankfully his wife Grumpy didn’t go too crazy on him so we didn’t have to call in Doc.

The supporting female role was played by Nicole.  She was mostly Happy as well, except for the scene described above when she was Grumpy for 15 minutes at Dopey.  She also had some trouble with the air at Animal Kingdom and was Sneezy.  She had a small role as Sleepy from time to time.  But Happy was definitely her best part.

The show had 2 amazing child actors, who really were the stars of the show.  Let’s start with Ty.  He was a Bashful little fella, always twirling his hair anxiously as he waited for the next ride or show to begin, but once inside, he was swept away by the magic and quickly changed to Happy.  There were little glimpses of Grumpy, but they usually only lasted a minute or two after Sleepy demanded a costume change.  

And then there was Lily.  Happy was her favorite, and Happy fought really hard against Sleepy.  She usually gave in to Sleepy for a couple hours each day, but only when it looked as though the next few minutes were going to be boring.  She needed Doc a couple times, but even then, she didn’t allow herself to be Grumpy.  

Costume credit goes to cousin Jen for the awesome award-winning t-shirt designs.  She made sure to incorporate the 6 other roles the cast members played into the shirts – look closely!  Goofy (Kirk), Tinkerbell (Sherry), Storm Trooper (Jay), Mrs. Incredible (Nicole), Yoda (Ty), and last but not least, Pluto (Lily).

Fitness credit goes to Walt Disney for forcing us to walk 97,000 steps (about 50 miles) over the past week.  Yet somehow I am certain I actually gained weight.  Bummer.

So there you have it.  The 2016 Shearer Family vacation is coming to an end.  We are hoping for smooth travels tomorrow (a sequel will be published if anything exciting happens), so until next time…

THAT’S A WRAP, FOLKS!!!

It means no worries for the rest of your days.  It’s a problem free philosophy.  Hakuna Matata.  We went to Animal Kingdom on Thursday.  On our way to the Safari ride, we stopped to let the kids get their faces painted.  Let’s play a little game – try to guess what the kids chose to have painted on their faces.

Here’s a little more.

Any guesses?

Can you tell what they are?  Ty’s is pretty easy and not too terribly surprising.  He made the intelligent choice based on prior face painting experience and selected a dragon mainly because it did  it have any paint around his eyes.  Lily, on the other hand, went right up to the board and pointed to the picture that has the entire face covered with mostly black paint.  She wanted to be a bear.  When I asked her later why she chose the panda, she said that she likes bears, like the Bear Necesseties.  I am pretty sure there isn’t a panda in that (could be wrong), but OK Lil.  Most little girls choose princesses and fairies – not my Lily.  So silly.

First fast pass of the day was for an African safari.  We saw rhinos, crocs, antelope, a young elephant, cows, lions, wild dogs, monkeys, gorillas…we didn’t see any giraffes because they are about to have babies, shucks.  Maybe someday we will take the kids on a real African safari.

I spy a lion…

Next up was the show It’s Tough to be a Bug inside the tree of life.  I laughed pretty much the entire time.  They hit up all of your senses – 3D glasses, venom (water) squirts, stink bug spray, stings in the back, and bugs crawling under your seat.  Love it.

We then got in line to see the Lion King – one of my favorite shows.  It is a round theater with no stage, just 4 sets of bleachers around the center.  Once the show begins, they pull out a stage and giant floats with a warthog, giraffe, elephant, and lion on them.  Lily got super excited when the monkeys started doing gymnastics.  Jay had to hold on tight so that she wouldn’t run on stage and show them all her cool tricks.  🙂  Such an awesome show.

We grabbed a quick bite to eat.  Hint – eating an early lunch (around 11:00) saved us time waiting in line or for a table.

We made our way to Dinoland where Memaw took Lily on the flying dinosaur ride before we headed to the Nemo show. 

At this point Jay was about “showed out” so he went to catch a ride on the Everest roller coaster.  

Lily was on the edge of her seat for the entire Nemo show.  At one point she asked if we were under the sea.  It is incredible how the performers make you forget that there is a person holding a puppet and your eyes stay focused on the puppets.  So many awesome effects!

Back to Dinoland where the kids played in the playground (where do they find all of that energy) and had lots of fun at the dig site.  Such a cool playground.  When the boys and I went off to use our fast pass for the Dinsoaur ride, Memaw and Lily went back on the flying dinos 3 times.  I was a little worried that Ty might not like the Dinosaur ride because it is a little intense – lots of shaking, darkness, quick turns, and scary dinosaurs, but he LOVED it!

And we walked some more…

Ty and Jay wanted to do the Crazy Dinosaur ride (like the Crazy Mouse ride at the State Fair), so Memaw and Papa ran back over to the Dinosaur ride.  Lily and I tried to catch a photo of Ty and Jay but they snuck back into the ride on the other side.  Once they were finished we made our way to the entrance for dinner reservations at the Rainforest Cafe.  The kids were pretty squirrely at this point – Lily hadn’t slept yet, but they ate a good meal.  Ty fell asleep on my lap while we waited for the bill, which ended up being just enough for him to recharge his batteries.  We went back into the park To watch the Tree of Life light show (short but cool), and got our family photo before heading home.  

As you can imagine, we were all pretty exhausted, and Lily’s face paint was a hot mess.  At dinner she was being extra silly and making funny faces.  We told her she looked like a zombie panda.  This is what she did…

She inspired us to take one more family photo to end the day.  Pretty much sums up how we all felt at that point…

We had figured that after staying up so late at Magic Kingdom, we might want to plan on Wednesday being our day to rest and recover.  It was a good plan.  We took the ferry over to Disney Springs where the kids didn’t make it much farther than the ginormous Lego store (basically Ty’s definition of paradise) and the most massive Disney store on the planet (I only made it through a quarter with Lily).  

We had a nice lunch outside on a dock and watched the amphicars on the water.  Sherry and I brought Lily back to the room for a nap (we all crashed) while the boys went back to the Lego store again (it is an addiction).  

When the boys got home we were all still sleeping so they quietly put on their swim trunks and snuck out to the pool.  When we woke up, it was time to get ready for the evening entertainment.  

We took a cab (first one this vacation) to the Fort Wilderness to see the Hoop-De-Doo Review.  It was fun to drive through the campgrounds and see the barns where they keep the horses.  The kids were excited to see a playground which kept them good and entertained while we waited for our dinner showtime.  

Once inside, the kids got wrapped up in the goofiness on stage.  We ate a delicious meal of fried chicken, pork ribs, corn, mashed taters, cornbread, baked beans, wine in jelly jars, and the yummiest strawberry shortcake ever.  Good family fun!  

Once the show was finished it was a teensy bit stressful trying to navigate our way through the bus transfers to get back to the resort.  Kirk and Sherry were going to take the kids back to the room while Jay and I had a little date night.  Jay and I hopped off at Disney Springs at 8:56.  This would normally not be any issue, except that we had tickets to see Cirque De Soleil at 9:00 PM on the other side of the Springs.  So we walked as fast as we could in sandals and flip flops and got to the ticket counter at 9:01.  Grabbed our tickets, ran up stairs, quick potty break, and we were in.  Only missed a couple minutes.  Phew!!  The attendant took us to our seats, which somehow were in the very front row.  I am sure I didn’t pay for that, so I’m chalking it up to us being late and getting swapped out to better seats.  For the next hour and a half, my mind was taking in all of the non-sensical yet totally awesomeness that was happening in front of us, and behind us, and above us.  Jay had the pleasure of joining in some audience participation when a person behind him flew a paper airplane into the back of his head.  He picked it up and with the spotlight on him, flew the plane perfectly into the stage.  He has been practicing his whole life for that role.  

Bike tricks, flying trapeze, trampolines, balancing acts, curtain Superman, dude holding a spinning chick by his teeth while suspended from the ceiling, some young kids showing off incredible talent with these hourglass shaped objects that they tossed around with sticks and a string (doesn’t sound cool by my description but I promise it really was), creepy clowns, a weird sleepwalker, and not a single English word uttered the entire time.  And it didn’t matter, because the actions on stage in front of me shouted at the top of their lungs louder and clearer than any words could.  I was in awe by the uber talented performers.  How the heck did they do that?  As Jay said, “Even their muscles have muscles.”  

When the show was over, Jay and I were both in a bit of a mental fog trying to process what we had just seen.  I am still not sure I know what the point of the show was, and I don’t think I care.  😉  it was a beautiful night and a peaceful walk back to the room.  

We got back to the room around 11:30, completely exhausted.  So much for a day of rest, but who has time to rest when you are at Disney World!!

Tuesday was the day we finally got to go see the castle at the Magic Kingdom. Lily’s reaction to seeing the castle for the first time was about as I had expected – quite loud and so very excited! 

Pixie Dust.

As soon as we entered the park we went to the Barber Shop where Lily was treated with a special dose of pixie dust sprinkled onto her hair by a silly barber.  Let the magic begin!!  

As we made our way on Main Street toward the castle, we stopped briefly to watch a horse drawn carriage, with characters singing and dancing.  

Beautiful Christmas decorations done only like Disney could do them we’re everywhere you looked.  Instant holiday spirit.  Grinch wouldn’t stand a chance at Magic Kingdom during Christmas season.  

We had a little time so Jay took the kids on the Carousel, and both kids attempted to pull the sword from the stone.

Brekky.

We had a 10:00 reservation at the Royal Table to have breakfast inside the castle with several princesses.  We were greeted by Cinderella.  Lily told her that we saw her evil stepsisters outside the castle.  Ty got a little embarrassed and shy so he didn’t want a solo picture with Cinderella, but he reluctantly joined the family photo shoot.  

We climbed the spiral staircase and were seated in a beautiful dining room at the top of the castle.  Breakfast was delicious – but really how could it be anything but amazing when you get to meet Snow White, Ariel, Aurora, and Jasmine.  Even Prince Ty got wrapped up in the magic of it all.

A trip to the Magic Kingdom wouldn’t be complete without a spin through the It’s a Small World ride.  We had fun trying to figure out which countries were represented.  We especially enjoyed the continent of Australia.  🙂  After we travelled the Small World, we were ready to take a trip to Never Land.  The kids LOVED it – they really felt like they were flying in a pirate ship.  So cool.  Memaw and Jay took the kids on the flying Dumbo ride.  Going around in circles isn’t really my thing, and I didn’t want to blog about that one time at Disney World when I puked after a kiddy ride…  So my feet stayed planted firmly, albeit boringly, on the ground.

Ty had made a “good deal” with Memaw and Papa the day before.  He would get a toy yesterday and a hat this morning.  Nice negotiation skills, son.  Once we found the Star Wars shop, the decision was pretty easy.  

With new hat in hand, it was time to go have a few laughs at the Monsters Inc Laugh Factory.  Kirk was sporting his Goofy hat and I thought for sure he would get picked to be on the big screen, but luck wasn’t in our favor for that one.  Despite their poor choice in audience participation, it was a pretty funny little show.

The kids (and adults) were ready for a little down time, so we hopped on the People Mover.  It is a great way to get a taste of some of the rides I would never go on (see puking comment above), like Space Mountain, from the comfort of a slow moving vehicle.  The old school fun continued when we hopped on the Carousel of Progress.  As has been our luck, the ride had a slight glitch and we had to listen to one of the segments twice.  Future Disney-goers take note…if your baby is crying during the Carousel of Progress, sit still and wait it out and whatever you do, do not go out the emergency exit unless it truly is an emergency.  Your fellow Carousel riders will thank you.

I feel the need for speed.  I thought that speed was going to be from racing around a track at the Speedway.  Unfortunately Lily the Gymnast had other plans.  Lesson of the day – if there is concrete instead of mats underneath it, it is NOT a gymnastics bar.  I felt her head hitting the concrete, and then I felt her instant “goosebump” as she calls it, and rushed to the ride entrance.  As luck would have it, there were not anymore ice packs in their first aid kit (hmmm…guessing this wasn’t the first time this has happened), so I grabbed Memaw and we literally speed walked across the park to the First Aid building.  Not quite the speed I was planning on…  The nurse checked her over and didn’t think she had a concussion.  She gave us an ice pack and a Nurse Minnie sticker, and sent us on our way.  Crisis averted.

If there was ever any place to make you forget about your pounding headache, the parade route at Magic Kingdom just might do the trick.  We lucked out and were able to find a good spot to stand and watch it go by while holding an ice pack on the goosebump.  No more tears (and thankfully no later signs of concussion).

Exhaustion might have had something to do with Lily’s accident, so she finally was able to fall asleep in the stroller.  As we were walking along I looked up and saw a sign that reminded me of Steven.  I wasn’t blessed with the ability to carry a tune, so whenever I sang around Steven, he would say, “Hey Nic, what’d you do with that money?”  

“What money?”  

“The money I gave you for singing lessons.”  Ba-doom-boom-CHING!

Jay stayed with her while Memaw, Papa and I took Ty on the Haunted Mansion ride.  He wasn’t too sure about it at first but ended up really getting a kick out of it.  🙂

A quick run back to use our Buzz Lightyear fast pass, which of course Jay won by a landslide again…maybe next time I should try sticking my tongue out while I shoot the targets like he does.

We had a Tex Mex dinner at Pecos Bill’s before making our way back to the castle. We set up camp in a prime location for Mickeys Very Merry Christmas Party, Elsa & Anna’s lighting of the castle, and the parade.  We arrived a little more than an hour before the shows began, and quickly built an alliance with our neighbors to prevent any late arrivers from trying to sneak into our Boardwalk and Park Place properties.  I am constantly in awe of how the folks at Disney can completely transform what you think you know and see into something unexpected and incredibly beautiful.  Music and lights and dancing and characters and costumes and makeup and of course, magic, made for an unforgettable evening.  And snow (a little 77 degree weather won’t stop Disney from celebrating the holidays with  snow).  And Tinkerbell.  And marching Toy Soldiers.  And fireworks.  Ooooooh and ahhhhhhh don’t quite do it justice.  It is more like holy moly what is happening how did they do that where do I look did you see that I LOVE DISNEY WORLD THIS IS THE BEST CHRISTMAS GIFT EVER!!!!!!  Yeah, that kind of captures the feeling….  the pictures don’t do it justice either, but it’s the best I can do with my iPhone.

This was our longest day by far, and somehow the kids were incredibly well behaved.  Such good little travelers.  So blessed.  Must be the magic of Disney.

I will be the first to admit that I can be a bit dramatic.  When asked the question “if you could be anything in the world, what would you be?” I respond, “Easy.  An actress in Hollywood.”  Some of my favorite memories as a kid were from being in plays and musicals.  And although I was an Accounting major at Drake (boring), I almost always had a “fun class” in the theater building to help keep the stress levels down.  Today, at Hollywood Studios, I got to pretend that my dream came true.  And it would appear as though my son inherited some of my mad acting skills.  Read on, friends.

We got to the park extra early so that we could try to get Ty signed up to train to be a Jedi.  Like for real.  So we ran into the park, dropped off the boys, and the girls went off on our own.  We went on the Great Movie Ride, and our ride luck jinxed us again.  We had a temporary delay when a door didn’t automatically open, but maintenance fixed it right away and we were off.  We had a little time to steal a hug from Pluto!

Meanwhile, the boys were able to get Ty a spot in the 4:40 Jedi Training show, and they went through a Star Wars ride twice. Then they met up with us to watch The Little Mermaid.  We decided to have an early lunch and got right into the Sci-Fi Dine In.  We sat in a table that looked like a car and watched old movies while we ate.  

With full bellies, we headed out and did a Fast Pass to the Toy Story ride.  I thought my 72,000 points was pretty good but of course Jay won with something like 135,000 points.  We made our way over to get a seat at Beauty and the Beast.  It was nice to sit down and relax for a while.  The kids were on the edge of their seats.  Completely wrapped up in the magic on stage in front of them.  Love.

Random Storm Troopers were everywhere.  

Next up, Muppets 3D.  Cool tricks – cooler shades!

We had a little afternoon tea – Olaf cupcakes, Chewbacca steins, chocolate mousse.  No calories in Disney World desserts!  Then we went to get a seat in the giant Indiana Jones amphitheater, which holds 2,150 people.  At the start of the show, they asked for volunteers to participate in the show.  I raised my hand, but the lady went to the other side of the audience.  Nuts.  And then she started walking toward our side, asking for more volunteers.  I put my hand up, and sure enough, she looked right at me in my bright orange Shearer Vacation 2016 shirt and SHE PICKED ME! SHE PICKED ME! SHE PICKED ME!!!!!!  I ran down to the stage and had to “audition”.  Ok Nicole, channel your inner Aunt Eller and knock this out of the theater.  I had to giggle like a princess.  No problem.  I was in!  Back up the steps to costumes, waivers, and a brief overview of what we had to do.  Then it was show time.  Nailed it.  I am actually surprised that they didn’t have me sign a contract for their next huge blockbuster right on the spot.  The best part of the whole deal was when I got back to my seat, Lily gave me the biggest high five, best hug, and told me I did awesome.  Love.  

That’s me in the red costume.  Oscar-worthy performance…

Once my 15 minutes of fame were up, it was Ty’s turn.  He went to check in at Jedi training, get his costume, and learn the rules.  There were about 20 kids in his Jedi class, and even though they didn’t give out awards, my completely unbiased opinion is that he was the best Jedi.  He had some pretty spectacular light saber moves.  As soon as the kids learned how to use the light saber, Darth Vader showed up for a fight.  Ty got to fight Darth Vader.  On stage.  For real.  In Disney World.  Doesn’t get much cooler than that (for him anyway – I don’t get Star Wars).  

Once he finished his training, the boys wanted to walk through the Star Wars museum and meet some characters.  I sat on a comfy bench and started writing my blog while the boys nerded out.  Jay might have hinted that he would like a $3,000 Darth Vader costume for Christmas.  Sorry mate, that dream isn’t coming true this year.

The kids were exhausted, and tomorrow is going to be a long day at Magic Kingdom, so we skipped the evening show and came home a bit early.  Lily went straight to bed. Memaw and Papa had a quiet dinner in the hotel restaurant, and we ordered pizza delivery.  The boys went out for a night swim.  Off to bed we go, with thoughts of castles and princesses and pixie dust filling our dreams.

More Epic-ot photos from yesterday.

When Disney decided to build Epcot, they should have listened to Lily and added the letter I.  Our day at the park was truly epic-ot.

As luck would have it, the bus arrived at our stop at the same time we did, so we hopped right on and went straight to the park.  After being reminded that there are nasty people in this world during the security checkpoint stop, we speed walked back to Norway to meet Anna and Elsa.  We had to wait about 35 minutes, so the kids got their first taste of waiting patiently.  The wait was worth it.  Anna and Elsa were great – totally in character. Anna told Lily that Olaf would love her because he loves flowers, especially lilies.   And Elsa wants Ty and Lily to be on her snowball fight team.  Epic.

From there we went to The Seas with Nemo and Friends and walked around the aquarium for a bit.  Lily found the sea turtle and sat down next to it.  Weird.  

We used a Fast Pass to go to the Character Spot and meet Mickey, Minnie, and Goofy.  You can’t help but smile – especially when Mickey gives you a kiss on the cheek.  Epic.

Then I was in the mood for a Mickey ice cream bar.

We had some time between Fast Passes so we decided to do the Journey into Imagination with Figment ride.  We got right in and went to the first segment of the ride, when it decided that it had had enough fun for one day and shut down.  It took around 10-15 minutes for the staff to empty all of the cars and exit the ride.  On our way out they gave us 6 fast pass tickets.  Sweet!  

Jay stayed with the kids in the play area at the end of that ride while Kirk, Sherry and I went over to Soarin’.  It was a 60-90 minute wait all day, but with the bonus fast pass, we got right in.  And it. Was. Incredible.  Every once in a while you have a moment.  A moment where everything that didn’t seem to make sense and seemed to be against you turns out to be pretty great.  Soarin’ was my moment.  Yes, I have had a pretty crappy few weeks.  Yes, I have felt like life isn’t fair.  Yes, I have had to make extremely difficult decisions.  But I was reminded that life has taken me on some pretty awesome adventures.  And in the whole story of my life, the present is just a short chapter.  And the rest of the book will be awesome no matter which path we decide (or are forced) to take.  Sit back, relax, and enjoy the ride.  Epic.

We tried to catch up with Jay and the kids, but they had already gone into Ellen’s Energy Adventure.  We caught the next show and found them after it finished.

Jay, Ty and Kirk used the bonus Fast Passed to have a go at the Test Track.  I was a little (ok a lot) worried about how Ty would do once I saw how fast the cars were going around the track.  Lily used the time wisely to take a much needed nap.  I thought for sure that Ty would come out of that ride crying or puking or both.  But he came running out, with the BIGGEST smile on his face.  “Mom!  It was awesome!! I want to do it again!”  Oh thank goodness.  In the photo below he is the one in the middle of the back seat with his head down.  Despite being terrified, he loved the adrenaline rush.  Epic.

Since Lily was still asleep and we had some time to kill, we decided to take a walk around the world.  Morocco, Japan, China, England, France, Germany, Mexico, Norway – and a few others that I can’t remember.  I love how you can really feel like you are transported to another country – the sights, the sounds, the smells, the food, the drink.  So I know this sounds really silly, but my German roots are quite strong.  Frau Geisler, as some say (OK, really only Andreas calls me that, but it is fun to say with a German accent).  I saved up my appetite for dinner in Germany.  Sauerkraut and potato salad please.  Danka!!  Mouth watering delicious.  Epic.

We went to Mexico for the nice and relaxing boat ride and a photo with Donald Duck, and then headed back to Mexico to wait for our final Fast Pass to the Frozen ride.  This ride hadn’t had less than an hour wait time all day.  And we soon found out why.  Wow.  For whatever reason, Ty had it in his mind that it was scary, and despite every attempt to convince him that if he could do Test Track he could certainly do Frozen, he was still a nervous wreck.  We get on the boat and were instantly swept away to another world.  The oohs and ahhhs and giggles and pointing and laughing and shouting didn’t stop.  He did get a bit worried when the boat went backwards for a bit, and then of course when we went over the waterfall (not much of a drop), but when the ride finished, it was like I was literally watching his brain thinking “I did it!  I was afraid but I did it and you know what?  It was awesome!!”  One of my favorite minutes of the vacation.  Epic.

We were all pretty exhausted so we decided to not wait another 2 hours for the fireworks show, and we caught the bus home.  Two tired kids.  Four tired adults.  Six happy people.  Epic.

Truck.

The kids woke up dark and early at 5:00 AM and were SO EXCITED to go to Disney World!!!!  Or as Lily calls it, Disney Wor-r-rld.  Is it time to go yet?  How about now?  Maybe now?  In order to try to get a few more minutes of shut eye, I sent them downstairs.  And then I heard them shout “Mom! Dad!  You have GOT to come see what Iceman is doing!!”  Iceman is our family Elf on the Shelf.  He has been coming to visit around the holidays since 2012.  He’s a silly little fella.  He pays very close attention to what is happening in our lives.  This morning he set up a fantastic Disney castle scene – perfect start to the day.  

Lily ripped the last paper chain ring off the wall.  We tried to sit down and have a good brekky of bacon and eggs, but it was pretty much a lost cause.  Who can eat when all you can think about is going to Disney World!!!  Just as we were about to pack up the truck, the kids noticed that it had started to snow.  It was a pretty snow, but it wasn’t what I wanted to see when we had a 2 hour drive to Omaha ahead of us.  So we quickly finished our last minute packing and hit the road by 9:20 AM.  

It was a bit slick, had to use 4WD, and an accident on I80 forced us to take a southern detour, but we made it to the Omaha airport despite Mother Natures attempts to slow us down.  

Plane.

We met up with Mema and Papa (and Aunt Staci who chauffeured Mema and Papa to the airport), got checked in, ate lunch, breezed through security, and after just a short wait, got on the plane at 2:00.  We had row 26, boys on one side, girls on the other.  Mema came with the best travel goody bag ever for each kiddo, and they loved everything!  Books, small toys, Legos, games, markers.  Both bags were jammed full of awesomeness.  The flight was relatively smooth, a little bumpy going through the clouds, and a little bit of ear pain, but they were both great on the flight. 

Train.

We landed in Orlando at 4:30 PM and took a short train ride through the terminal to the ground transportation area.

Bus.

From there, we hopped on Disneys Magical Express and got to use our Magic Bands for the first time.  Super slick.  

After about a 30 minute bus ride, we arrived at Saratoga Springs.  I had received a text message earlier saying our room was ready, so when we arrived we just picked up our rental stroller and went straight to the room.  Magic Bands let us inside to a perfect and adorable 2 bedroom suite.  Huge thank you to Gary and Judy for helping us with the resort!  We dropped off our carry on bags and headed out to find some dinner. Everyone was hungry at this point.  We ate a good dinner (paid with our Magic Bands), picked up a few groceries – the essentials of breakfast, milk, bread, wine and beer – and Jay took the kids for a quick night swim.  Way too chilly for me, but apparently the pool was heated.  By the time we got back to the room it was 9:30 PM. Our luggage still hadn’t Magically appeared yet, so we tucked the kids into bed in their travel clothes and let their happy dreams prepare them for the next day’s adventures.  It has been a long day of traveling on a lot of different things that go, but it was a fairly easy day.  The kids are in good spirits, the adults are happy, and I have smiled more in the past 12 hours than I have in the past 12 days.  Tomorrow’s adventure is Epcot – or as Lily calls it Epic-ot.  Should be pretty epic.

Bowling.
Jay went to the Iowa Wild hockey game with some work mates, so Em and I were trying to think of something fun to do with the kids. We rounded up a bunch of people and went bowling in Madrid. Nana, Papa, Jess, Jason, Bri, Jessi, Mark, and Ray all showed off their mad bowling skills. The boys dominated, Jason was not a surprise, but Papa, Mark and Ray shocked us all. Very unique form, but those boys knocked down some pins! Bri is a brute on the alley, throwing some fast balls down the lane. Jessi wins the award for the only person that scored two zeros in one set. I am going to blame my poor performance on not having my own bowling ball and shoes with me (I used to date a guy in a bowling league – be jealous). Lily had a great time rolling the ball down the “slide” and knocking down the pins. “I did it!!” I am a little concerned that she told Auntie Em “I no good at this game.” She may have gotten her perfectionism from her mama. And Ty…his arm might hurt from all of the effort. He did so well!! Greasy food, cold-ish beer, strikes, gutter balls, and laughter. Perfect Friday night. 

   
Carnival.

Johnston schools hosted a school carnival.  Ty and I decided to volunteer and I think we got assigned to the best game.  It was a race car game, where kids could move ahead one step forward if the colored flag that we pulled out of the bucket was one of the colors on their race car.  It was a little slow at first, until Ty decided to take matters into his own hands.  He went out into the hallway and shouted out “the next race is about to begin!  Who wants to come race?!” And then he’d look someone in the eye and ask them if they want to come race.  Really hard to say no to that!  I was amazed at how outgoing he was – adorable to see.  After our shift was over, we got to walk around and play some of the other games.  The kids had a great time! 

 Nintendo.

Em and I stumbled across an old Nintendo when we were organizing mom’s basement.  It was the first generation Nintendo – pretty much an antique, but it still had the Duck Hunt guns and Power Pad, and lots of game cartridges.  We decided to take it home and see if we could get it working.  Riley and Miranda came over that night and Riley attempted to get is started.  He hooked it up, blew out the cartridges (remember that?!?!).  Unfortunately the power button didn’t seem to work.  Riley wasn’t going to give up without a fight so he called the number that was on the machine.  It amazingly went to a real person, but the guy (in not so many words) pretty much said, “Dude, it’s 20 years old – it isn’t going to work.”  We might try taking it to a video game shop at some point.   

 Farm.

Have I mentioned how awesome it is to only be a half hour from the farm?  Every time we go, it’s a whole new adventure.  Baby lambs, baby calves, stuck Mules, Gator rides, mud baths…  Every time is different, but we ALWAYS have Papa’s famous chocolate malts.   

    
    
   
Taekwando.

At the school carnival, Ty won a couple free taekwando lessons – and he even got to break a board!  We took him to two lessons.  The first one was one-on-one and he did really well.  The second one was in a large group and Jay and I both didn’t love the class. We decided that we would try some other sports and if he still wanted to do taekwando, we could always sign him back up.   

 Tooth.

Ty lost his first tooth!  His lower front tooth has been loose for a while.  One morning I was in the bathroom getting ready for work and he shouted, “Mom!!  I think I just lost my tooth!!”  I ran over and sure enough, it was no longer in his mouth.  I asked him where it was, and he wasn’t sure.  We looked all over the carpet and I asked him if he swallowed it. He wasn’t certain, but he thought maybe he did.  We came up with a plan – we would just write the tooth fairy a letter so she would know that he had lost it.  It worked!!   

     
Snow Day.

There was a HUGE snowstorm heading right towards us, so we got all geared up for a snow day.  Em went shopping and came home with all sorts of fun new games, activities, and puzzles.  Ty was the master of Yahtzee – he’s a lucky roller.  Em also picked up a 2,000 piece puzzle.  She said it was for the kids, but I think she just wanted to do a puzzle.  I can’t blame her – I love puzzles.  We started it in early February.  Read on to find out when we finished it…  Oh, and I think we only got a couple inches of snow that day. 

   
Eyes.

Ty has been rubbing his eyes for a while.  I chalked it up to a nervous twitch, but Em and mom insisted I go get his eyes checked.  I felt terrible when the doctor said that he needs glasses.  I was in a little bit of shock – I thought he just needed eye drops – but we found a great pair of glasses for him.  He has done really well about keeping track of them and have only had one or two “oh gosh where are your glasses” moments.  He looks so handsome and grown up with them on! 

    
 Teeth.

Ty had also been having some tooth pain, so I got him into the dentist.  If you recall, back in October he had two cavities filled.  I thought maybe he popped a filling.  Turns out he had 6 new cavities!!!!!  Good thing the kid doesn’t mind the dentist.  We got one quarter of his mouth covered in silver right away, and have at least one more appointment to work on the others.

Pack.

I got a call from our Davenport realtor – apparently nobody realized that the date that the buyers had put on the offer (Monday, Feb 15), was a public holiday (Presidents Day), so the attorney’s office was closed.  They decided to just go ahead and reschedule for the Friday before.  Did that cause a problem?  Well, yes…the movers were planning on being at the house Tuesday-Friday.  We were able to reschedule the movers to come Mon-Thur instead.  Kirk, Sherry and I went to Davenport on Super Bowl Sunday to get things ready and be at the house while the movers were there.  We really lucked out on the weather as there was no snow on the ground and it was unseasonably warm.  We were able to get everything out from underneath the porch and backyard to make it easy on the movers.  Mr. Paul knocked on the door and told me the new owner was at his house getting mail and was going to stop over.  I was already a bit emotional about having to pack up my house, but then this sweet lady comes over and tells me that Ty’s bedroom mural is going to remain exactly the same except the sign that says, “Ty’s fishing hole” was going to change to “Brooke’s fishing hole” and they are adding curls to the little boy’s hair.  And I started crying.  I couldn’t hold it in.  We chatted about the house, and I told her how much we had loved it.  She and her husband couldn’t wait to move in.  Gave me a bit of closure knowing it is going to a good family.

Furniture.

That evening while Kirk watched the Super Bowl, Sherry and I had a little party of our own.  We measured all of my furniture, cut out little pieces of paper to scale, and played around with where to put the furniture in the new house.  I hadn’t had a chance to really think about that, so it was great to get it pretty much figured out.  

Boxes.

I met the movers on Monday morning, got them started, and then I left Kirk and Sherry in charge while I went to work.  When I came home, there were boxes everywhere!  It took the team 2 days to pack all of the boxes, and 2 days to load the truck.  Jay came over on Wednesday night with my parents’ horse trailer and was able to fill it with a bunch of stuff the movers couldn’t take.  On Thursday, my friend Ann and her daughter stopped by for a quick chat and lunch, the realtor made sure everything looked good, and we were out of there by 2:00.  It was harder than I had mentally prepared for to say goodbye to the house that I brought both of my babies home to.  So many amazing memories were made in that home.  Close one door to allow us to open another… 

   
Brumby.

Jay’s Aussie ute has arrived on US soil!  His cousin lives near Baltimore and picked it up at the port.  He is storing it for a bit until Jay can road trip out there to pick it up.  Thank goodness the ship didn’t sink!! 

   
Bandit.

We aren’t allowed to have Bandit stay with us at the rental, but (shhhhh) we snuck him into the dorm room one night while mom was out of town and Steven was working nights.  Lily LOVES her Bandito!!! 

 90.

My grandma celebrated her 90th birthday.  90 years!!!  Can you imagine all of the things she has seen and done in her lifetime?  Grandma is without a doubt the TOUGHEST woman I know.  It was great to see the Lingren side of the family.  So many grandkids…somehow I am one of the oldest but am also one of the shortest.  Lame.  Lily had so much fun that she passed out on cousin Jessi’s lap. 

    
   
Puzzle.

Meanwhile, back at the holiday house, we realized the 2,000 piece puzzle doesn’t fit on our table.  So we bought a big board to put it on.  This puzzle highlighted some of my flaws.  An unfinished puzzle is a mess that shouldn’t be a mess.  Everything has its place, it just needs to be put where it belongs.  My OCD tendencies could not just let it go.  If I was home, I was working on the puzzle.  May have fallen into the “bad mom” category as I was nose down in the puzzle… 

 Closing!!

The day finally arrived.  After an adults only brekky date at Cracker Barrel (and several failed attempts at playing the golf tee triangle game), we headed to the attorney’s office.  Friday, February 19 at 8:00 AM we signed the papers to complete the purchase of our beautiful new home on Oaktree Drive.  Within 15 minutes we had our keys and it was all systems go!!  Let the fun BEGIN! 

   
Move.  Again.

Let’s see if it is possible to count how many times we have “moved” in the past 3 months, based on sleeping in a different bed.

1. Hope Island to Sanctuary Cove Holiday Home.

2. Holiday home to airport hotel (not sure if this can count because I didn’t actually fall asleep that night.

3.  Airplane

4. Jess and Jason’s house.

5.  The farm.

6.  Farragut.

7. Back to the farm.

8.  Grimes holiday house.

9.  Pack up Davenport house.

10.  Move out of holiday house into Oaktree.

11.  Move our Davenport items into Oaktree. 

Holy crap.  No wonder I’m exhausted…

Holiday house.

So let’s first focus on step 10.  This was one that I SEVERELY under-estimated.  We had to move ourselves for this part of the move, as we only got one “local” move from Davenport to Oaktree.  Thank goodness we had my parents’ horse trailer, my mom, Kirk and Sherry, Tom and Melinda, Jessi, and Em to help.  We had accumulated a lot of stuff in the 2 months we were in the holiday home.  We had all of our boxes from Australia, our suitcase stuff from Australia, several totes of things from Davenport (winter items, kitchen stuff, etc), Christmas presents, toys, new chairs and a kitchen table that we purchased for the new home, and lord knows what all else.  Plus we had all of the stuff that we hauled back from Davenport when the movers were there – that was almost a trailer load.  We spent all day Friday doing some pretty heavy lifting.  Lots of steps.  Sherry had her Fitbit on and hit 10,000 steps well before lunch.  Lily held down the fort and was a great supervisor. 

    
 We didn’t have any beds in the new house – wouldn’t until the movers dropped our Davenport stuff on Monday – so we crashed at the holiday house that night.  Saturday we spent getting the stuff we hauled over unpacked and put away.  We had to leave hangers behind in Australia. We pretty much bought walmarts entire supply of hangers. 

Farm.

On Sunday, Aunt Jekka took the kids to the farm.  Lily somehow managed to find a massive mud puddle to fall into.  What a mess…   At least she was still smiling. 

   
Meanwhile, back at Oaktree, the boys built a closet for Emily and hung up my jellyfish painting from Hamilton Island in my “mom cave”.  Love love love! 

  

 Puzzle.

Sunday night was what we thought would be our last night in the holiday house.  And the puzzle wasn’t finished. And I was not so sure we were going to be able to get it out the door. And (enter OCD) I could not just NOT finish it. So that left me with only one option.  I must finish the puzzle.  It was close, but only the hard pieces remained.  You know, the ones that get left to the end because there are always easier ones to put together first.  I vowed to stay up and finish it.  Until exhaustion took over and I couldn’t do it. Never fear.  I woke up early on Monday morning and although we were pushing our luck and running out of time, WE FINISHED THE 2,000 PIECE PUZZLE!  Oh the irony.  It was moving day, and after months of chaos, all of the pieces were coming together.  It was time to move on.  (Do you see what I just did there?  Pretty clever, eh?) 

 Moving Day #11.

Jay had meetings all week, so we sent him off to keep the cotton business under control on Monday morning.  Em stayed at the holiday house with both kids so she could take Ty to school.  Kirk, Sherry and I headed over to Oaktree and as we were sitting at the stop light at Highway 141, we saw the moving truck go by.  Perfect timing, as we followed Tommy into our neighborhood.  We walked him around, gave him the lay of the land, and as soon as his crew arrived, our stuff that we haven’t seen in 2 years started making its way out of the truck and into our new home.  It was a great performance, with lots of actors playing different roles.  Sherry was the director.  She had “The List” that said which room each piece of furniture belonged in.  Kirk was the Garage Guy.  Mom was Kitchen Lady.  Sundie and Brad were the Basement Gang.  I was Roamer.  When Em came back, she was Kitchen Girl.  Lily maintained her role as Supervisor.  And the boys from the crew worked their tails off.  I don’t know how they do that day in and day out.  They did a fantastic job!  Mom kept a steady supply of snacks and drinks available for them.  It was a whirlwind of a day, but by 3:00 they had everything emptied out of the truck.  Amazing performance. 

    
 Hot tub.

Really poor timing, but the hot tub guys stopped over in the morning of moving day.  I postponed the “how to take care of the hot tub” speech as my brain was on overload, but got the guys started with some minor repairs and a thorough cleaning.  It needed one!

Mouth.

Just as the movers were finishing up, I got a call from the school nurse.  Ty had taken a spill and fell on concrete steps.  His mouth looked like it needed the attention of a dentist.  I was able to get him in right away and thankfully there was no major damage.  Nothing was broken.  Dodged that bullet.  I had a nice chat with one of my high school classmates who is one of the dentists in the office, and then it was back to Oaktree for more unpacking fun. 

 Although the kids’ beds were put together, and our new mattress had been delivered, we didn’t have sheets on the beds and we hadn’t packed up our last remaining every day items from the holiday house.  So we had one last night there.  I am not going to miss that place.

Tuesday.

More of the same.  Rip open a box, pull out the paper, look at what was wrapped up, decide where it goes, rinse, repeat.  Over and over and over again.  I believe Kirk said there were over 200 boxes.  So. Much. Stuff.  I know, why didn’t I just have the movers deliver it all to goodwill. I hadn’t needed it for 2 years.  But gosh, was it fun to see all of that stuff again.  So many memories with every item I pulled out of the boxes.  It was like Christmas.  Only a lot more work.  By the end of the day, most of the inside boxes were unpacked.  Incredible.  We spent our first night in the new house on Tuesday.  I couldn’t resist the temptation to pour a glass of wine, shut the doors, and put my feet up in my mom cave for just a few minutes.  I watched the kids run laps around the house – they didn’t even realize I was watching from my cave.  My little oasis. 

    
   
Week.

I had to go to work on Wednesday through Friday.  It wasn’t easy concentrating but I did manage to get some things done.  Meanwhile, Kirk, Sherry, mom and Em continued to chip away at getting the house put together.  They did a fantastic job.  I cannot thank everyone enough for all of the help!!!

Bedroom.

Our new bedroom furniture arrived!!  750 pounds of reclaimed Barnwood and copper was sitting by our front door.  Our awesome neighbor, Michael, was enjoying a beautiful evening playing basketball with his kids, but he paused his game to come help us move the furniture inside.  I love love love the new set!!  It is from Fireside Lodge – beautiful and excellent quality.   

 Eye.

And then lily decided it was her turn for an emergency trip to the doctor.  She was doing gymnastics and fell on the corner of a wood ottoman.  Split her eye open, so we took her to urgent care and got the would glued together.  She is a tough little thing. 

 Mystery bag.

When I was organizing my closet, I didn’t realize that there was a hole in the corner of two of the built in shelving units.  So when I put two of my purses on the very top shelf, they disappeared into the black hole.  I thought they were gone forever.  But Em and Kirk made it their mission to retrieve the purses.  After several attempts with various tools, they eventual fished them out with a grappling hook on the end of a rope.  But bonus!!  There were not two, but THREE bags in the hole.  A mysterious black bag.  What could it be?!  Fingers crossed it was a bag filled with $100 bills, gold bricks, or diamonds.  Wait for it…..

   
 So no wonder the previous owners didn’t try to retrieve the bag.  Anyone need a nail file?  We have plenty.

Grandma.

My 90 year old grandma came to see the new house one day.  I mentioned earlier that she is tough.  She is also very determined.  She wanted to see the upstairs, but her legs don’t work quite like they used to.  So she got on her hands and knees and crawled up those steps.  I love this lady.  Where there is a will, there is a way. 

 Life as normal.

So we are in our new home.  Boxes are mostly unpacked.  Even the garage is somewhat organized.  Bandit has rejoined the family.  Ty had a few weekends of soccer camp.  Living room furniture arrived.  Kids playing dress up and making friends in the neighborhood.  Ty has not one but two girlfriends and is getting love letters.  Jay and I had a date.  Lily is lifting weights like Aunt Jekka.  Figuring out new routines.  Learning new jobs.  Sunday dinners.  Hanging out with friends and family.  Recovering from illnesses on the big comfy couches.  Hot tub in Ty’s undies (why not?).  I would go into more detail but my battery is low and my fingers are tired of typing.  I will let the following pictures tell the story. 

    
    
    
    
    
    
    
    
    
    
 Garth.

And one final note to end on.  I AM GOING TO SEE GARTH BROOKS IN CONCERT!!!!!!  I am so excited.  Lily pulled my Garth book out of a box and handed it to me.  

  It was a sign.  I survived the stress of trying to buy tickets for the shows that sold out super fast (6 shows!!!).  

  I can’t wait to see Garth again – the best performer I have ever seen in concert.  

The past few months have not been easy.  There was been stress and pain and anxiety.  All of these things come along with any repatriation.  It is just part of the deal.  If you want to experience the awesomeness of living in a foreign country, you have to go through the hard stuff on the return.  I could have missed the pain.  But I’d have had to miss the dance.

Some people say that the holiday season is stressful.  This one takes the cake for me.  So. Much. Happening.  I have to admit that the week of Christmas pretty much flew by, and many details of the festive season are lost somewhere in my memory.  But the overwhelming theme of the week has been gratitude.  I have been touched by the outpouring of support, love, friendship, and family.  I have caught myself on several occasions sitting there thinking about how grateful I am to be home for the holidays.  Like when my kids got to build a gingerbread house, and got to go sledding during a white Christmas, and stood in line waiting to see if Santa came to the farm, saw everyone’s amazing Christmas decorations, and got to actually hug the people that gave them gifts instead of just saying thank you through the phone screen.  Best. Christmas. Ever.

So here’s the recap, as best as my memory can retrieve amidst all of the chaos.

Shopping.

Thankfully I had done the majority of my Christmas shopping online a month or so ago and had everything shipped to the farm.  But we still had a few things to pick up in the US.  I hate procrastinating on things, especially Christmas shopping, but I didn’t have much of a choice in this case. I was dreading going to the mall and Costco – turns out it really wasn’t too bad. After a mild panic moment when we realized that we aren’t sure what people want/need/like since we haven’t been around them for 2 years (insert tears), we pulled ourselves together and found some great gifts.  Phew.

Riley.

Jay’s nephew, Riley, turned 21 on Dec 23.  His mom organized a surprise party for him at the Farragut tavern (which I almost ruined because I didn’t realize it was a surprise…).  Aunt Jekka and Uncle Jason watched the kids so Jay and I could go to Farragut to celebrate.  The jet lag got the best of me so I didn’t whoop it up too much, but it was nice to see a bunch of the southwest Iowa folks.  And it was fun to see Riley surrounded by so many people that think the world of him.  Didn’t see much of him the next day…  :).  We loved the fact that we could pop over to Farragut for a night instead of having to make the trip over a 3-day weekend (or longer).  So nice!!

Christmas Eve.

The next morning was Christmas Eve, so we headed back to the farm.  Excitement was in the air!  Not only was Santa coming, but so was Brianna, and Rickey (and Chris), and Brooke and Dana.  It has been years since we were all together on Christmas.  We set out cookies, milk, carrots, and a thank you note for Santa, then put the kiddos to bed.  We stayed up long enough to wait for Brianna, and then we all went to sleep so that Santa could stop by.  

Christmas Morning.

Somehow I was the first one awake on Christmas morning.  When the kids FINALLY woke up, we all got lined up in the kitchen, youngest to oldest, and waited for Nana and Papa to let us go into the living room.  SANTA CAME!!!!  He brought all sorts of awesome things – a zebra buggy, Legos, Octonauts, Star Wars guys, a bicycle, games, books, a gymnastics mat and leotards, and a weight set (for Bri).  They must have been really good this year! The kids played with their new toys, we ate breakfast, and waited for everyone else to arrive.  Rick and his friend Chris showed up, and then Brooke and Dana made it.  Uncle Tom and Aunt Melinda, Ray and Rudy stopped over.  It was a packed living room, full of laughter and happiness.  Home.  It took us a couple hours for everyone to get through opening their gifts.  Thanks again to everyone for the great prezzies!!!  Once we finished with the presents, we all rushed around to pack up our sleighs so that some of us could head to our next Christmas party.  We were heading back to Farragut, this time with the kids.   

    
    
 Farragut.

Ty has not been in Memaw and Papa’s house for over a year – when we were home last August – but he remembered what their house was like.  He was looking forward to playing with the toys at Memaw’s house and watching movies.  He got his fill of that!  When we arrived we had a yummy dinner and then opened presents.  So many nice things!  There were a couple times when I realized that I wasn’t aware of that new thing -for example Keurig has some new models of their coffee makers.  Such a weird feeling but makes sense because we haven’t been immersed in US shopping or advertisements for 2 years.  

Toys.

The next day, Kirk and Jay crawled up into the attic and pulled down all of Jay’s old toys – I’m not sure what they all were (I know there were some Star Wars toys), but oh man was Ty excited.  I didn’t see him for the next 2 days.  I think Jay was just as excited as he relived his childhood memories.  

Relax.

The girls debated whether or not to go shopping, but decided to avoid the crowds and just relax at home.  I’m glad we took the trackies route.  There is something therapeutic about sitting in the sunroom, fireplace on, nowhere to go.  It is what I needed.  While I was lounging around, getting much needed rest, the farm was hoppin’ – heaps of people showed up to see Rick and Em, and listen to the boys play guitar in the kitchen.  I was totally jealous as kitchen concerts are my absolute fave, but I was also glad that I woke up Sunday without a headache.  🙂

Grandma.

Sunday morning we packed up the sleigh again and headed back to the farm (about 2.5 hours) so that we could go to Grandma’s Christmas party.  I hadn’t seen some of the family on that side for 2 years, but it felt like I never left.  So good to be home!

Leaf Lake.

Jay had to head straight to Davenport after Grandma’s to get ahead of the snow storm that was heading our way.  He had to meet with the movers to figure out how many boxes to bring when they pack us up.  He was in the basement in his computer when he heard a tap on the window.  And then another.  He went to the sliding glass door and a dog came running inside. You can imagine his panic until he realized that the dog belonged to his friend JR.  He had heard that Jay was headed to Davenport for one last beer in the Leaf Lake Lounge and couldn’t resist the temptation to join.  I am so thankful that he was there to give Jay a helping hand.  They removed the temporary storage room  from the garage, loaded up the 4-wheeler and mini-bike in the car, and drank some beer.  :). 

Lunch.

On Tuesday, Em and I and the kids went to Des Moines to meet Mike, Ashley, and Brooks for lunch before they headed back to Tennessee.  Ty and Brooks giggled their way through the meal – reminded me of Ash and I.  They were anxious to get on the road, and the kids were about to get us kicked out of the Mexican restaurant, so it was a short reunion but a great one.  It is going to be strange to not have them 20 minutes away, but I am looking forward to a trip down south to visit them.

Rental.

We moved into our rental home in Grimes on Wednesday.  While we have very much appreciated all of the hospitality from family, we were excited to get settled into our own space and get some routine back into our lives.  We have been referring to the house as “the dorm room” because it is such a hodge lodge of furniture and stuff.  Let me tell you, they don’t build things like they used to.  I’m pretty sure this house was built in 30 days or less…despite all of the flaws of the home, we are thankful and appreciative to have a roof over our heads.

Timber.

We took a break from unpacking in the afternoon to go look at a house on the market, and then we all went to the house in Timberbrooke that Jay and I really liked.  It was a little stressful having the kids there – I was certain that they would break something.  Or get lost.  But everyone wanted to see it because we had shown them pictures.  Jay and I stayed a while longer after they left and decided to put in a really low offer on the house.  We said we had one offer and one offer only.  Take it or leave it.  We weren’t willing to go up in price at all, and they had until 11:00 that night to decide.  I talked to our realtor around 7:30 and they had come down quite a bit but not the whole way.  I repeated our number and said we weren’t budging.  We were all tired so we put the kids to bed and fell asleep.  I woke up at 10:30 and saw I had a text message from our realtor.  I couldn’t call him because Jay and Lily were asleep, but he sent me a text saying that we got the house.  OMG.  Holy moly.  I wasn’t expecting them to accept it!!!  So then I had to wake up Jay to share in the excitement, and we were wide awake, both in shock.  So, pending a successful inspection on Thursday, we will be moving in on February 19!!!  The house is beautiful – I am a little worried it is too fancy for this country gal, but am hopeful that I can tone it down a bit.  It sits on 2 acres with lots of trees, has heaps of garage/shed space for all of Jay’s toys, and has plenty of bedrooms for all of us and guests.  I have always loved the Timberbrooke neighborhood, for as long as I can remember because we drove by it on our way to Des Moines from the farm, and have dreamed about living there someday. So blessed.   

 2016.

So yeah, 2015 went out with a bang for us!  We sold a house, moved into a rental, bought a house.  You know, no big deal… 

Court and Jeremy were headed to a party in Grimes for New Years so they stopped over for a bit.  I love that we can meet up for short periods of time now that we are living so close.  Happy.

 Jess’s neighbors invited us over for a low-key NYE party (we all were in our trackies).  They have 2 kids close to Ty and Lily’s age, so the kids had fun in the basement while the adults played Cards Against Humanity upstairs.  Oh boy.  Now that game…that game is wrong on so many levels, but so hilarious.  I haven’t laughed that hard in a long time.

Catching up.

So the first part of this blog was written just after the new year, and then I got swept away with life and haven’t had a chance to sit down and write.  I will do my best to summarize the last month, unfortunately not to my usual level of detail.  Sorry!!

Work.

The reason for my lack of blogging has been caused by work.  I have a love-hate relationship with starting a new job.  I love the chance to learn heaps of new things, but I hate the feeling that I don’t know what the hell i am doing.  I spent a week in Moline getting a crash course in ALM.  Unfortunately for me, I started the job on an ALCO quarter end.  This means we have to process SO MUCH work in a condensed period of time.  And it makes it really bad when I don’t know what the processed are.  And then add on all sorts of system issues.  Made for a REaLLY rough couple of weeks.  I held back tears on multiple occasions while in Moline, but couldn’t hold them back when I was back in Des Moines.  I was sitting there on the phone, talking to my boss (who is great), and feeling so incredibly stupid.  I had no idea what to do or how to do it, and I felt a wave of heat come over my whole body, and then the tears just started streaming down my face.  I don’t think he knew what was happening.  I certainly didn’t want him to know.  It was simply an “I’m so overwhelmed and frustrated and lost and confused” cry, that only time in the job can make go away.  I am confident I will get there eventually.  And I will probably love this job when I do figure out what I’m doing. 

 I did manage to make some time to have dinner with a few friends and coworkers in the Quad Cities.  It was strange being in the Quad Cities, staying at our house alone.  I basically got home, crawled into Ty’s bed (no sheets on mine), woke up, went to work, rinse, repeat.  I am going to miss that house.  And I also managed to get Jay’s wedding ring replaced from the QC jeweler that made his first ring!  Hooray!  He is married again. 

 Jay is fully immersed in his new job.  He is learning a lot and doing well.  I think he really likes it!

Ty is in school – he is in kindergarten at Timber Ridge Elementary in Mrs. Newberg’s class.  Next year he will go to Horizon but they were full.  So far he seems to be doing OK.  I am a little worried that he might get bored and lazy, so we are doing “homework” at night to keep pushing him along.   

 Lily and Em go to gymnastics twice a week.  The rest of the week they try to find things to do, but it isn’t as easy as on the Gold Coast because, hello, it is freaking freezing outside here.  They have gone to indoor parks, shopping, and the farm a few times. 

 We all went to Omaha one weekend.  We needed to find some new furniture, and had the added benefits of hanging out with family and going to an indoor water park.

The hardest thing to deal with over the past month is that we are stuck in between.  We have our own space, but it isn’t our space.  Still living the rental life, so it is hard to get settled.  We are all really looking forward to moving in to the new house on Feb 19!!!

The best thing so far has been living so close to family and dear friends.  I cannot count the number of times that we have hung out at the farm, or Jess’s, or had people over for dinner, or to watch a game.  We got to babysit Bandit for a night (can’t have him full time in our rental), and even had a baby lamb come visit.  Just doing every day things.  This is what we were all missing in our lives.  This is why we left paradise.  No regrets.  (Even though it is bloody cold here.) Here are some of the random pics I have of the past month.  I haven’t been great about taking photos – I aim to do a better job.  🙂

    
    
     

 
That pretty much sums up Christmas through January.  Some people have wondered if I will continue to write blogs, and I think I will.  If nothing else, it gives my kiddos something to read when hey are older.  I can’t promise that they will be very exciting, probably a whole lot less exciting than the Australia posts…it is just life.  A damn good one.

Not sure how to end this.  G’day mates doesn’t seem appropriate anymore…so I’m just going to stop writing…
 

Home!

We made it!!!  Woohoo!!!!  Dorothy hit the nail on the head when she clicked her heels together and said that there is no place like home.  Let me bring you all up to speed on what has been happening.

Moët.

Ania was crushed when she realized that our time in Sanctuary Cove had come to an end before she had a chance to say a proper goodbye.  Two years ago I was in desperate need of a massage, so I googled “massage hope island”, which led me to Ania’s adorable little massage therapy office.  One of my worries moving to Australia was whether or not I could find someone halfway as awesome as my QC masseuse, Janey.  Never fear, Ania is here! Not only did she work miracles to relieve the tension in my neck and back, she relieved the tension in my mind.  For 60-90 minutes each month (she never kept an eye on the time), she listened to me jabber on about this or that, and by the end of the hour(ish), I always felt 100% better.  When Emily came along with her stellar back, Ania spent even more time with the two of us, and has become a very dear friend to the both of us.  She brought her adorable twin daughters to the Novotel to have one last dinner with Em and I.  She came bearing gifts – some presents for the kids (waiting for Christmas to open them), and a bottle of Moët champagne for Em and I.  She was hoping that we could drink the bottle at dinner but got told no, so we found the last little remaining space in our suitcases and packed it in.  More to come on this…  Ania, we hope to see you and your girls on this side of the pond someday soon!

Airplanes.

After a restless “sleep”, we were finally on our way to the airport.  Amazingly, the next 24 hours were incredibly uneventful.  Long.  Super hella long.  But I will take super hella long over eventful any day of the week.  The check-in went well.  We were worried that a couple bags were pushing the weight limit, but the Qantas lady was really nice and helpful.  She gave us all Express passes to get us through the customs line in Sydney quicker, and didn’t give us any grief about our heavy bags.  The first flight to Sydney was quick and easy.  The layover was just the right amount of time to get us on the plane to Dallas.  

We had strong tailwinds so our flight time was reduced by 30-40 minutes – just about 14 hours in total.  The kids did so well on that flight.  Jay sat in between the two kids and I sat on the aisle across from Lily.  Ty slept for a few hours at the start and finish, and watched heaps of movies during the middle – content as ever, with zero drama.  Lily had a harder time getting comfortable, so she spent most of the trip in either Jay or my lap, but we didn’t mind the cuddles.  Emily was living the dream in Business Class – really glad we had enough points to upgrade her so that she could lie flat to keep her back from seizing up, otherwise we would have had to wheelchair her through the Dallas and Des Moines airports.  

My favorite moment on the flight was when we were coming in for the landing and for just a few seconds I could see the good old American flag flying at the end of the runway.  To the person that decided to put up that flag pole, thank you.  God bless the USA.

In Dallas we quickly found a table at a Mexican restaurant, ate chips and queso, drank fountain Pepsi with heaps of ice, and realized that we only need to order one kids meal for both the children.  The kids had a little play in the kids area, we all got freshened up, kids put on their trackies (sweatpants), and it was time to board our last flight.  We went from an A380 MASSIVE airplane, to a teensy tiny little regional jet to get us to Des Moines.  Lily fell asleep before we backed out of the parking spot and didn’t wake up until I woke her when it was time to get off the plane in Des Moines. 

Observation: I was surprised at how funny the Midwest accent sounded to me.  It has been a while since I have been around that many Midwesterners.  I used to think that we didn’t have an accent.  Now I can say with confidence that we do.  

We were nearly the last ones off the plane, then we had to make a potty stop, and then we headed to the baggage claim.  We knew that a few people were going to meet us at the airport, but whoa.  There were a lot of people there!!!  As soon as we saw the crowd, it felt like I couldn’t get to mom fast enough.  I managed (somehow) to hold back tears of joy while hugging everyone.  We were home.  God, it felt good.  We headed to baggage claim to pick up our seemingly endless amount of bags – enough for everyone to take one.  :). I have a million happy moments from the welcome crew, but probably my favorite was getting my arm caught in the hug between Emily and Ray.  It nearly broke.  Those two are best mates, and it was obvious to everyone how much they missed each other this year.  

Party.

After I retrieved my arm, we got all of the bags and people loaded up and convoyed over to Jess and Jason’s house for a little welcome home party.  Pickle wraps, Caseys pizza, Ruffles with dip, Busch Light…yum. Kirk popped the cork on the bottle of Moët that made it without a scratch, and as we didn’t have enough champagne glasses, we all had a little bubbly in red solo cups.  Classy as…  The kids were not even a little bit timid about anyone or anything, they just settled right in to life at home.  I snuck away and took the best shower of my life and put on my new flannel pajamas (pre washed with love by Sherry).  You know you are home when you can party in your pjs.  The first night was pretty good for all of us, a bit of jet lag, but not terrible.

Cars.

 Jess woke us up at 8:00 the next morning (Wednesday).  Kirk and Sherry rode with Jay and I to Davenport to pick up our two new cars – a BMW X5 diesel for me, and a Subaru Outback for Em.  While Jay was filling out the paperwork, Sherry and I went to Verizon to get a phone for me.  Next up was lunch at Hooters.  OMG was that good…  Jay went to Neckers Jewelers to get a replacement wedding band figured out and went to the credit union to deposit some AUD.  We all met up at our home where we picked up a load of things we might need before we get everything moved into a new home – winter clothes, vacuum, snow shovel, etc.  we filled up 3 SUVs with stuff, had a lovely chat with Paul and Mary, said a quick hi to Gary, and off we went.  Despite the night driving, the jet lag, and the fact that I haven’t driven on the other side of the car and road for two years, we had no problems getting back to Jess’s house.

Kids.

Jess and Emily had watched the kids while we were in Davenport, and boy did they have fun.  They went to the coop where Jason works and got the VIP treatment.  They got to test moisture levels of corn, drive a semi, and unload.  They loved it.  They went to Walmart and rode around in style.  Em, bless her heart, went through almost all of the suitcases and organized them to figure out what we need for the next week, and what could store at Jess’s until we get to the rental home.   

    
    
 We finished the job when we got home and tried to go to sleep that night.  Ty did great.  He slept from 10:00-6:00.  Lily, and therefore the rest of us, weren’t so lucky.  She wanted absolutely nothing to do with sleeping.  Poor kid.  She eventually fell asleep around 1:00 or so, after my horrible attempts to tell her stories of the 3 Little Pigs and Goldilocks from my sleep-deprived brain.

Farm.

Em took the kids first thing in the morning to the farm.  Ty was patient, but persistent about getting on the road ASAP.  He needed to help papa do chores, you see. They had an awesome day.  Chores, “gator” rides, farm toys, goodies to eat.  Two happy kids.  

    

    
    
    
    
 Observation:  Ty is happy.  I mean REALLY happy.  He has had zero meltdowns, no crying, no whining, no drama.  He is happy as…  It is amazing to me that someone so young can recognize and appreciate what “home” really is.  He has missed the US for two years.  He talked frequently about what he wanted to do when we come back to the US.  It makes sense now.  He really and truly missed everything and everyone that makes a “home”.

Work.

Jay had a full day at the office on Thursday.  I went in at lunchtime to meet up with my new boss, find out where I will be sitting, get my new laptop, and meet a few people who I will be working with.  I have CRUNCHY ICE just a few steps from my desk.  I can literally see the crunchy ice machine from my desk.  Praise the lord for crunchy ice.  An endless supply.

I was hoping to get out of there a bit early, but my compute transfer took a while, so it was about 5:30 before I could head out.  While I was waiting for my computers, I tried updating the software in my new phone and it basically crashed on me, so I had to go to the mall to the Apple Store to get it fixed.  

Home.

Finally everything was sorted and I could go to the farm.  Mom had made the most delicious French Dip sandwiches I have ever eaten, followed up with a Klondike bar.  Even Ty ate it, and he rarely eats anything.  He ate Nana’s beef with juice for 3 days straight.  I was wiped out, so we all went to bed at about 10:30.  Lily woke up around midnight (which is when most of this blog was written), but thankfully fell back to sleep.

Houses.

Jay and I spent all day Friday, Saturday, and Sunday looking for a home.  We have ruled out 50 homes…ugh…  Too small, too expensive, too fancy, too boring, too small of yard, too far away, crappy bedroom layout (not kid friendly), too much work to fix, and on and on and on.  There wasn’t a single one that we both walked in and thought, yep, this is the one.  We kept a few homes on the short list, but are hoping that a few more come on the market after the holidays.  We talked to a builder and have a new home in mind as a backup plan, but prefer not to have to go that route as I don’t want to wait 6-8 months to get settled.  :(. We still have a little time, but need to make a decision in the next 2 weeks so that we don’t have to extend our rental or find another temporary home.

Leaf Lake.

Finally, someone has fallen in love with our home in Davenport.  After a few days of negotiations, we finally agreed on a price that makes everyone happy.  We have some paperwork and approvals to wait on, but things are coming together on the home sale side of things!  We have to have everything moved out of the home before 15 February.  It will go into storage until we settle on a new home.  Jay went to Davenport to meet the movers and get a few more things from the house.  His best friend, JR, surprised him with a 10:00 knock on the basement window.  Scared the crap out of him.  :). So glad he had a buddy to help get things taken care of.  

Rental.

Once again, we have packed up our things and loaded them into the cars.  We are moving into our rental home in the morning, and let me tell you, I cannot wait to get out of these flipping suitcases.  I need some organization in my life.  I am getting tired of saying “I have no idea where that is”.  Despite all of that, I would say that I have fared pretty well throughout this ordeal…so far…  We have told the kids we are moving into another holiday home for a couple months.  They have been troopers and have just rolled with everything. 

Thank you!!

I cannot put into words how thankful we are for everyone who has chipped in and helped us out over the past 2 weeks – watching and entertaining our kids, giving us a few beds to crash in, feeding us, doing our laundry, moving our things around, keeping our spirits up…  As overwhelming as all of this feels at times, all of you have made it manageable.  Thank you!!!  Just look how happy these kids are…

    
    
    
    
    
 Recollection.

I have had a lot of time to think about things during the last week or so.  Here are a few thoughts that I cut out of my first draft of my farewell speech simply due to time constraints, but didn’t want to delete.  

What have we learned about Australia over the past two years? People really do say “G’day mate” and “no worries”. There are, in fact, kangaroos hopping around on the side of the road. Supposedly there are koalas in trees, but I never saw one outside of Currumbin. The beaches really are that awesome. Thank god for the beaches because it gets smoking hot in the summer, yet many Aussies are super tough and don’t bother with air conditioning in their homes. Because the power bill is flipping ridiculously expensive. And when the air con breaks, good luck getting a tradie to come fix it. So while waiting for a tradie, you go to the pool or the beach with a pocket full of 100% waterproof Australian dollars. Yes, it really is waterproof.  

Did you know that when we first arrived in Australia, I wouldn’t put Lily down on the floor until I was certain that there were not any spiders or snakes lurking behind the chairs just waiting for a baby for dinner? I wouldn’t open my sliding glass doors for fear that something would sneak in and kill me. I still won’t walk through the grass barefoot, but I have lightened up quite a bit. And weird, we are all still alive.

Here are a few things that I never thought I would say or hear come out of Jay and my kids’ mouths.

Dad, I want a yabby pump for my birthday.

Be careful, the Sharks might bite my toes.

Mom! The sea turtle pooped out hundreds of eggs! Did you see it?!

I just got bit by an ant. And it hurts like a son of a gun.

That palm leaf almost landed on my head.

Look at the python under that walkway that just ate a wallaby.

OMG! There is a sea turtle swimming right below me!

Um Nicole, how did you manage to not notice that the tide had gone out while sitting on the boat? Oopsy!!!

Hey babe, my wedding ring slipped off my finger and went into the shark infested canal when I threw the crab back in.

Let’s go to the beach after we finish unwrapping Christmas presents.

So that pretty well brings you up to speed on where we are at in the process of repatriation.  I have left out all of the fun Christmas festivities from this blog – will post that separately.  G’day mates!